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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Nov. 15, 1962
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
Criticism From Wichita
The Eurich Report was certain to cause controversy if for no other reason than it calls for a drastic change in the present set-up of state supported higher education.
It would set up obvious levels in the system, with the state colleges at Emporia, Hays, and Pittsburg relegated to a level somewhat lower than KU and Kansas State.
ITWOULD STOP the present inclination of each state institution to work only for itself rather than for the entire state system.
It would take control of the public junior colleges from the local school boards and give it to local boards under the general supervision of the state Board of Regents.
In short, it would coordinate the institutions of higher education in Kansas, helping to insure that each would provide a specific academic service for a specific geographic area or population group.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM faced by those who made the study was the role of the University of Wichita in the general scheme. And the most criticism of the report has come because of its recommendations that WU become a branch of KU and K-State.
Much criticism of the report from Wichita has been superficial, involving such things as the name of the institution, and the loss of its present complete autonomy.
But the administration and students of WU and the people of Wichita have a number of valid objections to the report's recommendations.
TO UNDERSTAND these objections, one must look at the historical background of WU. Kansas' development moved from the northeast to the west before it moved southwest. When the state colleges were founded, the south central and southwest area of Kansas was relatively unpopulated, compared to the northeast and southeast, and no state colleges were established in the area.
The people of Wichita built an excellent university—with no state aid until last year—which definitely offers university-level instruction. It is the largest institution of higher education in the south central portion of the state.
As the south central portion of Kansas became more populated, and as Wichita grew to be the largest city in the state, WU became an important part of that growth. It also began to serve as a part-time institution and to a relatively large
extent a commuter institution similar to these found in most urban centers.
WICHITA, OF COURSE, cannot have its cake and eat it too. If it wants the state to assume responsibility for financing WU because of WU's benefit to the area as well as to the city. Wichita must be prepared to give up control of the university's operations.
Many of Wichita's questions stem from the vagueness of the recommendations in the report. This is no criticism of the report, for it is meant to be a guide, leaving specific details to be worked out by the Board of Regents and the state legislature.
At the same time, however, residents of the city will want assurances that the institution which they developed into an excellent university will not be treated as a stepchild by the two state universities.
ON PAPER, however, the board which the Eurich Report recommends administer the State Universities Center (WU) is a cause for concern. The institution's president would be an "administrative head," who would have only one vote on a board of eleven—half from KU and half from K-State.
Smooth operation of the Center could be seriously impaired through splits on the board. While the Center theoretically would be working for both KU and K-State, the members of the Center's board would be essentially responsible to their home institution.
The Eurich Report recommends the use of the present WU faculty and it calls for the level of work at WU to be on the same level as that of KU and K-State. However, it is difficult to imagine KU and K-State assigning the top instructors acquired in the future to the Wichita center rather than to the home campus.
THE EURICH REPORT is designed to improve higher education in Kansas. It seeks to do this by coordinating the state colleges. But it will not improve higher education if this coordination downgrades an excellent university serving the south-central portion of the state and the state's largest city.
The Board of Regents, in implementing the Eurich Report, should set up machinery to insure that WU will not be treated as a stepchild by the two state universities. Until this is done, the people of Wichita are not likely to vote to turn over their university to the state.
—Clayton Keller
Editor:
Answer to Murphy
Editor:
I am sorry that you experienced embarrassment when asked about "Homecoming" by your fellow student from another country. I also am a student and I believe I would have answered his questions, and yours, as follows;
"Homecoming Weekend" is a two-day period traditionally specified as a time when alumni and
... Letters .
friends are especially invited to visit, or re-visit, the University campus, and when the University makes a special effort to provide entertainment, and the probability of seeing old friends and perhaps their families. By entertainment, I mean several carillon recitals, a dramatic presentation (Hugh Miller in Swarthout), a University Theatre production ("Paint Your Wagon"), and a German film, ("Rosemary"), at Hoch.
Daily Hansan
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Telephone Wiking 3-2700.
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afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays,
University holidays, and examination periods. Second class postage paid
at Lawrence, Kansas.
Extension 711, news room
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NEWS DEPARTMENT
Scott Payne Managing Editor Richard Bonnett, Dennis Farney, Zeke Wigglesworth, and Bill Mullins, Assistant Managing Editors; Mike Miller, City Editor; Bcn Marshall, Sports Editor; Margaret Cathcart, Society Editor.
Clayton Keller and Bill Sheldon ... Co-Editorial Editors
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Charles Martinache ... Business Manager
Jack Cannon, Advertising Manager; Doug Farmer, Circulation Manager;
Gene Spalding, National Advertising Manager; Bill Woodburn, Classi-
fied Advertising Manager; Dan Meck, Promotion Manager.
As for the girls, and their "crownings," let it suffice to say that anyone who either has observed or participated in this type of "ceremony" (and this will include a large segment of the female population, since there are "queens" for myriad occasions) is quite aware of the fact that any one of a thousand girls might have been named, and that the selection is made after a rather cursory interview, obviously because no great importance is attached to the "office." I do not know what you mean by this "inner circle of politics." It is my understanding that any group of students who wish to make a nomination is invited to do so.
These people you mention at length, who get "swacked out of their gourd" I am not acquainted with in numbers. In my admittedly limited circle of friends, this form of behavior is not condoned, nor considered to be attractive, or even acceptable.
Also available are the open houses of the various schools and departments, and the opportunity to visit the museums on campus.
Thank you for reading my reply, if indeed you do, and please remember that the whole point of the great international exchange of students is not to cause the hosts to become apologists for the customs of their cultures, but rather to hope that the hosts will treat these customs in the light of their relative value and importance to the basic aims and objectives of a given population.
Ann Reed Lawrence senior
DAY ISN'T THAT THE SAME GROUP OF BOYS THE DEAN OF
MEN HAD SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH LAST FALL?
It Looks This Way
Campus Politics Labeled "Farce"
Election for seats on the All Student Council (ASC) were held this week.
Campus politics gives the student body president a sufficient excuse to wear a coat and tie to class without getting laughed off the Hill.
CAMPUS POLITICS is the saddest sack of apples that KU has seen in many a year (with the possible exception of last Saturday's football game).
So what?
Campus politics gives the party leaders the opportunity to sit in the basement of Strong Hall in the mornings, sip coffee, and talk about the campus political situations (if there happen to be any at the time)or they can at least ogle the freshman girls on their way to 10:30 classes.
CAMPUS ELECTIONS also give the executives of the Daily Kansan the opportunity to express political sentiment in recommending those candidates they feel best qualified to fill ASC seats.
And this year, as usual, there are few issues. There now are decentralized voting polls, but less people voted in last week's primary than in either of the primaries last year.
Several party leaders got excited about the poor publicity hounds in Statewide Activities, but this has all subsided.
WE HEAR CAMPAIGN promises that deviate little from standard operational procedure. We hear the same trite pledges every year about supporting civil rights and about how messed up the All Student Council committees are.
So, in effect, what we have here at KU is people going through the motions of politics, putting themselves over on students who don't care about qualifications of the candidates or the issues.
STUDENTS LIVING in organized houses—fraternities, sororities, and small dormitories—no longer vote as individuals. They usually vote as the majority of their living group decides (for either one party or the other).
And to top off all this, campus elections are a farce. The party leaders can count their votes before the elections begin-thanks to bloc voting.
We wind up with the biggest railroading job Kansas has seen since Union Pacific built the first line through the state in the 1860s.
Therefore, the real spirit behind the elections—the campaign is lost. The only actual campaign carried on is in the large dorms.
AS A RESULT of all this, the effectiveness of campus politics is on the decline. Parties and their leaders aren't pressed for issues which build a strong student government.
The only way to revitalize campus politics is for students to find these issues and question the qualifications and capabilities of the leaders of KU student government.
Then KU students should go out and elect those candidates who sincerely are interested in making campus politics more meaningful.
—Ben Marshall