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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Oct. 23, 1962
Freedom's Price tag
Sometime within the next couple of days six Russian cargo ships will enter the waters surrounding Cuba. There they will be confronted by United States naval craft. At this meeting the price for the freedom which this country enjoys will be set. The degree of determination our government intends to show will be unveiled.
But, if preliminary comment is definitive of what the U.S. stand and feeling actually is on the Cuban, and for that matter the world, situation, the American military vessels will force the hand of the Russian ships. There will be a Soviet retreat or an American inspection.
IF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID to this point is not firmly supported at the first possible opportunity, the entire free world will have been condemned to a defensive position. At present it is the Soviet Union which must make the next decision. We have laid our cards on the table. Now it is time for the Russians to "put up or shut up."
What will happen can only be surmised. If the Russian ships undergo inspection the United States will have erased many of the setbacks suffered in Laos, Berlin, and in space. If the Russians call our bluff and shots are exchanged it could end in total war.
Both the United States and Russia have announced that they will not alter their announced positions—we will inspect, they will not submit to inspection. It is hoped that the U.S. is more determined than the Soviets and forces them to yield. The United States has been backpedling in various areas of crisis since World War II. It is time to exhibit some backbone and not falter under external pressure and stand behind our convictions.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY COMMENTED last night that the action he announced of quarantining ships carrying offensive weapons to Cuba is the most consistent path with our position and commitments. But, we allowed the Berlin Wall. The possibility of retracing our steps this time should be remote however. This time the rockets
are aimed at the heart of our way of life not the outstretched hand of our benevolence.
The president called for the nation to be ready and willing to sacrifice and display self-discipline in the months to come. In his inauguration speech he said things would become worse before they got better. Maybe the upswing will begin this week.
The cost of freedom, the president said, has always been high, but it has always been paid. Millions of lives have been sacrificed in the past and millions more may be asked. The question in the minds of all Americans this afternoon is whether this protective measure taken by our government will ignite a war. This seems doubtful. The total destruction of mankind is possible in total war and it does not appear likely that either the United States or Russia is ready to sacrifice to the point of destruction over this incident.
THE POSITION WHICH was explained by the president is the answer to the cries which have been raised throughout the country since the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Cuba is too close to play international badminton with. It appears the people of this nation have wanted such a firm stand. Early comment indicates that the lesser government officials are solid in support of the president. Bull session sympathy seems to be in favor of maintaining the strong stand taken.
The price of freedom throughout the world which will be established on the high seas shortly may set the tone of international events for a long time. When the determinations of the world's ranking powers clash it will be discovered exactly how much pressure must be applied for one to cause the other to succumb. No matter what the outcome, be it a bluff or a war, it will become evident what is necessary to accomplish something definite in the East-West struggle. The type and extent of action needed in Berlin, Laos, the Congo, and India will be defined.
Bill Sheldon
Universities Lack Democracy Editor;
The firing of the editor of the Colorado Daily is illustrative of a situation in American universities as a whole which needs examination. But first I must say that the letter printed in the Colorado paper was sufficiently extreme to be considered legal libel or slander against Senator Goldwater. As such the paper should not have published it and Goldwater should have dealt with it through the courts. However, Goldwater knew the American system of education and dealt with it in the most effective manner (i.e., by subtly, it appears, threatening the president of the University). I am not criticizing Goldwater's or the president's actions. They were well within their rights and the policies of the American education system. Rather, I want to examine this system.
First, in order to clarify issues, I would like to define several words according to Webster;
1) Democracy; Government by the people; government in which the supreme power is retained by the people. . . .
It should be added here that people means people governed or effected by the government.
2) Government: A governing;
exercise of administrative powers.
... Letters ..
3) Govern: To direct and control. This clarifies the concept of democracy. Democracy is the control by the people of the government which controls them. A corollary of this is that absentee control (e.g., British control of a colony) is not democratic.
4) Administrative: Of or having to do with administrative, especially management.
5) Management: Act of or art of managing; conduct; control.
All of this leads to a conclusion which is generally accepted: the administration of a university is, in actuality, the government of that university. Also, the faculty and students of the university are those controlled by the university. Now, the fact is that faculty and students have almost no official powers to control the university government in American universities. The power resides in the Board of Regents and through them the president. The Board of Regents is elected or appointed by governors, alumni, etc., none of whom are under the control of the university or are directly effected by the university's policies.
Thus, the control of American universities is, in actuality, a twice removed absentee ownership. It is once removed at the presidential level and twice removed at the level of the Board of Regents. The president has absolute power within the limits of the state regulations. He has the power to hire and fire (except for tenure) along with many other powers.
THE PRESIDENT of the University of Colorado had the right to fire the student editor and probably the right to dissolve the paper, for that matter. Goldwater used "normal" political channels to get the editor fired and with the Regents on his side he probably could have had the president fired.
In any case, within American universities the faculty and students have almost no control over the government of their university. In short, this simply means that the American university system is not democratic. I guess one could call it a legally established absentee oligarchy. This should not be taken to imply that there is no freedom in American universities, nor am I attacking university presidents, most of whom are concientious. But it is a fact that in almost every case where freedom is curtailed in American universities—and there are many cases besides the Colorado incident—it is due to a lack of democracy.
BOOK REVIEWS
THE SURVIVOR AND OTHERS, by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth (Ballantine, 35 cents)—seven tales of horror by an alleged craftsman of the macabre.
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AN INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY, by John F. Hahn (Doubleday College Course Guides, $1.45)—a survey of learning processes, emotion, motivation, and perception.
THE DAWN OF LIFE, by J. H. Rush (Signet Science Library, 75 cents)—the story by a physicist of the study of the origins of life. Rush discusses the chemistry of living things, the development of complex life-forms, and the emergence of the human intellect.
- * *
AS FAR AS students are concerned, they have almost no say in regard to any rules or policies that vitally effect their lives. The primary reason that student government is so inane at KU and most American universities is that what it decides has almost no effect on the life of the students. In general, except for a few social activities, if the student government ceased to exist it never would be missed. There are many other ramifications of this lack of democracy in the American university system which space does not permit me to discuss.
My conclusion is simple. One should not attack university presidents, Senators, and politicians for adhering to the principles and practices of the American educational system. Instead, that system should be changed.
Elbert Russell
Albuquerque, N. M., graduate student
COMMENT
Shut Up and Deal
Ahmed Ben Bella, premier of newly-independent Algeria, has goofed. He needs someone to take him by his little hand and tell him all about the facts of life.
Ben Bella is trying to play that new and fascinating parlor game which has become so popular with neutrals since the end of World War II—"How to Burn the Candle at Both Ends and Come Out Smelling Like A Rose."
THE RULES FOR this game are simple. To qualify as an active player, the neutral nation first has its leader issue a fiery condemnation of colonialism. Then he clutches his breast, and swears before God and witnesses that he will fight to the death to preserve his neutrality and the neutrality of his neighbors. Next, he informs the other players (Russia and the United States) that his nation, being neutralist, is not interested in the affairs of either one. (This gives the Americans and the Russians their signal—they know he's ready to accept their aid.)
Finally, the neutral country takes its place in the General Assembly of the United Nations—in the neutralist bloc, of course. After all this has been done, the country is ready to play.
The United States, always eager and anxious to take up the White Man's Burden (and prayerfully hopeful that if it gives the neutral enough, he might like the U.S. a little bit) extends the hand of friendship.
THE SOVIETS, seeing an opportunity to play our little game, (and prayerfully hopeful that if they give the neutral enough, he might like the U.S.S.R. a little bit) sends 100 Russian agronomists and technicians and 17 dilapidated MIG jet planes.
This is when the game gets interesting. The neutral sends an emissary to the U.S. He is greeted accordingly and tells his sad tale.
"My people are hungry, and might go Communist if they don't get fed. Do you suppose you could...?"
Having secured 20,000 tons of surplus American wheat, a promise for $30 million in aid and guarantee for economic assistance, the emissary departs for Moscow.
"Comrade, my people are becoming enthralled with capitalism. If they could be fed with Russian wheat and told that they have a place in the Comintern, they might..."
THIS IS BASICALLY the way the game is played. To many nations, it is old hat—India, Indonesia, Egypt, Katanga . . . all are masters at it.
Ben Bella knows all this, but after being in the game only a few short months, he has committed a serious strategic error.
If you want aid from the United States (an integral part of the game) you don't get the Conservative wing of the American Congress mad at you. You have to be subtle and arouse as little controversy as possible.
This particular group of Senators and Congressmen (Goldwater, Thurmond and the clan) is already in a dither about the whole game of foreign aid. Why make them madder?
BY BEING EVASIVE and appealing to the idealistic people in this country, Ben Bella could have the candle still burning at both ends. But if he keeps on like he has (accepting a 21-gun salute at the White House and then two days later calling for the United States withdrawal from Guantanamo Naval Base), he is likely to get his candle snuffed out. And he might get the whole foreign aid caper snuffed out.
If Ben Bella wants to play the game, somebody (what are you doing tonight, Mr. Sukarno?) better catch him fast before he really louses everything up. Where would everybody be? The U.S.S.R. and the United States might have to go back to for-real fighting, with guns and bombs and things. And (a horrible thought), the neutrals might have to align themselves. Now we don't want to spoil such an enjoyable game, do we?
Doesn't anybody have a spare Hoyle's they can give Ben Bella?
—Zeke Wigglesworth
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
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