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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Sept. 25, 1962
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
Student Government
In 1911 a small, somewhat secret, group called Pachacamac started student government on Mt. Oread. That year also saw the formation of an opposition party named the Black Mask. These two, and their many successors, have contributed in some way to what today's undergraduate can look to and proudly call good student government.
This concept of a student voice in the operation of the University and the supervision of the education provided has transversed a great expanse from the doldrums of the most intense political intrigue to what can today be looked upon as an organ of individual opinion conceived and functioning on an adult, practical, honest, useful, and meaningful level.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT here has matured from the point where the opposing factions were trying to see who could stuff the most ballot boxes to having the two parties racing headlong to outdo each other in the best interests of the students to lure more voters. Such an instance will arise tonight at the first All Student Council meeting over the issue of offering more polling places to ease the task of voting for each student as much as possible. Herein possibly lies the secret to the success of student government at KU.
Since there exists a distinct two party system, with occasional interest groups involved, if the individual cannot be satisfied by the ideals of one body he can turn to the other and have hope for some degree of success. This type of an approach to student government has led to what must be termed one of the most functional and representative self-governing situations in the nation.
The new student at KU might gaze upon student government as merely a group of busy-bodies polishing apples for the future and playing games with student opinion and feeling with little or no regard for what is actually happening. Certainly it cannot be denied that a few of the people who are running student government are looking for personal plaudits and are interested in seeing other students jump at a command. But the record proves that there is a definite desire held by student political leaders for the particular interests of the student body.
SOME OF THE PROGRAMS which have been instituted in recent years which reflect a wish for betterment of the student's position on campus are: IBM voting process, lighted streets to dormitories, the reserve seating plan, better coordination with area student governments, stop day, assistance to such programs as the Peace Corps and People-to-People. The list is a lengthy one but these are a few examples of items which do have a direct effect on the student as an individual and show that the purpose of student government to represent the student is being fulfilled to a great extent.
Student government is probably the one organization, if it can be so termed, which affects each person in the University community and is directed and advised by students. Thus it is vital for each student to observe the action taken at council meetings and to keep abreast of what issues are being dealt with by the ASC. If this is done there can be no greater check on student government. By some exhibition of interest from the student body there will be a continued improvement in not only the strength and capabilities of the government but of the individual student.
Student government here is entering into a new era. There is a growing respect and need for student opinion as represented by its leaders. People want to know what collegiate America is thinking. An example of this is the series of speeches which the KU student body president will give to alumni groups within the next week. This is something which is being done for the first time and has the earmarks of bringing student government more into the focus on campus and in the minds of the alumni.
More money than ever is to be spent on student government this year. People want to know how students feel and what they are doing. The best method for accomplishing this is through an efficient and closely watched student government. Bill Sheldon
'Mr. KU' Retires
The retirement of Fred Ellsworth as executive secretary of the KU Alumni Association probably won't mean much to students presently attending the University.
But his retirement from the position he has held for the past 38 years can't help being noticed by countless KU alumni scattered throughout the United States.
The funds which have been donated to the University and the benefits these funds have provided the school are difficult to measure. The benefits which KU has received by having one of the most active alumni associations in the nation also are difficult to prove by any tangible evidence.
Present-day students actually owe more to Ellsworth than many of them realize.
Easier to see are two memorials on campus which were built largely through Ellsworth's efforts. The original portion of the Kansas Union was built as a World War I memorial, and the campanile and Memorial Drive was built as a World War II memorial, largely through donations from alumni and friends of KU.
Fred Ellsworth obviously believes in KU, and believes that the institution has a tremendous future. If he didn't believe in it he wouldn't have spent 38 years in promoting it, and he couldn't have had so much success in convincing alumni that they should support KU by their membership in the Alumni Association and by their donations.
His success is proved by the fact that the KU Alumni Association membership presently stands at more than 16,000, which is the largest alumni membership in the Big Eight. It also is larger than three alumni organizations at Big Ten Universities.
Ellsworth's retirement, which is effective next June 30, was a closely-guarded secret, as was the idea to name the new men's dormitory in his honor.
It would be trite, as well as unnecessary, to say that Ellsworth deserves this honor. This fact is obvious to many KU alumni and to countless Kansas residents to whom he was known as "Mr. KU."
—Clayton Keller
Daily Hansan
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
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Member Inland Daily Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays, and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Managing Editor
Clayton Keller and Bill Sheldon ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Short Ones
Charles Martinache ... Business Manager
Energy may be turned to bad uses, but more good may always be made of an energetic nature than of an indolent and impassive one.—John Stuart Mill.
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Time is a sandpile we run our fingers on—Carl Sandburg.
It is the wisest who grieve most at loss of time.—Dante.
There are optical illusions in time as well as in space.—Marcel Proust.
肉肉
Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction. Goethe.
"I SEE IVE LECTURED PAST THE BELL AGAIN—."
COMMENT
Sorry, Mr. Lincoln
My great-grandfather bled to death on a dirty field in Maryland, a half-mile from the Potomac River.
He gave his life to preserve the unity of his country. He died fighting other men who had a different concept of that country.
MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, and men like him, all died in vain.
We went to war to preserve the Union—a union that had never really been. The controversies that separated this nation before the Civil War had existed from the moment it was born.
There was controversy about the status of the Negro and there was controversy about economic matters . . . and there was a larger controversy about what the basic nature of this nation was to be.
THERE WERE THOSE who felt like Jefferson and Madison that the federal government was a mere "agent" for the states.
There were those who felt like Calhoun, that the states could nullify any act that the federal government passed.
And there were those who felt that the United States must be preserved, and that the federal government was supreme.
IN THE SIXTH DECADE of the last century, two million men met and fought to decide these questions.
Nothing was basically changed by the Civil War. The Negro is free, on paper, thanks to Mr. Lincoln, but is he really free? Ask James Meredith or the kids at Little Rock Central High School.
It is true that slavery is unknown in this country, but the spirit of slavery still exists.
DID THE MEN who fought and died a century ago resolve the controversy about the essential nature of the United States? Today, is there an issue about states' rights? Ask the Mississippi state college board or Governor Ross Barnett.
Almost a hundred years ago President Lincoln delivered a two-minute oration at the commemoration of a cemetery. I assume that Gov. Barnett has heard of that speech, and it is possible that he remembers a passage from it:
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“... THAT WE HERE resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation will have a new birth of freedom. . .”
It appears that Mr. Lincoln was wrong. My great-grandfather and 500,000 like him died for nothing.
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Tell me, Gov. Barnett, are you an American or are you a Mississippiian?
—Zeke Wigglesworth
Worth Repeating
The important thing is that those who see an injustice do not remain silent.—Edwin Wilson
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The softest heads containing the murkiest thinking are found lodged between cap and gown.—Fred Hale