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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Nov. 12, 1963
Respect? Contempt!
A committee of the student government at the University of Colorado has stuck its tongue in its cheek and proposed that regulatory hours for men be established to conform with those extant for women.
The committee, which said it is concerned with mental health, wanted to protect male students from the necessity of making their own decisions.
THE PROPOSAL, intended only to parody the arguments used to defend closing hours for women, might not be such a bad idea after all.
Men are naturally rebellious creatures, resentful of intrusions on their personal liberties, provided they can pin-point what it is that they resent. I can think of no way faster to cause trouble, than to give the men on this campus something specific to raise hell about.
That, apparently, is the only way much hullabaloo will ever be raised. The women won't do it. (I am speaking generically, not of specific women.)
But just raising merry Ned for the sake of getting Ned up is a waste of time and rather foolish beside. For that reason, we all might as well quit complaining about closing hours for women. The parents are the ones who insisted on closing hours for women, and regardless of how University officials feel, those hours are here to stay.
MAYBE IF THE men started complaining loudly enough, as they would if someone had the gall to lay down closing hours, there might be enough of a spirit of rebellion created that some of it would seep into the women's quarters.
What is troubling is that the women accept them. Oh, they complain about closing, and recite the time-worn ideas about college women being able to take care of themselves, but that's about it.
AND THEN, when they are late some evening, they go before the Board of Standards of their respective living group with a sense of fear, of fantastic respect.
Why, if women really resent the implications in all these rules and all this unasked-for advice that women need protection, do they not fight the institutions which do the enforcing?
At least, why do they give these boards even
one iota of respect? Contempt would be more in keeping with stated feelings about regulations.
THE SAME GOES for drinking. While I cannot believe that drinking for the sake of getting drunk is the best way to have fun, I cannot believe that personal actions, except insofar as those actions affect others, are anybody's business but the person's.
And yet, the ever-present Board of Standards, or the floor counselors, are on hand to help girls understand why they shouldn't drink. Maybe they shouldn't, but that is not the point.
We are just doing it to help the girl, protect the girl, an official in that magnificent monolith, the Associated Women Students, told me once.
I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND, and when I talked with some college women I still didn't.
That's just the way things are, they told me.
Well, I still don't understand, and before I ever will I'll have to know what sort of punishment would be in store for the girl who chose to ignore the ministrations of all our self-perpetuating bodies of moral assistance.
LET 'EM RAMBLE, ladies. Chin-music won't hurt you, and unless the board has some sort of authority to punish, the board can't hurt you much either.
If that girl would be called before the omnipotent Board of Standards in order that austere body might explain why every right-thinking girl should do this or that, I get even more confused.
IF THE WOMEN continue to grant respect to these rules and to the institutions which enforce them, nothing ever will come of the arguments about college women being able to take care of themselves.
If the board has the authority to punish, let's get a clear statement of its authority and possible punishments out in the open, in order that it can be judged on its merits.
The arguments instead will become academic, simply because it will then be proven that college women really can't care for themselves.
Maybe the answer really is to put closing hours for men into effect. At least the men would fight, instead of smiling sweetly and insisting that "you just don't do things that way."
- Blaine King
The People Say.
No Hope in Parties
Editor:
I am endeavoring here to explain a little about politics and issues current in the All Student Council of this university and why I am running as an independent candidate in the forthcoming elections. My subject is a very broad one, so I will write on what actually goes on rather than what is supposed to be going on in this body. Needless to say student politics at this university are a real mess. There are two parties in existence - essentially really one in nature except that one perpetuates its interests very well if not ruthlessly, the other one has not quite so defined its interests and is the weaker of the two. The whole political process is centered on which of the two controls the ASC. Whether one wins or loses they all thank heaven the week of struggle is over and then go to "sleep" until new elections come up again. Yes, that's what goes on. Granted they appropriate money for the various committees essentially formed to patronize the voters and train future leaders of this "good student government at a great institution.'
In membership Vox is to the greatest extent controlled by the social fraternities and sororities, and its representatives can always be expected to vote straight fraternity "party line." UP on the other hand, is split between the organized leading groups and the Greek element slightly in the minority. This situation in UP prevents it from presenting a solid
front in its voting ranks. With that picture in mind let us look at the issues currently facing Kansas University. The major issue on the campus at this time is civil rights. The position of the fraternity is that they have their "right" to bar anyone from membership regardless of how well qualified they might be simply because of their race or color. At this time there is not a single integrated Greek house on the University campus. With the situation described in the preceeding paragraph and the historic reluctance of the "Greeks" to eliminate their discrimination clauses whether written or unwritten, it seems to me unlikely that cooperation within the existing student party structure will bring about any meaninful solution to the problem especially when all they want to do is "hope" for the fraternities to change these attitudes on their own. Since this opinion is shared by both parties neither one is willing to challenge the other to take a more meaningful stand for fear of losing support of the people entertaining this philosophy of hope. Then there are the big issues—student seating plan at football games, traffic control stations and many other important issues. Heavens, it doesn't take years to devise a good seating plan for students. In fact, it's very simple. Give the students the best seating in the best places and proceed to other business.
Another thing I can't understand is why Kansas University got out of the National Students Association when this is the body that
represents student views and interests in the nation and abroad. In the area of national and international affairs the need of the student community such as KU are many. The accomplishments often are few and can only be fulfilled by the combined efforts of several organizations yet the ASC thought that there won't be anything to gain from it and quit. It is true, too, that the reason for it was that the NSA has a political organization that happened to be unpopular to the interests of the few leading figures then in the majority party of the ASC. The ASC makes an excuse of not having enough power to do some of the things I've just mentioned but frankly, they have never claimed these powers. I would also like to say here that even the faculty senate has no authority or say on important matters of university policy. That's why the administration should take direct action to eliminate the problem of civil rights and make less suggestions like moral suasion which in fact have perpetuated the fears and prejudices of those parties which do discriminate. I am thus forced to run on an independent platform because I cannot find any hope for the solution to the problems I am concerned with within the framework of Vox or UP.
I am sorry that the Kansan thought it in good political sophistication to ask my opponent Brian Grace to comment on my platform when I was not given opportunity to defend it or comment on his.
Walter Bgoya
Tanganyika junior
The 2-Wheel Madmen Will Flatten You Yet
So the average KU pedestrian thought he was safe when they banned cars from the campus, did he? So he figured he could cross Jayhawk Boulevard in nothing flat, did he? Well, as far as I can see, the situation is worse. Now, there's a new danger which must be recognized and coped with. A danger which threatens our health and well-being, indeed, our life and limb.
Bicycles.
Don't look now, but there's an awful lot of bicycles on campus since traffic control began. Most of them seem to be manned by the maniacs who used to drive cars. I have a definite feeling that they are out to get me.
WITH MY CLASS schedule, I cross Jayhawk Boulevard only six times a week, to and from one class. It is my personal conviction that a secret group of bicycle terrorists has discovered my timetable, and lies in wait in front of Snow Hall every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 11:30 and 12:30. As soon as I appear, they pounce. One of these days, they'll get me. I just feel it in my bones.
I don't know if I am special in having received the Black Spot from this local group of two-wheeled fanatics. In watching Jay-hawk, I seem to notice a lot of other pedestrians playing dodge-em with KU's bike nuts.
There are a lot of reasons why this was bound to happen when Traffic Control was begun, the most obvious being that bicycles can sneak onto campus where driving a car on the sidewalk presents certain difficulties.
Second, bicycles are harder to stop than cars. A KU professor has calculated that at 20 miles an hour, a car can stop in 45 feet where a bicycle needs 50 feet. That extra five feet can make the crucial difference between victory and defeat for the rider. Besides, it furnishes a good excuse.
FOURTH, BICYCLES can operate in areas formally reserved for foot-traffic only—like sidewalks, lawns, and hallways. This gives the operators a much greater selection of potential victims. They can begin to be a little choosy in who they run down. Specialization may begin. One marauder may take on only pharmacy students, while another chases only full professors over 50. Ah! Think what opportunities lie in this direction.
However, there are other reasons why the bicycle is so admirably suited as an instrument of mayhem.
Third, bicycles can be deceptive as far as groundspeed (or airspeed) is concerned. Somehow, a bicycle going 40 miles an hour (and I think some of them do) just doesn't LOOK like it's going 40 miles an hour. This fouls up the judgment of the average pedestrian who isn't used to judging the speed of approaching bicycles. This no doubt will be cured only by a massive re-education program for pedestrians. However, there may not be any pedestrians left by the time this is realized in high places.
FIRST, BICYCLES are more easily controlled and have a greater operating area than a car when taking aim on pedestrians. There is more chance for recalculation when the target dodges.
Fifth, the bicycle offers a second chance. If a cyclist misses the target with the wheels or handlebars, he can always stick out a foot and get in a quick kick before opportunity is gone forever.
There are other possibilities, but they get too frightening beyond this. Anyway, you get the idea.
So far, the pedestrian has been pretty lucky. We have suffered only a few grazes and superficial wounds. Indeed, most of the serious injuries seem to have been to the riders themselves. Sort of like lemmings.
What they seem to need at the moment is a sort of common realization of goals, a single, great, unifying purpose. Like killing somebody.
Never relax your vigilance, however. This is only the beginning. After all, the average two-wheeler fiend has been mounted for less than a year and a half.
Yes, it's just a matter of time before a bike-pedaling Gestapo arises and holds sway in a vast region of terror. You'll have to pay to cross Jayhawk or even a sidewalk. They'll get you anywhere. Even in your own dorm, it'll be death to cross the hall. They'll beat down your door with a heavy two-passenger job and drag you out screaming. They'll make you sorry by running wheel spokes under your fingernails.
Then, when that obstacle is surmounted, practice will make perfect and guess who they will practice on.
It's all just a matter of time.
—Larry Knupp
Dailij Māhsan
111 Flint Hall University of Kansas student newspaper UNiversity 4-3646, newsroom UNiversity 4-3198, business office
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