INSIDE
The University Daily KANSAN October 26,1983 Page 17
Careers and KU
ROTC shows strength at KU
Fading memories of Vietnam, value of dollar lead to surge Inside, p. 18.
Students train for city management
KU's public administration program is one of the country's oldest Inside, p. 20.
Careers for creative artists
Love, not money, motivates most fine arts graduates Inside, p. 19.
But KU officials say field probably won't become saturated inside, p. 18.
More students seek law degrees
Jobs in foreign service are rare
Foreign-language majors turn to business and education Inside, p. 19.
Understanding KU placement
Students need to learn system so they don't miss other opportunities Inside. p. 20.
'60s activists are now part of society. but retain goals
By LAURE JONES Staff Reporter
Although many of the student activists of the 1960s have bought into the materialistic society they once sought to change, they have not betrayed their generation.
At least that what's five KU alumni said when they recalled their rebellious college days in light of the 1980s and the issues that American youth face today.
Bob Woodbury, marketing manager for CBS College Publishing in New York City, graduated from KU in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in geography. Woodbury helped to bring Dick Gregory, civil rights and peace activist, to speak at KU.
"I MUST ADMIT there were times when I was concerned with selling out," Woodbury said. "There was a preoccupation with pure, clean employment. The fear of selling out meant we were worried about working for exploiters, polluters and destrovers."
Woodbury said his occupation of selling engineering and computer science textbooks did no harm.
"It might even do some good," he said. With the wide spectrum of issues today, Woodbury does not think his children have as clear or attractive opportunities for involvement. The causes are muddled, and the children are more involved with their own lives, he said.
"It might even do some good," he said
In June 1982, however, Woodbury took his children to the nuclear arms freeze march in New York City and was amazed at the strong contrast of support.
"WHILE AMONG MILLIONS of people, I could only remember how there was often only one person keeping the silent vigil going at KU," he said.
Joe Roach, associate professor and
chairman of performing arts at Washington University in St. Louis, was usually that one person.
When Roach attended a recent demonstration against draft registration at Washington University, he experienced only a "faint resonance of the mighty roar of the 1960s," he said.
In 1969, Roach graduated with a bachelor's degree in theater and English. Every Sunday from noon to midnight, Roach attended the silent vigils for peace in Vietnam in Lawrence's South Park.
"There is only an echo of the social consciousness, interest and passion for political issues that existed in the 1960s," Roach said.
ROACH RECALLS A "surreal juxtaposition" that existed at KU when demonstrators performed para-theatrical war events next to fraternity men who were building floats for homecoming.
"There were two worlds that interpenetrated, but did not interact," he said.
"I feel strongly that the temptations of a narrow technical training are pervasive," he said. "We have constructed an illusion of what is practical and impractical."
Roach says that he does not know whether he is much more conservative now than he was in the 1960s.
"I don't know if my politics have changed much," he said.
Roach misses the excitement of the political involvement, but not the incivilities such as people shouting at one another, he said.
Roach advises his students not to be over-
sold by the narrow caricomism of the 1980s
John Sanford, director of Crisis and Information Helpline in Larimer County, Colo., graduated in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy. San
ford agrees that the youth today are not as informed and concerned about issues.
"WITH THE PROGRESS made in the 1960s, there is still a discrepancy between the ideals presented by our culture and what is actually been done." Sanford said.
"I was co-chairman of Alternative Educational Facilities to increase anti-war education and awareness by making more pamphlets and handouts available to students," Sanford said.
In the height of the anti-war movement with the Kent State shooting and the invasion of Cambodia, Sanford did not move to strike at the University as an institution
Though he says he is not as actively involved today as he was in the 1960s, he has found "a more effective course is to help individuals instead of confronting the culture as a whole."
Roger Martin, editor of Explorer Magazine for University Relations at KU, graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in English and "entered the alternative culture as a life-style experimental-type rather than as an activist," he said.
"I am also consistent philosophically in terms of human values," he said. "The individual is still more important than materials."
I WAS INFECTED with the spirit of let's do something this way for this week, and do something else the next." Martin said.
Martin spent time in a farm commune in Lecompont while at KU. After graduation he hikethiked to and from the West Coast four times in seven months. On one such trip, he recalled getting beaten up by cowboys in Wyoming.
"It was one of the zaniest years in my life." Martin said.
"We rejected inherited ways of doing things," he said. "We believed that work should not be the center of one's life, work
was incidental and not a means to happiness."
Martin said that choice, rather than security, seemed like the most precious thing in the late 1960s. The times were liberating and there was a sense of excitement and experiment.
"IT MAKES ME sorry that high unemployment makes people today feel they have to jump to decisions," Martin said. "It makes me sad they miss the intoxication of possibilities."
People feel pressured to embark on their careers as soon as possible, before others get to the top of the ladder, he said. There is not the "feeling of freedom from shackles."
Martin said that he had no set goals in the 1960s, and that he still did not have any today.
"I still cherish the idea of not closing off possibilities or changing my mind," he said
GUS DI ZEREGA, self-employed graphic artist in Berkeley, Calif., designs stationary and sells it in the western United States. Di Zerega takes a different viewpoint than his alum counterpart in considering the youth today and the issues they face
"I don't buy a lot of the "me" generation oompus," he said.
There is a drop-off in the commitment to activism, but it is not nearly as great as people claim, he said.
IN 1973, di Zerega graduated from KU with a master's degree in political science and history. He was active in Students for a Democratic Society. He also helped to put together the campaign and platform for the Independent Student Party, the group that
"There is still alot of energy, but it is less visible because it is oriented around individual issues and the groups are so diverse." di Zerega said.
won the right for student representation by vote.
Di Zerega was a columnist with the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for four years and also worked with Dick Raney and former mayor Bob Pulliam to establish better police-community relations in efforts to keep violence from becoming greater.
People now do not take jobs and economic security for granted, di Zerega said. There is also a different set of issues and ways of dealing with them.
In the 1960s, di Zerega was so caught up with political issues that he made politics his life, he said.
"THE WAY OF dealing with conflicts in my personal life was to get more involved," he said. "Generally speaking, I am incredibly more satisfied with my own life now, than I was in the 1960s."
Di Zerega admits that he does not have the time or energy for the numerous individual causes. Instead, he commits himself to the umbrella term of issue-oriented and makes contributions in three specific areas: ecology, disabled rights and the situation in El Salvador.
In comparing the music, he says it is more negative and less political today. It reflects not a lack of interest, but a frustration that promises and plans have not worked out, he said.
Activism ended when the left was unable to offer a coherent alternative to what they had, di Zerega said.
"Given the major combative movement, a lot of the energy was lost," he said.
The 1960s were, however, a success since the draft abolishment was due, in a large part, to the protests, he said.
"The 1960s laid the roots for most of the issues that capture our attention today," di Zerega said.