Student Senate grew out of past turmoil
(Editors' note: This is the first of two articles on the history and accomplishments of the Student Senate.)
By ROBIN STEWART
Kansan Staff Writer
Born of dissent and desperation, KU's new Student Senate has begun to assert itself as the governing body of the University's populace.
The Senate was formed last spring as an answer to growing disappointment with its predecessor, the All-Student Council (ASC). Critics of the ASC claimed it had become apathetic and irrelevant to students' needs. Red tape, they said, was its principal output.
ASC was the offspring of the Men's Student Council and Women's Self-Governing Association, which merged in 1943. One of the first bills ASC passed was a smoking regulation. Except for a few areas on campus, smoking was banned.
ASC was also responsible for the Western Civilization Program. In 1946 the ASC went on record as approving the progressive policy of allowing Negro athletes on varsity teams. ASC was concerned with housing and health problems throughout its career, and worked for expansion of Watkins Hospital, with little success.
One of the last topics on which ASC took a stand was the controversial firearms issue. ASC was opposed to campus police carrying firearms, but former Chancellor W. Clark Wescoe firmly announced that as long as he was Chancellor, campus police would carry guns.
ASC was successful last year however in obtaining 1,000 more student tickets for basketball games.
The summer of 1968 marked the beginning of the end of ASC. Student Voice, later renamed Peoples Voice, had demanded 50 per cent student
representation in campus government, threatening to stage a sit-in at Strong Hall if demands were not met. ASC and the Senate Council appointed a twelve-man student-faculty committee to devise a workable government plan.
The plan was submitted to ASC in the fall of 1968, and after meeting seven times to amend and debate the new Senate Code. ASC passed the bill unanimously.
The code was then sent to the University Senate Council, a 42-member body that did much of the work for the then all-faculty University Senate. On Dec. 13 the council passed the code with only minor differences between their version and the ASC version. A joint committee of three ASC members and three council members as appointed to smooth out the differences, and ASC adopted the revised Senate Code on Jan. 7. On Feb. 4, the
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Photo by T. L. Simmons
'O say can you see . . .'
A construction worker "topped out" the NASA space technology building by raising the American flag atop the building's framework. The new NASA building is located west of Daisy Hill at Campus West.
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas Tuesday, Oct. 21, 1969
Laurie nears U.S.
NEW ORLEANS (UPI)—Tropical storm Laurie, spurting winds at 90 miles from her eye, bloomed into a hurricane Monday in the Gulf of Mexico and surged toward the vulnerable Louisiana coast.
The New Orleans Weather Bureau posted a hurricane watch along 750 miles from Galveston, Tex., to Apalachicola, Fla. At 5 p.m. CDT Laurie was reported 300 miles south of New Orleans and moving north at 8 miles an hour.
"Winds will increase to gale force at the mouth of the Mississippi River and tides will rise to 3 to 5 feet in that area by early Tuesday," the Weather Bureau said.
Hurricane-wary residents, used to such deadly names as Audrey, Hilda, Betsy, Carla, Beulah and Camille, fled inland.
"Understandably, no one wants to take any chances," said Sheriff
H. B, Schoenberger at Point a la Hache, La.
The Weather Bureau said Laurie should veer to a more northeasterly course Monday night.
"The threat to the Texas and Western Louisiana coasts appears to have lessened," the Weather Bureau said.
An Air Force reconnaissance plane flew into the middle of the storm and said it had strengthened to hurricane force.
Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, in New Orleans on a political fund raising trip, told Louisiana leaders President Nixon would speed up federal hurricane protection projects.
"When human life is in jeopardy and property value is at stake we have to act." Agnew said.
Civil defense groups and Red Cross workers were on standby alert along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. All schools were
closed in Cameron Parish, La. near the Texas border.
About 7,000 persons in Plaquemines Parish were evacuated inland. The most nervous town in Louisiana was Cameron.
The first effects of the storm were felt along the gulf coast in tides. Along the Louisiana coast, tides already were a foot above normal. Men on an oil rig 35 miles off the upper Texas coast reported six foot waves, twice as high as normal.
Chalin O. Perez, president of the Plaquemines Parish Town Council, ordered all residents to evacuate an area from Venice, La., south along the west bank of the Mississippi River.
Camille smashed that area Aug. 17 in a deadly journey across the Louisiana marshlands and Mississippi coast. More than 250 persons were killed, including flood victims in Virginia and West Virginia.
Sebelius misread escalation letter
By TED ILIFF Kansan Staff Writer
WASHINGTON—A U.S. representative from Kansas told the Kansan Monday he misread a letter to President Nixon asking for escalation of the Vietnam war.
Rep. Keith Sebelius, R-Norton, signed a letter drafted by Rep. Sam Steiger, R-Arizona, asking for "a sudden and major escalation of the war with one aim in mind-victory."
Rep. Larry Winn Jr., R-Lea-wood, also signed the letter, but claimed it did not call for escalation of the war. Winn said the letter intended only to point out that such an alternative was available to the President.
Sebelius, a lawyer, said he thought the letter proposed various alternatives to the President concerning the war.
"I thought the letter was to be a vote of confidence for the President and our negotiators in Paris. After I realized what it actually said, I saw how it wasn't really my position on the war and how it could be construed several different ways. So I withdrew my signature," Sebelius said.
"I admit I have no excuse for misreading the letter. I am a lawyer, so I should have read it closer. I think there are other congressmen who may have read it wrong also, but most of them aren't lawyers and can be forgiven. Being a lawyer, I can't," Sebelius said.
Sebelius said Rep. Rogers Morton, Republican national chairman, R-Maryland, withdrew his signature for reasons similar to Sebelius'.
Sebelius asserted the withdrawal of his signature was not a withdrawal of support for the President.
"I am not a hothead. But when
Steiger, the author of the letter, admitted Sebellus and Morton had asked to have their names withdrawn, but Steiger said he didn't know why.
Steiger also said 14 representatives had signed the letter. He had hoped for about 50. He said "15 or 20" representatives had approached him after the letter had been sent to the White House.
President Nixon is trying his best to get us out of the war, we ought to indicate several alternatives he could pursue and get support for. I am vitally concerned that we don't close the door on any alternatives other than unilateral withdrawal." Sebelius said.
"I have received close to 200 letters from my constituents concerning the letter to Nixon, and only three have been unfavorable." Steiger added.
Steiger said he has received no statement or reaction from Nixon. Nixon received the letter Friday.
Nearly 500 persons were arrested throughout the country.
TOKYO—Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turned parts of the world's largest city into an urban battleground today in protest against Japan's alliance with the United States.
By United Press International
Police said an estimated 450,000 persons took part in the mostly violent demonstrations in 594 points throughout the country including all major cities, in demanding that the United States immediately turn Okinawa back to Japan.
UDK News Roundup
Japan wants Okinawa
Laws cause social harms
WASHINGTON—The legal penalties and social ostricism surrounding homosexuals should be relaxed, a federal task force said Monday.
Criminal laws and restrictive hiring practices which effect the nation's 3 to 4 million adult homosexuals have "done more social harm than good," the task force report said.