Trouble Over New Rule Will Be Worthwhile
Monday the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that, although it may cause momentous upheavals in some sectors and will present many serious problems, will go down in history as one of our greatest steps toward racial equality.
It is a big decision, and in many cases it will be a hard decision. And in a lot of cases it will be as hard or harder on the Negroes of our country as on the whites.
It is a decision that will force the American people to quit paying "lip service" to racial equality and actually do more toward practicing it.
In some of the Southern states where segregation is a philosophy rather than just a policy, it will force changes of a magnitude hard to realize.
Although this may happen in some cases, it probably won't be a permanent thing. A change such as this one, for areas where there are numerous racial problems, is hard for a lot of people to accept.
Acceptance of the ruling will be an evolutionary thing in many cases. You cannot legislate the way people feel and think—only the way they act. The hope is that, through being made to act in a different way, people may come to realize that they actually had no basis for the feelings and prejudices which they possess.
In some of the Southern states there is talk of abolition of the public school systems because of the ruling. Some southern leaders say they will provide other means of education before they will force Negro and white children to sit in the same classroom.
One of the reasons this decision is so important is because it directly affects one of the basic tenets of our democracy—the education of our young people. Perhaps non-segregation in education will in time result in the lessening of segregation in many other aspects of life.
One big consideration is that this decision removes one of the black masks from our society that has long been a favorite target of our enemies, and more particularly the Communists.
The problem facing the American people now is to make the decision more than just a scrap of paper or an announced doctrine. We have the means through which we can take a great step forward —let's take it! ——Don Tice
A & M Writer Thinks Grades Are Very Important Things
Ninety seniors, 10 graduate students, and three faculty members have been honored by pledging into Phi Kappa Phi, national honor society. This is the recognition of scholarship that can be achieved at A&M. These individuals have a right to be proud of their college careers.
There are some students who will berate the top scholars. They usually will say that "after all, it's not grades that are important when you get out of college. Pity those poor bookworms, they are not equipped for rough and ready life as well as the 'C' student."
In our opinion, these people who do not respect high grades are not thinking logically. We are not going to claim that grades are everything, but they are certainly something—and a mighty big something at that.
Those students who seem to enjoy knocking the top scholars seem to think that the only value of college is as an "experience." The studies, to them, are merely a distraction that must be endured. These people do not seem to realize that you don't need to come to college to get an "experience." This could be achieved by a trek to Alaska, enlistment in the French Foreign Legion, or by any number of other means.
Although we all fall by the wayside at times, it is probably well to remember that class work is the primary excuse for going to college. Other phases of life should not be neglected, but the book work should always remain a top priority consideration. Many of the good-grade haters consider playing pool as more vital than studying. People of this class have the audacity to give the bronx cheer to the pledges of Phi Kappa Phi and other top students.
Page 2 University Daily Kansan Wednesday, May 19, 1954
There are students who seem to think that good grades and hermit-like seclusion always go together. They are of course wrong. A glance at the Phi Kappa Phi roll will show that most of the pledges are active in many campus organizations of all kinds. If records were available, they would probably show that the grade-beraters are quite dormant.
Grades may not be the most important thing in college. Yet, we cannot think of anything more important. The people who realize the value of good marks usually participate in other activities knowing that college life must be well-rounded.
(Because of the length of this letter, and our space limitations, only parts of it can be carried. We have attempted to include important points. Ed.) To the editor:
...LETTERS.
With reference to the article "Much Progress shown in Israel's Six Years," I would like to bring to the attention of the readers some facts to show how biased and little-informed is the writer in the birth of the so-called "Israel."
When the Western World thought of alleviating the suffering of the Jews who were persecuted in Germany, they found no better way of doing it than to give them other people's lands and houses.
The Jews were fairly wellarmed even before the English government liquidated its mandate over Palestine. Furthermore, the arms and ammunitions used by the Jews in Palestine were being illegally smuggled to them on American and English ships.
. . . Israel is not an island of democracy. The Communist party in Israel is very strong, and there are many communal settlements in the country.
I would like to mention the fact that the Arab World was on the side of the Allies in both World Wars, and that the Arabs gave the oil concessions to America and not to Russia. This oil concession secures for America over 40 per cent of the oil reserve of the world. In return America helped and is still helping in the persecution and suffering of one million Palestine Arabs.
. . . The seven Arab nations did not lose the war in fighting on the field, they were prevented by the United Nations truce from carrying on the war.
Certainly this is not in accordance with the teachings of Christianity or with the rules of democracy or with the basic facts of justice
A. Alamuddine graduate student from Lebanon
To the editor:
Who else thinks the lawyers and catcalls have ceased to be funny and become merely odious? Certainly most girls who go tripping down the sidewalk, glad to be alive and feeling that they look pretty sharp, will be gratified not annoyed, by a good loud whistle which confirms that they do look sharp and that it is good to be alive. However, it seems that our lawyers aren't trying to make anyone feel good, but to embarrass as much as possible any girl who passes by, especially if she happens to be, as the magazines say, "generously endowed." Even the possessor of TV-type frontage might possibly be modest enough to resent having speculations concerning this, or any other dimension, shouted out to the accompaniment of noises by a chorus which sounds as if it were composed of perverts.
There is, I think, a rumor around that the lawyers consider themselves to be gentlemen; this may be true. For instance, one single lawyer on campus or downtown sanctioned graft and tort frothy-mouthed noises when he meets a girl he knows, or one he doesn't know.
Should the lawyers desire to mend their ways, I suggest an educational tour to the steps of Lindley hall. Those big, silent rock men smile their appreciation.
Lord and Taylor of New York advertises "glass sphere earrings with guppies inside" and it all sounds mighty fish to us.
Name withheld by request.
—Daily O'Collegian Stillwater, Okla
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bible
"He's writing letters of application to four other colleges—he thinks he just flunked th' college entrance exam."
Across the Campuses—
Cornell Sophomores Can't Own Automobiles
CORNELL—Without any indication to the campus that action was pending, the faculty voted yesterday to recommend to the Board of Trustees that sophomores, as well as freshmen, be prohibited from owning automobiles in Tompkins County except in cases of serious hardship.
Sophomores at Cornell will no longer be permitted to own cars according to a faculty ruling, elections at the University of Washington will have to be quieter in the future, the problem of drinking is being aired at Colorado, and a number of Oklahoma A&N women students got dunked in a fountain in news across the nation's campuses.
Final judgment on this proposal will probably be given when the Board of Trustees holds its June meeting. If they pass the recommendation, they will probably go into effect next fall.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON—Election campaigning may be radically cut as a result of a move by the Organizations Assembly. The assembly gave first approval to a motion which would eliminate noise-making in all ASUW and class elections.
This proposal was submitted for one which would have eliminated both noise-making and sign-carrying from the campaigns. Heavy debate preceded acceptance of the motion. One delegate asked for opinions against the current campaign system and was told that the noise making around the library is ineffective because no single candidate's rooters can be heard.
COLORADO UNIVERSITY—Clifford Houston, dean of students, said he feels that it is important to find out from the students what they think about the use of liquor in Greek houses, and to ask liquor is a problem to the Greek groups. He said he feels that "everybody knows it's a problem in society, and it's unrealistic to think otherwise."
Commenting that "drinking is a social as well as an individual problem," he said "students drink together, and then we are concerned." He added, however, that "we don't want to be 'smooper-versors'."
OKLAHOMA A&M-Three coeds at A&M wound up in the infirmary as a result of a mass "pond party" that started when two or three girls who had started to go steady were thrown into a fountain in front of Stout hall by other coeds.
D'IN'T NO-BODY
NEVER TOLE YOU
MUD-PIES
AIN'T ACTUAL NO-
LEGAL LUNCH?
UNIVERSITY
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EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editorial editor  Don Ties
Assistants  Letty Lempah