Portfolio:
Photo by Bill Higgins
Letters to the editor
To the editor:
It's probably inappropriate for me to comment upon editorials in the Daily Kansan and perhaps less appropriate for me
To the editor:
Now that we have a new chancellor, it is a good time to reconsider the arming of the campus police. These men are mainly traffic police. They direct traffic during rush hour, cruise around and give tickets at other times. There is hardly any need for a gun in any of this. Occasionally a student does something which is unapproved, such as a panty raid. Do we want guns to handle this? Questions of serious criminal action, arson or robbery are rare enough so that we can rely on the Lawrence police.
So why do the campus police have guns? Because they might be useful on rare occasions? We should beware of this reasoning. The University is a teacher, and more by what it does than by what it says. Do we want to teach that guns are useful and essentially harmless things to have around, even if you hardly need them? Do we want to reassure people with pistols in their night tables and under their pillows, as a safeguard against burglaries? Most of these people wind up shooting at a noise, and find out it was a three-year-old daughter or a wife. If we want to encourage these people, if we want to express the essential desirability and normality of guns, a good way to do it is to continue to arm the campus police.
Donald Larner Res. Associate, Physics
Oct. 8
1969 KANSAN 5
to agree so wholeheartedly. But I do want to express my appreciation to you for the extremely fine editorial on civil disobedience. I thought your historical and contemporary analysis was extremely well considered and equally-well written.
Thank you too, for the vote of confidence in your condensation of my K.C. speech. In
an age when most student papers criticize the "Administration" (frequently for good and valid reasons) it's refreshing to receive support. I'm genuinely grateful.
Larry Chalmers Chancellor of the University