Page 2 University Daily Kansan Wednesday, February 11. 1953
Fate of School TV Up to Legislature
The Legislature has exactly 50 days to decide if Kansas, in addition to its other educational achievements, is to help pioneer in educational television.
Before April 1 the law-making body must decide if it will appropriate $450,000 for the construction and two-year operation of two television stations—at Kansas State college and the University—joined by a micro-wave relay link so that the project would be a joint endeavor, with each school producing half of the local programs.
The April 1 deadline pertains to an offer by the Fund for Adult Education of the Ford Foundation, which has offered $100,000 to each school for the development of educational TV, provided each double the amount by the above date.
We hope the Legislature makes the right decision.
And it is pressing that it act now, not only because of the FAE opportunity. Very high frequency Channel 11 has been reserved for non-commercial educational use in Lawrence. However, Channel 11 will again be open for commercial applications after June 3 if the Federal Communications Commission is not satisfied that the University has the funds available to carry out a television program.
The educational opportunities of television are staggering. Hundreds of thousands of listeners-viewers would have a front seat for the best in entertainment and instruction that the free inquiry of great universities have to offer. The very fact that University television stations are subsidized—not dependent on commercial back-ing—limits the caliber of programs only to the ingenuity and planning of the educational telecasters.
Kansas and the Mid-West have a name for educational firsts and advancements. Television station WOI-TV at Iowa State college at Ames was the first operated anywhere by a non-profit institution.
Educational TV can be dull and boring, critics say. WOI-TV has poured cold water on their arguments. It has combined showmanship with locally produced public interest and service programs, in addition to sponsored network shows. And the Ford Foundation has established another subsidiary which is producing superior film series for educational TV stations.
It would indeed be a shame if, after the bitter original three-way fight for Channel 11 with commercial stations in Kansas City, the University would lose its claim to the channel because the Legislature fails to act now.
The same fight was waged in late 1950 before the FCC itself between commercial and educational television. Largely through the commendable efforts of Commissioner Frieda Hennock were some 200 channels reserved for educational use.
But the powerful commercial interests were able to get provisions that unless the educational applicants demonstrated "good faith" by having funds available and construction underway by a certain time, the allocation of the channels would revert to the FCC for commercial challenging.
That is the problem faced by the University today, in its desire to expand its services to the people of Kansas. It is a problem of financing. It is a problem which can only be solved by an enlightened Legislature. Jerry Knudson.
We would like to have a camera to catch the expression of out-of-town travellers who start up 6th street on Highway 40 thinking it will be a wide highway, then get a few miles out of town and hit the 30-odd curves and chuck-held roads.
POGO
There is now a concerted effort underway among certain members of the All Student Council to devise a plan for reorganizing the ASC. Some of the leaders of both campus parties are advocating a redistricting according to different kinds of living groups: fraternities and sororities, scholarship halls, private homes, University residence halls, and the like, with the number of council representatives from each type of living to be determined by voter participation from each district. Reorganization along these lines, it is argued, would give a more accurate representation of the ASC's electorate.
The final plan has not been worked out, and the committee on reorganization is not concerning itself with redistricting exclusively. It is, though, an important phase of the project.
In practice, regardless of what ASC constitution and by-laws say to the contrary, council members actually represent the people they live with, whether or not those people elected them. Very little business conducted in the ASC affects the student according to his curriculum, but a lot of ASC legislation is decided, or at least influenced, by factors related to residence. Furthermore, the very structure of campus politics revolves around whether a student is or isn't living in a Pachacamac house.
One Man's Opinion
By JIM BAIRD
So it stands to reason that a student council which is selected according to residence would be a more accurately representative, if not a more efficient, body. Apparently, those who guide Pachacamac policy do not think so.
Pach points out that it has built up, over the years, a powerful political organization. Through hard work and strong interest in campus politics, it has managed to establish for itself a position of power and influence in student government.
Reorganization according to residence, they say, would legislate away the power it now has to direct ASC policy in its favor. If reorganization were affected, it continues, the Pachacamac machine would never be able to get any more representatives on the Council than there are Rising Suns in proportion to the voting population of the campus. And that, Pach members say, would be unfair.
What the Pach heads are saying, in effect, is, "We, representing roughly a third of the students at the University of Kansas, do not want our power to regulate the other two-thirds taken away from us."
They state furthermore that, under the present setup, if the opposition party could turn out the vote in an election, that party could make a clean sweep of all ASC seats.
Yet under the proposed plan of reorganization, Pach would always be guaranteed a certain amount of representation on the Council, according to the number of votes it polls in proportion to the total vote cast. And it's doubtful if the mighty Pach machine would ever crumble so much that it wouldn't be able to elect its full quota of representatives.
The reorganization proposals recognize inadequacies and inconsistencies in the present election machinery and attempt to present a better, fairer method of selecting ASC representatives. But if those working for reorganization think that it will be the answer to the present state of affairs between the Council and a large segment of the student body, the answer is "no."
Come next April, both Pachacamac and FACTS will be out to win another election. No matter what system of voting or what system of selecting ASC representatives is used, in the final analysis the winner will be the candidate who polls the most votes.
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Little Man on Campus by Dick Bibler
"Do any of you remember where I was when my lecture was interrupted—I've given it so many times I wasn't listening."
Campus Candids
SALLY FREEMAN
WAYNE KNOWLES
JOAN GUTHRIDGE
"Are you in favor of KU's plan for increasing enrollments?"
Roth Gatewood, business junior;
"I think it would be a good way of cutting operating costs, and I am in favor of an increase if classes are not over crowded."
Henry Small, college sophomore: "I thing it is a good thing because there are a lot of veterans returning who wish to get started back to school. Crowded classes mean increased competition among students."
Francie Hoyt, college senior: "An increase would be bad, simply because so many students need special attention now, and they would be less likely to get it if classes were bigger."
Sally Freeman, fine arts senior: "I think the plan to increase enrollments would be fine, if the University would increase the number of classes. As a rule though, classes are big enough now."
Wayne Knowles, college senior: "If the policy of increasing enrollments is consistent with the standards of the University at the present time, an increase would be beneficial. I am not in favor of lowering the standards of the University."
ROTH GATEWOOD
Joan Guthridge, college junior: "I cannot see how an increased enrollment would affect me. I am in favor of a larger enrollment if classes don't get too big."
FRANCIE HOYT
HENRY SMALL
Short Ones
John Foster Dulles is being severely criticized because he is using plain instead of fancy words to explain this country's foreign policy. * * *
It wasn't the women with bangs who were the main conformers at the inauguration, but the men with Homburg hats.
- * *
Safety is being stressed, but car manufacturers continue to build automobiles which ride only 55 5-16 inches above the road, therefore enabling the car to take sharp curves at higher speeds.
With the beginning of a new semester all organizations are running around in circles trying to figure out a new reason to nominate a queen for something.
The new administration seems to have increased inflation, peach baskets sold for 75 cents at the inaugural parade.