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University Daily Kansan Friday, Nov. 7, 1952
Mass Dissatisfaction Caused ASC Change
By JIM BIRD
The present form of student government at the University will mark its 11th birthday next spring. It was adopted by the students on April 1, 1943. ◎
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The All Student Council came as a result of mass student dissatisfaction with the bicameral system which had been in use since the turn of the century. Under the old setup, the men and the women each had their own governing body.
The Men's Student Council, dominated by the large Hill fraternities, was also a court of justice.
In the earlier days, MSC was active in administering the judicial powers under their jurisdiction, which included traffic, social regulations, alcoholic beverages (Kansas was dry then), and vandalism.
In the realm of constructive legislation, MSC also was active. The point system for student elections, creation of a student bookstore, an attempt to abolish Hell week, and regulation of student social activity can be included.
"Anybody could run for office by paying 50 cents and submitting a petition signed by 25 students," the clipping states, "and nobody was sure after an election just who had won."
MSC was created in a chaotic atmosphere, according to a Kansan feature story on the 25th anniversary of the Council.
Organization out of chaos came with the entrance of Pachacamac into campus politics in 1913, and era of party supremacy was born.
"Student government," the story continues, "was distrusted by many who regarded it as a plot (by the university) to gain control (of the University)."
Things were going beautifully in the era of Wilsonian prosperity, but things happened to campus government with the coming of the thirties. The Progressives were come up, giving the Pachacamac machine a few gray hairs in doing so. Attention was diverted from progressive reform to competition for votes, with its inevitable results.
In 1937, academic difficulties lost Pachacamac three seats on MSC, and resignation accounted for two more. The Progressives took advantage of the situation and filled the vacancies with PSGLs. Political fireworks popped noisily for several weeks, and when the smoke of battle had cleared away, Pach had a majority again.
Haggaging and bickering continued to dominate the political scene until the year of Pearl Harbor. The student apathy which accompanies petty political partying was given increasing encouragement by the imminence of war.
In the realm of the coed's attempt at student government, the Women's Student Governing association was created in 1912. A Kansan story on Jan. 23, 1912, is headlined, "Women students to govern themselves; girls vote to as do men do." Turnout for that balloting, which set a precedent for WSGA, was reported as "small."
WSGA did not, however, concern itself entirely with politicizing. In
1919 the association sponsored a musical comedy, "Green Days" which reflected the follies atmosphere of the time.
Sponsored jointly with the YWCA, the comedy became an annual production which lasted until 1935 and almost became a permanent Jayhawk institution, and always managed to give the dean of women some harassing moments before the evening was over.
Be that as it may, WSGA still concerned itself with politics. It was a recognized fact that the association was run by "combines" from the organized houses.
A prize of $80 was offered in 1926 for the best script, and the proceeds were used by WSGA to provide scholarships. In 1938 the musical was replaced by a carnival, which died quickly. An attempt to return to the musical followed. Acordia to the Kansan reviewer, "When it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad—it's horrid!"
WSGL, which assumed control of student affairs when the war drained off most of the available manpower, fought valiantly for its life for two years, using first reorganization, then rearrangement of the representation, and finally a proposal, in 1943, to adopt a new constitution.
Charges of do-nothingism and "pink tea government" were constantly in the news during the thirties. The resulting attitude on the part of the rank-and-file was remarkably similar to that which existed among the men.
MSC, or what remained of it, was thinking and working in another direction. Coincidental with WGSA's efforts, other students on campus were drafting a constitution for a unicameral body, including both men and women, and based on a system of proportional representation among the schools of the university. This plan was presented to the student body for approval on Apr. 1, 1943.
Baiting was light, but those who did vote, cast 15 votes for the new system to every one cast against it. Thus, on a drizzly April Fool's day in 1943, the All Student Council was born. MSC and WGSA dropped ingloriously into history.
A shortage of manpower made necessary an emergency provision which would allow a woman to head the council for the duration of the war. Peggy Davis, college '44, was elected to the post.
The new Council had first to free
Westminster Groups Meets
A fellowship supper at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday will be followed by a vesper service with sermonette by the Rev. John Patton, and commission study groups at a Westminster fellowship house or the Westminster house, 1221 Oread
A carry-in supper for all married students will be held at 7 p.m. tonight at Mariner's club meeting, Westminster house.
itself from the cobwebss left by the two-council system and establish some precedents for succeeding councils. Political animosity was generally non-existent for the two remaining years of the war.
In 1946, returning campus leaders got the political ball rolling again over the moss-covered issues of who was going to sit in what council seats and from which party. Pachacamac, as usual, dominated the Council.
The new governing body enacted several pieces of legislation which have had some influence over the lives of succeeding Jayhawkers. It put student government "in the black," instigated a movement to abolish racial discrimination, passed the well-known smoking bill, created the "Peace pact" with Kansas State college in an effort to spare Uncle Jimmy Green from the ravages of paint brushes, underwrote the "name band" program and established the policy of "first come, first served" in regard to athletic events.
Science Ages Whisky Fast
The ASC, in 10 years, has already made a place for itself in the Jayhawk tradition.
New York—(U.P.)—One of these days you may be drinking whisky that has matured for only a few minutes, instead of the usual period of years. Ultra-sonic waves will make it possible, says the N.Y. Journal of Commerce.
Coal Balls Unlock Secrets of Past
Coal balls provide a remarkable key to the past, according to Dr. Robert W. Baxter, assistant professor of botany, who for the past three years has been gathering and studying them to unlock the secrets of the coal-age flora of a Kansas of 271 million years ago.
By JERRY KNUDSON
Coal balls—in case you didn't know $ ^{ \textcircled{6}} $
you must — almost all fragments of past ages embedded in coal intratica. Found and studied in Great Britain for almost 100 years, they were given this name since most of the English material was in small, round pieces.
In the U.S. they have been found in Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Kansas. The coal balls first discovered in this state 10-15 years ago were very poor for the paleobotanists' use because they contained a high amount of pyrite.
However, several scientists found in 1949 that coal mines at West Mineral, southwest of Pittsburgh in Cherokee county, proved to contain "the biggest collection of these plant fossils in the country." Dr. Baxter said.
Economically worthless—since they will not burn—the balls are so profuse in this mining area that they are used for building material. Dr. Baxter said.
How were these isolated chunks of plant material formed while the rest of the organic matter was compressed into coal? One explanation is that because the waters of the swampy areas was stagnant, some of the plant debris did not decay for decades or even centuries.
Dr. Baxter returned with 1200 pounds of the material from his last
Here and there portions became petrified by being washed with streams highly charged with minerals. A seed or other fragment may have been a nucleus for a process that would develop into a ball-like mass varying from the size of a pea to a basketball.
trip recently to the West Mineral area. Once collected, the coal balls are cut with a diamond stone cutting saw, and the flat surface ground down and polished.
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This surface is then etched with a dilute hydrochloric acid. A peel solution is spread on it which is stripped off with a razor blade when dry. These peel strips, with the top of the cross-section of the coal ball embedded in them, can be studied under the microscope.
By comparing the cell arrangements of these peels with those of modern plants, much can be learned of the pennsylvanian age—about 270 million years ago—in Kansas, Dr. Baxter said.
"Probably the most amazing characteristic of coal balls is the degree of preservation found in the embedded plant tissues." Dr. Baxter said. The slides thus prepared are almost as clear as those of similar living plants.
The presence of aquatic plants seem to indicate that the area was then a vast swamp. And woody tissue from the coal balls indicate no seasonal tree rings, "so the inference may be that a uniform moderate climate existed then with no seasonal variations," Dr. Baxter said.
Firemen Put Out River Blaze
Fresno, Calif.—(U.P.)-District firemen will go anywhere to put out a blaze. They waded into Kings River to put out a blaze in a floating mattress which they feared would lodge along the bank and set a grass fire.