PAGE TWO
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1951
Marvin Arth
the editorial page
California's Loyalty Oath—
Editor's note: Three weeks ago the California Supreme Court ruled the California loyalty oath invalid. The ruling came after a bitter struggle between faculty and administration in which 18 professors carried their fight on principle to court. The Daily Californian, University of California student newspaper, published the following editorial after the court had made its decision.
The University and the country owe an immeasurable debt to the 18 professors whose struggle for a principle culminated Friday in judicial nullification of the Regents' special "loyalty oath" requirement.
Cutting through the peripheral questions upon which even the most optimistic friends of the faculty had expected the decisions to be based, the court grounded its unanimous opinion squarely in the state constitution. The judges pointed to the prohibition against any oath of office other than the standard pledge to support the state and federal constitutions; they further chided the Regents for ignoring their obligation to keep the University free from "political and sectarian influences."
The decision establishes for the first time the principle that University faculty members have the privileges and responsibilities of "officers of public trust," immune from arbitrary subjection to the whims of the Board of Regents. The action which brought the University into international disrepute and cost it some of its most distinguished professors is undone. For that alone we must be grateful.
But Friday's ruling was a meaning far beyond its implications for the University. It may well provide a basis for nullification of the Levering Act, a piece of legislation similar in provisions and in spirit to the Regents' own ill-conceived action.
Most important of all, perhaps, the victory of the 18 professors sets an example of courage for others who are trying to combat thoughtless destruction of civil liberties. It shows that sanity can win out over the hysterical orthodoxy which parades under the American flag and forgets the things the flag stands for.
The faculty non-signers have demonstrated their Americanism the hard way; but it is a way to be proud of.
Time For A Change?—
Kansas has a problem—is the state getting the best men for district judges?
Suppose, for example, that the primary is coming up and only two men are running for the judgorship. Candidate A is well versed in the law and its interpretation, but is not well known among the voters.
Say candidate B is a poor student of law, but he heads the local knife-mid-fork club, has been state chief of a veterans' organization, and knows most of the public leaders in the three-county district by their first names. Which candidate is more likely to be elected?
Several years ago the state legislature directed its interim body, the Kansas Legislative council, to study the well-known Missouri plan for choosing judges. Under that system the lawyers, who are best qualified to evaluate a candidate's capability, have a hand in the choice.
If Kansas were to adopt a similar plan, three candidates would be nominated by the Kansas Bar association whenever a district judgeship or seat on the Supreme court was open. The governor would be required to appoint one of these three men.
A year after the appointment, and every fourth year after that, the voters would decide by referendum whether the judge was to continue in office.
Thus the people would retain final control of the choice, but uninformed public opinion would not affect it, since it is not likely that a judge would be unseated unless issues arose that aroused the public to learn what was going on.
The Kansas legislature has studied the plan. When is it going to adopt it? —Lee Shepeard.
Francis Kelley
galley-west
- * *
C coincidences are funny. There's no telling where or when they'll pop up. Take the other evening, for instance. I was walking down Mississippi street more or less minding my own business when I saw an old copy of The Kansan lying there in a hedge. Being somewhat of a Kansan fan, I took a closer look. It was the 1950 Homecoming issue. Then I took a look at the house number. It was 1208 Mississippi, the home of Dr. John Ise.
I left the Kansan there in the hedge and walked down toward town, finally cutting across to Ohio street. I was walking along more or less minding my own business when I came to another hedge. All of a sudden I saw a book lying there in the hedge. I took a closer look. Yep, you guessed it—it was a copy of John Ise's economics textbook!
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My wife bought one of those expensive corsets "Guaranteed To Reduce Your Hips and Bust." Her hips didn't, but the corset did.
Little Man On Campus
by Bibler | Letters—
"Don't worry—th' coach knows wot he's doin." Height may prove to be a disadvantage.
By Any Name
Most people call them Draft Deferment tests, but some of the University males who have appeared at the Registrar's office to fill out applications for the tests seem to have distorted views of the situation.
Can you think of any excuse for me to take the selective service test. I'm in the national guard and my unit has been alerted. -Ellsworth Zahm.
Several have asked for (1) papers for the discharge tests, (2) applications for draft dodgers. But on the other hand there was the boy who came in and said:
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Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Editor-in-chief
Marvin Arth
Managing Editor Business Manager Harold A. Benjamin James W. Murray
Asst. Managing Editors: Janet Ogan,
Mona Millikan, Richard Tatum, John
It's A Boy!
Corporon.
Chicagor Writer; Francis J. Kelley
Assoc. editorial editor; Jack Zimmerman
City Editor ... Lee Shepeard
Asst. City Editor ... Roberson Robertson
Asst. City Editor ... Richard Society
Society Editor ... Nancy Anderson
Asst. Society Editor .. Cynthia McKee,
Summerhill, Kathryn Kearney
Telegraph Editor Robert Sanford
Asst. Telegraph Editors Faye
Sports Editor.  Alan Marshall
Aas, Sports Editors:  Brian Nelson, Forrest
Advertising Mgr. James Lowther
National Adv. Mgr. Dorothy Kolb
National Adv. Mgr. Virginia Johnson
Classified Ad. Mgr. Virginia Johnston
Promotion Mgr. Robert Sydney
University Daily Kansan
Mall subscription: $3 a semester, $4.50 a year, (in Lawrence add $1.00 a semester postage). Published in Lawrence, Kans. every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University entered as second class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Lawrence, Kans., under act of March 3, 1879.
Francis Kelley Chanute
'it's a boy! Michael Francis Kelley born 6:13 a.m.
We don't know all the details yet but we received the following telegram Monday:
Kelley, a member of the Kansan staff, writes the daily column, "galley-west." He left for his home Friday when it was apparent that the impending event was close at hand. Always resourceful, Kelley wrote several of his columns in advance. The Kansan staff wishes the youngest Kelley a "bon voyage" through life.
(Because of space limitations, the editor reserves the right to condense letters of more than 100 words. Anonymous writers will not be published, but managers will be withheld on request. Letters should be addressed to the editor of the Kansan.)
Open Minds—
To the editor:
I wish to express my whole-hearted agreement with the essence of Lee Shepeard's plea for the open mind (Daily Kansan, April 26). This is a trait which is conspicuous by its absence among adherents of all political and economic faiths, myself included.
There are undoubtedly many ideas being espoused today which, if carried out, would destroy our democratic way. But much more dangerous than the substance of any given idea is the attitude of the closed mind which regards that idea as The Truth, whether it be the virtue of the capitalist system, the divinity of MacArthur, the wisdom of Acheson, or the infallibility of Karl Marx. I don't believe that any idea which is investigated, in so far as is humanly possible, free from the generalities of any "ism" is dangerous, for this is the essential nature of the democratic outlook.
So to Mr. Shepeard, let me echo a vociferous "Amen!"
Will Adams College Senior
Yesteryears
Sound Off
(From U.D.K. Oct. 3, 1932)
New York (U.P.)-There must be no "ringers" in the Columbia university band, the board of directors has ruled. Action to enforce eligibility requirements was taken after The Spectator, undergraduate newspaper, had revealed two clarinet and a piccolo player were not students at Columbia.
"We would rather hear the band off key if we knew the members were all Columbia students," the newspaper said.
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