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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1951
SOCIETY OF PACHACAMAC
Representative Stevens of Wyandotte county has introduced House Bill 259 into the state House of Representatives. House Bill 259 provides for the establishment of a Fair Employment Practices Commission in Kansas. The bill presently is under consideration by the State Affairs committee of the house.
On February 27,1951,a motion was introduced in the All Student Council to endorse House Bill 259 on behalf of the student body.The motion died for lack of a second.Upon further discussion, during which time it was pointed out that the bill concerned a Fair Employment Practices Commission,the motion was made again and seconded. It was then moved to table the motion until the next meeting so that the Council members could study the full contents of the lengthy measure. The motion carried.Additional discussion followed and a motion to reconsider was put before the Council.The motion passed 16 to3.
The council member who originally proposed that the Council endorse House Bill 259 then offered a mimeographed sheet which summarized some of the bill's provisions and offered arguments in favor of FEPC legislation. The president of the ASC read the contents of this sheet to the Council.
More discussion followed after which the question of endorsement was again put before the Council for vote. Nine persons voted for the endorsement and nine persons voted against it. The president broke the tie by voting against. A roll call vote was called for. The roll call disclosed that eleven members were against endorsement and ten were in favor of it.
The eleven members of the Council who voted against endorsing the Fair Employment Practices bill gave their reasons for so doing at the time of the vote, February 27. The reason was that the members did not feel that they could express an opinion one way or the other on whether the students of K.U. desire to see FEPC passed in Kansas.
The question had never been considered by the student body at an election and, therefore, the true opinion of the students as a whole on the matter was not known by the All Student Council or anybody else.
It is unfortunate that many have misconstrued the action of the Council. There are those who feel the Council was voting against a Fair Employment Practices Commission (and in favor of discrimination) by not wanting to endorse the bill. These persons are overlooking the fact that the Council, on the contrary, merely desired to withhold endorsement because student opinion on FEPC was not known.
The Council's policy in this regard was illustrated in another matter at the same All Student Council meeting. The question of required purchasing of Jayhawkers for all students was raised. The Council voted to let the student body decide at the spring election because the Council did not feel that it was a decision that the Council could arbitrarily make. It was something that should be left up to the individual. The same principle applies to FEPC. It is something to be left up to the individual student to decide for himself.
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