PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17. 1950
The Editorial Page-
Varsity Dances! Yes Or No?
Editor's note: Mr. Burgoyne, director of Student Union Activities, is the first faculty director the S.U.A. has had. He came to K.U. from Michigan State college where he was on the Student staff. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin.
The question: Are the Varsity dances in the Union worthwhile?
How does the Student Union Activities committee seek to meet the needs of the student body?
First let us establish what this Union Building is, I'll quote from two outstanding men. K.U.'s own Chancellor Lindley once
said that "the Union, which is a focus of student activities, is the most important laboratory on the campus," and President Glenn Frank said for the Wisconsin Union, "The Memorial Union building will give us a 'living room' that will convert the University from a 'house' of learning into a 'home of learning.'"
The Union is the center for everyone — regardless of class, social status, economic status, race or religion. As the recreational laboratory of the University, the Union has an obligation to the college community just as any other laboratory. The Union, in its programs, attempts to teach
JAMES M. BURGOYNE
its students how to prepare for play as well as work, to work out the standards and techniques needed and to produce trained leaders who will be of service to other communities as they follow their careers. In this Union building, the S.U.A. committee has the responsibility of offering to all students at K.U. a full and well-rounded program of usage of all the many facilities of the building and to represent student reactions and ideas to the Union governing board.
Now the central theme of this article concerns one of the smaller and perhaps humbler parts of the above-mentioned social program. Among the big events sponsored by the S.U.A. such as Open Houses, "Big Name" dances and concerts (as Harry James, Norman Granz), Homecoming, K.U. Relays, College Daze, Union Carnival, game tournaments and the like, the smaller events such as dance classes, dinner music, and informal dances are almost obscured. Let us take the problem of Varsity Dances.
Varsity Dances are strictly informal, free dancing to the music of records. The reason the S.U.A. holds these dances is to provide a pleasant and casual place for the student to go to spend an enjoyable Saturday evening without straining his wallet. We supply the money for the juke box, arrange the Hawk's Nest floor for dancing and have the fountain stay open for the night.
So far the S.U.A. has been having these Varsity dances only on comparatively free weekends when there are few competing events on the campus. Response has dwindled to the point where there were only a half-dozen couples on the floor at the last dance.
Why is it true that so many students, both Independent and Greek, feel that it is not "the thing to do" to come to the Union for an evening's entertainment? Are such informal dances really wanted on the campus?
Perhaps the students haven't heard enough about them. Or is it that the local nightclubs exert such an influence? But all the students seeking entertainment can't get to these places. Perhaps the Varsity dances should be scheduled more regularly so that the students will form the habit of "going to the Union" for informal dancing and snacks in the fountain.
The S.U.A. and myself would greatly appreciate and welcome suggestions from you Jayhawkers. Don't expect to see the Union renovated but we'll go along with you on any plan to increase student enjoyment of the Union building and its facilities. Drop in and give us your reactions to our programs and we will welcome any of you who would like to work with us.
The S.U.A. has arranged to have a box put up in the Union lobby in which you can put your suggestions if you haven't time to drop in and see us.
Remember, this is **your** Union—use it.
The Daily Texan reports that students there are no longer satisfied with standard clichés for testing typewriters. On a paper halfway through the roller of a typewriter in one of the bookstores was printed, "Quit it, Maria! I don't provoke easily."
We note a distinct similarity between the names of the Notre Dame "Fighting Irish" and string quartets.
The Public's Pulse
Squeeze 'Em In
Dear Editor:
Tight Fit, Mr. Lonborg: it is possible to squeeze all the holders of ID. cards, faculty tickets, and the like, into sections F through R. We did it last Saturday—and did you ever see a better-behaved bunch of people?
The fences and guards helped in that, of course. At first they gave us a faint feeling of being in a P.O.W. enclosure; but then we realized that they really served the purpose of keeping interlopers out of our private paradise.
There again is a difficulty. Somehow we've always pictured Paradise as a leetle mite more roomy, or less densely populated, and with less bite in the wind. A good many of the blessed were sitting in the aisles, and a good many more were standing, including your friendly critic. We don't know how that could be when your figures show otherwise, but we refer you to Mr. Brunson, who is better informed on figures at K.U. than we are. In our case, it was a matter of choice anyway; we preferred spending a couple of hours more in the bosom of our family to scrambling for seats and then sitting in the cauld blast waiting for the kickoff. As we told you before-hand, our standing room on the 50-yard line, acquired without loss of personal dignity about 1 p.m., was good enough for us; it beat all to blazes our embattled position in section E the time before. Only the breeze bothered us; it played hob with our ears, which are generously proportioned like those of the emblem of our political party. But the breeze was none of your doing, and we really have no complaints, if the rest of the chosen ones haven't. But it was a pretty tight fit, Scot—er—Dutch.
Hoot, mon!
E. W. Darlington
Editor's note: We hope that the Athletic Association remembers the difficulties experienced this semester in student seating and takes extra care to enlarge the student sections next season. Remember that if it weren't for students, there wouldn't be any jobs for the Athletic Association.
To call an off-campus number, a person using a campus telephone should dial the figure "9" and give the number when the operator answers.
MARDIGRAS
Visit the Old South
All Expense Tour
5-8 days
Fun-Warmth-Sunshine
See us for information
Without cost to you
Downs Travel Service
1015 Mass. Ph. 3661
'UN Man' Now A GI
Westover Field, Mass. (U.P.)—Sgt. John R. Dupont is virtually a one-man United Nations. Born in Austria, educated in Yugoslavia and France, formerly attached to the British Embassy in Belgrade, Paris and Washington, he's now an American GI.
BEAT KANSAS STATE
YOUR EYES
should be examined today. Call for appointment. Any 1cm or prescription duplicated.
Lawrence Optical Co.
Phone 425 1025 Mass.
N-O-W!
SHOWING
THE THEATRE WITH
THE "NEW LOOK" .
WITH A PICTURE
THAT'S REALLY NEW!
continuous shows daily from 1 p.m. . . box-office opens daily at 12:45
Watch For:
"Peggy" - "Saddle Trump"
"Devil in the Flesh"
Popular Prices . . .
Matinee Mon. thru Fri. 50c
... after 5 60c ... Saturday
and Sunday 60c all day.
New PATEE
PHONE 321
ENDS SATURDAY
FEATURE TIMES FRIDAY: 1:37,4:19,7:00,9:38
FEATURE TIMES SATURDAY: 1:00,3:38,6:16,8:54
STARTS
SATURDAY
OWL 11:15
SUNDAY
We are proud this theatre has been selected as one of the early engagements in the United States of this wonderful new picture!
LOUIS CALHERN·ANN HARDING Screen Plot by BOW LARBIN and DOROTHY KURLEAR • BROOKLYN ATHENA GRAHAM Directed by BOY ROWLAND • Produced by JACK CUMMINGS • MAYER PICTURES
FOOTBALL IN THE NEWS
Continuous Shows Daily
From 1 p.m. . . .
Boxoffice Opens 12:45
FRI T