PAGE SIX UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1950 The Editors Report GREAT CENTER OF State Service by Chancellor Deane W. Malott (Ed. Note: The following editorial is a condensation of an article by Chancellor Malott entitled "Your University." It appears in the May 15 issue of "Your Government," the bulletin of the bureau of government research.) The University of Kansas has been serving the state and nation since that far-off day in 1866 when it first opened its doors on old North College hill in Lawrence as an academy of higher education. Early brochures of the University show the rather narrow and unbending concept of the founding fathers, for it was prescribed the "candidates for admission be at least 12 years of age and are expected to present evidence of good moral character. . . ." But at any rate students were comparatively well off financially, for it was early announced that "by the munificence of the State, tuition in the University has been made free in all departments. No charges are made, except an annual contingent fee of $10.00." And board in private families was available at four dollars a week! But that was in the eighteen-sixties. Through the years the University has grown in scope, in breadth of service, in its standards and reputation. It has grown and been enriched by its long traditions, and by the desires of the people of Kansas and the mid-west for a modern university to serve all the people. It is now an institution with nearly eighty-eight hundred students, with a faculty of twelve hundred, a supporting staff of an additional twelve hundred, with more than sixty departments and divisions, offering nearly thirteen hundred courses of instruction, covering the major disciplines of knowledge, except for agriculture. Today the University is housed in forty major buildings, with a large construction program under way. It operates on a total budget of around eleven million dollars a year, and is under the jurisdiction of the Kansas State Board of Regents. No longer is higher education a matter of sheer knowledge imparted in classroom and laboratory. It is a way of life, a continuing process which takes place on the campus twenty-fours hours a day and seven days a week. It involves the art of gracious living, of living with and among people, of exerting leadership, of exercising the restraints which are basic to every self-disciplined human being. An important part of education lies in the enduring friendships formed at the University which last through life and develop through the ensuing years. In the student body are men and women from every state in the Union, every territory and possession of the United States, and from nearly fifty foreign countries. Roughly a fourth of the student body comes from outside of Kansas, a cosmopolitan group from the four corners of the earth, providing a rich opportunity for comradeship and for developing and enriching one's own character and personality. As an institution of higher education, the University of Kansas has an enviable reputation throughout the nation and the academic world. It has the first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa to be formed west of the Mississippi, the first chapter of Sigma Xi in all the west. Among its graduates are distinguished starred men of science; it ranks thirteenth in the whole nation in the number of its graduates listed in "Who's Who In Engineering." Among its faculty are distinguished men and women in many fields of learning engaged, through research, in pushing back the frontiers of knowledge. And the largest library in Kansas, consisting of over four hundred and seventy-eight thousand volumes is available for student use. A vigorous athletic program is part and parcel of any modern university. The University of Kansas is a member of the "Big Seven" intercollegiate athletic conference. The University is distinguished throughout the middle west for the size and value of its museum exhibits. The Museum of Natural History is one of the four best collegiate museums in America. The Snow Museum of Entomology contains millions of examples of insect life and is an important center of insect identification. The University also has a geological museum and a classical museum and a fine observatory. The Museum of Art, with collections of all kinds of household art and paintings, is valued at more than a third of a million dollars. A university is more than a pile of brick and mortar amid trees and broad lawns. It is a pervasive spirit—a compound of the life of its faculty and students. It reflects the imprint of successive generations of those who have been a part of its life. The University of Kansas belongs to Kansas and its people, who have generously supported it for nearly eighty-five years. It belongs to its alumni, for it has in important ways moulded them and determined their destinies. It belongs to the students who are now in residence and for whom it is currently maintained. But it also belongs to the students of future years for whom we are even now preparing, and whom it will be our obligation and our opportunity to serve. TODAY'S MAIL Understanding I guess that Mr. Sciortino knows how four people feel about this snake business, anyway. I refer to the letter to your column from one junior, a senior and two graduate students. Sir: I inferred from this that we have some snake fondlers among us. I quote from their letter: "If we want to go on fondling snakes we certainly shall." Now I want you four people to know that you're right about this thing. You're so right it's pitiful. Dadgum-tootin'. You may be within the limits of the law. No reason for anyone to get upset about you folks or anyone else who likes to play with a snake. After all not everyone has something better to do than to fraternize with a snake and if you folks get your kicks this way, why I suggest that you continue. There's nothing so unusual about having a snake for a playmate. Why heck fire, when I was 12 I saw Madame Zita—she handled snakes. I remember thinking at the time that it might be fun. Yes, I suggest that you folks go right ahead. It might prove rather frustrating to change over and start using your spare time to talk with people and so forth. I betcha a snake's a heck of a lot of fun. Anyway, I believe that after reading your letter everyone on the Hill will try to understand. Richard L. Gray College freshman Baptist Foundation Elects Officers Eight students were elected to cabinet positions in the Roger Williams foundation, Baptist student organization, Sunday. Those elected are Kenneth Holdaway, president; Annetta Smith, first vice-president; Rita Hudson, second vice-president; Arlene Ulrich, secretary; Howard Stringham, treasurer; and Wilson O'Connell and Dorothy Watson, social chairman. Leland Corey and Wesley Hall were elected Student Religious council representatives. The installation of officers will be held Sunday at the foundation's annual picnic. University Daily Hansan News Room Adv. Room K.U. 251 K.U.376 Student Newspaper of the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Member of the Kansas Press Assn. National Editorial Assn., Inland Daily Press Assn., and the Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by the National Advertising Service,420 Madison Ave., New York City. James Morris Editor in Chief Editor-in-Chief Doris Greenland James Shriver Managing Editor Business Mgr. Asst. Man. Editors Norma Hunsrueg Kay O'Connon John Hill Ralph Hemenway City Editor Edward Chipin Asst. City Editors Omni Chipin Marilyn Marks Elaine Elig Steve Ferro Feature Editor Frank Leite Photograph Editor Frankie Watts Telegraph Editor Robert Sigman William Graves Richard Tatum Janki Holloway Sports Editor Richard Dilsaver Asst. Sports Editors Bob Leonard Royal Sandy Arthur McIntire Mona Millan Society Editor Paye Wilkinson Asst. Society Editors Billie Stover Emily Stewart Editorial Assts. Keith Leslie Adv. Mgr. Charles Reiner Cir. Mgr. Yvonne Rausand Nat. Adv. Mgr. Lee Dyer Classified Ad. Mgr. John Forest Promotion Mgr. Wendian "He's been showing off like that ever since he took a course in Metaphysics," 'Small Things' TIS SPRING A Yarrow, Mo., farmer reports that a fox repeatedly attacked him and absorbed three shots of birdshot and three of buckshot before he was killed. He's not fooling us, though. Just wait until a few days before pheasant season opens and he tries out that one about being attacked by two cocks and a hen. by Keith Leslie After reading a Kansan story headlined, "Chiggers, Fleas attract 1,500," Rodney scoffed and said he could have exhibited at least that many once last spring after he was out at Lone Star lake. Nomination for Kansan sentence of the week: "A student at or above college level will be counted in the census where he resides the greater part of his time." Ed. note-Uh, yes, he probably will. Nashville, Tenn.—A four-foot cross was set afire in front of a doctor's home near here. Police hurried to the scene and caught the culprits, aged 10 and 12, who admitted they were trying to catch the attention of a 12-year-old miss, the doctor's daughter. Ed. note-And we know some guys who felt proud because they mastered the ukulele! We can imagine how frustrated the officials of Mosinee, Wis., were when some real communists showed up the day the mock communists were to take over the town. We once introduced a girl friend to a friend of ours, just for comparison, and darned if she didn't start going with him! If You Have A Spare Moose Around You Can Make A Fortune In Hollywood Hollywood—(U.P.)-Got a wild moose running around in your neighborhood? If you have—and you can catch him—you can make a fortune in Hollywood. There's just one hitch. He's gotta have acting experience and personality. And he has to weigh in at half a ton. If your moose can qualify he's got a career waiting for him here. Robert Riley Crutcher has just written a movie called "The Big Moose." And—this is a switch—they're going to use a moose for the role. program. Mushkig's grunts—or whatever it is mooses do—inspired Crutcher. He sat right down and whipped out a story. He didn't bother to sign Mushkig to a contract at that time. He figured he could always find him around. "I got the idea," Cruteteher explained, "when I saw a picture of trained bull-moose in a magazine a couple of years ago. His name was Mushkgi. He later starred on a coast to coast radio program." But no. Mushkig has disappeared. "I've looked all over for the beast," Crutcher says. "My producer, Wayne Griffin, has looked. We even checked the taxidermists all over New York. But then, that's a big town. You could lose a moose there I guess." Thes. sent. They sent out a nationwide call for Muskhig. Or any other moose with Hollywood ambitions. No moose has even offered himself for a screen test. And some bull somewhere is missing a good bet when you stop to think of it. He could be the first movie star to imprint his antlers in wet cement outside Grauman's Chinese theater. Crutcher's getting desperate. He'll settle for any moose now, he says, as long as it's got talent. "A relative of Mushkig's would be fine," he added. "Maybe an uncle or an antler." Before you grab for your lasso, however, it's only fair to warn you. Bull mooses (or is it meese?) are dangerous beasts. Mushkig's the only one in captivity who won't attack a human being, a pretty good way to tell whether or not you've found Mushkig.