The KANSAN Comments ...
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
In Appreciation
By George Sitterley, '41
THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1941
This shall be no eulogy. High-flown praise, though honest, might defeat the purpose of voicing gratitude for the guidance, the encouragement, and the friendship Prof. L. N. Flint has given his students. No man would receive a flowery ecomium with more incredulity and distaste than "Pop" Flint. Instead, this is the appreciation of all his students as he relinquishes the official leadership of the department of journalism, and yet continues as their "Skipper."
Twelve hundred young men and women, seeking careers in journalism, have benefited from their personal contact with Professor Flint's idealism, an idealism which has been mellowed, not opposed, by hard facts and experience. Under his tutelage they have lost none of their own visions, but rather were encouraged to take their desire for perfection with them into the field. All of them are better fitted to carry out their self-appointed duties to society for having known this man who re-lives their successes and rejoices in them, just as he re-lives their troubles and is ready with advice or consolation.
The unanimous approbation of his students did not come spontaneously, but has been built on a solid foundation of years of contact. We believe that not one of his proteges has been graduated from the department without experiencing at least one time when the idealism or natural impetuosity of youth conflicted with the practicability and maturity that are Mr. Flint's assets as a teacher and adviser. Time and ensuing events have shown that his wise and kindly, though sometimes hard to take, advice is given not to appease immature fancy, but to mould thereby a better journalist, a better citizen, and a better man.
No teacher can be greater than his students think he is, for that greatness relies primarily on the success of his teaching, and no teacher is successful without the respect and friendship of his students. These judges hail him now, as they have done in the past and will continue to do in the future, as mentor irreplaceable and personal friend.
So Long, Dad
By John W. Berkebile,
The Chanute Tribune.
So Dad Flint's going to leave his boys! News that the Kansas University journalism department head is about to meet the deadline of his colorful career sort of tugs at the heart strings of a good many hundred former news students like ourselves who are scattered to the far corners; plug reporters on country weeklies, foreign correspondents in Hong Kong, Berlin and Madrid, ad men in New York and Dodge City, executives and editors in Philadelphia and Chicago. They've all got something in common. They felt the same pang of regret when they read yesterday about the old man calling it "30" and handing his resignation to the Chancellor.
There are three of us on the Tribune who learned most of what we know about our jobs and our careers under Dad Flint's guiding hand and watchful eye. Like a whole army of other youngsters who went to the state university bent on careers as newsmen, we learned to rely on his direction. Not only that, and this may sound silly from a bunch of guys who think
they're pretty hard-crusted—we developed a strong affection for the old boy, and as we got to knowing him better each year, went to him more frequently for counsel when bewildered, for help when discouraged. He was a little hard of hearing, and we'd wonder, as he sat there silently studying us, not saying a word, whether he'd heard at all. Then, after a long time, he'd have something to say. And it was always good, sound, helpful advice. It combined both wisdom and a deep human understanding. If we were hot and angry, he'd cool us off. If the battle was getting tough, and we felt like folding, he'd send us away with the old fighting spirit. That's why we called him Dad.
Few men have had as great an influence on the profession as Dad Flint. In his 35 years as a trainer of journalists at K.U., he's had his boys advance to some of the leading spots in the game. They'll always remember the old man. He's quitting, but the seed he has sown will go right on growing for a long time to come.
Behind the Scenes
By William Allen White, The Emporia Gazette.
For more than a generation at the University of Kansan, Leon Flint, head of the department of journalism, has been turning out young men and women journalists who have gone into the newspaper business in this state and all over the world and have carried the Kansas banner high. It has been elevated largely because of the ideals that he has put into their minds and hearts. Probably a majority of these young people who are now in the newspaper business have stayed in Kansas. They have helped to direct the trend and tendency of thinking and action. They have formed the web and woof of life in this commonwealth.
More than any other one person in Kansas Leon Flint has been a force for Kansas righteousness. Because this state is a newspaper state. It is a newspaper state because the newspapers are on the up and up. They have influence because they are known to be incorruptible, and the man who has put the brand of integrity upon them is none other than Leon Flint, a modest, kindly, soft-spoken gentleman who, at the age of 65, is retiring from a long career as editor and teacher in the Sunflower state. His boys and girls will return June 5 to pay homage to him. It will be a notable occasion in Kansas.
Flint Edition UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Student Paper of THE UNIVERSITLY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas
EDITORIAL STAFF
Managing Editor ... Bob Trump
Assistant Editors ... Gray Dorsey, Stan Stauffer,
Marvin Goebel, Ray Heady, David Whitney
Contributors ... George Sitterley, Don Pierce
Arthur O'Donnell, Eleanor Van Nice, Lillian Fisher
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager ... Rex Cowan
Advertising Manager ... Frank Baumgartner
Advertising Assistant ... John Pope
Subscription rates, in advance, $3.00 per year, $1.75 per semester. Published at Lawrence, Kansas, daily during the school except Monday and Saturday. Entered as second class student, 17.17. Under office at Lawrence, Kansas, under the act of March 8, 1879.
ROCK CHALK TALK
--daily because they were three minutes later, he came back to admonish—"And don't use that money for beer."
"Pop" Flint may expend the greater part of his energies and abilities ward preparing aspiring journalists for their profession; but he is acutely conscious, also, of those students who come from other schools and departments of the University for work in one or several courses in the "shack."
Consider now the nicety of courtesy he extended one "outsider" who felt the need of a nap in a class Flint was instructing. Not wishing to upset the poor fellow with daily demands that he stay awake, Flint devised an arrangement which would awaken the student rather abruptly without the usual attending embarassment. He called one of "his boys" into secret conference; thereafter when the student fell asleep, Flint would shout at the journalism major as if he, too, were asleep. The journalist would grin his enjoyment as a party to the plot, while the dozing fellow started from his nap. The "outsider" never saw through the arrangement.
At times, however, even the Skipper lost patience. One day, in Magazine Writing class, he read a particularly sour piece of student writing. The writer, apparently in a mood for jesting apology, epilogued:
"This manuscript was all I was able to save from the great Chicago fire."
Evidently bowled over by such an ending, Flint let the paper fall to his desk, where it lay with the lower edge projecting beyond the edge of the table-top. The group of students expected some display of disapproval from the instructor and remained observant and quiet. Yet, Flint seemed to be striving to contain himself. He gazed solemnly around the room, reached almost absent-mindedly into his pocket, pulled out a book of paper matches, struck one thoughtfully, and then, as if suddenly making up his mind, he lit the paper.
"I hope the writer went to no risk in saving that," he said. Every member of the class roared his approval.
We liked, also, the honest good will with which the Skipier wrote an excellent recommendation for a student who wanted to go to work on a news paper rather than take another year of studies—which frankly were a bore—in order to get a sheepskin. We hasten to inform that the high recommendation was deserved, for the fellow had ability and is showing it now.
Flint summed up his action with, "I was glad to do it for him. After all I flunked him out of school."
Then too, the story is told about the time Flint gave several students a half dollar for sandwiches and told them not to show up for class the next day—because they were working late on an extra edition of the Kansan.
'The Skipper' Retires
(continued from page one)
Flint is a Kansas boy who made good in his own state. He was born Oct. 8, 1875, at Thayer. His formal schooling began at the age of 15 when he enrolled in the Lawrence high school. Before that time, he had been taught by his mother. He entered the University in 1893 immediately following his graduation from high school. In 1897 he received his degree and began teaching in Lawrence. Later he was made principal of the Olathe high school. From 1901 to 1905 he was actively interested in journalism as a half-owner and manager of the Manhattan Nationalist.
He returned to the University in the fall of 1905 as the first general secretary of the Alumni association, a position which he held until he was made chairman of the department of journalism in 1916. Initiated Many Changes
During these 25 years Professor Flint has initiated many changes in the curriculum. In 1920 he organized the high school conference for editors of high school papers. Each year many high school students are invited to the University to visit the journalism department.
He was responsible for the starting of the Kansas Editor's Round-tables which meet every fall at the University. At these meetings newspaper editors throughout Kansas come together to compare notes and to listen to prominent journalists. Other organizations and events for whose beginning he was responsible are the Kansas Council of Teachers of Journalism, the Kansas Editors' Hall of Fame, Quarter Century Club of Kansas Editors, Editors' Day, K.
Influenced Many Students
U. Press Club, and many other students groups.
During his years as head of the department more than 1,200 young men and women have come to this University for instruction in journalism. To each of them he gave something, out of his store of knowledge and kindly interest, which has had a large part in shaping their careers.
As a reward for his work in journalism, Flint was elected president of the American Association of Schools and Departments of Journalism in 1927. From 1931 to 1932 he was president of the University Alumni association, and in 1937 he delivered the alumni address at Commencement. He is a member of the American Association of Teachers of Journalism, Kansas Editorial Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and other organizations.
Author of Three Books
Flint is the author of three published books, "Newspaper Writing in High Schools," "The Editorial," and "The Conscience of the Newspaper." The latter was one of the pioneer publications in the field of newspaper ethics. Some of his other writings are "Ten Tests of a Town," "The Editor's Easy Job," "The Paragrapher's Sprightly Art," and frequent contributions to issues of the Kansas Editor and departmental bulletins.
"Daddy" Flint is the type of person one appreciates best after being away from his influence for a while. As John M. Henry, a former student, remarked, "L.N.F. was so modest that it was not until we were several years away from him that we began to appreciate him."