University Daily Kansan, February 17, 1932
Opinion
Spencer leaves legacy
As students bustle to and from class, they rarely pause to wonder about those who have lent their names to the buildings on campus.
But this week would be a good time to stop and remember one of the people behind the names.
Helen Foresman Spencer died Monday in her home in Kansas City, Mo.
She left behind a multimillion dollar philanthropic legacy to arts and education in this area.
Despite her huge charitable donations, Spencer was not a public person. The slender, artistocratic woman, whose portrait gazes softly on visitors to the Spencer Museum of Art, shunned publicity. She said she could not possibly grant interviews to everyone who asked, so she refused them all.
The exact amount of her donations to KU, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas City's Nelson Gallery and other institutions has never been disclosed.
Even the year of her birth is a well-kept secret.
But all of that doesn't really matter. What does matter are the gifts she gave, both personally and through the foundation she and her husband, Kenneth A. Spencer, created.
When KU needed a new home for its expanding art collection, Spencer, a 1926 KU graduate, came through grandly. She also contributed to KU's research library, sponsored a lecture series and distinguished professorship at KU, and
built a home for the director of the College of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Kan.
Spencer donated $2 million to finish the interior of a theatre in the UMKC Performing Arts Center. And she gave the Nelson Gallery both money and valuable works of art.
She answered this question in a rare interview after her donation to the UMKC theatre.
Dozens of other charities, including St. Luke's Hospital and the YMCA, profited from the Spencers' generosity.
The cynical among us might ungratefully look for a motive. Why did this woman delight in giving away millions of dollars?
"My late husband and I were very proud to live in the Middle West and hoped to do all we possibly could to enrich this area by the development of its culture, education, and scientific institutions." she said.
Spencer knew this, and did more than her share to prevent it.
As anyone who has followed the plight of the Kansas City Philharmonic knows, it is shameful when cultural institutions must bow and scrape for their existence.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a philanthropist as one who endeavors "to increase the well-being of mankind." That description easily fits Helen Spencer.
Through her support of art and education, she gave gifts that benefit all who are willing to enjoy them. She gave gifts of the mind.
Journalists' cold approach would bother famous editor
While he was at KU last week to receive the William Allen White Award for Journalistic Merit, Jim Lehrer, co-anchor of the MacNeil/Lehrer Report, said White would find more things about today's journalism that would trouble him than would please him.
Aspiring journalists studying in the school named for White might not have liked what they heard, but Lehner was right. White, editor of the Emporia Gazette from 1895 to 1944, achieved national prominence with his writing and his politics, but he endeared himself to his readers in a way that was unlike any other, compassionate and personal. That type of journalism is all but extinct today.
Journalism today is a fast-paced whirl of activity designed to obtain and report what is
perceived as the news as quickly and efficiently as possible. The wonder of electronics makes it possible for radio and television to report the latest news. The news reporters are not quite that adept, but they are gaining.
To meet these ever-nearing deadlines, reporters rush in and rush out of meetings and interviews and bargain in and bargain out of very personal events. The necessity of speed forces reporters to be impersonal, abrupt, pushy and rude.
Lehrer was right when he said White would be upset by public opinion pollts that list only politicians, ayatolls and lawyers below journalists in respect. This would be inconceivable to White. Many disagreed with what White said, but most respected why he said it.
Why did White deserve this respect? Simply put, he earned it. In his salutary editorial, White told Empronia that "the new editor hopes to have the work done in her honor and was committed to doing what was best for his town."
These were not hollow words. From age 27 to
his death 49 years later. White made his home in
the village, and also also his neighbors.
And he loved their neighbors.
Journalists today do not even know what their neighbors look like. That would be a conflict of interest. They disassociate themselves from their neighbors and they proclaim that they proclaim to know what the people need.
Too many journalists ignore their responsibilities, choosing instead to talk of First Amendment rights. The rights of the people they serve somehow become subordinate. The press tends to see the public as an ignorant mass who be educated, but not knowing what is important.
An additional ill-conceived tenet of today's journalism is that the public has some sort of learning disability. Good journalism is simple, but good journalism also has to include of whether the news lends itself to such a format.
And although each of these principles so long taught in journalism schools has a certain justifiable, honorable intent, together they help to dehumanize journalism. People do not think they are served by the press, and often they're right.
Instead, journalists are thinking of how to get the big story. They thirst after exposing corruption or uncovering the big scandal, but rarely do they stop to consider the reasons for what they are doing. The means become so important that the goal, serving the public, is lost.
And even when a journalist is consciously trying to serve the public, he often fails. The structure of journalism has evolved into such a science that its inflexibility restricts attempts at genuine caring. Consequently, today's journalism is distant, removed.
How many respected, metropolitan dailies would run a tender, almost syrupy editorial about the accidental death of a girl? The Emperor Gazette did, and Mary White is still missing from her death. The story had no national significance, but it had an almost universal, human appeal.
This ability to touch people is what made White worthy of respect 50 years ago and even more so today. Journalists searching for respect need to be given the space and opportunity to be earned, not claimed as a constitutional right.
KANSAN
The University Daily
USPS 585-460) Published at the University of Kansas daily August through May and Monday and Thursday during June and July except Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Second-class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas. Subscription by mail are $1 for six months of $2 a year in Douglass County and $1 for six months or $30. Postmaster's send change to address of the University Daily Kansas, Flint Hall. The University of Kansas.
Editor Vanessa Herron Business Manager Nataline Judie
Managing Editor Tracee Hamilton Managing Editor Karen Schlutter
Editorial Editor Gene Pierce Campus Editor Neil Fleuord Associate Campus Editors John Fleuord Assistant Campus Editors Joe Reben, Robert Chaukey Assignment Editor Steve Robrahn Sports Editor Ron Haggström Associate Sports Editor Clint Stirppol Entertainment Editor Coral Beach Makership Linda Masthott, Lillian Davis, Sharon Appelbaum Wire Editors Eileen Markey, Terean Riordan, Lisa Magnan Bigler Photo Editors Jon Hardesty, Jo Hankamann, Jean Bigler Staff Photographers Bob Greenspan, Tracey Thompson, Mark McDonald
Retail Sales Manager Am Hornerberger National Sales Manager Howard Shallincky Campus Sales Manager Ferry Beoul Chasing Manager Simon Bodin Production Manager Larry Lebogenko Traverser Manager John Reese Production Manager Larry Leibogken Retail Sales Representatives Bar Baum, Larry Burmatter, Susan Cookery, Richard Dagan, Jirt Grimes, Retail Sales Representatives Amy Jones, Matthew Lanigan, Phillip Marchbanks, Liz MacMahon, Mindy Moore, Malcolm Pearson, Susan Boyder Kathleen MacKinnon Chuck Blomberg, Kathy Duggan, Denise A. Popovis, Yve Zakaryan Campus Intern)
Sales and Marketing Adviser John Obernan General Manager and News Adviser Rick Murden
Watt biggest threat to national parks
Check your backpacks, bedrods and first-aid kits, everybody. Do you have your canelets filled and batteries for your flashlights? We're experiencing nature in one of our national parks.
If you'll lie on your backs on the top of this hillock — everybody turn off your flashlights — you'll be able to see some of the major constellations. There's the Big Dipper.
No, not down there. Those are lights from the recreation cabin, campers and tents.
All right, then, we cannot see the stars from here. But, everybody, if you'll close your eyes and listen to the sounds of the night, you'll hear the chatter as you squeak, wolves howling, bears prowling.
"Hey Maude, where did you pack the toilet paper at?"
"Hoot, hoot, hoot."
"Mommy, why can't I keep the snake,uh? Why?"
"Squeak, squeak, squeak."
"Oh, John, oh, oh . . ."
Watt also tried to open California of-fshore tracts for oil exploration, but local residents blocked that action fearing that oil spills might engenderangered sea otters and destroy resort beaches.
Oh, John, oh, oh...
"Ah. ah. ah-000000."
During his tenure in office, Watt has used his authority to tell Ron Lambertson, endangered species program manager, he was in favor of the program as long as it worked to take species off the list. Lambertson has resisted removing species, but has been unable to add one new species to the list, even though there is usually about 12 new animals added each year.
That's enough. There's too many people around to experience nature properly. Although Congress declared many areas like this one protected wilderness, "where man is sometimes not too much harmed," are sometimes too much harmed. Fortunately, that situation may be changing.
They need the extra protection, because their custodian, Secretary of the Interior James G.
The Reagan administration announced last week it intended to raise admission fees to national parks, which would discourage some visitors from the area. Vacation spots, rather than natural preserves.
Watt supervises one-fifth of the land in the United States and all its natural resources. Many people assume that because someone holds the office of secretary of the interior, he is supposed to preserve land and resources. Wrong. The land and resources are his to preserve or exploit, within limitations set by Congress.
In addition, Watt has weakened his agency's
JOLYNNE WALZ
power to enforce land reclamation following
proven strip-mining in ecological fragile areas
supplement federal coffers with proceeds from leasing federally owned wilderness for mineral exploration.
He has not been totally successful in that effort since environmentalists and Congress teamed up to use an obscure provision in the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act to prevent oil and gas exploration in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness.
But the Secretary of the Interior learned his lesson from that episode, so the next time he had a chance to lease federal wilderness for oil, he could have made the deal without consulting Congress.
He leased New Mexico's 34,000-acre Capitan Wilderness, home of the original Strokey the
no environmental assessment of possible effe-
cents of mineral exploration on the area had been made.
Two months later, in early November, a Wilderness Society official accidentally discovered documents pertaining to the leasing agreement and alerted Congress.
Manuel Lujan, Jr. of New Mexico, ranking Republican member of the House Interior Committee, angry because Watt had not consulted Congress in the action, introduced a resolution to bar future drilling in the Capitol region, in a million wilderness acres in the other 49 states.
He withdrew the resolution when Watt promised there would be no more drilling on Wilderness land without congressional notification and environmental assessment. Nevertheless, the House Interior Committee voted 40- to call a six-month moratorium on drilling. During that six months, committee members had decided to study Watt's policies and write protective legislation to prevent Watt from circumventing their authority again.
Phew. Looks like they saved the Capitan Wilderness久 in time. Mavbe.
Environmentalists are considering bringing the Department of the Interior to court over the deal, because, although there is a moratorium on mining, oil companies still hold leases on the land.
While it's wonderful that President Reagan wants to raise entrance fees to national parks, which would protect some land, if he were really serious about conservation, he would have a more difficult interior than the interior, whom he supports despite opposition from Congress and environmentalists.
In the light of that support, the plan to raise entrance fees smacks more of a balance-the-budget money-making ploy than a genuine concern for the environment.
It was only a hucky accident that prevented
attack from doing to Strokey's home what forest fire
would do.
Nest time we may not be so lucky.
Letters to the Editor
AURH election suffers from poor planning
To the Editor :
At the Feb. 11 Association of University Residence Halls meeting, a request for information concerning upcoming AURH elections was made.
The following tentative schedule was provided:
- On Feb. 15, petitions might be available.
* On Feb. 20, petitions will probably be due.
* On Feb. 28, campaigning may begin.
* On March 3, candidates will hold
- On March 3 and 4 elections will be held.
There are two serious problems with the haphazard approach AURH has taken toward easier deployment.
First, it prevents anyone not already actively involved in AUHR from having a realistic opportunity to be a serious contender—thus excluding the vast majority of potential candidates and seriously limiting the choice presented to residents.
Second, with only three days for campaigning,
the residents are not given the opportunity to
vote.
In order to run for secretary of treasurer, a candidate would have to get information on election procedures—which is not simple task—decide to run, get a petition, get the petition filled out, and turn the petition in, all in just five days.
"I can run for president or vice president, a candidate would have to do all that, and would have the additional task of finding a running mate from a residence hall other than his own. Doing this reminds us of rubbing your tummy with a bar of soap," he said, "or ride a bicycle—it's difficult if not impossible."
If anyone is interested in running and would like more information on the election, please contact me.
AURH office at 864-4041. Start yesterday. And good luck.    Alan Rowe
Emporia freshman, and Bob Dowdy,
Coffeyville junior
Handle with care
To the Editor:
I am writing to commend JoLynn Walz on her
peb. 9, column "U.S. auto industry not laugging
me."
What she wrote is true. Most drivers today just do not take good care of their cars." "Drive them till they drop" is an old saying that many people still live by.
I work for the Western Auto store in Lawrence and I have worked for a Western Auto in Kansas City for three years. In that time, I have heard countless stories about people who abuse their cars and then are angry because they break down.
Roeland Park junior
Some of the stories I have heard are of a driver who drove 30,000 miles without changing the oil, or a woman who did not know where her gas cap was.
To the Editor
It takes less money to maintain cars than to repair them. I've been telling people for years what my uncle told me, "Take care of it and it will take care of you." *Kent Nelson*,
Emphasis misleading
The article by Janice Gunn on drunken driving contained one minor error.
Lawrence Police Sgt. Stern Dalqualt was reported to say that "the average drink had 02."
percent alcohol in it." Not true. The average drink (one jigger in 8 ounces) contains 7.5 percent alcohol. This average drink in the average drink raises blood alcohol by an average of 92 percent.
This confusion about concentration, however, is not as significant as the failure to stress the variability in alcohol levels that results from drinking. Body weight, kidney and liver function, rate of consumption and food eaten when drinking can all affect the blood alcohol levels.
To suggest that it itakes five drinks to be legally drunk is impudent. It may take more, or fewer.
Most importantly, a person's ability to drive is significantly impaired below 0.1 percent blood alcohol.
Drivers seen counting to four on their fingers are probably dangerous.
Steve J. Bannister,
Cumming, Ga., graduate student
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansas welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kansas reserves the right to edit or reject letters.