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University Daily Kansan
Fridav. May 6. 1960
Sit-Ins and Dalby
Yesterday's Kansan printed a letter from four co-ops asking for the resignation of Student Body President Ron Dalby.
We don't want to push our "we told you so" attitude too far, but this seems rather ironic. This spring, before the student council election, we wrote a few editorials urging students to form another campus political party. One party, we mentioned, was seldom healthy to any political situation.
Obviously VOX was doing so well as the voice of the populace that political opposition was not deemed necessary.
SO WHAT'S the argument, fellows. Dalby wins a popularity contest, unopposed, and uses his constitutional power to help pass a controversial resolution.
Go ahead and criticize his actions. We feel he deserves all the opposition he is now getting. But after the students nonchalantly handed him the title of "President of the Student Body," it is rather foolish to ask for his resignation two weeks after he is officially sworn into office.
We disagree with Dalby's ideas on sit-ins and integration. The Kansan may be asking for his recall if it thinks he is irresponsible and consistently favors ideas which cause protest marches, petition signing and general criticism from the student body. But we are far from asking for his resignation. Any elected representative is entitled to more than a 14-day trial period.
DALBY'S MAIN OBJECTIONS to "sit-ins" seem to stem from the violence that occurred during the protests. Although the original plan for "sit-ins" is non-violent, he says, "there is ultimately some violence in every case between the people for and against the "sit-in."
According to Dalby, those who protest segregation by "sit-ins" know violence will probably result from their demonstrations. Therefore, he doesn't condone "sit-ins."
We again point out the lunch-counter "sit-ins" are the most effective means of protesting segregation the Negro has found. It is useless to wait until Congress passes uniform laws which would legally give the Negro equal status. Even if they did, state laws and law enforcement bodies can still insure white supremacy.
THE NEGRO is fighting a passive battle to obtain basic rights that should be his simply because he is a human being. Violence arising from a passive movement such as this cannot be blamed on the Negro, no matter how hard Dalby tries.
Is it wrong to ask for a legitimate right if one knows there is a possibility violence might ensue? Dalby says it is. If Dalby continues to use this criteria for judging various movements, we expect to hear him condemn the American Revolution any day now. After all Dalby, don't you think Washington, Jefferson and Company — those wide-eyed, rabble-rousing, liberals of the 18th century — had a sneaking suspicion there might be a bit of trouble when they signed the Declaration of Independence.
--be high for a fruit-picker but a young man or woman with a college degree can go places. The immediate tangible opportunities are boundless. College degrees are few and far between and the general public, contrary to what the ordinary Kansas child might learn in infancy, has great respect for the man or woman who has one. This in turn is expressed through the educational system. I was born and raised on the West Coast and the general impression I got from Midwesterners was that all you had to send out were good fruit-pickers. Why don't you send us some better impressions of you? We (my husband, a patriotic, stout-hearted and dyed-in-the-wool Kansan) aren't staying in Kansas because the cost of living is too high and the salaries are lower for a college graduate than a salesman or ditchdigger. Don't worry, though, what you haven't experienced, you shouldn't miss.
Build a Fire
Editor:
Using my agile wit and occult sentence structure I deliberately won a five dollar prize during the recent "Spectrum Literary Contest." Have I seen the cash? No.
It has been many weeks now since I learned that I had "showed" (to use a little horse jargon) and though I do appreciate that fact, I have had to cut down on my narcotic ration due to lack of funds.
Coldly condescending, I approached a woman office worker in Flint and showed her the craving sores on my forearm. She offered me ten Spectrums, but I gnashed my teeth so ferociously that she took me to a Spectrum editor. He, righteously indignant, explained that the editors were bushy building fires under each other and would soon "get hot" to sending out the checks.
I believe I am justified in officially accusing the entire Spectrum check writing staff of insouciance, dillydallyness and penny-pinching. Thank you.
Brooklyn, N. Y., freshman
Gene Bernofsky
Brooklyn, N. Y., freshman (Editor's Note: Sir, the fires have been built and the dillydallying check writing staff has said remuneration is en route.
Spectrum editors.)
UNIVERSITY BRITT Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904,
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Vikking 3-2700
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 18 East 50 St. New York 212-364-7000. International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays, and examination days. Contact information matter Sept. 17, 1910 at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
NEWSE DEPARTMENT
Jack M. Miller, Editor
Ray Miller, Carter, George
Miller, Carol Heller, George
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Douglas Yoseom and
Jack Harrison ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bruce Lewellen ... Business Manager
An Eye for an Eye
Editor:
In a recent speech on discipline reported in your paper, Dean Woodruff is quoted as having acted as historian of old ideas to credit Jews with the implied, undesirable concept of talion law. No doubt, the Dean thought it obvious and therefore unnecessary to mention that the "old Jewish ideas" of thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, etc. remain the backbone of modern Western ethical and judicial systems.
Yet considered in relation to those ten commandments, the talion principle functioned, at the time it was conceived, as an injunction for moderation, not extremity. Designed by wise leaders as a principle of equity for members of a common society, it limited the amount of just retribution to be demanded of Jew by Toe "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". This conception was somewhat more lenient than the old Midwestern American custom of a man for a horse (in the case of theft).
The Jews are privileged in having become identified with ideas which they, among others, have nurtured and which belong eventually to all men of enlightenment and good will. Viewed out of context some of those ideas may appear as brutal as the violence of the Crusades or the cruelty of the Inquisition. Viewed in their proper context, they afford a basis for the appreciation of the universality of human strivings in support of the ideal.
Harold Zender Montreal, Quebec, graduates
students
. . .
Harold Zender
Please let me take this opportunity to defend myself and my homeland. I would like to say in defense of California that it is a good place to go and live. It is one of the minority of states that has taken its educational system seriously and raised the teachers salaries to a decent level. This is the proper perspective people should have toward the educated. Just because salaries are unusually high for a teacher does not mean that it should be viewed with suspicion or prejudice. The cost of living may
Come to California
Students and Faculty:
Your Western Friend,
Barbara Dean Lyda
Student wife from
Trinidad, Calif.
* *
A Grandiose Solution Editor:
The current concern over various problems facing our fair institution has prompted me to present an idea for solving five main problems at this time and establishing (hopefully) a precedent which will henceforth remove them from our campus.
b. ) provide the Senior Class with an unprecedented worthwhile gift to the University and Science.
The proposal would, if adopted, in one stroke:
a. ) save the University an anticipated expenditure of approximately $150,000.
I read with great interest the article in Monday's Daily Kansan about the resolution passed by the Big Eight Student Body Presidents' Conference, opposing the Southern sit-down strikes.
c. 1 solve the cadaver problem from approximately the year 2000 hence and ease it from now till then.
d. ) relieve the financial burden of senior students now and at the time of their demise.
e. ) allow for added training and better instruction for physical therapists, anatomists, nurses and medical students.
Editor:
Minor, Unfair Law
No other act would do all these as easily as the well-meaning donation and willing by each senior of his body to the University.
I assume the conference members saw fit to oppose the strikes because the strikers are actually breaking local law. It seems to me that the student body presidents attending the conference, who "recognize the value of civil rights and equal opportunity" could more appropriately have drafted a resolution condemning Southern cities for having laws opposed to the basic principles of a free country, which the United States purports to be.
Milton Diamond
It seems strange to me that in discussing the racial situation, the Big Eight Conference should ignore the gross injustices permeating the social and economic systems of the United States and instead condemn people who, in an effort to correct some of these injustices, are breaking a minor and unfair local law.
Lou Beisner Natoma senior
New York graduate student
Testimony
This testimony to the gentil character of our Negro students arises out of a personal desire to pay tribute to them, and not from any feeling of necessity. It has been said of certain men: "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." — "If you seek his monument, look around." I feel this is true about man, and especially of the Negro student at KU.
His whole life here is lived in the manner of the protest parade, with dignity. He is on the spot here, and must work hard, excel, to make a good show along side of his white peers. We all know scholars in every field who, through hard work are, outstanding. This is the rule rather than the exception. Likewise in athletics it is axiomatic that the best athletes come from the minority groups. Our Negro students certainly work hard in their sports. I often wonder where we would stand in the Big Eight without these fine athletes.
KU is a rather liberal and tolerant campus, however, even here we witness discrimination in barbershops, eating places, some classes, and social fraternities. We hope for improvement in these situations and change is coming about. Meanwhile, aside from bull sessions one rarely hears a discouraging word from them.
--org
Den
infi
Hoping that sincerity can make up for eloquence, I remain, faithful to the true meaning of "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité."
Kenneth Callen King Washington, D. C., junior
Punishment
There is a feeling within me that seems to say that Americans condone the way the Chessman case has been handled in accordance with pre-Christ Theology. I personally was not in accord.
The fact that I, a veteran of World War II, feel that killing is wrong and that capital punishment should be discontinued does not get down to the real problem. The real problem as I see it is "How can society, with my help, help others become worthwhile citizens and so desire to live within the laws that society has made?"
Yes, for a short time this could mean more taxation for better teachers,better parole officers and better rehabilitation programs in our state prison.
The cheap way out is capital punishment, or blaming the teacher because Johnny can't spell because no one at home helps Johnny or that one big war is the way to solve all our international problems.
The alternative to the above last paragraph is a re-evaluation of the penal code of Kansas and a rededication to living up to the teachings of Christ.
Henry P. Cleaver Jr.
909 Tennessee
* *
Dalby Upheld
As a strong supporter of the sitin strikes in Nashville, I was very much opposed to the recent resolution passed by the presidents of the Big Eight. However, I believe that they are certainly entitled to their opinions as individuals.
Their mistake was in speaking for the student body on a very controversial issue without getting a student opinion first.
A great deal of criticism has been aimed at Mr. Dalby. Nothing is going to be gained by calling him names. The best thing that we, as students, can do is to voice our disapproval of his action by signing the petitions in the information booth on campus, and by writing letters of support to the students in Nashville.
Below is the address of the secretary of the National Student Christian Federation. He would relay any letters sent to him to any area of the United States.
Mr. Herluf Jensen National Student Christian Fed. 475 Riverside Drive New York 27. New York
This situation calls for a mature attitude. Letters of support will do much more for the morale of the students in Nashville than petty criticism of Ron Dalby.
Carolyn Shull Lawrence freshman
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
(I in the ician with CIC draw by
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"SOMETIMES I SUSPECT PROFESSOR SNARFS CRITICISM JUST AWEE BIT HARSH."
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