Three Disagree On Discipline
By John Peterson
Three speakers got so involved describing the complexities of KU's disciplinary system at Friday's Current Events Forum that they talked for 55 minutes and left little time for the customary question and answer period.
The speakers were Donald Alderson, dean of men; Ron Dalby, Joplin, Mo., junior and student body president; and Bill Smith, Great Bend senior and chairman of the KU-Y disciplinary committee which recently investigated the system.
BOTH STUDENT speakers said that the disciplinary system left many questions in the minds of students as to what channels were open for appeal and where they can go for assistance. Dean Alderson said that he could see no difficulties in the system.
After they finished their speeches, only five minutes remained for questions and answers. A foreign student gained the floor first and said:
"I have never heard of so many deans, committees and student organizations in my life. It sounds to me as though the entire system is just a way of surpressing the basic American constitutional freedoms. I think Orwell could be right here, your Big Brother is watching you!"
Dalby and Smith said that the biggest problem in the disciplinary system is that the students do not know the various procedures of disciplinary cases.
THEY ARRIVED at this opinion from different directions, but maintained that some way, perhaps a booklet, is needed to explain disciplinary procedures to the students. Dean Alderson, who spoke first, said he saw no need for such a booklet.
Dalby said. "There is a certain amount of fear in the system. Too many students are afraid to do anything about it when they become involved in a disciplinary problem. They may be afraid of either the publicity or the unknown.
"All disciplinary problems are handled behind closed doors. More issues need to be in the open so the students know what is happening. Of course, there are some cases which must be kept quiet." he said.
DEAN ALDERSON said that he could see no maze or blind allews for the students.
"There are opportunities readily available for appeal in all cases." he said.
Smith said that the KU-Y report showed that in several cases students did not have the opportunity for appeal unless the dean thought it was necessary. Dalby said this was one of the areas where students did not understand the system.
Dean Alderson said the administration is hoping through the disciplinary system to establish some standards for the students.
"EFFECTIVE discipline is a matter of self-discipline," he said. "The University's attitude is consistently one of rehabilitation rather than punishment."
He said that it is essential to have the confidence of the student to get the facts, and to get this confidence, it is necessary to keep the cases out of the newspapers.
SMITH SAID, "The student's biggest problem is that of becoming familiar with the disciplinary system. The student is under two sets of standards—those of the University and the courts downtown."
(Another such example took place two years ago when several students were acquitted in court for painting TNE signs around Lawrence, but they were suspended from the University.)
A STUDENT in the question and answer period asked why "such double jeopardy" was allowed to exist.
Dean Alderson answered that the University's standards are different from a court of law. He said that the University is not an open society and that there are many other factors to take into consideration. Laurence Woodruff, dean of students, made the same distinction between the University and courts in an interview Friday.
Smith said that the dean handling a given disciplinary case is both the prosecutor and the judge.
Dean Taylor Readies Dish Towels, Brooms
Bv Pat Sheley
Pi Beta Phi sorority and the freshman counselors from Gertrude Sellards Pearson won one day's service of Emily Taylor, dean of women. The award was given to the group which collected the most money per capita for the KU Women's Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The GSP counselors actually received the first-place award but they said that since they were only seven women, they would like to share the honors with the house that took in the most money per person.
Ann Hoopingarner, Dallas, Tex. junior and counselor at GSA, said:
Monday, May 2, 1960
"WE'RE REALLY excited and glad our dinner entertainment and window scrubbing finally won Dean Taylor for us. We can hardly wait until she experiences a whole evening of 'dirty duty'."
The GSP counseiors are planning to let Dean Taylor take over for one evening of duty which includes letting women into their rooms should they lock themselves out, running males out of the living room after 8 p.m. and even locking the door at closing hours.
Dean Taylor said:
"When I'm informed of the night that I'll be on duty at GSP, I'll issue an invitation to the entire campus to come and observe."
(Continued on page 3)
Daily hansan
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
57th Year, No.133
Chessman Executed
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — (UPI)
Carol Chessman was executed today.
ATTORNEYS for Chessman fought vainly up to the zero hour of 11 a.m. (Lawrence time) to set aside the ninth execution date for the 38-year-old Los Angeles kid-napper-robber-sex terrorist.
He was gassed to death at San Quentin Prison in the climactic finale of a fight for life that spanned 11 years, 10 months and 7 days.
He entered the gas chamber at 11:02 (Lawrence time).
As he was strapped to the chair, he smiled thinly and said "goodbye" to the guards.
Chessman turned to the right, looking straight into the faces of several reporters who knew him and winked.
He repeatedly made lip movements apparently saying "It's OK, it's all right," and, "it's a tight strap."
The California Supreme Court today denied a stay of execution to Caryl Chessman to allow him to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thus ended the incredible story of an obscure habitual criminal who after entering death row became a best-selling author, self-taught legal expert and worldwide symbol in the campaign against capital punishment.
The denial came at 10:48 (Lawrence time), just 12 minutes before the convict-author was scheduled to die in San Quentin's gas chamber.
As Chessman died demonstrators protesting against his execution clustered outside the San Quentin gates, the governor's mansion in Sacramento and the state supreme court building in San Francisco.
Less than an hour earlier the same court had denied a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a stay of execution on grounds of new evidence.
HIS MORE than $100,000 in earnings helped finance the legal moves he master-minded himself to cheat the gas chamber. He made nearly 50 appeals to various courts.
But Brown, an opponent of capital punishment, refused to interfere with the execution. He granted Chessman an 11th hour reprieve Feb. 19 so the California legislature could consider a capital punishment law and because of fears that his execution might trigger demonstrations against President Eisenhower on his South American trip.
Brown said he was powerless to act because the State Supreme Court voted three times by a 4-3 margin against recommending clemency.
AND EVEN as he slumped lifelessly in his chair-straps in the octagonal, pastel green gas chamber, letters and telegrams poured into Gov. Edmund G. Brown's Sacramento office from around the world pleading that he be spared.
The legislature refused to ban the death penalty.
During his years on death row Chessman saw 93 men and one woman pass his cell enroute to the gas chamber.
He wrote four books, including "Cell 2455. Death Row," which sold half a million copies.
Gov. Brown went out to the demonstrators before the execution. Isidore Zifferstein, a spokesman for the group which had maintained an all-night vigil, asked the governor:
BROWN PAUSED, "I'm hesitating. I put this matter over for 60 days because I hoped something would happen so we would not have to execute Caryl Chessman."
The forecast for today is fair and a little warmer. The forecast for tomorrow is partly cloudy with the high in the middle 70's. Today's high is expected to be in the middle 70's and the low tonight in the lower 50s.
Earlier Brown said, "I don't know whether a governor can play God in these cases."
"Are you unequivocally in favor of clemency for Caryl Chessman?"
Weather
STORY UNFOLDS—Students gather in the Daily Kansan newsroom to read about Caryl Chessman's execution as it came over the United Press International teletype machine.
DeathStory Unfolds
UPI A1 N SX
BULLETIN
PRECEDE CHESSMAN
SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 2—(UPI)—Gov. Edmund G. Brown's office announced that the execution of Caryl Chessman began at 100:03:45 PDT (1:03:45 EDT) today with dropping of the cyanide pellets in San Quentin's gas chamber.
SC1005A.
BULLETIN
PRECEDE CHESSMAN
SAN FRANCISCO, May 2—(UPI)—U.S. Federal District Judge Louis E. Goodman today denied a stay of execution to Caryl Chessman in order to let him appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Urgent
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1st add precede Chessman, Sacramento (A1 N) X X X GAS CHAMBER.
The information came from the governor's office which had the only direct line to the gas chamber.
Newsmen and other witnesses to the execution were not allowed to leave until after Chessman was pronounced dead.
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Add precede Chessn,—Goodman San Francisco (A3N) X X X Supreme Court.
Goodman's denial came two minutes after the pellets were dropped.
Goodman said that if attorneys George T. Davis and Rosalie Asher had "been on time" he would have asked for a half hour's delay.
Asked what he meant by been on ...
"It was too late. There just wasn't time."
S CI 01 OA.
BULLETIN
PRECEDE CHESSMAN
SAN QUENTIN, Calif., May 2—(UPI)—Caryl Chessman was officially pronounced dead at 10:12 PDT (1:12 EDT) today.
Docking-Anderson Clash
TOPEKA—(UPI) The scheduled execution of Caryl Chessman led today to a bitter face-to-face exchange between Gov. George Docking and Atty. Gen. John Anderson, Jr. on the subject of capital punishment.
Gov. Docking, a Democrat, recently commuted the death sentence of Bobby Joe Spencer.
Anderson, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, was highly critical of Docking concerning the Spencer case.
Gov. Docking said at today's council meeting that California Gov. Pat Brown would be "in trouble" if Chessman were executed. He glared across the council table at Anderson and angrily said:
"Anyone who wants to hang anyone, legally or illegally, is just a plain murderer."
Anderson grinned. "I don't think there's any question on this before the executive council at this time, is there, Mr. Secretary?" he asked Secretary of State Paul R. Shanahan.
"None at all." Shanahan said.
"Well, I'm just telling you that anyone who wants to hang anyone is a murderer." Gov. Docking told Anderson. "So you can use that in your campaign if you want to."
"I just thought I'd check with the secretary to see if there was any question about this before us," Anderson said. "He says there isn't but you can go ahead and make a speech about it if you want to."
"I don't have to make any speeches," Gov. Docking shot back. "They're being made for me."