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University Daily Kansan Monday. April 25,1960
A Gift to Top All Gifts
The problem facing the Class of '60 is not unique. It occurs annually when seniors from all corners of the campus assemble in the Kansas Union for a cup of the stuff made from mountain-grown coffee beans to select the senior gift.
This year the question at issue involves a greater responsibility than most other senior classes have faced. The most talked about bequest is an insurance policy which would name the University as beneficiary.
This gift would cost more than gifts given by any previous class. In turn, no other class will have contributed so much to the University with their senior bequest.
If Vance Packard were here, we think he would predict that this program will be approved. After all, we seniors would certainly feel a sense of status achievement if the insurance program passes.
"No other class has given the University so much," might be our slogan. Other future classes might call us "The Richest Class in KU History." Or, if other classes pick up the idea for their senior gift, we could be referred to as "The First Wealthy KU Graduating Class."
Don't misunderstand us. The Alumni Association is a great thing. A University needs alumni support, especially if it is located in a state where a governor is so conscious of "fiscal stability."
But let's wait until we become alumni before we make any financial commitments-over and beyond our class dues. Then we can give what we can when the University needs it.
There's nothing wrong with the gift suggestions.
The baseball team could use an electric scoreboard and dugouts. A room in the Union would look nice with metal-casted seals of all the schools in the University. And a marker on Naismith Drive? Well, we can always use another monument or marker.
If the insurance plan does pass, those voting for it will have a moral responsibility to continue payments on their policy until the University can receive some financial return.
The policy says the individual must keep up payments for at least two years before any beneficiary can profit from the policy. Dropping it before then only goes toward placing the insurance company and its agent in a higher income bracket. This will cost the individual about $16 to $22, depending on his age. It would be honorable to continue payments for 35 years. But we doubt if many students would do this.
The Class of '60 could have the highest class dues in KU history, perhaps in U.S. history. We could start a new trend. Each succeeding class could strive to give more than the preceding class.
This would be a blessing to KU's treasury. But is it advisable? The spirit of giving is defeated by each class trying to give bigger and better gifts. Modesty should be one of the more important attributes of the giver.
If the Class of '60 turns the senior gift into a game of which class can give the most, we suggest the senior gift be abolished.
Editor:
Let's Buy Insurance Editor:
After four years of active affiliation with the University of Kansas, the Seniors in the Class of '60 now have the opportunity to leave the University a token of our appreciation. Four proposals are before us from which we must choose. We have had the opportunity also to witness the results of three previous contributions from the classes of '57, '58, and '59. All of us have either commended or ridiculed their selections.
The first three proposals are self-evident and would allow the Class of '60 to be recognized by a little plaque on the gift. Ten to twenty-five years from now they may or may not be standing. At least the Bronze Jayhawker and the structure over the Union sidewalk are still around.
This year the proposals cover a wide field. We may choose to beautify the campus by selecting a marker to the campus or putting seals in the Forum Room of the Union. Secondly something more practical may be done as erecting a scoreboard and dugouts for the baseball diamond. Lastly an insurance program is proposed which would not be immediately remunerative but would be of an intensely greater value to the University ultimately.
The life insurance proposal is unique. This is a step beyond the Class of '59's HOPE award. Tb appreciate this proposal it must be fully understood, and its ultimate value must be recognized.
If accepted, the plan will work as follows. Each member of the Class of '60 will be covered by a $500 life insurance policy on himself. The first quarterly payment will be equal to the amount which would be paid no matter which gift were selected. Subsequently each individual would be billed once a year at a figure between $8-$10 until maturity of the policy. This would entail a period of approximately 35 years. The beneficiary will be dual in nature for the first five years. After five years have elapsed the University will automatically become the sole beneficiary. The essence of this is that if you should pass away within five years your family, wife, or relative will receive $500 and the University nothing. After the five year mark the University will receive the $500. This is designed to give the individual an investment in his own future through the years which might be a bit crucial financially. It assumes that after five years each of us should be in a position where $8-$10 a year, set
back for something other than their own personal needs, should not tax the individual appreciably.
To realize the ultimate value of such a gift we must look into the future. The class is composed of approximately 1400 Seniors. This gift could thus amount to a grand total of $700,000, hundreds of times the amount we might give if we selected one of the other three proposals. As the years passed the cash would eventually come to the University. It would be continuously entered into a Class of '60 Fund. At the 10th or 25th reunion an adequate estimate of the ultimate amount could be determined and a decision could be made as to how to apply the cash.
With the current turmoil of needed funds for education which will be imperative in the future, it can be seen that this gift would be a gift with immense practicability quality, and importance! Accepting and keeping up this proposal would be overwhelmingly significant to the University. The Class of '60 would be recognized far above any other previous class not only in a material way, but by its maturity and foresight.
Before accepting this proposal it must be carefully weighed. Participation is more important than selection. This is the backbone of the proposal.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIking 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 50th St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press 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 periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Jack Morton ... Managing Editor
Ray Miller, Carol Heller, George DeBord and Carolyn Frailey, Assistant Managing Editors; Jane Boyd, City Editor; Ralph (Gabby) Wilson and Warren Haskins, Sports Editors; Carrie Edwards and Priscilla Burton, Society Editors.
Douglas Yocom and Jack Harrison ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bruce Lewellyn Business Manager
John Massa, Advertising Manager; Mark Dull, Promotion Manager;
Dorothy Boller, National Advertising Manager; Tom Schmitz, Circulation Manager; Martha Ormsby, Classified Advertising Manager
The choice and success is laid upon the shoulders of you, the members of the Class of '60. Last year the Class of '59 took an important step forward by selecting the HOPE award, getting away from the insignificant and ridiculed materialistic gifts of some past classes. We have the opportunity to take further steps forward and profit from experience. The question is whether we have the courage and foreeight to do this or whether we prefer to step back to the "Bronze Jayhawk" type gift.
Please consider the gift of the Class of '60 carefully. It can be very important.
Bob Luce
Ottawa senior
Short Ones
"If the state of college athletics is a reflection of the basic values of our society, then we are in bad shape," a journalism graduate student was heard to mutter the other day.
Assistant Professor of Political Science
ARMS AND POLITICS IN LATIN AMERICA, by Edwin Lieuwen.
Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., $4.75.
This book is a comprehensive evaluation of one of the most important power groups in Latin American politics — the military. Edwin Lieuwen, associate professor and chairman of the department of history at the University of New Mexico, wrote the book with the aid of a study group of the Council on Foreign Relations that included military experts, former diplomats, businessmen, journalists and scholars.
The author divides the book into two parts. Part one covers the general armed forces of Latin America while part two deals with the effects of United States military assistance to Latin America. Part one displays the author's skillful analytical ability. He has full control of his material and is able to isolate the broad trends from the mass of detain. All approaches are used.
Dr. Lieuwen begins with the historical approach by describing the growth of the military in the 1800's. From 1810 to 1914 the military made and broke governments in most of the Latin American countries. From 1914 to 1930 its power was considerably lessened. In the 1930's it again plagued most of the governments but its role had changed. The military in some countries took an active position on the question of social-economic reform, something it had rarely done in the 1800's.
According to the author the Pentagon itself does not believe that the assistance has contributed to the defense of the hemisphere but nevertheless considers it a necessity for the political results obtained, such as satisfying the Latin military, gaining the Latin votes in the United Nations, foreclosing the area to Russian military missions, etc. This reviewer finds this hypothesis the least satisfying of the book as research on this same topic has convinced him that at least some of the Pentagon generals justify the military assistance solely on the grounds of military strategy.
DR. LIEUWEN goes beyond a mere chronological approach. He often uses comparison, comparing the role of the military in the Latin American countries at different points of history. He attempts to find out what motivates the military,a difficult thing to do,and succeeds fairly well.
Finally, he divides the twenty countries of Latin America into a threefold classification of military influence that illustrates the diversity of roles of the military in Latin America. This reviewer's only criticism of the first part is that the footnoting is somewhat random. The author would have done better to either footnote the material adequately or dispense with it completely.
THE SECOND PART of the book is provocative. The author argues that United States military assistance to Latin America has been a policy blunder. He explains convincingly how it has helped entrench certain dictators, led to arms race between neighboring countries, and has identified the United States with Latin dictators. But then why has military assistance been sent?
In ending the book Dr. Lieuwen recommends a lessening of military assistance to Latin America and the development of a disarmament plan for the area. Unfortunately, there was an increase of military assistance to Latin America this year, and although both Costa Rica and Chile have made disarmament proposals, the other Latin countries have either opposed them or have shown disinterest in the subject. This book is definitely recommended for reading and one can only hope that the Council on Foreign Relations will sponsor similar books on the role of the military in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler