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University Daily Kansan Thursday. Jan, 14, 1960
Only a Penny
Gov. George Docking's recent budget message to the state legislature reflects what the Kansas City Times called his "subconscious prejudices against education."
In requesting that the legislature allow money for a 3 per cent faculty salary increase, Gov. Docking went against the Board of Regents, which requested a 7 per cent increase in that area. Ray Nichols, executive secretary of the University, said:
"Anything less than the 7 per cent increase recommended by the regents would mean that the competitive position of KU and other state schools will decrease further, and serious erosion of the quality of opportunity for Kansas young people is inevitable."
The governor's budget also recommended a reduction of $2,100,000 from the regents' request of $29,300,000 for general operating expenses of
Kansas educational institutions. Furthermore, funds necessary to build two critically-needed buildings at KU and K-State were cut.
The governor may have a point in trying to reduce taxes and thus unburden the citizens to some degree. But he is forgetting the citizens' children, the pride with which Kansas values her educational institutions, and the necessity to the business and economy of the state of maintaining top-notch education.
By law, Kansas is responsible for maintaining and improving her schools. Right now she is in a fight to keep them competitive with those of other states. Taxes are the only source of revenue for this project. The question seems to be over a one cent difference in the sales tax. Knowing what it is for, it is probable that most Kansans won't squawk over paying that penny.
—John Husar
Critique on Student Art
By Nancy Kay Crummett
"Disappointing" is the mildest adjective this author can find to describe the student art on exhibit in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building. The show as a whole is dull, academic (you will pardon the redundancy), and completely unimaginative. The individual works, with few exceptions, display a lack of character and suffer from an over-sophistication.
dynamic energy, his passion, that made him an artist — and killed him. Wright's work is banal, vacuous, lifeless, and not the least bit "mysterious."
Another imaginative canvas which, in its artificiality, displays a lack of understanding of the artist from whose work it must have been derived is Robert Price's abstract, "Top." At a glance, the painting would seem to be a fair
not poor taste, but an abundance of "good taste" in place of talent. For example, "Stream" and "Winter Landscape" by Louis Dunkak, are reminiscent of the genteel prints one can find for sale in the studios of any "fine" interior decorator. These works do, however, show some skill. Note: I did not say "imaginative artistic talent."
A notable lack of both skill and talent is exhibited blatantly by William Wright in his "Mysterious Landscape." It is no more and somewhat less than watered-down Jackson Pollock. It was Pollock's
copy of one of the early expressionistic works of William de Kooning. A close examination, however, reveals no expressionism — only abstraction. The quasi-vertical line of white which extends a few inches down from the top of the canvas can only be dismissed as carelessness, for it adds nothing to the work.
Undoubtedly the most, and possibly the only, original artistic work exhibited is Nancy Ellyson's intaglio print, "Escape." It has eccentric delicacy about it which not only delights the fancy and arrests the imagination, but also reveals
a genuine personal vision.
Although I do not consider myself an oversensitive critic, so painful to me were many of the pieces that I can make only terse critical comments on them.
Concerning Paul Decker's "They Said I Couldn't Be Done"—they were right, and Mr. Decker should not have tried.
Miss Scheinhoeng's marble sculpture, "The Raccoon," is a joke. That is, it should certainly mystify paleontologists centuries hence; thus, it cannot be said to be a complete failure.
This writer's curiosity was aroused by three canvases, lest the reader think I was and am completely indifferent to the exhibition: "Portrait in the Wings" by Danny Crouse, "Portrait" by Ursula Hamacher, and "Portrait with Sign" by Mary McCammon—just what do the letters in those signs spell and why?
Column Is Pleasing
The most skillful and utilitarian work exhibited is, of course, the column marked "Construction in Space" by Dan Ralston. Unfortunately, this writer could not get the proper distance from the work to get any perspective — someone had carelessly placed what appears to be an elaborate record rack or "jungle jim" with obstacles for clever children directly in front of it.
I am not willing to believe that this exhibition is representative of student art work being done at the University of Kansas, and I am curious as to the selection criteria. Let us hope that future shows will prove that this fall was "just a bad season."
In the Dark
With John Morrissey
Here's the tip of the month from our fine bar: never drink tequila and smoke. A buddy of ours did and ignited himself.
We've been going to the stadium with our goodies for two weeks now and we still haven't seen this College Bowl Game they keep talking about.
Dailu Hansan
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biviewey 1904
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Vlkving 3-2780
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 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, are entered as commissions after Sept. 17, 1860. Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
Jack Harrison ... Managing Editor
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
George DeBord and
John Husar ... Co-Editor
NEWS DEPARTMENT
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bill Kane Business Manager
AGREE WITH YOU THAT SHE ISN'T VERY BRIGHT
AND I GAVE HER AN 'A, TOO.'
movies
By Calder M. Pickett
Associate Professor of Journalism
Mack Sennett's slapstick comedies. The American cowboy.
These, say true afficionados of the motion picture, are the lone contributions of America to the art of the cinema. They stand, like the skyscraper and "le jazz hot," as valid expressions of American culture—if, again say the critics, there is such a thing as American culture.
One representation of the American cowboy was seen here last night. John Ford's "The Iron Horse," first shown in 1924, was the fourth in the history of the film series in the lecture room of the Museum of Art.
"The Iron Horse," by itself, can lay little claim to film fame. It does have striking sequences, as Ford and crew lay out the railroad nomenclature, the priories, as India.
across the prairies, as Indians attack the supply train — all the other scenes that we have come to regard as clichés of the film. But "The Iron Horse," which stars George O'Brien, was not a commercial success. Film audiences were not ready for the western spectacle in 1924, at least not for a western spectacle about railroads.
But another spectacle was popular in that era, James Cruze's "The Covered Wagon." Its success may represent a paradox. Perhaps the very theme of the covered wagon possesses more intrinsic appeal than that of the railroad. (But
the vast popularity of DeMille's "Union Pacific" in 1939 contradicts this assumption.)
"The Iron Horse" is of special interest, then, not for itself but for what it represents. And it represents the western genre. The western has been a staple of motion pictures since 1903, when that historic gun was fired in "The Great Train Robbery." Down through the years the western loomed large in film history. Bronco Billy Anderson, William S. Hart, Tom Mix—these were the pioneers. They were the predecessors of Gary Cooper and John Wayne, and of the television western hero—Cheyenne, Matt Dillon, and even that anti-hero, Maverick.
The western has become almost a cult. The French, especially, reverse the western-or "Le Western," as some call it. They have categorized it into its component themes. They have studied it with a high degree of seriousness.
They are unconcerned about the fact that cowboys probably were not very romantic figures, or the fact that Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid were cowards or hired killers. The romantic representation is the important aspect of the western. The mythology has superseded the fact, and the romantic cowboy will endure in our culture, not the hard-working cowpoke whose life was far from exciting and dramatic.
"The Iron Horse" is in the tradition of these tales of the plains. It is a forerunner of the many western spectacles of the 1930s and 1940s, and another landmark in this interesting series on the motion picture.
... Letters ...
It was with great alarm that I read Mr. Husar's editorial on news suppression that was published in the UDK on Jan. 11, 1960. I am a graduate student working on a doctoral dissertation concerning thought processes in suicidal individuals.
I was rather appalled to see Mr. Husar refer to the suicidal individual, mentioned in his editorial, as being a "menace to society" and a "maniac whose very presence is a danger to society." I am surprised at such naivete as well as general lack of understanding and feeling for human beings whose personal problems are so acute that they attempt suicide.
Suicides Need Understanding Editor:
For charity's sake, I shall assume that Mr. Husar was making these assertions in order to strengthen his case against news suppression. But even so his statements are erroneous and misleading, if not actually dangerous. I am writing this letter in an attempt to correct some false impressions that Mr. Husar, because of his lack of social responsibility, may have spread.
The vast bulk of the psychiatric, psychological and sociological empirical data indicates that suicide is not equated with psychosis. Suicidal individuals are not "maniacs" and "menaces to society."
Mr. Husar's thinking on the topic seems to reflect a medieval attitude towards mental health. He mentions that attempted suicide is a crime. Legally, he is correct. But few courts in this country or in Europe imprison suicidal individuals. The legal attitude, in this country, reflects rehabilitation and not imprisonment.
While the suicide may cause a great deal of grief to friends and relatives, he or she is not a raving, foaming at the mouth, homicidal individual as implied in the editorial. Rather we are confronted with an extremely unhappy and demoralized individual who needs society's help and understanding, but certainly not their categorical condemnation as being "maniacs" and "menaces."
—Charles Neuringer Lawrence graduate student
(Editor's note: Mr. Neuringer has made a valid point—that suicides are, indeed, pitiful creatures and need the understanding and help of the members of society. However, the student discussed in the editorial feature had attempted suicide several times. In one case he tried to run his automobile into a tree. In another he tried to asphyxiate himself by filling his apartment with gas. In the light of those examples, we are inclined to resist our opinion that the student in question truly is a "menace to society," whose very presence is a danger to society.)