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University Daily Kansan
Thursday, Oct. 1, 1959
Confidential Files
President Elmer Ellis of the University of Missouri wants to keep statements taken from students by school disciplinary authorities from being used by law officers.
His action stems from an incident last February in Columbia, Mo., in which nine students allegedly beat and robbed three Columbians. Lawyers contended that statements given to university officials by the students were not confidential and could be used as evidence in court.
President Ellis' beliefs on this matter are in keeping with the shroud of secrecy that many colleges and universities like to cast over the less enlightened acts of some students. For example, it is possible in some universities for a student to commit near total destruction to himself without knowledge of the act getting outside the doors of the campus hospital.
The reason most often advanced for the use of this veil of silence is that it is the university's obligation to protect its students.
instututions of higher learning are certainly
aware that this is a publicity-conscious age. The flood of releases daily gushing out of campus public relations offices attest to this.
But one must wonder whether the universities are most concerned with protecting some imagined vulnerability peculiar to students. It is more likely that the principal reason for this educational paternalism is the desire to avoid bad publicity. There must be unullied light in the tower of education if university heads are to be successful in soliciting funds from wealthy patrons and reluctant legislators.
The proper course for any educational institution to follow is to let the students and law officials have it out in court. It is the public duty of any university to make available whatever information it has concerning students accused of wrongdoing. Nothing will be gained for the student or his university by making legal prosecution difficult.
No one could put forth a reasonable argument that a person's status as a student comes before his obligations as a citizen. —Jack Morton
Psychological Parking Meters
The city of Lawrence has cleverly contrived to take a few more cents from our near-empty (after fees) pockets.
It costs a dime instead of a nickel to park for an hour on one of the teeming metropolitan streets of this awakened college community.
Many students may find themselves paying 55 cents for the parking privilege. In case the student is not aware of the new meter charge, he probably will insert a nickel and lope off, never dreaming that he has purchased only a half-hour of meter time. So, when he returns, he will find a ticket and yellow envelope thoughtfully placed on his windshield.
With a cry of alarm, the harried student checks his sun dial. He has been gone just 45 minutes. Still he must pay the fine.
He can place 50 cents in the envelope and put it in a cheerful yellow container nearby (a psychological device to help the violator feel less taken) within 24 hours, or he can pay the regular $1 fine. If he pays the former, he can chalk up a 55 cent charge for 45 minutes of parking.
In Denver, parking space in a closed garage is available for 25 cents an hour. However, it is logical that Lawrence should charge a dime an hour because it only provides open-air parking and because it has far to go to catch up with Denver in growth.
The one thing that might annoy a student is that the money he pays does not go to fix any of the ankle-deep chuck holes in city streets. It merely perpetuates the meter system and finances a few off-Massachusetts parking lots.
We must admit though that even if the city chooses to neglect chuck holes it is still rather progressive in using color as a psychological device. —Saundra Hayn
Challenging Football Weather
The weather the past week has failed to cooperate with football practice and outdoor student activities. If the wet, cooling trend continues, the Jayhawker faithful may be forced to sit through a deluge at Saturday's game, similar to that which engulfed the Northwestern-Oklahoma contest last week.
It takes an enthusiastic fan to sit through two
and one-half hours of rain and wind to see for himself what he could get second-hand by radio in a snug, dry room or apartment.
Should the gloomy weather prevail, it will be interesting to note how the comfort-conscious students of today react when their school loyalty is challenged by the elements. —George DeBord
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS By Dick Bibler
TUESDAY
Daily Hansan
Founded 1889, became bireweak 1904,
triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
University of Kansas student newspaper
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, 420 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Staff member of national. 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. Interested contact Peter Sept. 17, 18:00 at Lawrence, Kan., post office univ. act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Jack Harrison ... Managing Editor
Carol Allen, Dick Crocker, Jack Morton and Doug Yomac, Assistant Managing Editors; Rael Amos, City Editor; Jim Trotter, Sports Editor; Carolyn Fralley, Society Editor.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT DePord and
John Husar Co-Editorial Editors
Sandra Hayn, Associate Editorial Editor
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bill Kane ... Business Manager
Ted Tidwell, Advertising Manager;
Joanne Novak, Promotion Manager;
Ruth Feder, National Advertising Manager;
John Santitz, Circulation Manager; John Massa, Classified Advertising Manager.
FINISHING TOUCH—Gwendolyn Freeman has her makeup highlighted before last night's University Theatre opening.
By John Husar
It took only three players, two of them strangers to the KU stage, to boost "The Member of the Wedding" to one of the University Theatre's more successful openings in many years last night.
Carson McCullers' play, a happy little comedy with tragic overtones creeping in from all directions, won the New York Drama Critics Circle award for 1950. Although the play is quite well written, Mr. McCullers must have been fortunate enough to have a superb cast for its debut nine years ago, as only excellent acting could qualify this play for such an esteemed award. There is no doubt that the KU company did up Mr. McCullers' vehicle right proudly.
The comedy lay in the actions between a young girl (Tomi Yadon), her younger cousin (Thomas Edward Baumgartel), and the motherly, companion cook for the modern, southern family (Joanna Featherson).
The girl, suffering adolescent growing pains, discovers the companionship of love. Feeling lonely and not needed, she decides to share in this group warmth, mainly by joining her brother and his bride on their honeymoon. Her childish torture, coupled with some stormy carping and jouncing with the pesky little cousin (for she is a tom-boy, having known no mother) provide many delightful activities, antagonistic to normal parents. The little nuisances occasionally clash with the cook, who portrays the calming influence trying to batter some sense into her charges' heads.
The tragic overtones are found in the girl's rejection from friends, and in her bitter longing to be wanted. When this basic need is discovered and turned into desire, she incredulously says, "Why, the bride and my brother—are the we of me. We belong together, because they are the we of me." Unfortunately her desire is focused on the wrong pair.
The cook, too, has her sad moments. The memory of a loved, late husband and the presence of her "junkie" brother have pushed her onto the unsettled road of homelessness. Her unhappiness, rarely revealed, is shown in a reply to the girl who, astonished at a rapid turn of events, says. "The world is certainly a sudden place." The cook answers, "Sometimes. But when you're waiting like this, it seems so long."
But tragedy has only a solidifying effect on the play, being the basis for most of the comical situations. Tragedy and comedy are natural to a home with kids. And so a great deal of satisfaction comes from the play's perfectly normal atmosphere.
Mrs. Yadon, a dancer by trade, is also a consistent little girltype actress. Her overwhelming characterization, studded with accurate mannerisms of the straining adolescent, dominates the stage. In this part she surpasses her warmly-remembered role as Billy Bigelow's rebellious daughter in 1956's "Carousel."
Theater groups usually have a terrible time finding suitable child actors. Most are plain lousy or shield their talent behind thick slices of ham. But Baumgartel, a local grade school student, handles his part with astonishing aplomb. The gifted youngster exceeds many collegiate players with his grasp of a difficult lead role.
Equally superior is Miss Featherston's interpretation of the sympathetic cook. She has buried the usual "Beulah" or "Jenny" conceptions of such a role and, instead, has mastered a genuine, demanding approach to defining the integral family cook. She also has a winsome voice, appealing in her rendition of a Negro spiritual.
Two other newcomers to the KU stage gave striking performances, Gwendolyn Freeman briefly played a feeble, old woman, and Gerren Keith was the cook's lithosome brother. Keith, by the way, would look good as Sportin' Life in "Porgy and Bess."
Lewin Goff's smart staging was aptly evident in both the players' delivery and the direction of the plot. E. Arthur Kean's subtle lighting and Virgil Godfrey's realistic setting kept in line with last season's outstanding technical productions. Phyllis Miller, who made her bow as a costume designer, effected designs tastefully in accord with the above.