Daily hansan
58th Year, No. 59
Tuesday, Dec. 13, 1960
LAWRENCE. KANSAS
KU Business School Challenging
Mitchell Declines Harvard Position
Wiley S. Mitchell, professor of business and associate dean of the School of Business, has recently declined an appointment to the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Business.
The Business School Council, which represents the students of the School of Business, drafted the following statement concerning Dean Mitchell's decision:
"As representatives of the students of the School of Business, we take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Dean Mitchell for the faith that he has placed in our school and its future. It is men like Dean Mitchell who provide the student with the challenges which are necessary in order that the future business community may accomplish the tasks which society will demand of it. The students of the School of Business say, 'Thank you, Dean Mitchell.'"
DEAN MITCHELL expressed his decision to remain at KU partially as follows:
"The School of Business at the University of Kansas is on the threshold of some very exciting and challenging activities. We have three new programs underway or in the final phases before introduction:
1. The revised undergraduate program.
2. The five-year MS in accountin program.
3. The two-year MBA program
Weather
Partly cloudy this afternoon becoming mostly cloudy tonight and tomorrow with occasional snow or freezing drizzle southwest and south-central portions tonight or tomorrow. Not so cold north and east portions tonight. Low tonight generally near 20.
"During the past several years, I have been very much involved in the planning aspects of these programs and I remain deeply interested in seeing them carried out as successfully as possible. All three of these programs encompass basic objectives and goals which involve some unique aspects and concepts.
"I have been most impressed with the sincerity and dedication of the majority of our faculty to eagerly strive to obtain these goals that we have defined.
"ANY CONTRIBUTION that I can make, even though very small, will be of more benefit to the continued building of a greater university here at Kansas than a similarly small contribution would be to a great institution such as Harvard."
Waggoner Is Still With KU
PORTLAND, Ore. — (UPI) — The State Board of Higher Education met here yesterday and today but there was no indication of whether a new president for the University of Oregon would be named.
A spokesman hinted that a selection would not be made at the current meeting, which runs through today.
Among those mentioned for the job has been George Waggoner, dean of the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He was recently interviewed at Eugene.
The board held committee meetings yesterday and the full board met today. Oregon is seeking a successor to O. Meredith Wilson, who resigned early this year to accept the top job at the University of Minnesota.
Vacation Schedule Given for Library
Watson Library will be closed Christmas day and the Monday following, and also New Year's day and the following Monday. It will be open all other vacation days.
The schedule is:
December 17, 8 a.m.-noon
December 19-23, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
December 24, 8 a.m.-noon
December 27-30, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
December 31, 8 a.m.-noon
Departmental libraries will have their hours posted at their entrances.
ALGERS, Algeria —(UPI)— The French Foreign Legion opened fire tonight on mobs of European settlers and Moslems who battled in the streets of Bone to give President Charles de Gaulle a bloody send off back to Paris.
Bulletin
(See early story page 8.)
City Considers Rights Group
The Lawrence City Commission has recently been considering the possibility of creating a Human Rights Commission in this city, Mayor John T. Weatherwax reported today.
The city commission is still in the process of determining whether there is a need for a Human Rights Commission and whether it would be the most effective method of encouraging an appreciation for human rights in Lawrence, Mr. Weatherwax said.
Mayor Weatherwax expressed the opinion that action on the part of individuals and interested groups in the city and through the University will have a more profound effect on improving human relations in Lawrence than any single thing the city could do.
Students' Lot Is Safer Thanks to Snow Crews
"We have been doing what we
Neither rain nor snow nor sleet will stay the KU student from his appointed rounds, thanks to the KU buildings and grounds department.
Barely giving the present snow a chance to settle, department workers were out early Sunday clearing the streets and sidewalks.
Harold Blitch, landscape foreman and head of the snow removal operation, tells a heartwarming story to the many KU students who creep down hazardous steps and sidewalks, anticipating "The Great Fall."
"The traffic department calls me," he said, "and I call the men."
This is an ordeal in itself Blitch said because many of the men who live in outlying towns are themselves snowed in.
"First we hit the streets. Sanding the drive around Watkins Hospital receives high priority because of possible emergencies," Blitch said. For the task of clearing the streets
and sidewalks, the grounds department has a maintainer (a large, heavy machine which scrapes the snow from the pavement and slides it to one side), six tractors with blades, and several sand trucks with spreaders that distribute the sand evenly.
For clearing the steps, the department has innumerable shovels, and definitely numerable men.
Blitch said:
"These men get no overtime, and are actually not paid for their work on Sunday. All they get is equal time off later."
"My men have strict instructions to halt work when foot traffic becomes congested in the area where they are working."
Thus, students, never fear. Your safety in walking the tedious miles up and down campus is in good hands; the KU buildings and grounds department is looking out for you.
can to encourage private groups," the Mayor said. "We have met with groups interested in the problem of human relations, and tried to encourage them to do things on their own. This method is probably slower, but it will be more effective in the long run."
MAYOR WEATHERWAX said he doesn't think he or the city should tell a businessman to hire so many Jews or so many Negroes, or even who to serve.
"If a business establishment discriminates in serving or hiring individuals, it would be more effective for groups to exert pressure by not patronizing the establishment than for the city to step in and say you must hire or must serve a certain group."
The Mayor said that the city commission has been studying reports from other cities to determine how they handle their human relations problems.
"REPORTS WE HAVE show a faster acceptance of human rights in the whole community, if a program is supported by individual groups rather than by city government," the Mayor said.
Twelve years ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations, meeting in Paris, proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1950 the General Assembly asked that the week of December 10, be set aside for the celebration of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights throughout the entire world.
A Teacher for 28 Years, His Rewards- Debt
By Frank Morgan
Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles about the pres-
sence of computers in Kansas and possible improvements in that program.
This is the story of a man.
It could be the story of any one of several men or women in Lawrence, the state or the nation.
But this is the story of one man, 78 years old. He lives alone. He has lived alone since his wife died in 1956 at the age of 70. They had met and married 49 years before, when he was teaching history and government at a small high school in southern Nebraska. She had just graduated from the state teachers college and her first job was at the same school.
Once married, they returned to the university for his graduate degree in history. He made the usual climb up the academic ladder and, 13 years after receiving his graduate degree, he was made assistant professor of history at the University of Kansas.
He taught at Kansas for 28 years, publishing many articles and writing two books. He was loved by some and disliked by a few. He retired at the mandatory age of 70. His imprint on the pages of the University's history was relatively faint.
The state of Kansas paid him $123 per month in retirement benefits, and their combined social security payments amounted to $120 per month. The total was small, but enough to get by on. Their expenses were cut to adjust to the drop in income. By frugal spending things came out even at the month's end.
When he retired, he and his wife had $2,000 in savings, a small insurance policy on his life, a modest five-room house and their social security payments.
But the wife, who had been suffering from an illness for several years, became critically ill. First, a bedside nurse—$15 a day. Then a turn for the worse—fees and special nursing. The $2,000 evaporated. Operations were required, and continuous hospitalization and care made it necessary to sell the house at a loss.
Thirteen agonizing months later she died. The man now lived in a small two-room apartment on the second floor of one of the older houses in town.
He had only his retirement income and reduced social security payments. One-third of this went to pay the debts incurred by his wife's drawn-out illness.
His rent was more than he could afford. Two years ago, he was forced to move to a less comfortable place: a sparsely furnished single room.
His days became patterned by habit. A tiring walk in the morning to the city library to read the papers. A short rest on a sidewalk bench in mild weather before starting home at noon. A lunch of soup and tea. A nap in the early afternoon followed by reading until nightfall. After a small dinner, to bed.
This is not an unusual story. It is the story of many men and women who have devoted years to public education at the University of Kansas.
These are unfortunates who are abandoned by the state after their useful period ends. They are left to provide for themselves at an age when it is impossible to do so adequately. During their active period, the means to provide for retirement is unavailable. Subnormal salaries, inflation and the normal expense of raising a family and keeping a home combine to eliminate savings or investments for the future.
But the University of Kansas has no such adequate pension plan for retired faculty members. Attempts to institute one have failed. The state has not felt responsible for those who are left behind.
More than fifty years ago, a grant by Andew Carnegie, established a free pension system for college teachers. In 1918, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association was originated to further and enlarge the program.
At most schools, adequate retirement benefits bridge the income gap between the active years of teaching and the bleak years of dependence on social security.
The present state program, which has been termed by administrators a token dole, pays a retired faculty member a maximum of $1,480 a year after 25 years of service. He is not eligible to receive any benefit unless he has 10 years of service. No person can receive from the state and social security combined more than $2,872 a year.
In 1958, 85% of American four-year colleges and universities had retirement plans in operation.
KU was in the 15 per cent that did not. In 1960, it still belongs in the minority.
If a retired member dies, his wife and dependents receive nothing.
This is the future for a teacher at the University of Kansas, unless the new annuity retirement plan, now being submitted to the Kansas Legislature, is adopted.
(Tomorrow's article will deal with the particular aspects of the present and proposed plans and how they affect retired faculty members.)
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