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University Daily Kansan Thursday. Sept. 15. 1960
Wescoe's Challenge
Every year at this time the Kansan welcomes the returning student body. This year we want to continue the tradition and welcome back all the upperclassmen and what may be the largest freshman class in the history of the University.
But there is one freshman for whom we wish to reserve a special greeting. He is Dr. W. Clarke Wescoe, who is beginning his duties as chancellor this Fall.
We reserve a special greeting for Dr. Wescoe because he faces a sterner test of ability and courage than any of us. His is indeed the toughest job of all, and he takes it on at a particularly critical time for the University. He has a large pair of shoes to fill. How well they fit may determine the future of higher education in the state, to say nothing of the bright future every individual student has a right to cherish.
The problems are considerable. Not the least of them is a thinly veiled hostility toward higher education radiating from the statehouse in Topeka, a hostility which has manifested itself in the veto of an emergency building fund bill which we felt was a vitally necessary piece of legislation. Another example of this hostility has been obvious in the governor's comments concerning former Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy, comments which have sometimes bordered on downright rudeness.
Another problem that will greet Dr. Wescoe as he begins his work is one that is facing educators throughout the country. This is the enrollment boom, the so-called "war baby" wave which all educators have been so desperately trying to prepare for.
Still another difficulty arises in the faculty turnover. In the past few years, many gifted faculty members have left the University to work
elsewhere, usually because they were offered higher salaries. This is not to say that KU has an inferior faculty; far from it. We believe the quality of instruction here is as high as any school in the Midwest. But this problem does exist and will continue to exist for Dr. Wescoe, as it does for many educators.
We are convinced that our new chancellor has the ability and the courage to deal with these problems effectively. But he cannot do this job alone. Any administrator, no matter how gifted, needs the active support of all the University family in order to bring about the promise inherent in his school. The lonely fight is a losing fight, in this instance.
How can we, as students, help? At the risk of being tiresome — and we are happy to take this risk — we insist this can only be done by the individual student talking about his school to anyone who will listen. He must acquaint himself with its problems, its shortcomings, and discuss them with his parents and his friends; the people who have it within their power to correct, to uplift, to insure progress.
When the student is talking about his school, he might do well to consider the good things about it, also. The Gifted Student Program, the Distinguished Professorship grants, the splendid lecture series and the improved physical plant we see rising around us are testimony to the great progress already made by the University of Kansas. If we have perhaps dwelt so long on the problems we face, it is only because we never want these problems to mar the solid advances made here. With the help of the University family, this need never happen.
Bill Blundell
The UDK - It's Yours
The first day of publication in a new semester always gives the editorial staff a welcome opportunity to let you, the student body, know what the Kansan stands for and what it will be doing during the year.
First, know that this is your newspaper, run by students for students. We wear no man's collar. This newspaper does not speak for the University administration or any other group, save for the student body as a whole.
We have often been at odds with the administration and will probably continue to be, in some matters. But we have always been grateful and appreciative that we have been permitted complete freedom to speak our minds within the limits of good taste.
We intend this paper to be a reflection of the shifting winds of student opinion. This is done in our letters to the editor column. As a medium of communication, we recognize our obligation to provide a free and open forum for discussion.
Often we will try to bring to attention matters which we feel are important. We may agitate and annoy, but only because we feel that this too is the function of a good newspaper when a vital issue cries for publication.
We will not endorse any political candidate, nor will we attempt to come in the back door by printing negative statements about his opponent; but be assured that we will speak out pro and con on the issues of the campaign, and, where we feel criticism is warranted in a particular matter, we shall criticize. The candidates themselves will not be exempt from criticism of this nature.
We will try to print all the news about events in the University community, and as much national and world news as we have room for.
We will make mistakes; but if you will stand by us, we will try to be the newspaper you need and deserve.
— The Editors
A HINT TO FRESHMEN
EATON
K.U. KANSAN
Oh! Those gawking animals . . . they're lawyers.
New in this semester's Kansan:
1. Weekly movie reviews appearing
Friday, 2. Cartoons by Eaton,
the poor man's Jules Pfeiffer.
New in the UDK
Dailu Hansan
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service. 18 East 50 St, New York 22. Represented by International. Mail subscription rates: $4 semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and examination period Sept. 17, 1919, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became bweekley 1904,
published weekly in the journal
Extension 711, news room Extension 376, business office
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Short Ones
The first rule of advertising is to keep the customer dissatisfied. Thanks to advertising, the average American worker is up to his gills in debt and working like a galley slave—John Ise
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
"DONT KICK ME OFF TH' TEAM COACH- DO YOU WANT ME TA FLUNK OUTA COLLEGE?"
... Letters ...
Editor's note:
This column is reserved for letters from the student body and the faculty. The Kansan welcomes the opinions of its readers and actively solicits them. We print any and all gripes, declarations and appeals. A word of caution, however; we will not print unsigned letters, letters which attack any individual personally, or letters which are in bad taste. We reserve the right to edit all letters for length and for libelous material.
From the President
Dear Fellow Students;
The school year that will begin for us Monday is a year of many firsts. It is the first year for our new Chancellor, Dr. W. Clarke Wescoe. From early indications it may be the first year of the big "tidal wave" of students that will descend upon KU in full force within the next few years. The new Kansas Union addition will be opened. And KU will have its most exciting and colorful football team in years.
We have many things to be grateful for—starting with the fact of our education here at The University of Kansas. I hope we all can take full advantage of our opportunities and make KU a better place for our having been here.
Frank Burge, director of the Kansas Union, has invited each student, his family, and his friends to enjoy the Union's Expansion Celebration Open House beginning at 9:30 Saturday. There will be tours of the new rooms and facilities, refreshments, movies of last year's TCU game narrated by Coach Mitchell's staff, free bowling with prizes, a "Kitchen Quarterbacks Coffee" where all the ladies can meet and visit with the coaches' wives, musical entertainment during the day by the Stu Smith Combo, and in the evening the famous Buddy Morrow Orchestra to play for a concert and later a dance. Everything is free. Everybody is invited.
The first opportunity for our families, as well as ourselves, is the football schedule that has been appropriately called "the greatest home schedule in history." The first game is Saturday against Texas Christian. It will be a memorable occasion.
If your parents are planning to bring up the rest of your books, clothing, and other personal belongings, it would be an ideal time for them to share this aspect of our KU life, and they will have the best selection of seats for any home game this season, and the Union Open House in addition. If they weren't planning to come, you might make their opportunity clear.
Monday our new Chancellor will be inaugurated at the Opening Convocation. This is our first chance to show Dr. Wesoee that we are KU's most enthusiastic supporters and that we will help in every way to accomplish for our University what must be done if it is to fulfill its dream of greatness.
Other opportunities will arise—in the classroom and in the laboratory, on the stage and in the audience, in our extracurricular activities and on the athletic field, at KU and in our home towns—when we can demonstrate our dedication to education and our gratitude for what has been made available to us by the labor and devotion and sacrifice of others.
If we will, we can be the greatest force for progress in the University. As Dr. Wescoe said Sunday to the new students, The University of Kansas is in our hands. Ron Daly.
Student Body President
VILE BODIES and BLACK MISCHIEF, by Evelyn Waugh. Dell Laurel Books, 75 cents.
S
Two archly humorous novels, with the customary Waugh touch of decadence, have been put out in one volume by Laurel Editions. It all depends upon how one feels about Waugh, especially the Waugh of the early 1930s. "Vile Bodies" concerns the British upper-class, and is marred by such improbabilities as a Jesuit priest named Rothschild, a lady evangelist named Mrs. Ape, and a member of Parliament named the Right Honourable Walter Outrage.
Th zine i a fine able s In sh capab
"Black Mischief" has some topical interest in its setting, an island off the coast of Africa. Its theme is colonialism in the good old days before the English empire began to disintegrate.
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