Thursday, December 5, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
Dr. Schwegler
A soft-spoken man with a hard job
He often puts in 10-hour days helping KU students stay healthy, but he rarely hears anything but complaints.
This is Dr. Raymond Schweegler, the man behind the scenes at Watkins Memorial Hospital.
A small, white-haired man whose warm smile often breaks into a hearty laugh, Schwegler is director of the Student Health Center. He is also a KU graduate, a physician, a Ph.D. and a public speaker.
Slightly reminiscent, Schwegler spoke of his boyhood days in Lawrence where his father was the dean of the School of Education at KU.
"I have spent my entire life on college campuses since my own days as a student at KU," said the soft-spoken director.
the sort-sorting
After graduating in microbiology from KU in 1926, Schwegler spent a year studying at KU before going to the University of Minnesota where he received his Bachelor of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine and Ph.D. degrees.
However, the home of his youth drew him back in 1935, when he opened a private practice in gynecology in Lawrence and began teaching obstetrics.
Two years later, he walked through the doors of Watkins Hospital to begin his service to KU students as a part-time staff physician.
After serving in the Army Medical Corps, Schwegler resumed practice until illness forced him to discontinue in 1956.
Schwegler devoted the remaining years of his medical practice to students when he became director of the Health Center upon the retirement of Dr. Ralph I. Canuteson in 1965.
"More than anything I enjoy the student contact," he said.
"This type of work is less strenuous than private practice. The work load is heavy, but well-defined."
The 61-year-old physician works with a demanding schedule of administrative duties, meetings and numerous speeches, yet still finds time to personally visit every hospital patient each day.
Those who work with and know Schwegler best, speak admiringly of his ability and devotion.
Dr. Howard L. Wilcox, who now practices in Schwegler's former medical office, said he has known him for 12 years.
"He's sincerely interested in his patients," Wilcox said. "He's loyal, dedicated, and highly trained in the fields of gynecology and obstetrics."
He added that-Schwegler practiced dentistry before taking
over as director, broadening his wide field of medicine.
His talent also has not gone unnoticed by employers. Through the years, Schwegler has received job offers including a dean position.
"When Dr. Murphy was appointed Chancellor, he asked me to be dean of the Medical School," Schwegler said. "I declined the offer because the hospital position was ideal. Actually, I have never sought other spots. However, teaching would be my second choice."
Although devoted to his medical service, and not willing to leave, Schwegler has been the victim of yearly onslaughts of complaints and criticism about the Student Health Center.
"We expect it," he said. "Any-one confronting the public will have a certain amount of friction."
ing upon modern changes, the white-haired physician revealed a bit of nostalgia when he spoke of the by-gone era of the street-car and the tracks it followed across KU's campus. Schwegler also noted that students and faculty could no longer drive up in front of a building and park while attending classes.
In addition to physical changes, the hospital director mentioned a growth and sophistication of academic departments.
"Because of the number of students," he said, "the close personal contact with professors is gone. When I was in school we got to know the instructors and department heads immediately."
D.C. priests crusade for birth control
Schweegler again contrasted his era with the present when he attributed the better-prepared student of today to modern advancements in all areas of academic study.
CHICAGO (UPI)—Two rebellious Washington, D.C., priests, on a cross-country recruiting mission for their dissenting viewpoint, said recently the Roman Catholic church is losing 1,000 young priests a year because it will not adjust to "current realities."
However, he said, many complaints are irrefutable, we cannot always fight back.
The priests, Revs. George Malzone and T. Joseph O'Donoghue, were stripped of most of their priestly functions by Washington's Cardinal Patrick O'Oboyle after they signed a statement of conscience contrary to Pope Paul IV's encyclical, "On Human Life,"
which ruled out birth control of any sort except the traditional rhythm method.
They are representatives of the Association of Washington Priests, which drafted the statement, and are visiting major cities trying to rally support.
On modernization, Schwegler added that as the University grows and changes so must its administrators.
"These are the young, aware priests that the Catholic Church desperately needs. The ones who are taking, or want to take, a position on the great issues of the day," Father Malzone said.
Father O'Donoghue, who said he was tossed out of his rectory on four days' notice, the dis-
caping of 40 priests who signed the statement was arbitrary and would serve to drive young people away from the priesthood.
As a young boy in Lawrence, a KU student and now a University administrator, Schwegler has grown with KU—watching it rise from a few buildings and muddy paths, to a several-acre campus serving over 17,000 students.
"These people will see the disciplinary action and will see you cannot speak your mind in the Catholic Church and they will want no part of it," he said.
"It is inconsistent—some would say hypocritical—of the Vatican to say that on issues such as the Vietnam War, an individual must be guided by his conscience, but then on a matter such as birth control, that same conscience must roll over and play dead," Father O'Donoghue said.
Upon retirement in four years, the gnome-like doctor will step down as director of Watkins, yielding his position to a new administrator.
Recalling the past and reflect-
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