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Summer Session Kansan Friday. July 10. 1950
'Cramming' Extends Itself
In keeping with the hurried atmosphere of the summer session we have heard many complaints in regard to "cram courses."
Operating on a tight schedule, instructors must condense courses, which normally take an unhurried (comparatively, that is) four months, into a short eight weeks.
Complaints seem to center around the fact that there is no time to absorb the lectures and outside readings (is this the osmosis process we've heard so much about?). The students must "cram" from day-to-day in order to keep up.
As if this isn't bad enough, this "cramming process" has not been confined to the mental processes. Latest ominous rumblings coming from the collective mouths of the student body indicate that the "cram" process has extended into, of all things, the gastronomic field.
We are inclined to agree with the "rumble." Ever notice how much the Hawk's Nest and cafeteria resemble a grade school at dismissal time?
When the cafeteria begins serving meals it is descended upon by hoards of campers, delegates to numerous institutes, prospective students, visitors, ad infinitum. Meantime, the college student attempts to avail himself of the facilities to which he contributes a chunk of his tuition. If he is lucky enough to get served he is forced to "cram"
so that he will have time to get to a class so that he can "cram" some more.
We realize that people have to eat, but this situation is ridiculous. At the last count there were 14 different women's residence and men's university halls, most of which have kitchen facilities and dining areas. Most (or all) of these are just sitting around gathering dust, waiting for the fall semester. And this, under the circumstances, also seems ridiculous.
We realize that attempts have been made, by means of time restrictions, putting off limits areas for various groups, etc. to alleviate the situation.
There are numerous ways in which the situation could be rectified. The residence hall proposal undoubtedly will be rejected on a profit basis. But what would be the objection to serving meals in the ballroom, which easily can handle a large group?
Speaking of profit, if it can be shown that a cafeteria could be operated at an expense balanced by the gross take, why not do it? Are parts of the University being operated to make a profit, or is it a non-profit institution being supported by the taxpayers and tuition for the benefit of the people of the State of Kansas?
—Ray Miller
Just What Is NSA?
What is NSA? Not many people seem to know. It is the National Student Association, a national student government group to which we belong. That is the extent of most students' knowledge of the organization.
All Student Council Bill No. 14 affiliates us with NSA. The bill was passed in 1955 and amended in 1957. This is all fine and dandy, but what does this organization do? Why don't we know more about it? Why didn't we ever vote to join NSA? Who pays for it? The ASC constitution
tells us nothing, except that we belong.
We pay $180 national dues which come from student fees. We also send several ASC members to a NSA convention every year. The ASC may know what the money and the convention is for, but the rest of the students do not.
Let us be enlightened on the subject. Write your local ASC representative and find out what this organization does, its history and its purpose.
We're in the dark. Somebody please turn on the lights.
—Martha Pearse
Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1 Late statesman of South Africa.
6 Matched.
2 Composer Frédéric Francois —
13 Compared critically.
15 Argument: Slang.
16 Metaphorical narrative.
17 Bad — German spa.
18 Pussycat.
20 Gaelic name.
21 Refluxes.
23 Highlanders' costumes.
24 Occupy a certain place.
25 Dish.
27 Starting point, in a game.
28 China's weights.
30 More helpings of food.
32 Peruse.
34 Roller —
35 Encourages.
36 Pitfall.
40 Refresh one's knowledge (with "on"): 2 words.
42 Elaborately trimmed.
45 Gold: Sp.
47 Accumulate a reserve.
48 Dog ___ manger: 2 words.
49 Carcass of a whale.
51 Singer Berger.
52 Frequently: Poet.
53 Radio aerial.
55 Hard wood.
56 Where trains run.
58 Take for granted.
60 Straight.
61 Equipped.
62 Gather again.
63 Building material.
DOWN
1 Seece of great disorder.
2 Extreme conservative: Colloq.
3 Good times.
4 Canopy.
5 Move furtively.
6 More civil.
7 "Das ist ___."
8 Supports for the bridges of Paris.
9 Duster.
10 Satin fabric.
11 Shunt off the track.
12 Bird sounds.
13 Wire rope.
14 Units of force.
15 Small pieces.
16 Ermines.
17 Vestibule.
18 Social prohibitions..
20 Start of a Christmas hymn.
21 Goddess: Latin.
22 Attention.
23 Complete.
24 Last names.
25 Entrances.
26 German capital.
27 Thin and sickly: Colony.
28 Inlet of the sea.
29 Biased.
30 Marquand's forte.
31 Like a clarinet.
32 Ties.
33 Contort.
34 Alms box.
35 Red Sea to Yellow Sea.
36 Man's nickname.
37 N. C. O.
Map Shows Divided Reich
WASHINGTON — Recess of the Foreign Ministers Conference after weeks of fruitless discussion leaves the jigsaw puzzle of divided Germany as far from solution as ever.
Behind the dilemma of conflicting East-West interests are basic geographic facts that are underlined by the National Geographic Society's new map of Germany.
Printed in 10 colors, the map features a detailed inset on Berlin and presents 5,165 place names. It was issued to the society's nearly 2,500,000 members as a supplement to the June National Geographic Magazie. e
In a new long-range mapping project, such supplements are now distributed in uniform-sized sheets of 25 by 19 inches, for assembly in a growing world atlas. Larger prints, $32_{12}^{2}$ by 42 inches, are still being prepared for framing.
On the German map, jagged boundaries point up the postwar partitions that have separated both Germany and Berlin into politically opposed fragments.
A broad green streak through the heart of the country marks the division between the western Federal Republic and the Eastern Zone, or "German Democratic Republic."
The Germans call this barrier the "Inhuman Frontier." for it bars neighbor from neighbor and parent from child. It cuts through villages, farms, and occasional houses, whose front or back doors must be kept sealed.
It is impossible to please all the world and one's father.—Jean de la Fontaine
Nobuddy ever fergits where he buried a hatchit—Frank McKinney
Dailu Hansan
(Published Tuesdays and Fridays)
NEWS DEPARTMENT
News Room Phone 711
Editor Janet Juneau
Associate Editor Ray Miller
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Business Office Phone 376
Business Manager Bill Kane
By Calder M. Pickett
Associate Professor of Journalism
TOWARD A SOCIALIST AMERICA, a symposium of essays edited by Helen Alfred. Peace Publications, $1.50.
Here in paperback is a little tract that would seem to have more in common with the fiery proletarian literature of the 1930s than the comfortable writings of our Eisenhower civilization. These are 15 statements of socialism—socialism in the purest sense, socialism that seems to be unaware of Hungary and Tibet, the communes and worldwide subversion, Khrushchev and Mao Tse-tung.
Many premises within these pages are not difficult to accept, but not the premise that great social progress has been made in Russia, that socialistic democracy has been achieved there.
One premise that does seem sound is that socialism is gaining in the world, that the United States is one of the few holdout nations. Much of the world is socialistic. Many new nations have written socialism into their constitutions; even Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang gave lip service to various forms of nationalization in the constitution they promulgated in 1947.
Whether there is a great outpouring from Americans who want socialism is another matter. The United States is rapidly becoming a one-class—the middle-class—society. Workers no longer want to rise with their "class"; they want to rise out of it.
The socialistic thinkers whose writings have been gathered in this anthology include Stephen H. Fritchman, Bertha Capen Reynolds. John Howard Lawson, John Thomas McManus, Paul M. Sweezy, Victor Perlo, Carl Dreher, George Olshausen, Scott Nearing, Reuben W. Borough, W.E.B. Du Bois, Homer Ayers and Philip S. Foner. These are not household names in this era of the Saturday Evening Post and Dr. Peale. Some may recall that Lawson was one of the Hollywood writers who took the Fifth Amendment back in 1947. Du Bois, of course, is the famous Negro writer (the footnote on him reveals that he has lived under every president since Andrew Johnson).
This tract argues in its opening section that "American workers need socialism." A Unitarian minister writes of the Mexican-American, of the Negro, and the "tragic costliness of monopoly capitalism." A veteran socialist tells of the hardships worked by capitalism upon the American family and contends that socialism can help to dispel both emotional and economic insecurity. Lawson pleads for a return to government subsidization of the arts, describing the vivid Federal Theatre of the 1930s, recalling how the WPA gave work to writers, artists, and musicians.
In "Transition to a Socially Based Economy" the writers argue for a shift from capitalism to state control of the means of production, describing such striking examples of corporate growth as the oil industry, urging economic planning.
Finally, in "Wanted: An American People's Party," the Socialists move into a number of specific areas. Borough stresses what he sees as the need for public power, and he looks with fondness to the days of the New Deal, the TVA and Grand Couleen Dam. Du Bois returns to the telling theme of the Negro and socialism (and in these pages Little Rock continues to loom as a name of symbolic significance). A final article discusses socialism and the labor union: "The socialist-minded workers have a clear duty to ... participate actively in the everyday struggles of the working class, introducing a greater degree of class consciousness in the course of these struggles, and constantly popularizing the advantages that socialism would bring in America."
BEN-HUR, by Lew Wallace, Signet, 50 cents.
As M-G-M gets ready to release its whopping new spectacle, a talking version of the famous silent picture, Signet Books is capitalizing on the publicity by issuing an unabridged version of the lushly sentimental and romantic "Tale of the Christ." "Ben-Hur" first appeared in the 1880s, became one of the all-time great sellers, emerged in dramatic versions on stage and screen. Galleys, chariot racing, and the crucifixion—all are in this famous tale. —CMP
FOUR SHORT NOVELS, by Herman Melville. Bantam Classics, 50 cents.
So recent is the Melville renaissance that in high school literature of a quarter of a century ago the celebrated novelist was virtually unrepresented. This collection demonstrates that Melville deserves to be remembered for more than "Moby Dick" and "Type." The best of these, and the best known, is his harsh tale of the British Navy, "Billy Budd, Foretopman," which is achieving fame comparable to that of "Moby Dick." Two others of these four deal with the sea, "The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles," and "Benito Cereno." The fourth, "Bartleby," is the story of a scrivener, a law-copier, and it is entirely different in mood and style from the others.—CMP
RASHOMON AND OTHER STORIES, by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Bantam Classics, 35 cents.
There is a filmy, fairy tale quality to these tales of Akutagawa, like an impressionist painting or a Japanese print such as those which inspired Matisse. But behind the pale, pink quality lurks the violence that we have come to associate with some of the best Japanese motion pictures. The most famous of these motion pictures, in fact, is the title of this collection, though it is Akutagawa's "In the Grove" that forms the greater basis for the film (and now stage play), "Rashomon." Another tale of love and violence. Kesa and Morito, is the plot of "Gate of Hell." As we come to be more and more interested in the art and literature of the Orient, we should find such collections as this attractively printed and illustrated Bantam reprint very valuable. —CMP