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University Daily Kansan Friday, May 17, 1957
A Black-eyed Lawrence—
Time To Do Something
Until recently, the question of desegregation in downtown restaurants was just a local problem. As far as Lawrence was concerned, it was the job of those affected to do something, although little was done. But now this situation or problem, whichever you prefer, has gone beyond the confines of Lawrence.
As a result of the discrimination by two Lawrence restaurant owners, the situation that exists here has now reached the eyes and ears of the entire nation. This bad publicity will and should give Lawrence a black eye.
An "expressio nof public opinion," i.e. refusing to serve a dark-skinned person, took place in Lawrence last week. The person who was refused service was a journalist from Pakistan, who had been invited to this country by the State Department. His opinion of the United States was doubtlessly lowered by the acts of discrimination against him.
In the first place, it was very insulting to this man to be refused service, and to add salt to the wound, he was refused service a second time by a different restaurant. Not only was he refused service, but when he showed his State Department credentials to explain who he was, the person he gave them to threw them on the floor, telling him that they didn't matter here.
Discrimination in itself is bad enough, and the fact that this took place in a university town makes it worse. But the most damning thing about this situation is that it reached the State Department.
When any undesirable situation becomes so bad that it reaches high officials in the nation, it is past time to take steps to remedy it. For the benefit of Lawrence, some civic-minded group should see to it that these steps are taken.
—Del Haley
Go Ahead, Initiate
Many people criticize the practice of initiation by various campus honorary organizations. They say that it isn't dignified enough and that the initiates are putting themselves up to public ridicule. Maybe so, but they certainly are adding a bright touch to the campus and are giving the everyday morning walk a little variety.
Initiation time is here again and it is quite refreshing.
Two of the groups which have had recent initiation activities are the Owl Society, junior men's honorary group, and the K-Club, athletic letter organization. The Owl Society group perched themselves in a tree in front of Flint Hall singing their song, "Owl Society, junior men, true blue." Sure they looked funny up there, but when else do half of the people on this campus take their eyes off the sidewalk and look upward?
The K-Club dressed its initiates in equipment representative of the sport in which they participate and sent them out on the campus. This may have been the only opportunity for some people to see and recognize the members of the University's athletic teams on or off the field of competition.
Most of the students in the University have gone through some type of hazing or initiation in their pre-college days. Chances are it was as a freshman in their local high schools. Perhaps they were taken into some kind of high school society which called for a gentle hazing as an entrance requirement.
This was probably enjoyed by most of the students who took part in it, despite a great deal of complaining which usually goes on. This type of thing had better be enjoyed while it can because it can't be approved in later life.
Actions such as this are expected in high school and college, but when people outside these institutions start doing such things public feeling may run pretty high. Witness the indignation that occurs among convention-city residents when the American Legion, Shriners, Elks and other such organizations convene. Their actions can be compared with campus actions to a certain extent, but their performances are greeted with much more public criticism.
So if campus groups want to hold initiations let them. Let's not get stuffy and straight-laced before our time.
Lecturers Cause Class Lag
We overheard a conversation between two faculty members in the Hawk's Nest recently.
One complained that his students were immature. They had a somewhat childish attitude toward school, he said; their interest was low and they were inattentive in class. He told his sympathetic listener that he roundly tongue-lashed the group, reminding them that they were no longer in high school, but were enrolled in a university, that they were college students and that their attitude in class should reflect it.
The faculty man's reasoning may be faulty. Too often the student is blamed for inattentiveness when the instructor should be. The manner in which a class conducts itself is usually determined by the lecturer. If he can't hold the student's attention and command their respect, his ability as a lecturer may be questioned. Thus to some degree, the attitude of a class is the responsibility
of the lecturer. The attitude should grow out of respect for the lecturer, rather than by a direct reminder.
Some say that students should have strong interest in the subject matter and respect for the instructor because they are in college and the instructor is trying to teach them. This turns well on the tongue and rings well in the ear, but is disproved in class after class.
When such an incident arises in any class, it seems it is an excellent time for the lecturer, whether he be an instructor or full professor, to hesitate before he condemns the class as a group of inattentive dullards and to give himself a thorough self-examination. He should investigate the possibility that he is the cause of their disinterest.
Shooting The Bull
—John Eaton
If it were possible to give scholastic credit on the basis of acquired wisdom, there are undoubtedly many areas outside of the normal routine of classes that should be rewarded highly . . .
Of all of the extra-academic situations there is one, from which we all benefit to some degree, that seems outstanding in its value. It is commonly known as the bull session among men, but it is not foreign to the life of a coed.
It probably would be disastrous to give college credits for "shootin' the bull," for it would rob the custom of its spontaneity and therefore of its life. People chatter about things that interest them, and that is the reason for bull sessions' never becoming dull.
Informal talks are the pooling of the resources of several minds. They
Sometimes they will merely be the sharing of experiences or feelings. Often bull sessions resemble bull fights as the arguing reaches a climax. When the dust cloud of words settles, the debaters have probably both clarified their thinking on the matter and modified their views somewhat.
give a chem major a background in the philosophy he will never study and help a Minnesota farm boy to understand the basis for racial friction in the South.
Much of the charm of such talk lies in its universality. Nothing from clothes styles to the deepest spiritual thoughts are beyond its scope. It is nothing but extended, serious conversation - the meeting of minds for mutual benefit.
Take a correspondence course? Never. We have too much to learn from shooting the bull.
-Wheaton College Record
Daily Hansan UNIVERSITY
Library Types
Extension 251, news room
Extension 376, business office
University of Kansas student newspaper
truweekly 1908, dally Jan. 16, 1912.
BERKELEY, Calif. — Three "library type." were defined and deplored in a recent editorial in the Daily Californian.
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 251, news room
There is the chatterbox—who must discuss the latest campus political issue or dating technique of a certain fraternity man as soon as he/she gets settled in the reading room.
Member Inland Daily Press Association.
Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 420 Madison Ave., New York. N. Y. News service; United Press. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $4.50 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturday and Sundays. University hall passes are required as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
There are lovers ("always occurring in the plural") whose actions almost force everyone else to stop and speculate on what will happen next.
Kent Thomas... Managing Editor
FOREIGN DEPARTMENT
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Jerry Dawson ... Editorial Editor
Jerry Thomas, Jim Tice, Associate Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Dale Bowers Business
And there is the groaner—who moans and sighs with every line he reads.
Business Manager Dave Dickey, Advertising Manager; John Hedley, National Advertising Manager; Harold Metz., Classified Advertising Manager; Conboy Brown, Circulation Manager.
"Maybe we all are, on occasion, a little guilty of being one or all three," says the writer. "But it is time these types recognize themselves for what they are and act accordingly."
"Those suffering from 'endtermitis' would appreciate it!"
Spectacular bird migrations on the East Coast, when thousands of birds may appear in the morning where there were none the night before, are a result of changeable spring weather. After a northeast storm, birds return on warm and pleasant days.
Three Pines Boarding Kennels - Large Individual Outside Runs ED & JANET YOUNG
St
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