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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1961
Survival of Silence
Last week the ASC proved once more that the theory of survival of the fittest is a valid one—even when applied to campus publications. To those who had traced the development of the twice-published, ill-fated Spectrum, the ASC's finding that magazine lacked popular appeal came as no surprise. Then the whole issue became camouflaged by a smokescreen of numbers. The fact that Spectrum's business manager ordered 2,500 copies printed is incidental to the issue. Had he ordered only 400 copies—100 more than the magazine sold this fall—the enterprise still would have been doomed. Luckily, the ASC didn't let the smoke get in its eyes.
INSTEAD, THE ASC DECIDED TO IN-vestigate the causes for the failure. And, the committee assigned to the job hasn't wasted any time. For this, the committee should be commended—but, hopefully, it will go beyond the goals it set for itself. Perhaps the ASC's committee can trap the will-o'-wisp of what makes a successful magazine at KU.
If this can be done, the sooner the better. Kansas produces things other than wheat and oil. It also produces students whose ideas are applicable to the publication of campus magazines. Spectrum is gone. Its fall was as low as its aspirations were high. With regards to the administration, the Fowl was too foul, the Sour Owl
too sour. The fate of magazines at KU other than the subsidized Quill of the English department have probably made students interested in starting a new magazine gunshy.
SPECTRUM WAS AN ATTEMPT AT THE unusual in a campus magazine. Its very existence bespoke the fact that its managers were unafraid to attempt to give KU a magazine that differed from the ordinary cheesecake-suggestive story campus publication. The endeavor, at least, was worthy. Hopefully, the death of Spectrum will not strangle any endeavor to give KU a magazine that is both popular and high-ideal. There is, however, a chance that Spectrum's fate as the most recent of the campus magazines may do just this.
If the ASC committee set up to study the Spectrum issue takes upon itself the duty of finding out what would make a successful magazine at KU, it will be doing the campus a great service. This does not mean that it should draw up a list of commandments for would-be editors. The element of chance is always present-no one knows if a magazine will be successful until the cash is in the till. But the committee can do much to insure that the story of campus magazines at KU is not a story of the survival of silence in coming years.
Dan Felger
Not Boo Mizzou?
Kansans, it has been noted throughout the years, have never had a soft spot in their hearts for Tigers—of the Missouri variety. And the Bengal boosters have never been overly friendly towards Jayhawkers, either. While this suspicion may not be advocated by proponents of world peace, it actually creates a healthy situation between these states...
IT WAS ONLY LAST MONTH, FOR EX-ample, that a Kansas forgot his manners and murmured a hello on the street to a Missourian. This so unnerved the Show-me-stater that he began to see a psychiatrist two weeks later. Then the family of the Missouri man retaliated by greeting Kansans on the street with the same result. Finally, Federal troops were called to end the situation. This turn of events was not as
serious as the latest attempt to disrupt the status quo, however.
Yesterday a newspaper carried a story that berated the Jayhawker crowd at Monday night's basketball game for unsportsmanlike attitude—against Missouri. "Vitriolic" Jayhawk fans "whiplashed" the Bengals "unmercifully," the account read. Actually, the fans were doing nothing more than what the Bengals expected. The Kansas rooters weren't misbehaving—the were merely maintaining the status quo. It's one that's been maintained a long time...
NOT YELL AT MISSOURI? NOT LUSTILY boo the Tigers?—what a terrible suggestion. Kansans would no more want to neglect their patriotic duty, than the Missourians would want to forget theirs.
Dan Felger
Bv Lynn Cheatum
It Looks This Way
A taxicab driver in Kansas City gave me a dirty look as I gave him a 10 cent tip on a fare of $1.25. Tipping has always been a mysterious phenomenon to me so I took this chance to ask the man what size tip would be appropriate. His polite reply was that 15 per cent of the fare was a standard tip and that I should have given him 20 cents.
Rebelliously, I made it a 15 cent compromise, explaining that I was a student and thus on limited funds. The next day I began a research project in the subject of tipping and ran across some interesting items.
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trieweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 711 news 5000
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Bureau of N.Y. News service; United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the school week. Subsidies and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
John Peterson ... Managing Editor
Bill Blundell, Carrie Edwards, Lynn
Cheatum and Ralph Wilson, Assistant
Managing Editors; Tom Turner, City
Editor; Bill Sheldon, Sports Editor;
Sue Thieman, Society Editor.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Frank Morgan ... Co-Editorial Editors
Ben Felger
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
John Massa Business Manager
--search project in the subject of tipping and ran across some interesting items.
In a magazine article one psychologist explained that most people find it faintly embarrassing to have another person wait on them. The guilt feelings about the unequal relationship are so strong that few are able to withhold their tips. Another psychologist said that tipping has nothing to do with the service the tipper receives. There is a long, silent tradition that humans are either master or slave.
Uncle Sam is apt to be on the short end of the income tax payment in cases of large incomes from tips. Tipping invites cheating on taxes since it is difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to verify the income reported by the taxpayer. One headwaiter was reported to have evaded $67,000 in taxes on tips over a four year period.
Thirteen years ago Gallup pollsters discovered that in large cities 45 per cent of those questioned were against tipping but 80 per cent practiced it. Of the 55 per cent who were not against tipping, a sizeable number were undecided in the matter.
It is estimated that nearly two million Americans depend on tips for their living. Some waitresses and waiters make four times as much in tips as they do in salary or wages.
Many people tip to show their companions their degree of affluence. This is a form of "conspicuous consumption" for which Americans seem to have an affinity.
It is obvious from these figures
that many people who are opposed to tipping actually do tip. The folkways of our society seem to require that we conform to the fashionable way of behavior. If a tip is an outward sign of thanks to one who has rendered well his services, then the whole purpose of the tip is being perverted by today's tippers.
Many firms have made rules which prohibit employees from accepting tips. One low-price restaurant chain which adopted this rule found that customers reacted favorably to it. The employees know what their earnings will be so there is less temptation to fudge on income tax reports.
A tip or gratitude is defined as "something voluntarily given in return for a favor or service." Tips nowadays are seldom voluntary. They are paid, rather than given. The "service" performed is often of dubious value.
Since the employees work for the management, rather than the customers, it is proper that the management, rather than the customers, pay for the services. Good service could be rewarded by employers if customers reported to the management their satisfaction with the service.
To eliminate the unhealthy feelings that are often generated by tipping, the practice should be abandoned.
Legislation can't eliminate this practice. Mere refusal to tip may not be an effective way to end tipping either. Perhaps popular feeling against the tyranny of insisting gratuities will grow until tipping dies as a social ill, or until tips become a token of appreciation for a job especially well done.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
" YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HER DEMONSTRATION LAST YEAR."
Sound and Fury
Editor:
Proficiencies Ridiculous
Having completed only Western Civilization I and English III I may be biased in my opinions, as you will no doubt feel after reading this letter. But biased or not, it is my opinion that students who enroll at KU are being penalized for coming to this university. (The only people among us who do not suffer at all from the causes which I am about to name are those of the Engineering School, though there are probably some courses which they must take ending in the same results.) This penalization of which I refer is the following:
WHEN A FRESHMAN ENROLLLS AT KU HE FINDS HE IS required to enroll in English 1, 1a, or 1H. Thereafter he finds that he is also required to enroll in English 2 or 2H. The next semester offers English 3 or some higher course for the honors students. (Bless them!) And then comes English 4 or a higher course for the same group of privileged characters! (Ha! What a privilege!) This whole mess is topped with an English Proficiency (?) exam.
It is my opinion that if a person is required to suffer through four semesters of English courses—probably getting C's, D's or F's, thanks to our excellent (?) English department (Bless them, too!)—it is quite unfair that he should also be required to take the so-called proficiency exam in which the student will probably receive the same grade which he has received in all previous English courses (excluding the case in which the student gets "shook" and flunks the proficiency—the usual occurrence with a large percentage of the students).
PERHAPS THE STUDENT COULD BE GRADED ON ENGLISH usage in papers submitted for other classes as the physics department is known to do. This I feel would be a very good substitute for the proficiency. The English department could find out how the student works in his own field. Of course it might overwork some instructors a little, but it wouldn't kill most of them!
The Western Civilization discussion and comprehensive exam are also a menace to the regular sophomores and the freshman honors students. Truly, the course is of great interest (to a very few), but it seems that someone forgets those of us who don't give a tinker's darn about what Pirandello, and Rousseau, and Hobbes, and the rest, said about themselves and us. I have never yet heard of anyone who died because they didn't take the course. Fine Arts students and Engineers get along very well without this ridiculous course.
MY SOLUTION FOR THE W.C. DEPARTMENT IS THIS: ALLOW those who want to take the course and the exam to do so—(perhaps a required discussion group, but with no exam of any sort, would not be too bad). But those who really find nothing in the course should be excused from the comprehensive. Perhaps an extra-credit system could be worked out.
I wish those persons responsible for these two "sick" and revolting states of affairs would reconsider their previous notions, taking into account (for a change!) the plight of the student. I would also like to hear comments on my ideas, pro and con.
Carl A. Bentz, Peabody junior
(Editor's Note: The "Sound and Fury" column is a sounding board for student complaints, gripes or protestations. Writers may request that their name be withheld from publication but anonymous articles cannot be printed.)
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