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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, April 15. 1958
It's Housecleaning Time—
Let's Restaff The ASC
The Big Switch
The injustice of three or four of the larger Greek houses dominating the policies that will apply to 8,000 students at KU is finally beginning to strike home.
In the last three weeks there has been a wholesale switch of organized houses from the Allied Greek-Independent party to Vox Populi.
As an example, one of the former AGI houses switching to Vox is Watkins Hall, traditionally the AGI stronghold in independent organized houses. Creta Carter, AGI member and now student body vice-president, was elected as a representative of Watkins last year. She has since pledged Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Nine houses, Watkins, Douthart and Pearson halls, Sigma Kappa sorority, Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Nu and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternities, representing over 400 votes, have switched since presentation of the Hoover Report last month. The report exposed the inefficiency of the present administration.
AGI has a combined membership of about 1,000 in organized houses, with most of these in the three sororities and three or four larger fraternities.
Against this, Vox has about 2,100 in organized houses, a majority of over 1,100.
Why should a once tightly-knit closed-circle political machine break down? After election last year, AGI stood alone as the only political party representing students on campus.
The crumbling of the AGI machine has come about only in the last few weeks. Lack of leadership in the party is apparent. AGI almost split after spring vacation this year when one faction of the party wanted the primaries thrown out. They protested that there had been irregularities at the polls. However, the dominant faction won out.
A party, using only leaders from only a few Greek houses, should not expect to remain long on the campus political scene. This tight inner circle has bred friction in the party, particularly in the other houses in AGI who want to be represented in the upper circle of the party.
Besides the nine houses that have switched because they were not properly represented, three other houses in the party are wavering. At least one has indicated it would make the switch before the end of the year.
However, in any student election at KU, the independent voter usually swings the election. After all, there are about 5.000 students not living in organized houses. These are the people who are going to have to turn out if the AGI political machine is to be driven out of power.
The Editors
Daily Transan
University of Kansas student newspaper
1904, triviewed 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone VIkling 3-2700
Esterbrook 251
Extension 251, news room
Extension 376, business office
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 on Friday and Saturday noon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays, and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910. at
Lawrence, Kan. post office under act of March 3, 1879.
Dick Brown ... Managing Editor
Larry Boston, Bob Hartley, Mary Beth Noyes, Malcolm Applegate, Assistant Managing Editors, Douglas Parker, City Edits, Assistant City Editors, Mary Alden, Assistant City Editors, Mary Alden, Telegraph Editor, Martha Frederick, Assistant Telegraph Editor, George Anthan, Sports Editor, Bob Macy, Dale Macy, Editors, Assistant Sports Editor, Editors, Paul Swainson, City Editor, Ron Miller, Picture Editor,
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Del Haley ... Editorial Editor
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Ted Winkler Business Manager
John Downing (above, upper left),
Kansas City, Mo. junior and
write-in candidate for student body
president, gets in a little campa-
igning at a Hawk's Nest table
occupied by Walt Baskett (lower
left). Bob Haynes and Betty Miller. (Daily Kansan photo)
Below, Jim Austin (background), Topeka sophomore and president of Vox party, makes a pitch for his party's candidates at a house meeting at Watkins Hall. Vox counts Watkins as one of its voting "strongholds" for tomorrow's election. (Daily Kansas photo)
election. (Daily Kansan photo)
Patterson And AGI
There seems to have been a move in the past few weeks on the part of AGI candidate Dick Patterson to divorce his name and actions from the workings of the Allied Greek-Independent party.
But perhaps he has good reason to get his name divorced from the party's efforts. A crumbling AGI could be a handicap to Patterson and Susie Stout in their bid for the student body's top offices.
Patterson is striving to present a campaign partly divorced from that of his sponsoring organization. He even went so far as to present a separate platform from that of the party.
With the party losing houses from their tight little group, Patterson would indeed be better off without the AGI label behind his name.
Patterson and Miss Stout are counting heavily on the independent vote also. AGI has relied on the freshman women's dormitories for much of their margin before, but with the party apparently in bad shape now, Patterson and Stout will probably try to use only their own names to carry the campaign.
With the Vox tag placed squarely on the campaigns of John Downing and Carol Plumb, they stand a good chance to win, providing they carry enough of the independent voters who want a change in student government.
If they are AGI candidates first and individuals second, their chances are greatly reduced.
Vox is made up of 28 houses. No house or combination of houses holds a control over the party. This large group of house representation, plus a large body of independents, should insure that no ASC committee "packing" will be going on.
Downing and Miss Plumb have said they are just as tired of ASC committee "packing" as a lot of other students. For that reason, among others, we believe they are the best-qualified candidates to do the revamping that the ASC so badly needs.
Can Patterson and Miss Stout make such a claim? With their backing, made up of a smaller number of houses under the AGI influence, we don't think they can. With over a third of the ASC committee appointments now coming from just three AGI houses, it is almost impossible that they can.
The voters have the choice. We believe that John Downing and Carol Plumb as student body president and vice-president, will insure the fairest representation on ASC committees.
We urge you to vote in Wednesday's elections. We also urge you to help clean up the present mess in the ASC.
The Editors
Rights And Wrongs
Elsewhere on this page you'll find editorials analyzing what's right with Vox party and what's wrong with AGI.
Simply put, AGI has suffered the illnesses that traditionally beset the "ins" in politics. The party's leaders have taken advantage of their positions to "pack" the All Student Council's committees with partisans of their own side of the fence.
Under AGI leadership, the ASC constitution was revised to include a "private club" provision for electing the student body president. As things now stand, you must be a member of the ASC before you can aspire to the student body president's job.
These are old tricks, of course. Parties in power often use such stratagems to reward the faithful and attempt to preserve their own power.
But any old hand at politics could have told the AGI boys that they were riding for a fall. They were too greedy and their political moves too obvious.
We need three organized houses controlling a third of the committee memberships as much as we need another campanile. And the student body needs a president with ASC experience like Jimmy Green needs more paint.
What is needed is a good housecleaning in the All Student Council. Now is the time for it.
The Editors