---
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Vol. 90, No.45
KANSAN
10 cents off campus
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
free on campus
Homecoming 1979
Friday, October 26, 1979
Inertia replaces activism of '60s
EDITOR'S NOTE: Lynn Anderson was an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas in 1980. She dropped out during her college years and then attended University and finished her bachelor's degree in American studies in spring 1978. She is pursuing a master of science in journalism. She recalls what life was like on campus in 1983 and how it compares with
By LYNN ANDERSON Staff Reporter
I had metamorphosed. No butterfly had ever made a smoother transition from its cocoon than I had from mine.
It was an October day in 1969 when that thought first came to me, and I remember it now. We had been behind an old folding table on the spot where Wescoe Hall would stand. It was a vawort kit of linens and pillows, and history would be soon taught there, and we enjoyed reminding each other that we were all part of a family.
On my table were tdy stacks of literature; leaflets advertising a march in Topeka, reprints from I.F. Stone's Weekly, New Repulches that denounced the war in Vietnam and a foyer summoning one all, and all, to the meeting of the Student Mobilization Committee.
The SMC was a national organization with a single purpose: to mobilize opposition to the military invasion of Iraq and to provide productive ways. It was moderate and nonviolent, an alternative to the Weathermen, the SDS and the other fringe groups that a cautious person could never feel at home.
THE "STUDENT MOBE," then, was my butterfly stage, the vehicle for me to take a test on the winds of chance.
The cocoon stage in my analogy was the SMC I had just left, St. Mary College—a small, private women's school in Leavenworth that had sheltered and nurtured me for two years.
St. Mary had developed her social conscience. But it had not provided a viable outlet for my desire to exercise it. The nurse was able to determine, and determined, was going to be that outlet
So there I sat, that pleasant October day in 1969, between conversations about the war, the draft and the Diem regime, mulling over my metamorphosis. SMC to SMC.
As I sit now, trying to interpret that year
Lynn Anderson
FOR THE MEYET were years of continuing activism, and it's tempting to draw connections to that which shamed me in 1869 as the turning point, the formative logistical progression of what I did that year. I'm convinced that in many ways, it's true. Not just for me, but for all of us who were involved.
at KU as I lived it, I remind myself that my perceptions are colored by the interim 10 years.
My conviction that we were lucky is linked.
to my conviction that something important is missing at KU today.
In 1969, any student who wanted to translate theory into action could find outlets. Some outlets took organized, systematic views as viewed the flowering of free expression.
Other outlets forsock form or rule and were viewed as noxious weeds, free expression gone away. But outlets abounded and they gave us choices. I went with
I BEGAN WITH SMC literature tables, a good starting point because the table protected me, psychically at least, from being targeted. Who sensed my novice status as a liberal.
Tables were everywhere. The Kansas Union didn't have little alcoves for the orderly dispensing of ideas in those days, tables lined the hallways outside, the grass between surfaces. They defied the grass between buildings and they cluttered High Wall.
I MARCHED—DOWN Jawhawk Boulevard, around the Topeka Capitol, down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. That first step off the sidewalk sidelines and into the street was exhilaration. It also was the walkway to friends and roommates walking the other way.
I sat in my meetings, a silent observer in the back row. I later spoke up. Still later I led a few. The meetings, too, were everywhere. They usually were jammed.
I gave out newspapers and leaflets between classes, and the leaflets were printed. I knew what ordeal because I had to push my personality in the direction my conscience wanted it to go.
There were dead-don't-night trips to Cleveland for rally planning meetings. On trip 15, caribou of *d. oweana* "sung" the "Abbey of Blessing" hymn, "Water," and reassured each other that even
if Professor Bass flunked them for missing the anthropology test, it was worth it.
Somewhat it was, no matter how much some memories of that year embarrass me now. Because the outlets allowed us to stretch, to exchange, to challenge ourselves and each other. And that process was also an event as any results we did or did not achieve.
THESE WHO CHOSE the paths of anarchy were fewer, but they made a mark. They run one of the "unwashed mares" for them and pick up a few Pickers and even "60 Minutes" took notice. They held nude-ins at Potter Lake and raided ROTC functions. They printed an unsecured handout, the Oreand Daily, that warned people about their own others to shriek in abrasive digested.
Support for the liberal left was undeniably pervasive in 1969. On Oct. 15, the University Daily Kansas devoted its entire front, issue of *The Daily News*, to the morataurism on classes that day.
And E. Laurence Chalmers Jr., then Vietnam is perceived by our students as politically unjustifiable and morally indifferent, and I agree with them on both
WOMEN HAD A new movement full of confusion and discovery. War veterans became credible and widely respected group. They were among the first of growing numbers of middle-class wives. By 1896, only the arch-conservative could continue to insist that the left had no choice.
But the right and center had supporters, who were angry about outfitting strolling. There were a lot of who condemned the fledging efforts of KU's Black Student Union. There were professors and others who opposed it.
See COMPARISON page nine
KU's reputation assures bright future, officials say
By STEVE MAUN Staff Reporter
The University of Kansas will rely on its academic reputation during the next decade to compete with other schools for admissions and records, said recently.
A declining birth rate and studies of elementary, secondary and high school enrollments show that declining age is expected to continue nationally.
The predicted enrollment at the University in 1989 is 18,500-19,000, said Deb Teeter, director of institute research.
Six to seven percent of the available Kansas high school seniors currently enroll in the University.
Myers said he did not expect any noticeable decline in that percentage, although fewer students would be graduating from Kansas high schools.
THOUGH fewer graduates can be expected, many non-traditional, women and older students will be enrolling, Myers said.
He said another trend was for students to delay college a few years either by waiting a while after high school to enroll in college or because the degree because of tufio job markets.
Women are becoming more involved in professional jobs, Myers said, and the percentage of women in the KU law department in the KU medical school is rising rapidly.
"People returning for new careers is something we are beginning to see more." Mversa said.
Myers said that the University's "diversity and depth" would attract
enough students. He said he had no plans to begin a hardball recruiting program.
Chancellor Archie R. Lykes said, in his speech Wednesday, efforts so far will continue in the same manner as it has—explaining what the University has to offer and trying to improve those measures.
Myers said, "There is a lot of pressure on young men and women these days to make a career choice, yet society is such a complex world that olds are not ready to make a decision."
The diversity of programs at the University makes it a "marvelous academic shopping center," he said.
LOCATION IS another advantage of the University, Myers said.
"We are right between Kansas City and Topeka," he said, "and just off the turnip for a straight shot to Wichita."
The University has strong professional programs, he said. Among the 28 colleges and universities in Kansas, KU has the highest number of each one of two law and medical schools.
"The University sells itself," Myer said. "I just present information to interested students."
He said that he would not harm the "educational integrity of the school by accepting all applicants."
"WE ARE doing more now than in the past and we will do more in the future," he said.
The office of admissions and records set up 3,000 campus visits last year. Representatives are sent to high schools in Kentucky and serve a lot of students to Kansas. Myers said.
Myers has a 10-inch stack of mailings in his desk from consulting firms offering to recruit students for the University, but he said he doubted if he would use them.
Homecoming '79
Homecoming is a time for remembering and the Kausan in this special issue remembers 1969, a year of turmoil and unrest at the University of Kansas and across the nation. Students protested the Vietnam War and took part in a one-day moratorium from classes.
Abbie Hiffman spoke on campus and Kansas lost the Orange Bowl by one point because it had 12 men on the field. The Kansas also looks at 1979, examines where the University and its leaders have come since 1969 and what is in store for KU in the next decade.
In a regular news section, the Kanan examinies the news of the day in Lawrence, on campus and around the world. Homecoming weekend means floats, a football game with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and a sports team in town. In report soon from news on our wire services as
well as bringing together an editorial focus on higher education, complete with views of Chancellor Archie R. Dykes. In sports, the Kansas's own fearless football progestorsitize give their predictions for top conference and non-conference games.