4
Tuesday, September 10, 1974
University Daily Kansan
OPINION
Nixon's pardon presupposes guilt
Somehow, it just doesn't seem right—Ford granting Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon" for all "offensives against the United States" during the period of Nixon's presidency. It is premature.
Nixon has been pardoned but he hasn't been indicted for any crimes against the United States. He hasn't even been formally charged with any. Although possible criminal wrongdoing on Nixon's part was alleged in the House Judiciary Committee, no one has said Nixon hasn't pleaded nor has he been found guilty of any criminal action. Yet Ford's announcement presupposes guilt.
What Ford has done is grant immunity from prosecution to Nixon. Ford's decree that all tapes will be destroyed in five to 10 years or sooner if Nixon dies eliminates any possibility of Nixon's facing criminal charges. Ford has
decided what the courts should have been left to determine.
The grant of pardon also eliminates any possibility other than unconditional amnesty for draft evaders. Having granted immunity to Nixon for improved charges, Ford cannot justifiably deny amnesty to those who left the country rather than perform military service. Neither can Ford justifiably make amnesty conditional.
Ford's grant of immunity to Nixon can only be perceived as an attempt to heal the wounds inflicted on the nation by Watergate. But the announcement, coming on the eve of the proclamation on amnesty, raises the question of whether the Nixon pardon paved the way for amnesty or whether talk of amnesty paved the way for the pardon.
—Jeffrey Stinson Associate Editor
Conditional amnesty is justified
President Gerald R. Ford announced his support Aug. 19 of conditional amnesty for Vietnam War-era draft evaders and military deserters. Speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Chicago, Ford said, "I'm throwing the weight of my Presidency into the scales of justice on the side of leniency. I foresee their earned re-entry—earned re-entry—into a new atmosphere of hope, hard work and mutual trust."
Stressing that he opposed "unconditional, blanket amnesty for anyone who illegally evaded or fled military service," the President said he believed the necessity of binding up the nation's wounds.
The President's decision to seek conditional assurance from the militants and military deserters deserves support.
Such support should be hinged on the "conditional" clause of the amnesty question. It would be wrong for lawbreaking draft evaders and deserters to come home without punishment while living in the same environment as the veterans who didn't flee military service.
Draft resisters and military deserters should serve a specified period of forced civilian service
such as in the Peace Corps or a hospital to make up for the military duty they evaded or fled.
Twenty months after U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict ended, it is time to make a strong attempt to bring home the 32,725 draft prisoners from Vietnam to Justice Department and Pentagon figures.
The time is right for amnesty. Public sentiment seems to favor amnesty. Although 58 percent of the American people questioned in an April Gallup poll favored punishment of some and only eight per cent wanted prison sentences or fines for those who refused to serve in the military.
Former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird recently advocated conditional amnesty, while Robert Prohakie, a secretary of the Army during World War, has supported leniency for draft evaders.
Conditional amnesty should be extended to the lawbreakers to bring the nation closer together. It should be offered and accepted in a spirit of mutual trust. President Ford expressed the sentiment well when he said, "As I reject amnesty, so I reject revenge."
—Steve Fry Reporter
Loopholes pack Senate
Want a seat on the Student Senate? But you don't want to run for election? Relax. Anyone who doesn't know what to be knows the right loubelles.
abolish my loophole—and theirs-I'll resign.
I did. And so did at least six other members of the current Student Senate.
Unlike the six other "tooophle senators," however, I don't plan to keep my seat. As soon as I have introduced legislation to
I became a member of the Senate without having to face an election. Near any appointee did not really represent any orn.
My loophole was the presidency of a dubious group called the Unorganized Housing Association, which associaton was unorganized.
Association. Lauter, too,
became a member of SenEx.
In fact, he became vice chairman
of the group.
But Lauter, George and I aren't the only people to have earned loophole seats on the
By Eric Meyer Editor
Readers respond/ Ticket prices defended; traffic system criticized
New math? To the Editor:
I'm greatly amused at the math department's total loss for an explanation of their jump in enrollment in lower level courses. A Euclid genus is to find part of their problem.
Doesn't the math department remember that its proposal for an increased math requirement was passed by the College two years ago, and is first effective for this year's sophomores, the math department for the first time has a higher number of sophomores returning to finish their required requirement. How amazing!
Even more amazing is that the increased requirement has necessitated the hiring of additional instructors. I never would have thought of it. Perhaps other departments should be jealous of one department's early plans to delay "financial exigency."
Also surprising is the ability of the math department to create such long lines at enrollment semester after graduation and change. Their lines long ago passed the reasonable level and are approaching that of absolute asininity. While the mathematics concerned primarily with undergraduate education, I know one department that annually succeeds in unnecessarily frustrating and irritating a number of undergraduates.
Jon Josserand Johnson junior
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
An All-American college newspaper
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom—UN 4-4810
Business Office—UN 4-4358
Published at the University of Kansas weekdays
on Friday, 7:30 a.m. A special KU annual
announcement period. Second-class postage paid at
Lawrence. Kan. 86045. Subscriptions by mail are $8
and/or $11. Ticket prices vary. $1.35 a semester,
paid through the student activity
Accommodations, goods services and employment
facilities are provided for the students of all
grades according to thematic groups of the Alumni body,
the school's mission.
Editor
Eric Meyer
Associate Editor
Jeffrey Sitson
Campus Editor
Jill Willis
Copy Chiefs
**Editors**
* Linda James*
* setup Editor*
* Mark Mitchell and Gerd Ewald
**Sports Editor**
* Mark Mitchell and Gerd Ewald
**National Editor**
* Mark Zelgman
**Production Editor**
* Craig Stock
**Group Editor**
* Daniel Group
**Associate Sports Editor**
* Jim Shelton
**Entertainment Editor**
* Keen Louden
**Daily Media Editor**
keep you there
Carol Gwinn and Bunny Miller
Steve Haugen
Advertising Manager  Assistant Business Manager
Alice Butler  Dave Beaver
Business Manager
Classified Manager
National Advertising Manager
Assistant Advertising Manager
Assistant Classified Manager
Gall Johnson
Deb Danielle
Debe Campbell
Steve Brownbuck
Terry Kafka
News Adviser Susanne Shaw
Business Adviser Mel Adams
Ticket trouble To the Editor:
In regard to Jeffrey Stinson's editorial Aug. 29 about the Security and Parking Department:
Those guys might be good at writing parking tickets, but they are lousy at keeping track of them afterward.
For example, I got my first KU parking ticket back when the first one was simply a coupon. Then I went to Even so, I received a solenm letter the following summer warning me that if I didn't cough up $$ I wouldn't be in trouble. But I didn't have it, and I enrolled
Then last spring shortly before commencement, I received a similar letter warning me that if I'd didn't pay $9 for another parking ticket I wouldn't receive my diploma. Well, the parking ticket turned purple. What it was doing in my file over there in Hoch nobody could explain. I got my diploma.
an excellent analysis. Of course the University should be an elitist school.
Sure enough, however, I received another solemn letter a couple of weeks ago warning me that I must pay $9 before I would be permitted to enroll or receive a diploma.
Will somebody please straighten those people out?
Whitley Austin, editor The Salina Journal
But don't blame the egalitarian emphasis on numbers on the farmers in the legislature. The administration, Board of Regents and city politicians are equally to blame. The numbers game is easiest to And your Chancellor hardly needs a pitch as a Brahmin in his usual soft-soap pitch to the populace.
Number game
Robert L. Simison Dallas, Tex.
BSJ, 1974
Your "Opinion" of Sept. 3.
"Dykes signals rebuilding." is
The Salina Journal
To the Editor:
Cheap trick
I have seen this time and time again in the Kansan, and I think the Kansan deserves a better work from its photographers.
Burning in (the darkening of the edges) can enhance a photograph if done in good taste. The excessive burning in the photographs creates a cheap trick of the photographer to focus attention on the subject.
This is in reference to the front-page picture of Rep. Bill Roy in Thursday's Kansan.
To the Editor:
In reference to your picture of the sad little girl in the Sept. 3 Kansan: Why doesn't the caption read, "Mothers are fine, but sometimes you want daddy?"
David L. Severance Lawrence junior
Sad moments
To the Editor.
Letters to the editor should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Students must provide their name, year in school and home town; faculty and staff must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
Of course the answer to this question is that it isn't necessary for a father to be with his child 24 hours a day.
Letters Policy
As a mother of two children, I can say that every child has moments of sadness throughout any day—whether he is at home with his mother or in a center for child care.
Lawrence 1st year law student
It's a bargain
To the Editor:
The $15 being charged this year for student football tickets is really a bargain. For $3 an afternoon in beautiful eastern Kansas during the fall you are able to sit in Memorial Stadium. The $20 per ticket of Big Eight football and the thrilling performance of the KU Marching Band. There is nothing else like it.
If you don't enjoy football then $15 is too much, but I could say that $6 to $20 to attend a rock concert is too expensive, too. However, just because I like rock music I am listening to the concert is no reason for me to say it is too expensive.
The $15 ticket price is the price of 30 beers, 30 packages of cigarettes or four 16-inch pitchers, or smoke or eat your $15 worth of enjoyment, it is gone. Attending the football games, however, will give you more time to talk about for quite some time.
the Unorganized Housing Association was the prototype.
It has no members. All it has officer—me. And the association's sole member-officer is an ex-officio member of the Stu-
dium.
Let's not complain about the price or lambaste the athletic department for trying to get a player to benefit from benefits of an athletic department that the University can be proud of are unmeasurable ability that the University has at all receives. Let's get behind the team and support them all the way to another bowl game.
About two weeks ago I inserted an item announcing an organizational meeting of the school board in the On Campus column of the Kansan. The announcement said that every KU student who lived in an apartment or other building dwelling was eligible to attend.
After the announcement appeared in the paper, I assembled a group of friends and they elected me president.
Assistant director of libraries
Immediately after my election, I wrote to Todd Hunter, student body vice president, and asked to be seated in the Senate. Having no incentive, he complied. I became a senator—without really being elected to the Senate.
I wasn't the first president of the Unorganized Housing Association to be seated as an senator. He was the first Senator. The first was Peter George, a renowned campus politico who eventually rose to membership in SenEx, the student governance system.
Senate. The presidents of four campus groups other than the Unorganized *Housing area* are also ex-officio senators.
When George left KU, he appointed Richard Lauer to replace him as president of the Unorganized Housing
Apparently, representation for these groups—which unlike their companion the Unorganized Housing Association actually do exist—was a token of the old student who was the school which was based on representation by housing unit.
When the All Student Council was published, several years ago, reprogramming governing bodies was changed from a residence basis to an urban basis.
Student senators are now elected in proportion to the number of students enrolled in schools the senators represent.
This loophole is the holdover seat, an official designation as special representation to the University Council. Each year, before all the out-going senators leave, they elect three of their colleagues to continue on as holdover senators during the new senate.
It therefore seems clearly illogical to have five senators selected to represent housing groups, such as Richard Paxson, former member of the Senate, recently said that he didn't really know what justification was used for his vote in favor of the five housing groups.
And, if it's not enough that you can get into the Senate through loopholes, once you get in you have another loophole to
The original justification for this was that it gave the Senate a tone of continuity and that it allowed defeated candidates for the student body presidency to continue on in the Senate.
But, in recent years, the role of holderover seats has enlargedarmmily. Last week, Damieny wasdefeated for re-election. In spite ofthis, however, the Senatealmost immolded holderover seats.
Co spor app Was in v Kar
Another holdover seat went to Richard Paxson, who had earlier announced that he was going to retire from student politics. Both Paxson and the third holder, defeated student president candidate Ed Senloe, were later elected to Senko.
One of the most blantand and complex loopholes was the one that Kathy Allen, student body vice president, used last fall.
Allen was a holder senator who was elected to SenEx in the spring. However, she didn't enter the party following her protester. Nevertheless, she continued on as a senator and a SenEx member until October, during which time she wasn't even a student.
B
Such practices as these point to a clear need for revision of the Senate Code's regulations in membership in the Student Senate.
Representation should be strictly on the basis of the number of students per school. Any other form of representation is but a mockery of democracy.
And the most tragic thing about the membership rules is that the student body president John Beisner recently said he had worked for updating the Senate's membership regulations.
Bv KENN LOUDEN
'Lords' humor falls flat
Entertainment Editor
"Enderdimmert Editor"
"The Lords of Flatbush" is another bastard spawned because of the hardcover "of American Graffiti." It is about being a teenager in New York during the 1950s.
"Lords" is contrived humor. Any cliche that might get a
laugh is used whether it is successful or not. The movie is sometimes funny, but too often it is boring. It concerns four stars—Stanley Kubrick, Wimpy, Butchie the Dog, Chicago —greatest ambitions are keeping their ducktail haircuts combed and making out with girls.
Technically the movie is sloppy. The photography is crude and the direction is careless. The script has a loose structure that lacks cohesion and storytelling, amusing anmusing anecdotes—amusing until they are overcome by too many cliches.
Stanley, played by Sylvester Stallone, knocks up his girlfriend. Together they shop for a diamond ring in what is the movie's finest scene. Stallone's face goes through amazing contortions as his bitchy finance forces him to buy a $1,000 watch. Alain Marchand is admirable is director Martin Davidson's role as the aggressive jewelry-store saleman.
Another good scene concerns Chico's (played by Perry King)
attempt to lay a well-brought-up, young WASP played by Susie Blakely. The scene is amusing as Blakely gradually discovers that she has not an intention of being a week-end score.
Two amusing scenes, however, don't make a good motion picture and "Lords" goes the same way as other "American Graffiti" imitations.
The movie is superb at portraying a lack of purpose in the young characters, but it lacks humor. The characters the nostalgia trend and a few good jokes. With the exception of Stallone and Davidson, the performances are easily forgettable. As a result, the film must be much purpose as the characters it seeks to portray: none.