4
Tuesday, September 2,1975
University Daily Kansan
Busing necessary evil
Here it is again—another school year,
the same one from whom the
continuation of the budget proves.
Everyone surely knows what busing is. It is the transporting of children throughout a school district in an effort to achieve racial balance in schools.
Progress toward integration has been made, but for the most part it has been still in the process.
It's now 21 years since the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., Supreme Court decision, which banned segregation in public schools, equal education in our public schools.
Civil rights groups rightfully demanded the end to segregated schools immediately. This demand, and the promise of a society in which whites and blacks would grow up together peacefully, has been unfilled.
People now rail against busing, saying that it subverts their freedom to choose 'schools for their children and those who understand the concept of neighborhood schools.
They are wrong. They're using the symbol of busing to avoid doing what should have been done long ago to block people with blacks and other minority groups.
One of the tools used to integrate school systems is busing. Busing has been necessary because of segregated housing patterns which show blacks and whites fleeing to the outskirts of cities and to suburbs.
Where was the concept of neighborhood schools when blacks had to be bused across town to keep them from attending school? Did blacks have their choice?
Where was this concept when school districts were gerrymandered to
maintain separate facilities for whites and blacks?
where was this concept when rura consolidation forced many kids to travel long distances to schools—and on buses?
Busing is not the greatest thing in the world. But it is a necessary evil as long as racism stubbornly clings to us as a moral responsibility and freedom from this nation's soul.
To those who oppose busing, one should say this: Make busing unnecessary by helping to change the conditions that force it on us.
Work to eradicate racism in our country. This work must begin with an awareness of the problem and a commitment to solve it.
Understand that it is not blacks who threaten you. Rather, it is the abysmal economic conditions under which millions of people, many of whom are black, exist that cause many of our urban problems.
If one still rejects the concept of busing, at least one shouldn't let that decision keep him from living up to the principles of our laws, which guarantee equal opportunity for people of all colors.
However, if people won't voluntarily integrate their schools, it must be done by our governments—federal, state and local—because the law demands it. And the source of the spirit of that law is the Constitution.
And if busing has to be used to force people to live within the spirit of the Constitution, then so be it. Until better ways are found to ensure equal opportunities for all, endure the artificiality and inconvenience of busing.
Word Hackery
Ward Harkavy Contributing Writer
African hypocrisy gains
WASHINGTON - Last week's negotiations between white Rhodesians and black nationalists offer a fresh opportunity, if one were needed, to mark an end to the siege. The guide of the East in their efforts to shape events in sub-Sahara Africa.
James J. Kilpatrick
Since the United States first joined the lynch mob against Rhodesia eight years ago, we have done nothing right in this country. We need to build a policy on a quickssand composed of hypocrisy, double standards and plain lies. Communism has gained; self-government has lost; and foreign interests have suffered.
From the bridge at Victoria Falls, where the conferences met on Monday, one can see a long way. To the north lie Angola, Zambia, Zaire, Uganda and Kenya; to the south are Mozambique; to the south, South Africa, and to the west, Southwest Africa. I speak figuratively, for purposes of reflection. What does one see?
Angola is in flames. This rich
and beautiful and primitive land is torn sunder, as blacks slash at the throats of other blacks. How many thousands war, no man will evade civil War, what an irony it is to recall that eight years ago the United Nations branded Rhodia "a threat to the peace." What will the U.N. say of peace, suburbs in England? What is meddling in Angola? The U.N. will say nothing at all.
The charge against Rhodesia was that the blacks had no voice in their government. So long as white rule prevailed, there was no prospect of democracy, no chance for a real future. One looks out from Victoria Falls at the Double Standard Mountains beyond. It is a beautiful democracy, is it not, that one perceives in Zambia? How pretty the political parties of Zimbabwe have blended the scene of Angola. I should correspondents for the next free election in Tanzania.
The landscape is Orwellian, straight from the pages of "Animal Farm": White
domination, bad; black domination, good. In the eyes of intellectuals, who is the most scorned figure in sight? Why. Minister Ian Smith, under whose administration the blacks of Rhodesia have made gains in health, education and infrastructure; envy of the sub-Sahara region. And what figures are most admired? Why, sir, the heroes that the tinpot tyrants, one-party bosses, and black dictators, must for power knows no limit.
From the falls, one ages at vast rivers of hypocry. Every member of the United Nations, on paper, is bound to observe the U.N.'s stupid sanctions against Rhodesia. The observance is only on paper. It is common knowledge that Russia is buying Rhodianese chromite in malaysia, sells Salisbury, visitors to automobiles from France, England, Italy and Germany.
What a curious estracism! In theory, Rhodesia is the blood enemy of Zambia and
Mozambique. In fact, Rhodesian railway lines provide the arteries inhospitable to their economic life.
Left alone, out of the spotlights, away from an international stage on which actors must act, the several positions they may occupation—honest accommodation, taking political, racial and economic realities into account. But the bridge at dance is its stage. Attitudes must be maintained; prostumes must be maintained.
The Communists doubtless enjoy the show. They have won Mozambique. Eventually they will pick up the shattered pieces of Angola. Sooner or later, they will win a place in west Africa. At Victoria Falls, Bishop Abel Muzorewa represents an uneasy coalition "ZANU" and "ZAPU," the former tied to Peking, the latter to Moscow. What do we know of their relationship to Rhodesia? They are armed by Communists, trained by Communists, indoctrinated in
the ideologies of Lenin and Mao.
Their purpose is to throw the white rags out. To what end? It
is possible they are trying to throw the black rags in.
There is much speculation in the British and European press about whether this latest round of war has won any ground. But what is meant by success? If the Communists succeed (whether Russian or Chinese), they will pull the Rhodesian state apart from their bottle. They will have achieved effective political, strategic and economic domination over most of the continent. Western interments in a mist of might-be beens.
The best that the United States can hope for is that Ian Smith will resist the blanc-montagne spiesmen, that he will play his cards skilfully and that South Africa will not weaken. With the world ganged up against them, he gives a good part of our 0-1 Congress a frail hope. They are merely the best we have. They are merely the best we have.
(C) 1975 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc
Cheap thrills prevalent
Family TV is 65% violent
Much has been said in the past few years about the excessive amount of violence on television and the possible influence people have on people who view it. While I'm not an avid television viewer, it seems to me that gunshots and will all common television sounds.
Because of this, and out of sheer curiosity, I picked up a recent issue of the Kansas City
Star's television section and counted the number of television programs concerned with the shooting on one. I counted programs from
Paula Jolly Contributing Writer
6 p.m. up to and including the 10:30 movies. This is what I found:
—During those hours, about
20 series programs dealt with subjects that were almost guaranteed to include violence, as police and detective work
— In addition, 11 movies dealt with violence in some fashion. Included was "The Legend of Lizzie Borden," the story of a supposedly backed her father who supposedly mother to death with an ax.
-While most of the shows with violence were thoughtfully scheduled for later hours, a few were shown at times when young children could be watching. Lizzie Barden wielded
her ax from 8 to 10 p.m., a time when some children could possibly still be glued to the tube.
Roughly estimated, about 29 of the 42 hours of programming were filled with shows with violence. That's about 65 per cent of the programming hours.
Perhaps this amount of television violence is less than the amount in years past. I have no data from the past for a comparison. However, even the present amount is too much for me.
decision makers probably won't try to decrease violence unless pressure continues to be applied by people outside of the industry, especially those packed, suspenseful murder and police chase are much cheaper to film than an action-packed, suspenseful mountain-climbing adventure or some other act that doesn't stress violence.
By filming the "lower priced model," the television people save money, and after all, money is the name of the game in television, just as it is in any other business activity.
Unfortunately, television's
Mary McGrory
Inmate clemency a joke
The program which he announced on the eve of the Nixon pardon, with the hope of molting the left without inflaming the right, was, three months after its inception, the most successful of his greatest flasco since the WIN' campaign.
WASHINGTON-You may remember the "body count," that infamous concept which led to the Vietnam War. It has figured also in the so-called Clemency Program which President Ford devised to provide "not just mercy" for those who fled it.
The most the Clemency Board attracted of its potential clientele was 18 per cent. In the beginning, it was boycotted. In an attempt to up the numbers and give the affair some semblance of plausibility, semiemployer Board Chancellor E. Goodell turned to a large manpower pool, the country's prisons, where one in 20 inmates has a bad military discharge.
On Jan.15,he sent a notice to
wardens of penal institutions asking their help in bringing presidential clemency to their charges' attention.
The response from the prisoners was instant and gratification. Some 4,000 applications rolled in, greatly increasing the Clemency Board's rolls. Attica alone sent in 50. Prisoners have little to do and apparently a chance at some light at the end of the tunnel appealed.
The Clemency Board, which received only general information about the civilian offenses, handled what came to be known as the "jailmall" just like the other applications. It then dawned on them that they were guilty of the President if they recommended to him the pardon of people who were later revealed to be murderers, rapists or perpetrators of serious crimes.
After a long and bitter dispute which polarized the board over its role in dorms and summer legal alternates, they decided on a policy
Vernon Jordan, executive director of the National Urban League, took vehement opposition to the Clemency Board was taking unto itself the powers of a Supreme Parole Board and going so far out of its jurisdiction, which applies only to those cases, that the decision taken was "unconstitutional."
Presently, the board is sending over to the White House what Goodell calls "a number" of favorable recommendations for felons who engaged in nonviolent criminal activity—crimes against property, not persons, as Goodell defines it. The recommendations go over in separate packets from those sent by the State Department counsel can scrutinize them for any embarrassment content
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published at the University of Kansas weekly journals, Vol. 12 No. 4, January 2007. Second-class postage paid at Lawnstorm period. Second-class postage paid at Lawnstorm or $11 a year in Douglas County and $10 a year in Burdick County. Subscription subscriptions are $1.33 a month, paid through the Lawnstorm period.
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Susanne Shaw Mel Adams
Ho him. Another semester, another shortage of textbooks (see "Bookstore blues to stay; bodies outnumber books" in chapter 10), surveyed the University ombudman surveyed more than 50 teachers about textbook shortages. Below, with the exception of ad hominem attacks on the university's director, are the results.
The problem has existed for at least eight years: Per cent of
Readers Respond
Students are also dissatisfied.
Take note, Ed Rolfs and student senators: Per cent listing student complaints as—very frequent or frequent, 56; infront, 43; and nonexistent, 1.
teachers dissatisfied with bookstore-1988, 35; 1969, 32; 1970, 42; 1971, 38; 1972, 38; 1971, 54; 194; 40 and 1975, 38.
Basic, not minor, changes are desired: Type of change desired
To the Editor:
Faculty members demand change: Per cent desiring change—yes, 74. and no. 28.
From an examination of written comments, one can conclude that the basic change demanded was this: The body should order as many books as the teacher requests. Period.
Bookstore opposition documented
Recently, William Balfour, vice chancellor for student affairs, and Ron Calgaard, vice chancellor for academic affairs, were asked to "discuss and investigate" the problem. $^{18}$
(in per cent)—Overhaul 22;
basic, 41; minor, 37.
you want your voice heard, you can write them a note in care of Strong Hall. Otherwise, the arbitrary abuse of power by bookstore bureaucrats will go on at least another eight years. This is a period of Trumante norskjåg, give hell.
David Kowalewski
Former Assistant Instructor
Political Science Department
editor's judgment, and must be signed. KU students must provide their name, year in school and hometown; faculty must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
letters policy
The Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor, but asks that letters be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the
Editor's Note: A copy of the survey can be seen by contacting Jed Berlert, director of the KU Ombudman Office.
To the Editor:
Clarification
14 a-level students would like to compliment Stenerson on his informative article on the University libraries (Kansan, Aug. 20). This should certainly help the University community
One board member, Joan Vinson, questioned the use of a clemency discharge for a man with another record as a paediatric debate was going on. Actually, the value of a clemency discharge for a man with other record is dubious. The government may pass a resolution urging that no state, county or local government employ anyone who avoided or deserved military service, "even though such person has admitted clemency by the National Amnesty (sic) Board."
To clarify one thing, however,
I should like to correct (or
rather expand) the caption of
the picture which accompanied
the article. The stacks shown,
although located in Spencer
Library, are part of the temporary storage shelves in the basement of the library. The books shown aren't the rare books, which are housed elsewhere in Spencer, but books from other branches of the libraries which they cannot shelve because of lack of space.
The shelves in the rare book areas, although rapidly filling, haven't yet reached this stage of crowding, nor do they hold books shelved on their fore-edges.
Alexandra Mason Assistant Director of Libraries
understand the problems faced by the libraries.
The President is not asking for an extension of the Clemency Board, which goes out of business on Sept. 15. If he asked Congress for more money, he would invite discussion of the futility of the charge against the unspeakable word to him. The disappointed convicts will not be heard from. They are in no position to complain that they got neither justice nor mercy.
He lost. He has not been to a board meeting since. In Atlanta, at an Urban League conference on July 27, he said he would be joined by Clemency Board had converted him to belief in total, unconditional universal amnesty. Dissident attorneys protest prosecution of the board exploited felons when they them for public relations and then abandoned them for political reasons.
(C) 1975 Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.