The muzzled watchdog Collecting news on this campus, and possibly any place, is a game. Those who keep coming up with fresh news and scoops win; those who continue to print the day-old tripe lose. Like chess, the more careful the strategy—the better the chance of winning. Like any sports event, the tougher the competition—the harder, yet more rewarding the victory. The news sources act as the referees. They can call the shots and they can call the fouls; they can even decide not to play the game at all. Quite often they are not impartial and favor one player over another. Many of the Kansan's news sources have been more than happy to give this paper every break. They open their doors. FOR THE FIRST TIME, the executive staff walks through the Chancellor's door weekly to chat with Chancellor Wescoe and Provost Surface. The personnel deans and academic deans have bent over backwards many times to open their doors to the UDK. Yet this is not always the case. Officials at Lawrence Memorial Hospital always give out condition reports when they are contacted. But in Mount Oread's own Watkins Hospital they do not. Once some student goes behind those closed doors, no matter what the circumstances, his condition is never known to the press. The KU Traffic and Security Office have made almost all of their official reports public information. But the Lawrence Police Department divulges little information—even about auto wrecks, to the Kansan. ON MOUNT OREAD, many meetings concerning public policy and public funds are held behind closed doors. Jack Mitchell was given what was rumored to be over $50,000 behind closed doors. The University Senate, too, bars their doors to the outside world, yet the decisions they make effect every student on this campus. The list can go on, but with people like this refereeing the game, neither side can win. Like an over-officiated ball game, the only winner can be the referees themselves. THE PRESS IS the public eye—the watchdog of society. Only when it can break down these closed doors can it fulfill its goals, and really win. Great strides have been made nationally on this very subject. Recent legislation passed restricts government agencies from closing doors when the public funds or public laws are concerned. But on the local level, and specifically on this campus, there is yet a long way to go. —Robert Stevens "Sorry you're just not ready for one now." The people say... To the editor: Most news media call for the people to speak up on the issues. The particular issue I want to refer to is the case of Representative Adam Clayton Powell. Therefore, here is my opinion to be printed. It appears that there are hidden motives for all the facts aren't being released to the public. It is easy for Congress to rationalize their actions by saying that Representative Adam Clayton Powell has conduct unsuitable for a representative. However, I raise the question as to whether this is their only motive. IT IS WELL KNOWN that Rep. Adam Clayton Powell is chairman of the Education and Labor Committee in Congress and through this committee he has been responsible for considerable legislation favorable to the Negro. Just to cite some of the most recent, one would mention the amendments to the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights legislation, calling for complete desegregation of hospitals and schools by 1968. IF CONGRESS DOES FEEL that it is on the basis of conduct unsuitable for a representative, then Congress has succeeded in investigating and publicizing Powell's conduct. Therefore, we want to know, is Representative Adam Clayton Powell being attacked for his position and race or because of conduct unsuitable for a representative. With this research ended and augmented, the House of Representatives seems satisfied knowing quite well that there are many other cases in Congress equal to and in some cases worse than Powell's. Why does the investigation stop with Powell? IN ALL FAIRNESS, citizens should call for a complete investigation of all committee chairmen as well as questionable members. This is the only approach that Congress can follow to show that it isn't acting on a racial basis and is interested in correcting all the irregularities of its members. Nate Sims Pasadena, Calif., senior THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Service K10 for 77 schts. 1984- THE UNIVERSITY DAILY Serving RU for 77 of its 101 Years KANSAN TELEPHONE NUMBERS Newsroom—UN 4-3646 — Business Office—UN 4-3198 The Daily Kansan, student newspaper at The University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St. New York, N.Y. 10022. Mail subscription rates: $5 a semester or $9 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University class except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised in the University Daily Kansan are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. The opinions expressed in the editorial column are those of the students whose names are signed to them. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the editor's. Any opinions expressed in the Daily Kansan are not necessarily those of The University of Kansas Administration or the State Board of Regents. EXECUTIVE STAFF EXECUTIVE STAFF Managing Editor Robert D. Stevens Business Manager Wright Economic Officer Jack Harrington. Eric Morse NEWS AND BUSINESS STAFF Managing Editors Judy Faust, John McCabe, Barry Phillips, Steve Russell City Editor Emery Goad Advertising Manager Banley Clee Feature Editor Nancy Curttright Nat'l Adv. Manager Gayle Scholer Sports Editor Jerry Klein Promotion Mgr. Robert R. Basow Feature Editor Josh Gold Classified Manager Howard Pankratk Photo Editor Bill Mauk Classified Manager Asst. Photo Editor Earl Hachl Merchandising Mgr. Steve Straight On the front in Yucatan The 'Jet Set' attacks Bu DAN AUSTIN . When the jet set comes to town, they come as the plague and they come to conquer. And conquer they do. With money, portable wine cellars and big cars they devastate a foreign city and leave their glittering droppings for the hordes of Yanqui tourists that surely follow. South of the U.S. border, there are few places of note that have so far escaped the jet set strafing. Merida—still untouched Merida, situated on the northern tip of the sprawling Mexican state of Yucatan, is one of the few untouched—for the moment. Merida, a city of 250,000 nearer Havana than Mexico City, has had jet service for just a few years and the local campesinos still watch in awe when the six-engined silver birds float down out of a Caribbean thunderhead. Founded in 1542 by Don Francisco Montejo on the site of the age-old Mayan city Tihoo, sunwhite Merida retains the grandeur of the Spanish colonial days and the heritage of a master race that faded centuries ago. Its low buildings and houses, painted yearly in pastels to ward off the tropical sun, line narrow streets laid out in arrow-straight patterns. Explorers. not iet set To be sure, there are tourists in Merida and the rent-a-car agencies and hotels that accompany them. These tourists, however, are of a different sort, and they come to Merida not as credit card drinkers but as explorers. Often their native tongue is mostly German or British-accented English, but in Merida, where only the maitre d' and the hotel clerk speak English, the lingua franca is Espanol. Outside the city in the secondary jungle or on the surrounding henequen farms, that Espanol undergoes a subtle transformation to an almost unintelligible half Spanish, half native Mayan sing-song. But it is the people of Merida—and Yucatan—that stand out to the Yanqui tourist. For the Norteamericano who has only seen the Mexico of Tijuana, Mexico City or Acapulco, the Meridian's unaffected composure backed with quiet pride is refreshing. Quiet hospitality Seldom in Merida is one met by pitiful but cagey beggars or people whose mein denotes resentment towards the foreigner. Instead, the Yanqui or the Deutschlander confronts people who treat him as an equal—and a guest. The bullfight, a trademark of Central and Latin America, is popular in Merida. But the corrida del torro is for real here—not a phone show for tennis-shoed, camera swinging visitors. The bulls are very much alive, the matadors are out to prove skill, not count box office, and all of this raises the Merida bull fight from cheap afternoon gore to an art display. Harvard archeologists probing Mayan ruins at nearby Uxmal or Chichen Itza and an increasing number of adventurous sight-seers have beaten a primitive path to Merida's gates for years. But this bubble that has been Merida for four centuries may soon be burst by a sonic boom. Jet brings problems Now, the jet comes to the tiny airport south of the city. Anxious to take advantage of the trade those jets bring, Mexican and American entrepreneurs are enlarging Merida's hotels and "westernizing" them. Already, rumors in Cannes and Acapuleo have it that those imperious jet setters plan to migrate to Merida this season or next. Perhaps the good people of Merida could absorb such a barrage without losing their own precious identity. If they do, and if the history of American tourism repeats itself, the less fortunate folk will follow via jet from New Orleans or Miami. But a Merida of sucker tours and bikini-clad prostitutes on the beaches 20 miles away seems appalling. OFFICIAL BULLETIN Graduate Students: Reading exam in German, Sat., Feb. 4. 9:30 a.m. 101-2 Carruth-O'Leary. Register at Grad, School office; blue registration cards must reach German Dept. by 5 p.m. Tues., Jan. 31. TODAY Popular Film, 7 & 9:30 p.m. "Behold A Pale Horse," Dyche Aud. S V Freshman Swimming Meet, 4 p.m. Kansas State, No.2 Rebonian Basketball. Popular Film, 7 & 8:30 p.m. "Behold, A Pale Horse." Dyche Aud. Chamber Music Sories, 8 p.m. Bartok quartet. Swahout Restort Hall. Swimming Meet. 2 p.m. Kansas Stormwater Treatment Peabody Swimming Meet. 4 p.m. SATURDAY A bleary-eyed Kansan "thank you" goes to Frank Burge, director of the Kansas Union, who brought us rolls and coffee the other night, free of charge. 2 Daily Kansan Friday, January 20, 1967