KU
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Serving KU for 77 of its 101 Years
77th Year, No.49
WEATHER CLOUDY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
See Weather—Page 3.
Thursday, December 1, 1966
-UDK Photo by Joel Ahlbrandt
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE NEWS...
It's watts happening high on the side of Templin Hall. A string of brightly colored lights signals the approaching holiday season.
KU Christmas lights to go on next Monday
They'll be there again—not lightning the way, but maybe brightening it.
KU's annual Christmas lights will be turned on at 4 pm, next Monday.
Buildings and Grounds men are working to finish putting lights on Strong Hall, the Kansas Union, Danforth Chapel, Watkins Hospital, the hospital annex, the tree in front of the power plant and the Chancellor's house.
"AT LEAST WE hope to have things ready by Monday afternoon," said Harry M. Buchholz, Superintendent of the Physical Plant, Buildings and Grounds.
"It all depends on the weather. It takes longer if there is snow or wind. It also depends on how many dogs we have chasing through the wires," he said.
The same amount of lighting materials will be used as last year, Buchholz said. There are about 6,000 lightbulbs, 12,000 feet of wire, 350 ornaments, 800 feet of evergreens and six large wreaths.
This is the 25th year there has been a Christmas tree in Strong Hall.
THE TREE IN Strong always presents problems. It must be specially ordered 20-22 feet tall. After it is shipped in, the tree is stood in water so it will soak up as much as possible. Then it is fireproofed and moved to Strong.
The tree is usually about 12 feet in diameter, so the branches are carefully tied to make the diameter smaller.
In past years, eight men have struggled to hoist the tree over the north balcony and set it in the Rotunda. About a half day is required to balance the tree and put it on its rotating stand. Finally, it can be decorated.
In the past, there has been trouble with people stealing decorations.
"IN RECENT YEARS, we have lost from a third to half of the decorations in the first two nights they are up," Buchholz said.
"This year, anything stolen will not be replaced. We're going to just leave light sockets empty. I hope the students, the faculty and the townpeople will realize that if they want the decorations, they're going to have to leave them alone."
Bids begin today on library construction
By DAN AUSTIN
The KU master building plan rounds another lap today with the opening of bids on the $2 million Spencer Research Library.
Construction bids for the new library—a gift of the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation—will be heard at 2 p.m. today in the K-room of Allen Field House
Selection of the bids will not be
made public for some time,how- ever.
Keith Lawton, Vice Chancellor of University Operations, set a preliminary completion date for the library as April, 1968.
The library, when completed, will stand immediately north of Strong Hall. That area, formerly occupied by World War II Quonset huts, is now vacant.
Curtain goes up on 'Snow White'
Two men are mopping on the stage noor.
"Four minutes to curtain; hurry up, boys."
Mops put away, they hurriedly re-arrange two chairs, straighten a tablecloth and hustle out of sight.
"Two minutes to curtain."
THE CURTAIN DROPS, cutting the stage from view. A man sticks his head through its center opening and says, "We're waiting just a moment until the stage dries off." He chuckles.
The show must go on—unless the stage is wet and it is just a
um-through, that is.
Voices murmer backstage, the house lights fade out, and in the spotlighted center stage that man appears again, and the show begins.
"Hello boys and girls—I talk here for about 30 seconds trying not to get out of the pink light."
FIVE WEEKS AGO the rehearsals began. Now they are ending.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," KU's first children's series production this year, will be presented at 1:15 p.m. Thursday; 1:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.Friday; and 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.
Directed by Jed Davis, the play will also go on tour. The group will present six performances at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, and seven at the Music Hall in Kansas City, Mo.
The life of Riley
Corpsmen knock myth
By BETSY WRIGHT
Once upon a time, there was a Peace Corpsman who happily leaped out of bed at 5 each morning, did 100 push-ups, then joyously strode from his mud-walled hut to put in a 16-hour day making friends for his country and building latrines.
This Peace Corps worker, although admirable in spirit, was largely a part of the great myth which has grown up with the peace organization. In an attempt to tell people the true story, the Peace Corps now sends returned volunteers on campus barn-storming tours. Ree and Mike Riley, two such volunteers, are now at KU, making arrangements for Peace Corps Week, which begins Monday.
THE RILEYS, who spent their two years of Peace Corps service in Maturin, Venezuela, a city of 65,000, hardly fit the "American couple living in squalor among the natives" image. While in Venezuela, they led a fairly normal, if busy, life.
"We lived in a boarding house, run by a recently arrived Italian," Mike said. "We shared the bathroom with five or six other boarders, but it had running water, cold but running."
Instead of eating on the floor of their native
hut, the Rileys usually patronized a neighborhood restaurant for their meals. The food, they said, was very good, cheap and varied.
Unlike their mythical counterpart, the Rileys did not worry much about their daily quota of latrines built or friends made for the United States; for their job called for a regular seven-hour work day teaching at the town's high school. It required little building skill and any friendships established had to come naturally, not through wide grinning "glad-handedness."
AFTER A FULL DAY OF school teaching, the rest of the day's activities were left to the Rileys. Sometimes they spent their spare time speaking to local organizations, playing basketball or baseball with the local children or visiting in Venezuelan homes. Other times they spent reading, going to movies or visiting other Peace Corpsmen. They had no conscious program of "friend-making."
"The Peace Corps is probably the only job in the world where you can have a clear conscience and heart and work from two to fourteen hours a day," Mike said. "Just the fact that you're there is important, whether you are actively 'doing' something every minute or not."
Continued on page 3
Another segment of the master plan, Fraser Hall, awaits finishing touches before becoming available to students.
Although University officials hope it will open next semester, Fraser still must undergo federal inspection.
Next target of the master plan is Old Robinson Gymnasium, which will crumble under the ball and chain next semester.
The federal government's share in Fraser comes from the matching funds it has provided for building costs. A government inspector has kept close tabs on construction progress, but final federal approval must come before Fraser doors officially open.
In its place will be built the first phase of a massive Humanities building.
Weather is here to stay
"Chances are good for the United States to continue having weather," he said in an exclusive UDK interview, "even as far south as Kansas."
A spokesman for the U.S. Weather Bureau in Anchorage, Alaska, said today that chances are good for the United States to continue having weather, even as far south as Kansas.
The spokesman, a third-generation eskimo who preferred to remain anonymous, said he based his predictions on the mid-winter tide tables, aurora borealis radiation expectations, and thermothermite readings taken from his thermo-thermio reading device.
"I am really quite proficient in predicting weather," he said. "You might say I really know my stuff.
"And I say that Kansas will continue to have weather this year—probably a winter followed by a spring."
WHAT'S INSIDE
SPORTS- The Big Eight coaches take a look at the big basketball season. See page 6.
EDITORIAL — Opinions on the ASC elections bill. See page 2.
PEOPLE—What's it like to be the social chairman of a coeducational residence hall? See page 8.
AWS—Constitution revision coming up soon. See page 5.
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