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University Daily Kansan
Friday, April 30,1965
Spring of Our Discontent
The list says "Crises at ole KU." It hangs on the wall on a bulletin board. Each week a new item is written at the bottom. It signifies the turbulence that has blown the KU campus apart on many occasions since February 1.
The significance of the items written on the yellow sheet of paper is that none of them can be attributed to Spring Fever (as is everything else that happens after March 1).
The semester began with an editorial that shook the UDK. A few days after that died down the Student Peace Union came into view with demonstrations concerning Viet Nam and our role there.
In early March the Civil Rights Council began what was to mushroom into a major campus issue on fair housing. Demonstrations and picketing ensued in front of the Chancellor's office and home. Arrests of the 100 or more students involved got national coverage.
IN THE WAKE of CRC action the UDK changed its advertising policy concerning discrimination. Out of this the ASC passed a new bill and the UDK put a new heading on its Classified Advertising page.
Then as things settled down again into the peace of a lovely spring the leader of the Student
Peace Union slashed his wrists to protest action in Southeast Asia. After that it was no holds barred for campus activity and crisis.
Proposed plans for the new Fraser building were introduced and the campus, the state, the city and alumni all were loud and lengthy in their scorn for the structure.
THE LAST MAJOR crisis (and there have been many small ones that will go unnoticed at this time) was the firing of track coach Bill Easton. People wanting to get their emotions and ideas down on paper have had a wonderful time with this latest topic.
In general students at KU have had an exciting semester as far as news is concerned. There certainly has been no shortage of thinks to talk about at the Gaslight or for professors to bring into their lectures.
But one point that was previously mentioned and will be again is that none of the things that have affected KU this spring were frivolous. There were no panty raids, demonstrations or riots for anything but serious reasons. The sap may still be running in college students but it seems to be running in a more serious vein these days.
— Linda Ellis
The People Say...
Sir:
The Daily Kansan has come under fire this year for its unwillingness to report controversial items and its inability to report news correctly. The object of this letter is to indicate that, when it concerns the French Department, the UDK has just simply failed to report. During the early academic year a disproportionate amount of space was devoted to a losing presidential candidate whose every word was explicated by anyone willing to comment, and whose significance will surely not be greater than that of constituting a wart on the American political ramp. Not much later, Jean-Paul Sartre, whose permanent imprint on world history as philosopher, artist, and critic is indisputable, refused the Nobel prize, and no one at the UDK had the genial idea to ask for a comment or possible explanation from any member of the French staff.
More recently, I attempted for three weeks to contact the UDK's supposed representative to the French section, to obtain publicity for an outstanding lecturer from Princeton University who was to speak on a subject of interest to students of French, English, American and German literature. My efforts were ultimately fruitless, but I did observe that in the 10 days preceding our lecture there were no less than three notices for the Slavic Conference. (This might be explained by the fact that the Conference took place at a time when more students would be likely to attend—the spring holidays.)
Finally, an enterprising reporter located the French office and recorded two stories, one of which concerned an unusual citation awarded to the Department by an organization in France. Now that news had been at least transmitted, the final insult awaited: neither of the stories appeared.
Such blatant prejudice against my staff and the 1700 students it instructs merits only one reaction: you will receive no official information or assistance from the French Department until you can demonstrate the kind of good faith that has been seriously lacking from your conduct this year. I understand that the German Department has already broken relations with the UDK—why not ignore the Spanish and English sections for the rest of this semester so that none of your representatives will have to make the inconvenient trek to Carruth-O'Leary next year?
Ronald W. Tobin
Associate Chairman for French
Editor:
MY GENUINE SYMPATHY goes out to Gary Noland in his editorial entitled "Communist on Campus." A young man indoctrinated with idealism, collectivist
ideas, and with very little understanding of the nature of man or of history has written an editorial which he most certainly does not understand. Dr. Aptheker, Communist Party theoretician, "... is no wild-eyed radical or demagogue," according to Noland. That is absolutely right—he is only a Communist! Would an apologist for Hitler or Nazi Germany receive the same praise from Mr. Noland? Is there any difference between the millions murdered by the Communists and the millions murdered by the Nazis?
Mr. Noland forgets that Dr. Aptheker's cry resembles the observation of the French philosopher, who said, "The tyrant cries freedom from us, because freedom is one of our principles; but, when he gets the upper hand, he will strip us of our freedom, because stripping people of their freedom is one of his principles." To be naive indicates good intentions but little understanding. To be uninformed about the nature of men such as Dr. Aptheker, and to praise him, is ludicrous and shows us that money extracted by force for government education is poorly spent when used on this kind of senseless editorial drivel.
It is amazing to me that those who favor a free America, strong enough to keep the beacon of hope alive for the rest of the world, are now beginning to be classified as traitors, and the Communists have earned themselves an "intellectual position."
To say "... even the Birchers are beginning to tolerate free expression," in contrast to praising a Communist speaker in an editorial, is demagoguery of the highest order. The John Birch Society policy does not now nor has it ever favored picketing. Mr. Noland's references are out of order the same as the Kansan's reprint several weeks ago of a malicious lie concerning an alleged activity of the Birch Society. Neither will be totally corrected, but this letter will help clarify the current situation, as I am sure Mr. Noland would not want to be intolerant of free expression.
Robert D. Love Wichita resident
Dear Editor:
AFTER ALMOST TWO YEARS in the United States Army I thought I was pretty much immune to plain bald ugliness, but the sight of an artist's conception of New Fraser Hall recently just about popped my google eyes out of my head. Just what is the proposed use for the new goodie? Chicken coop? Crematorium? Tool shed? How is it that some action-minded group of students (under the label of something like HORRID or PUKE) has staged a gigantic protest rally, sort of an "ugly-in" on the site of the new lovely? And what is to become of the statue of "The Man Digging Dirt"? No doubt he is to be melted down and fed into the ravenous, sparkling maw of the nuclear reactor, eh? And what are those two vestigial-like lumps up on top of the new structure? Are they a) a hammed attempt at tradition? b) an afterthought? or s) possibly—just possibly—an uneasy salv for someone's guilty conscience?
Tom Eaton Fine Arts, '62
Dear Editor:
I WRITE TO THANK YOU FOR your kind and perceptive editorial note about my appearance on your campus. Would you permit me to make one minor and one major correction in your report of what I stated on that occasion?
You have me saying that the United States today, in the world arena, stands for what Rome once stood for. May I call to your attention that in saying this—and I believe it is accurate—I was quoting the words of Sir Arnold Toynbee, and that in my address I made this attribution perfectly clear.
You also have me saying that the Soviet Union is the freest nation on earth. This I did not say. I did say, and now re-affirm, that the October 1917 Revolution in Russia was the greatest single blow for freedom in human history, but a moment's reflection will show you that the two statements are by no means identical.
I shall be most obliged if you should find it possible to publish this letter.
Very truly yours,
Herbert Aptheker
Dailij Hänsan
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Founded 1889 became biweekly 1904 triweekly 1920 University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
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"I'm Gonna Protect You From A Guy In A White Hood"
BOOK REVIEWS
A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES, by William Dean Howells (Signet, 75 cents).
The growing awareness of the evils of business civilization in the Gilded Age marks Howells" "A Hazard of New Fortunes." Life must have been a pleasant thing for this Ohio editor before he moved to the East and to the big cities and saw that the pastoral values of his Midwest scarcely applied to the jungle about him.
A journalist himself, he tells this story through a journalist, and he is able to make many reflections on the journalistic—and other—ethics of his time. March, his hero, is as pleasant and charming a fellow as one could find; his efforts to establish an idealistic magazine of commentary come up against the business ethics of Fulkerson, a likable character who is dominated by the "counting office" approach, and isn't afraid to admit it.
There were stirrings of labor, too, at the time Howells wrote this book. A strike forms a central point in the drama. A revolutionary who almost could have been one of the Haymarket anarchists plays an important role. And as March and his wife move about the big city they see the slums, poverty, poor housing, starvation. As yet March (and Howells) cannot see all this as the responsibility of society, however. It takes both some time before this idea gets through.
Students of American literature will find, incidentally, that this book, contrary to the "Howells image" they may have received elsewhere, is absorbing, readable, and without question one of the signal contributions to literary realism in America.
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COOPER'S CREEK, by Alan Moorehead (Dell, 60 cents).
It's a smashing adventure story, as readable as though it were fiction. The setting is Australia, and we read about Australians making their great drive across the continental wilderness about a century ago. The leader is Robert O'Hara Burke, who used horses and camels (the latter imported from India shortly after the famous mutiny) to make the trek.
The writer who made history come alive in his books about the White Nile and the Blue Nile has changed his setting, and the cheering news is that "Cooper's Creek" is in a class with those nearclassics of recent years.
"Cooper's Creek" of the title is the jumping-off place for the amazing adventure. Others besides the Burke party were trying to make similar trips at about the same time, so the element of a race adds to the adventure.
$$
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ANN LANDERS TALKS TO TEEN-AGERS ABOUT SEX, by Ann Landers (Crest, 40 cents)—Ann says only a fool would tell a teenager to stop thinking about sex. So she sets forth to tell them how to think about it. Many of these letters keep the book interesting. There are probably a lot of young folks around who would do well to read this little book.
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THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, by George Eliot (Signet Classics, 75 cents).
F
Highly significant in the tradition of realistic fiction is this novel by George Eliot. But it is more than realism; in her presentation of environment and family the author suggests that deterministic forces are at work upon man.
The story of Maggie and Tom Tulliver, brother and sister, unfolds in both a Victorian and 20th century way. Victorian for many of the trappings, 20th century for the eventually grim denouement. George Eliot is an excellent portrayer of character and of English life, one is fully introduced to her people and settings.
po F.
The story is not a pleasant one, but it has remained one of the enduring works of 19th century fiction.