page 2
University Daily Kansan Wednesday, April 28, 1965
Man Unto Himself
One of America's most famed journalists. Edward R. Murrow, died yesterday. He died after a long bout with cancer.
Murrow became internationally famous for his "This is London" series, chronicling that country's "finest hour," as Winston Churchill later put it. His broadcasts were vivid, concise and stirring. He was one of the few who could poignantly record the enormity of war.
Born the son of a North Carolina tenant farmer, he became the director of the United States Information Agency in 1963, under President Kennedy.
He began his career in an Oregon logging camp. In 1935, he switched occupations and began his 28-year career in radio and television.
HIS "SEE IT NOW" program was one of the pioneering attempts in documentary television programs. He experimented with many techniques to capture the events which shape national and international news. His two other programs, "Person to Person" and "Small World" were also pioneering attempts in their fields.
He also was one of the news media's severest critics. He once charged the news media with "decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live." He was one of the few television broadcasters who considered information more important than entertainment.
More important than that, Murrow was a man unto himself, dedicated to truth and the dispersion of that truth.
When Murrow took a year's vacation in 1961, a colleague said of him, "He'd become a network unto himself."
- Leta Roth
Dear Sir:
The People Say...
Dear Sir:
WELL, PEOPLE, IT NOW seems that our University is going to begin our Centennial by eradicating two great landmarks from our campus and replacing both with tragic replaces highly inferior to their originals. I speak of Fraser Hall on the one hand and Bill Easton on the other.
Ever since I first saw the proposed design of Canole's new Fraser a steady nausea has been rising inside me. I feel I must now join with the many KU students, faculty, alums and others who have spoken out against this slab-sided "tribute" to our second Chancellor. The towers resemble the chimneys that come with a set of toy Lincoln Logs and the building itself resembles some third grade art work I have seen my kid brother produce. What did John Fraser ever do to deserve this? Presently, my vote for the ugliest building on campus goes to Malott but at least that abominable example of "functional architecture is half hidden on the lower slopes of Mt. Oread. But not new Fraser, people. That thing is going to roost smack on the top of our private little mountain and stretch its "KU symbolism" seven ugly stories into the sky! I must admit some satisfaction in the knowledge that the Chancellor will have the best view of new Fraser of anyone in Lawrence. I hope Dr. Wescoe and his successors enjoy it.
Now about the other KU landmark that is to fall this June. I imagine Wade Stinson is very happy to realize that it won't take as long to remove Coach Easton as it will to tear down old Fraser. It seems fairly obvious why Easton has been so consistently good. He works hard for what he believes in and he refuses to shortchange his program or lower his ideals. Easton, I believe, probably commands more respect from the athletes in his charge than any other coach at KU. He has done more to strengthen KU's reputation than any other coach. He has been more successful than any other coach. Stinson, on the other hand, is a rookie Athletic Director who has been out of touch with intercollegiate sports since he graduated from this University. Maybe he has kept a tight fist on the athletic budget but he seems to be effectively tearing down our athletic program at the same time.
Robert Entriken Jr.
San Francisco, Calif., senior
Dear Editor:
AS AN ALUMNI OF KU, I AM very concerned about the recent firing of Bill Easton as coach of the Track Team. With the information available so far, I am inclined to conclude, as many other alumni will be, that the firing was a rash action, inspired by a clash of personalities rather than incompetency on the part of Easton. Bill Easton has something that few other coaches possess; he has energy which when coupled with integrity and honesty, has resulted in tremendous achievements. For 18 years he has produced results that are incomparable to those of any other coach in the country.
Although the reasons which led Mr. Stinson to fire Bill may seem
important personally, does he have any professional reasons to fire him? When an untried and rather inexperienced athletic director attempts to fire an experienced and victorious coach, the director would seem unsuited as a coordinator of personalities and athletics.
I attended a meeting yesterday at which ways of raising money for the Endowment Association and Scholarship funds and plans for the centennial of the University of Kansas were discussed. I could not help but wonder why we could be expected to contribute money if it is going to be used in ways which defeat the purpose of the money. No one who is concerned with the good of the University minds paying for excellence, outstanding performance, and good results either in the classroom or in track or field. However, why pay for personal blunders?
I don't know what can be done and wonder if there is anyone with the ability or gumption to do it. I believe there are a lot of questions to be answered and am sure the answers might be very interesting. Someone should right this mess and not just give it the old KU smooth over.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this regrettable matter.
Best regards,
Tom Swearingen
Lawrence resident
Editor:
I WRITE TO ALERT EVERY-one at Kansas University to a most deplorable miscarriage of justice which is occurring on this campus under our very noses. Mr. Bill Easton has been summarily dismissed from his position as head track coach at KU by Wade Stinson, our very own Director of Athletics. The proverbial mouse has attacked the lion, and apparently the University of which I have been so proud in the past is supplying the mouse with arms. In short, an outrage has been committed Easton has given KU 18 years of the most excellent coaching available in the United States, and he is now finding himself at the mercy of thas same institution.
Half of the reasons which have been given for this travesty of justice were nebulous ambiguities, and the other half were pure fabrications. Mr. Easton's management of finances has been exemplary; if he has in fact ever overstepped his budget, then the fault lies not in the overstepping, but in the budget itself. For KU's team travels less and more cheaply than any other team in the Big Eight.
KU is rid of the greatest friend it has ever had. I am appalled. I cannot express what I feel in such offensive language as my respect for the UDK demands. But I feel that if anyone of us has ever read in the Kansan about the praises Easton and his squad have won for our University, both on the track and off, that person has a very real moral obligation to stand up and be counted. Apathy in this case is tantamount of tacit approval of Mr. Stinson's actions. I appeal to everyone at KU to come to the aid of his team. Write to the Athletic
Board. Write to the Chancellor.
Please don't be an accomplice to such an outrage. Thank you.
D. C. Peck
Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Sophomore
Bill Easton Please Come Home (With apologies to John Goldfarb) I challenge you, Wade Stinson,
Come let us talk this out.
I'm willing to negotiate
Compare us with the other sports And check their shopping spree. Oh football has its uniforms.
puntar in you
mount:
You're spending much money
With this, I disagree.
Oh, football has its uniforms,
And baseball has its socks,
Our track team is the greatest, But we can't buy a box!
The others buy their luxuries. But we are not such fools.
We spent the thirty dollars So we could follow rules.
So we could follow rules.
It is no small adventure
The KU Relays really show In talent we don't lack.
it is no smal adventure
To run a sport like track;
For eighteen seasons now gone by My boys have racked up scores. They've taken nearly all events,
Our meets have not been bores. Our team is known from coast to coast,
The mags all write our fame. And when they heard about my plight
They said, "Now what a shame." The students are rebelling.
Their shouts are even louder Than those 'gainst Fraser Hall.
But students aren't the only ones Who air their loud complaint.
A group of interested alums Urge you to use restraint.
They'll ask the board of regents To reconsider all
And hopefully convince them
To get you on the ball.
The team has held a conference. Reporters from all round
And questions to ask
So won't you reconsider?
Because they are big.
Repersents
They have to hear their views.
Questions to them pound.
Our differences will straighten out Perhaps to your surprise.
Jack Whitaker
Tulsa, Okla., freshman
Dailij Hänsan
111 Flint Hall
University of Kansas student newspaper
UNiversity 4-3645, newsroom
University 4-3198, business office
Founded 1885 became bweekly journal
1912 1912
twuweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912
Member Inland Daily Press Association,
Associated Press, national Advertising Service,
18 East 50 St., New York 22, N.Y.
News service: United Press International.
Mail subscription: U.S. Mail, Published in
Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, university news, university second class
postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas. Accommodations, goods, services, and employment advertised in the University
Daily Kansan are offered to all students
regard to color, creed, or national or
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Leta Roth and Gary
Editorial Edition
"How Do You Write It in Vietnamese?"
BOOK REVIEWS
DANGLING MAN, by Saul Bellow (Signet, 60 cents); INVITATION TO A BEHEADING, by Vladimir Nabokov (Capricorn, $1.65).
Let a man get a little literary notoriety and out comes his past to haunt him (seldom to enhance his reputation). The appearance of "Herzog" has sent publishers scurrying. They have come up with "Dangling Man." Another company has gone back to find a pre-“Lolita” work by Vladimir Nabokov. Their contribution: "Invitation to a Beheading."
Neither will surprise those who know the authors' work. But neither is in a class with the recent volumes." Dangling Man" presents a character not greatly unlike "Augie March," "Henderson" or "Herzog." It is an effective picture of the generation of World War II, a story presented in the form of a diary. The hero is a man set against the whole disturbing epoch of the forties.
the whole disturbing epoch of the forties.
"Invitation to a Beheading," says Nabokov in the introduction, invites comparison with Kafka. Nabokov, as a matter of fact, suggests that he has been compared with many other great names; he throws in an interesting one called "Tolstoevski," which we hope is his little joke. The book was written a quarter of a century ago; the author suggests that most readers will prefer historical novels or biographies of great men. This is quite likely.
* * *
A FOR ANDROMEDA, by Fred Hoyle and John Elliott (Crest, 50 cents)—And this is science fiction. It seems that some person—person?—out there is trying to get in touch with scientists on earth. Yes, already this thing from outer space has invaded their minds and is conquering Earth—or something like that.
WORLDS IN COLLISION by Immunoilogy (Delta $1.95)
WORLDS IN COLLISION, by Immanuel Velikovsy (Delta, $1.95).
About 15 years ago many readers were startled and disturbed by the appearance of this book, in which Velikovsky set forth the theory that more than once in historic times the planets have gone amok and caused great cataclyms, that the earth was torn by great storms of fire, the skies darkened, land masses destroyed, and many human beings killed.
There was storm in the scientific world, too, and it probably has not abated. Velikovsky has provided a new introduction for this book, which is out in a sturdy paperback edition.
Much of what Velikovsky says will disturb many readers, such as his attack on Darwinian theory. Geologists, too, may question some assumptions. Velikovsky has studied at the University of Edinburgh, Moscow, Berlin, Zurich and Vienna. He has lived in this country since 1339.
* * *
THE LETTERS OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, edited by Andrew Turnbull (Delta, $2.95).
It is exciting to get your hands on a book like this, if you have any feeling for American literature. Fitzgerald's letters have been collected and edited by the man who contributed the excellent biography of Fitzgerald a few years ago, and the letters are grouped around those persons best known to Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald was never dull, and if he was not a great writer he was always an interesting one. Some of the individuals included here will not be well known to the general reader; readily recognizable names, however, will include his daughter, Scottie; his wife, Zelda; his publisher, Maxwell Perkins; Ernest Hemingway; Edmund Wilson. These are the best known in the collection.
He was a man of broad interests, even though his novels do not convey such a characteristic. Many of the great names in literature are included in the letters, and there are some interesting views, particularly those centering around his dismaying and near-tragic stay in Hollywood in the late thirties.
Noland ... Co-Editorial Editors