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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 22, 1965
Communist on Campus
Over 300 students protested in front of Strong Hall last night the dismissal of KU track coach Bill Easton. But contrary to past experiences, there was no demonstration yesterday to protest the appearance of a communist spokesman on this campus.
The KU Minorities Opinion Forum had as its guest yesterday Dr. Herbert Aptheker, national director of the American Institute for Marxist Studies and one of the foremost spokesmen of the American Community party. Not one John Bircher showed up to picket Dr. Aptheker's appearance. Simply amazing? Maybe even the Birchers are beginning to tolerate free expression.
THE SOVIET UNION IS THE FREEST nation on earth. America now stands for what Rome once stood for—the rich against the poor, inequality and injustice. And "when it comes to the question of racism and inequality, our country almost stands supreme, the only challenge to this honor being from South Africa." These are some of the statements Dr. Aptheker made. He was, however, no wild-eyed radical, or demagogue. He argued intellectually for communism and socialism. Some of the charges he made deserve serious consideration.
Gary Noland
Easton Ouster
An open letter to the student body:
An open letter to the student of COACH EASTON HAS BEEN fired for "unwillingness to follow . . . procedure." So he's unorthodox, so what? So he dislikes red tape—good for him! Mr. Stinson may know lots about a bout procedure but quite clearly knows little about the sport of track. This is shown by his comment that the procedure that Coach Easton "refuses" to follow is "necessary to the successful functioning of the athletic program." If this is true, how has the team been so successful? By the "support of . . . the Athletic Board, the student body, and the University administration," as Mr. Stinson says? Of course not!
Any success they have won has been due almost entirely to the efforts of Coach Easton and the guys down the hall from me who get out and run at 6 o'clock in the morning! Their success has been fashioned by a group of hard-working young men and their capable, dedicated coach.
I hear cautionary voices who say,
"But the team hasn't been so successful this year." Again, so what?
After eighteen years, is a coach to be fired for one "bad" year? And is it his fault?
The matter of the pole vault box that was required by NCAA rules is silly enough without my comment, but probably exhibits the sort of trivia (it cost $30—how much does one football helmet cost?) that Coach Easton has had to put up with. Could it be that the man chosen in 1960 as the best college track coach in America has been
hampered by the front office, who demanded meticulous adherence to procedure?
Perhaps we students can be a little thankful for such things as the New Fraser design and this sad affair, for at the least they teach us to protest what is wrong, unjust, ugly, or false.
Robert Boyce, Graduate student
Editor:
"THRICE SHINE THE THINGS that are more excellent," except at KU. Upon discovery that one part of our athletic program has been unduly successful, the only readily apparent remedy to ameliorate the predicament seemed to be to fire the man responsible, Bill Easton. Though not in direct refutation to Mr. Stinson's statement that "A large part of that prominence has been due to the enthusiastic support of the track program by the Athletic Board, the student body and the University administration," it seems more than slightly inconsistent when we consider that our football team has had the same support. The naivete of this statement leaves us with grave doubts as to the validity of the reasons for dismissal given by Mr. Stinson.
Bill Easton was supposedly fired because of differences over the proper administration of the track program. Once again, this strikes the reader as a statement not too irreconcilable with the intelligence of the first quote. It would seem that the main requirement of a
track coach would be to bring credit to his school, improve his athletes, and to win. That Bill Easton has more than fulfilled these requirements is readily apparent to the at-least average observer.
Differences don't usually become irreconcilable after 18 years, but maybe the other side of the story is only one year old. Sure the nebulous statement issued by Mr. Stinson does not constitute the sum of the administrative differences between the two men if 18 years of brilliant and dedicated service are tossed aside with such reckless abandon. Until there is a further attempted explanation as to the real reason, the reader cannot help but entertain thoughts of educational hypocrisy from an institution which feeds us such a line after having taught us in class not to swallow it. Further, to add insult to injury, Easton has been offered a full-time position in the Education School. This must surely be considered a blight on his otherwise near-perfect obituary.
One can do no better than to quote Easton, "I would not care to be associated with a group that does not apparently wish to adhere to the quest of excellence," for the Athletic department has lost the closest thing they will ever have to excellence when they ousted Easton and his many accomplishments.
the snauf of new Fraser has met its match.
Regretfully written,
Marc D. Rucker
Burdett senior
The People Say...
Dear Sir:
I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF in the Daily Kansan that you would express to the student body the appreciation of the players and the coaching staff for their support of our basketball team this season. I am sorry that we could not win the championship of our Conference, but I assure you that we will be dedicated to building championship basketball at the earliest possible time. We need, and I am sure we will receive, your continued support in years to come.
Sincerely,
Ted Owens
Basketball Coach
Dear Editor:
Publicized in Newsweek (March 22, 1965, p. 48), recent demonstrations on KU campus concerning racial discrimination in fraternities and sororities, recall a 1927-28 effort to thwart plans for segregating cafeteria services in the Union Building, then nearing completion. If memory serves correctly, "across the years," as Chancellor Lindley used to say, the segregation of lounge facilities was also contemplated.
As a member of the YMCA cabinet, along with Paul Porter, Clarence Senior, Doxey Wilkerson, Bob Joffrey and others (with Ted Schultz as Executive Secretary of the YMCA) I was participant in the joint effort of the YMCA and the YWCA which spear-headed the campaign for "integration" of the new Union Building.
Authorities in charge of the Union Building were amenable to reason and it was opened without racial bars, thus upholding the liberal tradition of Kapsas University.
In the present issue, I want to urge that any charges resulting from the arrest of students pursuing this liberal tradition be dropped; that any housing arrangements subject to University control be purged of discriminatory features. They should not be tolerated on the Hill.
Sincerely,
Eugene W. Sutherland. 1928
Sincerely.
Editor:
The enclosed article, reprinted in the University Daily Kansan on April 19, has prompted me to a few words of unembellished prose in reply. First, let me say that I am one of those persons, whom you chose to call "sovereign squats," who is very firmly opposed to the design for New Fraser Hall. I am so opposed to it, in fact, that I am helping to circulate a petition against it, which now has over 2000 signatures, including those of students, professors, professional people and private citizens (taxpayers), and doing everything in my power to see to it that this building is not built. But, dear sir, I am not trying to "change the contours and outlines of the Flint Hills," nor would I do this if I could. And, may I add, if you are sincere in your remark about the Flint Hills, I cannot understand why you were not among the first to protest the
THE FOLLOWING IS THE text of a letter which I have sent on to the El Dorado Times, hoping that it reaches the gentleman who wrote the article entitled "Artistic Critics Rage" which was reprinted in your April 19 issue:
plans for New Fraser Hall. You obviously do not regard these magnificent natural formations as mere piles of rock; nor does the average citizen of the Flint Hills country. What would be the reaction of these people if someone proposed to clear away these formations to provide more arable land (assuming, of course, that this were as easy to do as to tear down old Fraser)? Would this not be functional, utilitarian? The point is, however, that with Fraser—both old and new—as with the Flint Hills, we are not dealing merely with a pile of rocks, be it man-made or natural. We are dealing with a symbol. What happens to the grandeur and the inspiration of the Flint Hills country without the Flint Hills? And what happens to the image of the University of Kansas as a bold, pioneering institution with old Fraser replaced by Canole's Folly? The building which symbolizes the University of Kansas, a university whose first purpose has always been to inspire men to use their minds, to be creative, and to work to improve the world into which they were born, must be capable of inspiring more than bitter jokes. It must have some sounder justification for its existence than the worship of utilitarianism. Let me restate my point. As soon as you are content to see the Flint Hills replaced with neat, symmetrical stacks of concrete blocks, I will be content to see the currently proposed plan for new Fraser dominating The Hill.
Sincerely,
Ruth Hull
Lawrence graduate student
©1965 HERBLOCK
THE WASHINGTON POSI
Fraser Design Filters East—Provokes Comment
The design of New Fraser has finally filtered East. It made the 1500 mile journey clipped to more than half dozen letters that varied in tone from hilarity to indignation. The photograph of the model leaves little to the imagination. It is a straightforward exercise in banality. I feel there is little to profit from a discussion of the project's shortcomings. Prof. Hermansen summed it up adequately when he described it as a "flunk."
MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE INDIVIDUAL faults of the design is the attitude that allows this monstrosity to be offered to the public as architecture. We must remember that the design for New Fraser did not appear all of a sudden. We were warned of its eventual appearance, when, a few years ago, Blake Hall was threatened, condemned and then destroyed. The form of New Blake presented the campus with KU's answer to Modern architecture: a red hat on a faceless head. The design for New Fraser is a continuation of this attitude that weds tradition to economic practicality: A shotgun affair at best. The twin towers of Fraser will not be preserved by the stunted afterthoughts that peek out of the ubiquitous roof of the model. In their mimicry, "the towers" only serve to insult the imaginative men who conceived and built original Fraser Hall.
THIS IS MORE THAN A QUESTION OF TASTE or aesthetic judgment. It is clearly a decision of whether KU is to have architecture on its campus or three dimensional IBM cards arbitrarily inserted out of sequence. Nor is it a question of the comparative merits of Old Fraser with New, for although Fraser is a local landmark it is not great architecture. But the original building contains something the new design fails to express; a relevance to its age.
It is in the nature of architecture to become a symbol of institutions. To accept the design for New Fraser is to project for the University of Kansas a symbol of mediocrity.
THOSE OF YOU WHO DO CARE and are yet unwilling to pressure for a more meaningful design will live with this structure. Worse, you will force your children to live with it. The importance of this issue is greater than this one building. For generations Americans have been systematically destroying their architectural heritage. The wrecker's ball has already struck down buildings by Sullivan and Wright. But all ages have torn down the old to build the new. Thankfully, earlier ages have been able to translate the spirit of their own time into the architecture they built. To construct the New Fraser as designed is to show not only our lack of understanding of our times, but also our lack of the initiative to care.
-Gerald S. Bernstein,
Former Curator, Art Museum and Instructor in Art History, KU Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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