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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 30, 1965
The Piggy Bank
Well, they did it again. I had hoped they would profit from the mistake made on Blake Hall. But no, they wreaked the same destruction on new Fraser. The building that is to be built an abomination of good taste and good architecture. It has been called a prison, a piggy bank, a mortuary and a camel with two sick humps. They all fit.
The two towers, adequately labeled bird cages, look like an afterthought. Perhaps a committee member did not attend a meeting and didn't get his recommendations in until after the plans had been drawn up. I am surprised that the nostalgic pressure could have been so great that the University felt it had to retain those two towers at the expense of the rest of the building.
The towers on old Fraser are graceful and meaningful. They look nothing short of ridiculous on the new building. In miniature, the building strongly reminds me of a piggy bank. There is just enough space between the towers for a slot to drop the money through.
THE TOWERS have been called the symbol of the University. Apparently, tears come to the eyes of the alumni when they see the twin towers and the flags. If the towers on new Fraser are a symbol of KU, then KU is in bad shape.
If the building is supposed to be modern, fine. Then make it modern and don't stick those stupid towers on top as an appeasement. If it is supposed to be in the tradition of old Fraser, then make the rest of the building conform to the towers. But the combination is abominable. As it is now, the only function, aesthetic or otherwise, that the towers serve is to hold up the flagpoles.
KU campus architecture is notorious. We have outdone ourselves with Fraser. It is a square box with a lot of little slots called windows. Many buildings, in the modern style, are being built on campuses all over the United States. The University of Hawaii is an outstanding example. I do wish KU could sufficiently break with the nostalgic tradition of the towers to build Fraser so that it looks either modern or traditional. As it is now, it doesn't look like either. It gives the strong impression of indecision, as if the architect or the University couldn't decide what the building was supposed to look like.
There is only one good thing you can say about the new Fraser. It harmonizes with Blake. And I'm not at all sure that is a compliment.
I sincerely hope there is a possibility that the plans for the new building could be reviewed.
— Leta Roth
Arab Break With Germany Could Affect Egypt's Economy
By Phil Newsom UPI Foreign News Analyst
UPI Foreign News Analyst
As a new era dawns for relations between West Germany and Israel, Western diplomacy seeks to assess the effort on the man who started it all. When President Gamal Abdel Nasser of the United Arab Republic successfully used his blackjack tactics to force suspension of West German arms shipments to Israel, an end result he could not have wished for would be establishment of formal diplomatic relations between West Germany and Israel, his greatest enemy.
Yet that is close to becoming reality.
It also brought about a not wholly successful test of his claim to leadership of the Arab world.
Agree To Withdrawal
At an Arab League meeting summoned in Cairo by Nasser, 10 of 13 members agreed to withdraw their ambassadors from Bonn in the event West Germany went ahead with plans to establish its formal link with Israel.
But there were dissenters. Expressing doubts were Tunisia, Morocco and Libva.
Al Ahram, an authoritative Cairo newspaper, predicted that Yemen, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait and Sudan would go along with Nasser a step further. This would be a formal break with Bonn and recognition of Communist East Germany.
Reason For Caution
Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba especially counselled caution against an act that would hurt the Arab states more than it would West Germany.
There was good reason for the caution and it appeared that Nasser soon might learn, as has the United States in its efforts to isolate Red China and Cuba, that even friends disappear when the dollar is involved.
Tunisia has close economic ties to West Germany.
A West German training and equipment program is contributing $20 million to Sudan's frontier forces.
“Or We Can Take That One To The Grocery Department”
(2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (55) (56) (57) (58) (59) (60) (61) (62) (63) (64) (65) (66) (67) (68) (69) (70) (71) (72) (73) (74) (75) (76) (77) (78) (79) (80) (81) (82) (83) (84) (85) (86) (87) (88) (89) (90) (91) (92) (93) (94) (95) (96) (97) (98) (99) (100)
A West German veto in the European Common Market seriously could damage the Western aid program for Algeria. Egypt itself could be seriously damaged. West German trade with Egypt accounts for less than one half of one per cent of the West German total but West Germany accounts for nearly 10 per cent of Egyptian foreign trade.
More than any other Western nation, West Germany is involved in Egypt's economic development planning.
So it appeared that despite Nasser's early boasts and threats there would be serious second thoughts.
Second Thoughts
But regardless of the ultimate effect upon Nasser and the Arab states, ripples of the affair were extending beyond the Middle East.
For Communist East Germany's strongman, Walter Ulbricht, whose visit to Cairo touched off the affair, there was a chance for respectability that would come through diplomatic recognition of his puppet regime.
For the West Germans there was growing doubt about the effectiveness of the Hallstein policy which for 15 years has dictated a diplomatic break with any capital except Moscow that recognized the East Germans. If Cairo could blackmail them with a threat of recognition of the Ulbricht regime, so could others.
Among the Western powers in general there was growing concern that Nasser, having worked himself into an unpleasant pocket, might be forced to shift to an even closer tie with the Communists.
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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Leta Roth and Gary
Noland Co-Editorial Editors
The People Say...
To the editor:
THAT SPRING FLING IS again off to a ringing start this year is evident from the sounding of the clanging cowbell below my window, this being the signal for one and all participate in the favorite undergraduate water sport at KU this spring; drenching the gallant duck watcher. The only equipment necessary to participate in this popular sport is a water balloon or a bucket filled with water—and, of course, a certain level of moronic intelligence.
It cannot be denied, however, that this game does possess certain laudable attributes. It is indeed heartening to watch the courageous manner in which those guarding the duck resist attempts to force them to abandon their duty. Despite the freezing temperatures, they heroically stay at their posts even when deluged with pails of water, becoming, after repeated attacks, walking icicles. Duck snatching also promotes ingenuity and encourages group spirit and solidarity. One hall displayed the former by wiring its duck cage so that anyone touching it was reminded of the commandment "Thou shalt not steal thy neighbor's duck." This means of allowing rambunctious undergraduates an opportunity to release steam is undoubtedly also encouraged by the administration, who probably finds this preferable to such embarrassing incidents as the recent civil rights demonstrations.
It is unfortunate that duck snatching does not encourage academic effort either on the part of the snatchers, the defenders, or the non-participants, the latter of whom occasionally display an unsportsmanlike irritation when the bedlam going on outside their window interrupts their concentration on such mundane things as writing papers or studying for tests. It is more to the point that AURH has provided, although perhaps unwittingly, an unequalled opportunity for social psychology students to study mob psychology.
Mike Ogrosky
Winfield sophomore
March 24, 1965
Editor:
AFTER READING THE REplies addressed to me in "The People Say," it has become necessary for me to restate and clarify my position, for it is obvious that those who disagree have missed my point.
First, the purpose of my letter was to question the value of the demonstration, particularly the series here at KU. At no time have I said that demonstrations accomplish nothing. I do believe, however, that any demonstration antagonizes and spawns additional hate among those extreme groups strongly opposed to the civil rights movement. For this reason the demonstrations can be harmful to its own cause, but I do not condemn the function of the demonstration when it is needed.
Prejudice is an unreasonable thing, founded on ignorance. In order to break down prejudice, it is necessary to remove the ignorance by creating a situation of understanding between the parties involved. In order to facilitate this condition of understanding, the parties must be in a position to come in contact and communicate with each other. In the situation such as exists in the South, no contact or communication exists between the races. Here the demonstration is necessary to secure those basic rights which will enable the Negro people to achieve communication and contact. From this point, the Negro should work WITHIN the framework of the society toward an end to prejudice through understanding.
In a situation such as exists at the University of Kansas and in my home state of California, where the Negro is an accepted part of society and not a separate entity, the conditions of contact and communication already exist, although the Negro is still a victim of prejudice and discrimination. It is here, where the Negro should be working from within, that the demonstration begins to take on a negative value, for it is through the demonstration that the Negro is again identified as a group, and automatically becomes a separate entity once more.
I will cite an example of what I think should and can be done successfully along this line. About 10 years ago, Lawrence theaters practiced discrimination through segregated seating policies. This practice is non-existent today not because of demonstrations, but because Negro religious leaders talked with the theater managers and convinced them that they should discontinue such policy. Neither group was antagonized nor became belligerent.
Secondly, I did not have anything to say about changing a person's behavior. A person behaves according to his attitudes, and these cannot be changed by force or decree. Man has a peculiar quality of individuality, and his irrational behavior is a direct result of his attitudes. Unfortunately, the human race is not a pack of howling dogs which may be trained to salivate en masse at the flashing of a light. As a matter of fact, the idea of forcing or ordering a person to do something has a tendency to cause rebellion, especially when such an order does not closely correspond to an attitude. It seems to me that something along that line happened back in 1776.
Finally, there is the question of prejudice itself. The only true and valid way to deal with a man is as an individual; not as black or white or American or Soviet. I believe in this, and try to deal with men as individuals. I will be the first to admit, however, that I am somewhat prejudiced toward the Negro race, but it is only by communicating my ideas with others in a rational manner that I may hope to understand my problem and eventually overcome it. It is only when individual prejudice such as mine, however large or small it may be, is overcome, that true equality among all people may be achieved.
It is for this reason that I have resorted to writing, for I have hope that this problem will be solved through rational discussion leading to mutual understanding. It grieves me, however, when antagonism, however small, is created by demonstrations of questionable value; when the same thing might have been accomplished by reasonable discussion. It also grieves me that people like Mr. McKnight, who does not know me and has never met me, accuses me of being one who erects a specious structure to justify my "inability to face up to a basically simple truth." This is slander, and is, Mr. McKnight, a perfect example of irrational prejudice.
Greg Sipe San Lorenzo, Calif., junior
Dear Sir:
FROM MONDAY THROUGH Friday afternoon of last week, for five continuous days and night. 15 of our Kansas University students maintained a protest vigil against the war in Viet Nam. Despite the fact that our students did not succeed in one objective: e.g., to induce the resignation of students from the ROTC program so as to give substance to the growing public disenchantment with the U.S. foreign "policy" in Viet Nam, their labor did not go unnoticed. I trust that I speak for the majority of non-participating Kansas University students when I say that their demonstration was a success. It was a success in that it pointed up the mounting public disillusion with the failure of the U.S. program in Viet Nam.
The now classic protest engaged in by 3,000 students and 200 professors at the University of Michigan was, doubtless, a more powerful gesture. There, indeed a student in the ROTC program (the son of a military officer) did resign as a symbol of the increasing awareness that something is wrong in Viet Nam. But we must not think any the less of our own voice of protestation if it was on a smaller scale. By undergoing such weather conditions as low as 5 above zero for most of the time, our students have suffered in a small way for all of us so as to bring out the suffering in another part of the world for which all of us are responsible. These Kansas University Peace Union students have been the real voice of Kansas; I have only been a spectator.
Robert E. Allinson
New Haven, Conn.
Graduate fellow