University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 17, 1965
Disinformation
ASC Meeting
Confusion, hostility, charges, and suspicion marred the actions of the All Student Council last night.
No one, I feel sure, felt very pure in mind or spirit when the first of the demands by the Civil Rights Council was passed by the ASC. This applies not only to ASC members, but to other persons who had occasion to speak at the meeting—the student body president and members of the Kansan Board, which includes myself.
The issue involving advertising content of student publications is of special concern to those of who work daily on the student newspaper, so these remarks can be taken for what they are worth.
FIRST, I THINK IT IS NECESSARY to examine the reasons for the hostility between the Kansan Board and the ASC. No one can deny that this hostility does not exist.
Both parties are at fault. When ASC legislation was first proposed last week, Kansan Board sentiment was automatic. This legislation was viewed as an unethical attempt by politicians to interfere with the policies of the newspaper. It was viewed as a hasty, ill-considered, expedient appeasement to the demands of an effective pressure group. It was viewed as a violation of freedom of the press. It was viewed as a violation of the rights of advertisers.
Each of these reasons is justifiable, although in an attempt to defend our position, there has been some exaggeration. Exaggeration was obvious in a cartoon on the front page of the Daily Kansan, which satirized the ASC.
ASC HOSTILITY TOWARD THE KANSAN Board also was automatic when the Daily Kansan took the position of opposing the legislation. The ASC defended its position by claiming that this was no attempt to take over the Daily Kansan, that there is no inherent right of advertisers that is being violated, that freedom of the press is not being violated, and that the legislation has been discussed quite sufficiently. Each of these reasons is justifiable, but exaggeration also has been employed to defend the legislation.
A feeling of righteousness and indignation existed on both sides at last night's meeting of the ASC. The atmosphere was extremely unhealthy for the passage of legislation.
The Kausan Board suggested tabling the legislation until both sides had a chance to sit down and discuss the legislation and all its ramifications.
BOB STEWART, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT, strongly opposed this suggestion. He argued that the legislation had been thoroughly discussed, and that it was now time for action. He argued that it was the responsibility of the ASC to solve this problem. He scoffed at the suggestion of John Suhler, Kansan Board chairman, that neither the Kansan Board nor the ASC has had the opportunity to exchange views on the subject. As far as Stewart was concerned, further delay and negotiations could not be fruitful.
Stewart's attitude and the speeches he delivered did nothing to lessen hostility. He claimed that the Kansan Board had had sufficient opportunity to express its opinion. He blamed the Kansan Board for failing to establish communications with the ASC. This, like much of what he said, was slightly exaggerated. Both the Kansan Board and the ASC had made feeble efforts to get together before last night's meeting. Both parties involved are to blame for the failure to schedule discussions.
BUT ONE WRONG DOES NOT CANCEL out another wrong, which is what happened last night. Both the Kansan Board and the ASC have been under pressure the past week. Hostility between the two sides prevented a sincere effort to establish communications. The ASC has felt that the Kansan Board would not listen to them, and
the Kansan Board has felt that the ASC would not listen to them.
The Kansan Board also was accused by Stewart of exaggerating the charge that this was legislation under pressure. When a student council member suggested that they had all been under pressure from the administration, the Kansan Board, student leaders, and the CRC, Stewart replied that this was a personal insult to himself. I find it difficult to deny that there has not been considerable pressure from all these sources. And I submit that this is not the healthiest atmosphere for the enactment of legislation.
The vote on the legislation was 15 for, nine against, and six abstentions. Although the vote was lopsided in terms of those for and against, the six abstentions indicate that there were some doubts and misgivings on the part of the Council members. If the issue had been sufficiently debated maybe these people could have come to some conclusions.
THE REGRETABLE THING ABOUT LAST night's meeting was the hostile atmosphere in which business was conducted. There were sincere persons on both sides who felt the need for more discussion, but these persons lost.
Stewart, in his arguments last night, emphasized the right of the ASC to enact such legislation. No one from the Kansan Board questions this right. The Kansan Board Constitution clearly states that the ASC has only delegated its authority over the Daily Kansan to the Kansan Board. The Kansan Board feels only that this is not the way the problem should be solved. Some on the Kansan Board feel that the CRC, through the ASC, is using the Daily Kansan as a tool to pressure persons who discriminate.
This may be an excellent way to accomplish desired ends in the eyes of some people. But some of us who work on the Daily Kansan do not feel this way.I feel that a newspaper should have the right to accept any advertisements that are, on the face of the advertisement,not repugnant to the average person in the community,and that the newspaper should feel obligated to accept such advertisements.The newspaper also has the right to refuse advertisements that are obviously in bad taste.
IN THE CASE WE ARE CONCERNED WITH, the argument seems to run that certain housing advertisements are in bad taste because certain people have been refused accommodations because of the color of their skin. But the advertisement itself is not in bad taste. It only becomes so when a person answers the advertisement and is discriminated against. And this is the only person who then feels the advertisement is in bad taste. Other people may not like the practices of the advertiser, but the advertisement itself is not distasteful.
I do not feel that a newspaper should refuse an otherwise acceptable advertisement just because the newspaper does not agree with the views or practices of the advertiser. A responsible newspaperman never refuses to publish an otherwise acceptable letter to the editor just because the editor does not agree with the views of the person who wrote the letter.
Persons have told me that this parallel is inaccurate. I must be blind. I cannot see it, I cannot understand how we claim to be broadening the scope of freedom and communication while restricting both.
For this reason, as well as others, I disagree with the concept and intention of the ASC legislation, which will undoubtedly be signed very soon by Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe.
East German Records Hide Nazis
I might add that this editorial is my personal opinion and observation, and should not be construed as the policy or opinion of the Kansan Board.
Gary Noland
By Phil Newsom
When in 1948 the Russians withdrew from the Allied Control Council in Germany and in effect set up two Germanies, there remained in the Soviet Zone all the micro-filmed records of the Nazi party.
All West German and Allied attempts to attain copies of these records since have failed.
UPI Foreign News Analyst
This capsule recall of history is
necessary because it bears on current West German deliberations over extension of the statute of limitations on war crimes beyond the May 8 expiration date.
Refusal of the East German Communist regime to turn over the old Nazi records not only has been a major obstacle in the way of ferreting out war criminals, it also has been a weapon used by the Communists in attempts to
discredit the West German Federal Republic.
The tactic has been to wait until some judge, police official or any other person has risen to a place of responsibility in the new republic and then suddenly expose him as a one-time Nazi. This in turn is used as so-called evidence that the West German government harbors ex-Nazi and war criminals.
"We Don't Want Any Outside Agitators"
BOOK REVIEWS
KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW YORK, by Washington Irving (Capricorn, $1.95).
One of the early and greatest classics of our literature is this mock history of more than 100 years ago. It helped to establish the reputation of Irving and to set him in his place as one of our top literary figures, as well as funniest men.
Surely such a book inspired many travesties that followed. Irving offers us a burlesque history of the Dutch settlement of the New World and a set of names and incidents that have become part of our tradition.
These include the settlement of New York, the story of the Peter Stuyvesant, the reign of Wouter Van Twiller, and the reign of William the Testy.
The paperback, an extremely attractive and durable-looking one, appears to have been printed from 19th century plates, a factor which adds to the charm of the thing.
$$
***
$$
THE RELIGIONS OF THE OPPRESSED, by Vittorio Lanternari (Mentor, 75 cents).
An Italian professor of religion offers in this paperback a discussion of little-known religions, particularly those of people long held in subjugation by the world's major powers. Some of these are known in at least a general sense; most of them present insights unfamiliar to most readers.
The author describes such religions as the separatist churches of the Bantu, the prophetic cults of the Congo, the Kitawala (Jehovah's Witnesses) in central and southern Africa, the Ghost Dancers and Peyote cult of the American Indians, the Ras Tafari of Jamaica, the Zions of northeast Brazil, the cargo cults of Melanesia, the Maori Hau Hau, and the Cao Dai of Viet Nam.
The anthropologist particularly will find this book of interest, but any student of contemporary society will find something here as well.
***
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, by Shakespeare (Signet Classics, 50 cents)Another in an attractive series of paperback Shakespeare. There are a special introduction to the play, a discussion of Shakespearean times and his life, a note on sources, dramatic criticism and detailed footnotes. If you don't know the plot this is no place to give it to you.
DailijTränsan
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Nebraska
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