Women try rifles for fun
By Linda Sleffel
In the dim green light, ten girls slip into padded shooting jackets and pick up their rifles. They adjust the sights, carefully tighten the slings, get into position and wait for the command to commence firing.
It may sound like the woman's auxiliary of the Viet Cong going into action, but the green light is not sunshine filtering through an Asian jungle, but the no-glare fluorescent lights of the rifle range in the Military Science Building. And the girls are not guerilla soldiers but members of the women's markmanship class, taught by Capt. Carl F. Kress, assistant professor of military science.
THE WEAPONS, though, are very real. They are Model 40X Remington target rifles, and their heavy barrels make them weigh 11 pounds, compared to about five pounds for an ordinary 22-caliber hunting rifle. They are equipped with adjustable rear reep sights and hooded front post sights.
The aching muscles they cause during the first few days of class are real too. "I came home from class the first day and bemoan my fate for 20 minutes," said Betty Schmiedeskamp, Prairie Village sophomore. "I had trouble sleeping for the first three nights. And until I got used to it, I really dreaded the next class."
Other class members agreed. "I think we all had sore muscles for a while," said Virginia Schlatter, Lyons freshman.
IN SPITE OF the aching muscles it causes, the course is a popular one. Since there are only ten firing points on the rifle range, 20 girls fill the two sections. Capt. Kress reports the class is usually closed by the second day of registration.
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The class meets two hours a week for one hour of credit. Each day the girls fire two targets of ten bullseye each. They learn four positions-prone, sitting, kneeling and standing, along with variations of each. They agree that prone position is easiest, because it is steadiest. Some found kneeling position the hardest, and others had more trouble with standing position, because there is less support for the weight of the rifle.
At the end of the semester, the classes spend two weeks in match shooting—firing one target in each of the major positions—prone, kneeling and standing—each day.
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MOST OF THE class members say they took the course "because it sounded like fun," or "because it was something different." Few had fired a rifle before.
"I had no real skills or hobbies," said Miss Schmiedeskamp, "and I wanted to develop one. I like individual sports, and I think everybody should know how to handle a gun."
Mary Toomey, Tuscola, Ill., freshman, said she had hunted before, although she had never fired a rifle. "I like to shoot, and I wanted to learn to do it the right way," she said.
MOST OF THE girls agreed they had no particular plans for using their shooting skill. Several said they might go hunting, or continue target shooting. "I really doubt I'd ever use it," said Miss Schmiedeskamp, "but I'll feel more assured knowing I could use a gun if I had to."
SAFE AS COFFEE
Miss Schlatter and Kylee Smith, Lawrence freshman, are already
putting their skill to work on the KU rifle team. Both competed in a rifle meet at Nebraska April 30 and May 1.
The classes are the main recruiting medium for the women's rifle team, says Capt. Kress, who is faculty adviser to all rifle teams.
TEACHING WOMEN to shoot is no different from teaching men, Capt. Kress said. "Women learn just as easily. The only difference is that it's harder for them to support heavy weapons."
"There are some issues people would like to see discussed in papers and on radio, but it takes time to convince the editors that open discussion would do no harm. The process is becoming more flexible," he said.
Capt. Kress says he enjoys teaching the class, and most of the members enjoy taking it. The hardest thing was getting used to holding the riffle for such a long time, said Miss Schmiedeskamp. "But no matter how bad you are, you can see improvement. The results are more tangible than in other courses."
Mr. Dlohy is also interested in buying books and plays for translation. "Giovanni's Room," by James Baldwin, "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, "The Glass Menagerie" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," by Tennessee Williams are among the works he has translated into Slovak.
At least one girl who has taken the course said she became bored "doing the same thing over and over." But Miss Toomey said, "You get a thrill from a high score. It's relaxing. You think about shooting and just forget everything else."
A Czechoslovakian translator and journalism teacher was on campus Friday under the auspices of the political science department, and toured the William Allen White School of Journalism.
not as easily misused by private interests.
HE IS VISITING the country "to establish permanent contact with universities" and to get ideas to reshape and remodel his journalism program.
"There is no absolute freedom of the press," he said. "It is a matter of degree. There have been changes in Czechoslovakia." He said that because the press in socialist countries is controlled by the whole people, that it was
Karol Dlohy is a participant in the International Visitors Program of the United States Department of State. He has translated major American plays, novels and essays, and has taught journalism at Comenius University since 1959.
Visiting journalist: no freedom of press
False alarm sounds at McCollum Hall
Residents of McCollum Hall were evacuated at 4 a.m. this morning when fire alarms sounded.
It was reported as a false alarm.
Hall recalls chancellor
Oliver Hall, being built on Naismith Drive, is named for the first Chancellor of KU. The Rev. R. W. Oliver, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, was Chancellor from 1865 to 1867.
8
Daily Kansan Monday, May 23, 1966
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