Student protests
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McNally in wonderland
Provost James R. Surface didn't convince any of the 16 students who met with him Tuesday for a question and answer session on university student policies. But most of the students were impressed by Surface's candor and sincerity, and expressed hope that the administration would be responsive to change.
Not so impressive were ASC chairman Mike McNally's comments on the meeting between Surface and the students. McNally, a Bartlesville, Okla., junior, challenged the motives of some people active in questioning university regulations and concluded, "It is no secret that 'the movement' is heavily dependent upon non-students and national left-wing organizations for its manpower and ideas."
What is disturbing is the Western Kansas tone of McNally's remarks, particularly since the ASC chairman apparently has no facts to back up his words.
IF McNALLY is referring to KU, then he is wrong, for the students here are not heavily dependent upon non-students or organizations for manpower and ideas, but then McNally's contact with students here interested in student rights has been limited.
It is surprising to see a student leader, of sorts, quicker to question the motives of other students than administrators, who patiently cooperate in an examination of university policies while McNally remains in the background worrying about non-existent non-students.
IMPROVEMENTS IN university policies can only be made if the ASC is willing to cooperate with those other students and student organizations which are also interested in student life.
Some ASC members have shown such a willingness and SDS members have likewise shown a willingness to cooperate with the ASC, although undoubtedly the two groups are not totally compatible.
And in the past few weeks the ASC has shown some genuine concern with student regulations, and student rights. Last week's action in forming a committee to examine the rights was a hopeful sign as was this week's strengthening of the Human Relations Commission.
BUT DESPITE those actions, the fear exists that McNally's intemperate and inaccurate views are shared by others in the ASC.
If McNally wants to see substantial change in university policies this year, perhaps he had better re-examine his position on those students who are most active and articulate in voicing student complaints.
Justin Beck
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
GRAB A PENCI, MISS ALLEN, I WISH TO DISTATE AN EXAM FOR MY MONDAY MORNING CLASS.
university forum
Disability amendment solves a dilemma
In the dust created by the driving hustle and legislative landmarking of the recently ended Johnson Congress, a piece of legislation with significance for both the past and future has almost been obscured. This piece is the proposed 25th Amendment to the Constitution, dealing with presidential disability.
The proposed amendment passed by the House on June 30, 1965 and by the Senate on July 6, awaits ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures with a time limit of seven years. The amendment, when ratified, will represent the first success that Congress and the federal government have had in solving the dilemma of what happens when the President is disabled.
THE DILEMMA comes equipped with four questions about disability which statesmen and political thinkers have tried to answer since 1787. The questions are:
- What constitutes disability in the President? Is it physical and or mental?
- ● Who decides that disability exists?
- In the event of a clear cut case of disability, what does the vice-president assume - the
"powers and duties of the said office" or the office itself? Is he acting president or president for sure?
- If he is only acting president who decides that disability, in the words of the Constitution, "has been removed"?
This year Congress tried to answer these questions with the 25th Amendment—whether the amendment can be acceptable to the states and people and whether it will work remains to be seen, of course.
The amendment's provisions state that whenever the President transmits to the president pro tempore of the Senate and House speaker his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office and until he sends them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be assumed by the vicepresident as "acting president."
WHENEVER THE vice-president and a majority of either the cabinet or of such other body as Congress may provide tell the president pro tem and speaker, in a written declaration, that the president is unable to discharge his duties, the vice-president
shall immediately assume the powers and duties of acting president.
If the president tells the pro tem and speaker that no inability exists he shall resume his powers and duties unless the vice-president and a majority of either the cabinet or of such other body that Congress establishes sends them a written declaration within four days that the president is unable to discharge his powers and duties.
Then, Congress decides the issue, meeting within 48 hours if not already in session. Twenty-one days after receipt of the declaration or from the time of assembling, if Congress determines by two-thirds vote of both houses that the President is unable to discharge his duties, the vicepresident continues as acting president, otherwise, the president assumes "his powers and duties."
IF HISTORY can preside as a judge, this amendment is badly needed. Three times the U.S. has seen presidents disabled and chaos reign. Fortunately affairs of state and world have waited for the ailing president without irreparable damage to the country.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan 76 Years, KU's Official Student Newsaper
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it was longer but also because it was during the struggle over the League of Nations, Wilson was unable to perform any of his duties from Sept. 25, 1919 to Mar. 3, 1921. During the special session of the 66th Congress, 28 acts became law due to the presidential failure to act upon them in the required 10 days. Wilson did not meet with his cabinet for eight months. Important measures of Wilson's administration were either shelved or evaluated by Mrs. Wilson and Wilson's doctor and then possibly passed on to a few trusted cabinet secretaries.
THE SEVERE illnesses of Eisenhower in 1955-56 and 1957 ignited the four question controversy again. Ike's first two illnesses left him partially disabled for 22 weeks; presidential assistant Sherman Adams and department heads took over the operations of the executive. Luckily, this 22 week confinement was during a lull in affairs with Congress in recess and no international crises. His 1957 stroke, however, occurred during a critical time of the first Sputnik, a coming NATO meeting and a possible recession, but, in a few days, the President was back working on executive matters.
Thus, each time a president has been struck down, the state of presidential decisions and how they are to be faced has grown more intense and serious. Next time, perhaps, the office will not have even a Mrs. Wilson or a Sherman Adams to extra-legally carry on. This amendment once and for all clears away hesitation and confusion by requiring that the vice-president act as chief executive. Those who must ratify it will surely realize that the country has been lucky when a president was disabled for it muddled through somehow. Next time, the Nuclear Age may not allow us such a concession.
—Rosalie Jenkins
The shooting of James Garfield, in July, 1881, brought up the disability questions seriously. During the 80 days of his fatal illness, Garfield performed only one official act, signing an extradition paper. While the cabinet and country debated what to do and what Vice-president Arthur should do, only routine business that department heads could handle was considered. Important matters such as mail frauds, the country's deteriorating foreign relations and officers to be commissioned languished on a shelf.
Woodrow Wilson's stroke in 1919 was more detrimental to the public interest, not only because
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Daily Kansan
editorial page Thursday, March 3, 1966
Attitudes different on college campuses
. A year ago this time college campuses were in white-hot ferment. Beards, blue jeans and Baez were the rage.
Slowly America has awakened to the fact that this year things are quite otherwise. Surveys from campuses across the country indicate that last year's attitudes (at least the more publicized ones) are no longer either typical or widespread.
A survey conducted at the University of Wisconsin belies, the dean of students says, the picture of students as "volatile, angry, unhappy creatures." An article in The New York Times magazine speaks of remake-the-world campus orators drowning "in their own unheard exhotations." In Boston a college dean from the Middle West and another from a New England college match notes and find that this
year's freshman class is conspicuously different from its immediate predecessors, being neatly clad, shod and shaven.
Has a reaction set in, and, if so, how strong is it and how far has it gone? Perhaps the best, and hopefulist answer comes from a journalist who has just toured a number of college campuses to weigh attitudes and outlook. He found, above all among students with a strong religious outlook, an even deeper commitment to constructive social work. But he also found a disposition to carry on this work quietly, modestly, and with little interest in fanfare or publicity.
We welcome this assessment.
We should find it a sad national loss were the volcanic energy of youth either capped or turned solely into selfish channels . . .
Christian Science Monitor