COMPUTER DATING
Find Your Mate at a $2 Rate
By Eric Morgenthaler
Those magnificent men with their matching machines have invaded KU.
Armed with probing questionnaires and fortified by the success of others with the same idea, four graduate students will introduce to KU on Saturday the newest college fad—programmed dating.
"BASICALLY, WE are taking the blindness out of blind dates," said William Spencer, West Chicago. Ill., graduate student and one of the founders of the program.
The service will match persons whose responses to a questionnaire indicate similarities in interests. Each participant will receive the names of three "matches."
"The effectiveness of the matches will ultimately depend upon the truthfulness of the answers given on the questionnaire," Jim Stephenson, Kansas City, Mo., graduate student and co-founder of the program, said.
"We will try to match the ideal with the real. A person will say what characteristics he wants in a date, and we will try to find another person with those characteristics," he said.
Stephenson and Spencer, who both earned their undergraduate degrees in psychology and sociology, are working with two fellow business administration students in the project. They are Jim Carr, Carthage, Mo., graduate student, and Alan Stamper, Plainville graduate student.
A $2 FEE will be charged for the service. This is lower than that charged in other parts of the country, where fees usually range from $3 to $5.
A student who submits his fee will receive the questionnaire by return mail. After returning the completed questionnaire, he will receive the names of three possible matches.
STEPHENSON expressed optimism about the ability of the survey to accurately match people, although applicants may not be completely objective in evaluating their personal characteristics.
"Psychiatrically speaking, if a person identifies with certain characteristics, then he probably possesses those characteristics." Stephenson said.
However, there have been mismatches made in similar programs in other parts of the country. At a
Yale dance where dates were matched by computer, students were given a free period during which they could trade dates. Most reported they had more fun with their "pickups" than with their original dates.
A girl at Vassar was accidentally sent the names of three other girls in response to her questionnaire. She demanded $20 for defamation of character. At Stanford, a girl was paired with her roommate's fiance.
THE KU GROUP will start with a modest capital outlay and proceed from there. They will process the first questionnaires by hand. If the program succeeds, they hope to employ the use of a computer and expand the service to other colleges in the area.
"As far as we know, no other midwestern university has a programmed dating service," Spencer said. "If we are successful here, we would like to take the project to other midwestern universities."
Student response to the programmed dates will determine the scope of the KU operation. Among projects that have been discussed for the future is a party sponsored by the programming group and a local beer distributor—a "pick-a-paii party."
kansan
76th Year, No. 76
Serving KU for 76 of its 100 Years
WEATHER: COLDER
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Details on Page 3
Thursday, February 10, 1966
SAYS EDITOR
Papers Too Dull
By Elizabeth Rhodes "America has some of the finest newspapers in the world, but some of the dulest too." Gardner Cowles said today in delivering the 17th annual William Allen White Memorial Lecture.
Cowles, editor-in-chief of Look magazine and president of the Des Moines Register and Tribune, gave the speech on the 99th birthday of William Allen White. White was editor of the Emporia Gazette, and is nationally known in political and journalistic circles.
Cowles, speaking in the Forum Room, stressed the duties of both newspapers and journalists. He gave public responsibility as the prime asset of daily newspapers, stating that "responsible newspapers thus have character."
Too many papers, however, are dull. They lack planning and a broad concept of what constitutes news. As a remedy the editor suggested advance planning, ideas, and imaginative leadership from a top newsroom editor.
Cowles' own magazine, "Look," is an example of advance planning. "Several of the staff are working on editorial projects that won't be used in the magazine until next year," he said.
Magazines like "Look," "Life," and "Time" have gained their circulations because they have what newspapers lack—quality editing and printing. Newspapers, however, have the ability to artistically meet magazines on a common ground.
"I am afraid newspaper publishers feel it isn't too important how their product looks or feels. But it is important. Magazines have found this out," Cowies said.
Involvement in the important issues of the community, nation, and world is the maker of a great editor, Cowles said. "Too many newspaper editors today are too careful, too cautious, too fearful of being controversial, too worried about ruiling the hair of some readers."
Cowles advised beginning journalists "Dare to be unpopular. You can and should be respected —but not necessarily popular." He also stressed individual
thought and judgment. Government officials and reports do not always provide valid information, he said.
The editor's task should include keeping public opinion in the proper perspective. "When the public gets too optimistic, warn it of possible troubles ahead: when it gets too pessimistic, remind readers that the country isn't really going to hell, that it has come through hundreds of past crises," Cowles said.
★ ★ ★ ★
Bailey Is Honored
The William Allen White Foundation's citation for journalistic merit to a Kansas editor was given to Rey Bailey, former editor of the Salina Journal.
The award was announced by John P. Harris, head of Harris Publications and editorial page
editor of the Hutchinson News at a luncheon this afternoon.
Harris named Bailey, whom he has known for 40 years, as one of the stalwarts of a group composed by White and others. "They did as much to shape the Republican party as they did their readers' opinions," Harris said.
Roy F. Bailey
HE REMINISCED about the days when these men worked their way up from the bottom, where every county seat town had at least two papers, and they survived as the most fit.
Bailey was born May 8, 1883, at Emporia. He was the son of a lawyer and it would have seemed natural for him to have turned to the law profession. The aura given to Emporia by William Allen White was perhaps what lead him into journalism.
His first job was not with the "Emporia Gazette," but with the "Emporia Republican" which has long been absorbed. After brief work for the "Republican," Bailey worked with White on the Gazette for three years.
Panel Says War Leads to China
By Carol Seaver
A direct confrontation between Communist China and the U.S. is a distinct possibility, according to four KU professors who spoke at the Student Union Activities Current Events Forum yesterday in the Kansas Union.
Howard Baumgartel, panel moderator, and professor of psychology and human relations, posed the question, "If present military escalations in Viet Nam will get us into a war with China, why are we there?"
ROBERT BURTON, assistant professor of East Asian studies and Oriental languages, said Peking broadcasts accuse the U.S. of planning war against China. The inevitability of war between the two countries is a
consistent theme of Chinese policy. he said.
"A declaration of war between the nations is not what China has in mind," Burton continued. "The Chinese 'people' will simply assist the 'people' of South Viet Nam."
"Whether we have another war with China will depend on U.S. policy within the next few months," Herbert Ellison, history professor and Slavic Area Chairman, said.
HE ADVISED weighing the cost and advantages to the U.S. and the Vietnamese of any military actions that could be taken. "War with China is, in fact, not unlikely," said Grant Goodman, associate professor in the East Asian Area and history.
SANTO DOMINGO
Riots Flare Anew
By United Press International Renewed violence and gunfire swept Santo Domingo today. A policeman was shot to death by snipers—the third officer to be killed here in 24 hours.
The renewed terrorism came in the wake of Wednesday's street fighting in which at least seven persons were killed and 45 wounded. One policeman was drenched with gasoline and burned to death by the infuriated mobs.
Residents in the downtown area this morning reported gunfire erupting from different sectors of the city. They said the only movement in the streets
was that of crouched figures scurrying from doorway to doorway.
Leftist labor unions called a general strike but there was no immediate indication of its effectiveness. Leftist students proclaimed three days of mourning for the civilians killed Wednesday. The government, meanwhile promised an official investigation.
Although Wednesday's mobs shouted repeatedly "kill all Yankees," almost all of the casualties were Dominican. The one known exception was a Brazilian officer of the Inter-American Peace force who was wounded when a terrorist threw a hand grenade into his jeep.
Labor Drive Now in Dorms -- See Page 3