2e3nuonnA rfhowell3
In loco parentis
A LETTER FROM Donald Olson, La Mesa, Calif., sophomore in Tuesday's (Jan. 18) Kansan expressed concern for the complacency of KU students. Olson said students were not properly incensed over "the extent of Administration control over student decisions (and) . . . blatant disregard of any concept of democratic decision-making." In simpler terms, he objected to improper administrative use of the power of in loco parentis.
ACCORDING TO COLLEGE LAW, published by the American Council on Education. "The power which the officers of a college may lawfully exert to restrict and control the actions of its students is based upon the fact that, in law,
first in a series
the college stands in the same position to its students as that of a parent—in loco parentis (in lieu of parents)—and it can therefore direct and control their conduct to the same extent that a parent can."
THIS POWER HAS A STRONG legal base in American law. In recent years, some areas of responsibility and control have been questioned in the courts. For instance, there is some evidence that state-financed universities are not necessarily responsible for the libelous material printed by their student editors. Or again, a recent Supreme Court decision involving Alabama State sit-in leaders indicated that due process is a right every student can demand.
BUT THE LEGAL BASE of in loco parentis becomes more tenuous when the moral and educational issues of the doctrine are considered. Legality is no index of virtue and, as Neal Johnson points out, a college dean who spouts legal-
isms at anti-in loco parentis crusades is confusing the legally founded "right" of the university to act in loco parentis with the legally unfounded "responsibility" to do so.
FOR MOST UNIVERSITIES, in loco parentis is couched in the philosophy that college is a "preparatory" period when the student, through incubation, is equipped with the skills he will need later in life. By this reasoning, the state and the university community have a responsibility to guide, shield and protect these future leaders of society.
ATTACHED TO THIS general theory is that narrow line of argument that the student chooses to attend the University of Kansas, pays his fees, enters a contractual relationship with the university and must leave at the university's insistence. Class attendance becomes "a privilege, not a right."
MANY ASPECTS OF in loco parentis are beneficial to the student: scholarship aid, reasonable loans, and often protection from the long arm of the law (although it is questionable if this is beneficial to a future leader of society). A strong legal base for the doctrine, combined with a justifiable concept of community responsibility and regulation, preclude any half-baked notions to abolish in loco parentis totally.
HOWEVER, CERTAIN manifestations of the doctrine border on invasion of privacy, double jeopardy and disregard of other constitutional rights. As it now operates at KU, in loco parentis furnishes a kind of blanket license to control the student's private life. Although women's hours are one of the most blatant manifestations of the doctrine, in loco parentis permeates nearly all university regulations.
Tomorrow: "The times they are a'changin'."
—Jacke Thayer
Streisand, the Campanile—
Camp is super-camp
BATMAN IS CAMP. Barbra Streisand's nose is camp. Even camp is camp—at least for the moment.
If we don't watch out, however, we've going to destroy another unique element of our society through abusive overuse. Camp, no doubt, will be vulgarized into "in" status and then will fall into "out" within a very short time. That seems to be the way of the world. But I digress.
UP TO A FEW months ago, our society was rather at an impasse. Whenever a person ran up against something really way out like an old Tarzan movie, a souvenir ashyr from the 1939 Chicago World's Fair, or even a pair of bronzed baby shoes, he lacked a really good term to apply to them.
Oh, he might hedge and call the object under question "different," or "unusual, or (like all stalemated critics)" "original." In any case, no one word covered the subject. Then along came 'camp' and the situation was found.
"CAMP" CAME TO BE used quite successfully in the more entire circles to describe anything that was laugnable, outlannously, irredeemably bad taste—so bad in fact that it was good. Or so far cut that it was good. Sort of a "super in."
Things that were camp were so because their squareness made them almost a parody on tastelessness, but there was more to it than that. When something was just bad, rather than camp, it was probably because the object was mentocre in its ambition. It failed because it was a hallway measure. Camp was famous, or notorious, tor its extravagance.
AT THE ADVENT of camp, pseudo-sophisticates hurriedly compiled lists naming everything from Forest Lawn Cemetery to Lawrence Welk, from Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour to "Ged Bless Our Home" samplers, from Dale Evans to Mr. Clean.
This was all very well and good for such a cosmopolitan society, for these things were undisputably camp. Even closer to home, KU students began noting examples of Kansas Campus Camp.
PERHAPS THE greatest tribute to camp on the KU campus, they said, is the Campanile. You certainly couldn't call it in, yet you couldn't dismiss it as out, they argued. It is too unique and imposing to fail because of mediocrity. And it was this very uniqueness that threw it into the camp camp.
THIS BEINGS us to the relationship between the three cat games: camp, in, and out. The first step is camp. A camp object will be called so for its brave-new-world brazenness. If and when it becomes accepted by everyone and is practiced by a few of the elite, it will occupy "in" status:
Other examples were recent articles in the UDK exposing depe, alcohol, and cough syrup problems here on campus. Even new Blake (when it was first built) was camp. Now that new Fraser (also designed in the latter-day Canole style) is rising beside it, the whole movement appears to be quite "in." If KY's "blessed" with another such Limestone creation out of the Canole mold, undoubtedly the movement will become "out"—and deservedly so.
There is the hope, however that within a few years, or generations, the object will doubtlessly be rediscovered by some curious savage poking through the ashes of a former era. It will be dusted off, held up as camp, and the whole cycle will be repeated.
MAYBE THE ONLY answer is an all-powerful organization dedicated to the eradication of the indiscriminate use of the term "camp." We could call it the SPMOC—Society for the Prevention of the Misuse and Overuse of Camp. At least, it couldn't hurt.
— Bob Curtright
For the sake of the kingdom
CONGRESSWOMAN Edith Green (D-Ore.) offers an article, "Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Little Minds," in a recent newsletter from her office:
"IN ORDER TO produce more tobacco, the federal government spent $5,280,000 in ... 1935 to improve tobacco farming techniques and methods of marketing. U.S. tobacco subsidies amounted to $273,341.
"IN ORDER TO warn the public of the possible relation between smoking and cancer, the federal government spent $3.335.300 on researching tobacco health hazards in the same year..."
2 Daily Kansan editorial page Wednesday, February 9, 1906
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
"PROF SNARF IS UP TO HIGH DAL TRICKS - MAKING AN ASSIGNMENT
AN' PUTTING ONLY ONE REFERENCE BOOK ON RESERVE:"
The rules are there一
Read 'em yourself
MANY KU STUDENTS are unaware of the stated, as well as the implied, controls of in loco parentis. Best sources of reference: AWS literature and the student handbook.
THIS COMMENT PRECEDES the listing of AWS regulations in "Wise Words for Women," the AWS publication for incoming freshmen: "... Thus standards for conduct along with policies concerning closing hours and sign-outs are always in keeping with mode practices. The present regulations have been agreed upon by representatives from every living group and every woman on campus has agreed to live accordingly..." The method of choosing representatives makes the above statement a matter of dispute.
CONCERNING GENERAL CONDUCT, "Wise Words for Women" quotes the regulations: "A woman student of the University of Kansas is expected to conduct herself in a manner which would at all times reflect honor to her university, her living group and herself. This implies adherence to the generally accepted standards of propriety and thoughtful consideration of the wel are and reputation of the university. Any woman student whose conduct is unsatisfactory or who violates the regulations of the university may be requested to withdraw at any time, or may be denied readmission at the end of the term."
THE STUDENT HANDBOOK reprints the ASC constitution. Article IV—Powers—reads as follows: "This association shall have all powers necessary to carry out the purpose set forth in Article II, and any other powers in the government of the students of the University of Kansas delegated to it by the Chancellor of the university, the University Senate, the state Board of Regents or the laws of the state of Kansas."
THIS ALLOWS THE ASC to weld the student body into a cohesive unit, promote extracurricular activities, coordinate student activities and promote the highest interests of the University of Kansas. And not much else.
SOME OF THE RULES and regulations listed in the handbook include:
- "... IN THOSE RARE cases when a student is charged with a felony in a court of law and the facts seem to justify the charge, the student may be suspended without prejudice until the court action is resolved." So if the student is innocent, he is punished once; if guilty, he is punished twice.
- "STUDENTS SHOULD recognize that mere presence in the vicinity of an unlawful assembly may be cause for disciplinary action which could involve suspension or dismissal from the university."
- $\textcircled{6}$ "STUDENTS WHO INVOLVE themselves with infractions of the generally accepted code of conduct and morals are subject to disciplinary action by the personnel deans."
- IT IS ALSO INTERESTING to note that a student can be withdrawn for having liquor in his private residence.
kansan
Serving KU for 76 of its 100 Years
UNiversity 4-3846, newsroom
UNiversity 4-3198, business office
Founded 1889
Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York, N Y 10022. Mail subscription rates: $4 a semester or $7 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised in the University Daily Kansas are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin.