Construction causes calamities, calisthenics "And God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.'" One would assume that those individuals responsible for the New La Brea mud pits in the vicinity of Fraser would pay some attention to an authoritative command like that. It's not that we really mind running shoes, or trying for the world's record in the long jump, we are simply worried that the unsightly mess will detract from New Fraser's intrinsic beauty. WE WONDER what sadistic tendencies lurk behind the smiling masks of those workmen who busily spread more mud over the area. What manner of men would almost complete a sidewalk and then either forget, or maliciously refrain, from laying one more block of cement in an otherwise attractive sidewalk, thus making a leap from the finished product to the next stretch of cement. It's quite possible that these noble men have better things to do—polish the limoleum tiles with a toothbrush, wash the glass doors with a small cotton puff—but surely some small attention could be paid to a minor detail such as sidewalks. ANOTHER PROBLEM arising from the construction of Fraser and the landscaping surrounding it, is the sea of mud covering the area. On rainy days, the typical KU student wandering back to the dorm after an hour exam in Fraser faces the added horror of wading through a marsh somewhat akin to the Everglades—and that's on the sidewalk. When the mud is at high tide on the ground proper, some claim that students have disappeared in this vicinity; one minute he was there, stepping cautiously into the small ocean of black, and the next thing anybody knew, he vanished without a trace. We've heard that sod and grass will be laid there next week, and that the sidewalks will soon be finished. All we can say is that before that time, if the Lord's willin', the creek won't rise. Barbara Phillips The people say... To the Editor: Harry Belafonte—to all who attended his concert at the University of Kansas in the fall, of 1934 was laided the high-caloried palish of a veteran performer. Allen Field House became, for a brief few hours, a tinted-glass palladium where couples pleasantly clutched sweating palms in the balcony, and fellas nibbled on ear lobes and coughed out mouths full of hair spray. Yet, it was nonetheless delightful to sit in the hush-toned darkness and listen to the exotic cadences of the perfected Belafonte beat. THEN, SWIFTLY followed the fall-spring concert alternations of H=nry Mancini, Robert Goulet, Glen Yarborough, Al Hirt, and this spring's triple-decked disappointment of the Mitchell Trio, the Sandpipers and the Four Freshmen. The highly seasoned and coherent presentation of gifted "entertainers" was quickly slipping into the grav limbo of road-tour gimick "talent." The new pattern of shows displayed highly talented performers, but they were often backed by a thoroughly disorganized and poorly projected array of green young singers, garbled program scripts and double jointed fox trot orchestras. How did it happen? AT FIRST GLANCE, one might lazer the guilt upon the SUA Special Events Committee, but that would be unfair. They have recognized the degressing tendencies and have taken numerous remedial steps which always encounter the same obstacle—inability to gauge the majority sentiment of the students in making concert performer selections (even having once floated an unsuccessful student opinion poll). The SUA Board is evidently in constant concern over the equal apportionment of funds among not only the concert series but the fine forum lecture series and union operation expenditures for other necessary intellectual and social supplements to campus life. THE CRITICISM lodged here is an esthetic one—the concerts could be better and still practically financed within the budget restrictions of the SUA. The fears of the Special Events Committee are responsible fears; concerned with balancing student interests in other vital activities against the risk of an over-endowed concert faso- Co. Sharing the committee's anxieties, we unofficially researched one-night-standle costs of two outstanding man and wife Broadway singers for a Homecoming Concert at KU. The resulting costs were not prohibitive, but the initial asking price doubled the traditionally bargained $7,000 minimum guarantee of past SUA concerts (the entertainers usually contracting for 65% of the box office above the gate guarantee). We felt such demands reasonable against the $32,000 maximum drawing capacity of the Field House (14,500 people figured at $2.25 per seat). IT IS OUR OPINION that a quality concert is worth at least considering such a minimal risk, for these are vanguard events which are indicative of the underlying worth and integrity of the entire SUA format. The concerts are glamorous events which tend to shade and tint the quality of an academic semester both to the students and the general public. One Special Events Committee member suffering from the financial paradoxes of the SUA Board planners was heard to remark that he could fill Allen Field House on Homecoming regardless of which entertainer was contracted. This fact granted, one still asks whether the concerts are an exercise in Wall Street con-man voodoo, or an attempt to match a quality occasion with quality entertainment. If KU is to be quitted with Ernest Tubbs and the Green Mountain Jug Band in concert, then the criticism here raised is the radical plea of a high-strung minority. If not, then informed student opinion must lobby for a change. Terry Gibson Prairie Village Junior Jay Vandervelde Emporia Junior The Committee for Connoisseur Concerts Foreign Students: Deadline data nca for Summer Crossroad program at Colorado Springs, 226 Strong for information & application. The opinions expressed in the editorial column are those of the students whose names are signed to them. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the editor's. Any opinions expressed in the Daily Kan-an are not necessarily those of The University of Kansas Administration or the State Board of Regents. Official Bulletin THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan TODAY Popular Film, 7 & 8:30 p.m. "Shenandoah." Dyche Auditorium. Opera, 8:20 p.m. "Magic Flute." University Theatre. EXECUTIVE STAFF Serving KU for 77 of its 101 Years Ph.D. Final Exams: David E. Wilson, Mathematics. 3:30 a.m., 119 St.; English. 11 a.m., 119 C-L-O; David A. Morris, Geology 10 a.m., 428 Lindley. SATURDAY Managing Editor ... Joan McCabe Business Manager ... Tony Chop Editorial Editors ... Dan Austin, Barb Phillips NEWS AND BUSINESS STAFF Assistant Managing Editors ... Gay Murr II, Steve Russell Linda Sheffel, Robert Stevens City Editor ... Will Hardesty Advertising Manager K. Hickerson Wire Editor ... Betsy Wright Nat'l Adv. Manager Howard Pankratz Sports Editor ... Mike Walker Promotion Manager John Lee Gatorate Editor Jacki Carmill Circulation Manager Dan Lee Photo Editor ... Earl Maehl Classified Manager Joe Godrey Asst. City Editor Carol D.Bonis Merchandising Manager Steve Dennis Executive Reporters: Eric Morgenthaler, Judy Faust, Jack Harrington The Daily Kansan, student newspaper at The University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York, NY 10622. Postmaster: John Smith. Postage paid at Lawrence, Kan, every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays and examination periods. Approvals, goods, services and employment advertised in the University daily are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Interior Design Symposium, 9 a.m. 5 p.m. Kitting r Furniture, Buffalo, N.Y. conducting symposium, Swa thout R cital Hall. Cristantes Day Lectures, 19 a.m. Dr. Krasinski of Indiana Dr. Ubiah Ballroom Spring Concert 8 p.m. Mitch lll Tiger Hop Freshman. Sandp por. Hoch Aud. l let rain oak Club Weekly Meetings, o wonderfully a board the World, Kamins Kayas Popular Film, 7 & 9:30 p.m. "Shen- andoah." Dyche Auditorium. KU. Cracket Club, Practice', 1233 KU. Imura field美术, east of NW KU. SUNDAY Varsity Band, 3:31 p.m. University Thaiat. Poplar Film, 7 & 9:33 p.m. "Shen- andach." Deeph. And tortium "Magic Flute," 8 p.m. University Theatre. 2 Daily Kansen editorial page Friday, April 28, 1967 "It Sure Seems To Steer Nice" CALVIN COOLIDGE: THE QUIET PRESIDENT, by Donald R. McCoy (Macmillan, $8.95)—A biography likely to survive as the definitive work on the always controversial president of the United States during the jazz age. And a biography that joins other historical works by Donald R. McCoy, professor of history and one of the most consistently popular members of the teaching faculty at the University of Kansas. The book might tell you why, if you have never talked with Donald McCoy or taken one of his classes. First of all there is scholarship, but that word could scare some folks away. There is humor. There is narrative pace. And there is a deciently reasonable feeling for Coolidge, instead of the demagogic, smartalecky kind of stuff that many students eat up but that scarcely contributes to a knowledge of either men or events in history. McCOY PROVIDES an essay into his sources, and he notes that others have written on Coolidge (like William Allen White, whose biography I personally enjoyed but find clearly inferior to this one). He recognizes that Coolidge has been a kind of comic figure to some people and a person to be vilified to others. McCoy does not muckrake and does not debunk and does not apologize. He concludes that Coolidge was ultimately a failure but that his failure likely would have been duplicated by most political figures of his time. And that, perhaps, is something we frequently forget as we consider the times of Coolidge or Hoover or Dwight Eisenhower. Coolidge clearly suited both the American people (who triumphantly elected him in 1924) and the mood of the twenties. He had substantial successes in almost everything but his dealings with Congress. HIS FAILURE, to this reviewer, lay in his concept of the office. Frequently he had opinions and convictions, but refused to voice them. He could not twist congressional arms in the manner of Lyndon Johnson, or lead public opinion in the manner of Franklin Roosevelt. His negative concept of the office (negative in my view) was the reason for his failure, and perhaps for the big bust that came in 1929. McCoy provides a warm and rounded portrait of the man, of his lovely wife, Grace, and of most of the major figures of the time. The vice presidential years seem a bit scanty, and there isn't enough to my satisfaction on the 1928 election (which, of course, did not find Coolidge a participant, because he did not choose to run). The pictures of Amherst and Northampton days, and the views of such figures as Lodge, Borah and Hoover are especially good. Calder M. Pickett Professor of Journalism * * TOWARD A GENERAL THEORY OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT, by Thomas I. Emerson (Vintage, $1.65)]A professor of law and his attempt to fashion a theory of the first amendment and what it stands for. He uses a number of court cases to examine the function of free expression in American society, avoids oversimplification in his interpretation of how free speech and a free press can operate, and provides an appendix so lengthy that it constitutes almost half the volume.