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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, May 15, 1968
Jazz called taboo at Murphy Hall
By Bob Butler Kansan Staff Reporter
Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series on problems in the Fine Arts school.
The KU School of Fine Arts is generally regarded as one of the finest in the Midwest. Yet within its home, Murphy Hall, there is discontent.
The cause of this discontent is jazz, or to be more specific, the lack of jazz in the School's programs and courses of study.
It is nearly impossible to determine exactly how many faculty members and students favor bringing jazz out into the open and making it the basis for a series of courses, such as a jazz workshop program. "I don't want to get involved in that" is the standard answer to a reporter with a pencil and pad. If someone does speak, it is always behind closed doors and usually on a "no name" basis.
As Richard Wright, president of Lawrence Musicians Local 512, has said, "The faculty is afraid of its own shadow."
"It isn't any one thing that has happened to make me and many of my students feel this way," one faculty member, who asked to remain unidentified, said. "It is just that after you are here for a while you get the feeling that iazz is taboo."
He went on to say he knew a faculty member who has turned down part-time jobs with jazz combs for fear of "drawing attention" to himself.
"Actually, I don't even know what a lot of the members of the faculty think. Nobody says anything."
It is evident that many music students appreciate jazz and want to study it in more practical ways than can be offered by present courses in music history. As a result, many have gone outside the School of Fine Arts to join local groups in order to explore various musical idioms as well as to pick up extra money. Music students play in the KU Kicks Band, the Gaslight Gang, the Kraft Music Haul, the Collegians, the Mike Shurtz Trio and the Upside Dawn. None of these groups is sponsored by the University.
Students, of course, are not the only persons with an avid interest in jazz. Many teachers and musicians would like to see a jazz program at KU.
ike arrives at army med. center for treatment
WASHINGTON—(UPI)—Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center late Tuesday to continue convalescing from a mild heart attack.
The 77-year-old general was flown to Andrews Air Force Base from California and then transported by helicopter to Walter Reed.
Eisenhower was stricken April 29 following a round of golf at his winter home near Palm Springs, Cal. His transfer here reflected his doctors' judgment that he was recovering satisfactorily from his fourth heart seizure.
Bird-watching on the Hill
The Jayhawk on top of the Kansas stadium scoreboard seems to be walking across Mount Oread in this photograph taken with a telephoto lens from the north end of the stadium.
Fellowship received by linguistics student
Talley honored for excellence
Alfredo Velasco, La Paz, Bolivia, graduate student, has received a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies to attend the Linguistic Institute sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America at the University of Illinois this summer.
A member of the KU School of Engineering and Architecture faculty has been honored for his teaching excellence, Dean William P. Smith announced today.
Harry E. Talley, associate professor of electrical engineering, was nominated by Eta Kappa Nu,
electrical engineering honorary, for the Henry E. Gould Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. The $500 award memorializes Henry Gould, a 1931 KU graduate who was president of the mechanical contracting firm, Natkin and Co., at the time of his death.
have fun this summer ...& don't forget
Well, it won't be long now. Finals next week and then it's off for the summer. All of US at University State Bank hope you have a fun filled vacation.
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