Monday, May 6, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
'Voice' doesn't want to run KU—
Continued from page 1
Mention the word "leader" and all a person gets in return is a scratching of the head and a bewildered stare—for there are no leaders, at least none whose word is respected and followed.
Those who fear another Berkeley can calm down. At no time have any of the "Voice" members said that they want to run the University, of having on their hands the sole responsibility for setting policy, deciding on curriculum, and hiring and firing teachers.
"Voice" members believe strongly they should be able to affect, not make, decisions made by members of the faculty and administration.
They want a voice.
"The University is continually endangering our intellectual independence by assuming a parental role toward us," said Corti last week. In the Sunday night meeting, faculty members of the University demonstrated that perhaps they're as tired of playing "daddy" as the students are tired of playing the role of four-year children.
"in loco parentis" may be dying. The demands made by "Voice" in the recent broadside signed by 11 per cent of the student body were that the University grant a 50 per cent student representation on all faculty and administrative committees dealing with student affairs, a public repudiation of Heller's remark that the students are transients and therefore should not be given a voice, and a request to remove the external veto from the decisions of the All-Student Council (ASC).
Wescoe, in a letter published in the Kansan Thursday, replied with reasons why he as chancellor could not effect many of the demanded actions. He could not repudiate Heller's statements because the students definitely are transients.
He said he does not have the authority to introduce into Faculty Senate the proposals for student representation. The students also don't seem to realize the welter of pressures which limit his actions there. The Chancellor must not lose the respect of his colleagues by presenting an idea he thinks they will consider unreasonable. He must think of ways to save face if he loses in committee because he must return to the same committee the next day or the next week with other proposals.
Wescoe also said that although he has veto power on ASC decisions he has exercised this power only four times in his eight years as chancellor. This issue, however, has not been considered as vital as the other topics under debate.
"Voice" next drafted a reply to
Calif. House speaker will appear at KU
The speaker of the California House of Representatives will speak on "Current Political Problems" at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Dyche Auditorium and answer questions from the audience.
Jesse M. Unruh will be introduced by Rep. John Conard, speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives.
Unruh supported Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's bid for the presidency before President Johnson withdrew.
Larry Margolis, KU lecturer of political science, who arranged for Unruh's speech, was a former chief staff assistant to Unruh.
Wescoe's reply to their original petition. At this point, things seemed to be turning in a frustrating circle of letters, more letters, and more letters.
Unruh has worked on educational financing, school unification,
and ERP implementation.
This circle of frustration was broken, perhaps only momentarily, by the action taken by the faculty members at the Sunday night meeting.
In spite of some fervent appeals for violent or non-violent demonstrations as the only way out of the bind, it appears that "Voice" is still electing to work through channels.
It has been that way since the beginning of the movement.
The movement has had a history of called-off sit-ins and demonstrations.
Students may remember the efforts of the Independent Student Party (ISP) last semester to extend library closing hours. Although a sit-in was planned, it was called off in favor of more responsible action. Library hours were extended from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on week nights.
The minor upheaval in early March this year when KU coeds living in freshman residence halls found out that attendance at the Monday night floor meetings was not compulsory was conducted without demonstrations or violence of any sort. Students talked to students, they met with Emily Taylor, dean of women, leaflets were passed out, and the affair was finished, apparently to everyone's satisfaction or at least toleration.
Although many students now involved in "Voice" took their cues from these two incidents, the major jumping-off point for most of them was the two discussions with Francis Heller, acting provost and dean of faculties, April 2 and 24.
At these meetings, a group of anti-war students met with Heller to discuss the University's stance regarding the presence of the military on this campus.
Before the meetings took place, a sit-in was planned to protest the presence of military recruiters, military research projects, and ROTC programs on the campus.
These students also wanted the administrators and Board of Regents to "face squarely the educational problems created by the draft laws," and to "take a public stand against the intrusion of the draft onto the campus."
The sit-in was cancelled because the group felt it could accomplish more by an open dialogue on the issues. An additional problem—to some, a blessing—was that the group had grown from six to 40 persons over one weekend, and the students couldn't reach a consensus on what it was about the war and the draft they didn't like.
As it turned out, the April 2 private meeting and the April 24 public forum with Heller did not lead the University to reconsider and change its stand on the military programs it endorses or allows.
MU prof will speak about 'historic sites'
The chairman of the department of art history and architecture at the University of Missouri will speak at the archaeology and classics colloquium at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in 124 Malott Hall.
Osmund Overby will speak on "The United States Interior Department's Program for Preservation of Historic Sites."
The colloquium is sponsored by the departments of architecture, classics, and classical architecture and the Kansas Society of Architecture Institute of America.
Graduate students and faculty of the sponsoring groups may attend the colloquium.
Overby will give a public lecture on the "Influence of Archaeology on Architecture in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in 426 Lindley Hall.
What did happen was that the students realized what while they were listened to very courteously, they really could not affect any of the University's policies on these matters.
Voices rose in frustration at the April 24 debate in Dyche Auditorium, attended by about 90 persons. At this "confrontation" with Heller in a $2\frac{1}{2}$ hour emotion-charged meeting, one of the students sympathetic with the demands of the anti-war group muttered a remark on which hinges the present "Voice" movement.
"We're not a part of this University, we're just transients," he said, and most of the students in the place began to cheer and applaud him.
"Yes, you are!" Heller replied angrily, his voice raised at last, after weeks of calm, long-sentenced and finely-worded replies. "I've been waiting for someone to say the University is here for the students."
Most of those present assumed that Heller does not believe the University is here for the students. In light of what has happened since then, mainly the sympathetic response to the student's pleas for recognition from many faculty members, it appears
that Heller's views are not shared by everyone in the cloisters of Strong Hall.
This is the meat of the matter: the students believe that their four years at KU are not a parenthesis in their lives—that decisions must not be merely waived for that period of time.
If their demands for a voice in the running of their lives continue to flow through the accepted channels of the University, KU might avoid becoming another Columbia University.
It is the opinion of some student body leaders that the militant elements in this group are not large enough to rule over the more responsible members and create demonstrations and violence for the sake of seeing something exciting happen here.
Students have admitted that if and when they are given representation they will make mistakes.
"But it's endangering the University more to exist without these mistakes," warned Corti last week.
"Besides, I've never read a Papal Bull saying administrators are infallible," bitterly commented a friend.
The University's administration and faculty may be ready to acknowledge this.
Yearbook staff applications due
Applications for the positions of editor and business manager of next year's Jayhawker yearbook should be submitted to Raymond Nichols, chairman of the Jayhawker Advisory Board, prior to 5 p.m. May 10 in 223 Strong Hall.
In addition to the letter of application, the applicant should submit three letters of recommendation—one from a former employer, one from a KU faculty or
staff member and the third from the applicant's choice.
Salaries for Jayhawker editor and business manager are $1000 each, paid in 10 monthly installments. Under certain conditions, a bonus of up to $250 can be earned, Tom Yoe, secretary of the Jayhawker Advisory Board, said.
He said applicants will be notified of the time and day to appear before the Board for interviews.
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