UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 22, 1968
Fair housing bill is useless
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe and the All Student Council President Kyle Craig should not sign the bill the ASC recently passed on fair housing. The bill, to say the least, is useless.
The only thing new in it is representation from International Club, which, in other words, means foreign student representation. Other than that provision, the bill lacks all merit.
If we already have a Housing Office, an Association of University Residence Halls and a Human Relations Council which, between them, share the task of classifying acceptable and non-acceptable available student housing, what is the use of another fair housing committee to "classify available student housing as mediocre, average, good, and luxury, according to the minimum requirements of Lawrence city ordinances, the State Health Department and KU?"
And there is no teeth in a bill that just calls for classification of available housing. What good will mere classification do? What is needed is enforcement. Condemn the bad places or the unreasonably expensive ones, and see to it that they are not available for the use of students unfamiliar with local conditions.
But even that will be dealing with symptoms and not real causes. KU students, administrators, and the Lawrence community must show their indignance at this unfair situation by taking the trouble to remedy the problems of discrimination, inadequate or run down facilities as well as unreasonable rental rates students now encounter in their rightful search for a decent place to live while they study.
Swaebou Conateh Assistant Editorial Editor
Letters to the editor
AKL integration, Union tunnel
To the Editor:
Under the subline "First Time at KU" we were informed that the unbelievable—or was it the inevitable—has happened. An all white fraternity, the AKL's, had pledged Mr. Willie McDaniel, a
ODE TO NEW FRASER HALL
(A Distortion of Collins' "Ode to Pity")
By Tad Golas University Extension
And challenge frantic woe
O Thou, the sign of man, assigned With balmy will our minds to bind
When first the spade, with edges keen
Broke ground to waste the destined scene 'Gaint wild unrested feel'
'Gainst wild unsated foe!
By Athens' shape, a magic name
By all the blueprints grace can
frame
Receive my humble rite
Long, Fraser, let the nations view
Thy shape against the sky-worn
blue
Thy windows of delight
But wherefore need I wander wide
To old Acropolis' distant side Thou art of more repute
Pale Kansas now prefers thy strains
At least for shelter from the rains That much is past dispute
Where first thy bricks and concrete shed
On gentle Oread's passive head There now thy cells are known Thou dost bespeak to every heart With measured notes unspoiled by art Thy turtles mixed their own
Thy turtles mixed their own
Acht! Fraset! ach! By federal aid!
E'en now my eyes are flatty paid
Shalt raise an unbelieving heat
In all who view thy shrine
A unsmith's proud design Thou massive site, thou fact complete
Here Fraser's rooms shall well relate
How Chance, or hard involving Fate
All sighing 'hind her tender hand
Theou't no disastrous tale!
The speechless Muse shall near thee stand
O'er mortal Bliss prevail
Here let me every other day My thoughts of studied homage pay
Allowed in thee to dwell
Let shine the even blocks of light
Till, Fraser, thou again delight
To hear a Rebel well!
To hear a Rebel yell!
Negro (trumpets sound). Not only that but "other Greek houses also had shown interest in him." With outstanding qualifications of a 2.5 GPA in pre-med, a member of the defensive football squad, and holding honorable mention as a scholastic All-American, Mr. McDaniel displays more talent than most of us. One point brought out in the article was that the AKL's voted "no" to pledging a Negro but voted "yes" to pledging the person, Mr. McDaniel, this year.
Last Sunday's edition of Peanuts seems applicable to this and the many other incidents of racial transition our society is undergoing. Snoopy was complaining about only getting leftovers to eat and then, of all things, Snoopy was supposed to show appreciation for these scraps. Charlie Brown walks up and breaks off a corner of his candy bar for Snoopy. To Charlie Brown's surprise Snoopy sticks out his tongue with a "blaah!" How often are we the surprised Charlie Browns? Why does the white community expect the approval of the Negro community when an exceptional young man is accepted (a fraternity in this case) because he is exceptionally qualified regardless of race? How long does it take to see the person?
Bill McGrath,
Bill McGrath,
Shawnee Mission ghetto,
senior
To the Editor:
After about eleven seconds of thought, we have decided that the proposed tunnel from the Union to X zone parking lot is too expensive. There are other things we need worse, such as an adequate hospital and a new law school building. Therefore, we propose that the funds be diverted from the proposed tunnel to one of these worthier, more sensible endeavors.
However, we are quick to realize that the University should also provide protection from the hostile Kansas elements for those who take the demanding, arduous journey from the Union to X zone. Therefore, as a replacement for the tunnel which we have scrapped, we propose that the same "planners" who dreamed up the ridiculous idea of a tunnel consider these alternatives:
- Increase student fees $25 a semester and use the increase to furnish every traveller between the Union and X zone with an umbrella.
to each dauntless, intrepid soldier of fortune marking his perilous way between the Union and X zone.
- Appoint a committee to study the feasibility of having the University rent proper storm gear
- Close down X zone because of its inaccessible location and the dangers inherent in attempting to reach it from the Union.
- Examine the whole idea rationally and objectively.
Philip Ridenour
Phip Ridenour
Admire, first year law student
Patricia Ridenour
Peabody, first year law student
People are asking
What happened to the questions left at the Chancellor's office for Sen. Robert Kennedy to answer after his speech at Allen Field House?
\* \* \*
Is there need for the stop signs in the middle of Crescent Drive?
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Kansan review
Member Associated Collegiate Press
By Guy DuBois
Macbeth is spectacularly unreal
To those familiar with the directorial work of Jack Brooking, the current University Theatre production of Macbeth offers a number of surprises, few of them pleasant. The most satisfying element of Brooking's work in the past was the naturalness and sincerity which he was able to extract from his actors. Even the production of such mediocre scripts as Gypsy and Oliver had a hard core of natural human reality which made them enjoyable. But surprisingly enough in Macbeth there is no sense of reality human or otherwise.
One can only guess that Brooking, in his first Shakespeare outing, was swayed by directors like Zefferelli and Guthrie who feel that Shakespeare is not interesting without constant rapid movement and spectacle. Brooking has produced a spectacle, but one without the saving grace of human and thematic relevance, a striking deficiency in view of the obviously modern implications of the play.
This is not to say that it is not interesting as pure spectacle, however, for it is. Ward Russell's huge, looming sets are attractive and functional. The fluid action of the play is virtually uninterrupted. One might wish, however, that the raked stage be not quite so raked, if it need have been raked at all. The lighting was also dramatic, though the actors occasionally chose to play in total darkness. Chez Haehl's costumes were simple, colorful, and interesting. But the music, ranging in style from military
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marches to electronic whistles and hums, was consistently intrusive and irrelevant.
By far the weakest element of the production, however, was the acting itself. One of the problems obviously faced by the director was the necessity of using a large number of inexperienced actors, many of whom spoke the lines so badly as to be embarrassing. But even the principal actors had problems, most of them stemming from the tendency of nearly everyone to be bombastic and excessively "poetic." By far the worst offender here was Clayton Corbin whose Macbeth seemed from the beginning on the verge of hysterical madness. There was thus nowhere for him to go but toward more hysteria. Julia Callahan's Lady Macbeth was more satisfying, though here too there was an obvious lack of naturalness, which mitigated against audience involvement.
The characters did in fact lack depth to the point that the entire production abounded in caricatures. Dennis Dalen's Macduff was such a proud and puffing soldier that he seemed more a character from Roman comedy than a Shakespearean tragedy, and the witches were grotesque without being threatening. Only Richard Kelton's Malcolm and Douglas Wasson's very delightful Porter had any kind of reality about them.
Had Brooking approached the script naturally, as is his talent, most of the deficiencies could, perhaps, have been avoided. But in searching for style he ended with none.