KU
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan A student newspaper serving KU LAWRENCE, KANSAS
78th Year, No.99
WEATHER
Cloudy and continued warmer this afternoon and evening with an 80 per cent chance of showers and thundershowers. Wind is from the southwest from 20 to 25 mph.
Monday, March 18, 1968
RFK seeks talks with Viet Cong
New York senator begins campaign in Kansas
Kansan News Roundup
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination landed at KU to day amidst controversy over whether he entered the race because President Johnson refused to de-escalate U.S. Vietnam policy.
The New York senator, accompanied by his wife, Ethel, and Mrs. Scott Carpenter, wife of the late astronaut, was scheduled to
arrive by plane at Lawrence Municipal Airport shortly before noon after a flight from Manhattan.
Related Stories, Pages 3 and 12
They were to be guests of Chancellor and Mrs. W. Clarke Wescoe for a luncheon at the Chancellor's residence before Kennedy speaks in 'Alen Field House at 1:30 p.m. Also invited to attend the luncheon were 'Student Body President Kyle Craig and Jim Rimn, world's fastest miller.
Classes scheduled for 1:30 p.m. have been cancelled.
Before Kennedy left New York Sunday evening, reports circulated that he had demanded that President Johnson de-escalate U.S. Vietnam policy as his price for staying out of the Democratic race for President.
The junior senator said later in
Kennedy told newsman, as he left his New York home for the flight to Kansas City, that the reports were "an unfortunate and incredible distortion of what really happened."
a prepared statement that he offered to stay out of the Democratic race if President Johnson had "signaled a clear-cut willingness to seek a wider path of peace in Vietnam."
He said he and long-time political adviser to Kennedy's, Theodore Sorensen, had conferred last Thursday with Clark Clifford, newly appointed defense secretary.
He said they discussed his proposal for the "appointment of an independent blue-ribbon commission on Vietnam."
Administration sources confirmed Kennedy's meeting with Clifford and added that President Johnson "totally and thoroughly" rejected an offer by Kennedy to stay out of the presidential race if Johnson would set up machinery for an about-face on Vietnam policy.
SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY
Here's the administration version of what Kennedy's proposal would entail:
The President would make a public announcement that he, considering prevailing conditions and developments that had occurred in Southeast Asia such as the Tet offensive, had found it necessary to conduct a "complete re-evaluation" of his policies in Vietnam.
To accomplish his purpose, the President would announce that he was naming a commission which would conduct an investigation. The commission would report its findings to the President
See Kennedy, page 12
KENNEDY CAMPUS CAMPAIGN BEGINS
AAUP to report soon on professor's firing
Paul E. Wilson, professor of law and chairman of the local AAUP committee on internal affairs, said action on the case is expected within about two weeks.
The case involves Norman Abrams, whose teaching contract was not renewed for next year, reportedly because of a disagreement with Marjorie Whitney, chairman of the design department.
A report of the investigation of the firing of a KU assistant professor of design will be submitted to the local executive committee of the American Association of University Professor (AAUP) for further action.
Abrams said he hasn't heard any more about the matter since he submitted a written report—telling of his activities at KU since coming here in 1966—to the AAUP in mid-January.
However, the furor over the firing of the design department assistant professor seems to have died out.
Abrams said to his knowledge, all the AAUP has done is taken his written report and interview Miss Whitney.
The purpose of the AAUP investigation was to determine whether or not Abrams' academic freedom has been infringed upon. Abrams said he definitely felt it had.
"Miss Whitney said I had to teach certain courses the way she wanted me to do it," he said. The design department needs to be generally updated, Abrams added.
Abrams said he believes the AAUP is trying to investigate the case objectively and fairly, but that it doesn't seem to be getting much accomplished.
"I don't think anything can really be done until they talk to the design department as a whole and get everyone's point of view at once," he said.
The whole affair, Abrams said, seems to have been pushed to the side and quieted down, but he's not sure by whom. "Something should come up—at least they should notify me," he said.
Meanwhile, Abrams has not been idle while awaiting an AAUP decision.
He has changed the grading system in his freshman design
See Abrams, page 12
LBJ urges victory now
MINNEAPOLIS—(UPI) President Johnson today called for a "national austerity" program in a total effort to win the Vietnam War and to complete his domestic program.
Johnson flew here from the LBJ Ranch in Texas to make a surprise appearance of the opening of the National Farmers Union convention.
Special to the Kansan
Spectator to the Kansas MANHATTAN—Sen. Robert F. Kennedy today called for negotiations with the National Liberation Front, reiterating that the war in Vietnam would go on "year after terrible year" until the men who formulate United States foreign policy are "men who seek another path."
In a speech at 10 a.m. at Kansas State University—the kickoff speech of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president—the New York junior senator offered what he called a "modest and reasonable program" to end the Vietnam war:
● "We can—as I have urged for two years, but as we have never done—negotiate with the National Liberation Front.
- "We can—as we have never done—assure the Front a genuine place in the political lives in Vietnam.
"We can—as we are refusing to do today—begin to de-escalate the war, concentrate on protecting populated areas, and thus save American lives and slow down destruction of the countryside.
"We can—as we have never done—insist that the government of South Vietnam broaden its base, institute real reforms, and seek an honorable settlement with their fellow countrymen."
In his speech, Kennedy listed four "facts" about the present situation in Vietnam: that control over the rural population has "evaporated," that the Saigon government is no more or better an ally than it was before and that the war is growing to be an American effort, that the victories achieved will come only at the cost of destruction, and that the war is weakening the United States' position in Asia and around the world and "eroding the structure of international cooperation which has directly supported our security for the past three decades."
Kennedy asked if the United States would destroy all of South Vietnam in order to save it.
"If we care so little about South Vietnam that we are willing to see the land destroyed and its people dead, then why are we there in the first place?" he asked.
Appealing to the college students in the audience, Kennedy said, "I ask you, as tens of thousands of young men and women are doing all over this land, to organize yourselves and go forth and work for new policies—work to change our direction and thus restore our place at the point of world leadership."
Kennedy questions
Sen. Robert F. Kennedy will answer written questions today after his scheduled speech in Allen Field House. The questions must be submitted to an usher at the east or north entrance of the field house before the speech.
Classes meeting at 1:30 have been canceled.