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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, March 5, 1968
The time is now
The Presidential Commission on the 1967 Urban Disturbances, we are told, did not mince words in telling it like it is, and much is being made of that fact. But we ought not to forget the Commission itself said in its report that it "uncovered no startling truth, no unique insights, no simple solutions."
In the words of one of the witnesses, Kenneth B. Clark, the report is "a kind of Alice in Wonderland with the same moving picture reshown over and over again, the same analysis, the same recommendation, and the same inaction."
Much of what has been reported has already been documented in the reports on previous urban crisis—in Chicago in 1919, in Harlem in 1935 and 1943 and in Watts in 1965.
Much of what has happened following the publication of those reports, the state of inaction Clark referred to, might happen again. And that, to say the least, would be very tragic indeed.
The United States is a country that can predict it will send a man to the moon by 1970 and set all its energy and resources towards achieving just that. It is a country that will want to fight to preserve the freedom and independence of other nations whose sovereignty is under attack. But it is also a country that has continually preferred to turn its back on this domestic eyesore more commonly known as the "Negro problem," a euphemism for what should be better referred to as the "White problem."
"It is time now to end the destruction and the violence not only in the streets of the ghettos but in the lives of the people," the Commission stated in the final paragraph of its report.
And the only way to do that, the Commission tells us, is to be willing to pay for it. This means in money, in disposition and in attitude.
The important items of concern are in jobs, education, welfare, housing and health.
In each of these areas much is lacking. For each of them much must be given by government, business and citizens alike. The citizens in the way they conduct themselves, the government and business in the relations of their personnel with the Negroes, in the constitution and composition of their institutions, and in the manner of collecting and distributing income and expenses in this area where it matters most.
The time is now, and we say, let it be done.
— Swaebou Conateh
Assistant Editorial Editor
"Your Honor, I've Come Up With The Final Solution To The Slum Problem"
Letters to the editor
Student privacy, Coeds
To the Editor:
Students! Do you believe you have had your privacy invaded by a University official? Have you felt exploited for some professor's research? Have you thought you were unfairly penalized for some alleged offense? If you think so, we want to hear from you.
About a year ago the faculty Senate of the University was reorganized. One of its newly created standing committees is the Senate Council Committee on Student Affairs which is concerned with the policies, procedures, and operations of all University offices, committees, and agencies serving the needs of students.
During the present school year this committee has been investigating problems that we have heard are disturbing some students. They involve questions about (1) the confidentiality of student records and files, (2) the handling of student offenders, and (3) the use of students as subjects and informants for research.
We have heard reports and read charges in the student press, but if you have had direct experience and knowledge in these or other areas where your rights have been threatened, invaded, or violated, get in touch with one of
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansan encourages signed letters to the editor for publication. They should be typed and contain the writer's classification and home town. Letters are subject to conservative editing by the Kansan staff. Libelous statements will not be printed. Send letters to the editorial desk, 112 Flint Hall.
Please limit length to about 250 words.
us. Our names, departments, and office phone numbers are listed below.
—E. Jackson Baur (Sociology, 4111), Chairman
William Bass (Anthropology, 4103)
Russell Bradt (Mathematics, 3794)
Clark E. Bricker (Chemistry, 3615)
E. Gordon Collister (Education, 3931)
Clifford Ketzel (Political Science, 3523)
Charles H. Oldfather (Law, 3276)
James E. Seaver (Western Civ., 3011)
Gordon Wiseman (Physics, 3226)
To the Editor:
Your article about Oliver and Ellsworth becoming co-educational next year left one very important question in my mind: will entering freshmen have the choice of whether or not they will live in a coe-ed dorm? In the absence of any definite information, I remember that the original members of Centennial College were chosen at random and assume that this will again be the case. I hope that this assumption is incorrect. There are great numbers of students who, believe it or not, would prefer not live in a co-eed dorm. (Last year rooms in Lewis, not McCollum, were in greatest demand among women.) There seems to be a tendency to stick freshmen with "improvements" and to assume that either they will all be happy or at least too ignorant to make their complaints heard until it is too late for anything to be done.
As I've said, I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt that I am. In the drive for "new freedoms" people often forget that some of us prefer the old ways.
Margaret Laidig Holmdel, N.J., junior
Is "For Pete's Sake" a repeat?
By Blaine King Teaching Associate in Journalis.n
Will the congregation please be seated?
"For Pete's Sake," a sequel to "The Restless Ones," is coming to Lawrence. Both movies feature Billy Graham, successful evangelist and God's own snake-oil salesman.
What "For Pete's Sake" is like I can't say. But "The Restless Ones" came to the town I lived in while paying my debt to society with the Army. The experience was one of those things the mind tries, desperately, to put away.
First, ticket prices doubled. Evangelism is expensive.
Then came the movie. A sinful couple who went to cocktail parties had a son going rapidly and fervently to hell, partly, the movie implied, because the parents fought, did not properly love their son and drank. The son was chasing after a "trollop" with problems of her own—her mother was a lush and the girl was pregnant. Son wanted to marry trollop, who was running away from home and trying to get a truck driver to make her baby legitimate.
Truck driver said no, girl tried to commit suicide in a greasy-spoon restroom. Fade to hospital for a few moments of remorse. Fade away from girl—completely. She may have lived or died. The movie didn't say.
The tearful parents, meanwhile, had decided something was missing from their lives, and went to hear—you guessed it—ol' Bible-
thumping Billy in his West Coast Crusade. The sermon, for those who had never had the experience, was included in full. The parents—you're getting good at this sort of thing—found God.
Son found God at the encouragement of the parents, demon rum was cast away, and everybody was happy ever after.
Well, almost.
Billy's voice came into the theater. All those attending, he said, were there because they lacked something in their lives and were searching. (That was partly true. The other movie offerings that night were "Billy the Kid meets Dracula's Daughter" and something equally horrible—"The Restless Ones" seemed the least of the evils.)
Then there was silent prayer. Then Billy read a prayer, while the words flashed on the screen.
Finally, the house lights came up. But no. There was a man standing on the stage. Those who were troubled, he said, would find trained counselors at the front of the theater, which was indeed rife with somber people, apparently the counselors.
There were no takers.
And then, bless the man, he saith unto those gathered together: "The congregation is dismissed."
Maybe "For Pete's Sake" is better. Anybody wanna bet?
Do not go gentle into that good draft
(with apologies to Dylan Thomas) by John Hill
Do not go gentle into that good draft.
Free souls should burn and rave at close of school;
Rage, rage against the cutting of the locks.
Though wise men in D.C. say draft is right;
Because their words won't let you do your thing.
Do not go gentle on your Canadian flight.
Seniors, near June, see with blinding sight,
That doing Uncle Sam's thing would make them gag,
Rage, rage against the dying of your bag.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan
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..quotes..
"Now is the time for all good countries to come to the aid of their men."
—Percy Waldo Smythe