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University Daily Kansan Wednesday. May 9,1962
Improving a Wasteland
The executive producer of the Gary Moore Show gave a speech Monday in which he called television the greatest influence the United States has ever known. He added that "this is indeed a responsibility."
All of the above is interesting, but executive producer Bob Banner made another statement that was of much greater concern to anyone who has spent any time watching television. He pointed out that television is a mass medium and said that "you do not have to look for the lowest common denominator, but it is important to look for the highest common denominator."
it is important to look for the lowest common denominator."
THIS LAST statement of Mr. Banner's is a fine statement of principle. Unfortunately, most television programs follow an inverted form of his principle. The great mass of television programs seem to follow the formula that "you do not have to look for the highest common denominator, but
Television networks apparently operate on the general rule that whatever catches the public imagination is the thing to use. This includes such fine, educational and worthwhile programs and topics as cartoon shows, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, old movies and serials reminiscent of the ones run on radio 20 years ago.
THIS DOES NOT mean that all of television is a wasteland of third rate entertainment. The networks have realized that there is a market for documentary programs, plays and worthwhile shows that deal with something other than the usual topics of violence, sex and destruction. There may be further improvement.
Yet Mr. Banner's idea about "the highest common denominator" is badly neglected at present. The television business will have to improve considerably to reach it. —William H. Mullins
A YAF Member on the HRC Editor:
It seems that it is now popular to condemn any group which dares to ask an individual to give a voluntary expression of his ideas. So I feel compelled to make public comment on a questionnaire handed me by the Human Rights Committee of the all student council. First I will attempt to distinguish between the questionnaire mentioned and that infamous one conducted by the local YAF chapter. There is one singularly distinguishing factor. The HRC poll was to be
answered via x-marks after prepared answers on a sheet of paper. The YAF poll was conducted by telephone (it should have been done in person), which did not limit answers to the suggested ones, but allowed for clarification. I personally spent 45 minutes discussing the issues on the YAF questionnaire with one instructor. In order that I may have the same opportunity as he did to express my real views I have written this letter.
THE QUESTIONS and my answers:
Sound and Fury
Barnyard Sounds
The seasonal display of warm-weather wit. nit- and half-, is in evidence again as the denizens of the Law School take aim at the young ladies.
The fraught and fretting minds of Blackstonian discipline have once again declared open war on common decency. Lightly veiled and brazen obscenities are the order of the day as young ladies are confronted with mung-mouthed rhetoric.
ANYONE NOT in the fortunate position of being able to view the performance of these future defenders of right and decency need not despair. They can see the same show in any self-respecting, spitoon-adorned pool hall.
The pool hall variety have one distinction over their law school compatriots: they are professional and show finesse. They operate within the confines of their cage.
These students of the Law School are the same persons who in 10 years will be addressing civic groups on the shocking rise of immorality and disregard for the law. They will be well qualified to speak. They are doing their bit to contribute.
—T. M.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trieweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912 University of Kansas student newspaper
Telephone VIking 3-2700 Extension 711, news room Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Managing Editor
Kelly Smith, Carrie Merryfield, Clayton Keller, Assistant Managing Editors; Bill Sheldon and Zeke Wigglesworth, Co-Assistant Managing Editors; Jerry Musil, City Editor; Steve Clark, Sports Editor; Martha Moser, Society Editor.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Bill Mullins
Bill Mullins...Editorial Editor
Karl Koch, Assistant Editorial Editor.
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Charles Martinache Business Manager Hal Smith, Advertising Manager; Dick Kline, Classified Advertising Manager; Susanne Ellermeier, Circulation Manager; Bonnie McCulough, National Advertising Manager; Harley Carpenter, Promotion Manager.
1) Are you aware of the existence of "discriminatory" clauses in the constitutions of some fraternities and sororities?
2) Do you object to those clauses that discriminate on the basis of race?
Answer: Yes.
My answer; No. However, this question does not reveal my true feelings. As the expression of who they will consider for membership in private organizations, I do not object to them. This does not mean that I, a fraternity member, would vote in favor of such a clause. It does mean that I recognize the right of any voluntary private association to express on paper what it will do in fact. I am in favor of the constitutional right to be free to form voluntary associations for mutual benefit.
3) Do you object to those clauses that discriminate on the basis of religion.
My answer: No, for the same basic reasons which determined my previous answer. I might add that religion itself is, of course, another matter of free, voluntary association. Any church has the right to refuse membership or to cancel it for any member.
4) DO YOU FAVOR the removal of these clauses from these constitutions?
My answer: No. Unless they be removed voluntarily by the respective private, voluntary associations. (That qualification was not one of the three choices offered.)
Applicable only to those who presently are or plan to become a fraternity or sorority member
My answer: I think this question is somewhat unclear. If you mean a racial minority (that is, any, of my choosing), yes, since every human being is a member of a minority racial group. I suspect, however, that you may have a specific racial minority group in mind. In that case, I might need to know which one you had in mind before I could give an honest answer.
1) Would you be willing to accept as a member of your fraternity or sorority a member of a minority racial group?
2) WOULD YOU be willing to accept as a member of your fraternity or sorority a member of a minority religious group?
My answer; It seems again that your question may not be truly answered with your standard yes or no. Only members of a religious minority are in fact eligible for membership in my fraternity. In that respect, I might add that the religious requirement of my fraternity is exactly that of my church.
The poll is, I think a valid way to determine opinion, if the HRC will take the trouble to wade through my atrociously poor handwriting. Had they conducted the poll orally, as YAF did, they could have spared themselves the job.
Jay W. Deane
Kansas City junior and YAF member
On Other Campuses
KENT, Ohio—Faced with a shortage of housing, classroom space and operating funds, Kent State University will restrict new freshman enrollment next fall by expanding its deferred admission policy. Registrar Charles E. Atkinson said here recently that Kent now is approving unconditionally only applications of high school seniors with grade averages of 2.5 (B-minus) or better for seven semesters of work.
BOULDER, Colo.-Student Senate on the campus of the University of Colorado recently took a step toward giving University women the right to live off campus. In a recommendation to the Dean of Students, the Senate asked that beginning in September 1963 women "who are emancipated or have the written permission of their parents and who are not on scholastic probation and have not been subject to University disciplinary action" be allowed to live off campus.
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STORRS, Conn.—Student interest in the Russian language, which soared to new heights with the launching of Sputnik I in 1957, has leveled off into a more predictable orbit at the University of Connecticut. According to Jaime Arjona, head of the Department of Foreign Languages, one year after the Soviets launched their first earth satellite the University's enrollment in Russian language courses jumped by 350 per cent.
Today, however, even though there are more than three times as many students taking Russian at the University as there were in October 1957, a definite plateau has now been reached. Back in 1958, when he was questioned about the sudden popularity of Russian as an elective, Arjona indicated the explosive interest might be short-lived.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio—A two-year project at Case Institute of Technology is providing one answer to improving the writing abilities of college students. Called the Case Reader Service, the project uses a staff of experts to grade the writing quality of student papers written for non-composition courses in science and engineering.
Initially begun two years ago, the Reader Service was applied originally to some 16 courses covering 340 of Case's 1500 undergraduate students. Last year, on an expanded basis, it was applied to 18 courses covering 520 students. This year it has been further expanded to include the entire sophomore class in the required Physics Laboratory course.
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BUFFALO, N. Y.-Educators have long puzzled over the student who scores high on tests of academic ability and yet flounders badly when he gets into college. Research by Dr. W. Leslie Barnette Jr., Director of the University of Buffalo's Vocational Counseling Center and Professor of Psychology, has shown that measurement of certain personality characteristics may become a key factor in the prediction of student academic performance.
To gain a new perspective on potential academic ability, Professor Barnette tested for a personality trait cluster known to psychologists as "achievement motivation." Achievement motivation, explains Professor Barnette, "is the confidence a student has in his ability to succeed and to surmount hurdles, his desire to compete and grow in an academic atmosphere, and his motivation to adjust quickly to new demands placed on him. The reverse side of this picture would be the fear of failure which is characteristic of students who are not achievement-minded. These are examples of personality traits not measured by the usual college aptitude tests."
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