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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 28, 1962
The Apportionment Fight
The United States Supreme Court ruled this week that voters can sue in federal courts to correct unfair apportionment of seats in state legislatures.
The ruling is extremely significant for states whose legislatures presently are dominated by their rural areas, despite a greater population in urban areas.
The attorney who represented the Tennessee city voters who won the decision of the Supreme Court said the ruling "not only will have an impact on Tennessee but on every state in the Union."
KANSAS IS CERTAINLY one of these states. At present, there is a suit in the Shawnee County District Court seeking to force reapportionment of the Kansas legislature. The judge in the action said he would now delay his decision to permit all concerned to study the Supreme Court's decision.
A look at the present make-up of the Kansas legislature is clear evidence of the need for Kansas reapportionment. Four Kansas counties — Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Johnson, and Shawnee have nearly 40 per cent of the state's population, yet have only four seats in the state Senate, ten per cent of the membership.
The Kansas Constitution requires the Senate to be apportioned according to population only. The population of Kansas in 1960 was 2,178,611. Each of the 40 state Senators should represent then 54,465 persons.
Yet Sedgwick county has only one Senator to represent its 343,231 residents. Wyandotte county has only one vote for its 185,495 residents. In the 31st Senate district of Jewell and Mitchell counties, 16,083 residents have one vote. Thus, the vote of a resident of Jewell or Mitchell counties
is worth about 21 times as much as a resident of Sedgwick county.
In the state House of Representatives a similar situation exists. The House has a membership of 125. Each of the 105 counties is required to have one representative. This leaves only 20 seats to be divided among the more populous counties.
THIS INEQUALITY in the Kansas legislature can lead to several problems. One is partisan political advantage. It sets up that tool of politics, gerrymandering, which leads to unequal representation.
It can lead to unsolved urban problems since the urban areas are not getting an equal representation in the legislature. The predominance of rural area power in the Kansas legislature can lead to discriminatory tax benefits, and unfair balance of state expenditures to city areas vs. rural areas.
The main drawback to reapportionment is that many of the incumbents in the Kansas legislature would be voting themselves out of office by going along with the plan. It would be a tricky business indeed to get anyone to vote himself out of existence.
BUT THE SUPREME Court decision puts the problem in a new light. Now federal court action can force reapportionment.
This of course shifts a great deal of power to the federal courts. If state legislators refuse to act, however, this appears to be the only answer to the reapportionment problem.
The legislators of Kansas should take a long, hard look at the implications of this Supreme Court decision. Perhaps they will want to act to correct the inequities in Kansas representation before someone else acts for them.
—Karl Koch
Action Proposals Defended Editor:
I see that the present leaders of our student government are accusing the proposals of Action of being impractical. It seems to me that these people feel that anything that they didn't think of is impractical. "The members of the student government are fulfilling what they consider to be the proper functions of student government." Eberhart and Palmer tell us, and therefore it is "impractical" to suggest that anything more can be done.
AFTER 2.500 students signed the seating petitions, it must have occurred to the "members of student government" that a sizable portion of the student body wanted a referendum (in which a sizable portion of the student body un doubtedly planned to vote no). It should seem that rather than throw the petitions out on a legal technicality, the ASC could have initiated a referendum itself, but "the members of student government are fulfilling the proper functions..."
In the matter of the discrimination platform, a bill is called for that would withdraw (with the signature of the chancellor, which is called for in the ASC constitution) university recognition from living groups maintaining discriminatory clauses after Sept. 1, 1965. The plank does not call on the ASC to determine which (if any) fraternities or sororities still have such clauses. That I would imagine would be a matter for the student court.
Michael W. Dunlop St. Louis, Mo., senior
Comment on Discriminatory Clauses
Among the things that present problems on the abolition of discriminatory clauses from fraternal living groups is the popular phrase "the infringement on our right to choose our brothers." We use our understanding to interpret the constitution (and our understanding by the way is not always right). The right of exclusion from an organization is a matter of interpretation of the constitution. When there is a question of the exact way the constitution should be interpreted, the final
... Letters ...
authority rests with the jurisdictional membership which in a democracy is the people through a duly elected representative body. What do the people think about categorical seclusion in an organization?
WE HAVE. AS individuals the right to choose those with whom we want to live. Organizations (including those in question), have the right to decide which applicants qualify for admittance into the organizations. When, however, an applicant has all the qualifications except for his race, color or beliefs and an organization rejects him, then the organization has not properly exercised its right, rather it has unlawfully discriminated against the applicant.
The UP platform for the spring elections says, (article I Human Rights-March 22nd UDK) "... discrimination on categorical definitions enfringes upon the rights of an individual"; also, "UP believes that to force an organization to choose an individual because of his or her membership in a certain category is to..." (guess what finishes the sentence). I wonder whether UP realizes that the discrimination here is not on individual merits in the minority groups but a pure and naked mass discrimination. Leaving aside morality which not only the discriminating groups lack anyway, the constitution so inadequately interpreted camouflages illegal discrimination and the sooner we know that it is neither moral nor "our right" the better and surely the nearer to the goal we shall be.
W. S. Bogya
W. S. Bgoya
Tanganyika freshman
A Report Termed Inadequate Editor.
A very major point—the courageous and forgiving spirit of the Christian Africans in Angola—was omitted from the UDK report of talks here by two Methodist missionaries. Instead, the story concentrated on the reports of Portuguese reprisals for revolts against their repressive government in their African possessions.
were Christians, and a convenient focal group for reprisals.
Both Fred Brancel and the Rev. Malcolm McVeigh spoke again and again Wednesday of the Christ-like spirit of the Africans who were killed simply because they
"THE AFRICANS dared to believe," said Mr. Brancel, "that 'the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church,' and that 'he who loses his life for my (Jesus)' sake shall find it.' There is no bitterness or resentment in their heart, but forgiveness.
"We have been challenged to dig deep into our own faith by the African Christian witness. We went to teach, and they have witnessed to us."
"Tragic and dangerous" was the description used by the Rev. Mr. McVeigh for what he said is the lack of any legal outlet for African dissatisfaction and frustrations.
"There is no place for political activity," he explained, "and no way to correct social and economic abuses. The Africans want to sit down with the Portuguese to work out a plan for self-development, but the Portuguese insist their possessions are provinces of Portugal. The Africans finally thought peaceful reforms were impossible."
THIS SITUATION led to the revolts which were met by the reprisals which were reported so well in the UDK. Both of the speakers said they have been appalled to find that Americans don't seem to realize that 200,000 Africans have fled Angola, which is as tragic as was the Hungarian situation in 1956.
Short Ones
Since this was a talk by missionaries that aimed at citing the position of the church in Angola, as well as to describe the extreme difficulties there, it seems that this point should be brought out equally well in the report of the talk.
Mona Millikan j'53
His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run though not to soar.-Dryden
Resolved, never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.— Edwards
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
On Other Campuses
AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Educational Microwave Project, a closed-circuit network enabling 11 colleges and universities in five cities to share faculty resources is now in its second semester of televised classes.
Eight courses are being offered, including the new "Introduction to Visual Arts" by Dr. Donald L. Weismann, University of Texas art professor. The lectures were videotaped before Dr. Weismann left last Autumn for a research assignment in Europe.
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MONMOUTH, Ill.—In contrast to the 124 semester credit hours now required for graduation, the Monmouth College student entering next fall, under the newly-adopted three-year, three course curriculum program, will fulfill the requirement of 36 "term courses," that is, normally nine subjects a year.
Each subject, however, except for fractional courses of music, art, and speech, will be given equal academic credit valued at three and one-third credits on the basis of the present semester system.
Beginning with the class of '66, all seniors will be required to pass a comprehensive examination which includes a four-hour written test and an hour-long oral examination. The written essay examination will consist either of one four-hour paper or two two-hour papers on questions which show the student's comprehensive grasp of the problems of his major field and a broad acquaintance with its literature.
The leaders of campus organizations and two representatives from each class were invited to attend the conference. Dr. Hanson, Dean of the College Charles H. Glatfelter, Dean of Students John Shainline and Dr. Basil Crapster, chairman of the Academic Policy Committee, answered the questions of student representatives.
GETTYSBURG. Pa.—Marking the first in a series of "press conferences" conducted by Gettysburg College to promote communication among faculty members, administrators, and students, President C. A. Hanson said that he feels any questions by the students are legitimate.
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According to Dr. John W. Sattler, head of Eastern's Department of English and Speech, the entire project is geared towards bringing about a better understanding of the purposes, problems, courses of study, teaching methods and materials in both high school and college English classes.
YPSILANTI, Mich.—Eastern Michigan University has been selected by the In-Service Education Committee of the North Central Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges to participate in a pilot project for the improvement of communication among high school and university teachers of English.
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trine weekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912
Telephone Viking 3-2700
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