Page 2
University Daily Kansan
Friday. Feb. 23, 1962
A Voice for the Cities
On Wednesday the House of Representatives voted against President Kennedy's proposed addition of a Department of Urban Affairs to his cabinet. The vote was 264 to 150 and obviously was a decisive setback for President Kennedy.
CONGRESS was following a long precedent in voting against the proposal. Bills have been introduced in the past to create a department of Urban Affairs and they have been pigeonholed.
Yet despite the past blocking of the proposal and the defeat of the present bill, there are sound reasons for the creation of a Department of Urban Affairs and they outweigh any objections that can be voiced to it.
The population of the United States is increasingly concentrated in cities. The farm population is declining. With the increase in urban population, many problems have developed
which require or can best be handled by federal action. Such problems as urban renewal, the growth of slums, and inadequate housing are only a few examples. In addition, there are difficult problems which are only beginning to develop which will require solution in the next few decades. Such problems as water resources (this is already a problem in the Los Angeles area) and space for expansion are developing rapidly.
A CABINET department to deal with these and other urban problems is at least a desirable development at present. It should be created while there is time for long and careful planning in advance to meet the developing urban problems. Delaying will only result in a less thorough and comprehensive job when it becomes an unavoidable necessity.
William H. Mullins
Comments on Socialism
Editor:
May I address my comments to Mr. Francis John Lovekin, Jr., who was quoted today, Feb. 19, in the UDK, as an advocate of Socialism.
IT IS QUITE true that professors must understand and present Socialism to be able to teach world affairs. They should not be afraid to face Socialism. But is this a justification for teaching only Socialism? Whether or not we like to admit it, there are two opposing political philosophies in our country. I would like to be able to decide between these philosophies (and any others) for myself. As it is, (i.e. with professors teaching Socialism), the choice is arbitrarily made for me. You wish people to become informed about Socialism. Should they, then, be uninformed about more conservative ideas of government?
Also, Mr. Lovekin, your statement that "Socialism is the only hope for a peaceful coexistence" with the USSR is amazing. Evidently, you have never really studied Communism. I believe that anyone who honestly thinks that peaceful coexistence with Russia is possible, with or without Socialism, knows little or nothing about Communist goals. You stated that "Communists want government ownership of people in their entirety." This is a vast understatement. Communism not only wants ownership of people, it wants ownership of their minds! Dialectic Materialism, by its very definition, will not stop until it has control of the minds of all people — or until we have a stronger ideology of freedom in the West.
CAN SUCH a totalitarian economic system as Socialism, if it is
to work well, be divorced from a totalitarian government? Does a totalitarian government foster free and progressive thought? We are fighting a cold war; the battle for the freedom or slavery of the mind of Man. It seems to me that our government must do everything within its power to preserve freedom of thought and responsible action, first of all here in this country, and then in the rest of the world.
Robert Benson
Robert Benson Kansas City, Mo., Sophomore
The Use of Funds at KU
Editor:
This is a lamentation.
Everyone associated with the operation of a state university realizes that finances are a critical problem. The very nature of state owned institutions must involve conflicts of interest, variations of opinion, strife, and contentions in the formulation of a budget. Granted, funds are limited, expenses are increasing, and demands on taxpayers, students, faculties and administrations are oppressive. With these fiscal facts kept well in mind, let us consider a case.
I DRAW the case from the department of classics and classical archaeology only because I am most familiar with its operation. This is certainly not to say that similar cases should not be brought into the light in other departments. My reference is to Latin courses 148 and 150. These upper-division requirements had to be eliminated from the department's offering for this semester. This elimination has caused a considerable amount of anxiety among majors in the department, as may well be expected.
I am informed that this deletion
was necessitated by the reduction of funds by "the administration," that vacuous, yet omnipotent, Czar of All the Schools. Plans and promises had set monies aside for a part-time instructor. These funds were canceled during registration; the instructor was not hired; the already burdened department was further strained; and Latin 148 and 150 are not being offered.
This lamentation is not intended as an attack upon the Chancellor, the Deans, or the Kansas Board of Regents. It is rather a commentary upon a malignant, festering attitude.
Plans are known to exist for traffic control stations, building and grounds improvements, classroom construction and other non-salary-related expenditures. These are, indeed, needed. Blake and Fraser and Bailey and Robinson had better be replaced before they collapse. The traffic on Jayhawk Boulevard is all but exceeding sane limits. Repairs and improvements are constantly necessary.
ALL, YES! But what of "scholarships" — dare I use the word — to the students who excel inunting, passing, dribbling, throwing, running, jumping, etc., ete? What of LIFETIME CONTRACTS TO FOOTBALL COACHES, and infamy of infamies, a salary linked with those of academic deans? Most unfortunately, I cannot supply figures for these "prestige" expenditures. Yet it seems to me that somewhere in the budget could have been found the small amount of money for a part-time instructor in Latin. Apparently there was none left.
At the Movies
A Review
By Bill Charles
Again I emphasize that I am not beleaguring any one level of the administration. My lamentation is for the sadly corroded ideal of education here at Kansas.
"King of Kings": produced by Samuel Bronston. At the Varsity.
"Kings of Kings" has half a dozen or so good scenes which last, on the average, 30 seconds each. The rest of the film is not worth seeing. Bronston, writer Philip Yordan and director Nicholas Ray joined forces to fight God. God lost.
YORDAN THOUGHT he could improve on the Gospels. The results are highly imaginary and completely worthless sub-plots, and original dialogue which borders on the inane. Ray does good work with the spectacular elements in the picture, but he falls to pieces when required to tell the moving story of Christ.
The actors, many of whom should have known better, seem self-conscious and often awkward. Most of them are probably doing pence for their association with the film. Some, however, deserve mention for their extra efforts with an impossibly pretentious script. They are: Frank Thiring (Herod Antipas).
Rip Torn (Judas), Ron Randell (Lucius), and Hurd Hatfield (Pontius Pilate). Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus is surprisingly adequate for two reasons: 1) No one can play God; and 2) He has never before demonstrated any acting ability whatsoever. True, Hunter recites his lines as though he were in a Sunday School play, but occasionally he remembers Who he is playing. At these times he actually acts!
THE MUSICAL score is "Ben-Hur" re-written. As you can't make a silk burse out of a sow's car, the score is necessarily mediocre. It is full of angelic voices, trumpet fanfares, and "authentic Roman harmonies." It is repetitions, obvious, and dull.
If you go to see "King of Kings," and it is not recommended that you do, try to separate the story (what is being told) from the production (how the story is told). It will prove to you that The Book is so much better that comparison is not even possible.
I have admitted that fiscal problems are immense and resources all too small. However, the attitude which permits academic course offerings to suffer in favor of putrid, cancerous, "prestige" expenditures can only be called reprehensible and can only be sorrowfully lamented.
I am a graduating senior in the Classics area and am planning a college teaching career. The reasons for my concern must be apparent; but I wish to add that if I should ever return to the University of Kansas in the future, I would hope that I would find a more enlightened attitude on the part of those who govern these matters, be they Chancellors, Deans, or Regents.
The University has this semester taken a step backward.
then a step backward.
This is my lamentation.
Russell D. Klomp
Detroit, Mich., senior
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
(Editor's note: Ordinarily letters are run without comment. However, Mr. Kuhns said that a fast fact which could be misleading to the reader. He criticizes the scholarships given to athletes and then comments that "Yet it seems to me that somewhere in the budget could have been a part-time instructor in Latin. Apparently there was none left." It should be pointed out that KU's athletic department does not drain off great amounts of university funds.)
"I HELD HIG HANDS ALL EVENING — I WAS AFRAID TO LET GO OF THEM."
Sound and Fury
A Reply to Criticism
Faithful Reader complains (in the Feb. 21 Kansan) that this would be a dull world if people acted responsibly in their public statements about their fellow man. May I remind Faithful Reader that people's reputations and livelihood are not to be trifled with by irresponsible adolescents whose idea of entertainment is to make unfounded assertions for the benefit of "livening up" the Daily Kansan.
AS TO WHO is to determine what an adequately proved responsible statement is, this must be the task of the individuals making such statements and of the Editors of newspapers publishing such statements. One would hope that in the course of getting a college education students would acquire the maturity and judgement enabling them to refrain from irresponsible public statements. Death, crime, and atomic holocaust are all newsworthy events which serve to make a newspaper less "dull." Are they therefore desirable or praiseworthy? If Faithful Reader is so bored as to require sensational headlines and stories, he might turn to "Expose" or "The Police Gazette."
Can we assume, furthermore, as Faithful Reader seems to do, that the majority is necessarily always idiotic? There seems to be some evidence that on occasion the minority can be equally or more idiotic and some of our lunatic fringe groups are ample proof of this contention.
I WAS delighted, incidentally, to find my name sandwiched-in between Senator Herbert Lehmann and Dr. Erich Fromm. It is a privilege to be mentioned in such distinguished company.
Mr. Mullins' editorial on discrimination in the Greek groups is not relevant to Faithful Reader's main argument. I would be the last person to advocate the suppression of controversial or minority opinion. However blanket characterizations of entire faculty departments, and hence of each of their individual members, come closer to slander than to controversial opinion. While Faithful Reader seems to have read my letter quite faithfully, his comments seem to indicate that he has failed to grasp some of the ethical, political, and educational implications of YAF's attempt to smear and "investigate" the Departments of Economics and Political Science. Innuendo and insination are very hard to counteract and the initial damage done can seldom be undone at a later date. That is why I, for one, will always stand for insistence on proof and responsibility when statements about individuals are published.
Klaus H. Pringsheim
Instructor of Political Science
Daily hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912 Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 11, 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 $3 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
Ron Gallagher ... Managing Editor
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Editorial Editor
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Charles Martinache ... Business Manager