THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
79th Year, No. 9
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Friday, July 11, 1969
Campers told danger of drugs
"It takes a long time, but finally it dawns upon the people who are passing laws that you can't legislate morality or horse sense."
These remarks were made by Dr. Raymond Schwegler, director of student health services, at discussion on the effects of narcotics and dope Wednesday evening in Templin Hall.
The discussion was held for the benefit of high school students attending the Midwestern Music and Art Camp. Approximately 100 Campers took part in the discussion.
Schweegler said he felt the laws and their strengths should be in proportion to the issues being dealt with. He said he felt that possession of marijuana should be controlled more mildly than it is in some states where possession is considered a felony. He called these laws which ruin the offender's reputation "insane."
During the evening, Schwegler mentioned several times that he felt alcohol was a much more
Dr. Raymond Schwegler
dangerous "drug" than marijuana.
He did not feel, however, that legalization was the solution to the marijuana problem. "There is a difference between legalizing marijuana and putting people in jail for simple possession," he said. Schwegler advocated the "thorough indoctrination of young people" in all aspects relating to marijuana and other drugs.
SPEAKING OF the practical advantages of legalizing marijuana. Schwegler said that this legalization would help the quality of the drug and keep out impurities put in by "pushers," because, he said, "the pushers are very dishonest."
"Most of us," he continued,
"when we began to get to college age, were also in adolescence. Adolescence is a period in which a great deal of readjustment is necessary ... We suddenly begin to move away from home and form patterns that we use for the remainder of our lives," he said.
HE EXPLAINED that all these changes help form an anxiety from which some people try to escape by turning to drugs. "The older people don't try acid and these other drugs because they've either arrived at some sort of solution or have given up hope and decided to go along with society, good, bad or indifferent," he said.
Schwegler said he felt that a doctor's job was "to try to find out what the drugs do to people and why they use them."
He emphasized that he wasn't trying to convince the audience of anything, but that he was trying to relate the facts about drugs so the Campers could form their own conclusions.
He said he felt this was the way problems with "dope" should be dealt with.
SCHWEGLER GAVE backgrounds on many of the more "popular" drugs in use today.
"Historically, you see, these drugs aren't new at all," he said. "These drugs have been used
literally for centuries—mostly related with religion. It is only within our society that these problems have become apparent. The laws relating to marijuana came about because of the La Guardia report of the 1930's which grouped marijuana with the 'hard' narcotics."
He explained that "so little is known about a drug as old as marijuana, most of what one hears about it, and what the laws are based on, is just sheer prejudice and nonsense."
Life would be easier and more "bearable" with marijuana, he said, because it would be an escape from reality and anxiety. "But since we live in a world of reality, it would be better to confront that reality," he urged. "None of these drugs have anything of realism in them."
He said that people who lean on drugs are retreating from society. Therefore "it wouldn't be profitable for the individual or society to take them."
Museum displays furniture sculpture
Sculpt furniture by Wendell Castle, a KU alumnus, which has been on display in 25 museums and three one-man shows, is now on display in the University of Kansas Museum of Art until August 15th.
Castle has received a BFA degree in industrial design (1958) and a MFA degree in sculpture (1961), both from KU. He worked four years at Radiation, Inc., a private firm which the government contracts for space research. Because he didn't enjoy the work, he returned to KU for a degree in sculpture. Castle is presently teaching furniture design at RIT in Rochester, N.Y.
His first piece of furniture began as a sculpture, but with the addition of a crosspiece, it became a chair.
The furniture is made from
laminated wood. The wood is first glued together in the general shape that Castle wants. He then refines it, starting with a power saw, routers, rasps, and finally various hand tools and sanding equipment.
If the piece is to be used in a private home, Castle usually begins the work by visiting the client's home to see what kind of surroundings and how much space the piece will have.
Castle told Talis Bergmanis in an interview a year ago: "I like to have about six works going at once so I can leave a piece for a while and just think about it. I do that often.
"You can get a lot of work done on a piece by not working on it at all."
It usually takes Castle about six months to finish a piece, depending on how well the design
goes, how complicated it is and what type of wood it is made of. Castle can finish about 35 pieces a year, each of which may sell for any where from $300 to $10,000.
"Castle has told me that although he uses beautiful woods, he is more concerned with the form than with the wood," said Bret A. Wallers, Museum of Art director. In this respect, Castle has been called a perfectionist. Although most of his work has been in wood, Castle has done three pieces in lacquered fiber glass.
Castle was at KU last fall as judge of the Kansas Designer-Craftsmen Exhibit. The plans for the present Castle exhibit were made then, in conjunction with the Wichita Art Museum.
This will be the only exhibit this summer.
'Come in and --uh-- take a seat?'
Dean Lee F. Young
Acting Dean moves rapidly
Once head of his college yearbook at Syracuse University, Lee F. Young, assistant professor of journalism, assumed leadership over another group of journalists when he became acting dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism July 1.
Young will occupy the dean's chair until a "search committee" has selected a permanent replacement for former Dean Warren K. Agee.
Although he considered entering the history field, Young was drawn to journalism. "I was fascinated by the 'how' of yearbooks and newspapers, the lay-outs and make-up," he said.
Young worked in many capacities while on the staffs of Syracuse publications: reporter, feature writer, sports columnist and advertising manager.
His 15 years in the professional world before entering the academic realm were concentrated in the advertising area. Young was associated with a publishing
firm that compiled yearbooks for professional athletic organizations.
"It was pure chance or maybe fate," Young said, "that I came to KU. It was the closest university to my home!" In 1964 he began work toward a master's degree while also teaching a course in advertising.
"In five years with the School of Journalism, I've seen many changes." Young observed. "Growth, primarily, in both student and faculty number. The teaching staff has increased 50 per cent. We now have 16 full-time instructors and 8 part-time staff members."
Young cited "student activism" as the most prominent change in the University atmosphere. The School of Journalism has experienced little of the student unrest because, as Young pointed out, "Here in the School, students already have a voice. Representatives of the students attend faculty meetings and are also consulted about problems or proposed changes in the curriculum."
"Journalism majors have doubled to nearly 400 persons, and new areas dealing with magazines, public relations and photojournalism have been added to the curriculum."
Believing "there is no media competition between television and the newspaper," Young rejected the supposition that in the future, television will make the newspaper obsolete. "The newspaper provides the in-depth analysis that the quickness of television-reporting cannot."
"Changes will come in the production of the newspaper. Someday there may be a kind of teletype-newspaper, a televisionnewspaper coming directly into the home," he said.
Young has had several opportunities to return to the business world and leave the ivy-covered walls of Flint Hall, but as he said,
"I'm very happy here at KU. I'll stay."