Hair rules violate rights; regulations ignore customs
Conventional, according to Noah Webster: That which is sanctioned by general agreement and usage.
When the summer Campers received the different literature concerning the Camp, they also received a copy of the rules and regulations that they must follow. The rules, we are told, were all decided on from past experience. The rules are basically meant to protect the Camper from himself and various outside elements.
That is, all the rules except one which states that only conventional haircuts are to be worn—and no beards.
The various other rules, contrary to popular belief, have served to protect and help the camper and this has been proven throughout the history of the Camp. The rule about hair cuts and beards serves no one.
It takes away the basic rights of the Camper. This is true for two reasons, one, it denies the individual right of personal taste, and two; it ignores the conventions of today's society.
One of the main goals of any institution of learning is to promote an atmosphere of learning. This atmosphere cannot be maintained when the rules of that institution serve to oppress the individual's personal rights.
We fully recognize the need for rules when they serve to protect and aid the individual in the process of learning, but when these rules
stop serving and aiding the student, they tend to become oppressive.
We are certain that something as intricately personal as the length a person allows his hair to grow will distract only the most wandering of minds from the learning process.
Today's conventions are almost totally different from those of twenty, ten, or even five years ago. Who can deny that the trend started by that bushy haired singing group known as the Beatles has not caught on and become almost totally sanctioned by the public?
We don't doubt that the crew-cut was fashionable ten or fifteen years ago. But look back forty or fifty years ago when long hair was then considered conventional. Standards have a funny habit of changing.
The crew-cut, chauvinistic, Jack Armstrong type has been replaced by a new breed of young people who are not afraid to replace old conventions with new ideas.
We don't ask the Midwestern Music and Art Camp to throw out their standards just to bring them up to date.
Remember his hair may be shoulder length or it could be the world's shortest crew-cut, but the important thing is the mind that the hair covers.
— Herman Ward
To kill my counselor
He was a small kid, with a shock of hair flopping over his forehead and he smiled faintly while he talked.
He didn't look like a killer. Only little things would tell you that.
"Didn't get much sleep last night," he said, cocking his head and narrowing his eyes. He looked at me very closely.
He balled his fists as he walked beside me. I could see them working out of the corner of my eye ... open and shut.
"Me and my roommate were up late studying voodoo," he said. "Oh really?"
"Oh really?"
He told me they wanted something to happen to their counselor. He didn't say exactly what it was, but he mentioned that it was repulsive.
"The whole thing was hopeless, though," he said, as he waved an arm in the air.
2 KAMPER Jn. 27
1969
"I really only wanted to put tacks in the counselor's bed but my roommate talked me out of it. He thought we should do something else."
"We need a virgin bat," he said, "and where are we going to find a virgin bat in a place like this?"
Trying to look sympathetic, I said, "That's too bad, but why do things like that?"
The killers jaw slid slowly forward and his hands tightened into hard little knots.
"I don't like that guy," he said.
"He's got it in for me and he even told me when I spilled pop on his radio. Also, I don't like the way he makes me do my bed ... it's crazy!"
I asked him what was crazy but he didn't hear me.
"And that whistle," he groaned, whirling in front of me and grabbing my coat, "It's a big brass one and he's got it hanging around his neck by an old shoe-lace. A shoelace!
"He comes out of his room in
the morning and blows on it and yells 'gaddup' right outside my door."
He told me how bad it was to see a sleep-dazed counselor standing in the halls with his legs spread wide for balance, and a brass whistle dangling from his neck shouting "gad-up" at the top of his lungs.
After speaking, the killer calmed down, and he was whistling softly through his teeth when we parted.
That night I saw him talking on the phone in the lobby.
"Camp's really great, Dad," he said. Then he lowered his voice
"But they run this place like a military camp."
He had to say it again because his father couldn't hear.
His father told him about the army and education.
"Sure I can take it, Dad," he said.
"Hey Dad, do you remember that old whistle of mine..."
—Andy Laugel
The questioned luxury of dorms
For those who have never been blessed with the luxury of dormitory life and who have never before attended such an illustrious camp, here are ten rules to help you avoid confusion and make the duration more enjoyable:
- Believe everything you hear about the perfect weather in Lawrence.
- Salute the people in your dorm who look younger than you. They are counselors.
- Ignore all posters and announcements. They were written for the Band Camp held a week ago or for Latin Campers (in Latin).
- Don't worry about the bathroom fixtures in Hashinger Hall. It was originally a girls' dorm. (There's a difference.) However, if you wish to have only the bottom half of your body bathed, the showers are perfect. Otherwise kneel.
- Build up your arms. You might have to do push-ups because the extreme right end of the third blind up had a dead fly on it and you got a gig.
- If you've just walked 15 miles, carrying 85 pounds of art supplies and books (which cost $154.33) and four inches (of sunshine) has fallen in the last four minutes and somebody offers you a ride, ignore them. They're out to get you.
- When it is time to eat, crowd in front of the two people in line and act as arrogant and superior as possible. The cooks will think you're a counselor.
- If you wish to go to the Student Union, don't ask your counselor or the people at the desk how to get there. Here are more simple directions: go behind the dormitory and look and see four roads and take the path that goes north by northeast and follow it till you get to a fence and you'll see two roads and follow the middle one and keep going till you get to a building and go inside and get a man.
- Do not commit suicide. You will immediately be sent home
- Pay no attention to anyone who tries to give you ten additional rules for camp!
— Les Bryan
KAMPER
KANSAN
Kamper News Office - 112 Flint Hall
UN 4-3755
Camp Office - 214 Murphy Hall
UN 4-3646
The Kamper Kansan, camp newspaper at the Midwestern Music and Art Café in Denver, spreads the news on Fridays. It is written by the members of the Journalism Division of the Comics Corp.
The opinions expressed in the editorial columns are those of the editorial staff of the newspaper. Guest editorial views are not necessarily those of the editorial staff of the newspaper. Accommodations, goods, and employment offered in the Kamper Kanan are accommodations, goods, and employment offered in the Kamper Kanan are
Acommodations, goods, and employment offered in the Kampfer name offered to students without regard to color, creed, or national origin.
Executive Staff
Executive Staff
Editor-in-Chief Alvis Stinson
News Editor Jude Black
Editorial Editor Les Bryan
Feature Editor Hollie Cappleman
Photo Editor Mike Braham
Reporters Steve Yelwinton
Reporters Lea Brown, Maury Pickerel, Annette Prentiss, Keith White, Herman
Ward, Andrew Laugel, Jon Rochester, Saye Sutton, Kathryn Denney,
Lorraine Foster, Sylvia Gibson, Vicki Maldenberg, Vicki West, Emiko
Kamper Kansan Adviser James W. Murray
Assistant Advisers Mrs. Jackie Raymond, Robert Stevens
FEIFFER