Coed works for change
Liberator
Photo by Halina Pawl
By GLORIA VOBEJDA Kansan Staff Writer
When Susie Atkins, Leavenworth sophomore, wrote to her father in Vietnam about her dormitory's closing hours, his reply was, "Abide by the rules or change them."
Susie Atkins, Leavenworth sophomore, discusses her ideas for liberating women at KU and how she became involved in the struggle.
With the help of a friend, she circulated a petition last spring asking for the abolition of sophomore closing hours.
Miss Atkins didn't like the rules so she set out to change them.
"About 43 out of the 49 women in my dorm signed the petition," Miss Atkins said, "and a majority of freshmen women were in favor of abolishing the curfew.
"Yet when it came up for a vote at a meeting of the Associated Women Students (AWS), the resolution squeaked through by only one vote."
Concrete action
Two weeks ago while preparing a position paper for the Independent Student Party (ISP) on the status of women, Miss Atkins and some friends decided to take concrete action on women's rights.
"About six of us were sitting on the first floor of Oliver (Hall), commiserating on restrictions and discrimination against women on campus," she related. "We didn't think it was fair, so we decided to form an action group, the Women's Liberation Front (WLF).
Miss Atkins said the WLF will work to liberate women, "socially, psychologically, and politically."
The eldest of eight children and the daughter of an army colonel, she has lived in places as distant as San Francisco and Verdun, France. "But never when anything exciting happened," she added.
Bare midriff
Photo by Mike Frederick
The extreme in cover ups, long, trumpet-legged pants complimented by similar long, belled sleeves and accented by a bare midriff are popular among collegians this season.
Apr. 29 1969 KANSAN 9
Shirley Noble, Topeka junior, models an Ellen Tracy version of the pant suit in maroon and blue Spanish lace.
"I was a loner who climbed trees and caught horned toads and lizards." Miss Atkins said.
"Whenever I'd ask my mother for a dog or a horse, she'd say, 'We already have too many animals,' referring to the eight of us. That's why I caught horned toads."
"The brain"
Miss Atkins recalled a particularly bad experience she had in sixth grade. She and two of her sisters were attending a catholic school in Appleton. Wis.
"We were three army brats and they didn't like newcomers," she said. "The teacher hated me and I hated the school. My grades fell—bam! But I always used to fight back."
She remembers little about seventh and eighth grade and said that it seemed as though she were never really there. About this time she got the nickname, "the brain."
In tenth grade she made friends with a classmate, Natasha Beck. Natasha was an outcast at school, Miss Atkins said, because she dated, partied, drank, and smoked. "She radicalized me and I tried to tone her down."
"My senior year at Leavenworth High School was
miserable. It seemed as though I didn't have any really close friends.
"I started drinking and smoking. I became less concerned with other people's image of me. How I felt about it was what counted. If I felt like smoking, I just did. I didn't run into the bathroom to do it."
Miss Atkins did become a national merit scholarship winner during this period, however.
At KU
During her freshman year at KU, Miss Atkins lived in Watkins Scholarship Hall, which she called a rewarding experience but with a sad ending.
"I had never been around such an intelligent group of girls before, and I learned a lot about people. But I was thrown out for coming in late once too often. I never thought I would get in trouble for being three minutes late.
"In high school I had an informal closing agreement with my parents. If I knew I was going to be late, I called in."
"I'm sure there are other ways to keep young girls from getting pregnant."
kuok Hit Parade
FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 25
1. IT'S YOUR THING
2. GIMME GIMME GOOD LOVIN'
3. PINBALL WIZARD
4. THE ROKER
5. AQUARIUS—LET THE SUNSHINE IN
6. GITARZAN
7. GET BACK, DON'T LET ME DOWN
8. DON'T GIVE IN TO HIM
9. SWEET JERRY WRISE
10. ATLANTIS
11. YOU'VE MADE ME SO VERY HAPPY
12. THESE EYES
13. I LIKE MY SOMETHING NEW
14. BROTHER LOVE'S TRAVELING SALVATION SHOW
15. BADGE
16. PLAYGIRL
17. TIME IS TIGHT
18. HOT SMOKE AND SASSAFFRAS
19. MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY
20. HAIR
21. GRACING IN THE GRASS
22. IT IS SUCH THING YOU've Got
23. MINI-SKIRT MINnie
24. THE COMPOSER
25. HAWAII 5-0
26. IN THE BAD, BAD OLD DAYS
27. THE LEFT
28. TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MY BABY
29. ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE
30. STAND
31. SAVE (CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY)
32. MORNING GIRL
33. MEMORIES
34. MERCY
35. GOODBYE
36. WHISTLE SINFUL
37. TO KNOW YOU IS TO LOVE YOU
38. HEATHER HONEY
39. MOVE IN A LITTLE CLOSER, BABY
ISLEY BROTHERS
CRAZY ELEPHANT
WHO
SIMON & GARFUNKEL
STH DIMENSION
RAY STENES
BEATLES
GARY PUCKETT & UNION GAP
TOMYM JAMES & SHONDLENS
THE PROPHETS
BOOKER T & MG'S
JEE SIMON
BUBBLE PUPP
SPIRAL STARRY FACE
COWSILLS
FRIENDS OF DISTINCTION
TYRONE DAVIS
WILSON STARRY FACE
DIANA ROSS & SUPREMES
VENTURES
FOUNDATIONS
ARBORS
MARVINE
JERRY BUTLER
SLY & FAMILY STONE
MERCY
NEON PHILHARMONIC
ELVIN REX
OHIO EXPRESS
MARY HOPKIN
DOORS
BOBY JUNTON
TOMMY JICE
MAMA CASS
SURE SHOTS
OH, HAPPY DAYS            EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS
CALIFORNIA GIRL          TOMPALL & GLASER BROTHERS
EARLY IN THE MORNING     VINCE EDWARDSON
IVORY                     BOB SEELEN SEILEN
NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE
THE RIVER IS WIDE      FLURTATIONS
WHERE IS FOOTGROUND SUSIE
MISSISSIIPI RIVER
GOOD MORNING STARSHINE  STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK
SORRY SUZANNE             HOLLIES
Warning to all sun worshippers
NEW YORK (UPI) - The sunburn season is with us-good news for the sun worshipping cult, bad news for conscientious dermatologists like Dr. Janith Stewart Kice. Bad news also for many a skin.
The result of over and undue exposure is more than the immediate pain of sunburn. It turns skin into what Dr. Kice calls a "generalized prune," wrinkled and senile long before its time.
TOM "JELLO" ADAMSON
THE FRIENDLIEST SERVICE IN TOWN IS AT THE STABLES!
Yes, most people "in the know" on the KU campus are familiar with this little phrase, especially Tuesday nights when $2.00 buys a guy all the beer he can consume, while his date gets the same privilege at half the price. And because people like Tom "Jello" Adamson continually go out of their way to make our customers feel at home, our parking lot overflows six nights a week. "Jello" is basically considered to be the "head honcho" of the bartenders at The Stables. An Omaha, Nebraska senior, his outstanding activities have been censored from this article because of the possible effect they could have on anyone reading them. But we are allowed to say that "Jello" is currently awaiting trial on a strange case which occurred last fall at the Oklahoma football game. It seems that "Jello" was intent on carrying, dragging, pulling or otherwise transporting seven cases of beer, four cases of scotch, three magnums of champagne, two tubes of glue and a bag of catnip into the stadium to help him fully enjoy the game. Unfortunately Tom ran into a local john law who attempted to restrain him from entering his seat section. A small scuffle ensued and after a platoon of law enforcement officers, three FBI agents and seven Green Berets home on leave, they finally got "Jello" under control. It was at this exciting moment that one irate officer (we can't divulge his name) sprained Tom's little finger when taking away the bag of catnip. So "Jello", being well versed in the field of law, is suing on the grounds of "police brutality" and has recruited Percy Foreman as his able lawyer. (Jello's first choice was Perry Mason, but he was on another case.) Tom claims that not only were his constitutional rights infringed upon, but it caused him great mental anguish and distress. It cut deeply into his GPA since the pain kept him confined to bed and he couldn't write because his finger was in traction. It also prohibited him from enjoying his favorite thirst quenching brew and he couldn't work behind the bar at The Stables as efficiently as usual. The trial starts next week and Ace Johnson is having it televised via short circuit out to the Stables so everyone can enjoy seeing justice prevail. "Jello", confident of victory, is asking over a million dollars in compensation, which he will invest in Saigon's profitable Black Market.
THE STABLES