Major contenders discuss
Leffel: 'fill in all the gaps'
- Kansan: Rusty, why did you decide to run for student body president?
- Leffel: I decided to run because I could foresee the potential of the new Student Senate. I felt this was an opportunity where I could contribute to student government at KU in establishing the most exciting, the most revolutionary, student government in the nation. I think it's going to take a lot of dedication and a lot of organization to get the new senate off the ground. It's outlined in the code and I think we need to fill in all the gaps. And I felt this was the place where I could contribute most, understanding my abilities.
- Kansan: Isn't it true that you've been wanting to be KU student body president since you were a senior in high school? That's what your detractors claim.
Leffel: The notion of student body president didn't even enter my mind until I was on the council.
I used to be a trombonist when I was in high school and I came up to KU kind of thinking I'd pursue that, but I decided the first semester to pursue grades and spent most of the first year back in the stacks of the library. I thought maybe there was something more and maybe that has something to say about the classroom experience because it apparently did not stimulate me.
I got involved in the IFC through a friend of mine. And then I heard about student government. The guy came around to campaign and then I never heard from him again or saw him again.
There was a job to be done and I thought I could do it.
- Kansan: Rusty, you're either the friendliest person on earth or a glad hander. Which is it?
- Leffel: Well, George, I'll tell'ya, George, er Steve. No.
I like people.
- Kansan: People accuse you of being a politician.
Leffel: I get very upset at that when people refer to me as a politician. And people ask me if I'm going into politics. No. I have an interest in going into government, but I really do like people and I like to see people who are active and involved.
Rusty Leffel
Frank Zilm
Russell G. Leffel, Prairie Village junior and Campus Coalition presidential candidate is majoring in economics. He has served on the Inter-Fraternity Council and is in his second year on All-Student Council as fraternity district representative; also on the faculty-senate committee for ROTC. A member of Owl Society and a 1969 Jayhawk Hillclimber, Leffel has recently been nominated for the 1969 Student National Register.
Frank Zilm, St. Louis, Mo., junior and Campus Coalition vice-presidential candidate, is president of McColum Residence Hall and served as a representative to the local, regional and national meetings of the Associated University Resident Halls. Zilm, an architecture major, is vice-president of the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) and held an AIA scholarship as a freshman. He now has a KU Goldsmith architecture scholarship. He is in his first term on All-Student Council, a member of Scarab and the KU Rugby Club.
I used to work in Boy Scouts and I worked down in New Mexico at the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch and the greatest thing in the world was to go down there and be with those kids and give them a little hint. After that little hint they would kind of blossom—maybe cooked their whole dinner and set up their whole camp just because of one thing you did.
Sometimes it's an overwhelming thing. People just think I'm just overdoing the glad hand, but I'm really not that way. It does wonders for the forearm.
I've changed a lot and I haven't tried to glad hand and right now I probably feel more myself than ever before because the ideas we have developed carefully, I firmly believe in.
- Kansan: Just what are your abilities?
Leffel: The experience I've had and the areas I like to work in are organization and administration. I feel it imperative that a student government one of all students. Some of the things that have frustrated me most have been, one, that really student government was just a small group of people that it was representative of, but did not really represent student sentiment. It was not in direct contact with student at the University and, secondly, there was never really a division of interests on the council. Too often it was a rubber stamp.
Each of us as students need to decide what we want to see done in the University, what is important to be done and how to go about doing this and how to go about facing the problems of the University.
- Kansan: Frank, why are you running?
Zilm: The reason I decided to run is that I think there are many social responsibilities and demands that I think the University hasn't been making to the community here in Lawrence, Kansas City and the whole of our social structure. There are a lot of students asking why haven't we done this, why haven't we done that and I agree with them and I wanted to get into a position where we can start achieving this.
I hear a lot of people talking about University commitment to social problems yet they haven't evolved and I don't know why and I want to find out.
- Kansan: Rusty, do you think you will be forceful enough to handle the presidency?
Leffel: I feel we need strong leadership, aggressive leadership, dynamic leadership and I feel I can offer that as a representative of the student body. I do not want to represent the student body, if the student body doesn't know what I'm saying or why I'm saying it. This is why I emphasize so strongly that this is our student government, because when we as an entire student body are involved in this, when 16,000 students are involved rather than just 2,000, we have a clear mandate.
What worries me is when so-called leaders go off and try to commit the student body without knowing how the student body really stands.
I would not have the slightest hesitation to firmly represent the decisions of the Student Senate and the student body.
- Kansan: Your platform has met criticism because some say you ignore the issues and just set up a thousand committees.
Leffel: Committees can do it. Look at the committee for the Presidio 27, look at the New Jersey Street project. I hate committee meetings as much as anybody, that's why we've worked on organization because organizing something makes it more efficient. anybody, that's why we've worked on organization because organizing something makes it more efficient. Reduce the number of hours in committees wastefully whiling away at parliamentary procedure and actually getting to the meat of the issues.
We will confront the issues.
- Kansan: The ISP has claimed you fail to deal with problems like Vietnam and Racism.
Zilm: This is one of the basic reasons I wanted to run because I believe the University exists as one of the only social critics left. It is an institution not interested in the continuation of our society as it is today.
I believe it is the responsibility to begin acting now on becoming this social critic. And I think one of the main parts of our platform is this commitment.
Leffel: The Student Senate at the University of Kansas can't end the war in Vietnam or racism or some of these major issues. It's just not in our sphere of influence.
I feel very strongly that the University is the place of all places, where change in society should be initiated. With all the talent gathered here, it would be very inappropriate for us not to become involved.
As students we can do only so much. We've recommended a governmental affairs committee that would be a communication and lobbying link with the local and state government as far as student-oriented issues go. These would include things such as the 18-year-old vote, the bond issue for Watkins hospital, the civil service statutes, the Lawrence car tax.
Zilm: I was disappointed recently in the pom-pon girl incident that they met with Dean Balfour rather than the ASC president and the ASC. This is why there has been student questioning.
- Kansan: What about the blacks? The new student body president will have to work with them. What are your attitudes?
I think it's very important to start establishing communications between the students so all the facts will be there.
Some people have come up with an anti-racist attitude that everything is right just because of his skin color.
From the fact I have I can't completely agree with what was done. It takes a rational stand.
For me to say this some people will say I'm a bigot. But I'm really concerned about the plight of the black student.
- Kansan: What would you say is the main thrust of your platform?
- Leffel: Student government shouldn't be a one-man show. My goal is to work to organize everyone's efforts, so that the participation and responsibility is delegated into every department and school.
- Kansan: What are the issues?
Leffel: There are some issues and some programs. We have set up both. We feel the direction and organization of student government is an issue because there is nothing right now. We took a survey in February and the students surveyed indicated that the biggest problem they felt about student government was communications.
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- Kansan: Why do you think you're qualified to be student body president? You haven't been a member of the All-Student Council (ASC) and have never run for a major student body office at KU.
Edwards: Well, I have been deeply involved in the Republican Party in this state and Rick and I helped organize student representation in the political science department.
I think the thing we're dealing with here is the ability to organize and to surround oneself with enough people that are well acquainted with the Senate Code and have the energy to go on and implement it.
And I feel I'm qualified to be president because I'm acquainted with the code, and I'm not going at it alone. There are enough people supporting me that are very excited about it.
Von Ende: This isn't a one-man campaign. Mark and I campaign together. We think we complement each other. When you ask about qualifications, I don't know what qualifies you. If you want to talk about the President of the United States, the only requirements are that he be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen and have lived so many years in this country. It may be that you could grab some wino off the streets and put him in as President.
- Kansan: How much money do you plan to spend on your campaign?
- Von Ende: I don't know how much. It's a very big factor in politics everywhere. You've got to acquaint people with your name. It'll cost a few hundred dollars at least. Mark and I are using the little money we can scrape up. We get a few contributions from friends but not enough to turn your eyeballs around. We're running because we want our proposals to be accomplished.
- Kansan: What do you think the role of student body president should be?
Edwards: I view the office as representative of the student as well as representative of the senate. There are many details that are going to require his presence and he's going to have to be there. And I'm thinking this is an area where he can't shirk his responsibility and give it to the vice-president.
But the real crux and role of the president is that old cliche—to implement the Senate Code. I mean by this, all the organization that's going to be necessary, as far as setting up all the committees—making sure they're all functioning, being able to take the time to attend the 62 committee meetings a month.
The president should also be someone who will introduce change. If he has feeling toward it, if he thinks a stand ought to be taken . . .
- Kansan: How far should this taking a stand go?
Should a student body president take a stand on an issue like black pom-pon girls?
Edwards: He is just as qualified or more qualified to sit on a committee on black pom-pon girls as anyone else.
Von Ende: The leader has the right to his individual stands or he wouldn't be a leader. But we have to stay amenable to the demands and requests of all the students. We also have programs that we believe in. We have to lead the implementation of those programs. We view our role as that of energizing student participation
- Kansan: Then you don't think the student body president should take public stands on Vietnam and domestic issues?
Edwards: I would be more than happy to entertain any type of discussion on Vietnam in the Student Senate.
I don't think I can dictate student policy in this area. The students would feel very offended if they had a student body president who was constantly saying, "I'm the representative of the people and they must feel this way."
- Kansan: In your platform you propose the abolishment of the Western Civ. examination as a graduation requirement. Why? Isn't this exam necessary to get students to do more than just skim the notes?
Von Ende: The Western Civ. program is set up to foster an appreciation of the ideals of the occidental culture, to encourage independent study and to instill in the student a love and excitement to learn on his own. When you have a Western Civ exam, how do you become appreciative of the ideals and the general philosophy of the great thinkers when you sit down and cram and memorize.
Second, how do you foster independent study when you say to the student, "We expect you to go out and study, but we're going to check on you sometime before
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