Mission Possible? Good Morning Mr. Felts The map you are looking at is that of a large midwestern university. In the last few weeks trouble has hit that campus in the form of black student protest over the school's selection of its pom-pon squad. The selection included no black girls. This man is Clarence Reynolds, leader of the Black Students Union at the University. After the selection Reynolds and his group presented a demand to the administration that black girls be added to the squad or an all-black pom-pon squad would be formed. This threat was carried out when the adminstration failed to answer the demand within the required 24 hours. The man in the next picture is Dean of Students William Balfour, to whom the demand was presented and who failed to answer it in the required time. Later, the administration acquiesced and all-black try-outs were held and two new pom-pon girls and an alternate were named. Student opinion over the matter is divided, however a large number seems to be against the action. Many claim a wishy-washy administration sold out to black militancy rather than face a more serious problem. Black students say the decision was fair in light of the number of black athletes on athletic teams at the University. While the immediate crisis is over, your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept, is to cement cooperative relations between blacks and whites at the University and lessen the chance for a major confrontation between blacks and whites. Good Luck Jim. This page will self-destruct in five seconds. (ATJ) Reader defends BSU action Letter to the editor To the Editor: The action recently taken to add three blacks to the pom-pon squad was not considered tokenism as Robert Enriken Jr. so strongly declares in his article "Unrepresentation", April 8. Tokenism assumes the person doling out favors to be in a position of authority, the doler calling the shots, and in this particular case, if and how many black pom-pon girls were to be included on the regular squad. The twelve all-white committee appointed by the Chancellor's office had no such authority. Their responsibility was merely to respond to the legmitate dissent of the BSU. The committee arrived at a compromise, and exercised no tokenistic authority since the BSU had selected its own squad. Basically this same practice was followed last year in the selection of a black pom-pon girl. This was also the result of Black dissent. The BSU was the power base in this situation since they represent the large number of Blacks on the collegiate athletic squads. Our democratic principles simply boil down to "who's in power, or who has the power", and the BSU's dissent and use of power seem to be in keeping with these democratic principles. Mrs. Horace J. Bond Graduate Student Kansan Telephone Numbers Newroom—UN 4-3646 Business Office—UN 4-4358 Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year. Please send resume and related information rates: $6 a semester, $10 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised offers to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Offer is timely by most those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents. Editor-in-Chief Ron Yates Business Manager Pam Flaton Edition Editors Peter Haynes, Robert Entritaille, Dont Steve Haynes, Robert Entritaille, Dont Westerhaus, Maria Babcock, Sandy Zahradik News Editor Joanna Wiebe Assistant News Editor Tom Weinberg Editorial Editor Alan T. Jones Editorial Writers Alison Steimel, Judith Dilebow Sports Editor Bob Kearney Assistant Sports Editor Jay Thomas Feature and Society Editor Marilyn Petterson Assistant Feature and Society Editor Susan Brimacombe Photo and Graphics Editor Linda McCreery Arts and Reviews Editor Bob Butler Copy Chiefs Ruth Rademacher, Judy Dague, Linda Loyd, Donna Schrader, John Gillie Advertising Manager Kathy Sanders National Advertising John Rheinfrank Promotional Advertising Jerry Boulkoff Classified Advertising Patty Murphy Circulation Todd Smith Assistant Business Manager Gary O'Neal Member Associated Collegiate Press A black night By ALISON STEIMEL Assistant Editorial Editor Out of the approximately 16,000 students at KU, ony about 350 are black. This makes them a very small minority, perhaps even smaller than the Catholic, Jewish, Polish or Irish sector. The black students on this campus have a right to be represented on the pom-pon squad. But to the whole community of KU and to this nation they are the most important, the most crucial minority, we have ever had. Our generation is certainly the most enlightened this country has ever known in regard to accepting all races as equals. THIS OFFENSIVE IS IN CLEAR VIOLATION OF THE UNDERSTANDING WE HAVE WITH NORTH VIETNAM- And yet most KU students shrink from accepting guilt for what many sociologists term the worst slavery and degradation man has ever perpetuated upon another man, that of enslaving the black man, for over 300 years, as a being much more animal than human. Small wonder, then, that the black students of KU are demanding now to be represented in more of the social institutions of this University. In the history of KU, Bari Robinson, Kansas City senior and a member of this year's pom-pon girls, has been the only black member of this prestigious part of KU social life. She was installed last year only after a protest by the Black Students Union and a withdrawal of a white cheerleader. And the white students are right. We can't wear crowns of thorns for sins we didn't commit. The polarization of this age is even more apparent in the fact that only four black girls even tried out for the squad. It's impossible to say whether this predominance of white pom-pon girls was due to the fact that no black girls were qualified or not enough of them tried out for positions in the past. But in view of the fact that in not the too distant past, black students at KU were excluded from all other forms of social life, sometimes even including frequenting the same eating and drinking places as white students, the possibility of discrimination because of race is very likely. Perhaps not overt racism, but at least the supposition that black girls weren't as pretty as the white contestants and therefore shouldn't be on the squad because the predominantly white audience would have the usual Anglo-Saxon concepts of beauty. But unless Americans face up to the fact that their forefathers can't expiate the sins, that the reparation is on our shoulders whether we like it or not and whether it must be paid in terms of more tolerance or more opportunities, not only black humanity but white humanity is in danger. There should have been a black girl on the squad at the very first, despite the scarcity of black contestants and despite the effort of having to judge on perhaps more than ability. The issue is just that important. FURTHER OFFENSIVE ACTION AGAINST OUR DEFENSIVE ADVANCE NORTH WILL PROVOKE CERTAIN RETIALIATION - But, if the reaction on a college campus to the black demands that they have representation is the violent one of "You're just a minority, shut up," how is our nation ever going to be one and democratic. Now of course, the issue has been blown out of proportion by some awkward moves on the part of the administration: i.e., Dean of Students William Balfour's probably well-intentioned suggestion that three blacks lead the black section of the audience in song while the band played and the pom-pon squad cheered. The ability to make it on our own, through talent and initiative is perhaps the most crucial part of the American Dream. Few would argue that for all of their parents' lives and much of the beginning of their own, blacks in this country were denied that ability. But at KU, we like to think all positions are filled upon this great American precept—including the positions on the pom-pon squad. And so instead of a single black girl, who might or might not have been a token, we'll have three obvious tokens. Maybe next year the white population of KU will learn to give and be extra tolerant when it's necessary. Maybe however, the white reaction will stay as strongly opposed to tokenism as it is now. Maybe nobody will care about a pom-pon squad someday in the future as we load our guns and start a war between the races. AND MAY IMPERIL THE SUCCESS OF THESE NEGOTIATIONS - THAT IT CAN NOT SHOOT BACK. HERE ON THE EVE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR IN VIETNAM.