Campus campaign
ISP is opposed to U.S. draft law
Dave Awbrey, Independent Student Party presidential candidate, was asked last night what he thought the college student's attitude should be toward the Vietnam War and the Selective Service Act.
Awbrey replied that college students should oppose Vietnam on moral and legal grounds.
He said a student should oppose the war more than anyone else since it is the student who would be fighting the war.
"The draft as it now stands should be abolished," Awbrey said, referring to the Selective Service Act.
"If it is to be mandatory," he continued, "we feel there should be service alternatives for the people who simply cannot cooperate with the military.
"In place of the draft, a lottery system would be more meaningful, especially if the service requires fighting in a war one doesn't believe in."
Mark Edwards, Emporia junior and Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) presidential candidate said yesterday students should analyze the issues surrounding the Vietnam conflict and the selective service laws.
"If, after resolving the issues," said Edwards, "the student desires to effect policy towards the conflict and the service law, then I encourage him to do so."
Edwards said the Selective Service laws are draining the universities and colleges across the country of the necessary graduate student teaching assistants. "At the same time," he said, "while draining the universities they are depleting the number of highly educated people vital to the nation."
"While it is evident that these two issues indirectly affect this University, I must be realistic in
mentioning that my opinions will in no way change the present policies."
Edwards said it was not his intention to minimize the importance of the individual in these matters. "However, the effort is somewhat misdirected if the students believe the University can directly solve these problems."
Editor's note: This page is a continuation of the Kansan's coverage of the current campus election coverage on a regular basis until election day.
Coalition platform
The Academic Affairs platform proposes advisory committees, established by the Student Senate, for each school which would work with faculty members to review and revise all required courses.
Emphasizing "freedom of choice" Rusty Leffel, Prairie Village junior, and the Campus Coalition's candidate for student body president, submitted his Academic Affairs platform.
Lefel also suggested that freshmen be given more choice of material covered in English 1, based on the student's preferences. He recommends that a top professor lecture to freshmen at least once a week.
Weather
PSA can't solve draft problem
In the Western Civilization Program, the platform suggests two three-hour discussion sessions, which would meet twice a week, with an optional lecture on the weekly topic by a professor specializing in that field. The platform further recommends the elimination of credit from the Comprehensive Examination, with only a passing grade necessary for graduation.
The platform recommends that class rosters should not indicate which students are taking a class for pass/no credit. It further calls for consideration of expanding the pass/no credit system to include more than one course outside a major.
On pass/no credit, the platform also states: "In expanding the program, though, we realize that care must be taken to maintain some standard of achievement in academics and that Pass might have to be redefined as ABC-only."
The Academic Affairs platform also recommends several programs for the College-Within-a-College schools:
- Special curriculums in each
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- New programs with more contact, both social and academic, between the schools.
school, such as Urban Affairs, or Foreign Affairs.
- Development of more "innovative" courses, such as Liberal Arts and Sciences 48, with independent study programs.
The platform further suggests that students be given the opportunity to make course requests early in each semester for the following semester. This system would guarantee "that rooms and instructors be available for student demand at formal enrollment."
The platform recommends the formation of an "academic affairs task force" to be part of the executive department of the Student Senate.
Leffel calls for 'rational discourse'
Rusty Leffel, Prairie Village junior and the Campus Coalition's candidate for student body president, was asked to give his views on what the college student's attitude should be toward the Vietnam War and the Selective Service Act.
Leffel said he would urge students to study the facts of the Vietnam War "in rational discourse" and to act on these facts "rather than raw emotion."
The U.S. Weather Bureau predicts sunny skies and mild temperatures today with westerly to northwesterly winds 10 to 20 miles per hour. Fair and cool tonight. Partly cloudy and a little warmer tomorrow.
Leffel said that although protest is easier, alternative solutions must be found.
"If anywhere people are to take a lead in fostering constructive solutions to problems of our society, it is in the university. There is no other place in society where so many talents are assembled. This is the place to author action.
"The university is a place where all points of an issue, such as the Vietnam War, can be discussed," Leffel continued. "An intellectual commitment must be made before the student
can ever expect to take any 'physical or emotional' commitment."