Someone's missing
Representation is a relative thing.
The KU pom-pon squad is not relative. There are no Chinese on the pom-pon squad. There are no Quakers on the pom-pon squad. There are no Jewish girls on the pom-pon squad. There are no Polacks on the pom-pon squad. There are no redheads on the pom-pon squad. To date there is no one representing the Ba'ha'i faith on the pom-pon squad. There are no married students, graduate students, law students, architecture students or engineering students on the pom-pon squad. There are no hippies on the pom-pon squad.
Worst of all there are no journalism majors on the pom-pon squad. This is definitely a misrepresentation of athletes considering the number of athletes that graduate from the School of Journalism.
These people deserve representation. A little "pot" might be just what KU needs considering the potential of next year's squad. We may be depriving our team of that extra spirit that it needs. For example a journalism representative could cheer the team on to victory dressed in old UDK's. The redheads could be painted blue to depict real school spirit. Let your imagination run wild.
After all if there's one thing this school needs—it's a bigger pom-pon squad. There are only eight regulars and four alternates now. What if something should happen to one of them?
We can fit approximately 125 pom-pon girls on the football field. That leaves room for 118 more pom-pon girls. Picture it. One hundred and twenty-five pom-pon girls doing their "thing."
Now if you don't have time to try out or don't feel like participating in try-outs-don't worry about it. If the BSU can do it-you can do it too.
Get your favorite ethnic or minority group together and get represented. Pick a girl, any girl, get in there and get represented. Don't worry if she can't jump—just as long as she's ethnic.
The only problem left is the football team-is there enough room to play? (JKD)
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Unrepresentation
By ROBERT ENTRIKEN JR.
Kansan Edition Editor
The demands of the Black Student Union (BSU) are ridiculous and unfounded. The jellyfish intention of the administration to satisfy those demands is equally outlandish.
If tokenism is the selection of a person purely in acquiescence to demands from a minority or to show how liberal an organization is, then the impending selection of three Negro pom-pon girls—along with the expansion of the squad to accommodate them—is tokenism of the worst order.
One hundred and forty-seven KU coeds assembled at Allen Field House for the initial tryouts. If the BSU intended to do something meaningful towards getting a black pom-pon girl they should have urged their own to participate in the tryouts in greater number than the four Negro girls who showed up.
Those four coeds accounted for a little less than three per cent of the total number of women trying for a spot on the squad. If the squad even was picked keeping a ratio in mind, out of 12 the black representation should have been one-third of one pom-pon girl. And we're going to add three!?
Further, this year there were three Negro judges. The selections of Ben Olison and Bari Robinson as judges were good ones. Even if this also smacks a little of tokenism—I strongly suspect someone was wondering what Negroes could be gotten to act as judges—these two were respected persons involved with either the squad or intercollegiate athletics who could rightfully hold such a responsibility solely on their own merit. Asst. Prof. Robert Sanders, of course, sat as a faculty representative.
But demands that special allowances be made tor minorities just doesn't sit right. Last year special tryouts were held. This wasn't quite so bad because one of the regulars resigned to be married creating an opening. And the four alternates generously agreed that one of them would not fill the space leaving room for a Negro—Miss Robinson.
And she did a fine job during the football and basketball seasons just past. I enjoyed watching her bounce and kick as much as I did Jan Merrick, Shirley Gossett or Gwenna Steffens.
But this year, after an all-white squad was chosen, the blacks on this campus—accounting for all of two per cent of the total population—again begin clamoring for their "rights."
I cannot see representation on such a squad as being anyone's "right." Even the old pom-pon girls have to try out again. If Negroes are to be represented on the pom-pon squad they should earn the honor by proving they can kick higher, twirl faster, keep a better rhythm, design a better routine, or whatever the criteria are the judges use in their final selections.
The "I should be on the squad because I'm black" logic is anathema to anyone who is committed to democratic principles applied to such selections.
But I dare say the 12 girls who were selected for the squad simply out-pom-ponned the four Negro hopefuls. Of 143 white girls who tried out, a scant $8^{1/2}$ per cent made the squad. Now a number equal to 75 per cent of the blacks trying out will be added.
Is this fair representation?
RECORDS
By WILL HARDESTY
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
bv The Nice on Immediate.
The first side is a classadelic thing fraught with heavy sounds and effects with a little jazz thrown in. Throughout are musical illusions to those famous classical themes you know you've heard before but can't remember the name of.
The second side is Ars Longa Vita Brevis-a jazz symphony based on several classic themes.
A good album, but more for jazz fans than rock hounds.
THE MOTH CONFESSES by The Neon Philharmonic on Warner Brothers-Seven Arts is billed as a condensed modern opera. It is produced on what is supposed to be the best of modern media—the LP record. Its theme is supposedly desperation. I am desperately searching for something which would make this album great since the idea and theme seem so good. But I can't.
The Collectors are the best rockclassical group around today. They have a new album out called GRASS AND WILD STRAWBERRIES on Warner Brothers-Seven Arts. The album is music from a stage play by George Ryga. This album does what THE MOTH CONFESSES is trying to do.
...quotes...
TOKYO-Lt. Gen. Lewis W. Walt, assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, discussing the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers fighting in South Vietnam:
"The enemy there is an entirely different breed of cat. He is not properly trained. He is not disciplined. He is not equipped to go on the battlefield. I am confident that we are winning the war."