Course offered for credit
KU New Left flourishes
(Editor's note: Although the New Left has been on university campuses for nearly a decade, it has only recently become a part of the course schedules. This is the first in a series of articles examining a new course being taught at KU which probes the policies and philosophies of the Movement.)
By JIM GRAHAM
Kansan Staff Writer
The day was warm. Spring permeated the flowers and trees, and the sidewalk shone gravel white from the glare of the sun's rays.
Twenty young men stood in front of an induction center, chanting slogans and speaking vehemently about American imperialism. The familiar dove's foot peace symbol could be seen on buttons, on pickets, and even on a poster of Uncle Sam pointing his unwavering finger at prospective pedestrians.
The scene was a peace demonstration. The place could be anywhere in the United States. The demonstrators were members of a loosely-knit movement, the New Left.
The New Left found its origins in the 1930's and 1940's. It grew out of a wide range of political ideologies and organizations of that period.
Communists, Socialists, Trotskyites, and other radical groups all had a share in the New Left origins.
In October, 1960, C. Wright Mills coined the title "New Left" in an article, "Letter to the New Left."
Mills, "the intellectual father of the Movement," called on the young intellectuals to join together to promote social change.
"Left means . . . structural criticisms . . . which at some point are focused politically as
18 KANSAN Feb.28 1969
demands and programs. These criticisms, demands, theories, programs are guided morally by humanist and secular ideals of reason, freedom and justice. And it means all this inside every country of the world," Mills wrote.
KU course developed
The New Left has finally come to KU, if not in the form of action, at least in the guise of theory.
The New Left's medium for expression is Liberal Arts and Sciences 48. A memo handed out at enrollment described the course as "an undergraduate seminar on the history and theory of the New Left."
LAS 48 presents criticisms of modern American society and foreign policy from a New Left perspective.
The purpose of LAS 48, the memo said, was to evaluate and examine alternatives to middle-class culture, to offer alternatives in life-styles, and specifically to teach human liberation.
In essence, it is a history, philosophy, political science, and human relations course rolled into one.
Robert Howard, Wichita senior, is responsible for the creation of LAS 48.
"I'm a member of the National Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). One day I thought that maybe other students would like the opportunity to learn about the New Left too," he said.
Howard first went to Aldon Bell, assistant dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and discussed the possibility of implementing a course on the University level.
After initially speaking to Bell, Howard contacted four faculty advisors. Working together, a reading list on the subject was compiled for the course.
Movement provides instructors The next step was to find instructors. Who was qualified to teach a New Left course?
Howard felt that people directly-involved in the life-style of the New Left would be the best teachers.
"I talked to people already involved in the New Left and asked several if they would like to teach a section," he said. There are now 17 instructors.
In the spring enrollment bulletin, LAS 48 became a reality.
Howard admitted, "if no one had enrolled, then the course would have been dropped—but people enrolled."
He spoke enthusiastically of the interest shown in the course.
"Originally I had 10 people, and now I have 25. Since enrollment, the size of my class has more than doubled," he said.
There are seven sections of LAS 48, with two teachers for each section. "The main function of the teacher is as a discussion leader," he said. "In a way, they are secretaries and make sure the people know where to meet."
Meet in apartments
The classes are assigned to rooms on the campus, but few of them meet in their appointed rooms. Most of the classes meet in student's apartments. The informal atmosphere provides the students with the opportunity to talk freely and openly about their impressions and criticisms of the New Left.
"In most classes, students feel real dumb, but in our classes everyone talks," Howard said.
Slam the Door On A Plane
LA PLATA, Argentina (UPI)
—It always pays to slam the door on an airplane.
A small private plane here reached an altitude of 10,000 feet before the pilot and four passengers realized the fuselage door had swung open. Just before the pilot could land the rocking plane, it slammed into a grove of trees. None aboard was injured seriously.
"I like teaching the course a lot." he said, "I want the people to learn about the New Left. I want them to learn through experience."
would be field work and the other an academic section, he explained.
"It's like having an undergraduate seminar."
"I want people to learn how to have fun." He smiled as he added, "I've been learning things too."
"The people in the class are trying to work out their relationship to society. Our class is in the New Left style. I don't know how political we are going to get." he said.
LAS 48 is an experiment. What the future of the course will be, no one can tell—but it is believed that some of the distortion and apprehensions which surround the New Left may be dissolved as more people learn about it.
Howard said he may split his class into two sections. One