Tokenism-greeks
The KU Greek system serves as an eternal memorial to the "Great White Way." In an era of student liberalism, 20 per cent of the student body remains tied and gagged in an atmosphere of unsocial progress.
There does exist one token Negro in the system-Willy McDaniel, a member of Alpha KappaLambda. He made it big in what has become a twentieth-century caste system.
While students should be allowed to choose their co-habitants for four years, the noble Greek plaudits of a progressive system and brotherhood remain hidden in a maze of racism.
Yes, brotherhood and sisterhood are confined to those of Caucasian race, perfect bodies and fashionable religions.
Greek brothers and sisters defend this racism by arguing that the black student does not go through rush. Neither do many white members of the system. Instead they are sought out and pledged.
Many black students hesitate to participate in rush. The pressures exerted by fellow blacks, the ridicule of white friends and other outside pressures discourage many black students from attempting to go Greek.
No black student, but a masochist, would attempt to go through what looks like a membership drive for the Ku Klux Klan anyway.
Businesses and universities are going out
of their way to recruit blacks and train them for the future. Yet an institution which proclaims brotherhood remains cloistered behind its racially discriminating walls.
The argument of alumni objections has become rather weak morally. Perhaps it is time to give them an introductory course on what brotherhood and sisterhood are all about.
Integration in the Greek system at other universities is occurring. The process, though long-overdue, was neither as controversial nor as painful as many Greeks expected. At midwestern and conservative Iowa State University, the system has become stronger, revitalized and more relevant to social progress since a strong program to integrate the system was initiated.
A majority of black students may have no desire to avail themselves of the opportunity of living in such a system, but for those who do have the desire, the opportunity should exist.
There should be more Willy McDaniels sought and pledged. If Greeks want to talk of social progress and updating the system, then they should do it and integrate now.
For one who believes in equal rights for all, participating in such a system until it is revised is hypocritical.
In a system of "brotherhood" and "sisterhood," integration should be what's happening. It's 1969 you know. (JKD)
Readers' voice
Hillel to march in memory
To the Editor:
We the members of KU Hillel are repulsed and saddened by the hanging of 13 Iraqi citizens accused and found guilty of espionage. These hangings constitute political genocide based upon ethnic origins rather than legal consideration. The repugnant manner in which the bodies of the victims were exhibited is deplorable, inhuman and barbaric.
The refusal of the Iraqi government to allow Jews to emigrate is further evidence of its racist policies. We can only surmise that those in power in Baghdad need an ethnic scapegoat for base political reasons.
There will be a candlelight memorial walk from the Chi Omega fountain to the Kansas Union Monday, February 10, 1969, at 7 p.m., as an expression of sympathy. Mr. Yitzhak Leor, Israeli consul representative from Chicago, will speak at the Kansas Union concerning the situation in the Middle East at 7:30 p.m.
KU Hillel
To the Editor:
I have corresponded with Senator Hatfield, R-Ore., several times in the last few weeks about the Volunteer Army Bill that he has introduced in the current session of Congress. The reasons why I support this bill are myriad. I am particularly anxious to eliminate the need for young men to choose careers that fit the bureaucratic criteria of being in the "national interest" in order to obtain a deferment; for when our government gains this much control over our lives, then we are losing the battle for freedom at home as well as abroad.
As a result of my correspondence, and provided this bill reaches the appropriate
Senate and House Committees, Raymond Underwood, legal counsel to Senator Hatfield, will request my appearance as a witness.
Hence, I wish to accumulate as many case histories as possible. If you feel that your personal freedom has been diminished by the threat of conscription, so much so that you have altered career plans or otherwise done things you wouldn't ordinarily do, please send me a concise summary c/o the Chemistry Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403. Of course, any comment on other details of the Volunteer Army Bill will be appreciated.
Bruce J. Chasan
A voice from the establishment
This past week I ventured into print to recall, nostalgically, some of the great professors I had had as an undergraduate and to wonder, in the last paragraph, how many of today's KU generation would have similar recollections 25 years from now. Since then I have talked with a few students and a few faculty members. I have not been overwhelmed with commentaries or criticisms concerning that sentimental slide into the past, but it has been suggested that I should make some positive recommendations and not just complain.
I do know that many undergraduates complain long and loud about having most of their courses under graduate students.
Well, that seems only fair. We are told to teach our students to do more than just gripe, to offer solutions. Or programs, the big word today. Programs for a brave new world. But what do I say?
I also know that, except for the honors program elite (who get the best deal in many ways at this democratic institution), students in English 1, 2 and 3 don't see much of senior faculty.
I have no program. I don't even know for sure that today's students will not have fond memories of the inspiring people who pushed them on to great deeds of scholarship.
I do know that students talk to me at enrollment and praise a few certain faculty (their names come up over and over), and such professors are then recommended by these students to other students. Most upperclassmen can tell you who they are.
There are, however, a few things I think I know:
I do know that many departments staff their basic stuff pretty much with these graduate students, who, by the way, can be mighty good but who, in many cases, can be mighty bad, too.
I know that few students I have met in 18 years at this University have seemed as deeply impressed with their teachers as I was with mine (maybe my students are just too sophisticated to talk about such things—teacherwise, as we say in the sixties).
Maybe they're at fault. And maybe their professors—or lack of professors—are the problem.
I also hear, and this seems to me educationally questionable, that some of our undergraduates are teaching classes. Not just labs—classes. This matter is likely to get some attention.
For many years, since beginning to advise juniors entering journalism (and for many years working as an adviser in the College), I have watched intelligent, frustrated, not-quite-honors-program students, talked with them heard their comments, wondered with them how they got through two years. I have talked with young people lately who say they have had virtually no professorial inspiration since coming to KU.
We pen-section most of our freshman-sophomore classes (I'm glad we don't pen-section television; I'd wind up with The Flving Nun).
We have brilliant faculty members who seldom see a student below the rank of junior-some below the rank of graduate.
Calder M. Pickett Professor of Journalism
We have some great names who teach one class a semester. We have proliferated our curricula so extensively that our energies go largely into specialized classes instead of the basic ones where the need for able faculty is greatest.
Do I have a program? Nothing, I suppose, more revolutionary than getting the experienced teachers back into the classroom—that classroom full of kids a year or so out of high school. Who are paying, may I note, for teachers a bit more qualified and inspiring than some they had in high school.
We are too enthralled with publishable research: the way to get promoted.
THE PEOPLE TRAP, by Robert Sheckley (Dell, 60 cents), THE COSMIC RAPE, by Theodore Sturgeon (Dell, 60 cents) Two science fiction books. "The Cosmic Rape" is about an inter-planetary being, the Medusa, which is trying to conquer Earth through planting its spore into a drunken derelict named Gurlick. My. Fourteen stories make up "The People Trap," the title tale being about a land race in the 21st Century, occasioned by the problem of over-population.
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