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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, March 10, 1964
Dialogue:
Halo on a Stick
(Editor's note: The opinion and viewpoint presented below does not represent the policy of the UDK editorial page. However, recognizing that there may well be two sides to every story, the following article by UDK staff writer Larry Schmidt is printed below.-Tom Coffman
Human rights are a personal matter. The principles of friendship and love lose the essence of their meaning when trotted out for exhibition and show. In contrast, they thrive on quiet sincerity, secret loyalties, and the sharing of loneliness.
Nonetheless, society demands that the acceptance or rejection of certain elements of mankind be made a public issue, and that each of us must take a stand on the question. We are not allowed to approach the situation on an individual-by-individual basis but must either be for or against the general inclusion or exclusion of certain groups from our midst. And, under the conditions of a democracy, there is no reason to feel even inconvenienced about having to make the decision. You know your own feelings and you express them, overtly or in more subtle ways.
MOST OF US would agree that it is a good thing to take positive measures to encourage further social acceptance of all individuals, regardless of race, creed, or color. Nor are there many who would say that an individual cannot attempt to persuade another to his point of view, so long as the rights of the one being persuaded are not ignored. On such a basis, private conversations, speeches, group demonstrations, and other actions are acceptable, if managed in an orderly fashion.
There is then, nothing basically wrong with either the moral principle upon which the civil rights movement is based or a public method of expression such as picketing.
Here at KU there are certain organizations whose members feel they can advance the cause of campus civil rights by picketing the Greek system in general and Sigma Nu in particular. The announced purposes of the demonstrations are to convince the national officials of Sigma Nu that they should remove a racially discriminatory clause from their constitution, and to try to eliminate what the demonstrators feel is de facto segregation in the fraternities and sororites at KU.
TO DEBATE whether or not it is within the authority of these aroused individuals to concern themselves with the positions the Greeks seem to have taken is missing the point. The only valid question is a practical one: are these ventures likely to produce the desired results?
The local chapter of Sigma Nu has apparently tried, without success, to have the discriminatory statement removed from the national constitution. Is the demonstration method more likely to get results than the efforts of the local chapter? There is the slim chance that it might, simply because of the threat to the fraternity's campus existence. But, limited to the campus, that chance would be very, very slight.
What the picketing groups may be hoping for
is the tremendous power of publicity. They have discovered in recent weeks that newsmen have a weakness for reporting stories which tend to sensationalize campus events. Apparently, anyone anywhere with a sign gets attention. If there are enough signs, the story may make the national wires and become a truly influential factor—even over stubborn fraternity leaders.
BUT,WOULD the end justify the means? Would the adverse publicity inherent in such cases, and directed at KU, be worth the relatively small gains derived from Sigma Nu's capitulation? Would the KU student body be forever indebted to these humble marchers for performing such a fine public service?
As for the Greek situation in general, since none of the other fraternities and sororites have discriminatory clauses, what good can be accomplished? Why concentrate on the Greeks? Are they necessarily more in favor of discrimination than any other individual on the campus?
Probably not. But the Greek houses, well organized as they are, provide perfect targets for arrows which can find nowhere else to go.
The fact that there are few, if any, Negroes in Greek houses at KU is as difficult to explain and as hard to defend as the fact that there are churches in Lawrence where all the bright, shining, Sunday-morning faces are white. Or why there are only a daring few who would cross the color line to date or marry. It is a complex maze of cultural stigmas which perpetuate these inequities. And, as the American mind crawls toward color blindness, so will the institutions which reflect the national conscience.
IN THE MEANTIME, by inviting groups of predominantly independent students to march with them, and choosing important Greek functions as locations for their demonstrations, the instigating picketers may well stir up enough resentment to (1) overshadow their original purpose in protesting, and (2) pry open still further the more-or-less natural rift between independents and Greeks. Result: no solution, more problems.
Since the picketing is not likely to bring about the desired change in Sigma Nu's constitution . . . not likely to bring sudden enlightenment to Greeks in general (while more likely to cause undue misunderstanding and friction between Greeks and independents) . . . not likely to appear as much more than carrying one's halo on a stick for public edification . . . then what good does it do to picket at all?
There is nothing wrong with the idea of letting it be known that you are in favor of loving thy neighbor. But probably the best way to convince others of the sincerity of your beliefs is to practice them; not necessarily in a conspicuous manner for demonstration purposes, but privately and genuinely. Here one may advance the cause of civil rights far beyond the minimum standards set by legislation or the empty gestures of paper compliance. Here is where the civil rights issue finds its real solution. In the human heart, not in the streets. — Larry Schmidt
A Parody:
Peace on Earth
The world is ugly. The world is full of war and full of hatred. I was born in this world, but I did not make this world. Something should be done.
My fellow man is part of this world of hatred and war. I worry about my fellow man. He is not peaceful. The ROTC is sponsored by my fellow man.
The ROTC teaches killing. Yes. The ROTC approves of mass murder. The ROTC is bad.
The ROTC has parties. The ROTC parties are bad because they dress murder up in a fancy uniform. The cadets escort pretty girls to the parties. The girls and uniforms make killing a pretty thing. Their big party is called the military ball.
Something should be done about the military ball. We could have a party too. We could make it an objection to the Military Ball. Yes, that is a good idea. We shall call it the un-military ball.
Later
Oh, yes . . . and the beasts from the wild shall be led by a child and the lions shall lay down by the lamb . . . oh, yes.
We had the un-military ball. Oh, my. We had the un-military ball as an objection to the military ball. One of the persons at the un-military ball busted another person in the mouth. Said second person has a cracked upper molar. Oh, my.
A newspaper photographer was at the unmilitary ball. The photographer took pictures. He took pictures without asking. Someone threw beer at the photographer. The beer missed the photographer. The beer hit a young lady. The dress of the young lady was soiled. Oh, my.
I worry about my fellow man. Something should be done.
Tom Coffman
Nixon, Lodge Strength Expected in Primary
By Mike Miller
Last week's national political stories were aimed at an event which is occurring today—the New Hampshire presidential primary.
The four Republican candidates who have filed in the primary—Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Sen. Barry Goldwater, Sen. Margaret Chase Smith and Harold Stassen—have been pounding the New Hampshire countryside soliciting support.
TWO MEN who have not filed are expected to receive considerable backing, however. Joseph Alsop wrote last week that even heavy write-in showings by former Vice-President Richard M. Nixon and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge would not allow them to be serious threats for the nomination. He said Nixon's lack of political home base and Lodge's position of viewing the campaign from Saigon would hurt the two.
PUBLIC OPINION polls show that Gov. Nelson Rockefeller has gained considerable strength during the campaign while Goldwater has lost ground badly. Most of the polls suggest that both Nixon and Lodge will get bigger-than-normal write-in votes and that Sen. Smith and Stassen will divide the remaining crumbs.
The primary campaign in New Hampshire sent Ralph McGill's thoughts back to the 1952 New Hampshire primary in which Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio was running against Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In that primary, Taft ran ahead until the larger towns came in for Eisenhower. It was then that "Mr. Conservative" picked up the "Taft Can't Win" tag.
IN RELATING Taft's conservatism to the present-day Republican, McGill wrote, "The strobborn conservatism of Sen. Taft was based on conclusions intelligently reached. His conservatism matched Edmund Burke's definition of that philosophy: 'Show the thing you contend for to be reason; show it to be common sense; show it to be the means of attaining some useful end.'"
Rockefeller has changed his campaign tactics by blasting the Johnson administration's record in dealing with crises around the world. In a special press conference, Rockefeller said he would make foreign policy a major issue in his campaign and charged that the foreign policy of the administration "has been vacillating and contradictory."
IN HIS weekly news conference, President Johnson forecast better economic times ahead for the country. He cited recent reports of
economic gains and hinted at others which he said would be announced next week. He said unemployment is going down, employment is going up, capital investments in new plants and equipment are rising, the price news "is reassuring" and the stock market is hitting new highs. In the foreign field, the President described his communications with Premier Khrushchev as adequate and said he sees no reason for a meeting now.
Roy Roberts, editor of the Kansas City Star, wrote that the only thing that could beat Johnson in November is Johnson himself. Roberts said Johnson "would have to fall on his face and violently—perhaps in the foreign field—if there is to be a November upset."
Johnson in November
A Gallup poll released last week showed how public opinion support often is subject to sharp changes after the initial "honeymoon period" of a President.
Arthur Krock of the New York Times wrote that three events conceivably could divert U.S. voters from voting for Johnson when they go to the polls in November. These are the nomination of Atty. Gen Robert F. Kennedy for vicepresident, retention in the pending equal rights bill of a compulsory federal equal opportunities committee and a recession or galloping inflation in the economy.
THE SPHERE of foreign affairs which might be Johnson's stumbling block was clouded last week. France demanded that Communist China replace Nationalist China as a member of the United Nations World Health Organization. It was the first time any major international body has faced a challenge of the Chinese Nationalist delegation since France recognized Red China Jan. 28. At that time, the United States condemned the action.
Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is in Viet Nam on a fact-finding trip. In a news conference before leaving, McNamara said "there has been evidence that in the last six months North Vietnamese support of the Communist Viet Cong has increased in South Viet Nam.
When he arrived in Saigon, McNamara pledged that the United States will stay in Viet Nam as long as necessary and provide whatever help is needed to beat the Communist guerrillas.
He told a cheering crowd. "There is no question of the United States abandoning Viet Nam. We shall stay for as long as it takes. We
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