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University Daily Kansan
Friday, Feb. 21, 1964
TV Debate
TV or not TV, that is the question President Lyndon Johnson must be asking himself these days. Should he throw his support behind the concept of radio and television debates such as those which pitted John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon in 1960, or should he avoid direct confrontation with his Republican opponent in this year's election campaign?
Although Congress yet has to approve fully the conditions necessary for such debates, there is general agreement in Washington that passage would come quickly should the proper phone call be placed from the White House.
The issue revolves around a section of the Communications Act of 1934 which states that if any broadcaster permits a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use his facilities, he must afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office for the use of his station. This means that, in the last Presidential election, had the law not been suspended by Congress, the more than six parties running candidates (Democrats, Republicans, Socialist Labor, Prohibition, National State's Rights, Socialist Workers, etc.) would have been in a position to demand legally equal time to that used by Kennedy and Nixon.
President Kennedy had said he would debate his opponent in 1964, and was pushing to get the present bill through Congress prior to his death
In June of 1963, the House agreed to a similar suspension of the law for this year's election by a vote of 263-126. Kansas Republican Representative William H. Avery, a member of the Rules Committee, helped bring the measure to the floor for a vote. Avery urged his Republican associates to consider that while President Kennedy credited his joint broadcast appearances with Mr. Nixon as crucial to his 1960 victory, a Republican candidate would find such appearances with the Democratic incumbent equally advantageous this year.
A similar piece of legislation passed the Senate in just 90 seconds last October without any opposition. The only important difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill involves the length of the suspension. The Senate approved a 60-day suspension ending the day before the election. The House, which okayed its bill before the Democrats had decided to hold their national convention late in August, passed a 75-day suspension.
To date, President Johnson has not expressed
himself publicly on whether he would appear with an opponent. He is obviously not as effective a showman as was his predecessor. Also, he has avoided televised news conferences. However, he may not be the only candidate with an aversion to electronic journalism.
Barry Goldwater, seeking the GOP presidential nomination, said on a recent Jack Paar program that if he were President, he would not debate his opponent.
Rumor has it that President Johnson favors two plans over direct confrontation with the Republican candidate. One would pose the vice-presidential candidates in debate, thus reducing the chance that a tense world situation might be precipitated by a slip of the tongue. The other would provide each candidate with equal but separate appearances. There would be no face-to-face debates.
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, another GOP contender, has said he would debate if he were the nominee.
Possibly the rumor is false. Maybe President Johnson is simply waiting to be nominated before he makes any definite statement on the subject. But the 4-month Congressional delay is another matter. It seems to be due to what a broadcast trade magazine this week calls "personal political motives," an indirect reference to the President himself.
The debates of 1960 were praised as a revolutionary method of informing the nation of the qualifications and beliefs of those running for the most important job in the world. Many feel that television will some day make it possible to reduce the length, and thus the rigors and over attentions to pure politics, which have hurt election systems in the past.
Should the American people be denied the opportunity to hear and see their Presidential candidates in the most intimate and thoughtprovoking situation technology can provide? Is it fair to allow fear of projecting a bad image to crowd out the informational needs of our nearly 200 million citizens?
Wouldn't it be furthering the ideals of democratic government "of the people, by the people, for the people," if that busy phone in the Oval Room of the White House was connected just a moment or two with that of the proper Congressman in order to get the 1964 radio-TV Presidential debates rolling toward reality?
from the morgue
In spring of 1943, the Men's Student Council united with the Women's Self Governing Association and formed the All Student Council.
The decision to create the new All Student Council was taken after the proposed constitution for a unicameral system of government was passed by the majority voting of the whole student body.
As the proposed bill in the constitution, the unificameral government provided for the election by proportional representation from districts of 16 school representatives, 10 group representatives, and two freshmen.
Members of the new ASC were formally installed by Vernon McKale, former president of MSC, after a joint banquet with members of the former men's and women's student councils.
The new ASC went into action soon after installation and elected the following executive members: Peggy Davis, College junior, president; Jill Peck, College junior, representative-at-large; Clarence Engle, College junior, secretary; and Reed Whetstone, Engineering junior, treasurer.
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The main business of the Council consisted of revising of the old WSGA and MSC bills and drawing up new bills of its own. The nine bills passed during the summer were on legislative procedure, elections to the Council, parking on the campus, creating a permanent archive in Watson Library for all University publications and documents, smoking on the campus, judiciary procedure, provision for Council keys, committees to the Council, and the election of class officers and freshman representatives to the Council.
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A smoking committee was established by the ASC to help Smoking Secret Service whose job was to keep the University buildings from being razed by careless smokers and firebugs.
The members of SSS were appointed by the smoking committee' of the ASC. Nobody knew the identity of smoking cops, who haunted the halls of class buildings for fire offenders. Those who violated the fine rules were given tickets by the cops and were required to be present before the Student Court on a special date and time.
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Western Civ
Students resent it because the course is time-consuming and the majority of the discussion groups are unstimulating. Because the comprehensive is scheduled near final week, many students feel their time should be employed in other subjects.
Cursing the Western Civ test has become fair sport in every area of the University where the test is required.
Others sidestep the test for a year or two because they don't need the credits and don't want the grade. Many leave only one or two hours in their schedule for a course that demands at least four hours study a week each semester.
The tragedy comes when the senior finds he has forgotten all, flunks the test, and is not allowed to graduate without this requirement.
One sophomore physics major determined he would study hard and get everything possible out of Western Civ. He made an A in Western Civ, but flunked every other major course he was enrolled in.
It is easy to be fooled by that one hour a week discussion period and to schedule a full load of class hours on top of it. Then, to the dismay of the freshman or sophomore, he takes the comprehensive and finds himself with six hours of mediocre or poor grade points.
For this reason, a large number of students postpone the test. Procrastination becomes a habit, and many find themselves desperately cramming the night before the last Western Civ test offered during their senior year.
Granted, the course has its good points. No person should leave a university without some knowledge of the philosophies and writings which underlie most of the institutions and systems of government which exist today.
If the purpose of education is the transmission of culture, the Western Civ program is valuable. If the University places enough value on the program to refuse a degree after four years without completion of the Western Civ requirement, why does it not strengthen the program?
Western Civ readings provide an opportunity for the student to go to the primary sources and read many of the original works which he will study in political science, American history, government, psychology and sociology courses.
Some students leave the hill after four years of study without that all-important diploma because they couldn't spare the time, discipline and patience it takes to study Western Civ.
And while we are castigating the Western Civilization program, let's not forget the discussion leaders.
These are usually graduate students. They come from all parts of the University. Their fields of study run the gamut from philosophy to music history.
Some have not read all of the readings themselves. Many act as weekly interrogators, quizzing students over trivial incidents to determine whether or not the student has done the readings rather than pointing out philosophical trends and the significance of the work. Others prop back in their chairs and observe while the students take turns in leading weekly discussions.
Before the Western Civ program at KU can have any real significance, the discussion leaders will have to be more thoroughly versed in the contents of the course, the students will have to study rather than just read Western Civ. These studies must be preceded by a history course to put them into perspective.
No university could refuse to grant a diploma to an otherwise good student who neglected such trivia. Rose Ellen Osborne