Senate Rapped By Northrop
F. S. C. Northrop, a professor of philosophy and law at Yale University, yesterday termed the United States Senate the "undemocratic branch of democratic government."
Prof. Northrop spoke on American political and legal structure in a speech at the Humanities series last night.
"A LITTLE BIT OF Rhode Island, a little bit of Delaware, count as much as New York with its 11 million people, as big Texas and as much as populous California," he said.
Professor Northrop, comparing the U.S. system of government with the British system, said the British system is easy to distinguish because the executive and legislative branches stand for the same thing.
BUT IN THE UNITED STATES, Prof. Northrop explained, the executive, legislative and even judicial branches may take a different stand on an issue.
The Yale professor pointed out that the executive branch in the British system has no veto over the legislative branch. The
executive is either supported by a majority in the legislative branch or he is voted out of office.
Related story page 12
"Now in the American system, there has always been a President who has vetoed a majority of the legislative proposals," Prof. Northrop said.
"The founding fathers," he added, "created a system of checks and balances. Look at the extreme they went to."
EVEN IF THE AMERICAN executive and legislative branches agree on legislation, he said, "nobody knows if that's going to be the law until a case is brought before the U.S. Supreme Court."
Prof. Northrop said the governing powers are separated in the U.S. Constitution because of the regional differences in the early states.
"American legislature of one cameral like the House of Commons will work in a community that is relatively homogeneous in its populations." he said.
"If our system were based on a majority view, the danger would be that the states with different customs would be in constant conflict." he added.
PROF. NORTHROP, who is the author of 10 books, last year received a $10,000 prize award from the American Council of Learned Societies in recognition of "distinguished accomplishment in humanistic scholarship."
In 1958, Prof. Northrop was the United States representative to a Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) conference in Bangkok.
In evaluation of the legal systems, Northrop said, "I think it is one of the unfortunate tragedies of democracy that the new constitutions being set up in India and African nations today are based on the British, rather than American system."
Wednesday, April 24, 1963
He said the Declaration of Independence is based on the Lockeian principle that everyone is born free.
"I THINK THERE IS hope that India can make its liberal democracy a visable one."
"Now how can that be a true proposition," he asked. "Jefferson was a professionally and technically trained lawyer. And Jefferson knew he was writing not a document in biological matter, but in political and legal science. And in that, it is a true proposition."
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Daily hansan
60th Year, No. 127
Muller, an anthropology major, will compete in the National Amy Loveman Book Contest for a $1,000 prize. The national competition is sponsored by the Saturday Review. and the Book of the Month Club.
Applications Ready For ASC Committees
Judges of the KU contest were Jack Vincent, Topeka businessman and book collector; Mrs. Calvin VanderWerf, wife of the chairman of the chemistry department; and Joseph Rubinstein, special collections librarian and assistant professor of bibliography at KU.
Applications for All Student Council committee positions will be available tomorrow, Reuben McCornack. Abilene junior and newly elected student body president, said.
Applications may be obtained from living group presidents, the Dean of Students office, the ASC office, political party presidents and ASC members.
THEY MUST BE turned in by May 1 to the Dean of Students office, the ASC office or political party presidents. McCornack said the applicants will be interviewed.
The library sponsors the contest to encourage student book collecting. Forth said there were 21 entries and seven finalists chosen.
The second place prize of $50 went to Carl Stephen Long, Mission junior, for his collection on national defense, disarmament, and peace organizations.
Committee positions available are as follows:
Contest results were announced today by Stuart Forth, associate director of the library. The contest, named in honor of Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor of Kansas City, is sponsored by the library.
"We had unusually good collections this year for a book contest limited to undergraduates," Forth said.
Jon Muller, Salina senior, won the $100 first prize in the annual Taylor Book Contest with his collection of books on archaeology and ethnography (distribution of races) of the Great Plains.
Archaeology Books Win Library Prize
- Public Relations Committee — (12-14 members) Works to publicize the ASC and its function and acts as a liaison between the ASC and various student organizations.
- Statewide Activities Committee — (unlimited membership) Works to spread information about KU throughout the state.
- Housing Committee — (Six members) Works to provide adequate housing for university students.
- Student Health Commission (Five members) Maintains liaison with Watkins Hospital.
- Publications Committee — Coordinates the organization of various campus publications.
- Social Committee - (Three members) Supervises all social affairs on campus and enforces social regulations.
- Disciplinary Committee — (Three student members selected each semester) Jurisdiction over violations of ASC constitution and other University regulations.
- Traditions Committee - (Four members) Promotes school spirit, coordinates activities of pep clubs and supervises the cheerleading staff.
- Union Operations Board (Five members) Works with the Kansas Union and Student Union Activities.
- Convocations and Lectures Committee — (Three members) Organizes and sponsors convocations.
- Calendar Committee — (Three members) Works with the University Senate in setting up the University calendar.
- Film Series Committee (Three members) Approves and schedules films shown on campus.
- Commencement Committee — (Three members) Organizes and directs commencement.
- Human Rights Council — (Five members) Studies problems involving personal liberty and human rights.
- Secretarial Committee — (Six members) Assists the ASC secretary and student body president.
- Student Liaison Committee — (Four to 12 members) Maintains liaison with the city and state government, advising them on matters concerning KU students.
- Current Events Committee
(Five members) Works to bring campus speakers and films on contemporary issues to the University.
- Campus Chest — Acts as a central collection agency on the campus for various charitable and health organizations.
- Peace Corps Committee — (chairman and vice-president appointed) Coordinates local and national Peace Corps programs.
- Student Court - (Five to seven members) Jurisdiction over violations of ASC constitution and any cases arising among students or student groups. The Student Court has final decision in all matters of interpretation of legislation of the ASC.
- World University Service Coordinates international activities of various campus organizations and carries out ASC programs in the area of international affairs.
- Traffic and Safety Committee—(Four members) Works with the campus police and acts as a tribunal for students seeking relief from University parking tickets.
- Orientation Committee — Organizes the student orientation program.
- Three secretarial positions are also available. Applications may be obtained for secretary in the following departments;
- Department of Student Welfare, which includes the Housing Committee and Student Health Commission.
- Department of Public Relations, which includes the Public Relations Committee and the Statewide Activities Committee.
- Department of Student Activities, which includes the Publications Committee, the Social Committee and the Traditions Committee.
Weather
Skies will be partly cloudy tonight and Thursday. Thunderstorms will be widely scattered over the state tonight and in the east portion of Kansas Thursday.
Warmer temperatures are expected tonight and Thursday. The low tonight will be from 45 to 50 in the northwest and to the middle 50's in the southeast. The high Thursday will be in the 70's.
Pachacamac's Feuding Factions Create Vox, UP
(First in a series)
By Ralph Gage
Vox Populi and University Party, KU's two current political parties, are relative newcomers on the campus political scene.
Although Vox has existed since 1957, and UP since 1960, both still have far to go to match the longevity record of the party which spawned them.
Pachacamac Party, known to alumni as the "Black Masks," ruled KU politics for 28 years, and during that time it practically dictated KU's extracurricular happenings.
PACHACAMAC WAS composed of all the Greek houses and won 22 elections in its lifetime—the equivalent of 44 victories today, because at that time only one election was held each year. The current system of electing All Student Council members from living groups in fall elections and ASC representatives from academic districts in spring elections was inaugurated in the fall of 1960.
During its existence, Pachacamac was opposed by many lesser parties. None were very successful, until FACTS appeared in late 1952. FACT'S' rise sparked a controversy which caused a split in the Pachaeamac ranks, ultimately sounding the death knell for the "Black Masks" as a political organization.
FACTS' RISE robbed Pachacmac of patronage for the party faithful, causing dissention among the houses over the number of appointments and offices they were receiving.
That suggestion caused an uproar, since Pachacamac, as a thoroughly Greek organization, could not support the idea of incorporating Independents. The two factions of the party split in 1854.
Some of the Pachacamac followers felt the party's continued success could be achieved best by incorporating Independent students in the party, rather than trying to win their votes or nullify their strength.
A MAJORITY OF the houses allied themselves with several independent groups, forming AGI (Allied Greek-Independent party.)
The other faction reorganized into POGO, the Party of Greek Organizations. Although POGO also sought Independent support, it collapsed in the spring of 1956
after suffering two consecutive defeats.
The remnants of POGO were reorganized into Vox Populi, whose formation was announced in October, 1557. "The purpose of Vox is to give the Independents a choice when they vote in the future," Jim Austin, the party's first president said.
VOX WON ONLY a single seat in its first election, but in April, 1558, swept 17 of 24 ASC seats, in addition to winning the race for student body president with a write-in candidate.
AGI was finished. It had apparently become too large to satisfy its houses, and a few of them joined the Vox bandwagon in hopes of better patronage rewards.
This support gave Vox the strength to defeat AGI again in the spring of 1959. In that election Vox won 20 of 26 ASC seats, and the student body presidency. AGI then disbanded and Vox was unopposed by any political organization until UP petitioned the ASC for recognition in May, 1969. The party held its first official meeting in October of that year.
THE PARTY'S initial platform
announced that UP had been formed because Vox Populi, during its reign as KU's only political party, had been "unfaithful in serving the students . . . and because there was a great deal which Vox had left undone."
In the fall elections of 1960—the first fall elections in KU's history—UP trimmed Vox ten to six and established itself as a first-rate political organization.
By the fall of 1961, both parties, direct descendants of Pachacamac's feuding factions, had firmly established themselves in the sphere of campus politics.
Some of the planks show significant recognition of the students' problems, as well as an understanding of the extent of the ASC's abilities.
AT TIMES, BOTH parties have worked toward the same ends. Their platforms indicate, however, they have differing opinions about what is needed and wanted by KU students.
The first Vox platform to appear on the campus contained only two planks with any merit. One called for investigation and correction of the housing problem plaguing independent students. The other dealt with ASC committee appointments, their basis and who should have the power to make them.
THE SECOND VOX platform to appear was a little better, although it repeated several policy statements inserted as planks in the first platform.
JIM AUSTIN, Vox's candidate for student council president in the spring of 1959, announced his stand on nine matters he considered important issues.
The most significant of these was a call for all schools to have a voting representative on the ASC. He also called for an investigation of the Student Health Service.
Austin's stands apparently were favored by the student body. He led the Vox sweep of the election which put AGI out of existence.
UP'S FIRST PLATFORM, presented in the fall of 1960, called for the University to clarify rules and regulations regarding social and disciplinary matters. Vox had a similar plank.
UP and Vox both supported amendments advocating separate ASC representation for large and small dormitories. Vox initiated this action in the spring of 1960.
(Continued on page 12)