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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, March 13, 1963
Arab Unity-Act II
When Syria withdrew from the United Arab Republic only a year and a half ago, the possibility of Arab unity seemed remote indeed. But today the call for unity is louder than ever.
Pro-Nasser military juntas have taken over first in Iraq and now in Syria. Even though Middle East revolutions bear a striking resemblance to a national sport, the fact that two adjoining countries had revolutions in such quick succession and with parallel feelings toward Nasser and Arab unity makes the current situation much more significant than just another day after the big game.
IRAQ IS seeking to form a joint military command with Syria, a move that would be tantamount to outright political union since the military and the government usually can be equated in the Middle East. And the political attitudes that split Egypt and Syria have faded into the background. Union of Egypt, Iraq and Syria would be a logical next step.
However, it should be recalled that the Iraqi revolution originated as a drive against the communists. Arab unity, or more specifically, union with Nasser's Egypt, appears to be more of an afterthought than a motivating force for the Iraqis. It was in Syria where the motivating revolutionary force was pro-Nasserism. If Iraq is to join with Egypt, the union probably will be made through Syria.
With Syria as the middle link in the chain, the problems that split Egypt and Syria in 1961 achieve current significance. Granted, the political climate has changed drastically, but many basic differences remain.
FIRST OF ALL, Egypt and Syria have no common border. And although Iraq is contiguous with Syria, union between these two brings them no closer to a common border with Egypt. Jordan and Israel cut off Egypt from Iraq and Syria.
Jordan might be attracted by the new call for Arab unity, but Israel would have to be taken by force—a task Nasser may be hesitant to tackle after the Israeli sortie into the Sinai peninsula during the last Suez crisis. A united Arab army no doubt could overwhelm the Israelis by sheer force of numbers, but the cost in men and material would be a staggering and perhaps even a death-dealing blow to the Arab economy.
Physical distance is not the only thing that separates Egypt and Syria. Social and economic differences are great.
THE FIERCELY independent nomadic tribesmen that compose most of Syria's population take a condescending view of Egypt's sedentary farmers. Egypt is accustomed to extensive governmental control over the entire economy, but Syria has a long tradition of private enterprise built around the independent merchant.
The odds are heavily against a durable union between Syria and Egypt at this time, just as they were when the United Arab Republic was formed in early 1958. And as the middle link in the Iraq-Syria-Egypt chain, Syria must be strongly united with Egypt if the new nucleus for a united Arab world is to crystallize and survive long enough to expand.
BUT THEN odds are not always the best basis for predicting developments in the Middle East. An old Middle East fable might well be kept in mind.
A scorpion once begged a frog to ferry him across the Nile on its back. At first, the frog refused.
"No," said the frog. "When we are in midstream you will sting me and I will drown."
The two countries are at different stages of political development. Although the military is sitting on top of the Syrian government, the base is still controlled by a feudal aristocracy. Egypt has passed through this stage and developed a firmly entrenched bureaucracy.
"That is illogical," the scorpion replied. "If I sting you, we both will drown."
CONVINCED BY the scorpion's logic, the frog agreed to ferry the scorpion across the Nile. And just as the frog had predicted, the scorpion stung him on the back when they were half way across.
"I told you so," screamed the dying frog. "You've killed us both. What is the logic in that?"
"Who thinks of logic?" said the drowning scorpion. "This is the Middle East."
- Dennis Branstiter
CU Tangled in State Politics
By Roy Miller
Resignations, threats, accusations and barbs are once again bouncing off the Flatiron Mountains that overlook the University of Colorado campus.
Unrest erupted from the Boulder campus last fall when Gary Althen, editor of the school's student newspaper was asked to resign by CU President Quigg Newton.
THE PRESENT stir apparently gained momentum the last week in February when CU's second-ranking official announced his resignation.
Oswald Tippo, provost (chief academic officer) of the university, disclosed that he would leave June 30 to become executive dean in charge of liberal arts colleges and graduate school at New York University.
On the same day, Newton will leave to become president of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, a move he announced last fall.
IT WAS believed that a CU Board of Regents meeting Jan. 19 stimulated Tippo's decision to leave the university. At that meeting, Charles D. Bromley and Dr. Dale M. Atkins, both Denver Republican regents, voted no-confidence in the Newton administration.
In addition to the split among
members of the Board of Regents and the resignations, there reportedly is a conflict between the regents and faculty members on the selection of a new president. A reported cutback in anticipated state funds, which have been used to raise teacher salaries, also may have some bearing.
- "The best academic and administrative people at CU are getting attractive job offers elsewhere all the time. As long as the present uncertainty about the stature of CU's next president—and hence the stature of the university—hovers over the campus, some of those key people are going to accept those attractive offers elsewhere."
And, from what one CU administrator has called "a vacuum of uncertainty," two of the school's leading professors may leave and six other faculty members have asked their dean for recommendations. Numerous other faculty members have talked to university officials about their futures.
Separate sections in the resolution were directed to Newton and Tippo, the next president, the vice-presidents and deans, the Board of Regents, the student body, the citizens of the State of Colorado, and the governor and legislature.
THE DENVER Post urged the Board of Regents and faculty committee to select a new president by June 30. The post gave two reasons for this:
COLORADO GOV. John Love has said that the 1963-64 budget provides for an increase in teacher salaries and has expressed a hope that "an outstanding man to head the university" will be selected "in the near future."
- "The best and most attractive prospects for the CU presidency are likely to be making commitments elsewhere unless the regents are in a position to make their decision before June 30."
The school's Faculty Senate supported Newton in a resolution passed by a 180-27 vote.
A bill has been introduced in the Colorado Legislature which would make municipal Denver University a two-year Denver State College, and possibly a four-year institution sometime in the future. Seven presidents of Colorado's institutions of higher education have endorsed the plans to make DU a state school.
CU's Newton opposes the plan. Instead, he wants DU as CU's Extension Center.
And, to add to this confusion, it appears that Colorado is facing a situation that also is troubling Kansas.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
1. TAKE IT. MISS FARBRY, THAT THIS IS YOUR FIRST
EXPERIENCE POSING AS AN "UNDRAPEL" MODEL?
Letters to the Editor
Capital Punishment
Zeke, I just want to say thanks. On the basis of letters in the Kansas and sentiments expressed by my friends and acquaintances, I might venture that your sickening editorial. "One Mistake is Plenty" (or something like that) has done more to advance the pro-capital punishment cause than a dozen articles in favor of capital punishment could have ever done. If you would just be so kind as to write another similar editorial, we might eliminate the last bit of opposition from those emotional souls who tend to forget the slain and feel sorry for the poor persecuted murderers.
Dennis Jackman Prairie Village senior
C. D.
***
To own a small foreign car is considered by some to be a hallmark of discriminatory taste that demands perforce a visible measure of humility from the less selective. But, unfortunately, the rendering of this proper respect depends heavily upon cultural conditions in the region where one chooses to display his coveted acquisition.
Should it be on the crowded byways of a populous Eastern state where technologically canny natives will gasp in awe of Four Coats of Hand-Rubbed Lacquer? Should it be in a modern but still rough-edged Plains metropolis advanced enough to appreciate Torsion-Bar Suspension? In a torrid Southern suburb that will shudder in delight over the implications of the Radiatorless Rear Engine? Wherever it would be that the rational Beetle would gain deference and proper servility, that place would not be the University of Kansas.
I ask: Is the exit release mechanism of Zone "X" to forever remain a boorish, unwelcoming symbol of tacitly condoned Big Car bias toward the staunch (but vulnerable) little Immigrant? Whatever the
precedent on this campus, know that the gallant little Genie is inherently unsuited to the daily humility of backing muffler-first from its rightful chambers to the coarse howls of the unruly. The caste-like implications of this indignity weigh heavily upon both machine and man. The aroused Spirit of the Black Forest can soon be expected to cry: "Let my Beetles go!"
Let us appease him.
Arthur Harkins
Ottawa graduate student
...
Kansan Criticized
Your reporting of campus events is abominable, not to mention nearly nonexistent. To be specific: On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 26, the University Concert Choir and additional voices joined the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Hans Schwieger, in the Music Hall in Kansas City, Mo. The following afternoon a repeat performance was given in the Plaza Theatre, also in Kansas City. Neither event was so much as mentioned by the University Daily Kansan. Anyone will grant, of course, that Hans Schwieger and Kansas City are not exactly another George Szell and Cleveland, but nevertheless events of this type are of great importance to this University and should have corresponding reportorial coverage in the University newspaper. That such coverage did not appear is strong indication that the UDK is seriously failing its prime duty as an organ of communication and information for the students of the University of Kansas.
In postscript let me add another voice to the rising tide of dissatisfaction with the Kansan's mediocre editorials and opinion articles. The UDK has been going downhill at an unbelievable rate this year.
Carl Scott Zimmerman West Hartford, Conn., graduate student
DailyTransan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Extension 711, news room
Extension 3/8, business once
Telephone VIking 3-2700
Member Inland Daily Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press Represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays, and examination periods. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Managing Editor
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Dennis Branstiter ... Editorial Editor
RUSINFESS DEPARTMENT
Jack Cannon Business Manager