KANSAN COMMENT
Whose turn...
By TOM SLAUGHTER
Kansan Staff Writer
At times of fundamental social change, such as the era in which we live, it is easy to be deceived by the encrush of events, beguiled by the craving for social stability into mistaking transitory phenomena for enduring reality. . . . The initiative, and the future rest with those whites and blacks who have liberated themselves from the master/slave syndrome. And these are to be found mainly among the youth.
Eldridge Cleaver in "Soul On Ice"
In microcosm, blacks at KU are being liberated from just the syndrome Cleaver mentioned in one of his letters from prison.
Blacks at KU have taken the initiative.
Earlier this year, the BSU presented to the Chancellor a list of "demands." In essence, those demands pushed for greater representation of blacks in all areas of the University community.
The University replied with a blanket refusal on the grounds that the deadlines outlined by the BSU, especially those for faculty representation, were impossible to meet in the specified time.
The BSU, shunning the too-often empty rhetoric of the streets, simply made it clear that any subsequent action on their part would be sub rosa.
The requests were taken where they belonged—behind the scenes. Since then, gains have been made in the hiring of black faculty and administrators, thanks largely to the intelligent action of the BSU.
The blacks have left the empty arena of token cheerleaders and black homecoming queens for the real seat of equality and meaningful and extensive representation in all facets of the University community.
At this moment a schism separates the sympathizers and the scoffers. The BSU, sensing the others' indifference and sometimes overt hostility directed at their methods and position, realizes that for the time being it is their fight and theirs alone.
In an effort to integrate themselves into the
local black community, in a positive bent, the BSU in recent months has laid the groundwork for a breakfast program for black school children. The effort has met temporary frustration, something not unfamiliar to the BSU, because of a scarcity of funds. It should be added that several of the friendly downtown merchants reportedly have refused to accept purchase vouchers from the BSU.
The BSU has organized a big-brother program for young blacks, again hoping to steer the university blacks toward a contributing role in the local black community.
At the request of blacks at Lawrence High School, where harassment of black girls by bands of white boys is not uncommon, several KU blacks have lent their support to the black high school students. For his appearance at the high school, John Spearman Jr. was arrested for trespassing on the grounds of the institution from which he graduated.
Despite pleas from several parents and many of the Lawrence clergy, to drop the charges against Spearman, the school board will not rescind its decision. It will have the blacks' goat.
The BSU had to take the initiative.
In his farewell speech to the new Student Senate Wednesday night, David Awbey said that one of the vital issues facing the new Senate was how it met and coped with the problems of the blacks at KU and in Lawrence.
The problems Awbrey mentioned constitute a gap separating concerned blacks and whites on campus. The gap can still be bridged. But time is short. The BSU will remain a powerful force with or without the support of the white University community. Rampant polarization of the two communities could become reality, unless a determined path towards unification is met with responsible reconciliation.
The whites in the University community must take the initiative.
It is their turn.
We shall have our manhood. We shall have it or the earth will be leveled by our attempts to gain it.
Eldridge Cleaver in "Soul On Ice"
Draft change ahead
The Selective Service System, a ponderous vehicle created, polished, then allowed to rust by the 30-year reign of Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, is on the way to some much-needed reform.
New Draft Director Curtis B. Tarr says he intends to establish guidelines to make the system more uniform nationwide, to change the composition of boards so that they better reflect the attitudes of youth and minority groups, and to begin a monthly "national call" to eliminate the discrepancies in callups from board to board.
Tarr has also confirmed that he will, in effect,
be working himself out of a job as President
Tarr, like many others, understands that the "little groups of neighbors" concept—basis for the local boards system—has actually created an apparatus which can interpret a single set of rules in a multitude of ways. Draft board members, who meet only once a month and depend on the board clerk for information, admit that they are not exactly sure how to do their job.
And the draft lottery itself is under suspicion. After initial government statements that men having numbers above 244 would be relatively invulnerable to the draft, it was soon found that some local boards had a dearth of men in the low number bracket and had to reach high in the lottery to fill their quotas.
Nixon moves toward an all-volunteer Army. The volunteer force is several years and several billions of dollars away and a dispute rages over the feasibility of such an Army if it were ever implemented. Too, Nixon has set no definite time for the move to a voluntary force.
Yet the movement is away from the conscription system that has for so long angered the nation's youth.
One reform which college men will not accept gladly is Nixon's proposal to Congress to remove undergraduate deferments. Alarmists may say that the President is attempting to stifle campus dissent by drafting those who question his policies. But the fact that one draft age man is, by virtue of money or intellect, able to escape what his peer cannot make arguments against removal of college deferments seem rather hypocritical.
Besides, the all- or nearly all-volunteer Army may well be a fact by the time Congress allows the President to abolish college deferments.
For a while, at least, conscription in the United States will continue. As long as our involvement in Vietnam continues to diminish, however, and until we are entrenched in any new wars, Selective Service will steadily lose its raison d'etre.
Monroe Dodd
$ \textcircled{C} $ David Sokoloff 1570
'I can't make it tonight, Marge, I gotta go to a peace rally'
hearing voices—
To the editor:
After reading the article on the Air Force Academy in the April 15 issue of the Kansan, two thoughts come to my mind. Either Mr. Smith's only experience with the Honor Code was to make a bigger liar out of him, or the author of the article has a penchant for distortion of the facts. I get the feeling that Mr. Smith is trying to discredit the Academy to cover up for his inability to cut the mustard.
In the first place, cadets do not get $220 per month. They only get half a 2nd Lt.'s pay or $194 per month, most of which goes to pay for books, uniforms, meals, etc. A free education? Maybe so—money-wise. But four years of blood, sweat, and tears and generally doing without is another price tag few people see.
Twenty-two majors? Wrong again. There are twenty-eight majors offered as diverse as those found in most civilian schools.
Most instructors are not Academy grads, either. The majority have graduated from civilian colleges.
The minimum allowable grade average is 2.00 on a 4 pt. scale, not a 3 pt. scale, and most of the cadets do not make "B's." Only about twenty of the 91 cadets in my squadron are on the Dean's list (B average).
Mr. Smith says that he graduated in the top 1% of his high school class. I graduated 50th in a class of about 400. I received an appointment to the Academy because I was recruited for the Rifle Team, not because of my academic performance in high school, yet I stayed and Mr. Smith left. Why?
Mr. Smith says it took him from one and a half to two hours daily to clean his room and prepare his uniform. Most doolies can do it in 30 minutes.
I contend that, since Mr. Smith obviously has more potential than myself, it is primarily a matter of self-motivation (something Mr. Smith say is impossible to develop here).
I grew up in Leavenworth and, had I not come to the Academy, would be at KU now. Because of this, and obviously because I am a cadet, I am concerned that the Kansan would print such an obviously biased and slanderous article. I hope that you will print my letter to help correct some of the gross inaccuracies in the article.
The Academy is tough. It has to be to accomplish it's stated goals. I make no apologies for the training that goes on here. None are necessary.
I regret that Mr. Smith has become embittered by his experiences here. However, I suggest that the fault lies in his own personality and not with the Academy.
Brian Vorhees
c/3c, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo.
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