KANSAN COMMENT
From other campuses
Gov. Kirk's schools
From The FLORIDA ALLIGATOR University of Florida
Gov. Claude Kirk is well on his way to becoming Florida's version of Pontius Pilate.
When Kirk started his pursuit of the fear-hate vote, he was merely amusing. With the sword of state sovereignty in one hand and the shield of executive immunity in the other, we were entertained as Mighty Claudius salled forth against desegregation.
Indeed, at one point he said he was teaching Florida children respect for the Supreme Court as he ostensibly defied it.
But the tune changed early last week when Kirk suspended the Manatee County school board after that board attempted to implement court-ordered desegregation guidelines. Claude Kirk is no longer funny, he is dangerous.
Kirk is dangerous for this reason: his actions are adding to the growing alienation of the black and white communities. The day is gone, furthermore, when the black community can be expected to be passive in the face of calculated insults.
In addition, irrational members of the white community can be certain to take Kirk's actions as a cue to sound the war tocsin. His irresponsible actions could easily be greeted with riders in the night, cross burnings, mob action and other violent expressions endemic to the South
Of course, Kirk has no expectations of over-
ruling the U.S. District Court of Judge Ben Krentzman. Hopefully, no one can ascend to Krentzman's position without understanding the principles of American Federalism.
He is, to be sure, fully aware that even a Justice Department led by John Mitchell could not allow Kirk's blatant disregard for legal process.
Instead, Kirk hopes a federal marshall will be forced to order him from the schoolhouse door, in the most grandiose George Wallace tradition.
His efforts are a simple ploy, designed for simple minds, that will garner him enough votes to insure his reelection. If, in the process, he is elevated from flamboyant politician to folk hero, he will not object.
We hope Kirk can deliver a rational desegregation policy to Florida, and soon. If not, he should be prepared to take responsibility for any tragic results of his actions. He will not be allowed to shrug his shoulders and plead innocence during a racial war.
As Pontius found, blood stains hands—indelibly.
(Editor's note: Kirk said in a televised statement Sunday that he would allow Manatee County school officials to implement the desegregation plan. Kirk's action came after Krentzman threatened to fine him $10,000 a day for blocking the integration plan.)
hearing voices—
To the editor:
I have written you because I have nowhere else to turn. They say the power of the press can work wonders.
I am 21 years old. I was a student at KU in 1967. While there I received traffic tickets because I couldn't move my car out of a now restricted zone. I couldn't move it because I was laid up in the campus hospital due to an injury. I received $94 worth of traffic tickets. I didn't know anyone at the campus so I couldn't get anyone to move it.
My dormitory counselor told me I wouldn't have to pay the tickets and not to worry about it. I didn't. I should have. Later that year after I had to leave the campus, a notice came for me to appear in campus court.
Campus court doesn't use a jury. Three students sit on the bench, similar to the tribunals used in Eastern Europe.
I could not appear as again I was hospitalized. They held the trial without me and decided I was guilty. I was mad. I respectfully refused to pay the fine. I have been barred from the University for over two years. Last year, I applied again for admission, was accepted and then about two weeks before classes started they again banned me until the tickets would be paid.
They said they will also withhold my records from any potential employer.
I wrote to my Congressman but he said he was a federal representative and could not be involved in a local matter. I am also drafting a letter to Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The Kennedys have always tried to help my generation.
I believe it would be not only unjust to pay these tickets but also immoral. It would be like paying blackmail.
I have been pressured about the tickets. I have been told that principles are not that important. That it is only important to get an education and that I should pay.
But I believe principles ARE important, and education should preserve principles, not destroy them. Have we not sacrificed 40,000 lives in Vietnam for principles?
They wonder why students riot. I feel like rioting and I don't even wear long hair or a beard.
Thomas Shadoin
806 Edgemere, Olathe
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To the editor:
I offer my heartiest congratulations to the Student Union Activities Minorities Opinion Forum for hiring Abbie Hoffman to speak at KU. What a wonderful job of pimping! They succeeded in screwing 7,000 people for more than an hour and fifteen minutes. Think of it, more than an hour of verbal intercourse for less than 22 cents per person.
Suzy Leary
Stockton senior
Letters to the editor should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Students must provide their name, year in school and home town; faculty and staff must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
Letters policy
SOKOLOFF
$ \textcircled{C} $ David Sokoloff 1970
'Atta boy, Claude. They never really get a governor for contempt of court.'
Washington window
Hope for returnees
By GEORGE J. MARDER
WASHINGTON (UPI)—The government is about to start a new program aimed at breaking a chain of ignorance which returns poorly educated veterans to ghettos they left for service in Vietnam.
Studies find that unless the veterans from hard-core ghettos go back to school, they will end up just about where they started, with little or no prospects for better jobs than before their military service.
Studies by the Senate Labor Committee also turned up what was described as disappointingly low use of educational provisions of the GI Bill of Rights. A much lower proportion of Vietnam veterans has been applying for college benefits than veterans of the Korean War or World War II.
One reason was presumed to have been the level of educational benefits paid by the government during a time of soaring college costs. A single veteran going to college got an allowance of only $130 a month to pay for tuition, books and living costs.
President Nixon proposed increasing the monthly allowance from the basic $130 a month to $147 a month. The House figured that wasn't enough and boosted it to $165, later to $170.
The Senate, however, felt the same level of help should be given to Vietnam veterans that Korean and World War II veterans received and voted for a basic allowance of $190. The ensuing stalemate was finally broken in a House-Senate conference committee, which compromised on a $175 figure.
Caught up in the stalemate—and part of it—was the program aimed at school dropouts.
The Senate adopted three amendments, sponsored by Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., which created considerable opposition in the House. They provided:
- That the Veterans Administration seek out school dropouts and encourage and counsel them to resume their education.
- That pre-discharge refresher or remedial courses be offered such servicemen, with the government paying as much as $175 a month special tuition costs.
- That special $50-a-month tutoring allowances be provided veterans in college who might be on the point of failing because of poor preparation, or who need special courses to graduate.
The three amendments survived House opposition and were included—in only slightly altered form—in the final bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the President.
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