KANSAN COMMENT
Everybody talks about the cops
Cop, flatfoot, fuzz, pig—they all mean policeman. A policeman is the one man we see almost every day who represents the "establishment." Day and night he is on a stake-out to catch those who break the "establishment's" laws.
A policeman has power. As he walks his beat or drives his patrol car, he must interpret the laws and bring in those people who defy his interpretation. He carries a gun on his hip and more guns in his car. He can use these deadly weapons to enforce the law. A policeman has the power to represent those in power.
In spite of these responsibilities, almost anyone can become a policeman. With no more than a high school education, he will interpret laws written by lawyers. He may have strong prejudices, but he will shoot to kill when he thinks it is necessary. Any police force can stand vast improvement and police administrators will be the first to admit it.
There was a time when police work attracted its share of college graduates. That is not the case today. Policemen are overworked and underpaid. Often the ones who take the job are the ones who can find nothing else. When you have little to offer, you get little in return.
Few people will go through 16 or more years of education to walk a beat. Recently someone has been trying to convince college graduates that they should.
David Durk is a graduate of Amherst and a candidate for Ph.D. in public administration and sociology at New York University. He is also a sergeant in the New York City Police
Department. He is on leave from the Department to recruit on college campuses. His department has given him no official backing, he is working on a grant from the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, a branch of the Justice Department. So far 200 college men have agreed to take tests for the New York police force.
Durk does not try to fool his listeners. He tells them exactly what it will be like.
It won't be luxury and good times but it will be a chance to become involved. There won't be changes overnight but a recruit might feel he is personally doing some good and that changes will come.
The New Left has much to say about "pigs" but its members have not done much to change the situation. They talk change but they do not make it happen. Durk is a man of action not talk. He saw something that needed to be changed and now he is working to change it.
Durk may not get to KU with his recruiting, but there are few people here that do not know of a police force that could be improved by the addition of a few college graduates.
You can march, carry signs and yell "Pig!" You can throw bottles and bricks. You can read horrifying accounts of police brutality. You can snicker at a fat, red-necked cop. But until you are willing to work within the system, until you are willing to take the responsibility and authority of a policeman, it will be just talk—empty talk.
—Mike Rieke
Sorel's News Service
Tyrant for a Democratic Society
CAN THO, VIETNAM—President Nguyen van Thieu said his fondest wish is to take part in an anti-war demonstration in the United States. "I'm anti-war, too," said Thieu. "The thing the demonstrators seem to miss, however, is knowing the difference between who is waging the war and who is trying to defend democracy and freedom."
Hunger
"Lord, when did we see you hungry?"—Matt, 25:37
I was hungry and you circled the moon.
I was hungry and you told me to wait.
I was hungry and you set up a commission.
I was hungry and you talked about bootstraps.
I was hungry and you told me I shouldn't be.
I was hungry and you had napalm bills to pay.
I was hungry and you said, "Machines do that kind of work now."
I was hungry and you said,
"The poor will always be with us."
I was hungry and you said,
"Law and order first."
I was hungry and you blamed it on the Communists.
I was hungry and you said,
"We don't hire over 35."
I was hungry and you said,
"So were my ancestors."
I was hungry and you said,
"God bless those . . ."
I was hungry and you said,
"Sorry, try again tomorrow."
I am hungry.
Courtesy of National Register Co.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
An All-American college newspaper
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Kansas Telephone Numbers
Newsroom—UN 4-3464
Business Office—UN 4-4358
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester, $10 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
NEWS STAFF
News Adviser . . . James W. Murray
Managing Editor ... Ken Peterson
Campus Editor ... Ted Iliff
News Editor ... Donna Shrader
Editorial Editors ... Joc Naas, Monroe Dodd, Mike Riele
Sports Editors ... Bruce Carnahan, Steve Shaver
Makeup Editors ... Charlie Cape, George Wilkens
Wire Editor ... Ken Cummins
Women's Page Editors ... Linda Loyd, Carolyn Bowers
Arts and Sciences Editors ... Genelelle Richards, Rich Geary
Assistant Campus Editors ... Wendy Wilkers, Nila Walker
Assistant News Editors ... Cass Sexson, Robin Stewart
Photographers ... Ron Bishop, Bruce Bernstein, Randy Leffellwang
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Adviser . . . Mel Adams
Business Manager Jerry Bottenfield
Assistant Business Manager Mike Banks
Advertising Managers Larry Cates, Joanne Bos
National Advertising Manager Oscar Bassinson
Classified Manager Shelley Bray
Promotion Manager Jim Huggins
Service Manager John Lastox
Member Associated Collegiate Press
REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING BY National Educational Advertising Services A DIVISION OF READER'S DIGEST SALES & SERVICES, INC. '360 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017