KANSAN COMMENT
Weeding riffraff
"Home of the brave/Land of the free/I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeois."—Leadbelly
Everyone must have a shelter—a place where he feels safe and protected. A place he can expect to be treated well—home territory—where he is never an outcast.
Leadbelly found out early in his life that America was not his shelter, in spite of its many platitudes about freedom. It hurts, you know, to find out you're not respected in your own home.
For the past couple of years, Lawrence has been my shelter. The people of Lawrence have been exposed to many kinds of people and many styles of dress, and as a result they are not easily upset by the unorthodox appearance of many KU students.
I feel free to walk down the streets of Lawrence without being hassled just because I have long hair. And I can go into most of the restaurants, bars and stores and expect to receive the same service as anyone else.
It's not the same everywhere. In Kansas City, just 40 miles away, there is a totally different atmosphere and I can expect almost any kind of treatment. There have been times when I've been angered by incidents in Kansas City, but I've always relaxed when I got back to Lawrence. In Lawrence I feel at ease—and I feel free. I don't expect to be mistreated.
That is why I got a surprise when I went to Yuks the other night. Yuks is an establishment that has been taking most of its income from the pockets of college students. It's a nightclub geared to young tastes—rock bands,
dancing and beer. And it's located within the boundaries of our shelter.
But, you know, when I got to the door of the Yuk Down (the place where you dance) the manager was there to tell me I couldn't come in. They have a new dress code, he said, and my long hair made me unacceptable. He said the policy was formulated by the owner.
I asked the man how short my hair had to be before it would be acceptable. He replied that if he thought it was too long then it was too long —very logical.
I then asked him if the dress code had any other restrictions. "I don't think that's any of your business," he answered.
When I asked about the reasoning behind the new code I got the same response. So I left and went around to the entrance of the Yuk Up (the place where you shoot pool). The manager of Yuk Up didn't want me in there either. And like his counterpart downstairs, he didn't feel obligated to give me an explanation.
Since that night I have talked to five other students who got the same treatment. Perhaps this type of discrimination is not serious, but is discrimination all the same.
But what makes this policy repulsive is that some rich capitalist is sitting at home dictating fashion to KU students. He's become fat from sucking in our coins and now he can afford to tell us how to cut our hair.
Most of KU's students don't have long hair, but most of them have no qualms about associating with us riffraff.
And I think most of them will resent this invasion of our shelter by some business man's hypocritical dress code.
—Joe Naas
hearing voices—
To the editor:
There were a few points left unclear in the Feb. 19 issue of the Kansan on what our committee (Teacher/Course Evaluation) is trying to do.
First of all, we are not circulating any petitions. The petitions referred to in the article are the educational petitions that a student must use in the various schools and colleges to change the pattern of his education—to ask for a special major, to change a
Sorel's News Service
Don't judge a book by its cover-up
HARTFORD—Senator Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut, who was censured by the Senate for diverting political funds to his private use, has announced his candidacy for a third term. Senator Dodd declared that his campaign for re-election to the Senate "will be based on my record of more than 15 years in the Congress of the United States. That record is an open book."
This, in fact, is our main point; students must let their schools know what they (students) think about the educational structure—not just about requirements that are not needed, but about all aspects involved in learning.
requirement, etc. These must be picked up in the offices of the various colleges.
Secondly, various groups working on educational change, as was stated, do not have a central organization for exchange of information. We are attempting to be that office, to coordinate these groups. To do this, information on what students feel and think about educational change, must be sent not only to the officials of their schools, but should also be sent to our office.
In order to help in any way we can, we too must hear from students and faculty on changes they want.
For example, a thousand petitions and letters would help all of us understand the scope of the problems. These can only come from the students who want change, and they must write them to achieve change.
George Laughead Dodge City junior
Alphabet soup and maybe an avocado
By MIKE SHEARER Editorial Page Editor
Strong words, an occasional tsk-tsk, a haughtily delivered speech—all have become trademarks of the fraudulent Nixon administration.
Last week, Walter J. Hickel scolded Chevron for its responsibility in spreading another one of those monstrous, life-killing oil slicks across a coastline. This time, the slick was off the Louisiana coast and will cover a wider area than the Santa Barbara slick and be more devastating.
After Chevron admitted that it had not taken the required precautions to prevent the disastrous choking of the sea, Hickel responded with a typical Nixon administration statement—to let the public know that such travesties should not be tolerated.
Hickel said, "This never should have happened."
That's rotten. Walter J. Hickel and his phony boss are just the people to put a stop to pollution, and yet they choose to make their meager "pooh poohs" and let industry continue to lay claim to those valuable resources which should belong to living and breathing individuals. The air and water which has been so molested by these dirty old men disguised as America-loving businessmen must be returned to the people; further tsk-tsking by Hickel and Nixon's other do-nothings is intolerable.
The solution? Part of the solution lies in the punishment given to these dirty old men. Why should a long haired kid get a sentence for polluting his bedroom with burning pet smoke while unrepentant polluters of the air and water (and there isn't a respectable scientist around who wouldn't have to call these major pollution contributors murderers) get fines which fit easily into the company budget?
Where are all of these law and order phonies when the law is being broken by fat, wealthy and unconcerned industry leaders? Why all of the lynch mob chants when the crime is committed by a distitute and oppressed individual? And why all of the sickening silence when the crime is of such far reaching magnitude and is being committed by Andrew Carnegie's followers?
The truth is America has yet to realize the fact that uncontrolled business is not the "American way" unless the "American way" is to strangle the source of life and then life itself in a frenzied pursuit of MONEY! If that is the "American way" then perhaps the more extreme radicals who insist that the "American way" must be changed drastically—and soon—are right and must be heeded.
The prosecution of the Florida Power & Light Co. near Biscayne, Fla., is ridiculously appropriate for the Nixon administration. Everyone, by now, has drawn together the fact that Nixon is prosecuting a Biscayne corporation with the fact that Nixon's home is on Bascayne bay. The question seems to be, "When will that ecologist in the White House be concerned with the destruction of the environment when it is choking us peons?"
In the meantime, most of us (including, I guess, those people who came forward in the latest national opinion poll—a clear majority—to say that integration was moving too fast—shades of centuries past!) will continue to be placated by the fact that Nixon and Hickel are continuing to tsk-tsk at the crimes of big business.
Some of us, on the other hand, are looking for leadership which will grit its teeth and attack that most sacred of American sacred cows—free enterprise and big business.
Some of us believe Mr. Nixon's Mr. Hickel could do more than tsk-tsk.
Some of us believe that the air ain't the only thing that smells rotten in the state of America.
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