Eclectic Union
By GARY PETERSON
Kansan Correspondent
Like all college Union buildings, the Kansas Union should be a place for student recreation and relaxation—the hub of student life. It should be the brick-and-mortar exponent of institutional spirit. But the Kansas Union is neither, in large part because of its undefined and uncoordinated esthetic values.
Since its birth in 1927, five separate sections have been added to the original structure. All of them reveal the designers' apparent preoccupation with conservative economics combined with a tendency toward heroic simplicity.
Profligate student funds have been employed in a half-hearted attempt to make it an artistic edifice. Yet the latest addition, completed last fall, exemplifies the Union's utter failure as an architectural monument.
The financial plight of Kansas' colleges and universities is evidence that adequate funds cannot be obtained for buildings that are pleasing to the eye as well as functional. Witness the original 25-story conception of Wescoe Hall in contrast to the final four-story plans for the structure.
But it does seem that, while pumping $4.6 million into the Union during a 43-year period, someone could have come up with a better
architectural solution to the expansion problem than that which we see today. Much of the responsibility for the appearance of the Union lies with Robert Mann and Co. of Hutchinson, designers of three of the five additions and Charles Marshall, Kansas state architect.
It is difficult to label the Union's architectural style, although individual sections do have certain characteristics which makes labeling them possible, but not feasible.
The original building (the one with the dissimilar cupolas) might be called Late Renaissance, although it was conceived in 1926. A one-story addition to the north side in 1947 might be called Kansas Gothic.
In 1927, construction began on a wing which raised the north side to five stories. A new south wing was thrown in for the $1.5 million bargain. After a great deal of trouble by the planners, the Board of Regents presented KU with the completed wings: a Gothic section to the north and a combination of Modern and Late Renaissance to the south. Increasing enrollment brought pleas for more space at the Union, so in 1959-60 a six-story extension on the west was constructed. High Renaissance architecture was the theme in the architects'
office those years. By the time of the fifth addition, it might have been thought the appearance of the structure was so far gone that, try as the architects might, they could not produce another style of architecture. But they did—$1 million in Romanesque and French Renaissance architecture positioned at the northwest corner.
It seems that the architects' inharmonious efforts followed the concept of "form follows function" at the expense of form. This is clear to many of those who have seen the progression of the Union since its early days. One of these is Tom Yoe, director of the KU News Bureau, who says: "Its massiveness is good, but I won't argue its beauty. Though its appearance is intriguing, the working space came before the outside looks."
With such limited time for the average student to seek a cultural education anyway, it seems a shame to deprive him of at least relaxing in surroundings where he can absorb that culture unconsciously.
The Union's popularity has decreased with respect to the proportional size of the student body since its services first went into operation. Perhaps one reason is an underlying resentment of its appearance. No longer does it attract many dances and similar social functions, or students trying to escape the heat of a midsummer afternoon (it was once the only air-conditioned building on campus).
If there is a justification for the gross absence of proper architectural form in the Union, in the guise of functional qualities, then let this functional totality be examined. Take for example, the two cupolas on the main building roof. According to Frank Burge, Union director, they were for "architectural ornamentation, but seem to serve no other purpose now than to attract pigeons. If you can figure out a way to get rid of the things, I'll buy you a malted-milk."
The best answer to getting rid of the pigeons is to get rid of the cupolas. Another prime example of wasted space is the niche on the southwest corner of the Union. It would seem to be suitable for a statue—or better yet, a baptismal font. But it has never contained anything. It is difficult to determine whether the staircase on the northwest corner of the latest addition was intended to be a functional entry or exit, or a fire escape. If it is an entry, it provides poor access from the ground level of the main building (near the Hawk's Nest). If it is a fire escape for Woodruff Auditorium, the user takes his life in his hands, because the bottom door opens blindly onto the driveway.
The Union appears the way it does now—as the entire KU campus appears the way it does now—because there has never been a master plan adopted for the building design at KU. That the campus has been here a long time and no one could forsee when or where new buildings would be needed is an inadequate excuse. The University of Colorado has been in existence since 1875, nine years after KU was founded, yet architecturally it is a model university because it has always had a master plan and followed it.
The architecture of the buildings should typify KU's unique topography. Accordingly, the Union should have had a distinctive architecture worthy of its setting on The Hill.
Certainly nothing can be done about the Union's present architectural state. The purpose of questioning the reasons behind its appearance is so that, in the future, someone else may question plans for buildings. At this time, three new buildings are planned for KU. What will these look like once they are built and additions made?
BY SOKOLOFF
David Sokoloff 1970
hearing voices—
To the editor:
I am writing this letter in response to that of Mr. Alan L. Moser in the March 9th issue of the UDK. I write for no black student other than myself. In responding, I'd like to go down Mr. Moser's letter pointing out some things I think he—and others like him—should do more thinking about.
He opens by saying that there was a time when the black man "deserved" the right to demand more than he had. By this Mr. Moser implies that the black man no longer deserves this right. I submit that had the black man waited until whites like Mr. Moser thought he deserved his rights, he would still be picking cotton today. If you do not believe me, take a look at the American Indian. He has been waifing. What will he have to do before he deserves the right to demand more than he has now? Turn white?
Mr. Moser then says that blacks have overreacted. Obviously he doesn't know any black history. If he did he would be asking himself in amazement why blacks hadn't risen and burnt this country down by now. God save the country the day blacks decide to dish out EQUALLY the stuff they have been fed all these years.
Moving on to Mr. Moser's questions, he asks how can a group like the BSU expound on moral obligations when, by the printing of "obscenity," they show that they have no moral conscience. Firstly, Mr. Moser, I measure a persons morality by how he acts toward myself and others, and not by how he expresses himself. Secondly, obscenity is relative. Lastly, I am willing to bet that some of the majority's most "moral" leaders use "obscenities." Ask the guy who read Richard Daley's lips at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Mr. Moser then asks, would I like to have my child find a loose Harambee with which to sharpen his reading skill. Well, Mr. Moser, I think I'd rather have my child read a Harambee or a Vortex as opposed to the distorted garbage your type of people have called factual history for hundreds of years. I'd rather have my child take on a few "obscenities" than be swamped by tons of distorted records of his people.
The next question is, "Can you seriously and responsibly justify why non-black girls must compete in a field of hundreds for a pompon position while black girls need only compete among ten or twenty?" Strange. After all these years the white majority is concerned with FAIRNESS. It's most refreshing. Blacks will have to try it one day—once the scales of justice have been balanced to give us an equal footing.
Mr. Moser then asks if he and his peers had confiscated UDK's, would they not have been thrown out of school. I don't know. Mr. Moser will have to ask the Chancellor about that. All I can say is that had black men attacked a bus filled with white children, chances are they would not be on bail today.
Next question: "is there any justifiable reason why non-blacks must adhere strictly to the rules and blacks need not." Outside of being black in this racist country, show me a rule broken by a black man, not broken by a white man.
Concerning the recruitment of black students to this campus. KU now has nearly 800 foreign students enrolled. There are only about 400 black students. Think about it. This situation exists at a university right smack dab in the middle of the United States. I see no reason why this university should not go out and help us reach-at the minimum—the enrollment level of the foreign students.
Lastly, Mr. Moser asks, "Is it not a radically racist attitude when positions on any staff are filled according to their color and not their merits?" I couldn't agree with you more Mr. Moser. Now go back to your white racist employers and construction union officials, and tell them how you and I feel about their practices.
As long as inequities exist—and they do Mr. Moser—civil rights can never be overshot. They can only be undermined
Jerold Kenrick James Jamaica, N.Y., senior
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