Bear with us
"Three hundred hippies"—the description given by a Kansas City television station—marched from the Chi Omega fountain to the Douglas Co. Courthouse Tuesday afternoon, with a pause at Green Hall to hear speeches decrying the trial of the Chicago 10 (or eight, or seven). Blue and red paint was sprayed on the statue of "Uncle Jimmy" Green; a clenched fist was stenciled on its pedestal and on the door, wall and sidewalk of the courthouse; a courthouse window was broken.
The University's public relations staff was probably agast, as was the administration. For that matter, KU students might add a few drops of nervous sweat, too, because many citizens of Kansas and, more ominously, their legislators, are going to take offense.
Those in the hinterlands (meaning, not derogatorily, anywhere outside campus) have seen the accounts of the ROTC and anti-war demonstrations here last year that destroyed State property. Now, what may be the coup de grace for favorable opinion of the student body has been delivered.
The news that reached the cities and towns of Kansas was probably extrapolated by much of its audience to lump the whole University with the 150 marchers (a more accurate estimate) and the individuals who engaged in vandalism.
But the troubled citizens must understand that the members of the University community who have kept tab on the trial are genuinely concerned with an apparent miscarriage of justice and some of them chose to show their concern by marching Tuesday. Only a scant few bore malice.
Banning all marches at KU would appear to be the remedy, yet that would run counter to the principle of free speech. Crowds do not inevitably run amok, as the Vietnam moratorium showed.
Only an open-minded view of these events by Kansas voters and taxpayers and forbearance by politicians, who could snatch the dissent issue for their own gain, will prevent KU from losing more of its already tenuous financial support.
KU cannot retain its substantial academic standing if it doesn't progress; it cannot progress on its present austerity budget. Unfortunately, the overreaction to last spring's demonstrations remains fertile ground for critics of higher education expenditures and new-found student freedom.
Last Tuesday's actions prove disastrous for KU, it is imperative that all Kansans—in and out of government—think twice before judging the entire University by a few of its erring sons.
Iowa Street hazard
—Monroe Dodd
The February 5 auto wreck at 19th and Iowa Streets, which killed a KU student, is grotesque evidence that traffic conditions on Iowa are less than perfect. Whether a stop light at the intersection could have prevented the collision and subsequently fatality is uncertain. Yet it seems that some added traffic control there and at other points could mitigate the danger along Iowa, scene of an average 40 traffic mishaps yearly.
Lawrence City Engineer Leonard Hoover, though, disagrees, saying that substantive relief could only be provided by completely re-designing the thoroughfare. Anticipating the needs of the University's burgeoning west campus, Lawrence has requested help from the federal government for an overhaul, Hoover says. Unfortunately, the city so far has been unsuccessful.
"Iowa Street is a difficult place to add any constructive temporary improvements," he adds. "The State is aware of the problem. If there's anything concrete and reasonable that can be done, the State would approve it."
Most of us are not traffic engineers, but many of us are drivers and, to drivers, Mr. Hoover's sloughing off the question of temporary improvements is inadequate. There are some obvious places for "concrete and reasonable" changes.
Separate left-turn signals should be added to the 15th Street intersection, which is rife with danger for southbound motorists on Iowa attempting to turn left against two oncoming lanes of 45 mph traffic.
Drivers at 9th and Iowa, where grocery stores and service stations abound, find it risky to turn left from any direction. There, too, left-turn signals would be a boon.
Since March 1969, two motorists have been killed at 25th and Iowa. Gibson's Discount Store, service stations and housing developments near the intersection all feed cars on to Iowa, yet the crossing is vaguely marked and has no electronic controls.
At 19th and Iowa, where the February 5 tragedy occurred, the outlook is dim for stop lights of any kind. Hoover feels that additional controls there would decrease right-angle accidents, but lead to more tail-enders. It seems that a flashing light—amber for Iowa Street, red for 19th—would be a good compromise and better warning to drivers.
Hoover says the State wouldn't approve a request for a stop light at 19th and Iowa (The city hasn't even asked for one) because of its being only a three-way intersection. Yet a road which promises to be a major access route for the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration building now enters the crossing opposite 19th; it will add to the need for a safety device.
And other points of Hoover's argument against temporary improvements appear shaky.
"Every September, 15,000 cars are added to the city by students," Hoover says. "Ordinarily, when students are on vacation, the traffic isn't bad. We can't design all streets for twice the usual amount of traffic."
Those 15,000 cars that Hoover claims students bring to Lawrence are here nine months in twelve. Along with Lawrence residents, the students in reality comprise the "usual amount" of drivers on Iowa.
Speed limits on Iowa can't be lowered, Hoover says.
"I've driven 45 mph on Iowa," he explains, "and I think it's safe. Those who violate the limit at 45 mph would violate it at 35 mph also. People would be mad if the speed limit were lowered."
The speed limit does seem safe, unless a driver is trying to turn left against cars traveling at the speed, or is going 45 mph and attempting to avoid left-turning motorists, or must stop suddenly at 15th Street after barreling down the hills north- or southbound.
Besides, those who would violate a 45 mph limit wouldn't necessarily violate it by as much with a 35 mph marking. And people everywhere are mad at speed limits, but that doesn't bar their existence.
Problems of cost and red tape certainly affect Hoover's thought, yet they don't preclude at least partial efforts to solve a predicament which can only become worse with each year.
—Monroe Dodd
Griff & the Unicorn, Copyright, 1970,
University Dally Kansan.
hearing voices—
To the editor;
Chancellor Chalmers recently noted that budget formulas of this University are rather naive (Kansas City Star, February 11). He then added, with perhaps even greater naivety, that recent changes in University decision-making structures will keep our campus quiet and orderly and that students "don't have to worry about finding a job anymore," and are thus more interested in social problems. While we have had a relatively quiet winter and while some students may be overly confident about their future economic and professional security, the concrete possibilities for campus unrest and unemployment or unsuitable employment for University graduates ought not be so casually dismissed.
The insecurities of such a tight job market are not likely to divert this generation of students from vigorous pursuit of general social reform on and off campus, for it is evident that the governmental policies that are generating our social and environmental problems (as well as the financial crisis on campus) are the policies that will eliminate jobs for University graduates. Indeed, such insecurity could politicize the currently apolitical majority of students. It is doubtful that the current "open" University decision-making process would suffice to insure peace and "orderly" behavior on the campus under these conditions.
The U.S. Department of Labor predicts, for example, an oversupply of educators and other professionals within the very near future (the future of our freshman and sophomore classes). Even this year education majors with certain areas of emphasis and doctoral candidates in many of the traditional disciples are experiencing difficulty in securing employment.
Perhaps things will even themselves out. Continued tightening of the University budget will systematically eliminate the poorer student from the University (as the cutbacks in the work-study program have demonstrated) and thus reduce the number of graduates. Those affluent enough to attend the University would then be able to get suitable jobs. And we would have a quiet, secure, idealistic campus.
But the human costs of just letting things work themselves out would be enormous—denial of education to those seeking it, more extensive deterioration of public elementary and secondary education, continuation of inadequate health and welfare programs, and a decline in biological and environmental research at a time when the discovery of knowledge in these areas is crucial to human survival.
It would be most irresponsible for the University administration and the larger University community to spend their energies exclusively on keeping their backyard clean and adequately fertilized with state funds while the rest of the neighborhood rots out.
It would be more appropriate if the University would seek political and financial support not just for the University, but for the whole range of educational, research and welfare programs that are urgently needed, manned by University-trained people, and dependent upon favorable public policies for their support and growth.
It would be most appropriate if the University community would fight aggressively for a sane social order rather than parrying defensively with possibly well-intentioned but certainly unreasonably frightened local legislators.
Mary Kay Cordill Instructor of sociology and Kansas City graduate student
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