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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1954)
Page 2 Lincoln, Nebraska Tuesday, November 9, 1 954 Editorial Comment John Q. Sucker Senator McCarthy's most recent tactical effort with reference to coming Senate debate on whether or not to censor him seemed to fall into the regular pattern of damn 'em and if you can't damn 'em enough, discredit, 'em. The most recent maneuver, that of predicting a "lynching party" in the making is as old as the campaigner who says, "... and I was beaten before I started to campaign." McCarthy, is simply trying to take the sting out of the blow that seems almost certain to come when the Senate is called into session to discuss the proposed censure movement suggested by the Watkins Committee. McCarthy also follows his standard operation procedure when he hints darkly of forces lined up against him, of plans carefully laid to ruin his illustrious career as defender of the American way. It is surprising that McCarthy has not gone another tep in the damn 'em . . . procedure. Usually, the claim of Communists (one of the several McCarthy-defined categories) follows the other remarks about the opposition, but in this most recent case the prober-supreme hasn't so much as mentioned the color red. Many persons who have followed McCarthy's printer's-ink-stained rise to notoriety have won dered that he didn't give the proposed censure move the serious treatment other anti-McCarthy efforts have received. When interviewed about the censure, McCarthy has seemed concerned, certainly, but not seriously worried. Why is this? Certainly no person with McCarthy's understand ing of public opinion or with his dependence upon favorable opinion by a large number of persons, namely voters, would let any action which might damage his acceptability with the public go by the board without considerable re sistance. To date, McCarthy has shown a marked aptitude at beating down moves which would discredit him with his "public." However, so fas as the censure move is concerned, McCar thy seems to have holstered his really heavy guns and has settled down to sniping on the subject. The fact is that McCarthy has a great and abiding faith in the ignorance of the average American citizen. For those who would debate this statement, look at McCarthy's "modus oper andi" for the last few years. His investigations, for the most part deal with relatively im portant matters which have blown out of any proportion to their actual importance through carefully contrived newspaper releases, inter views, etc. His behavior, that of playing the tough guy in fancy pants alley, or being the get-things-done guy in the stuffy, slow-moving Senate, has appealed to the average man on the street and McCarthy knows it. He knows very well Americans are impatient with due process of law, and seeks to circumvent it at any turn that will make the American public aware he is doing so. More than anything else, McCarthy knows the short memory of the public. As his cohort Cohn put it during the TV marathon hearings, McCarthy doesn't have anything to worry about; he doesn't come up for election for a couple of years and people forget quickly and they love him in Wisconsin. It is high time the average citizen sits up and takes notice of just how completely he is being played, out-guessed and "doped out" by McCarthy. Should the Senate vote to censure him, McCarthy will not lose his seat; he will not lose his powers as a member of upper house in our legislative system; he will main tain position and power. Certainly, a vote for the censure is a difficult step for any senator to take. A senator, when voting to rebuke McCarthy is, in a sense, voting away some of his own individual prestige by admitting that any member of the Senate has been seriously and publicly in error. Individuals with even the most elementary approach to the question to appear on the floor of the Senate Wednesday will realize even the most anti-McCarthy senator will think carefully before voting "yea" to the censure move because this is so. It would be more than regrettable if McCarthy is able to play the public weaknesses into an other successful campaign when he comes up for re-election. The censure, when it comes and it certainly will, should be the beginning of the political end for McCarthy or the American pub lic is the ignorant lout McCarthy takes it for. T. W. Ah, To Be Dumb! So you think you have a private lease on life because you're in the College of Arts and Sci ences? You're learning to think, to control your appetites with a rational mind, to reason out truth, to solve the world's problems? If this is your attitude about your broad liberal arts course, perhaps you need to look be yond those professors and textbooks which you place on a pedestal and revere. Perhaps all that you are learning is to laugh at Teachers College, to doubt that faith that you're parents raised you with and to respect Communism for Russia more than you respect republicanism for the United States. If a student enters liberal arts with a deep faith in his interpretation of the basic principles of right and wrong, he will no doubt survive the disillusionment that all persons do not agree with his interpretation. He will hold fast to his beliefs throughout those lectures which tear them apart. At the same time, his mind and interests will be broadened the purpose of liberal arts because he will learn to listen to the other side of all questions from who wrote the Bible to what is the worth of the capitalistic businessman. But the tragedy exists when almighty liberal arts grabs hold of the wide-eyed student who has , not developed his own philosophy of life. This poor student either has not read enough down-to-earth novels or he simply was never taught to think for himself. He never heard of common sense before he walked into higher learning, and once he has gone through that lofty gate, he is automatically and easily in doctrinated with the great reason and ration ality of whatever professor happens to detect his sad state of credulity. Not only does he be lieve every word of every lecture and book, but he turns into an agnostic who doubts everything that is not spoken by those godly professors and written in those infallible texts. After learning that Plato's mistake was in overlook ing the unpredictable portions of man's mind, passions, and emotions, he turns right around and delves into the study of sociology and psychology, believing them to be pure science full of true theories about how man reacts and why. Liberal arts courses are supposed to turn out thinkers and citizens. Too often a student cannot cope with courses which denounce th? basic principles of a good life. Instead of emerg ing a straight thinker, he walks away from his years of higher learning a psuedo-intellect with lofty ideas that claim the mind to be the only supreme being in this universe and deny the possibility of revelation and insight having any place on earth. Professors like to laugh at the businessman who does not know anything about philosophy, literature and politics. They like to ridicule the pitiful Teachers College students who know how to teach but nothing about what to teach. They feel sorry for the farmer whose only interest is the price of hogs. Some professors even go so far as to say that there is no esthetic value in engineering. Worst of all, of course, is the sad state of the individual who never even gets to college and has nothing in life but movies, television, and prayer meetings on Sunday. This lucky indivi dual never fully realizes what a mess the world is. He is never forced to realize that there is no truth to be discovered by the intellectual. This pitiful creature never enters the broad study of the mistakes of the centuries simply lives by inner faith and an inner knowledge of what is good. And if you care to take a precious moment from your seclusion in the library, you might take a second look at this individual. You might discover that he is a lot better off than you are. He may not have a college degree, but he's happy. M. M. Old Bluenose Rides Again Sunday evening radio listeners probably tuned a program over NBC off their dials the minute they heard the "Del-Rio accent" announcing a speech to be presented by one Sam Morris. It Is for these people this is written. Just who Sam Morris is was not too clear before, during or after the broadcast, but what he said was all too much so. Sam doesn't like alcchol. He called it a "poisonous, damaging, evil, habit forming nar cotic," and spent several minutes telling a nation-wide audience what an awful curse liquor, beer and wine are. In fact, Sam said alcohol is responsible for most of the troubles in which individuals and nations find themselves. Juvenile delinquency, traffic accidents and un successful foreign conferences were all laid at the feet of demon drink with particular empha sis given to the horrors of the well-known Wash ington cocktail party. All these "facts" were presented in a southern draw filled with words like "suspeeeeechous," "Ah'm tellin you," ad nauseum. Throughout the drivel, Sam had the gall to ask all persons listening to the broad cast to write and thank him for his wonderful work. The reply to letters "thanking" him should be rare. The whole verbal mess, whether is was the final realization of a dream by some crackpot or the result of careful planning and effort by a group, v:zs an insult to the listeners' intelli gence. For those who feel Sam's approach was a logical one this Bryan of Del-Rio concluded his astute observations with a quote from another demon chaser who said: "Drinking has done more harm to America than Communism." It is hoped our radio corporations won't be moved by the feeling of giving everyone a chance to have his say or by the love of the mighty buck to let Sam andor his fellow in tellectuals clog up the air with any hookup, na tional or other ever again. T. W. J Jul TfobAaAluuv FIFTY-SECOND YEAR Member: Associated Collegiate Press Intercollegiate Press Representative: National Advertising Service, Incorporated Te Nebraska it published bj students of toe Cat eersttr tt Nebraska as expression of students' news nd pinions eolr. Accordini to Article II of the By-Laws Boveraina stue'enl publications and administered br tb Board of Publications. "II is the desired policy of tbe Board that publications under its turisdictioa shall be free from editorial censorship on the part of the Board, r oa the) part of any member of the faculty of the University, bat the members of the staff of The Nebraska sue personally responsible for what they amy or do or cauM to be printed." Subscription rates are $3 a semester. $2.50 mailed or S3 for the college year, (4 mailed. Single copy 5c. Pub lished three times u week during the school year except vacations and eiamination periods. One issue I published alnrina -Intrust br the University of Nebraska under the supervision of the Committee oa Student Publications. Watered at second class matter at the Post Olfice In lancolB, Nebraska andei an ut Congress. March tf, IM7W and at special rate of postage provided for la Section 1103, Act of Congress of October 8. 191T. authorized September lu, 1922. ' EDITORIAL STAFF Editor. .. Tom Woodward auditorial Page Editor Jan- Harrison Managing Editor Kay Noslty News Editor Marianne Hansen Copy Editor! Bruce BniRmann, Dick Frlliuan, Sam Jensen, Marilyn Mitchell Sports Editor , Howard vana Feature Kditor Grace Harvey Ag Editor Gary Burehfleld Reporters Beverly Deepe, Fred Daly. Joanne Junire. Bans Jeltfcrhtilfl. Roger Henklr, Mary Shellrdy, I.uclerace Swltr.rr. J ere DeVllhtss, Julie Marr. Marcla MleUelson, Barbara Sulli van, Eleanor Flfer, Peggy Volzke. Barb Sharp, orrlne Kkatrom, Fran Belatnrfl, Judy Bout, Lillian Hascoolldee, Annette Nlcas, Connie Hurst, Kuth Kosenqulst. Pat Brown, Laurie Dempster, Kay I.auson, BUSINESS STAFF Business Manager Chet Singer Ass't Business Managers Ben Belmont, Barbara Kicke, George Madsen Andy Huve Circulation Manager . , Kell Miller Night News Ldltor Bruce Brugmann ' Yours For The Taking Education Can Be Practical, Cultural "This is when th' coach ran out on th' field for a few words with the referee." Givin' 'Em Ell Semantic Ping Pong By ELLIE ELLIOTT Periodically during their uni versity careers, certain students feel within themselves a great surge of literary power and cre ative genius. The general type of individuals within whom this de sire swells is classed by its more scientific, literal, earthy counter part in the genera of Intellectua, Pseudo-intellectua, or, more com monly, Peculiaria of Psychopathia. Frequently, a number of indi viduals are inspired at once, and from them we derive the family of Editoria Magizinae Literariae ... the scientists preferring the simple title Aves. Borne on the wings of Phoebus Apollo, they as pire to the heights of literary suc cess: publication. The following stanzas are from "Sophia Trenton: A Moral Poem" by Leonard Bacon. These stanzas seem to suit the subject at hand quite well; they speak for me as I might hesitate to speak for thyself, since I am not com pletely exempt from the above classifications: 'He sent her to the College Magazine With a smart letter to the smart (young) editor, Buttering her verse with oleo margarine. But she had wanted flattery and he fed it her, Till she was happy as a movie queen. Never was debtor gratefullcr to creditor For ten days' grace than she, who now by dint Of her simplicity appeared in print. "And thus she the under graduate poet, And worse, the undergraduate poetess, Self-styled originals who thought to show it In eccentricity of hair and dress. 'Their aim was moderate, but they hit below it.' They loved their lucubrations none the less. And in a downtown tavern once a week They gathered for high discourse on techbique. "Technique! The very word Is like the shriek Of outraged Art. It is the idiot name Given to effort by those who are too weak, Too weary, or too dull to play the game. The mighty have no theory of technique, But leave it to the blind, the hall, the lame, 'Mental noncnmbalants,' and paralytics, Second-story men of letters and small critics." Copped Copy Taking Sociology 53? It Might Help Here How abnormal are you? Neurotic? Psychotic? Mad? Lunatic? Deranged? Sub - nor mal? M'shugge? Or perhaps you are none of these things. PerhaDS you merely feel a bit nervous, tense, jittery, driven, hunted, fenced in, hated by everyone. Take this simple psychological test and find your category. 1. You are tied to a flaming tor pedo heading down a one-way stree', into a TNT arsenal. Sud denly a passerby tells you your mother is slowly sinking Into quicksand somewhere in Louisana where she is vacationing. You would . . . (a) Send a telepathic message to to your father image. (b) Reread Oedipus to see what it says about this. fc) Sublimate. (d) Ask for a transfer. 2. You are hounded by the feel ing that you are constantly being watched. To remedy this, (a) Get rid of that bug-eyed wall paper. (b) Go back to Colorado. (c) Watch back. (d) Stop running around in your underclothes. 3. You are certain that every one connected with UCLA hates your guts. To get even you would . . . (a) Break into Royce Hall at midnight and pour molasses into the organ. (b) Remain obstinately silent at All-U-Sings. (c) Wear a scarlet toupee to foot ball games. (d) Sign Georgi Malenkov's name to your ROTC Loyalty Oath. 4. You are convinced that one of your professors is in reality a dead ct. To prove this you would . . . (a) Bury him in a cat hole. (b) Address him in class as one would a dead cat. (c) Always leave a saucer of dead milk on his desk. (d) Stop worrying and start liv ing. 5? You are late in filing your study list because for four weeks your hand has been caught in the ice-cream machine. The Regis trar won't believe you. You would . . . (a) Leave your frozen hand with him as token of your probity. Kr) Go back to Colorado. (c) Explain that you were actual ly trying to stuff your root er's ticket into the machine in order to ice the fame. (d) Break your engagement with Nina. How to score: Give yourself one point for ev ery one you checked and zero points for every one you didn't. If you scored as high as one point, you are a dangerous ax murder er. If you bothered to take the test at all, you are a raving ma niac. If you even read this article, there is little hope for you. If you wrote it, there's no hope at all. (This article 1 reprinted from the Ne braska Alumnus for October, 1054. It is a speech delivered by Chancellor Clifford M. Hardin at the Faculty Homecoming Dinner, Sept. 28.) I have had three months to be gin the job of getting acquainted on our campuses and with the people of Nebraska. I have had the opportunity to meet with Al umni groups, with business and professional people, and with some of our agricultural folks. I have told all of them without exception that I believe the heart and soul of any successful university is its faculty. I have told them that we have a good faculty here at the Usiversity of Nebraska, and I have told them that this is a good university, a great institution. A university, too, is a living thing. The state of its health is determined to a considerable de gree by the effectiveness of its teachers. I do not have a portrait of the good teacher. To the best , of my knowledge, there is no prototype. The important com mon denominator is that in the minds of the good teacher the student becomes a more thought ful, a more capable, a more re sponsible person than he previous ly was. The progress of the stu dent within the framework of his capacities is, to a great ex tent, a reflection of the progress of the teacher. On this basic point there has never been much disagreement or confusion. The collisions occur when we attempt to define what we mean by the progress of the student. The great debate that has continued through the ages sways back and forth between the need on one hand for co-called "practical education" and, on the other, for so-called "cultural edu cation." The Biblical admonition that man does not live by bread alone is involved in that debate. Teachers through the years have been beset by the conflict of the voices. '.Our own University of Nebras ka is itself a product of an altered concept of higher education. It is a Land-Grant University. For tunately for us, the purpose of this University is clearly set forth. We need spend no time con sidering whether, this institution belongs to cultural or practical education. That decision was made eighty years ago. It belongs to both. It has a dual responsibility. We are charged with attending both the cultural and the prac tical needs of the people we serve. If ever young people of compe tence come to this institution and leave it only as automatons, pro nounced skilled in some technical pursuit, but wholly unprepared to appreciate or accept their respon sibilities as citizens and human beings, we will not have complet ed our task. If they leave equip ped only to live but with no notion of how to stay alive, then, too, we will have failed to complete our appointed task. This is no small or static as signment that we have. It involves faithfulness to certain great be liefs, such as the doctrines of mor ality and virtue, and, at the same time, a recognition that ours is a changing world with new needs to serve. Surely, none of us here this evening would hold back, if we could, the scientific and tech nological developments that are taking place all about us. Nor would we choke off the technical instruction which young people will need to use and expand the advance. At the same time, how ever, we know that every person with a useful place in our society now has numerous responsibili ties. He has an economic respon sibility to himself and to his fam ily but he must also be able to communicate with logic and clar ity with his fellow men. He must understand fields of knowledge beyond his own sphere or stand mute and isolated in the company of others. Certainly he has cause to determine what is good, and just, and right. And in America, at least, he must be prepared to compare for his own good values of our present democratic society with other ideologies and systems, for without such preparation he will be unprotected in the intellec tual and moral storms which drive against our world today. The more we contemplate the task of higher education, the more sobering and complex it appears to become. Within the span of our own years we have seen a new responsibility for world lead ership shifted to our nation. We are all aware now that the full and useful life in America today and tomorrow involves a new and understanding and international leadership. Our American ability in world leadership in fields be yond the economic pale is already being sorely tested and will be still more. Reluctant though we may be to trust our efforts and to trust the young men and young women whom our efforts influence in such an endeavor, the fact remains that the American teach er has that assignment. As good teachers we have no choice but to do dur best. The full weight of this assign ment falls more directly, perhaps on the shoulders of the Land Grant universities and colleges than upon any other segment of American higher education. We cannot disclaim the responsibility for helping to provide the deep cultural understanding today's stuu dent will need tomorrow, nor can we shrug off as a secular, and hence inconsequential task, the job of getting him the practical knowledge he will need to be of use in tomorrow's technological world. The very authority which launched the Land-Grant system serve it to attend the needs of of what, for want of a more ap propriate term, we have come to call the whole man." The continuing support that our public universities receive comes because people want thier children to benefit from our teaching and want to benefit themselves from our research and services. It comes because we have to some degree, at least, fulfilled cer tain needs. To fill these needs, higher education in America has had to have the courage to change. Change for the sake of change, of course, stems more from care lessness than from courage. We all recognize that change and progress are not synonymous. The best devices that we in higher ed ucation can use to detect the dif ferences are our academic stan dards. Regardless of pressures and criticisms, regardless of winds and wail, we must insit upon the maintenance of our standards of quality, for without a depth of scholarship, the teacher is- a fake and his course is likely a collec tion of claptrap. If we in higher education do not protect our own standards we will stand twice guilty: guilty of betraying our selves and guilty of betraying tomorrow's teachers who also walk in our commencement lines. Universities are being asked, and will be asked more forcefully, to deepen their efforts in the field of fundamental research. It is a trend which can be of great bene fit to us as teachers as well as to other facets of our society. It is means work . . . work not only in the laboratory but in obtaining fi nancial support. The upward curve in the num ber of graduate students tells as that our graduate program will need more attention. A little more than 20 years ago less than S per rent of our modest national college student population was made up of graduate students. Today the figure is 10 per cent and the total student population is, of course, much larger. We need to remember that a university, such as ours, is an in stitution which by its very na ture must deal with diverse opin ions and a wide variety of sub jects. It is a place where men and women who have trained long in specialized fields are brought together for a common good. A university is a place where much is said about toler ance and understanding and re sponsibility. Here, if anywhere should people of different back grounds and minds be able to work together as colleagues, each respecting the other's view. Here at the University of Ne braska we have a heritage of re spect and openmindedness of leadership and scholarship. 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