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THE NEBRASKAN
Tuesday, April 3, 1956
Nsbraskan Editorials:
ForarJ A Stronger Council
Both tht Interfraternity Council and the inde
pendent governing bodies are in the process of
drawing up slates for the forthcoming Student
Council elections.
Tht IFC bad extremely good fortune with
their slate last year, as all but one of their
candidates was elected to the Council. The
independents did not fare well at all when run
ning against an IFC-backed candidate.
This was due partly to a lack of interest and
organization on the part of the independents,
and partly to the great support IFC-backed can
didates received from fraternity men. Also,
the independent candidates themselves may not
hav been strong enough.
This year, the independent slate committees
are faced with the same problem they faced last
year that of breaking the hold that fraternity
candidates have maintained on Student Council
positions for the last several years.
In this year's elections, the independent slate
will have the advantage of a year's experience,
and better organization. Their only real problem
is that of finding freshman and' sophomore
candidates that are strong enough and active
enough to win a Council seat, no matter who
their opposition is, or how well organized.
The main trouble with a strong IFC slate ver
sus a strong independent slate is that the elec
tions will be reduced to a competition, with
fraternity men voting their slate, and independ
ents voting theirs. This, however, would be better
than fraternity men voting an IFC slate, and
no one else voting at all.
Whether or not independent candidates win
more Council seats this year than in the past,
or even present a stronger slate, indications are
that independent strength on this campus Will
be stronger in years to come.
Additional dormitories and better dorm or
ganization make this fact almost certain.
Thus, the task befoi the independent slate
committee is to provide strong candidates. This
would mean more independent representation
on the main campus governing body, and more
independent interest in the internal workings of
their University.
It might even mean a stronger and more
effective Student Council. This is the important
thing. F.T.D.
Stronger Links
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick Bibler
WATCH YOUR TALK THAT'S ONE PSYC MAJOR WHO
, STOPS TO ANALYZE ANYTHING YOU SAY.
n
lLDd
Year Culminated
LA By Election Time
It's that election time of year
again. The culmination of a year's
worth of good will and busy-ness
is April and May, when organiza
tions, honoraries, and officers pick
their new successors.
The Student Council should be
active this month, as a show piece
for aspirants. The Mortar Boards
and Innocents won't have to wear
their jackets to attract attention
this month; the Junior rabble will
scatter out of their way like chick
ens before a Mack truck.
Brothers and sisjers that hated
each other throughout the year
will become amiable and easy-going
when house offices are at stake.
In short, gentleman, sheath your
dagger or you'll never get in the
monastery.
Of course, some people won't
get in anyway. And many of those
people will be beaten out by those
less qualified than they. This is,
Interfraternity Council officers for the coming
year might do well to look at the task before
them with a little uncertainty and a great deal
cf determination.
Although tht University enrollment is grad
ually increasing, men participating in Rush
Week and men pledging fraternities is on the
decrease. Several 'fraternities, if their fortunes
do not improve, will not be on the University
campus in five years.
A noticeable trend that is appearing on the
horizon is more extensive control and regulation
of fraternities by the University administration.
Building plans call for more University hous
ing for men in addition to the Selleck Quad
rangle. Another development the size of the
Quad might possibly cut the University frater
nity population by a third.
Behind this year's junior class there is a rather
obvious void among fraternity men participating
in campus activities, publications and student
government. While some fraternities may scoff
at the activity man, this individual keeps the
fraternity in contact with the administration and
also represents the Greek system in campus
life.
More strength is needed by the IFC in its
control over individual fraternities if it is to be
what it is supposed to be a governing body for
fraternities. A sort of "states rights" tendency
is developing among several members of the
IFC. Viewing past discussions and debate on the
IFC floor, it seems entirely possible that in the
forseeable future, dissenting fraternities might
oppose IFC rulings. This dissent, in the past, has
taken the form of undercover opposition such as
illegal initiations and disregard of rushing rules.
Newly elected officers of the IFC and new
fraternity officers should realize that it is quite
possible in a few years that fraternities could be
fighting for their existence. If this is the case,
the fraternity system must be made of strong
links and stronger links not of weak and crum
bling metal forged into several unjoined chains.
-S.J.
It Happens Every Year
The 44th annual Engineers Week will be held
on the University Campus the last week in April.
This event, or rather series of events, occurs
every year about the same time, and involves
the same part of the University curriculum.
But each year it deserves notice, not only be
cause of the fine examples of engineering and
science it presents to the public, but because it
is one of the better University-sponsored activi
ties available to people off the campus.
The parts of E-Week most interesting to
someone outside the College of Engineering are
the exhibits offered by each of the engineering
schools.
High school science teachers send their students
to the campus to observe these various bits of
modern science. Even the disinterested taxpayer
in and around Lincoln finds time to drop around
and see what his University is doing with all
the money it gets.
Of course, E-Week offers other phases, perhaps
not as interesting to the average person, but
.pretty exciting to the engineer. These include
lectures, awards, a picnic and the annual Engi
neers Ball.
E-Week is perhaps the only concentrated ac
tivity on this campus that is not an "activity"
in the ordinary sense of the word.
The students who run the show are not usually
those prominent on the campus activity scene.
The students working on the various committees
care little for activity points or worker hours.
The whole show is put on as a community
project, purely by the College of Engineering
and Architecture, to be presented to the cam
pus and the general public as an example of
what the College is doing.
There will probably be no Mortar Boards
masked or Innocents tackled as a direct result
of Engineering Week. There will be no quick
shuffling of activity points, or frantic scrambling
to get one person or another "ahead" in this
activity.
There will, however, be the 44th annual Engi
neers Week. This in itself is good for the engi
neers, and for the whole University F.T.D.
1 vo-
The Challenge
fEd'i Note:) Today's Challenge eelumn
wee specially antherited la The Ne
braakaa br Waller Allea. British nerel
let, literary critic and radio commen
tator. At present he la a Tlaltinc profeo
aor of English at Coe Collefe, Cedar
Raplda, la. He waa a visiting lecturer
In Enflish at Iowa UnlTeralty la 1935.
Education in England has been
universal and compulsory since
1870. Until 1944 the lowest age
at which it was possible for a child
to leave school was 14; it is now
15. But, much more than in the
United States, the English educa
tional system is, as it were, two
tiered. There is the state system of edu
cation, which is in fact organized
and administered by local authori
ties, and there are the "public"
schools, which are not public at all
but essentially private, since nor
mally to send a child to one of
them depends upon the parent's
ability to pay pretty heavy fees.
There is the clue to the 'English
public schools. The mid-nineteenth
century saw the great rise of in
dustrialism in England; and the
public schools came into existence
then in order to turn the sons
of new-rich manufacturers into
gentlemen. Another way of stating
the same thing is to say that their
job was to absorb the sons of the
new rich into the ruling class. In
other words, the business of the
British public schools has always
been to produce an elite.
In 1944, R. A. Butler,' who was
minister of education in Church
ill's wartime government, which
consisted of Conservative and La
bor ministers in about equal pro
portions, introduced his education
act into parliament.
This guaranteed universal and
free secondary education for all
children. Until then, only primary
or elementary education had been
universal and free.
Parents see the difference be-
LLtrU
Intellectuals
'old World!
From The Editor's Desk
iiallenge' Concerns
Industrial Wealth
By Bruce Brogmaaa
Editor
The "Challenge" article Writ
ten by Howard E. Bowen, presi
dent of Grinnell College, which
was published in the March 24
Nebraskan, pointed up eloquent
ly the real challenge present in
our society today.
Bowes said that ... the
tlSmato needs of our time is
for artists, poets and philoeo
f Iters who wiU stop merely con
Jemiag tor modern Industrial
cociety and will show as ln
stead bow to translate our
wealth into values worth achiev
ing." "America," be continues,
3must not only ask the ques
tion: How can we produce
Iflore? but also, the question:
Production for what"
. This is not only an important
session but a real challenge.
la otber words, the job is not
mlf to raise the standards of
living but also to raise the
standards of life.
Today, science, industrial
know-how and inventive genius
have placed before the Ameri
can public the greatest collec
tion of material goods and ser- television In our homes ....
vices any civilization has ever We all share in America's
seen- great wealth the wealth pro-
Not only do we enjoy the duced by the industrial society
radio, the telephone, television, which has so often been criti-
automobiles, penicillin, radar, cized by contemporary educa-
airplanes, etc. but we stand at tors, philosophers, poets, writers
the threshold of a new miracle and artists.
world that of atomic research.
But with the constant produc
tion of these many conveniences
and comforts, life has become
more complex, peace more dif
ficult, the human heart more
troubled and the soul of man
kind more restless-
Undoubtedly, we have im
proved the means; but unfortun
ately, we have not improved
the end.
But it is not the wealth itself
which is harmful. This indus
trial wealth is but the natural
outgrouth of scientific research
and technological development
in a competitive economy.
Instead, it is the use to which
this great wealth is put that
determines the quality of our
lives and our society and, as
such, it is the use of wealth
not the wealth itself that
We have better ways of get- should be examined for criti-
ting somewhere, but we have cism-
no better places to go. Production, industry, scienti-
We can save more time, but fic knowledge, technology-all
we have no better uses for the the symbols of the American
By LEN SCHROPFER
Although I hate to deviate from
the inobtrusive medium which I
had chosen for myself, I have de
cided that perhaps "dear Mother"
is not quite flexible enough to
meet certain exigencies.
It's a pity that the foundations
of the Bridey Murphy case have
been shivered, for then the God
dess of Journalism might be able
to lay claim to a previous exist
ence as Jeanne d'Arc and-or
George Sand.
As it is, she really has only
two alternatives to avoid being
eternally humiliated at the thought
of her mediocre alma mater: She
may pull a coup d'etat and take
over the editorship of the Rag,
staffing it with her many apostles,
or she may seek out the sanctity
of a foreign land in true Byronic
fashion.
What formidable ramparts this
intellectual world has thrown up
around itself to keep out the poor
bewildered masses of our wretch
ed University community! Let's
see, we've got a good share of
them vanquished already, d o n 't
we?
Some are little-minded because
they presume to find out what
they can not possibly know in the
first place, others are damned for
having their pictures in the Corn
husker more than once. No one
has really beat the drum against
the mediocrity of smoking for a
long time; anyone care to volun
teer? Why don't they all just go back
The Parvenu
home and take up the plough once
more? There are a few truly pro
ductive people around; these will
fulfill the cultural obligations with
which a university is charged.
Perhaps they could raze the Un
ion, the Coliseum, and Selleck
Quadrangle, and take up residence
in the bell tower, after converting
it to a facsimile of Mount Olympus.
Then they could erect a high wall
around the campus aid cover it
with surrealistic murals. What fun
it is to mold the world!
Miss Elliot, your ending was
rather weak; you might have said
something like this: (in the words
of our immortal Joan) "What I
am, I will not denounce. What I
have done, I will not deny." Here's
my hankie 'freshly laundered,
by the way, wipe the blood from
your fevered brow, clutch your
spear, and charge again.
fEde. Nate:) Joha Heeckt, Aria and
Rcleneea atudent and a political ecience
major. Is the newest Nebraskaa eohimn
Ist. Ma column en International affaire
and world politico will appear regularly
la The Nebraskan.
time that we save.
In short, we have made pro
gress, but progress toward
what?
We have money ... we are
well housed . . we wear the
latest in clothing ... we ride
in automobiles ... we have the
newest gadgets ... we watch
By JOHN HEECKT
It is interesting to note that
tKAVdk hoi Kaan vn.nm-.t U i f t iU
i,l , ,1 . i nao uccu a i event aim in uic
r T ' a . a doctrine of the Communist Party.
Ctlif s3TA-l O fJ than A a unnJ (a I
sidered as they are used to at
tain fundamental human values.
The challenge today is for
our men of letters to stop criti
cizing the natural progress of
an industrial society but to
"show us instead how to trans
late our wealth into values
worth achieving."
The Nebraskan
fTFTT'FTVB TEARS OLD ,
Member: Associated Collegiate Press
Intercollegiate Press
fterwesiatiTet National Advertising Service,
Incorporated
FL'il4 ti Room 20, Student Union
14th k R
, UftSverslty of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
fa tt published Taesdey, Wednesday and
yVuap .- '-if toe echooC rear, except fnrlnf vacation!
v a ex. period, and i fa Is pubMahed dnrtnf
ACet njf raM of the linlrerelfiy of Nebraska under
.t-tfi'na of the Committee) en Student Affairs
a e- -toa of student opinion. Pnbilratlans under
( jut - roB ef the Subcommittee en Student Publl
t '- !"svl r free from editorial eeaaorahip oa the
1-el tm PBlKseamnltteev or oa the part of any member
f? e f?M-nT? of the I. nlvrsly, or oa the part of any
f"' mk" ttm l-nrerty. The mrmbm of the
drwM .ff pre BwrtMMWiijr iwpontiMe lor whtt they
pay, or do or eanae to he printed. Kenrory 8, ltM
Kntered as second elaea matter at the post effke In
Lincoln. Nebraska, under the art of Aorait i. lilt.
EDITORIAL STAFF
E, Broee ftrarmarm
Kdltorlal Pare Editor feed Daly
Manat-lnc fcdlto Sam Jenaea
TiTJor dudy Boat
Sporta i Editor Max Kreltmaa
Copy Editors Bob Cook, Arlene Hrebk, Bark Sharp,
, Lnelf raue Swltaer
Night News Editor Luelrrace Swttrey
A Editor ... Wilfred schuta
Nebrakaa staff writers Mary
Shelledy, Arlene Hrbek, Cynthia Zarhaa, Walt Blore.
Reporters; Linda lnry. Bob Ireland, Pat Tatroe, Mancy
nelson, Marianne Thyresnn, Kara Alexander, Pat
Drake, Plana Raymond. Alyee Frltehmaa, Bob Win,
Oeorta Moer and Dick Falconer.
BUSINESS STAFF
inxlnoas Menace Oeorre Madaen
Aas't Bualness Manarere Mick Neff, BUI Redwefl,
Coaols Hunt. Don Berk
C Ire niation Mjuaar ........ . Kichard Headrtx
New Policy
Communists Repudiate
Old Leader's Doctrines
Not only have the blasts against
Stalin been most embarrassing for
some of the pro-Stalin Communists
of importance, (such as was the
case with Malenkov during his visit
to England), but the complete re
versal of the Communist doctrine
will undoubtedly serve to confuse
if not to alienate the leaders of
the Communist Satellite countries,
and the leaders of the Communist
Party in non-Communist countries.
This group has been reared in
the tradition of a set doctrine; and
to find it suddenly changed by the
Russian leaders should- serve to
prove to many of them, and their
followers, that the. Communist ide
ology is nothing more than a tool
of the Russian leaders to serve
Russian national ends.
This change may incite thought
to the effect that instead of work
ing for a world society they (the
non-Russian Communist leaders)
have been mere pawns in a game
of Russian Nationalism, such as
were the Nazis of Germany and
the Fascists of Italy in the past.
Should the United States take
full advantage of this situation, we
may find the threat of Communism
a much less powerful force in the
future.
Regardless of whether we do or
do not, the farce of World Com
munism is being laid bare k to the
world as nothing more that Rus
sian Imperialism.
This shift, in effect, repudiates the
doctrines of the great Communist
leaders from Marx to Stalin, and
serves to condemn the policies and
preachings of these individuals as
the basis of the Communist ideo
logy. This change has apparently been
produced by the present Commu
nist leaders in an attempt to alter
The Portfolio
their doctrine from the old line of
Western incompatability to one of
mutual co-existence.
One reason for this may possibly
be that the Russians are finding
a great degree of merit in using
the American-style economic ap
proach to the Cold War rather than
their old stand-by of oppression
through fear.
Though the new policy may serve
to produce further gains of this
type, it is believed that the Rus
sians will have good cause to won
der about its feasibility.
tween the two kinds of school as
the difference between the sheep
and the goats. And the division
takes place, as a result of exam
ination and intelligence tests com
bined, at the age of 11.
The division need not be sacro
sanct; but that is partly a matter
of luck or geography, which can
be the same thing. Mr. Butler's act,
which in principle everyone in
England applauds, was made law
at an economically unfortunate
time. To fulfill it, required far
more teachers than were available
and a program of school building
beyond the resources of the coun
try; the result has been in many
cases, that the secondary modern
school turns out to be the old ele
mentary, primary school under a
new name.
It is true that considerably few
er boys and girls in Britain go to
a university than in America;
yet comparison between the two
countries is difficult. As Professor
Kneller says: "In a sense, the first
year and possibly the second year
student in a British university may
be more nearly compared with a
third-year student in an American
college, with certain added char
acteristics of the American gradu
ate schoool, particularly as re
gards individual responsibility for
scholarly production." The stan
dard, in other words, at the age of
leaving the secondary school seems
to be higher.
Amidst all this, the public schools
which, as I said earlier, are es
sentially private, remain supreme.
Theoretically in a semi-socialist
England in which the range of in
come is rapidly shrinking, they
ought to have disappeared. In fact,
they boom as never before. The
solution of fne paradox is simple.
They have the weight of tradition
behind them, so much so that it
seems certain that whoever is
prime minister, Conservative or
Labor, he will be a public school
man. They set the pattern, the
tone, for the rest of the educational
system. And they still manage to
provide a bigger ration of teach
ers to students than the state
schools. As long as all that ob
tains, middle-class men will mort
gage themselves to send their chil
dren to them.
of course, the way the old ball
bounces (as Plato used to say), but
it is rather frustrating and anger
ing.
Along this line, most eyes will be
on the Innocents Society, whom,
I hear, picks their successors one
of these days. This is the society,
you know, about which all under
classmen are reverent and uneasy,
and about which all seniors are
indifferent or bitter.
Underclassmen are uneasy be
cause you never know when soma
hooded fellow of the scarlet-and-scream
will knock you down and
ruin your Ivy Day.
It will be interesting again this
year to notice whose Ivy Days are
ruined. Innocents has occasionally
been guilty (don't say I said this)
of a little prejudice and blindness
in a few of their selections over
the years.
I wonder if this will be another
year when they sent a few knowing
individual away from the campus
green muttering, "It stinks."
And sometimes it does. Although
no one is exactly sure what the
Innocents does do, we are led to
understand that it is an honorary
for the campus leaders in each
year's class. This sounds laudable
enough, and generally it comes
true; most of the Innocents are the
leaders in activities at the Univer
sity. But each year's selection is
ruined, and every man selected put
in question somewhat, when cer.
tain recognized campus leaders
are left out. The cause of this is
usually fraternity conflicts, per
sdhal dislike, or the fact that the
candidate's house wasn't repre
sented with an Innocent before
him.
Each year, it seems, a leader or
two gets knifed in "a deal" and
maybe some second-stringers are
put in. Recent examples of campus
leaders who deserved membership
in Innocents but were not voted in
for some of the above reasons,
were Marshall Kushner, Al Ander
son, Carl Mammel, Norm Veitzer
and Jim Cederdahl.
All of these men were outstand
ing in their years, and should have
been near the top of the list of any
honorary that chose men purely on
merit and achievement rather than
personal dislikes or house alliances.
Everybody who was at all as
sociated with activities knew that
these men should have been made
"nnocents. Those people who knew
'ddn't help being a little disgust
1 with the pettiness that keeps
leaders out of an honorary for cam
pus leaders.
But then, it's their game.
efferfp
Spiritual Needs
To the Editor:
I think that Religious Emphasis
Week is one of the best things to
ever hit the U of N campus. All of
the speakers were very inspiring,
but their purpose was not to pro
vide enough religion in five days
to last for the rest of the year.
With this fact in mind, I enter a
plea for a meditation room in the
new Union. If the Union is to serve
(he needs of students, it cannot,
deny their spiritual needs.
' Wayne Smlda
GREEK i
i' r i
Forsaken
Dawning 1
The rose is gold,
Glistening spider webs
Hold diamond drops like memories
Of you.
Connie Berry
Epitaph
Come you muses and you critics who have not
And read. Explore the best of me,
Now that I am gone and only my works stand
Against withering time.
My poetry grows in stature every day,
And college classes will in time appraise it.
While professors there, the all-perceiving, all-knowing otm,
Will pace before them to relate the source
Of such works.
Home, family, education, talents and emotions
All will be studied.
As mechanics check the factors that play,
Let this suffice here.
Note here the conclusive evidence of stern parents,
See here the brush's touch, he studied art.
And wait! Here lie the effects of drink
And sin and journalism, too, see line 16!
A strong guilt complex is mainfest in this work.
Look! His mother's charity overflows there. See!
Stop them, mighty critics, stop such idle babbling.
Move on, ponderous, humbly powerful ones, tell
Them the truth. Be not swayed by them,
Let men know your awesome conclusion. Yes,
Surely it was not Noble who wrote Noble's works,
But some other artist, sunken into an obscure grave.
John Noble.
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