Wednesday, February T7, I960
Page 2
The Daily Nebraskan
Editorial Comment:
Proposed ROTC Program
Still Shows Shortcomings
The changes in the Air Force and Army
Reserve Officrs Training Corps programs
authorized by the Air Force and Army
Departments when and if approved by
the University regents are a step in the
right direction.
The revisions involve the substitution of
Union Doors
Are Closed
Too Early
When the Student Union fathers opened,
up for business this fall, they set up week
day dosing hours at 11 p.m. .
The Crib was to end service at 10:30.
Supposedly then, the building would be
kept open until an hour before midnight.
But nearly every evening the doors at the
south entrance of the Union are locked
tight before 10:30.
And students ready to leave the Crib
after a late cup of coffee find nothing short
of breaking the door down will let them
get out the south side of the building if
they wait too late like about 10:40.
They have to retrace their steps and exit
via the northern doors.
- Closing the southern entranceexit so
early with the number of fraternities,
sororities and other residences lying south
of city campus almost seems like a mat
ter of discrimination.
If hours for Union patrons have been es
tablished at 11 p.m., why close shop any
earlier? It's no fun to traipse an extra
block from S to R St. in a snow storm at
10:40 in the evening.
And for unwary girls who have only lim
ited time to make it back to their southern-oriented
sororities, it often amounts
to a few late minutes when the doors of the
"old Union" are shut even before 10:30
shows on the clock on the Crib's east wall.
academic courses of general nature for
portions of the basic two-year Air Force
program and the advanced two-year Army
program.
The changes were probably made to de
flate the current drive on many campuses
to make ROTC courses voluntary. (Feb
5th Daily Nebraska editorial comment).
Although they will have limited success
in this respect, there are, none-the-less,
other evident shortcomings:
1) Major objections to the ROTC cur
riculum have been aimed at the labs. These
drill sessions will be continued even in the
revamped Air Force basic program. Few
will be much happier with this limited
change. Good labs are still a goal to be
advanced.
2) The Air Force advanced program
makes no provision for the substitution of
University-taught subjects for the ROTC
courses as does the Army department.
This will tend to overload the Army ROTC
with students interested in working for
a commission and the Air Force branch
with students who are looking for an easy
vay to fulfill their ROTC requirement.
The Army department, while not allow
ing any course substitution in the basic
program, does make provision for "re
vitalizing" its basic program by the elimi
nation of a weapons instruction course
and the substitution of a course on basic
..tactics.
Also the number of hours of American
military history will be increased, with a
decrease in individual weapons and marks
manship instruction in the Army basic
program.
These changes are good, but how about
the substitution of university-t aught
courses in basic tactics and military his
tory? And, does this resolve the basic issue,
"the freedom of student to decide whether
or not they want to take ROTC?"
Staff Comment:
A Leftist's View
By Sandi Looker
t
Sandi
The American hobo is vanishing from
the scene. So says "informal traveler"
Jack Kerouac in one of his true-to-form
articles in the March issue of "Holiday."
"The American hobo has a hard time
hoboing nowadays due to
the increase in police sur
veillance o f highways,
railroad yards, sea
shores, river bottoms, em
bankments and the thou-sand-and-one
hiding boles
of industrial night
"Great sinister tax-paid
police ears are likely to
bear down at any moment
on the hobo in bis ideal
istic lope to freedom and
the bills of holy silence and holy privacy.
There's nothing nobler than to put up with
a few inconveniences like snakes and dust
for the sake of absolute freedom."
Yep, society is closing in on us. Every
body talks about 'togetherness' 'secur
ity'. Ugly. Oh is adventure for the sake
of good old freedom dying?
"In America camping is considered a
healthy sport for Boy Scouts but a crime
for mature men who have made it their
vocation," Kerouac says.
Pot a man in short pants, give him a
walking stick, tie a pack on bis back, let
Mm sleep on a park bench and he'll get
picked up for vagrancy.
"In Brueghel's time children danced
around the hobo. He wore huge and raggy
clothes and always looked straight ahead,
indifferent to the children, and the fami
lies didn't mind the children playing with
the hobo. 'But today mothers hold tight
their children when the hobo passes
through town because of what the news
papers made the hobo to be the rapist,
the str angler, child-eater.
"Stay away from strangers. TheyH
give you poison candy. Today the hobo's
made to slink. Everybody's watching the
cop heroes on TV."
What is it that characterizes that once
bappy and honorable breed? Writer Ke
rouac puts it thusly:
"The hobo is born of pride, having noth
ing to do with a community but with him
self and other hcbos and maybe a dog.
Proud was the way the hobo walked
through a town by the back doors where
pies were cooling on window sills. The
hobo was a mental leper, he didn't need
to beg to eat.
"Sometimes hobos were inconsider
ate; but not always; but when they were,
they no longer held their pride, they be
came bums. They migrated to the Bow
ery in New York, to Scollay Square in
Boston, to Madison Street in Chicago, to
12th Street in Chicago, to Larimer Street
in Denver, to South Main Street in Los An
geles, to Downtown Third Street in San
Francisco.
"There's something strange going on,"
he sayg. "You can't even be alone any
more in the primitive wilderness, there's
always a helicopter comes and snoops
around. You need camouflage."
The only thing for a hobo to do now is
"sit in a room and get drunk and give up
your hoboing and your camping ambitions
because there is not a sheriff or fire ward
en in any of the new 50 states who will
let you cook a little meal over some burn
ing sticks in a hidden valley because he
has nothing to do but pick on what he sees
out there on the landscape moving inde
pendently of the gasoline power army po
lice station."
So Kerouac's going to another world.
Maybe.
Hope he finds this bum-absent hobo
world.
The other day a professor asked mem
bers of a class how many would enjoy
being shut up in a room for a period of
time no radio, no TV, no verbal com
munication possible. Just books. Amaz
ingly, almost everyone sprang to the de
fense of the confinement idea. Solitude.
Absolute freedom. Hobos. There's still
hope.
Meanwhile, back to this shrouded world,
kindly editor C.J.K. has asked me to point
out that due to the vast amount of "Let
terips" pouring into the office some regu
larly appearing columns have been om
mitted. They will appear. They have not been
torn up. They have not been burned. They
have not been submitted for publication
in another learned journal. They will appear.
Dailv Nebraskan
gECTY-NINB TEARS OLD
Member: Associate Collegiate Fret, InteT-
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ice, Incorporated
Publish 1 at: Boom 20, Student Union
Lincoln, Nebraska
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Telephone HE 2 -7M1. ext. 4225. 2S, 4227
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EDITORIAL STAFF
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Daily Nebraskan Letterips
. More Information
To the Editor:
Because public knowl
edge of the provisions of
the National Defense Edu
cation Act is somewhat ha
zy, I believe that the col
umn in last Friday's Ne
braskan which discussed
the act needs some ampli
fication. Students particular
ly should understand some
of the reasons that some
institutions (Harvard, Yale,
Princeton, Amherst, Ober
lin and IS others) have
withdrawn from participa
tion in an act which pro
vides for federal funds for
needy students. (Forty oth
er colleges and universities
have protestest against the
act.)
The most important point
to be recognized is' that the
universities are not opposed
to the loyalty oath con
tained In the Act. What
they oppose is the so-called
disclaimer affidavit which
accompanies the oath of the
allegiance.
Title X, Section 1001 (f) of
the Act contains both the
oath and the disclaimer.
The disclaimer requires the
loanee to swear that "he
does not believe in, and is
not a member of and does
not support any organiza
tion that believes in or
teaches, the overthrow of
the United States Govern
ment by force or violence
or by any illegal or un
constitutional methods."
The point that the univer
sities make is that the dis
claimer is superfluous when
joined with the oath of al
legiance. It would not seem
necessary to make a man
say, "I am not a disloyal
American," just before he
is to say, "I am a loyal
American."
This superfluousness of
the affidavit is what Presi
dent Eisenhower attacked
his press conference of Dec.
2 when he said that "one
oath is enough." The Pres
ident has since called for
the repeal of the affidavit
in his budget recommenda
tions to Congress.
Another reason for oppo
sition is that the Act direct
ly and financially involves
the universities. ' Not only
do the universities admin
ister the disclaimer, but
they also must contribute
10 per cent of the monies
for the loan in order to
qualify for the program.
For every $1,000 given by
the federal government, the
university must give $100.
Thus some universities
have felt that they have
been forced into a position
of contributing to something
in which they do not be
lieve. As was pointed out In Fri
day's paper, it is certainly
unfortunate that some
needy students have been
blocked from receiving fed
eral aid by the action of
the non-participating uni
versities. But I do not believe that
the universities in dropping
the program have pre
sumed to speak for the stu
dents. They were speaking
for themselves.
For the affidavit require
ment is not limited to stu
dents taking loans; it ap
plies to faculty fellowship
receipients, faculty person
nel who sign direct con
tracts with the Health, Ed
ucation and Welfare De
partment; and it may apply
to faculty and staffs of for
eign language, guidance,
visual aids and other cen
ters established with NDEA
funds.
The universities which
have withdrawn have done
so because both their mon
ey and their personnel are
involved. Regrettably, the
students have been caught
in the middle.
The universities also be
lieve that the Act is dis
criminatory in that, it
singles out students and
faculty in requiring the
signing of the affidavit. No
other recipients of federal
aid (farmers, veterans,
wives of deceased veter
ans, beneficiaries of direct
or indirect federal subsid
ies) are asked to sign such
a statement.
One university group be
lieves that the Act directly
questions the integrity and
loyalty cf the academic pro-
fession.
There are other major
reasons for opposition.
Among them are the be
liefs that the affidavit ex
tends beyond the law Into
matters of personal con
science and that it sets an
undesirable precedent for
federal aid to higher educa
tion. For anyone interested in
pursuing the matter further
there is a clear statement
of the problem and the uni
versities' position in an ar
ticle by Yale president
Whitney Griswold in "The
New York Times Sunday
Magazine" for Dec. 20,
1959. Robert L. Hough
Editors Note: Enactment
of the disclaimer clause in
the National Defense Edu
cation Act avowedly
passed to improve our na
tion's position in the space
and military race, not as a
precedent for further fed
eral aid to higher education
had as its purpose estab
lishment of a mechanism
to prosecute conspirators
who would use our own tax
money to defeat our govern
ment. More Communists have
been prosecuted for saying
they are not Communists,
than for merely being Communists.
Loan Program
To the Editor:
Congratulations.
There may have been
other college newspaper
editors and I hope there
By George!
r
By George Moyer
Moyer
May 12 through 14 the
University Theatre will pre
sent one of the finest stories
of human dignity to come
out of World
War II,
"The Diary
of Anne
Frank."
The play
dissects the
life of a
young Jew
ish girl
growing up
in Nazi-occupied
Hol
land, a homeland which she
sees only through the win
dows of her atlc hideout
a homeland that has be
come one huge swastika
plastered crematorium for
her and other members of
her race.
The courage of Anne
Frank and her friends and
relatives who share the at
tic ranks as a monument
to the basic dignity and
decency of man. In times
such as ours with, swastikas
popping np in odd places
like the droppings of de
mentia and a segment of
Congress so set against civil
rights that legislation has to
be sneaked onto the Senate
floor in the skirts of a
h a r mless appropriations
bill, Anne Frank ought to be
a lesson worth the price of
admission to Howell Thea
ter. T'w trouble with Howell
Theatre, however, is its size.
Too few will get a chance
to see "Diary." Too few
will have the opportunity to
view one of the best de
partments at the University
producing a show they can
really do well.
So this comer would like
to offer a small suggeston.
Why not do a video tape
of the play?
Then either broadcast the
play over Channel 12 or
sell the tape to a downtown
business or group of busi
nesses which could sponsor
it on one of the local TV
stations just as one of the
down town banks now pre
sents Jerry Bush and Corn
husker basketball.
have beenwho have not
been ashamed to speak up
in defense of the loyalty
oath provisions of the Stu
dent Loan Program those
who do not deem it a viola
tion of their sacred, per
sonal rights to be required
to pledge their loyalty to
their country.
I sincerely hope your
fine editorial will be read
by many and that it will
help remove from the
spotlight the rot being cir
culated as representative
of the way our college
youth feel about this oath.
I'm sure your views are
more representative of the
multitudes than the others
which are making the head
lines. I hope it expresses and is
representative of the views
of both our faculty and stu
dent body at NU.
I am cheered that you
have not been brain-washed
by our so-called prestige
schools of the east.
I am prouder than ever
that I am an alum of NU.
Betty Arnold
C3
vtih
MaxSkilman
(Author of "I Wat a Teerirage Dwarf '."The Many
, loves of Dobie Gillis", etc.)
THREE WHO PASSED IN THE NIGHT
Last year, as everyone knows, 1,210,614 undergraduates dropped
out of college. 256,080 flunked; 309,656 got married; 375,621
ran out of money; and 309,254 found jobs, As you have, of
course, observed, this accounts for only 1,210,611 out of
1,210,614. What happened to the other three?
Well sir, to find the answer, I recently completed a tour of
American campuses where I interviewed 40 million students
and sold several subscriptions to The Open Road for Boys, and
it pleases me to report that I can now account for those three
elusive undergraduates.
The first was an LSU junior named Fred Gaugin. He was
extremely popular, always ready with a smile, fond of folk
dancing and pralines, and last semester his Chi Psi brothers
unanimously elected him treasurer of the fraternity. This proved
an error. Gaugin, alas, promptly absconded with the money
and went to Tahiti to paint. The fraternity is bending every
effort to extradite Gaugin, but Tahiti, alas, is currently observ
ing the feast of Dipthong, the Sun-God, a five-year ceremony
during which all the islanders wear masks, so nobody, alas, can
say for certain which one is Gaugin.
The second missing undergraduate is William Cullen Sigafoos,
Oregon State freshman, who went one day last fall to a dis
reputable vendor named A. M. Sashweight to buy a pack of
Marlboros. Mr. Sashweight did not have any Marlboros be
cause Marlboros are only sold by reputable vendors. However,
he told Sigafoos that he had another brand which was just as
good, and Sigafoos, being but an innocent freshman, believed
him.
Well sir, you and I know there is no other brand as good as
Marlboros. That See filter, that flavorful flavor, that pleasure,
that joy, that fulfillment are Marlboro's and Marlboro's alone.
All of this was quickly apparent to young Sigafoos and he
flew into a terrible rage. "As good as Marlboros indeed !" he
shrieked, kicking his' roommate furiously. "I am going right
back to that mendacious Mr. Sashweight and give him s thrash
ing he won't soon forget!" With that he seized his lacrosse bat
and rushed out.
Mr. Sashweight heard him coming and started running. .Now
Mr. Sashweight, before be became a disreputable vendor, had
taken numerous prizes as a cross-country runner, and he thought
he would soon outdistance young Sigafoos. But he reckoned
without Sigafoos's etick-to-itiveness. At last report the two
of them had passed Cleveland. When they reach the Atlantie
Seaboard, bad Mr. Sashweight will get his lumps from Sigafoos,
you may be sure, and I, for one, am glad.
The third missing undergraduate, also named Sigafoos, is a
Bennington sophomore named Celeste Sigafoos and, ironically,
she never intended to leave college at all. She was merely going
home for Christmas on the Natches, Mobile, and Boise Rail
road, and during the night, alas, her upper berth slummed shut
on her. Being a Bennington girl, she naturally did not wish to
make an unseemly outcry, so she just kept silent. The next
morning, alas, the railroad went bankrupt, and Miss Sigafoos
today is lying forgotten on a siding near Valparaiso, Indiana.
Fortunately she has plenty of Marlboros with her.
IMOMmI
And hote about tht rest of you? Do you hatm plenty of
MarlhorosT Or It you Ilka mildness but you don't Ukt
hlUn, plenty of fhlllp MorrlsesT Htnmf Do you?
I V iCk Arrow Oxford
I k Si yX " t n Check your supply . . . the
. t '
J' '- ' y
averafe college mu own st
leatt tea shirts. He coniutcndy
buys oxford cloth shirts with tlx
Arrow label. Reason? Only Arrow
offers the authentic, soft roll
collar, luxurious "Ssnfbrized"
fabric. Aik for the "Dover"
collar, f 5.00.
-ARROW-
f M bht k Anew Alrt
