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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1960)
Wednesday, March 9, 1960 Page 2 The Daily Nebraskan Editorial Comment: Council Should Consider Direct Officer Election Every spring after Student CouncH elec tions, the outgoing Council chooses five of its junior members to serve as senior btildover members for the next year. Ana irora mese live, tne oaices or presi dent, first vice-president and second vice president are filled by the old Council's vote. The new Council chooses the recording secretary, corresponding secretary and the treasurer. All these officers are sopho mores, who will serve during their junior year. Thus Council members themselves 1 choose the officers whose decisions often have either a direct or indirect influence on the entire University community. Rationalization behind these Council censtitutional provisions is that Council members themselves know best who should serve as holders of three of the most potentially powerful offices on cam pus. Although the basis for this claim may have some justification, it might be worth considering direct election of all Council officers as a provision of the to-be-revised Council constitution. Direct election of presidents of legisla tive bodies has background in American political history. For instance, the U.S. Senate is presided over by the Vice President, who is directly elected by popu lar ballot. i The Lieutenant Governor of the state of Nebraska also is presiding officer over the Unicameral; his office is obtained by direct election. Walking Blood Bank Idea Is Fine One The University Red Cross unit's cam paign to establish a walking blood bank is probably one of the most serviceable ideas the Red Cross has ever inaugurated on this campus. Besides doing the University community a service, the bank also will be doing the individual students a service by making them feel a part of a civic project which will be doing some good. A few minutes taken to fill out the neces sary blank and to be typed for blood also will assure the carrier of the information card of a fast blood transfusion for him self if he should ever need one. This volunteer operation will show whether University students are civic minded enough to go along with this dis aster program. Historically, democratic-functioning gov ernment has directly elected officers, not to mention legislative representatives. Whether this system would provide the best possible officers for the University legislative body the Student Council is not known. But direct election probably would enhance Council offices and bring back a greater participation in activities of governing the student to the student. Although arguments against direct elec tion generally are that the student body would have no way of knowing who was best qualified, such an election could cor rect some obvious defects in the system as it now is. At present, a Council member appointed from one of the organizations represented on the Council could become president without having ever been voted on by the student body. However, if such direct election of of ficers came about, organizations would probably lose their opportunities for di rect representation on the Council. But as it now is, to become a Student Council officer, first you must be a Coun cil member. Thus with the rather small number of Council members, the number who might reach a senior office is very small. A student not on the Council might be best qualified for an officer's position. But he has no course of action. Although the present Council and its of ficers have shown indications of merito rious service, direct elections of officers, by the entire student body would bring the Council greater prestige and respect from the student body. With this backing, more and better projects could be carried out by the Council. Tourney Conduct The State Basketball Tournament which begins Thursday will bring a great many visitors to Lincoln and to our campus. In particular will be the members from the various high schools participating in the Tournament. These "young" high school students will be exposed to the daily activities of a college student. It is during such events that we, the stu dents of Nebraska, act as representatives for the school. The high schoolers will be watching our actions with an enviable eye. Some day they will be in our position, but for the present we must show to them how a col lege student lives. Let's treat them with all the courtesy due any visitor to our campus and show them that the University is a great school to attend. 1 Staff Comment: A Leftist's View i V Sandl The questions of the week are: When in the ever lovin blue-eyed world will it stop snowing and: Will the Third World War really be fought on the mall? The two bear some relationship. If it doesn't stop snowing pret ty soon nobody will be able to find the malL But providing the great snows do cease it might be possible that war of some kind will break out on this mall or on some malL It will be war be tween the Army and the Defense Department The Issue will be compulsory ROTC v. elective ROTC, naturally. Why wouldn't itT Monday Chandellor Hardin said "We're waiting for the Army and Defense De partment to get together before we do anything more about it," (changing the ROTC program.) Seems the two groups can't get together on the issue. The Defense Department states they ere taking no stand on the issue. The Army feels that compulsory training Is necessary to the security of the nation. In the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era children in nursery schools were given toys to play with which were inscribed, "Thank you, Comrade Stalin, for giving ns a happy childhood." Maybe the Army out to start playing a similar role of the great giver." They could issue guns to students that are Inscribed, "Thank you, Department of the Army, for giving as the opportunity By Sandi Laaker to defend our country." But if that wouldn't work the University could invite the two groups to come here for a convocation in the form of all-out war on the mall. The Student Council Beautification Committee could again sug gest that a reflecting pool be built. Then there could be a really good tug-o-war. Army v. Defense Department. And the losers would go splashing into the pool soggy uniforms, floating hats such a fun way to decide whether or not ROTC should be compulsory. Now that "Hell Week's" have been re placed by "Help Weeks" this would pro vide some entertainment of the more spec tacular nature for the campus. Where, oh where has the cider barrel gone? The Union came up with a good gimmick and before it was properly in itiated it was taken away. It was so much better than muddy coffee with splintered sticks. Glad to see the Young Republicans got Hazel Abel to speak here Thursday eve ning. She's probably one of the "saltiest" type politicians this state has ever had especially of the female variety. Her talk should prove most interesting. Would be equally glad to see the Young Democrats really get Kennedy here. All they seem to be accomplishing is nothing. First they release a story that they have invited so and so to speak. Then they re lease a story saying so arid so can't make it. They get lots of publicity this way but their program could use some stabilization. Daily Nebraskan SIXTY-NINE TEAKS OLD aM VtrmiHr fwipooelMe fe what titer ur, er . , ...... T.. o. er cum to be printed. February . 1M. fitanbart Associated CoIIef Jte rrets, utter sabemptiea rate a a mni or m tar the eolleglate Press ctd7"..w' . , . . . - t i a Entered eeeond elaea matter at the Mat fflea KMrtMlltStiVeS Nations! AdVertUInf Serf- la umv, Kebnuka. under ti act of Aucut i. 1M1. Ice, Incorporated sditowai , ta r Fsbliaked at: Boom 20, Student Union Mturht ium '..'.'...'.'...'.'..'.'.'.I'.'.. '.'.'.Btn lJ!E Lincoln, Nebraska ZtwJlH'lZj Hk r. Mi -. sports Editor Din Calama MUldeB A( New. Editor .., bmuii Tieton HE J-76J1, ext 4225, 4226. 4227 ow Editor. rat e, omr, Rodwn. YJ?.tiant sad cum (wrtodi, or toenH of tlx Writer Mike MUrer. An Merer mtomlit to author! at1o of the Gerald Lambenea Y"lZ"?tL 8SeS aTS3" ir pr. ef Writer. Dare Wohlfarth. 2T2ouJoi? Pablleitlo. nder tke lorlidletio. ef the Jl Ferree! !rte 8 (orient P.bUctlon. .hall he fro BCSIlflSS ST ATT KSTorial eee.on.hlp oo tr part ef the Boheom- Bostneee Manager Staa Kalmaa JZTTllirSrt tor member of the faeoltr AMlstaat BaJlaeM Maaajere 00 Oradr. (hirkne to!. ITnlverirftr. mom the part ef anr Person eatetaa Oim, Ardlth Khlere 2 fcrrX: Xtoe tnemben ef lt Pally Jfebraahaa Clrealattoa Uaaaa Oe. touiUal 1 5Nfiw rvr I YCO 5EE UN05 ) 60 BY HERE? ill flcKLE iyj 'Til ttyj tell me! tickle tickle ticicie TICKLE me (0NTTHAT Pj TTTTTN M, HWtfSOOD! ID Mfc A YOd'RE LUCKY. I J For the Heck of It One of my readers has cleverly suggested t h a t I write on some problem re lated to the Orient or its culture, so in developing the rest of today's column I shall oblige him by choos ing - Communist China as my example ... I can little doubt that the basic system of government in the tlnited States is cur rently the best possible for the United States. I do not, however, feel that government (in practice), social institutions, beliefs, practices or values are above criticism. I a m in clined to think that those who believe our system to be a political and social heaven-on-earth and the best possible for all coun tries of the world are some. what politically immature. A grave error of our sys tem is the narrow cultural view it fosters. The Ameri can c i t i z e n is propagan dized from birth to death on the idealistic virtues of de mocracy. He never learns to detect the most obvious defects of American de mocracy in practice. Worse than this, he is led to be lieve that there is only one system of government, one value system, that is right for the entire world. Thus, he is taught the antithesis of the simple anthropologi cal fact that there is no valid criterion for judging our culture, our value sys tem, superior to any other on earth except for us. The American is literally taught that other value systems are inferior to ours to the extent that they dif fer from it. He does not learn that other nations need different systems to solve a far different com plex of social, economic and political problems. An example of the result ing ethno-centricism, is the proselytizing zeal of Ameri cans to spread our system all over the globe, without perception or knowledge of the cultural history or cur rent needs of other so cieties. For years we have known that there are cer tain basics requisites to operational democracy. One of these is a high indi vidual income and standard of living, and another is a relatively high 1 e v e 1 of LIBERAL education per capita. The first not only pur chases the second, but it buys the leisure time to be come a politically articu late citizenry; , the second furnishes the knowledge requisite to a necessary de- ' By John Heeckt gree of political astuteness on the part of the general public to prevent govern mental excesses. In many countries where we preach our system, these requisites are wholly lacking. They are not only lacking currently, but it will be a long time until they are sufficiently available. Democracy for such coun tries eventually ends in r new type of despotism. Turkey is a sufficient ex ample. Another generally con ceded requisite for democ racy is that the wealth of the nation be broadly dis tributed throughout the peo ple and not concentrated in the hands of the govern ment. In most of the coun tries to which we preach democracy, the govern ment is the -only agency which is capable of con centrating and distributing investment capital neces s a r y for modernization. This alone generally pre cludes anything like our system of government. I think a most important and classic example of the American inability to un derstand foreign cultures is our failure to recognize Red China for ideological rea sons. We abhor a society where millions may be "murdered" just to raise the status of many, many more millions out of the morass of minimum physi cal existence. We fail to recognize that while the American herit age is one where every thing is surplus but human beings, the Chinese herit age i s just the reverse. Thus, while in our country the individual and his pres ervation are natural para mount ends, the status of the Individual in China is naturally insignificant in relation to the mass. We are prone to overlook the fact that, modernizing China, bringing the Chi nese common man above' the level of pure existance, necessitated the overthrow of a social and economic structure based upon 2,000 plus years of continuous custom. The republican effort in China was doomed to fail ure because the forces nec essary to change China had to be abrupt and dynamic if many millions of Chinese lives were not to be lost by a death far more hideous than a bullet in the head I mean mass starvation and endemic disease. The Red Chinese govern ment may make good use Letterip -V; f 18K DIAMOND ! d-'VJ) RIHGS I (' "' !, Reward of love... ,h oiff of a di0- " " t precioui 18K gold Y f i'V t'i,,inc,iv awN, I hand-tooled Flwen- . Cw 'i r tin finish. - ' - A A Choose from a teleo Y yl . ' Hon of wedding rings j! . p,; "J;, ,1 and fancy rings. j; j---Priced From $65 ; SARTOR'S -Quality TelW 1200 "0" LINCOLN of the argument that the killing of several million holdovers from the old re gime was the price of mak ing life something more than existance for many millions more. To them this was the culturally logical way to do something that gradualism could not. Of course this is repug nant to our Christian cul ture, but it should be re membered that we are a declining minority cultural ly, and that other cultures are much older and no less based on "fact." The mind of the man in the colored world works closer to that of the Chinese than ours. We do not under stand him but we want him for an ally. Yet the Asian outside of Communist China finds it hard to recognize how a major power can realistically deny the politi cal existence of over a quarter of the world's pop ulation. I neither condemn nor commend Red China's acts. In our culture they would be abominable. But they are not in our culture, and I am not able to judge them on my limited knowl edge of the Far Eastern or Chinese mincL, y Duly n.or.MM ww. -BlrtheM Wtere whleh are ateaed. llttee. ttcklaf tadlrldaal meat SSrTtte 'SSS! earn.. Other, mar IT Initiate er a tea aame. Letter. sraikaa reienrea the rljM to Me, dense them, retalalal the writer tie, Tu o Meflsures To tile Editor: Congratulations on your editorial of March 7 on the unequal representation in the Student Council. The solution to the prob lem could well be answered by two measures. First, do away with the present club and organizational repre sentation and replace it with representation by college, with the number of repre sentatives apportioned by the number in the college. Second, do away with club and organizational support of candidates, thereby pre venting the IFC and RAM and other groups which at tempt to extend a dis-pro-portionate amount of influ ence to their members. It would be hard to deny that this system would be more fair than the one which at present is being .used. Michael F. Flannigan Read the Daily Nebraskan Classified Ads. Better still USE THEM! AtJtr (Author if "I Wat a Teenraqt Dwarf "The Many Love of Dobie GxMt", etc) EAT, DRINK AND BE MARRIED On a recent tour of seventy million American colleges, I ra struck by two outstanding facta: first, the great number of students who smoke Marlboro, and second, the great number of students who are married. The first phenomenon the vast multitude of Marlboro smokers comes as no surprise for, as everyone knows, the college student b an enormously intelligent organism, and what could be more intelligent than to smoke Marlboro? After all, pleasure is what you smoke for and pleasure is what Marlboro delivers pleasure in every puff of that good golden tobacco. If you think flavor went out when filters came in try a Marlboro. Light up and see for yourself... Or, if you like, don't light up. Just take a Marlboro, unlighted, and puff a couple of times. Get that wonderful flavor? You bet you do I Even with out lighting you can taste Marlboro's excellent filter blend. Also you can make your package last practically forever. No, I say, it was not the great number of Marlboro smokers that astounded me, it was the great number of married students. Yoa may find this hard to believe but latest statistics show that at some coeducational colleges the proportion of married under graduates runs as high as thirty percent! And, what is eve, more startling, fully one-quarter of these marriages have been blessed with issue! Here now is a figure to give you pause! Not that we deal al love babies. Of course we do I Babies are pink and fetching rascals, given to winsome noises and droll expressions, and we aH like nothing better than to rain kisses on their soft little skulls. But just the same, to the young campus couple who are parents for the first time the baby is likely to be a source of onsiderable worry. Therefore, let me devote today's eolurna to a few helpftd hints on the ears of babies. l'iaiH ' 'eitmped. First of all, we will take up the matter of diet. In the poet, babies were raised largely on table scraps. This, however, was outlawed by the Smoot-Hawley Act, and today babies are fed a scientific formula consisting of dextrose, maltose, distilled water, evaporated milk and a twist of lemon peel. After eating, the baby tends to grow sleepy. A lullaby ie very eful to help it fall asleep. In case you don't know any lulla bies, make one up. This is not at all difficult. In a lullaby tho words are unimportant since the baby doesn't understand them anyhow. The important thing is the tound. All you have to do is string together a bunch of nonsense syllables, taking ean thai they make an agreeable sound. For example: Go (o deep, my Utile infant, Gocaoo moo-moo poo-poo binfanU Having fed and serenaded the baby, arrange it in the position for Blumber. A baby sleeps best on its stomach so place it that way in its crib. Then to make sure it will not turn itself over during the night lay a toft but fairly heavy object on Its back- Buviun 1U1 1UBWUMB. 0 j And when baby U fat, tuletpthe Uttle mHynUwhy don i you relax and ive youneV a trentf With Marlboro or it yom Wet mildntm but you don't like IUterewith Philip Monle KKlKkmttiemdffuimrbt thtepomeoPeotUeoolutnee.