Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1960)
Page 2 The Nebraskan EDITORIAL OPINION I Open House Program Needs New Twist Somewhere in the ebb of suggestions, proposals and investigations passing before Student Council this year, the idea of an All University Open House lies buried. A few excuses such as lack of funds or unfeasibility and a plan to constructively promote the University is scratched from the Council's records. Perhaps the Council did lack funds to conduct the program. Perhaps the number of people involved would prove too unwieldy. Does this prohibit the Council from searching for a program to replace Open House and sell our institution to thousands of high school students throughout the state? At present, Builders is the only student organization on campus designed to act as a public relations service for Nebraska U. Their aim is to "build a bigger and better. University." And what better way to "build" an outstanding school than by appealing to outstanding pros pective students? This is a big burden of responsibility for Builders alone. Since the Council has found it imprac tical to hold an Open House for high school groups, they might find other means similar to Builders tours, of in teresting these future college students in the state uni versity. Members of the Student Council are supposedly the leaders in any school or college. High school students would undoubtedly respect opinions from such leaders of our campus if they were to tour state secondary schools. There is a particular need of contacting outstanding teen agers from Omaha, Lincoln and larger towns, who tend to go east to college because they think Nebraska does not offer the academic opportunities they desire. If the Student Council members were to talk to friends in their hometown or conduct panel discussions in their own high schools, they could help rid this misconception. The ad ministration could possibly provide financial aid for the 'fundless" Council to send members out to talk with high school principals, counselors and students. This idea may not be a sufficient replacement for an Open House. It is easier to "sell" our product, the Uni versity, when prospective students come to us. Remem ber, however, Mohammed had to go to the mountain. Student Council must not give up its plan to contact out standing high schoolers. Next year's crop of freshmen will someday supply the leaders of our Student Council, and the quality of the group will depend upon the quality of its members. G. S. A Liberal Viewr At the risk of appearing overly critical and repeti tious. I find it yiecessary to comment on the most recent development in the Student Council (that is, most recent except for the proposal that the Council build an all-c a m p u s Christmas display in front of the Student Union, a suggestion which I think should be disposed of as quietly and as soon, as pos sible before the Council is laughed out of existence). Faculty evaluation by students is not a new idea. It has come up before, both at the University -and on other campuses. In years past, the stu dent voice has been the loudest when the academ ic freedom of a faculty member is being discussed. I refer to the C. Clyde Mitchell and Merlon Bern stein cases as two of the most recent examples where students have jumped to the support of a professor, because they felt lie was being denied his rights. Involved in the prin ciples of academic freedom Is a more or less autono mous right to teach as the teacher desires. This is ob viously not a hard and fast guarantee as instances may develop when the instructor is not working for the best interests of the University and its student body. But, by and large, faculty members individ ually control their meth ods of teaching and have the right to do so. Before the Council com mittee which is studying the possibilities of an eval uation goes any further, it should be proved beyond reasonable doubt that there exists a definite need for such a program. The next question is, "How do you ascertain whether there is a need?" One way might be through soliciting stu dent opinion, another would be to discuss the proposal with open-minded faculty members and sound out the pros and cons from their point of view. Person ally in my three and a half years, I have not , seen the -need for such a plan. Ad Daily Nebraskan Member Attodated Oolleftaie Press. InternaiieBal Pre representative: National AdTertitinr Service, Incorporated Published at: Koom 19. Student I n in. Lincoln. Nebraska, SEVENTY-ONE TEAKS OLD 14 tb K Telephone HE 2-7631. ext. 422S. 4221, 422T gafcaCTtaUaa tafea are t per mmmMrr ar M tor taa M4mM frr. bMeraa a trrmmt rl utter at Ow aaM affta la Lfcmta. Hrfc&. alrr taa art af mmt 4. 112 tym Daur krakaa aaMMwa Dafer, Twrm,. tOOanfer a Tn w aa aaa) frmr. - sarla ramrtmt mm mm arnirti. my ataa-at af ffc IXremrr af WrferMk aaar aarkantaltoa af om tammttw aa maaw) Affair M aa ihbim af aiaaort aatatoa. kaMvatlaa aartrr tmr JarteaVtlaa af ta kaanomMruv mm fttaonrt PakHranaa akan a tnr tram Hartal (mMMTwhta aa n part mt (Kr fttoaiaal a tt past af aar avnaa aataMr tmr f'awnltr. Tkr awatta af aw Pa' If Kritrakaa aff mrm i n.aatjf mraaaj far araat flara aw. a 4m, ar eaaaa la anM. rearaa I, I. KDfTOKIAL ftTAJT KlaVar . Hrf PMwa JSriUr a cwa ... .... . liawa f.Ma ftaarft CaJiar . M. ....................,.... , , , . Hal ftraaa '' At w, i lUWar ... iu Uahm. i car MiKw rat lumm. aa Mtrrr. ,rnrr oitrtihrrc : J""" f1 . - - - -- "" Iw Wablfarta i aaata tumtt ctrttrr. Xaar nraa-a. Ha Vmmwt. aar MktltsM. aia w4 : ., Kraaa j Aartuaat BMtarM Maaasm tlmimUmm Maaacrr By Herb Probasco I mittedly, there have been teachers whose teaching I have not enjoyed. Now and then, I have felt there I were some who were un- I fair. Never, though, have 1 I run across an instructor I who is not teaching for the love of the work (they i surely don't do it for the money), and who, with a I little private coaxing was 1 not open to suggestion or who would not aid me if I had run into difficulty. The bewildered freshman undoubtedly often finds f himself at wits end, be- 1 cause of the seemingly in- difference of some ins true- tors, but the situation is never hopeless. He can al- i ways turn to an upper- I classman friend for advice or get up the courage to 1 pay a personal call on his I teacher and tell that teach-1 er that he doesn't under- I stand this or that One I may often find that the in-1 structor is totally unaware i that he has not made him- I self clear to his students I and, therefore, will be only I too happy to straighten out 1 the problem. The point is this: Can a I sound evaluation of a facul- ty member be made by 1 taking a poll of the stu-1 dents in his class and then attempting to apply the I mean result toward im-1 provement of that individu- I al's teaching methods. I submit that personal con-1 tact with the instructor is 1 the best type of evaluation. I Naturally, with the size of I some course enrollments, it is not practical for every I student to visit individually with his professor, but it is 1 highly unlikely that every I student would find a need 1 to do so. I nave never I found a professor that! would not find time to talk, i and it would be a rare case i for any who wouldn't. I With these thoughts in I mind, I urge the commit- I tee studying the proposal 1 of an evaluation plan to han- I die with care. They must be I careful not to bring about I any resentment on the part 1 of the faculty. Buildings I and equipment are all nec- i essary, but without the I great minds to put them to f use, they have no purpose. - 'aa Kainata ; .Da rrrcaaaa, Iti-p KaMta. Smma rmKfrr aa Kaff ; -an I x V I imVI i I y 'li 1 ri, ,,,, ii T i S MINNEAPOLIS STAR Spirit Can Hardly Match I The Size of the By Eric Sevareid Last Tuesday night's dra ma wrung out the specta tors as well as the princi pals. In the gray early hours of Wednesday, when these u-atH aro being writ ten, the spirit can hardly match the size of the event. So these words may be p o o r com pan ions in the "- VI Sevareid the general parade. But all profession al observers imagine them selves addressing a new leader in person, and my own communication, in its bits and pieces, goes about like this: You have done an as tounding thing, considering that your face and name were obscure until one night in the Chicago stock yards four years ago. But perhaps this is astounding only in traditional terms. Communication is instant, now; instant reputations can meet the times. Anyway, the country has not responded to what you were, did or did not do in the past. In your case the country considered the past "a bucket of ashes." Your past record was no more than the record of a hundred others. You were neither hero nor sage. The people have taken you at face value, voice value, first value; that is, present value. We are the most con temporary of peoples. Our youth is our oldest tradi tion, as Oscar Wilde said, and in that perfectly valid sense you are traditional and well rooted in the American soil and story. Like political writers, I am a romantic at heart; belief in heroes is my se cret vice. It has been bad form in recent years to re veal this particular vice. I hope you turn out to be a great man in the book sense, in the history pro fessor's sense. But you have to arrange about that, your self. Tuesday's vote didn't prove It. I hope you dis courage press agents and quick-book biographers who try to prove it a priori, they will make things harder for yon in the long run. On its face, the vote seems to say that half the country is against you. I don't think it is. You have too much thrust to be in timidated by the statistical result, anyway. A house divided statistically can stand. But it can't move unless you move it. On its face, the divided vote gives you no mandate. Forget about thaj. Lincoln was a minority president; so was Truman. What the statistical stalemate gives you is the wonderful chance to write your own man 'JUST A BVMPV date, and a whole Congress is there to witness and en dorse your signature. On the face of the divid ed vote, half the country wants to "move forward", as you have put it in a manner that makes even the emptiest cliches seem bursting with meaning, and the other half wants to sit where it is. This isn't quite true, either. Actually, the country wants to go somewhere, it just doesnt know the address it has in mind. It knows it wants something different but doesn't know how to label it. You are in the position of the advertis ing man you can "create wants." A trial offer is all a President can give us, anyway returnable after four years if not fully sat isfactory. I am persuaded that you are one of the men in poli tics, one of those who want position in order to do something with power. Not one of the boys who want position in order to do something with power. Not one of the boys who want position in order to be something with title. So the place ought to be jumping for months to come. Covering Washing ton in recent years has been a bit like covering an endless convention of certi fied public accountants. Most of ns have been turn-' ing out noiseless copy from our noiseless typewriters. The exclamation mark key is rosty. Most of us will love to bang on it. praying the finger for that key hasn't totally atrophied. This isn't just oor prob lem; unless you stir our glands, you aren't likely to stir the glands of the na tion. LITTLE MAN mid w&A T Election Still, while you seem very young yourself, many of us are getting along and with age comes inconsist ency as well as caution. So we want you to be impa tient with many of the hide ous, haggard problems still cluttering up the place; but we are also afraid of your impatience when it comes to the explosive problems like Berlin or China or Cuba. When we were a kid coun try we could blunder aroupd. Now America has large feet and the yard is full of land mines. Hire at least a few scared worriers to help guard your mind, if not your body. It's strange how the world's image of America always becomes the image of the single individual who sits in the White House. So you can't create a new im age of America until your own image is completed. All we've got so far is the outline sketch. Believe me, a lot of-us want to fill it in and we're reaching for our strongest, brightest colors. Water colors, right now, that will wash; but we're hoping we can switch to oils, worthy of being hung, one day, in all the best gal leries at home and abroad, including the Hall of He roes. Out ism. HmU Sysdjcal. Inc. ImsI Chance for Pics Anyone wishing to have thcii pictures taken for the I96I Cornhusker must sign for a picture appointment betwi-en the hours of 9 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. in the base ment of the Student Union at the desk near the new t'nivmilv Bookstore. The finu! deadline for Individual shots i Nov. 18, according to Jerry Gale. ON CAMPUS Just A Its a pity more people couldn't have seen the Tal ent Show presented Sunday evening at the Student Un ion. It was so nice to see University entertainmen:, with fresh, virtually un known talent going through their routines for the en joyment of the audience. As In any production, the Talent Show took up a lot of time with practices, try outs and final polishing. Let's hope-the final bene fits are provided for the entertainers. Last year, a similar show was presented by Univet sity students, with the end result being a proposed tour of big Eight campuses The idea was to merge the cream of the crop from each of the Big E i g h t schools and tour the cam puses with this review. But, alas, like so many other dreams, this one feil through and the Nebraska Gosip By Leon Gosip To Neil Ferguson: . c-o Phi Kappa Psi; Dear Neil: Regarding your request for suggestions on the Christmas, Display: Flush it, buddy. This Student C o u n c i 1 project (the latest of many to come out of the mouths of babes) is as ridiculous as any seen on this campus in many a moon. What could be more revolting than a bunch of h a 1 f crocked students sipping cider and putting a ho-ho-ho Santa Claus in front of the Student Union! Here we have paid through the teeth to get a presentable building and Tempero's Reich decides to mar it with a corn-ball display "we could do as a cam pus." He knows as well as ev eryone else around here that the only ones who would help erect the Santa would be eager little activ ity girls and clods. So, I repeat, forget the whole idea and do something worth while. Like abolishing the All University Fund. In the first place, why should we contribute to the World University Service, which is backed by the National Student Association an or ganization infamous in past years for its control by Reds? In the second place, those who can afford to contribute are probably working and get tapped by their employers for the equally oppressive Com munity Chest. In the third place, if you can afford it I Nebraskan Letterip MI... Md a.1 rill ' " , "- arurn fmmrnme tfcrm, rrtalak( tat lloerner Replie$ To 'Shorlfellotc' To the editor: The Student Council leg islation concerning student organizations which has currently been receiving so much publicity and com ment is the work of the en tire council. The procedure was passed unanimously three times by this year's coun cil and was set up by unan mous vote of last year's council. As long as this legislation remains in effect it is my job as an officer of the Council to see that it is en forced and I intend to do so. H. W. Shortfellow not withstanding. JOHN HOERNER VICE PRESIDENT Asks Comment On Letterip Policy To the editor: Under the Letterip head line your policy reads, "Let ters attacking individuals must carry the author's name. Others may use ini tials or a pen name." Would you be good enough to comment on your interpretation of this policy. It is my personal feeling that the recent letters signed by "Facts", "Coun cil Member", and "II W. Shortfellow" were not only Thought By Dave Calhoun entertainers had to be sat isfied with the routine trips to state institutions, the University excluded. It should be pointed out that the cancellation of the trip was not because the Nebraska troupe didn't ful fill their part of the bar gain. It seems Nebraska was the only campus in the Big Eight to have enough spirit to have a talent show. It was the other members of the conference who failed. This year, however, the dream may become a re ality. According to Bill Connell, chairman of the Student Union Special Ac tivities Committee, the en tire group hopes to be able take a regional tour includ ing Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State campuses. Each and every partici pant of the Show deserves loud applause for their per formances. Let's hope they get a chance to take their Nebraska talent to other schools. Column and don't work, you're hit . ting your old man for the dough, and he, the poor guy, is also paying through the nose out in Oshkosh. This hypersensitive Stu dent Council, which doesn't want to get its nose wet doing anything decent for the benefit of the universi ty could be writing a reso lution condemning the Re gents for hiking the tuition. It could be out raking the as yet unpaved park ing lots. It could be lobby ing for five cent coffee in the already too expensive Union chow lines. But no. It seems content to sit on its sitters and say, "Oh, that's a fine idea, Jack. Let's rack the worth while campus organiza tions." "Thanks, Judy, and your idea about a huge Easter Egg in front of Love Library will be great guns, too." Why is it that the Stu dent Council vetoed the idea of an All-University Open House? I'll tell yon why. It's too much work, and they'd rather rah-rah than dig in. Or better yet, the faculty doesn't want to get involved in an experi ment when the big load of work would be on the shoul ders of a bunch of Christ mas Decorations "experts". If the Council wants to talk about a project that "a'J the campus can work together on", then do some thing worth while, like this open house thing, which could be a S t a t e Fair for NU. What's wrong with showing off the products of a great state University? Or is the council afraid we aren't such great shakes as a school? critical of individuals but were pretty well ill-informed and unfounded. Shouldn't these have been signed with the author's name? JOHN HOERNER A clarification of the Let terip policy appears at the head of this column today. Editor. Ohio State Takes Poll on Classics Ohio State University's newspaper, the Lantern, polled students recently on their knowledge of the clas sics and found that the one book almost all were famili ar w.th was Charles Dar win's "The Origin of Spe cies." Other survey results: Almost all knowledge the average student has about the classics stems from be ing confronted with them n the classroom m ore specifically, in college. Few had read French and Spanish masterpieces, indicating, the writer felt, that though isolationism may have left, the United States political scene, it still reigns unshaken in the field of education. Many OSU students re quested copies of the poll questionnaire because it made a good reading list.
