Firetruck:
Page 2
Thursday, April 16, 1964
NU FRATERNITIES:
Get Good Grades
Recently fraternity presidents at Iowa State met to act
on a proposed scholastic sanctions bill. It was reported
in an editorial as a rather bold and daring plan to im
prove fraternity scholarship. Strangely enough, it was
presented by a candidate for the IFC presidency there.
The plan called for fraternities' to keep their averages
above a 2.350 on a four point scale. The IOWA STATE
DAILY proposed a long range goal to prompt the fra
ternities into keeping their averages above the All Men's
Average there, which is currently 2.413.
The IOWA STATE DAILY complimented the author of
the plan and the IFC there for this, a bold answer to
the scholastic problem. This is the first step for Iowa
State fraternities, the IOWA STATE DAILY said, but the
second will have the most lasting and publically accepted
effect.
It is reassuring for fraternities here to take note that
their average, is 5.410 edging over the All Men's at 5.163.
Iowa State's 2.350 on a four point scale would be 5.287 on
the University's nine point scale.
A note for NU fraternities, while improvement is still
very possible: they have conducted themselves academical
ly (1) on campus, evidently better than other men and
(2) off campus, evidently better than at least fraternities
at one other University and probably better than many
other systems.
A 5.410 All Fraternity average certainly speaks well
for NU's fraternities today when average and above aver
age grades are increasingly difficult to attain.
Veiv From The Right
By Dick Ilecker
Dear Mr. Link:
In reply to your letter in
last Friday's paper I wrote
that column and take full
responsibility for it.
Mr. Link makes a series
of assertions with which I
shall take issue with. He
then tells me in effect to
crawl out from under my
rock and reveal myself.
In his letter Mr. Link
says "The facts are easily
ascertainable ... Truman
fired MacArthur because he
flagrantly disobeyed orders
from his superior."
The fact is, Mr. Link, that
Truman never fired MacAr
thur. True popoular mytho
logy has recorded this act
as such but it is not so.
Truman relieved him of
his command and there is
quite a bit of difference.
Had Gen. MacArthur dis
obeyed a direct order of his
commande r-in-chief he
should have been court
marshalled. MacArthur did
not face the same fate as
Billy Mitchell before h i m
because there were not
grounds for court marshall
ing him.
What Truman did was is
sue a policy directive to the
Far Eastern Command say
ing that all public state
ments had to - be cleared
with Washington.
A second fact stated by
Mr. Link is thusly "Most
responsible historians agree
that Truman's decision was
right and MacArthur's was
wrong." Mr. Link you have
statements which are both
pretentious and wrong.
It is my contention that
many contemporary histor
ians are not being respon
sible. This is what I meant
by my "gross distortions"
of history statements.
To give substance to my
charge let me Illustrate with
this example. There ' is a
textbook called the THE
NATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
It is a very popular one at
least here at NU. In this
text Mr. Arthur Schlesing
er Jr. gives his version of
history.. By the way, Mr.
Link, if you want an ex
ample of hero worship try
reading the AGE OF
ROOSEVELT.
On page 750 we find these
words "For the moment the
President contented himself
with a reaffirmation of his
earlier directive requiring
clearance of all public state
ments. Then on April 5, Con
gressman Joseph Martin of
Mass., the Republican lead
er in the House, read a new
letter challenging Adminis
tration policy. On April 11,
Truman relieved MacArth
ur of his command."
This is an interesting par
agraph chiefly for: what it
omits. This says 1 in effect
(1) Truman told MacArthur
to make no policy state
ments. (2) MacArthur
thought Martin publicly dis
obeyed the directive. Con
clusion ; Truman h a d no
choice but to get rid of Mac
Arthur. Now for the facts of the
case. MacArthur did send a
letter to Martin in which
MacArthur affirmed his be
lief of the wisdom of using
Free China troops.
The letter was not meant
as a public statement it was
meant as background ma
terial for a big man on Cap
itol Hill. This is a common
custom. It is no more evil
than the then Sen. Lodge
meeting with Ike as SHAPE
boss to plot the overthrow
of a Democratic Adminis
tration in the next election.
As for Mr. Link's state
ment that Truman was right
and MacArthur was wrong,
this paper could not give
enough space in a week to
present the facts in the
case for a person to make
a clear judgement.
It is only possible to dis
cuss MacArthur's proposals
in the realm of conjecture.
The results of Truman's pol
icies can be seen. For
months and months after
ward our troops were bled
white in a struggle they
were forbidden to win. On
ly Ike's prestige as a mili
tary hero could hide the
humiliating defeat we had
suffered by the time of the
signing of the Armistice.
Red China was now able
to mock the U.S. as a pa
per tiger to the rest of the
Far East. The Red Chinese
by having a foreign war
were able to divert their
people were able to consoli
date their rule.
With the passing of years
Red China has built herself
as a power. Now she is en
tering the victorious phase
of her conquest of Southeast
Asia. America with her in
sane policies is preparing to
throw away a land of 240
million people. Southeast
Asia is the richest area on
earth in natural resources
and everyone from deGauI
le to Sukarno admits Red
China will get it.
So in closing, Mr. ' Link,
I, too, prefer fact to emo
tion. So will you please pre
sent facts and not emotion
al tirades against me.
Change To Ranking,
Not Grouping, Needed
"A SUPERSONIC THRILLER"
TIME
tux. f
Peter Sellers George C. Scott
Stmlty Kubrick!
Dr. Strangslove
Or. How I Learned To Stop Warrying
And LoveThe Bamk
I 3 T H ANO'P''
By Arnie Garson
On March 15, 1960, The
DAILY NEBRASKAN car
ried banner headlines to the
effect that the system of
computing grades on a com
parative house basis had
been changed from a rank
.listing to the now familiar
group listing.
The following day, the NE
BRASKAN editorially hailed
the move as a step in the
right direction. But it was
also pointed out that the
new plan was not the best
possible and many valid ob
jections were raised.
Now, more than four
years later, the plan has be
come an institution. The ob
jections have gone unan
swered and apparently no
one has objected to the sys
tem enough to stimulate
any action.
One of major objections
was that a group rating sys
tem discouraged interhouse
competition. Yes, I agree.
Rumors are that this year
the sororities ranked in the
following order: Pi Beta
Phi, Chi Omega, Kappa
Kappa Gamma, Gamma
Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha '
Theta. But according to the
administration rating sys
tem, these houses are ail
in the same group and
therefore equal. Taken only
as a case in point, these
houses could enjoy spirited,
healthy academic competi
tion if their grade averages
were published according to
rank.
The same thing holds true
for fraternities and other
living units. For fraterni
ties, the distincton is im
portant for rushing pur
poses. Last semester, 15
fraternities ranked in Group
IV. Now any one of these
fraternities or all of them
may have been below the
all male average or the all
fraternity average. Their
exact position in relation
to these two means should
be a matter of public rec
ord, not speculation as is
now the case.
Another valid objection to
the system, but not quite
as important as the first,
is that discouraging compe
1 1 1 i o n may deemphasize
academics.
Independents would also
benefit from a return to the
ranking system. The indi'
vidual houses and floors
which were so anxious to
have their grades com
puted as a separate liv
ing ,unit would have a
much greater basis for
comparison if the grades
were ranked, not grouped.
Some of the arguments in
favor of. the grouping sys
tem do, however, have
some degree of merit.
Groupings may give a bet
ter picture of house stand
ings since there is only a
difference of half a grade
point between the top and
bottom house in a group.
Yet, I submit that that half
a point is a significant one.
The March 16, 1960, NE
BRASKAN listed the fact
that a slight rise or decline
in grades under the new
system probably would keep
a residence in the same
group as a credit to the
grouping system. It seems
to me that for competitive
purposes, the slight rise or
decline is significant.
J. P. Colbert, former dean
of Student Affairs, noted in
1960 that if listed numerical
ly, a house might be ranked
11th or 12th and actually
ly be only .3 or .4 grade
point from the top aver
age. If this is the case, I think
that it is perfectly obvious -to
any half way intelligent
human being. A ranked list
ing with grade averages, re
veals exactly how far a
house is from the top,- mean
and bottom. The rumor and
speculation which can be so
vicious is removed.
Colbert also noted that for
the eight semesters prior to
spring, 1960, the same
houses usually remained in
the top group from semester
to semester. This, I feel, is
all the more reason to rank
houses numerically to dis
tinguish them, not group
them.
One possible answer to the
dilemma would be a nar
rower grouping system,
this was proposed as a pos
sible improvement on the
system when it was begun.
Groupings of .25 grade
points rather than the cur
rent .5 grade points might
satisfy both factions.
Certainly a revision of
ome sort is in order.
'" " "iiwiiumiiiwuiiimh,wiii unninwiuinunu. hwm.mmm
Turk Week, Why Not?
Dear Editor:
I was just the other day
skipping moodily off to In
terpersonal Relations 205,
and letting my oxfords
splash around in the mud
and all, and worrying about
all that feuding and all
down in Cyprus and all, and
all that heartless shooting
of folks down there among
the everglades and all the
sun (what I never did fig
ure out was why all those
Greeks and those folks
from Turkey ever decided
to settle themselves down
right there all together like
that in Florida anyway if
they don't get along in
brotherly spirit and be
sides most of the immi
grants that I've met seem to
be settled right here in the
midwest which I think is
just fine and I don't see
why they wanted to go to
Florida in the first place
and especially not both of
them right together there
in the Gardens and all) and
anyway I was wondering
why this University doesn't
have a Turk Week too be
cause I think that would be
fairer since nobody seems
to be persecuting anybody
since after all they're just
fighting with each other
shooting and all not mak
ing speeches and riding
buses and voting and so I
think this University should
(Con't on page 3)
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DICK, subscription manager; JOHN
ZEILINGER, business manager; BILL
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Subscription rates S3 per semester
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