THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1967
Page 2
Student Employee
With prospects of greatly Increased costs of attending
the University looming, particularly through tuition and
dormitory rate increases, it would be highly advantageous
for all students employed by the University to seriously
consider participation in an employee union.
Selleck Sophomores
A move toward organizing such a group has been
made by a committee of Selleck sophomores with only
qualified success. A disappointingly small number of peo
ple attended a meeting called for organizational purposes,
so the students are now approaching the problem from the
angle of circulating a petition among student employees.
To help support the idea of this union, the Senate re
cently voted to put a section in the proposed Bill of
Rights which claims that students have the right to or
ganize in this fashion.
The problem, though not yet studied In depth, is that
salaries for student employees, which are already low,
will decrease proportionately if the budget Increase and
the new dorm rates go Into effect without concurrent
wage increases. According to committee member Jim
Whyte, a $400 work scholarship could decrease In value
by 46 per cent if this happened.
Consequences Grave
It is obvious that the consequences could be grave for
many students who depend on their salaries paid by the
University to keep them in school. This would be es
pecially true if the University isn't able to significantly
increase the scholarship and loan programs for financially
distressed students.
Another factor which is somewhat alarming is that
student employees do not come under the minimum fed
eral wage law, although they will begin to enjoy the
state's minimum wage protection due to recent legisla
tion by the Unicameral.
If student employees were able to organize as a large
group with well-grounded complaints, there is no guaran
tee that the University would negotiate. The National
Labor Relations Act exempted state-owned schools from
the list of employers who must comply with their em
ployees' right to arbitrate for higher wages and better
working conditions.
Articulate Grievances
However, if the student group could articulate its
grievances and pose a threat to continuing administra
tive efficiency, the University would undoubtedly be more
than sympathetic. The University also undoubtedly would
not have the means to immediately establish a higher
wage scale, but this would be one more argument in
support of greater appropriations by the state for the
University.
. Alau Barton
Whistle While You Walk
Why don't we, as students on this campus, do some
thing? Any person, who spends more than a week here,
can clearly see that the students of the University are
plagued with a multitude of serious crises.
Overbearing Dragon
It's time we organized our constitutional rights are
being infringed upon by an overbearing dragon, the ad
ministration, who controls our intellect and dictates our
education.
In the mist of this tumultous dilemna, we should re
taliate with an equally awesome weapon of our own to
quell the dragon's fire and restore a sense of liberty. Let's
create a "student senate," give it authority, and imple
ment it's decisions in the various areas of conflict that
we, as the students,, want clarified and protected.
Here are just a few of the most controversial topics
that I think a functioning student senate should handle.
Sidewalk Chalking
For one thing the senate should select an ad hoc
committee to study the potentials of sidewalk chalking.
The administration's recent decisions to abolish this age
old custom is disheartening. It's become a tradition on
campus, a monument to the past, much the same as the
Geography Building has.
Since they have decided to keep it as a campus heir
loom, why should chalking rituals be outlawed? I feel
an ad hoc committee could draw up a very strong protest
proposal publicly denouncing the administration for its
lack of patriotism.
Another serious University problem that a student
senate could intervene and arbitrate would be the con
troversial issue of our school's nickname. A campaign is
underway to change the present title "Cornhuskers" to
what is felt to be a more appropriate name "Mousers."
Ludicrous Idea
I don't know how tbey came up with such a ludicrous
idea, but the whole thing sounds silly to me. The student
senate, if we had one, could initiate another ad hoc com
mittee to investigate this foul play, prosecute the leaders
and return our campus to a pleasant serenity.
Blue books are another important problem that a
representative student organization could investigate. It's
about time these manufacturers of exam books assumed
a stronger sense of responsibility toward the University's
needs, and provided a space on the cover of each blue
book for the quiz instructor's name. There are definite
possibilities that if an ad hoc committee submitted this
grievance to the manufacturer soma results would be re
turned to the students immediately.
All of these problems present enough material to keep
a student senate busy for vears, but there's still one more
issue that cannot be overlooked, In fact, it deserves ulti
mate priority. We've been neglecting the fireless efforts
and hours contributed by our administration toward pro
viding us with a "total education." I think they're not
really dragons. They deserve soma well earned recognition
for their achievements.
Celebrate Birthdays
This, I propose an ad hoc committee to study the
plausibilities of initiating parties to celebrate their birth
days. In order to keep it within the festive spirit of our
campus, the parties should be open to all students and
held on the football field.
Well, people, with all these demanding concerns per
xneating our campus and obstructing our delights In edu
cation, I think it time for the students to act and organize
a representative student assembly. Don't you think so?
Let's begin by organizing political parties and staging an
election.
Daily Nebrasltan
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The Loving Conspiracy
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WASHINGTON:
The experts here agree
that the Sino-Soviet split
offers unparallelled oppor
tunities for new directions
in Russian-American rela
tions. Communist Bloc
The thawing cold war,
the cracks in the commu
nist block, create a r a r e
challenge at this precise
moment in world history.
We must strike, they say,
while the iron is hot.
They've convinced me.
I'm for seizing this rare
opportunity and making the
most of it. Im going to go
to Moscow to collect the 100
rubles the Russians owe
me.
The reason the Russians
owe me 100 rubles is that
the Soviet satirical maga
zine, Krokodil, reprinted a
couple of columns of mine
several years ago. Which
made me a little nervous.
Whose side was I on, any
way? Love To Pay
But they generously said
they'd live to pay. Only
I'd have to come there to
pick up my check. Because
you can't send rubles out
of Russia.
Well, it sounded like a
flimsy excuse to me. They
could've sent me 50 pounds
of caviar, couldn't they?
But, being nervous, I
wasn't about to dun them.
Now that we're all friends
again, though, I'm off to
put thj bite on them. Heigh
ho, what are friends for,
anyhow?
The C.I.A.
So I've got my passport,
I've got my shots, I've got
my visa and all I need is
my travel money. Of
course, in Washington
there's no problem about
that. IH just drop around
to the nation's largest trav
el bureau, the C.I.A.
"Hi, there," I'll say,
"I'm off to Moscow to see
our dear friends, the Rus
sians. I'd like a couple of
gees, if you please."
"Certainly, sir," the man
behind the teller's wicket
will reply, "would you like
it in small, marked bills?"
Fun Abroad
"I hope you won't expect
me to do anything in return
that might interfere with
my fun abroad. Like spy
ing." "Good heavens, no. It's
i1
true we do have this silly
reputation as a spy agency.
But, actually, we just love
to give out money to pro
mote tourism and fun
abroad."
"And taking the money, I
trust, will not compromise
my integrity?"
Wrong Organizations
"Land sakes alive, you'll
be doing us a favor. You
can't imagine how difficult
it is for us to give our mon
ey away these days. So
many Americans belong to
the wrong organizations.
"I am not now, nor have
I ever been, a member of
the Communist Party."
"Heavens above, not
them. I was thinking of the
National Student Associa
tion. They've blown their
cover. Now if you'll just
sign here that you don't be
long to any of the following
137 labor unions, business
groups, foundations and
trusts which have been
exposed as our front
groups . . ."
On second thought, I
think I'll go pack right
away instead. If I want to
seize on this rare moment
in history when we and
the Russians are friends, I
have the uneasy feeling
that I'd better hurry.
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1 Campus Opinion
Student Supports Foreign Airlines
Dear Editor:
Re: Union Defends Fight.
It is unfortunate that the Union should make such
a strong attack against foreign airlines. Since the Ne
braska International Association is made up of students
and professors from around the world we are trying to
further international understanding, which excludes dis
crimination against any nation or its airline.
As a result there was no objection on the part of the
NIA members to use Trans World Airlines, which so far
seems still to be an American airline. Our flight does
not have a twenty-one day requirement.
However, it does have the advantage that participants
are able to remain in Europe two weeks longer than with
the Union flight, since our flight departs on June 14 and re
turns on August 29.
We did not feel that it would be necessary to provide
transportation from Lincoln to New York since some par
ticipants might want to have a look at New York before
leaving for Europe. We also thought about those students
who might not have enough money to take a plane to
New York and who might therefore try to get a free
ride to New York.
In any case we felt that it would make a big difference
to students whether they have to pay $405 or $300, es
pecially since the cost for them, once they are in Europe,
would be very low. For example if a student really does
not have a lot of money and wants to see Europe, he
could always buy a bike for $30 and stay at Youth Hostels
which charge less than $1 for accommodations and three
meals.
In this way his stay would be no more than about
$100, for the two and a half months stay in Europe, and
he would both meet more European students doing the
same and make more friends for America.
Benno Wymar
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following let
ter on the nature of teaching, by Dr.
Patrick Gallagher, chairman of the an
thropology department at George Wash
ington University, appeared in the
school's newspaper, the Hatchet.)
I sincerely appreciate your kind in
vitation to comment on the experience
of delivering lectures to my superclass
in Lisner Auditorium but I think my
comments nonsense if taken out of con
text, of what I think about teaching per
se. Let me therefore accept your invita
tion like an uneasy intruder in an un
known land: let me walk around rather
than directly enter the land) by stating
three general propositions I hold because
of my experiences in all classrooms, in
cluding Lisner. All three are subjective,
highly personal, and nondemonstrable. But
but for the sake of clarity, I will state
them dogmatically. It may well be that
you will find my comments nonsense
even when so provided with context. If
so, your course is clear. If you do use
my comments, though, I ask that you
quote everything below.
Loving Conspiracy
1. Teaching is an act of loving con
spiracy. I realize that a man can hon
estly accept pay for lecturing on sub
jects which do not engage him passion
ately to auditors whom he doesn't re
spect; and further, I know that the audi
tors may be permitted to practice law
or to marry lawyers as a reward for their
glassy-eyed tolerance of the instructor, for
their endurance, and for their fidelity of
attendance.
But however typical these conditions,
such lecturers are not teachers, such
auditors not students because there is no
love shared, either for each other or for
the subject which brings them together
in the classroom. While love is a neces-..
sary condition, though, it is not a suffi
cient condition: the teacher and his stu
dents must conspire.
By this I mean more than the cliche
that teaching is a dialogue, a common
inquiry. I mean that the teacher and stu
dent must form some kind of underground,
a kind of secret freemasonry, against an
extremely powerful and popular attitude.
Interest Of Scholars
That attitude is the notion that all
of what engages the interest of scholars
is either -(1) piffle, on a par with the
content of the contemporary game of
Trivia, in which the successful player
supplies correct answers to such ques
tions as "What is the name of the high
school attended by Jack Armstrong, the
All American Boy," or (2) black-magic
formulae invented by mad scientists which
inspire awe, since they permit the con
struction of machines which can melt
cities, since they will doubtless let a man
land on the moon, and since they may
even some day solve the problem of get
ting automobile clocks to work.
Part of the popularity of this atti
tude can be explained, I think, by an
anthropological observation. The observa
tion is that in societies such as ours
where literacy is rampant, the Intellec
tual Capital of a people (i.e., the ideas
they have laboriously forged over the
centuries) is transmitted from generation
to generation in two ways, by two routes.
On one hand, there is tha oral tradi
tion, which consists of face to face con
versations reaching from the hoary past
to the present moment, the content of
which is stored solely in the human mem
ory. On the other hand, there is a com
peting literate tradition, the content of
which is stores in libraries and archives
and passed on largely in schools.
Antagonistic, Conflicting
Among the interesting contrasts be
tween these two bodies of information,
one stands out dramatically: the two tradi
tions are just about always antagonistic
and conflicting.
Thus, according to the oral tradition,
we learn (1) Ice cream cools the con
sumer and hence is deservedly popular
during hot months, (2) More women are
delivered of children during the time of
the full moon, and (3) The desk on which
I now write is stable and substantial.
But, according to the literate tradi
tion, (1) "Ice cream contains much sugar
and hence its consumption raises bodily
temperature," (2) "There is no correla
stion between the phases of the moon and
frequency of childbirth and (3) "While
ostensibly solid and substantial and still,
this desk actually consists of pin-points
of energy, countless in number and sepa
rated by distances so relatively vast as
to make the entire thing a whirling mass
of nothingness."
A Pious Attitude
The solution to conflicts of tuis sort
students seemingly embrace is that of
maintaining a pious attitude toward the
literate tradition while physically in the
(to them) artificial world defined by the
campus walls, but abandoning the liter
ate for the oral tradition everywhere else.
Thus during a summer session, one might
write at length of metabolism and sugar
and then leave the exam to buy an ice
cream cone.
To turn now specifically to the situa
tion at Lisner; it seems clear to me that
the larger the number of people engaged
in loving conspiracy, the better; further,
I think the larger the class, the most
exciting the experience of lecturing, and
the larger the group (as sociologists re
mind us), the greater the chance that
such excitement will be contagious.
Finally, the larger the class, the more
pressure on the lecturer to say some
thing; it is one thing to be unprepared
for a class of three students, but quite
another and much more painful thing to
be unprepared for a class of three hun
dred. The classroom situation should de-
mand the very best efforts of all those
in it. When I specify love as the govern
ing relationship welding teacher, students,
and subject, then, I am not being tender-minded.
There is, in fact, no place for gentle
ness in this kind of enterprise, not be
cause it is too sacred (indeed, it has to
be secular), not because it is too serious
(it should be joyous), but rather because
it is too difficult.
Nonsense To Another
The sources of this difficulty are
many, but Herman Hesse cited two im
. portant ones when he had his character
Siddharta say, "Words do not express
thoughts very well; everything immedi
ately becomes a little different, a little
distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also
pleases me and seems right that what is
of value and wisdom to one seems non
sense to another."
Now, teachers (or at very least gram
marians) traditionally are dour and sev
ere fellows, as we all know, and hence
certainly not guilty of being tenderminded.
But in maintaining rigor and discipline
they use a kind of external coercion
which today is unnecessary and quite an
archronistic. As I understand the history of this
coercion from reading one of Jacques
Barzun's essays, it is one of our legacies
from the Middle Ages, during which time
lecturers could assign harsh grades and
fine obdurate students in order to im
timidate and control their classes.
Coercion Today
Materially (aside from grades), we
have only quaint vestiges of this coer
cion today (library fines and late regis
tration fees are examples), but spiritual
ly, the coercion is still with us, com
plete and pristine, for order and perfor
mance in classrooms from kindergarten
to graduate school are preserved through
punishment not reward (Here it is as
curious and sad as it is true, I think,
that the results of over fifty years of work
by learning theorists in psychology are
blithely ignored by educators. )t
I say that coercion is an'archronistic
and unnecessary today for the obvious
reason that the teacher's problem is not
that the current student is lazy, noisy,
disrespectful, or unruly. All to the con
trary; he is far too docile, wonderously
accepting, increadibly uncritical, com
pletely domesticated.
Which of us hasn't heard in class,
after a teacher acknowledges a politely
raised hand, "How much of this are we
responsible for," with its transparent im-.
plication that the student is entirely will
ing to memorize anything however ab
surd, worthless, removed, or wrong it may
be, if the instructor asks him to do so.
The size of the class in Lisner helps
here in at least two ways: first, as I've
already mentioned, it goads the lecturer
to do his damnedest; second, it pre
cludes the possibility of taking attendance
and hence frees both lecturer and stu
dents from such a distracting irrelevancy
and lets them get on at once with the
material at hand.
3. The Intellectual Capital guarded by
colleges constitutes a unity, despite its
convenient division into traditional discip
lines. But we become so familiar with
these divisions from anthropology to zoo
logy that they end up being popularly re
garded as God-given, as "a priori," to
judge from the provincial zeal with which
their respective boundaries are guarded.
In any case, the deplorable conse
quence is apparent: courses are seen as
finite series of predictable length, time
and place, with a beginning and ending
date (the latter signalled by a sigh of re
lief), hermetically sealed off from all
other such episodes, so that one seldom
hears a student fresh from an aesthetics
class, let's say, contribute any aesthetic
point of view to a succeeding class de
voted to, let's say, primitive art.
Meakness Of Students
Part of this is dovbtless due to the
meekness of students already mentioned,
I think. Only fools rock the boat, after all;
and, besides, if something else is said,
won't we be responsible for it too?
But part of it is also due to the fragil
ity of the instructor, who is charged to
defending his field and who seldom wel
comes conflicting points of view from
other courses. As a result, the student
too often leaves school with the ability
to add and subtract apples and baffled
as to how he might proceed to similarly
deal with oranges; and the only thing the
whole dreary business is related to in the
real world is the Apple Course as given
by Professor Finch, a man, as everyone
knows, who asks tricky objective ques
tions and likes essay examination answers
to be short.
Here, the advantages conferred by the
size of classes in Lisner is again two
fold, I think. First, it helps exercise the
lecturer to demonstrate that the Apple
Course is relevant to the conduct of an
interesting and worthwhile life, to say
nothing of its relevance to the Orange
Course, given in another department.
Attendance-Taking
Second, the size, by precluding attendance-taking,
cloaks the student in a
protective ananymity which obviates the
possibility of reprisal from the instructor
if he says what he thinks.
I am aware that a counter argument
to this second point comes trippingly to
the tongue, namely, that large classes de
personalize. To those that advance it, I
would say that this specter is much more
a state of mind than it is a question of
class size. It exists, of that I'm certain,
but it exists because of attitudes not be
cause of computers.
These attitudes reside, or can reside,
inside the heads of members of a class,
whether that class consists of a teacher
and a student at either end of a log, or
whether the class consists of a teacher
and 3,000 on either end of a microphone.
The common task of both sides, as I
see it, is to slay that specter, to drive
out so that finally, when the millenium
comes, none of us will see anything even
faintly amusing in W. H. Auden's line:
"I am grateful to Professor Lighthouse
for his lectures on the Peleponnesian
War."
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