Nebraska Newspapers

    THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Thursday, September 14, 1967
Page 2
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I More Latitude I
3
a
Creation of a Housing Appeals Com
mittee with an equal number of faculty
and student members may seem at first
glance to be a fair and equitable means
of determining which students should be
exempted from the housing regulations
set up by the Board of Regents.
But placing the operation of the com
mittee under more careful scrutiny, one
finds that the Appeals Committee does
leave something to be desired.
The committee is apparently a hur
ried outgrowth of one of the guidelines
tacked onto the approval of the Ad Hoc
Housing Committee's recommenda
tions for a new housing policy.
The guideline provides that: "A com
mittee composed of three students desig
nated by the President of the ASUN and
approved by the Student Senate, and five
faculty-staff members, appointed by the
Chancellors, be formed. The Committee
will recommend housing policy, changes
and exceptions to housing policy to the
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. The
Committee shall" regularly consult with
students and staff who live and work with
students in the various types of housing."
While student members Phil Bowen,
John Hall and Susie Jenkins confirm that
a great majority of the applications were
approved, and Vice Chancellor Ross says
that he has followed the committee's rec
ommendations, this still does not present
a totally accurate picture.
As was pointed out in this same col
umn Wednesday, relatively few students
were aware that prior housing commit
ments would be grounds for an applica
tion for exemption. This, in itself, cut
down on the number of applications.
It also seems that the student mem
bers of the Appeals Committee were not
allowed a voice in setting up the guide
lines or standards for exemption.
Instead the Board of Regents handed
the committee a list of guidelines that
would be sufficient cause for exemption
from the new housing policy. Basically
these four guidelines- included financial
difficulties, health problems, relatives liv
ing in Lincoln and prior housing commit
ments. An application that cited the inability
to study in the dormitory atmosphere as
a reason for seeking exemption apparent
ly aid not have sufficient cause ... it
did not fit into the four guidelines.
We believe that, if students are actu
ally intended to have some voice in the
. committee, the committee should be giv
en more latitude in observing the guide
lines. . Further, we believe that both the fac
ulty and student members of the com
mittee should have been at least offered
the opportunity to propose a set of their
guidelines to the Vice Chancellor's office.
If the more permanent version of the
Housing Appeals Committee, the Special
Housing Committee, is to have any voice
in recommending housing policy, changes
and exceptions to housing policy, a diff
erent approach from the one followed in
setting up the exemption guidelines will
have to be followed.
If a different approach is not followed,
University students can be assured they
will have only a de facto voice in hous
ing recommendations.
Academic Living
The University of Nebraska has a new
form of academic living, being tried ex
perimentally on several other University
campuses, so close that we are certain
they don't even see it.
Offices for the Departments of Socio
logy and Philosophy have been moved
into Seaton Hall, the north section of Sel
leck Quadrangle.
The University says that this is only
temporary and is caused by overcrowded,
noisy conditions.
After construction of the new high
rise classroom and office building between
Bessey Hall and Burnett Hall, they say
the offices will be moved out of their tem
porary quarters in Seaton Hall.
But what the University is doing be
cause of a lack of office space, other uni
versities are doing as a form of what we
would term academic learning.
The living-learning programs are de
scribed by the Office of Institutional Re
search of the National Association of
State Universities and Land-Grant Col
leges: 'Learning is by no means confined
to the classroom, and programs combin
ing the academic with the domestic side
of campus life are growing rapidly.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
The University of Florida, for exam
ple, will use a grant from the U.S. Office
of Education to inaugurate a new "living
learning" dormitory program built around
a freshman course in comprehensive log
ic. "During the year-long program. 120
student enrolled in three sections of the
course will not be only classmates but
also neighbors in small units within two
of the University's coeducational dormi
tories. "Instructors in the logic course will
act as academic counselors for the stu
dents in their sections, and a residence
hall counselor will participate in the pro- '
gram as a teacher-counselor.
Daily Nebraskan
VoL He. I
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EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor Brw-e Giiac: Manartac Editor Jack Todd: News Editor Cheryl Trltt;
NiKht News Editor Alan Ptessman; Editorial Pake Assistant Julie Morris; Sports
Editor Mark Gordon: Assistant beorte Editor Chat lie iiavtes; Sutff Writers, lleve
Buniain. Andy trrixen, C.ary Gilien. Ed Icenuele, Dan Looker, Mick Lowe.
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Cupy Editor Dick Teftaieier-. Cciiy Editors, Lynn Cottscnatk. Ready irey, Betsy
Fenimore. Jim Evmger. Jaa Hf-vnolds; Niifhl News Assistant, Chris Slockweli;
Photo- ptiers Mike Jiajmaa and Dan Ladeiy.
aWSDiESIt STAFF
leanness Manager Glenn Friendt; National Advertising- Manager Roaer Bovr;
Production Manager Charles Baxter; Secretary Janet Boatman; ftoofckeepini and
piasKitteds Allan fir an (11: adbsr-nritioD Manager Jane Ross; Circulation Managers
lavid Kcvaaaittrh and Gary Meyer: bales Mananera laa Crank, awathy JUreita.
Kick liaasch, fcaa Miller and Wayne Moles.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
"The University of Michigan will be
gin an experimental program this fall,
which will enable 50 future teachers from
all academic fields to live and study to
gether. "A specially planned program of field
trips, guest lectures, informal after-dinner
discussions, and similar activities with
faculty and visiting experts will be off
ered to the pilot group.
"At least one class each term, in
which all the students will be enrolled,
will meet in the residence hall.
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
"The University of Iowa has planned
a 'community of scholars,' consisting of
120 freshmen men majoring in engineer
ing and pre-medical fields.
"They will live in the same building
and attend classes in several required ba
sic courses together. A number of facul
ty members and some classroom assist
ants will have conference offices in the
dormitory.
"Graduate students in various fields
will live with the men to assist with per
sonal and academic problems.
"If the program succeeds, it is ex
pected to be enlarged to include other
groups of students."
While the Nebraskan is unaware of
the University attempting to institute such
a program on this campus, it would cer
tainly not harm looking into the imple
mentation of such a program.
Perhaps a few of the sociology or
philosophy offices could be situated in
Seaton Hall even after this new structure
is rompleted.
We are sure that a number of prob
lems would have to be resolved in put
ting such a program into operation.
But surely when the opportunity af
fords itself (accidentally though it may
be), the University should at least give it
a try.
Campus Opinion
Seat. 14, HOT
Dear Editor:
The book stores on and
near campus have a near
impossible task at the be
ginning of each semester in
supplying all the correct
textbooks f or every class of
fered the college student.
But that task is not impos
sible to accomplish. Each
bookstore never fails to run
out of texts for a course that
I'm enrolled in. Perhaps if
they ordered an abundant
supply early enough so that
it would be on the shelves at
the beginning of each term
instead of closer to Thanks
giving, we could all start off
on the right foot.
Greg Felson
VSaaar
I3t ChaLLeaj
6 El
'o
110
Student Intellectual Forgotten
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Many
University students have
said that the University set
ting offers little intellectual
challenge and few oppor
tunities for real thinking.
The following is an article
titled "The Plight of the Un
dergraduate Intellectual"
by Henry Winthrop, chair
man of the Department of
Interdisciplinary Social
Sciences at the University
of South Florida.)
What kind of life does the
undergraduate intellectual
lead in our state colleges
and universities which are
not of prime caliber?
In our small private col
leges which have not be
trayed the purpose of a lib
eral education and in elite
institutions with high stan
dards, such as Harvard,
Yale. Columbia, Berkeley,
Stanford, etc.. the under
graduate intellectual need
not be a lonely figure. He
can find a substantial num
ber of students, like him
self, intelligent, sensitive
and alive to the social is
sues of our time, with whom
he can discuss large and
significant ideas. He c a n
enjoy the benefits of an ex
change of ideas in which
intellectual rigor, linguistic
responsibility and humility
before facts are all under
stood and appreciated.
STATE UNIVERSITY
In the mediocre state or
municipal university, par
ticularly in the intellectual
boondocks, he suffers a
quite different fate.
Here he is more alone,
less tolerated, little appre
ciated and rarely under
stood. Even the most able
students around him are vic
tims of what might be called
"middlebrow echola
lia." that is, the type of
meaningless and aimless
conversation which now
passes for discussion among
those who seek to avoid
taxing themselves intellec
tually and for whom conver
sation is essentially a mi
nuet without direction and
purpose.
FACULTY AT FAULT
This is the type of conver
sation also enjoyed by t h e
middlebrow faculty mem
ber. It is imitated by t h e
better student in mediocre
institutions and rewarded in
one academic form or other
by his academic mentors.
As a result the tendency of
the serious, undergraduate
intellectual to pursue a more
purposeful type of conversa
tion with his classmates is
frustrated at every turn.
- The undergraduate intel
lectual is a victim of what
might be called the disap
pearing art of being serious
and this disappearing seri
ousness is best expressed in
what may be called "middle
brow conversation." Just
what is middlebrow conver
sation? For the middlebrow the
sharpening of the intelli
gence as a worthwhile ac
tivity is unwanted and de
preciated. As a result mid
dlebrows are expected to re
late to each other in terms
of what RiesmiJi calls other
orientedness, which de
mands that we massage one
another's egos, avoid tread
ing spiritually or intellec
tually on each other's toes
and do and say only those
things which will create an
atmosphere of the familiar.
Conversation is reduced
to the exchange of the trite
phrases and stereotypes of
thought, in order to achieve
warmth, security and friend
ship only, while carefully
avoiding conversation
al gambits which would tax
the other fellow intellectual
ly and thereby render him
uncomfortable. At the same
time role-playing must be
present to a maximum.
At the cocktail party or
the sdcial visit we are all
expected to behave as
though we have the man
ners of a philosopher and
thinker but not the matter.
To be poised, to possess
charm (if a male) or s e x
appeal (if a female), to
smile and grin perpetually
and meaninglessly, to d r i p
verbal idiocies in syrupy ac
cents and inflections which
suggest non-existent sensi
bilities and resources in
short to cultivate Heniz's
57 varieties of animal mag
netismthis seems to be
the order of the day.
'HIGH SCHOOL THINKING'
The earmark of culture
and intelligence is to drop a
generality, a name of a
bloodless banality, and pre
ferably all three. An idea
must be discussed at t h e
level of the high-school book
review and the most com
plicated problems are to be
solved by mentioning with
out understanding and with
out revelant information
some doctrinaire credo or
by discussing these prob
lems in emotionally
charged language rather
than through extended and
exhaustive analysis. Con
versation is not only con
fused and ambiguous but to
be acceptable it must zig
zag from point to point.
At mediocre institutions,
then, the undergraduate in
tellectual finds himself sur
rounded either by good stu
dents who are middlebrow
in both their values and
conversational orientation
or by academic lowbrows
of the Juke-box. Babbitt set.
HAMBURGERS AND
GIRL FRIENDS
Members of this latter
crowd are those students
whose cultural interests are
bounded by a hamburger in
one hand and a girl friend
in the other.
The hormones of t h e s e
hamburger - consum
ing idots seem to be pop
ping all the time. They are
the kind of students who
think that the quintessence
of social sophistication con
sists in soaking up Bat
man's profound methods of
dialing with some of t h e
major social problems of
our time.
Our academic, student
lowbrows make a "go-go"
routine out of the educa
tional process. They think
that a university education
should never really take
seriously the ideals of o u r
Western cultural heritage.
'LEARNLNG AND LIFE
SEPARATED'
They hold on to ihe unex
pressed conviction that one
should never get involved
with issues and that learn
ing and life should be kept
apart. To many of these the
index of a well-educated stu
dent Is the accuracy and
completeness of his note
books. Between middlebrows on
the right and lowbrows on
the left the undergraduate
intellectual finds that he
must pilot himself between
the Scylla of superficiality
and the Charybdis of asin
inity. This is not much of a
choice.
THE INTELLECTUAL
These students of whom I
speak are more interested
in ideas and their social ex
pression than the average
undergraduate. They are
more socially critical of the
behavior of political leaders
than the average person
student or otherwise. They
do not take official explana
tions or various events and
issues at their face value.
Their range of interests
intellectual and otherwise
far exceeds that of the
typical undergraduate. They
are more sensitive to just
relations between individ
uals and groups. They are
less prone to suggestibility,
than the average under
graduate and less likely to
be impressed by valid lines
or argument.
They try to make up their
own minds on controversial
issues and frame their own
judgments on persons. They
tend to express their own
interests rather than to
adopt those most popular
and prevalent with under
graduates. LONELY STUDENTS
These lonely students val
ue candor, authenticity and
concern rather than role
playing and the histrionic
capacity to go through the
motions of being interested
in others.
These same undergrad
uate intellectuals eventual
ly find they must turn away
from those types of faculty
members whom they once
thought of as culture-heroes
and as guides, only to find
on more extended acquain
tanceship that they are hol
low men.
Our socially aware under
graduate intellectuals are
most fed up with the young,
intriguing, adolescent and
spiritually empty faculty
member who thinks that
anyone over 35 is too addle
pated to be taken seriously.
These same students are
also disappointed in the old
er, academic "fence-sitters"
those professors
who play it safe by not tak
ing a stand on anything.
ALIENATION
Most of the undergrad
uate middlebrows are too
politically and socially ali
enated to help to dissipate
the loneliness felt by the un
dergraduate intellectual.
Most of the undergrad
uate lowbrows consist es
sentially of two blocks of
students. The first of these
is made up of mediocrities
interested only in Mickey
Mouse student affairs,
clubs, fraternities and soro
rities, sports, dances, jobs,
homecoming weeks, and
proms.
Members of the second
bloc are interested in noth
ing not even their studies.
They are the zombies of the
new social order the politi
cal reasons why America
may fail to achieve The
Great Society. To para
phrase Thoreau, they are
the individuals who lead
lives of quiet expiration.
In our mediocre institu
tions of "higher education"
there are so few undergrad
uate intellectuals that they
cannot form a small but in
dependent bloc for mutual
exchange of ideas and com
miseration. MENSA-STYLE GROUP
They ought, however, to
form an academic organiza
tion which would be the
equivalent of Mensa and
do on the basis of the prin
ciple of voluntary associa
tion. The membership of
any such group should con
sist of undergraduate in
tellectuals from several
campuses not too far from
each other, who can meet
quarterly or more often, if
they so desire, and who can
engage in correspondence
and planned programs off
campus, which deal with is
sues which matter very
much to them.
In effect they would be
forming a sort of Lonely
Minds Club or a Lonely
Spirits Club in contrast to
a Lonely Hearts Club. Such
an organization would guar
antee them cultural inde
pendence. What America is now
ready for, it seems to me,
is a new populism with in
tellectual content and so
cial, functional value a
populism with roots among
our educated rather than a
populism of grassroots vin
tage. An organization of the
sort I have suggested could
Play a definite role in help
ing to create this type of
populism.
Dear Editor:
Yes, on-campus housing
does indeed remain a prob
lem. And, despite the opti
mism on the part of our es
teemed ' administration, the
problem is not going to less
en for q u i t e some time.
Why? Value received for
cash invested.
Schools that provide de
cent dorms have no trouble
filling them. However, when
students are crammed into
drab, spaceless cubicles,
provided with food which
many students find com
pletely unpalatable, and
charged $90 a month, as
they are here, of course a
large number of students
will live off campus unless
forced to do otherwise.
Two students sharing an
apartment off campus can
easily find a suitable apart
ment with five times the
space of a dorm room and
eat much better for much
less than the price of living
on campus.
This policy of unfair value
per dollar invested, unfor
tunately, seems to be the
new policy with regard to
students this year. For in
stance: Although tuition has
increased, many depart
ments offer less class space
than in previous years.
Some people (English ma
jors, for example) stand a
good chance of spending one
or two extra semesters on
their degrees all this for
only $47.50 per semester ex
tra. Wow!
E n the student union is
slipping us the shaft in its
own way. We are paying a
higher fee to the union than
before while they resort to
such petty policies as elimi
ating the five cent refill on
coffee, decreasing the c u p
sizes and raising some food
prices all the more value
for our increased fees.
Thanks guys.
We're paying more than
ever and receiving less than
ever. I wonder if the Regent
ever discuss this while
they're flying to the out-of-town
football games on Uni
versity funds?
Don Sutton
'ytm-Peints I
a
of It thTrh0 attentin Said the mad r
of Adman, that there is much to be done here and many
Explanatory note: Adman is a subversive organira
tion deS1gned to do good, good being something bene
cial to the general welfare of mankind.
So the mad monster, being a do-gooder and eenera!
organ.er decided to start another fnstitution to r th
benefit of man. It was set up along the lines of ail gooJ
organizations, with representatives elected by the student
body, which in turn elects representatives to the High
Council which in turn elects delegates the council of the
Oh Most High, which has a Supreme Governing Body
called Council of the Almost High.
It was a well organized group, but the communica
tions seemed to break down somehow. The mad mon
ster never understood why .
The first project of the group, the mad monster de
cided, would be to sell tickets to the annual soccer games
For these tickets the purchaser would have to sign his
name in blood and. pay 200 kimos.
Also, to insure that only the purchaser would receive
his ticket, a photostat of his birth certificate would have
to be presented at the ticket office which was 20 miles
from everyone's place of residence.
The mad monster also decided to hire people to stand
in 20 block long lines, to insure that everyone would think
that the games would be a Big Deal and ticket sales
would thus be greater.
All this preparation would have worked had the local
magazine not predicted that the team would lose all its
games.
The mad menster still sold tickets, but they were not
the big success he had predicted them to be, and in or
der for the organization not to fall into bankruptcy, they
raised the dues and required all the members to live in
Claustrophobia, a new prefab complex.
Tliis was not working either, and at last report the
members were considering selling cookies to finance a
tour to the capitol of the Mad World-Flakington.
R. R.