THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Commentary
Monday, October 30, 1967
Editorials
Page 2
Referendum Validity
The Vietnam referendum threatens
to, or perhaps already has, turned into
an emotional rather then an informed
issue.
It was the hope of the organizers of
Vietnam week that the issue could be
voted on by an informed student citizenry
and not by a group reacting to emotion.
Perhaps students are informed; we
think not. Thus, the Daily Nebraskan
finds it hard to bear out the validity of
the referendum. And we would warn any
one else against drawing conclusions on
the basis of the referendum.
Perhaps the best example of s t u
dents failing to become informed on all
sides of the issue was the lack of atten
dance at the speech of H. Freeman
Matthews, of the State Department. His
speech was abandoned in favor of Dick
Gregory by most students.
Thus, come the conclusions in an edi
torial in the Lincoln Journal:
"There is far more attraction, it is
apparent, for the colorful and shocking
pronouncements of the extremist, wheth
er they have any basis for what they are
saying or not.
"Maybe this allure of the flamboyant
over the pedestrian is not too surprising;
it seems to be part of human nature.
Maybe the repulsion from the difficult
and disagreeable information from the
war area is part of an escape mechanism
devised by those most likely to be af
fected." The Daily Nebraskan sees little dang
er in hearing these so-called extremist
views as long as the student is willing
to look at the other, perhaps less inter
esting, side.
The Journal editorial continues:
"Whatever the explanations, however,
the lack of student interest in the ad
ministration viewpoint and in getting both
sides of the controversy must seriously
discredit the students as any kind of au
thorities on the agonizing questions of
Vietnam. It must place their protests
and their statements and their resolu
tions in the category of emotional reac
tion rather then informed debate."
The Daily Nebraskan must agree that
the lack of interest in both sides should
discredit students, but we will go a bit
further and say that adults, too, would
have to be discredited on the same ac
count on this and other issues.
But this is still no excuse for .stu
dents at a University, where they are
supposedly learning to question and be
come informed on all sides of a question
before they make a decision.
Students who ballot Monday should
certainly ask themselves before making
the appropriate check whether they have
looked at all sides of the question and
whether they can make an informed decision.
Fox's Facts
by Gale Pokomy
ASM
Ku
ASUI
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Support
Your
A S UN
As the typical ambitious clean cut col
lege freshman wanders blindly across the
campus these days he is liable to see a
variety of things before his eyes.
Like stars, for instance, if he happens
to wander into one of the many construc
tion site lion pits that dot the local green
ery. (You have to be more than physically
fit these days to make it into the Union
via the north entrance, you have to be
darn lucky, besides.) If he walks through
administration, line after line (stack upon
stack) of people await his gaze and Big
Red disillusionment comes sharply into
focus.
Figuring it is probably safer outside
among the physical pitfalls, our freshman
runs outside to get a good gasp of nice
fresh air and it is at this point that he
discovers something else. Fresh air does
not abound around this campus. (There's
a moral here.) This is especially true at
the end of the day (another one) when
the discerning pair of eyes (they're the
ones without the sunglasses) detect a sort
of low haze hanging about chin level blan
keting the campus from end to end.
At first glance it looks as though the
senators from Omaha have finally been
victorious and old NU has ben subjected
to an extended mortar barrage (with the
screaming "human wave" assaults being
organized by faithful OU alumni).
In actuality this cloud represents noth
ing quite as gruesome (depending, perhaps,
on how you look at it). This pollution
simply stands for the daily consumption of
that all-American vice tobacco. The stu
dent population here has a habit of burn
ing its way through the day, being no dif
ferent I suspect from any other college
campus.
And why not? Smoking, (be it ciga
rette, cigar, pipe or Turkish hookah) has
all sorts of advantages and attractions. It
gives one a sense of identity by being
a very colorful habit, the serious ciga
rette smoker has all sorts of hues which
tend to distinguish him from the average
run-of-the-mill Juicy Fruit chewer gold
en fingers, pale yellow teeth, blue face
and green lungs . . . dazzling, to say the
least.
When those brisk Northerners start
sweeping the various articles of debris
from our campus (dead leaves, discarded
candy bar wrappers and "All the Way to
the Orange Bowl" placards, etc.) later
this season and all during winter, happy
will be the smoker whose smoldering leaf
provides a welcome function when it pro
hibits the frost from forming in the nos
trils and on the end of the nose. I'm sure
you've all seen those smokers walking
briskly to their morning classes, warming
their hands over the hearty glow of a big
bowl pipe.
Then, too, smoking aids in one's social
life. It helps one break the ice and meet
all sorts of interesting people which could
lead to lasting friendships "Hey, you,
will you please pass me that ashtray," or
"Would you have some fire for this habit
I have?" Similarly it can also break
life long friendships "Hey, I'm all out of
cigarettes and I was wondering if ... "
Undoubtedly there are times when you
get that numbered feeling (sitting there
in class among the 500 or so others) and
you wish you could do something to make
the instructor sit up and take notice that
yours is not just another faceless face
amidst the masses. Seeking additional
identity, then, you light up "Hey, stupid,
can't you read? Put out that cigarette!"
(Gee, he knows me after all).
Smoking has endless benefits. It gives
you something to do in class besides sleep
(one cannot do both at the same time
without disastrous results). It gives you
status and identity and, finally, it pro
vides an outlet for all that extra cash that
we all have burning holes in our respec
tive pockets, money that might otherwise
be squandered on useless items: dirty
books, harmful beverages, proper food,
etc . . .
Our Man Hoppe
The Good-For-Nothing
Arthur Hoppe
Once upon a time there .was a young
Negro lad named Horatio Alger, who used
to hang around Catfish Kelly's Pool Hall
leading an idle, dissolute, unproductive
sort of life. In fact, he couldn't even shoot
snooker very well.
"The trouble with me," said young
Horatio glumly, "is that I am an unedu
cated, untrained, ill-equipped good-for-nothing."
"Relax, man," his little friends would
advise him, "and rack 'em up again."
But ambition burned with a gem-like
flame in Horatio's breast. And one day
the Government Man dropped into Catfish
Kelly's.
"Fear not, Horatio," said the Govern
ment Man, "the Government has your wel
fare at heart. We are spending 16 zillion
dollars to make little lads like you upward
mobile.
"Sign up here," said the Government
man, "and we shall educate, train and
equip you for a productive job so that
some day you can have 1.7 television sets,
1.4 automobiles, 1.6 martinis before dinner
and be $27,683.52 in debt like everybody
else."
"I will work hard, persevere and be
come upward mobile," vowed young Hora
tio, thrusting forth his jaw and signing up.
So young Horatio enlisted in the Job
Corps, moonlighted in VISTA, got himself
a Head Start and attended every Neigh
borhood Youth Program program in his
neighborhood.
By dint of hard work and persever
ance he finally became a well-educated,
highly-trained, thoroughly equipped tool
and die puncher. In fact, everyone agreed
he was one of the best young tool and die
punchers (with either hand) to come
along in years.
He got a good-paying job in a tool and
die factory where he kept on punching. In
six months he had 1.2 television sets, 1.3
automobiles, 1.4 martinis before dinner
and was $13,783.24 in debt.
"At last," cried Horatio happily, "I
am upward mobile!"
That's when the tool and die factory
was automated and Horatio lost his job.
Not only was his factory automated,
but so were all the other factories in the
land, just as everybody, including the Gov
ernment, always knew they would be. And
there weren't enough jobs to go around,
particularly for young punchers with no
seniority.
So Horatio wound up back at Catfish
Kelly's where he chalked up his cue,
called for the eight ball in the side pocket
and ripped a three-inch gash in the table's
felt surface.
"You're the same good-for-nothing you
always were," said his friends.
"That's not so," said Horatio thought
fully. "Thanks to the Government, I am
now a well educated, highly-trained, thor
oughly equipped good-for-nothing.
CAMPUS OPINION: Soldier Writes Home
Dear Editor:
I attended the University from 1963 1965. I was
proud of the University and still am, but I think gome
body has made a bad mistake and that is the case for
support of former student Steve Abbott
Senate passed a resolution supporting Abbott's re
fusal to be drafted.
It is my conviction that the United States has enough
trouble without the students of our colleges interfering.
We say we want peace, but how many have stopped to
think what we will have for our children if we don't take a
stand now?
I enlisted for a four-year term in the Navy and I
am not saying I like it any better than Mr. Abbott would,
but it is a job that has to be done. If all of the young
men refuse to serve in the military we might as well
save the Communists the trouble and expense of fighting.
Let's call them and tell them to send a ruler over, that
we want Communism.
If the University student Senate takes a stand for Mr.
Abbott where will it stop? After more grads plea to the
student for the same thing?
Let's not sue our efforts fighting against a democracy
our forefathers fought to maintain. Let us turn these en
ergies to support our fellow men fighting in Vietnam to
keep the United States free that you may go to school.
Mark R. Jensen
United States Navy
Vietnam
Dear Editor:
Recent arguments suggest that the Vietnam invest
ment in human lives has grown so large that with
drawal is unthinkable. "What will they have died for?"
With the United States only slightly less totalitarian that
Us opponent, the answer must inevitably be, "They died
for the politicans."
Only a principle can be worth dying for ... a principle
luch as noncoercion, and respect for individual rights.
A life lost in the fight of a volunteer army for a free United
tSates would be wasted. A life lost in Vietnam today . . .?
D. F. Hood
Chalkings
Dear Editor:
In the interest of saving the little autumnal beauty
left on this campus, I suggest that all interested students
pray for continued rain until after Nov. 5. This way the
Klubbers from Chalk-paw Ridge would find the s i d e
walks too wet to add their cheap, cheap advertising to
the total University picture.
In the meantime, if rain does not continue, some
thing should be done to stop the Klubbers from playing
grade school on University sidewalks.
Footsore
Dick Gregory-
Dear Editor:
As one of the audience who was definitely "affected,
aroused and excited" I was left cold by Julie Morris's
too-easy dismissal of Dick Gregory's speech.
It is hard to imagine that anyone could have failed
to be affected, and from my observations many were.
A normally honest person should at least have been
scared at times: scared of whether or not to clap at
statements you admired (feeling persumptious that you
imagined to really understand what Dick Gregory was
saying), geared at the force and conviction of this man,
scared at the way he made you see yourself, scared that
his analysis and predictions might be true.
People who failed to be so affected, who were able
to laugh off the fright a bit to glibly, missed an importatnt
experience and missed Mr. Gregory's point entirely. Clos
ed up in the neat, orderly intellectual frame of reference
of facts (i. e. statistics) and solution (which apparently
must be spelled out by anyone expressing a criticism),
they missed the point that the motions behind h i s
"emotional pleas" are real emotions (facts, if you will),
held by real people, whom we rsrely have the chance
to hear giving them such honest expression. The audi
ence was given a chance for more insight and under
standing into what is (for most of us) sadly and danger
ously the unknown.
The audience, not Mr. Gregory, failed if they were
offended or disappointed by the lack of "solutions" in his
speech. Above all, it is hard for us liberals to accept
that, so tragically late as it is, we have not advanced
near to the applications of solutions, that we do not yet
even understand the nature, depth and urgency of the
problems. Solutions would follow if only the people realiy
cared so who's kidding who?
If everyone knows the story of our madness and goes
about uttering the symptoms (as Miss Morris believes),
then obviously all have failed to effect a solution. It
seems, in this case, very presumptious to ignore the
value of allowing yourself a fresh and honest look at the
symptoms.
Jane Brandenbcrg
Birds
Dear Editor:
The only favorable referral future historians will
make to the reign of Lyndon I is the "Age of the Birds."
James E. Larsen
Messages
Dear Editor:
This note is to express publicly my gratitude for hav
ing the opportunity to hear Dick Gregory and Bel Kauf
man on two successive days.
Two more dissimilar people would be difficult to
Imagine. But their messages, if we are listening, are
identicaL They seem to summarize all the yearnings and
hopes that people feel but have difficulty expressing
meaningfully. And they're saying that unless all of us listen
to the yearnings and hopes of others who often are in
articulate we're denying humaness to our fellow-men
and to ourselves.
How can we learn and, in turn, teach these
lessons? If we cannot, most of the other subject matter
we teach and learn on the campus would seem to be rather
pointless.
Gay Gerken
(The Nebraskan reserves the right to condense letters.
Unsigned letters will not be printed.)
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I by Geor&e Kaufman j
There was a story in the paper the other day which
told of a telephone number in Washington, D.C. which
people could call to hear a recorded message from the
President.
Well, this set me thinking, and I started wondering
if it wouldn't be a good thing to have Chancellor Hardin
do the same thing. A sort of Dial-A-Chancellor.
You could call the number and say "Chancellor?" and
the voice on the other end would reply, "Yes I am."
And then the Chancellor could go on to tell you all
about how things are panning out around campus progress
reports on all the construction sites, amusing little anec
dotes gleaned from the Bill of Rights committee meetings
to make the administrators more warm and human to
the students.
Then, in following with University policy, the recorded
(but warm and human nonetheless) voice would state:
"Now.if there are any suggestions you might have on
how to make this a better campus for all of us, j u s t
state your opinion when you hear the bleep and the re
corder will take down what you have to say . . Bleep!"
And then, also in keeping with university policy, another
machine would immediately wipe the tape clean and send
it through for the next caller.
Another thing I read in the newspaper last week dis
turbed me considerably.
Ticket manager Jim (Houdini of the Plains) Pitten
ger announced before the Colorado game that for the sixth
straight home game Memorial Stadium was going to set
a new all-time capacity crowd record.
Now, the thing that bothers me is that only once in the
space of these six games were there any seats added to
the stadium. So, I asked myself, where were all the new
people sitting when we increased our capacity crowd with
out increasing our capacity?
And I decided that's where the two people that share
my seat with me came from. Keep up the good work,
Jim, but please sell somebody else's seat next time we go
for another record.
It was when Chancellor Hardin announced the two re
presentatives from the student body for the Bill of Rights
committee (to be joined by two members from the faculty
and two from the administration a take-off on an old po
litical trick called gerrymandering which was supposedly
outlawed years ago.) -
The Chancellor, in his great wisdom, appointed as re
presentatives of the student body the two highest elected
representatives of the student body.
In effect what he did was to officially recognize the
two people we have already chosen to represent us in such
cases. It would seem that by the nature of their offices,
Dick Schulze and Gene Pokomy would merit places on the
committee and that two other students at large be placed
to balance the committee and make it a little more be
lievable to the students.
However, this appointment is consistent in keeping
with university policy toward the whole question of a Stu
dent Bill of Rights and student involvement in decision
making in general the administrators have treated the
movement with an air of patronage and have continually
put the thing off and done their best to wrap it back up
in red tape where it belongs.
If any of you are really expecting 'anything out of this
kind of set-up and this kind of atmosphere, you are going
to be disappointed.
The only thing that could ever get anything done in
this area would be either a student boycott of classes for
a period of time (which would, unfortunately hurt the stu
dents more than anyone else) or a rally of sufficient size
to impress the administration with the fact that this isn't
just another thing that can be administrationed to death
and forgotten as in the past.
But of course that will never happen on this campus.
I guess I'll just have to stop reading the papers ... it
depresses me too much.
Gallup Poll
Few Student 'Users'
Reports of mass student involvement with the illicit
drugs marijuana and LSD are wildly exaggerated, accord
ing to the Gallup Poll.
Only about six percent of the nation's college students
have ever tried marijuana and not more than one percent
have experimented with LSD, according to a survey of
students in 426 colleges by the noted pollster.
The poll was taken by Dr. George Gallup's American
Institute of Public Opinion for the Reader's Digest; results
are published in the magazine's November issue.
For all the outcry about drugs on campus, a majority
51 percent of the students questioned said that they
did not even know a single student who had tried mari
juana or LSD. And they estimated, with reasonable ac
curacy, that only about four percent of those on their own
campus had tried drugs.
However, when asked how many of their fellow colle
gians across the nation used drugs, the students interviewed
jumped their estimates to a very high 13 percent. This
higher guess for "outside" campuses could be a reflection
of exaggerated news accounts about drug use on campus,
the Digest suggests.
Projected to the nation's six million college students,
the Gallup figures indicate some 300,000 drug users a sharp
contrast to the reported "millions." Moreover, the percen
age applies only to those who have tried drugs. It is likely
that a far smaller group are regular users.
It is encouraging that the students questioned in the
Gallup Poll were not only reluctant to try drugs them
selves, but felt that those who were "on" marijuana or
LSD were "lost, mixed up, sick." Far from being the "in"
group, those who take drugs are seen by their fellows as
victims rather than heroes.
Reader's Digest
Daily Nebraskan
Oct. 30, 1967
Vol. 91. No.
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