THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Monday, November 6, 1967
Page 2
Sound' Assessment
A vote to appropriate 15 cents per stu
dent each semester to provide operating
finances for a campus FM radio station
will not mean the University will have an
FM station. In fact, student approval of
such an the appropriation will only be the
beginning of work for the station pro
posers. But the Daily Nebraskan urges stu
dents to vote for approval of the 15-cent
levy.
Proposed plans for the station indi
cate that programming possibilities are
excellent all types of music, taped re
plays of campus speakers, discussions
and panel programs on campus issues,
and programs from National Educational
Radio.
Not only do the programming pos
sibilities sound good, but the listening
range will cover both campuses and most
of Lincoln.
Perhaps it might sound funny for the
print media to encourage formation of a
competing broadcast media.
But two methods of communication
would provide a competition that would
serve as an impetus for both the station
and the newspaper to provide the best
quality product.
There is certainly another interesting
aspect of the vote on the levy about
which the Daily Nebraskan editorialized
earlier this year.
This referendum would seem to em
phasize the point that if students wish to
have greater services from ASUN, they
will have to pay for them under the tax-
'A Delicate Balance'
like structure set up by President Dick
Schulze.
Under this structure the ASUN as
sessment is set at 30 cents. Any increase
(the 15 cents for the FM station would be
such an increase) would have to be voted
on by the students.
in the editorial of September 15, the
Daily Nebraskan noted:
"Schulze ... is putting the life, or
at least the effectiveness of student gov
ernment into the hands of his electorate
if increased activites should require
more than the 30-cent assessment initially
set.
'Tf the student electorate is anything
like the national electorate, there could
be problems in the future for ASUN fund
ing. One of the basic ironies about na
tional taxes is that the electorate wants
or expects increased services from the
U.S. government but at the same time
does not want to pay increased taxes.
"Likewise the student electorate, too,
may expect increased ASUN services but
may not wish to pay increased assessments."
The Daily Nebraskan feels the extra
15-cent assessment will be well worth the
enjoyable and informative programming
the FM station plans.
The 15 cents one would pay for a full
semester of listening will not even by a
large Coke in the Nebraska Union.
The Daily Nebraskan urges all stu
dents to vote for an incrased 15-c e n t
assessment to provide for a campus FM
station.
Production 4One Of Best'
By KENNETH PELLOW
Instructor Of English
Edward Albee and Nebraska Univer
sity Repertory Theatre seem to go well
together. A Delicate Balance, which
opened at Howell Theatre Friday eve
ning, can take its place with Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf? as one of the best pro
ductions the repertory system has given
us. Although not as spectacular as Vir
ginia Woolf, Delicate Balance is, perhaps,
a better play. It relies much less on gim
mickry, makes points much more worth
the making. And this production combines
- an excellent set with very competent act-
ing, under the capable directing of Wil-
liam Morgan, who apparently, never di
: rects a "loser."
As the title indicates, Albee's play is
I about "balance." Between what and what?
: Any number of things: reality and illusion,
; freedoms and responsibilities, mostly san
; ity and insanity. Once again. Albee's char
acters veer dangerously close to the "so
cial insanity" that results from peoples'
; being confronted with the inadequacy of
; their self-ordained illusions. In this play,
' frequently a religious allegory, the char
: acters ride a perilous balance between
solace and abject frustration; their hope
' for escape from the latter is a proper re
sponse to contemporary moral, ethical,
religious obligations. But wh a t in the
world are those obligations? There's the
rub! And the situation is made even more
difficult in a world where traditional so
. cial (and sexual) roles are in a state of
flux. Again in this play, Albee shows the
reversal of sexual roles that has oblit
erated traditional familiam relationships.
A wife dominates her household, yet ex
pects her husband, by now a spiritual
eunuch, to display masculine strength and
leadership when family crises arise.
The set itself is worth the price of
admission to this production. Not only at
tractive, with built-in bookcases and all.
it is also extremely functional. The stained
glass windows, the elevated altar-like
area about the fireplace, the piece of wood
sculpture i over the mantle) that is al
most a cross, all enhance the religious
symbolism greatly.
Costuming helps in this regard, also;
particularly effective was the suit in which
Agnes returned from dinner in Act Two.
The white trim on it made Agnes appear
to be wearing a Stole, that part of the
vestments of a priest which symbolizes
the dignity and spiritual power of his of
fice. There are "rituals" that go on with
in this setting; they are, to be sure,
much more subtle that those of Virginia
Woolf, but they are if the same genre
rituals of hurt and humiliation. The prin
ciples in these rituals are a married cou
ple. Agnes and Tobias. If you enjoy play
ing around with symbolism of names (or
even if you don't), you will recall that
St. Agnes was a virgin martyr that's
only partly ironic and that Tobias of
the Old Testament is remembered f o r
having been aided on a life-symbolizing
journey, by the Archangel Raphael
that's somewhat more ironic!
In any case, Agnes is the night pries
tess in this temple. The part is performed
by Michelle Meyer, who makes her Howell
Theatre debut a highly successful one.
Miss Meyer opened with a bit too much
Martha (having her seated, very "leg
gily", on the couch aided this unfortunate
identification); that is, she appeared a
bit too "hard." Agnes is also a martinet,
;true, but a much more quietly forceful
'one than Martha. Later, Miss Meyer
deemed to discover the quiet power of
Agnes, and gave a fine last-act perfor
mance, despite having some trouble with
lines is that act.
The husband. Tobias, is played by
graduate student Clint Jakeman, who did
a remarkable job last year as Vladimir
in Waiting for Godot. This role is even
tougher than that one, for Tobias is a
"small" man throughout the play, but for
one "big" dramatic moment in the play's
climactic scene. Jakeman managed the
character of the much put-upon Tobias
very well; however, his control of the
character was perhaps too tight. In his
last big scene, Jakeman never quite "let
go" as one hoped he would. This is the
scene which Albee, in his stage direc
tions, says should be played like "an
aria." Friday night, Jakeman played it
somewhat more like a ballad a skill
fully dramatic ballad, granted, but no
"aria." He ranted and raged more in an
earlier scene with his daughter than in
the last scene. With that one exception,
however, Jakeman was perfectly believ
able. He proved especially adept at get
ting all possible mileage out of props,
particularly a symbolic golf club ( a put
ter, naturally). While wielding the putter
with one hand. Tobias ofen held such
items as a deep ashtray, drinking glass,
cup, saucer, etc., in the other.
The show is very nearly "stolen" by
Patricia Brott (Zerbinetta. the gypsy, in
last year's Scapin), as Claire. Agnes'
sister, but the role is one which is almost
bound to do that. In fact, the role is
something of a theatrical cliche the
cynically perceptive drunk who has all
the bitingly sarcastic, and funny, lines.
But Miss Brott does much more than play
her lines for all their laugh value; in her
reactions to the lines of others, she is fre
quently at her best. It is in these moments
that she expertly chips away the cynicism
and allows us to glimpse Claire as a real,
feeling, vulnerable person.
Susan Granata 'also one of the
brighter spots in Scapin. as Hyacintha)
takes the role of Julia, oft-divorced
daughter of Agnes and Tobias. Miss Gran
ata's performance is melodramatic, but
necessarily so: Julia is a melodramatic
character. Indeed. Julia is probably the
most "delicately balanced" of the char
acters. In her most emotional scenes,
Miss Granata displays Julia's hysterical
tendencies very well; however, she
"drops off" to much after these very
heavy bits and sometimes loses character
as a result. Julia must, I think, respond
melodramatically, also, whether she is
speaking or not.
The nearest thing to the "absurd"
in this generally realistic drama is the
mysterious presence of the uninvited house
guests. Harry and Edna, old friends (?)
of Agnes and Tobias. The parts of both
these "semi-real" people are done excel
lently! Patrick Drake, as Harry (obvious
ly!), displays not only a fine voice, but
good vocal and bodily control. He makes
regretful from the standpoint of a
theatre-goer that he is a graduate stu
dent in Ed Psych and not in Theatre.
Janet Jensen, as Edna, has perhaps
tiie most difficult role in the play She
has to switch from absolute vacuity to
commandeering nastiness, then call up
some genuine pathos at play's end. This
is no small assignment, but Miss Jen
senpreviously seen at Howell Theatre
as Lady Macbeth fulfills it very con
vincingly. The roles of Harry and Edna
are very important, though minor, and
could "break" this play. In this case, they
help "make" a very successful produc
tion. A Delicate Balance will be seen again
at Univesity Theatre on the weekends of
November 17-19. and December 8-9. It
thoroughly deserves the "Don't-Miss-It"
label.
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Grand Sprix
"I'd like to have those names my
self." Gov. Norbert T. Tiemann.
Professor Harvey Hopkins of the
chemistry department was sitting at his
desk, quietly going over lecture notes for
his next class.
Suddenly the door to his office flew
open and three armed campus policemen
barged in and ringed his desk, menacingly.
He looked up. startled. "What's go
ing on?" he asked on of the uniformed
men. The only response was that one of
them began going over the books in his
cabinet.
In walked a small, precisely-dressed
man wearing a monacle, which seemed
to leave him only one eye. and smok
ing a cigarette in a long black holder.
He slowly approached the desk as
one of the policemen closed the door.
"Herr Hopkins?"
"Yes." answered the prfessor appre
hensively. "What do you want here?"
There was a quaver in his voice.
"My name is Clayton Yettermann,
special assistant to the Fuhr ... I mean,
governor. We have received word that
you rose and applauded at the Dick
Gregory talk."
"No, no, that's not true," Hopkins
by George Kaufman
protested. "I just went out of curiosity and
watched quietly."
"But Herr Hopkins, we have news
reel films from the local television sta
tion which clearly show you on your
feet smiling and applauding."
"No, no ... it must be someone that
looked like me. I didn't do it . . ."
"I am afraid we must look into this
further, Herr Hopkins. You must come
with us for a while."
"May I at least call my wife first?"
he begged.
"1 am afraid that's not possible, Herr
Hopkins. In searching your home, we
found a copy' of 'Nigger' in your bed
room on your wife's side of the bed. She
has been taken into custody also."
Hopkins started to scream for help,
but the policemen were on him im
mediatly and he was gagged and dragged
downstairs to a waiting black unmarked
car.
"Having controversial personalities on
(he university (of Nebraska) campus pro
vides an academic experience so that
students can make comparisons on peo
ple and issues." Gov. Norbert T. Tiemann
As long as we agree to hiss instead
of applaud.
Dear Editor:
Being on the scene of the
war we must interpret the
amount of home support for
the war from the newspa
pers and magazines that we
receive. From these sources
it is still extremely difficult
to measure the pulse of pub
lic opinion. We. the officers
and men of U.S. Naval Mo
bil Construction Battalion,
w o n d e r if students across
the nation are genuinely
against our presence in Viet
nam. The voice of dissent has
always been louder than that
of affirmation and therefore
it is quite discouraging to us
in this situation.
We hope that by surveying
some of the more prominent
universities and colleges
across the nation we may
hear from some of the hith
erto silent supporters of the
war. Unlike most survey,
this one is designed to give
our men moral support in
the form of letters from in
dividuals expressing his or
her views on what newspa
pers seem to proclaim as
America's most unpopular,
war.
These replies would be a
tremendous morale boost to
the 99 percent of the men
serving here that feel our
presence is needed and that
we are winning the war. Of
course we would also be in
terested here from the dis
senters although we do see
them everyday on the
front pages of the newspa
pers of the world.
Robert Ay res
Garland A. Thornton
Daily Nebraskan
Vol. (1, No. 33
Nov. , WT
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EDITORIAL (TACT
Editor Bruce Clleei Managing Editor jack Todd; New Editor Cheryl Trttti
Night New editor Alan Plmmum Editorial Pate Aealataat Julie Morrtai Sport
Editor Mark Gordon, Anietant fcport Editor Charlie IMvKai Altant Night
New editor. Randy lryj hull Writer. Dave buntaln. Andy Corrlaaa, Oarr
Glllen, Ed Icenogle. Mick Lowe, Slurry McGallln, Jan Partus Nwi Aeslttant
Kendra Newland; Kenior Copy Editor, lack Teatmeleri Copy Kditor. Lynn Gotta
chalk. Hetey Kenimora, Jim Bvlnaer, Jean Reynold, John Mchmldti Photogra
pher Mike Hayman and Lian Ladeley.
.
BL'MNEM IT Apr
Bualneae Manager Glenn Prtendli National Advertlalnf Manager Roger Boy l
Production Majwaei Chailir bjxu-i. fcrcreury Janet Boatman. ftookjwping na'
CIMifila Allan Mrandti ttutrnptioa Manager Jane Komi Circulation Manager
I mi id Kovanauifh and Gary Meyer: hale Manager Dan Crank, fcatny Iraita,
ft aUaaccu, ken alillei, Wayne Moiea and Hay Pyi.
Who Is Behind
Cftnipiis Protest
The Daily Nebraskan is concerned about the recent
nationwide campus protest demonstrations and feels it
is important to understand what is happening on the na
tion's campuses and what it means.
The campus demonstrations this year are focusing
on the Vietnam War. Immediate objects of protest are
Armed Services recruiters and industries which make
war goods.
Press coverage of nearly every campus peace dem
onstration has made the movement seem more dra
matic and bigger than it may be in reality. And while
actual coverage of the sign toting, the sit-ins and the
fasts has been extensive, few writers have looked be
hind tht screaming students to see who is engineering
the movement.
On Nov. 1, the Nebraska published a special page
exploring the campus war protests. One of the articles
by Richard Anthony of the Collegiate Press Service
concluded that the national organization Students for a
Democratic Society is behind the campus protests this
fall.
If Mr. Anthony is right and SDS is directing and
controlling the campus anti-war movements, we'd better
begin to understand what SDS Is hoping to accomplish.
The following article by Carl Davidson, inter-organizational
secretary of the national SDS and a former uni
versity grad student, presents part of answer to what the
organization is trying to do with campus protests.
The article, which first appeared this fall in the SDS
publication New Left Notes, leaves little doubt that SDS
is trying to use the campus protest to bring about their
hope-for revolution of American society.
BY CARL DAVIDSON
What can students do?
Organizing struggles over dormitory rules seems frivo
lous when compared to the ghetto rebellions. And white stu
dents are no longer wanted or necessary in the black move
ment. Organize against the war? Of course. But we have
pride in being a multi-faceted movement, organizing peo
ple around the issues affecting their lives.
Change your life. The war hardly affects most stu
dents. In some sense, we are a privileged elite, coddled
in a campus sanctuary. Draft resistance tables in the
student union building the arrogance of it all.
We organize students against the draft when the
Army is made up of young men who are poor, black,
Spanish-American, hillbillies, or working class. Everyone
except students. How can we be so stupid when we plan
our strategies?
Students are oppressed. Nonsense. We are being
trained to be oppressors and the underlings of oppressors.
Only the moral among us are being hurt. Even then, the
damage, is only done to our sensitivities. Most of us don't
know the meaning of a hard day's work.
Change your life. Do "your" thing. Gentle Thursday
sweeps the country. "What's wrong with having fun?"
Nobody asked the black janitor who scraped his knuckles
scrubbing the chalk drawings off the gray concrete of
administration building facades.
"Do your thing," a psychedelic dance hall in Hous
ton hires a beaded, bearded and belled bouncer to keep
young black kids from hearing a local rock band. "Love
is all you need." Change your life. Hip merchants spring
up everywhere. Reject middle class values. "Do you have
the new Eealtes record?" Whose value is consumption?
"Buy" a button: Capitalism is doomed!
Student power: Classes are large and impersonal.
Reduce the size of the class in counter-insurgency war
fare from 50 to five. Students and professors should
"groove" on each other. We want to control student
rules, .tribunals and disciplinary hearings "ourselves."
One cop is so much like another.
Student radicals cannot leave the campus because they
might lose their 2-S deferments. Organize in the white
community. What white community can be organized by an
organizer with a 2-S? Hippies, students and middle class
suburbanites. What sections of the white community are
exploited and oppessed? The poor and the working class.
That's where we're at brothers and sisters.
Yet, there is a student movement. Something is afoot
on the nation's campuses. What can we do with it?
We have to look at the university more carefully,
yet, at the same time, keep it in its proper perspective.
The university is connected structually with the larger
society. Nevertheless, we cannot build socialism on one
campus.
In the past few years, the student revolt has been
primarily directed against the form of our education:
i.e. class size, grading, participation in rule-making, etc.
We have emphasized these aspects over and above
the "content" and "ends" of our "training;" and, as a
result, we have failed in eliciting a seriousness and sense
of direction in our work.
While this process has precious little to do with edu
cation, there is nothing wrong with it in itself. I have
no objection to the "training" of schoolteachers and
our knowledge factories do an effective job of that.
Rather, my objectives focus on how they are being
trained and for what ends. Perahaps the implications of
there questions can be seen if we examine an institution
like student governs jnt.
My objection to student government is not that it
is "unreal" or "irrelevant." Quite the opposite. Student
povernment is quite effective and relevant in achieving
its purpose.
We learned to acquiesce in the face of arbitrary au
name of something called "expertise."
We learned that elections should be personality
oriented popularity contests; that issues with which we
ought to be concered should only be the most banal.
Most of all, we learned about "responsibility" and
"working inside the system." Was not all of this not an
adequate preparation for "life in the real world?" Are
national, state and local elections any differnet?
The farce of it all is only evidenced by comparing
the reality of our political lives with the ideals we were
g i v e n to revere. Even so, we were also taught to smirk
at "idealism."
We learned our lessons well, so well in fact that
some os use have embraced a cynicism so deep that the
quality of our lives has been permanently impaired. Per
haps a majority of us have been castrated by the ex
isting order: a generation's young manhood and woman
hood manifesting nothing beyond the utter destruction
of seriousness.
Give a flower to a cop. Join the marines and be a
man. James Bond is the fraternity man of the year.
Student government reeks of the worst aspect of this
syndrome. Because of that, it may be a good place for
liberation already in progress on the campus.
We have no blueprints. Only some guidelines. Admin
istrators are the enemy. Refuse to be "responsible." Have
more faith in people than in programs. Refuse to accept
tht "off-campus-on-campus" dichotomy.
Finally, demand seriousness bv dealing with serious
issues getting the U.S. out of V i e t n a m, getting the
military off the campus, enabling people to win control
over the quality and direction of their lives.
In short, make a revolution
1