THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Wednesday, March 6, 1968
Page 2
Choice '68
question ,
Last week it was released that the University
would participate in a nationwide presidential pri
mary. Choice '68, to be conducted on every ma
jor university and college campus in the country.
The project was readily undertaken by the
ASUN Special Projects Committee and work on the
campaign was started.
Now it appears that for several ridiculous rea
sons the Senate executives are having second
thoughts about the project.
At the last Senate meeting the ASUN presi
dent stated two stipulations which he felt should
be met before Choice "68 was organized here.
The stipulations were that the date of the pri
mary be moved to April 10 to correspond with the
ASUN elections and that there should be a proper
dissemination of information about the candidates.
Both of these stipulations have been fulfilled
and still the executives are hedging about the cam
paign. Contrary to the executives' belief that Choice
'68 would be insignificant, 2,500.000 students' opin
ions are not going to be ignored. Also an election
conducted on a nationwide level may stimulate
more University students to participate in what
might be a rather drab ASUN election.
Almost every major college in Nebraska ex
cept the University already have agreed to sponsor
Choice '68. Since the University has the largest
population its results would be the most indicative
of Nebraska students' viewpoints.
If the University ioes not participate the Ne
braska vote will be negligible.
State voters also would have a chuckle over
the discrepancy between the University students
who are avidly campaigning for a 19 voting age
and the students who do not exercise a voting
privilege when they have the opportunity.
The University will have made a very bad mis
take if Choice -68 is not conducted here.
The appropriateness of the Senate executives
deciding this issue rather than the entire Senate
should be questioned.
Such matters should be approved by the entire
Senate not left to the degression of the executives.
Senators should question the executives actions
at the Wednesday meeting or propose a motion to
begin plans for Choice "68 immediately before the
University is left behind in its unstirred Nebraska
dust
Cheryl Tritt
Sentimental journey
Since this thing began appearing several weeks
ago, people keep asking me when I'm going to do
something controversial.
Always aiming to please, I decided that this
week I would attack something or someone. But
who or what? George Wallace? The George Wal
lace Mentality? (if such a thing exists). The Uni
versity Administration? Crime in the Streets (or in
the dorms behind closed doors)?
I am
a Walrus
a.
tWrnual
The possibSitiet. while fruitful, were also end
: less, and besides, everybody's against those things.
What was needed was a fresh attack, sure to
Z aronse mnch ire (and we all know how dangerous
an aroased Ire Is), so I decided to tear into the
complex of attitudes which I choose to label The
- New Sentime Ntality (this Is already beginning to
sorad tike a deep, serious, probing look at one
" facet of contemporary life.
The most conspicuous example of this tendency
is Rod McKuen. Poor old Rod that sensitive
. soul who pocrs his heart out on records that sell
"J, millions of copies to swooning fans who aren't
afraid to admit that they're emotional. Lots of
. gooey violins and a little daring, but sincere (oh
' so sincere) feeling and watch out Edgar Guest
' (or Kahil Gibran).
Since I am defining this movement by invec-
live, let's move on to movies. Having outgrown
I The Sound of Musk, the majority of New Sentimen-
taliFt grab on to Doctor Zhivago and the really
hip go for A Maa and A Wemaa. Other favorites
1 are any Sidney Porter films (particularly To Sir
With Lore and an oldie but real goodie, A Patch
I Of Blue).
j- The foreign film branch of the New Sentimen
ttalists reallv empatiisaes with Tie Cranes Are
- Flying "Look Vladimir, the cranes are flying
again. (I cried and cried.) Give me Snow Whit
and the Seven Dwarfs anytime at least it's
clean.
Is anyone out there enraged yet? Let's move
0i to a few more salient features of the More.
meat New Sentimentalists are all for dialogue
it is the solnizea to most of the problems of cn
munieatioa engeaered by our complex IndBStrial so-
ciety.
And remember, religion should be Relevant
; And all you need is love. And killing is bad. And
life is good. And excuse me, I have to turn
; over my Lawrence Weld record and, and -,
Daily Nebraskan
xt c mm
fmnlM aaaUirl aaaf at Umta. J.
TKl.EPSCj.NRfc fcaitar 471-2SH. Km V2-2S9.
fatontttM nasa arc M Mr aoneatcr ar a tor 1
imm MeMar, (MMwemtr, isarausv ana fwi? s vm vrwn
, met arnc nenawn an on pirate, br br awtoU at Ba)
anus tt Ifanraaka anflar DM atrr aVnaa mt oat Far ft nnwti-
nu fitaantf FubIiruuim abatl ka fr Iran tammm-
at ft tabu iiunat ar aar eeraai cuwaoe U VmmnOt. Hrav
, am at oaa ffaaaaat aaa iiiimnl tmt waat (an enac to aa
KeaotMr WilnH Coltarjatf Tom. Jfcaftaaal EKaaal AaVar-
1 C
Eftlar Cheryl TrtSti Maucu Bdrtar Jack TmM; Jr fcdnar tA
. I im, cwt Rwr t, L. Scaatxtts lA vx-iM f Analm!
law Waaaan AanataX fcifM Keaa Eertar Silow Gcsxrri r!a
(rfa Gtarat KwBnma. 4a&aat fiaarta Editor wanif ttanai; t
! Ltm fTnam tua Jtmum itm Bracer. Kara 5araa. Mark
Camas iM p-arka. Mm kUfMwwgfc. Janet riU. Kixat Couau
" hm Jim Fanerwea, fcUMttea fHatgrtty. Pto'los Ml&mf. fca Ct0t.mm.
Imal Skamr. ktaxr Jn Dnrak. fiLtvta uiMum: hrm Citor
. HeifUr hrm Ovatsslk: mw tJtaim: iimr rccigaarr.
. Jum Ikera. McKir thtrrtU, Canaaa tkmrmtrxrls PbwuasvBrrt Miac
auunaai Um I iiar'i .
BU'iiJJ t-iaj VTiMV
fcuBiwai Kaasnr Cta frwuN; rYatettuai Mjauer Ciuisa
OnMr: Ikulxnai iM KautHT Lana Knakrr; iMKKHiwiKr tM -ttninal
d asb&fr Gary &W!HU!tni'jra; fluuna fcticl&rtr Jffi 1Vt:1-
t. ilrala. ftaal uuslcl. IteMat KuulU.
Sail on o ship OF STATE
Wallace for President? What a riot!
By George Kaufman
George Wallace visited
Omaha Sunday and Monday
to accomplish two purposes
and left with the satisfaction
of having evidently attained
both of them.
His first purpose was to get
his name off the Democratic
list in the Nebraska primary.
He apparently achieved that
when a reported 2,100 people
signed the roster of the Amer
ican Party at his "conven
tion" Monday night at Civic
Auditorium.
His second purpose was to
feed the backlash vote he is
sowing from the frustrated
and discontented "common
people" of the nation. The
bloodied and still boiling trail
be left attests to the fact that
he accomplished that goal
also.
One of Wallace's appear
ances Monday was a talk
with a political science course
at Omaha University, taught
by state senator Richard Mar
vel of Hastings.
Although it was supposedly
closed to the press, another
newsman and I got in. Be
fore Wallace arrived it was
obvious the word bad gotten
around as about 50 protesters
with sigis stood in g r o u p s
around the building.
At 1:45 we knew Wallace
had arrived when the shouts
erupted from the crowd be
low, which had now grown
quite large. It was easy to
follow his progress into the
building and up the stairs as
the shouts and hecklers f o 1
lowed him.
Suddenly he burst into the
room, followed by a group of
Alabama State Patrol body
guards, several Omaha po
licemen and a few of bis ad
visors. The doors were no
sooner shut than the corridor
outside was filled with people
and a chant of "Black Pow
er! Black Power!" filled the
room.
"These are the free speech
people," he leered, pointing at
the hallway. "They're always
for freedom of speech as long
is it's for them and not you."
This brought another round
of applause from the c 1 a s s.
Members wildly applauded
the governor several times
during the talk, and I am still
hoping il was more a reaction
to offset the group outside
than a sincere agreement with
what be said.
The two things he said
which brought the loudest ap
plause were:
"If some European country
that wasn't supporting us
against the Communists in
Viet Nam asked me for 100
million in aid. I'd write five
billion on the black board (be
turned and did so) and I
would subtract the 100 million
and say "There, that's all you
owe us now from the world
wars. "
And, refering to an incident
which occur ed to the Presi
dent in California last month,
"If some Communist or an
archist laid down in front of
my car to stop it, it would be
the last car he everlaid
down in front of."
As bis car made its way
out of the OU parking lot, it
was chased by shouting pro
testers who kicked at the
bumper and the tires and, at
last threw their signs at it
when it got out of kicking
range.
When we arrived at Civic
Auditorium in the evening the
number of signcarrying pro
testers had grown to at least
300 as they marched in a cir
cle to the door of the auditori
um and out to the street
chanting such things as "11
you want freedom, send Wal
lace home (clap, clap)."
The group included quite a
few nuns and priests, who
happily joined in the chant
"In your guts you know he's
nuts."
The signs themselves showed
a wide range of ingenuity, in
cluding "what color is God,
governor?", "Keep the White
Tornado out of Washington,"
"Wallace for President of
South Africa," "Omaha Can
Co ... without Wallace," and
a play on Wallace's favorite
derogatory term outside of
perhaps "Communist,"
"Pseudointellectuals of the
World, Unite."
One man stood on the side
lines silently hawking "Wal
lace Go Home" signs printed
in bright red.
About 7:25 the demonstra
tors headed into the auditori
um, still chanting and waving
their flags wildly. Several
"delegates" (anyone going in
to sign the petition was a dele
gate) dressed in suit and tie
walked in past the protesters
waving Confederate flags and
shouting back.
Inside, the whole thing as
sumed the atmostphere of a
pre-game festivity at an im
portant basketball game. A
small Souza-type rented
marching band in faded uni
forms kept the rally music
coming, while the protesters,
who had been steered into the
balconies because they were
not "delegates", cheered
whenever one of theirs would
walk out onto the convention
floor carrying one of the signs
among the Wallace supporters.
At eight people were asked
to go to tables at the sides
of the auditorium to sign up for
Wallace while booes rained
from the balcony. A family
of Indians, complete with
headress, came onto the
stage and shook hands with
Wallace men, as the pro
testers started a chant of "Go
Big Red."
Several of the newsmen re
marked that they looked like
the same Indians which had
greeted Romney earlier in
the year.
The Indians then went
through the motions of sign
ing the petition on the plat
form while the speaker called
the crowd's attention to t h e
"good conduct of these true
Americans."
The speaker tried to c a 1 1
the "convention" to order as
a small group of Negroes
worked their way up to s i t
down in front of the platform.
They were urged to leave
"for fire regulations", but
would not budge. Police
moved between the platform
and the Negroes as the group
shouted "Stop This Man!"
and"SeigHeil!"
At this point the speaker
huddled with Wallace aides on
the platform and one asked if
they should bring on the gov
ernor yet "No," replied an
other with a heavy drawl,
"Let's give 'em a little Ne
braska music first" The
marching band struck up
"There is no place like Ne
braska." As the group almost
drowned them out with shouts
of "Fat Pig!" and "Send Wal
lace to Vietnam, and Lurleen
w ith him," three Wallace peo
ple came up and read resolu
tions to the delegates. The
resolutions couldn't really be
beard above the shouts, and
the nays from the balcony
outnumbered the ayes from
the floor, but each was de
clared passed.
When Wallace was finally
announced and was swept on
stage with a flurry, the crowd
pressed the police up to the
platform, shouting "bigot"
and booing.
Aides and patrolmen sur
rounded him at the micro
phones, trying to protect Wal
lace from flying coins and
sticks. Several of the young
Negroes got their kicks from
pulling on the many cords
leading to the microphones on
the platform and watching
some of them tumble to the
floor.
Standing underneath the
platform where Wallace was
trying to shout over the cat
calls and jeers. I suddenly
heard a ruckus break out be
hind me.
As I turned around the po
lice were swinging their
clubs and pushing the protes
ters back into the crowd. A
metal folding chair flew past
my head and crashed near
the platform. As the police
swept the mob back through
the auditorium and out the
front one young Negro stag
gered past me holding a blood
soaked handkerchief to his
head, and went for a side
door.
An elderly Wallace couple,
routed from their seats by the
struggles, cringed near the
platform and urged the police
on with shouts of "Kick the
nigger for me" and "Kill the
son of a bitch.'
It was soon over, with only
a clearing in the crowd lit
tered with broken signs, a
fallen TV camera and chairs
was left of the explosion.
Outside, at least 17 police
cars were doubleparked in
front of the auditorium, and
police rode herd on listless
groups of Negroes and scat
tered whites, earning s h o t
guns. Wallace talked almost an
hour to his cheering follow
ers, then immediately left
from the side door to fly back
to Alabama. But be will not
so soon be forgotten in Oma
ha. The Omaha police found
that out the morning after his
speech, as one man was
killed and several others beat
en on the North Side.
His seeds were sown, ard
as ke promised "bis people,"
he will be back this summer
during the campaign.
Waiiam F. Buckley, Jr.
Buckley's English Almanac
The talk everywhere is of
the plight of the Kenya Indi
ans who bad been promised
(everybody says) permanent
rights to immigrate to Eng
land back when Kenya was
turned over to old burning
spear Kenyatta, who now of
ficially discloses his intention
to make the Indians second
class citizens.
Mr. Duncan Sandys, who
was at that time Minister In
Charge of the liquidation of
the British Empire, insists
that he gave no such promise,
but appears to rest his case
on the formalistic argument
that after all he had no pow
er to "tie the bands of Parli
ment" Already the Government'!
measure to restrict the flow
of immigration has passed the
Parlimament by a vote of
about 80, strongly backed
by the public which fears an
increase in racial antagonism
and unemployment
Opponents of the Socialists'
Bill, who include Labour
backbenchers and a few Con
servatives, are stressing the
otmoxiousness of a Bill which
could be compared to our Ori
ental Exclusion Acts, and, for
the first time in English his
tory, describes the color of a
man's skin as relevant to his
admissibility.
Tbey ttnss, also, that the
Indians in question are lot
the most part highly skilled in
various crafts and would be
just the kind of people Eng
land would be encouraging to
immigrate if their skin were
white.
The most interesting argu
ment being adduced is simply
to the effect that whether
England likes it or not, what
Sandys now says or doesn't
say, in fact the pledge was
given, and the Indians' pos
session of British passports is
evidence enough in the mat
ter. Indeed The Daily Tele
graph, which usually weight
in on the pragmatic side of
such questions as these, pub
lished the facsimile of task A
passport with the modified
wording, "Dieu at mon droit
et votre slightly attenuated
droit aussL"
On the book scene, the vol
umes on the British spy, Har
old Philby, have received
much attention and, at the
hands of the Earl of Birken
head, one sees a revival of
that high pitch of British in
dignation which once awed
the world. Philby was pro
tected by co-spies, Buegesi
and Maclean, and the Earl
reads with such stupefaction
as Senator McCarthy the bad
Senator McCarthy a s e d to
read, the record of the par
toaage by high officials of su
bordinate security risks.
Larry Grossman
He died
for France
The morning train from Paris was pulling out
of the station in a nameless French village south
of the capitol. The group of American students I
was traveling with stood on the platform watch
ing the last car disappear down the tracks. We
had mistakenly caught the wrong train. Our next
scheduled stop was Blois in the Loire Valley coun
try. The train we had taken did not stop there.
The ten of us walked Into the little station
house and buried a corner of the building with
our combined luggage. Everyone got busy writing ;
postcards to their aunts in Oregon and Ohio. It;
was four hours until the afternoon express would -arrive
from Paris.
The day was warm and perfect for walking.
I left my friends behind and set ont to explore
the little town. The sun had bleached the world
here a uniform white. The houses were white
stucco and the streets were white gravel. A few
flowers In window boxes provided the only visible .
color.
It was midday and families were having their
meals. Through the open doors covered only by
long streamers of blue and red plastic, I could
see groups of people sitting at tables with wine
bottles, glasses, and long loaves of bread. Their
lilting speech was the only sound in the white
silence.
Travel
Notes
Ten minutes of walking took me past the last
cottage to the edge of town. Fields began here
and moved uninterrupted off to the sky. A white
wall with an iron gate caught my eye. I walked
over and found the municipal cemetery.
I entered and saw several rows of graves laid
ont in neat order. Small paths raa between the
plots and each grave was outlined with white
stones. The tombstones of adjoining rows touched
back to back. I walked along the graves and no
ticed some plots covered with tail weeds and dead
flowers. In France one must pay the caretaker of
the cemetery aa annual fee to maintain a grave.
Non payment means the plot Is left along and
grasses and tall weeds sooa provide a cover. I
was surprised to see untended graves next to
well cared for ones.
The names on the stones were all accompanied
bv the birth and death dates and sometimes by
a" picture of the deceased. Two things caught my
eye. A great number of the stones had pictures
on them of young men posing stiffly in military
uniforms. Death dates repeated themselves
1917 . . . 1919 . . . 194L . . 1943. . . 1945. The words
Mort Pour La France .... Died for France
always followed.
I left the cemetery and thought about what I
had seen. The distance separating me from the
two wars that racked Europe in this century is
great both in time and space. I was torn after
the fighting stopped and knew of the battles only
from history lessons.
But I had just seen the graves la a small
town of voung mei f alien in battle. The towa was
small but many graves lamented Mort Pour La
France. How often, hi how many small towns
across the face of France eoald one find this
written?
I went back to the train depot through the
quiet town. History and something of the tragedy
of humanity came along for the walk.
Campus Opinion
Dear Editor:
It seems to me that Bernard Durands two ar
ticles recently printed in the Daily Nebraskan have
exposed his naivete better than anyone else might
have hoped to do.
Several weeks ago, I had the unfortunate oc
casion to hear him speak for an hour or so at
Hyde Park, on the role of the United States in the
Vietnamese War. Through the use of half-truths,
items out of context, and overt exagerations, be
managed to label the citizenry of the U.S. as gullible
fools for believing anything contrary to what he
knows.
While condemning the United Etates for mass '
murder and gross cruelty, he either didn't recog- -nize
similar undertakings by the Viet Cong and the
North Vietnamese, or rationilized them away with -the
magic word "civil war" Even a grade schooler
in our contested (by him) educational system would
recognize the hypocrisy of bis oposition.
In his second article he contended that "ignor.
ance is being cultivated at every level of the Ameri
can educational system" with no more proof of
, this offered than that he "has come across minor
distortions". I might just as well conclude from
my recent observations of a minor Frenchman,
that all Frenchmen suffer from a persecution com
plex. Again, since when is be the all-knowledgable,
infallible determiner of what truth Is and what lies
are, to contrive arguments calling for a revolt
(hopefully)? If he is actually the person of prin
ciple he pretends to be, I might think he would be
obliged to rescind his denunciations in a gentle
man's fashion and offer an appropriate apoiogy.
Joseph Kirchner
Dear Editor:
Open house? Co-ed visitation? In Loco Parentis?
Subcommittees and on and on and on . . . Curiosity
led me to write my freshman cousin attending the
University of the predominently small-town sate
of Oregon, at Eugene. After relating to her our
above mentioned controversy, she wrote the fol
lowing concerning the U. of O. policies, etc:
"U. of O. has dorm open hours regulations,
too. The boys always have maximum hours
(all that the Student Conduct Committee will
allow) and the girls' dorms usually vote for
less. Ours are Fri. 8:30 p.m.-l:00 a.m. and Sun
day 1-7 p.m. You can have your doors shut."
Incidentally, at the University of Oregon, as she
mentioned in one of ber earlier letters, any student
can live virtually anywhere he or she desires after
his or her freshman year. If the U. of O. were a
"Berkeley" I wouldn't have been surprised. Rela
tively speaking, the problem of a satisfying "open
house" policy approaches the ridiculous.
Greg Vogt
