THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
""Page 2
Friday, March 22, 1968
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Today's need:
Editor's note: The following essay by Jeffery
Johnson, University student and Harper Hall resi
dent, is an observation on tne plignt or the stu
dent at a university.
Can the student, in todays vast multiversities,
; still find himself as an individual, or is he destined
to become a computerized punch card filling a space
In the monolithic amphitheatres of todays univer
sities? .
This is a question which sociologists, students,
and laymen alike have put before themselves, to
, try to arrive at a sound reevaluation of our educa
tional system. Has the race for lunar supremacy
with the Soviet Union forced the student's own ori
ginality and sensitivities into a place subservient
to that of the all too important grade point?
The answers to these questions have really very
' little bearing on the Individual, for through such
euphemisms as "total education" the rulers in the
vast labyrinth of administration have glossed over
the problem with a veneer of faulty reassurance
that the students growth is of utmost importance.
As they vie amongst themselves for the glittering
research grants and the intellectual prestige of pow
er the updergraduate is literally thrown into the
sea, whether he can swim or not.
They, through their deep-rooted negligence for
the undergraduate student, have placed the indi
vidual in a position of finding his own place in the
community, and all the deliberation of sociologists
(doubtless on a research grant) are of little im
portance to the individual trying to find his place
in the multiversity. Or is the student really trying
to find nig. place, trying to nurture his own seeds
of Individuality?
The student today, well aware of his position
In the community, through the constant reminders
of the news media, can very easily not attempt to
find himself, and can prepare a fairly valid ra
tionalization for his position through the ceaseless
barrage of charts, reports, and statistics which
are ever shedding new light on the plight of the stu
dent. The stench of conformity which surrounds a
university campus accurately illustrates the inse
curity which the individual harbors, and instills in
him a set of values which clearly belong to no sin
gle individual, but, rather, the values of the "group,
a species which is becoming increasingly common
across the country.
The "group's" philosophy has given refuge to
the countless numbers on administration files. It
has allowed the students to sing out a uniform cry '
of appeal for greater individual freedom. But what
could be a richer field then the saluatory neglect
by administration for the individuals growth?
In otherwords, the neglect by the university
has laid open a boundless area for intellectual
growth on the part of the student. And it is, there
fore, up to him. to j find himself, to develop in a
way both rewarding to himself and beneficial to
society. It all ninges on the fact of whether he is
willing to use this opportunity or become stagnant
in his growth. 1
John Reiser
Dick by default
You're now reading in the space where I plan
ned to give instructions on aiding the Rockefeller 1
candidacy, which is no more.
Unless something completely bizarre or unfore
seen happens, Dick Nixon will be nominated by the
Republican convention in August.
Hearts
and
Hands
Lai
ft m--
All interest in the Nebraska primary will now
be on the Democratic side, since Americus Libera
tor is as strong as anyone challenging Nixon on
the Republican side.
All this is pretty disheartening for me. It is a
hard thing to exert oneself on behalf of a candi
dacy which never materializes.
What the moderate-liberal wing of the party will
do now is uncertain. The candidacy of Pat Paulsen
will gather steam particularly with this dynamic
leader scheduled for a timely appearance in Ne
braska next month.
Some of us may write-in Tom Scantlebury, who
possesses the virtue of being the most exciting bas
ketball player I've ever seen. Johnny Carson may
garner home-state support.
Probably the most realisic course for moderate
Republicans is to attempt to work within their own
party and to exert ts much influence as possible
upon Richard Nixon. This is the course most will
choose, I'd guess.
As far as a race for the nomination goes, the
Democrats now have the "only game in town" and
some Republicans may choose, just for the devil of
it, to play in that game.
For those who choose to try to beat Johnson
with Nixon, whoever their previous favorite, the
only course is to vote for Nixon on May 14th.
Daily Nebraskan
Vol. 1. No. S3
March 22, 196.
Second-das port paid ( Lincoln. Neb.
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1 Campus I
I opinion I
a - i s
Dear Editor: i
This letter is in regard to
Al Spangler's column as it
appeared in the Nebraskan
last week. I should be made
clear at the beginning that I
dislike appearing to defend
Governor Wallace, but Truth
makes her own demands and
the shortcomings of his posi
tion need some correction.
In his first paragraph, he
suggests that Governor Wal
lace crossed into Nebraska
with the intention of causing
a riot, I infer that this sug
gestion is based on the fact
that a riot took place after
he had spoken.
He notes that Governor Wal
lace permitted the demonstra
tors to disturb the proceedings
just long enough to turn the
crowd into a mob. Two ques
tions arise: one, what would he
have said if they had been
kicked out on the mere sus
picion of anticipation of trou
ble? And, two, why couldn't
the demonstrators have sat
quietly as they had been in
vited to, or have ostentacious
ly but peacefully walked out?
I submit that the fifty or I
so wno were expelled by
the police were under no ob
ligation to play into the Gov
ernor's hands, yet his article
gives the impression that
if the Governor had lost an
eye to one; of the placards
jammed at this face, he would
accuse him of skillfully ma
nipulating the crowd's sym
pathies. Robert Kemmy
HARK. ...THINK. IT'S QWlKNiKiG
"TO rtrVTCW
William F. Buckley Jr. ... .
And the race is on . .
The entry into the Presiden
tial race of Senator Robert
Kennedy has greatly excited
European observers, some of
who have decidedly deep view
on American politics. The rou
tine observation,, that here is
the Bobby we all used to be
familiar with, coming through
as the opportunist par excel
lence, is little meditated upon,
perhaps because Europeans
believe that it is innocence
beyond the call of duty for
sophisticated p e o p 1 e to re
mark opportunism in a poli
tician. What else if not opportun
istic? They are uninterested
in that feature of the Kenne
dy candidacy. And the news
that he was booed by people
who cheered him a year ago
at the St. Patrick's Day pa
rade in New York is put down
as yet another sign of t h e
charming naivete of Ameri
cans. The focus, pure and simple,
is on the likely effects of Ken
nedys entry in the race, on
Johnson's chances of re-election,
and the Democratic par
ty's performance in Chicago
and, finally, in November.
The assumption is that Ken
nedy and McCarthy will make
a deal, that although it is true
that McCarthy and Kennedy
do not particularly like each
other, and true that the mor
al initiative is securely in Mc
Carthy's hands, the dynamics
of the political situation are
both clear and compulsive:
They are that the two must
somehow arrive in Chicago
having fused their votes. ;
How else could they behave
considering that their appeal
' has got to be based on the
idealistic desire to replace
President Johnson? How, in
the weeks and months to come
can Senator McCarthy or Sen
ator Kennedy say: "Vote for
me not because you love me,
or because I desire to be
President, but because the
future of the Republic depends
on the replacement of Lyn
don Johnson" . . . when it
is tacit that the proviso dan
gles. However, "better John
son than McCarthy."
In other words, the moral
plausibility of the two gentle
men is bound to depend on
their arriving at terms on the
basis of which the support of
the one will go to the other
at the crucial moment. Those
terms will be negotiated
an act of negotiation only
just less difficult than the ne
gotiation that everyone so ar
dently seeks between the
North and the South Vietna
mese. Kennedy is likely to
say: "Let the polls, or the
actual primary votes, deter
mine which one of us is the
front runner. Let the runner
up drop out." Mr. Kennedy
has every reason to be confi
dent that in Nebraska, in Ore
gon, and California, he will
summon the resources to beat
McCarthy. (Incidentally, if he
, doesn't he would appear to
Jiave made a truly mortal
mistake).
McCarthy is likely to con
tend that it was his initiative
that made possible the dem
onstration in the first place,
and that he will take his del
egates, intact, right to Chi
cago,, and fight for his own
nomination on the floor. My
own guess is that McCar
thy's position is the more self
discrediting; that the ideal
istic integrity which he re
quires in order to survive at
all will require him, in the
end, to yield to force ma
jeure; and that force majeure
is what Senator Kennedy,
with his latent resources
political, academic, popular,
and financial specializes
in.
It is likely that he will over
whelm McCarthy before Chi
cago. He will never be as
strong as he might have been
had he for instance treated
McCarthy In the way that
Rockefeller treated Romney.
But there are many weeks
ahead of us during which
Kennedy will have plenty of
opportunity to bury the im
age of Hamlet which so bur
dens him at the moment.
The Sunday Times of Lon-
Orangeburg
troubles
-CPS) ... About 700 black
students, the majority of them
from South Carolina State
College, gathered outside the
South Carolina State House
.this week to present a'. pe
tition to Gov, Robert E.'Mc
: Nair...
The students, who also in
tended their presence as a
p r o t e s t against the fatal
shootings of their students at
S.C. State last month and the:
arrest of six students . w h o
entered the Senate chamber
in the State House last week,
were met by about 150 po
lice, many of them wore gas
masks and carried night
sticks. There was no violence, al
though around noon several
students rushed up the stairs,
leading into the State House,
and were turned back by the
police.
Gov. McNair refused to
meet with the students, but
Lt. Gov. John C. West agreed
to talk with a delegation. He
promised the group of 17 stu
dents who talked with him
that their list of grievances
would be read on the state
Senate floor.
The list, in the form of a
petition, included a request
that open hearings be held
into the deaths of the three
students in Orangeburg, and
that the six students arrested
in the Senate last week be
tried by the Senators.
The petition said the six
should come to trial in the
Senate because they were ar
rested while attempting to
present grievances relating to
the Orangeburg shootings to
the Senators.
don reasons that Johnson
could be denied the renoml
nation provided McCarthy'
prevailed in the duel with
Kennedy. "It may be a hard
realization for a man who
has dedicated himself to the
pursuit of the Presidency, but
the 'unknown' from Minneso
ta now seems in a better po
sition to call the shots and
the rational solution to t h e
'peace' division is for Bobby
to swing behind Gene."
Which is a little like saying
that the rational solution to
the situation in England is
for the Labor Government to
resign, which of course it cer
tainly is.
But the rational situation in
American politics is that
whatever his foulmouthing of
the lower establishment, Ken
nedy knows how to deal with
it: And he will almost cer
tainly elbow out Gene McCar
thy but ihen he will, come
against the final power estab
lishment, the Presidency,
whose powers Bobby did ev
erything to augment back
when he felt a fraternal in
terest in it.
President Lyndon Johnson
is still the odds-on favorite to
put down the insurrection. If
he does not succeed in doing
so, he clearly isn't qualified
to superintend the disposition
of insurrections in Southeast
Asia.
Professors speak . . .
Greener grows the grass
Editor's Note: Today's con
tributor, Dr. Harry Cannon,
is the director of the Univer
sity's Counseling Service.
(From time to time, I get
discouraged. There are too
few staff associates to do a
. job, a colleague or superior
is being unusually obtuse and
stubborn, and I start to con
sider other universities where
the grass might be greener.
Once what's wrong with the
University has been- fully de
veloped, however, I some
times move on in my
ruminations in the following
vein.)
I am a Nebraskan.
In point of fact, I was
Pennsylvania born and
raised, never quite became
; a Virginian, and migrated to
the Great American Desert
with not a few misgivings.
My becoming a Nebraskan
had mostly to do with the
people ' here at the Univer
sity. It also has very much to
do with being a member of
a University community that
is experiencing a quiet revo
lution. Fo example:
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means being a part of a Free
University program that is
one of the largest and most
diverse in the country. Hon
est. A research psychologist
friend at the Berkeley Cen
ter of R&D in Higher Educa
tion tells me that we have
more students enrolling in
NFU than any institution out
side of San Francisco State.
And the NFU drop-out rate
is no worse than it is at
that granddaddy of free uni
versities. Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means having a N e b r a s
ka undergraduate (Gene Po
korny) invited as a consult
ant to an Eastern college
seminar on experimental ap
proaches to higher educa
tion. They could have in
vited someone from Berkeley,
or Michigan, or Yale. They
invited a Nebraskan.
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means working with students
who are trying to instill some
hope in ghetto kids. The
YWCA, Wesley Foundation,
Lutheran Student Associa
tion (and others, I'm sure)
are actively mucking artund
in the despair that is made
part of being black. These stu
dents are effectively prodding
some of us on the staff to"
develop additional resources
to"meet the needs of non
white Nebraskans.
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means talking to Nevitt San
ford, Congressman Conyers,.
Dick Gregory, Senator Car
penter, Joan Baez, Congress
man Denney. It means ex
changing views with them as
disturbed, angry, enthusiast
ic in face-to-face encounters
with people who have intense
commitments. It means test
ing my own ideas in the
face of their coiinter-argue-ments,
and frequently find
ing my reasoning in need of
finer honing.
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means being nagged by stu
dents to study the effects of
pass-fail, to evaluate the im
pact of the NFU, to assess
the practicality of student
initiated innovations in edu
cation. Note that the staff, In
this instance, are being asked
by students to perform the
jobs they ought to be per-
forming without prodding.
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means taking part in a student-faculty
committee ap
pointed by the Chancellor to
develop a Centennial College.
It means hearing these stu
' dents articulate some basic
notions of what higher educa
tion is all about, and challeng
ing the faculty to implement
these ideas. And behind the
whole concept of the Centen
nial College is an understand
ing that we, faculty and stu
dents, have an abiding con
cern for the development of
ates, not just the intellecu
tual elite.
Being a Nebraskan (NU)
means an Able-Sandoz pro
duction of "Pajama Game,"
Hyde Park on Thursday af
ternoons, Greeks wanting to
become something other than
exclusive clubs of mono-chromatic
hue, political rallies for
losers who act on the basis
of principle, ASUN represent
atives talking University bud
get needs to the legislature,
superb art two blocks away,
W. C. Fields on a Sunday
afternoon, and a lot of peo
ple who care.
Enacting what
others ponder
Charles Marxer officially announced yesterday
his plans for the Nebraska Draft Resistance Union
and some of the reactions he received were pain,
fully typical of the University's usual response to
liberal ideas.
It was rather amusing to observe the worried
glances of administrators who apparently expected
an outbreak of violence after the Union's plans
were revealed. There was also a fair gathering of
uniformed UOTC enthusiasts mumbling derogatory
remarks on the fringes of an unexpectedly large
crowd.
: : r Some student reactions were typical, however,
. and their numbers will increase as the Vietnam
War plods endlessly along with no sign of "light
at the end of the tunnel."
The Draft. Resistance Union is certainly not a
Nebraska innovation. They are being formed on
many campuses throughout the country to inform
and aid the growing number of draft age men who
find the Vietnam War and the conscription laws
morally unacceptable.
The Union proposes returning of draft cards,
draft card burning, non-registration, non-cooperation
and induction refusal. These acts of resistance
defy the law and its consequences, but these men
have selected these actions rather than subject
themselves to an undemocratic draft system and
involve themselves in an immoral war.
The NDRU feels that academic protests in the
form of letters, sign holding demonstrations and
1000-signature petitions are not going to force the
Administration to reconsider its Vietnam policy or
to change the draft laws and it is right.
Too many people escape making moral deci
sions about the Vietnam War by claiming that the
subject is so complex it is presumptuous to ques
tion the policies.
' But more and more students are asking why
an American death toll of 20,000 men, a troop com
mitment of one half million men who are -not win
ning,' or a child maimed by a grenade or napalm
are such complex situations that they should not
only be questioned but acted upon. And these are
the men the Union has been formed to help.
The NDRU will not find a flock of disillusioned
Nebraskans at its door but they will find a small
(growing) number of individuals who have reached
the difficult decision that their consciences will not
allow them to obey unjust laws simply because
they are laws. . ,
The Union and the men it counsels will not find
their acts of resistance widely acclaimed in Ne.
braska and perhaps their methods will not even
be effective, but they are to be admired and ap
plauded for having the courage to enact what others
only dare to ponder.
Cheryl Tritt . ,
' ' i " v
'Dan Looker. . . .
Up for grahs
' r i The one thing that all Democrats have in com
mon these days is their speculation about what ef
feet Sen. Robert Kennedy's entrance into jthe race
will have. The estimates vary, of course, depend
ing on . whether Johnson, McCarthy, or Kennedy
backers are doing the talking.
At last University Democrats are going to hear
the unadulterated truth Johrison can only be
hurt by Kennedy's bid, McCarthy is still a strong
contender, and Kennedy's efforts make stopping
Johnson at the convention a realistic possibility.
" J. James Exon (a Johnson supporter and Vice
Chairman of the State Democratic Party) was
quoted in the Sunday Journal and Star as predict
ing that Kennedy would take away votes from Mc
Carthy. From the results of my own personal poll
this isn't true. v
McCarthy backers are worse than Tareytoa
smokers for stubborn loyalty and they aren't switch,
ing. McCarthy already has a tremendous student
organization in Nebraska colleges ready to cam
paign for him. There are quite a few Republicans
as well as Democrats in the McCarthy organization.
Very few students in either party are switching t
Kennedy.
Does this mean that Kennedy doesn't have a
chance? No, there are Kennedy supporters around,
too. Most of them did not throw their weight be.
hind McCarthy because he wasn't "professional"
enough and because his campaign seemed one.
sided. Many Kennedy backers had been resigned
to Johnson until last Saturday.
If McCarthy backers aren't switching and if
some of the party regulars are moving towards Ken.
nedy, then how can Exon be so optomistic? It
seems that Johnson men are going to be plagued
by an embarrassing credibility gap in the next few
months.
If both McCarthy and Kennedy are strong can.
didates, then which one should Democrats support?
It's largely a matter of personal taste. The differ,
ences between the two anti-war candidates have
been exaggerated.
McCarthy has been accused of not being dyna
mic enough and of conducting a one-sided cam.
paign. Yet, a man who almost won the New Hamp.
shire primary single-handed has to be a courageous
forceful individual. The main reason that McCar
thy's campaign has seemed one-sided is due to th
incomplete coverage he received in the press be.
fore he proved himself in New Hampshire.
Kennedy has been cast as a cynical opportunist
who let McCarthy do all the work for him. But
Kennedy did not make it easy on himself by wait,
ing. McCarthy already has a large delegate block:
behind him. Since there are only 14 primaries Ken
nedy will have to get much of his support from
professional politicians rather than from delegates
elected in primaries. It's one thing to convince the
voters that they should reject Johnson (as McCar.
thy seems to be doing) and another thing to con
vince politicians that they would risk their careers
to reject Johnson (as Kennedy will Jiave to do).
Kennedy knew that he faced an uphill fight
when he entered the race last Saturday. Yet, he
threw himself into the struggle. It would be hard
to say that this, also, does not take a great deal
of courage. '
In Nebraska McCarthy' has the advantage of
not alienating disillusioned Republicans the way
Kennedy often does. Yet Kennedy has brought the
old Phil Sorenson and JFK machinery to bear
against Johnson which can only be construed as
a victory for the anti-Johnson forces.
The only advice I can give Democrats is to
workhard for the candidate you prefer and don't
sling mud against the opponents, you may be work
ing for him in November.
