THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Thursday, March 28, 1968
Same analysis;
same inaction
" . "I mast again In candor lay to yon mem-
bers of this Commission it is a kind of Alice
in Wonderland with the same moving pictures
shown over and over again, the same analysis,
the same recommendations and the same inac
tion:" Quoted from Pr. Kenneth B. Clark
addressing the President's
Riot Commission
Dr. Clerk's rem.: :ju sum up the reasons for
the Senate passage of two bills Wednesday re
questing investigation of discriminatory practices
at .Jie University Discrimination, de facto segre
gation, racial prejudice call it what you like
xist at the University.
The problem has not caused race riots, the
closing of the school or mass demonstrations but
nevertheless some elements on the campus are
. minimizing the situation.
One Senate bill directs the Housing Office to
... enforce specific roles concerning discriminatory
practices by landlords of approved University hous
T Ing.
Senate didn't need to prod the Housing Office.
It recognizes its shortcomings. But the office ra
lionaiizes that it does not have the funds or the
staff to effectively implement the housing policies,
nor does the office feel there is a pressing need
to enforce them.
The Housing Committee which also has a pow
erful voice in housing matters also does not feel
' that discriminatory housing should cause concern
and so has remained silent on the issue.
But landlords can be taken off an approved
housing list for discriminatory practices and then
rent again to an "acceptable" university student.
The housing office is aware of some of these land
lords but they do no; prosecute these people or
torn them over to the civil authorities,
- The possibility of racial discrimination exists
..and this alone should force the Housing Office to
- change its policies.
rv.. The Senate also requested that IFC and Pan
hellenic investigate discrimination in the selection
of members, but again, the Greeks are fully aware
they aren't pledging Negroes it's painfully ob
vious. On paper most Greek houses look very innocent
as national discrimination clauses have all but
disappeared. But the odious unwritten Gentleman's
Agreement and the blackball system still remain
and prove very effective when a Negro comes
through a rush line.
- - IFC and Panhel are compiling a report for the
- -Regents for the fall of 1969 and they are not plan
ning any "direct action" until that time, according
to the group's leaders. It appears that the Greeks
do not feel the problem is pressing at least
- -until 1969.
However, there is not one Greek house on this
campus which would pledge a Negro without causing
violent upheaval within the house or within its
alumni group probably both.
This is racism and a report in 1969 is not
going to erase it or is civil rights legislation, coer
cion from the Administration, eliminating the black
ball system or restructuring the whole Greek
system.
The Housing Office partially can solve its prob
lem by appealing to the State for funds and if
the State isn't interested perhaps the federal gov
ernment is.
Unfortunately the Greeks' problem is a moral
question and the solution is more abstract than the
Administrations. IFC and Panhel can not change
an individual Greek's sense of values or his at
titudes. He must do it himself and he cannot wait
until 1969 to start changing them.
Cheryl Tritt
Al Spangler
Nervous nellies
"The war that is necessary is just," said Livy,
"and hallowed are the arms where no hope exists
but in them." Unfortunately, the "necessities" of
power politics have made that remark insignificant.
"Necessity" has meant too many things to too
many men expansion, conquest, anti-communism
and face-saving wars of aggression. At cock
tail parties these days, one often hears talk of
"necessary evils," making our moral language as
corrupt as that last, dull drink.
. Not long ago, in the not-so-hallowed halls of
our own university, one of our professors, a Re
gents Professor, informed us that the law is sacred.
We ought not to encourage others to break the
law. hp said. How does one, after all, break the
law? Which law, and under what circumstances,
Sr is the question. If obeying a law is immoral, then
why ought we obey it. Ah yes, another necessary
-.evil has come our way. Walk with me down the
garden path!
-
We are asked to support our men in Vietnam.
Why should we? Because they are our men. That
is to say, we should support our men because we
should support our men. Wbat is more, we are
asked to support them by escalating the war, by
sending more men. Our men who are in Vietnam,
ballowed be their armament.
Opponents of the war have lately been told,
in a sort of sock-it-to-me style, that they are giv
ing "aid and comfort to the enemy." I mean,
one can't help but imagine this phrase being chant
ed at noon every day in the war room of the
Pentagon, or as the title of a pop tune: "aid
'n comfort, sock it to me!" Remember when Rob
ert Kennedy said that, under certain circumstances,
be would favor giving blood to the Viet Cong. Sock
it to me.
Lest someone accuse me of making light of a
very serious matter, I deny it straightaway. When
our governiiint'8 defense of the war becomes pa
tently absurd, and when a patent absurdity means
the loss of many lives, it is no laughing matter.
--It is sick.
The arguments about the war are fu.iny in the
"way that "The Graduate" is funny. They evoke a
very nervous laugh; who, after all, slaps his knees
and bowls at "Waiting for Godot."
Nevertheless, I must admit that it is hard to
keep a straight face when LBJ says we are "Ner
vous Nellies." I guess someone ought to hang up
A banner in the Coliseum saying, "Bobby Kennedy
Is a Nervous Nellie," signed "Elby Jay."
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Joseph Alsop
A senseless midstream change
Saigon If ever an Ameri
can politician was in the situ
ation of U.S. Grant in the
Cold Harbor campaign, that
politician is Lyndon B. John
son. The grim drive that
really ended the Civil War
called forth the king of storm
all too familiar today. Grant
merely said:
"I shall fight it out along
this line if it takes all sum
mer." The replacement of Gen.
William C. Westmoreland is
wrapped in mystery here in
Saigon. The President's wise
and brilliant ambassa
dor, Ellsworth Bunker, had
no warning of it. Unless all
appearances deceive, Gen.
Westmoreland had only the
most minimal warning. It
has both shaken and shocked
the U.S. forces in the field in
Vietnam.
The worst of It is that it
suggests the President, to his
own sorry detriment, one may
predict, does not intend to
imitate the sturdy courage of
Grant at Cold Harbor. Is this
a gesture to appease poten
tial followers of Sen. Robert
F. Kennedy? Has the Presi
dent changed bis mind about
providing the extra troops
needed for a winning margin
here, as he had decided to
do, pre-Kennedy? Such ques
tions insistently arise.
From this remote vantage
point, indeed, there is only
one outstanding fact that is
neither questionable nor my
sterious. In this ugly and com
plex war, Gen. Westmoreland
has served President Johnson
as no other American field
commander has served an
American President, with the
sole exception of Grant and
Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln backed
Grant to the hilt, however,
and Grant would have been
ungrateful indeed if be had
not shown corresponding lo
yalty. But from the dawn cf
American history, it has been
the custom of an our other
field commanders to indulge
in the self-protective com
plaints against the civfl au
thority which Douglas Mac
Arthur all but developed into
a special branch of military
science.
After four long years I must
know Gen. Westmoreland
about as well as any other
member of the reporter's
trade. In countless talks, per
haps a bit maliciously, I have
offered the general countless
chances to say that he was not
being adequately backed up
in Washington. The tempta
tion was always brushed
a real temptation.
To name a specific exam
ple, one of the gravest prob
lems in Vietnam today rises
from the fact that the fire
power of the South Vietna
mese forces is inferior to the
firepower conferred on the
North Vietnamese and the
Viet Cong by their new Rus
sian arms. Gen. Westmore
land asked for re-equipment
of the South Vietnamese army
with M-16 rifles as long ago
as 1965. Because of Pentagon
red tape and budget chopping,
the M-16s are only now ar
riving. More generally, neither the
President nor former Secre
tary of Defense Robert Mc
Namara ever understood the
basic principle of war, that
the way to win at the cheap
est cost in the shortest time
is to create the widest margin
of fighting power that the na
tional resources permit. Thus
every troop requirement was
mercilessly chipped and
pared. Yet if the President
had called the reserves a
year ago, as he ought to
have done, the war would be
ending today.
As it is, Gen. Westmore
land, with all hi precious ex
perience, with all his long
and hard-won knowledge of
the enemy and of our allies,
is being removed at a mom
ent when the strategy he pur
sued for so long, in the face
of so much ignorant criti
cisms, has already succeeded.
For make no mistake about
it, the Tet offensive meant
that Gen. Westmoreland had
already won the war of at
trition be was condemned to
wage by the decision of the
President and Secretary Mc.
Namara to make this a limi
ted war. That decision was
wise.
Yet only imagine what
Douglas MacArthnr wonld
have leaked out to the world
about the wonders he wonld
be able to perform If he could
cut the Laos corridor of land
behind the enemy lines in the
southernmost provinces
of North Vietnam!
Think of the talk that would
have been heard, about Amer
ican troops being needlessly
sacrificed because of civilian
ground rules! The Tet offen
sive meant that Gen. West
moreland had won his war of
attrition because it clearly re
sulted from a decision by the
Hanoi war-leaders that they
could not sustain the burden
of the war for a long period.
Hence they went for broke,
multiplying a factor of nearly
10 their risks, their troop in
vestment and their loss rates.
Nonetheless, they failed dis
astrously in the first round.
A 'proper channel': takeover
(CPS Richard Anthony)
The students at Howard
University did what student
radicals around the country
have been suggesting for
years: They took over their
school.
Yet the five-day occupation
of the administration by the
Howard students had none of
the rancor, and none of the
demagoguery that often at
tends student protests. In
fact, the occupation was al
most painfully sedate.
Committees of stu
dents went busily about tbeir
appointed tasks which in
cluded guarding the doors to
buildings, keeping order in its
crowded hallways, obtaining
and serving food (some of
which was donated by local
restaurants), and delivering
messages.
S o m e of the organization
looked like w i n d o w-dressing
for the benefit of the press.
The long, cream-colored Lin
coln in which students con
veyed huge pots full of steam
ing food to the campus was
identified by several signs
that said, "food car," a title
that could not have much
meaning except for by
standers at the scene.
In general, though, most of
the regimentation made
sense. When a large group of
students the number in and
around the administration
building frequently rose to
more than 1,000 is thrown
on its own resources, organi
zation is obviously an acute
need. The protest's leader
ship met that need to such an
extent that ota faculty mem
ber said, "Look at these ,
kids they are running this
more organized than the ad
ministration." Yet if the orderly nature of
the occupation kept the situ
ation well in hand, it also
gave expression to the mo
tives of the students in tak
ing this method to show their
disatisfaction. In fact they
were not out to "bring How
ard to a grinding halt," nor
even to turn it into a center,
of Black Pawar operations,
although many of them would
argue that Howard should be
contributing to the Bleak
Power operations.
But basically what most of
the protesting students
seemed to be looking for was
an admission by the admini
stration that they are human
beings, and that their ideas
should at least be heard in
higher councils of the univer
sity. It's clear enough that the
students havent gotten such
an admission from the ad
ministration in the past. In
fact, under the bumbling,
high-handed policies of Uni
versity President James Na
brit, the students have taken
the protest route again and
again, because they have no
other recourse.
Nabrit at 68 is too old and
too frightened of losing his
support from the Federal
Government (which provides
more than half of Howard's
annual budget) to accept the
reality of the student's needs.
He has not even acted on
suggestion from government
education officials on ways
to upgrade the quality of edu
cation at Howard.
Not Harvard
Instead he has continued
on with the notion that if he
can only increase the per
centage of white students at
the school it will gain a new
pre-eminence, not as the
"H a r v a r d of Negro Amer
ica," but as one of the coun
try's outstanding private uni
versities. But this notion is not only
a dream, it is a bitter Insult
to the students at Howard.
Many of them are first-rate
students who chose Howard,
quite simply, because they
didn't want to put up with
white prejudices.
Adrianne Manns, editor of
the student paper, went to a
predominantly white high
school in Ohio. She could have
gone to any number of white
universities, but chose How
ard because it was known as
the best of the black colleges.
She, and others, have found
that Howard falls far short
of their expectations.
A young history professor,
who is also white (as are
most of the few faculty mem
bers who took a public stand
in support of the students),
described what he believed
to be the basic problems at
Howard.
"These students," he ex
plained, "do not feel, and
rightly so, that the admini
stration considers them to be
responsible people who can
offer ideas on how Howard
should be run."
Community work
He said they also believe
the administration has tried
to de-emphasize the study of
subjects relevant to black
people. "They (the students)
would like Howard to be more
relevant to the community.
The students want to see pro
jects or programs that allow
them to work in the commun
ity, working with young peo
ple in ghetto areas."
These are not unusual de
sires for contemporary col
lege students, but of course
they can't be separated from
the quest for a black identity
that is going on r.n campuses
and in ghettos around the
country.
At Howard, the search for
this identity is intimately tied
to demands for better educa
tion and more student say in
campus affairs. The implica
tion of the administration's
overall stance is that students
should toe the mark there,
because they'll be obliged to
keep on doing so in the white
world outside.
For increasing numbers of
students, though, that's what
they've been hearing too long.
In many ways, the occupa
tion of the administration
building was also an expres
sion of the part the black iden
tity quest played in bringing
on tne protest.
At the start of it, then
were few indications that the
protest had a black power
dimension. True, Stokely Car
michael came out and offered
his support in a brief speech
and the students referred to
each other as brother and
sister, but there were few oth
er signs of the .black Power
issue.
Buy the weekend, though,
more signs bearing slogans
such as '"black is back," were
visible. The administration
building had a sign saying
"Black University" promi
nently displayed in the front.
The marshalls had been re
named the "Askari," which is
Swahili for policemen. White
reporters found it more and
more difficult to gain entry
to the building (this last may
not have been partly the re
sult of early press coverage
of the protest, which as usual,
went against the students.)
None of these indications
signalled a major shift in the
direction of the protest. They
did suggest, though, that the
sense of unity generated by
the occupation as based on a
realization by students that
their power could not be sim
ply categorized as student
power, but rather partook of
black power as well.
What wUl happen now? The
concessions that the protest
leaders wu from the board
of trustees were really no im
pressive not to disci,line
the protestors, to reconsti
tute its faculty and student af
fairs committee and to make
sure that the 39 students, who
were charged with disrupting
university ceremony March
1, would be tried by a stu
dent judicialry board. It's
possible, therefore, that the
unity forged during the oc
cupation wiO be dissiapted
over the coming months.
Nabrit is scheduled to re
tire in July, which could end
some of the more oppressive
aspects of the present admini
stration, although some of his
assistants have shown na
more receptivity to student
needs than he.
Mick Lowe
Pal Benjy
Would you mind telling me, then, what those
four years of college were for? What was the
point of all that hard work?
Ya got me.
A twenty year-old mixture of Joey Bishop and
Tommy Smothers leaps onto a rubber raft and
finds himself atop a naked, turned-on Anne Ban
croft Life, death and marriage hinge on the street
directions of a gas-station attendant, and for an
agonizing, eternal split-second he cannot remem
ber the number of blocks.
You're about to lose your virginity, finally, but
you stand up and shake the table like the San
Francisco earthquake, nearly spilling a martini
down the front of your chicken's dress.
Here's to yon, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than yon could know . . .
Mike Nichol's Graduate has been in town now
three weeks,
Why we're here you're not quite sure, but hava
another-beer-and-don't sweat-the-small stuff. I guess
that's "Why?"
I didn't like the film the first time I watched
it Mainly because I couldn't emphathize with Ben
jy. He couldn't communicate, and I guess I think
lean.
But the second time it took. I walked into the
Cornhusker men's room and happened to glance
into the mirror. I was shocked. I was expecting
Dustin Hoffman. My old Plymouth looked and felt,
for an the world, like a red Alfa Romeo worth
about seven grand.
Be that as it may, I'm not sure things are
that bad. I find Mr. and Mrs. Robinson, for exam
ple, hard to believe.
"Oh, no," I am told everytime I have voiced
that sentiment, "I know people just like that" May
be.
But I cannot forget that Mrs. Robinson almost
became a feeling, semi-honest person when Benjy
had his nocturnal "conversation" with her.
I don't think we're an bound for suburban Santa
Barbara, but maybe I should know better. I am
reminded of the student sitting next to my date.
According to the State manager, Gene Buhr
dorf, the Graduate is the most popular film at his
theatre since Mary Poppins, which played here
three years ago.
The number of "repeaters," or people who go
for the second or third times is "Fantastic," ac
cording to Buhrdorf .
The sound track album, composed mostly of
warmed-over Simon and Garfunkle is already scarc
er downtown than peace buttons in the Pentagon.
Almost any night you have to stand in line to
get in, and everybody, but everybody, from Burr
Hall to the Beta Honse (and brother, there's more
separating them than 24 city blocks) has seen the
Graduate.
My question is "Why?"
Benjy lacks the blue-eyed charm of Paul New
man, or the physical stature of Clyde Barrow. Ben
jy is certainly not bigger-than-life. He is, perhaps,
like the rest of us, just a little smaller than life.
He is Holden Caulfield with a BA. He is, you
fear, where we are going.
When we were an digging Benjy and his Alfa
shooting through the Big Sur just after dawn with
the sea mist still hazy on the trees he ejaculated,
"What a place to have a sports car."
That, friend, tells us a lot
At any rate, people are still filling the good
old State to see it all, and according to Buhrdorf
Benjy is "beginning to catch on in the high school
crowd now."
As a result, Buhrdorf promised, the Graduata
will be in town "quite a while longer."
It wul, indeed.
Campus Opinion
Dear Editor: - . . V"
In answer to Mr. Shiver's letter about his de
finition of black power; I believe the definition of
black power is a very relative thing, depending
on the person you ask. From reports I've heard!
a black militant's definition would be whiteya
mutant s: blacky's blood; a moderate liberal on
either side of the color barrier: all the way from
nJS-ow "eaSn together" t0 "Come t0 Wn to-
I challenge Mr. Shiver's aim - peaceful change.
SLTV0 m comine ever the re
sentment, the bitternesses, the hatred, after so
many years of feeling like a second daTciK
The acrid smell of a burning home can do
but 5h2TW Dt'Up " San?so2
w.hat his own home? And how do
you stifle the cry of a dead man', wife? By teX
ing her she can enter any restaurant she wants to
Let us pray-gentlemen and gentlewomen wi
have done so little else. suewomen. wa
Phyllis Herman
Daily Nebraskan
Vol. , No. K
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