THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Wednesday, April 3, 1958
P&QQ 2
Deny credit
for ROTC
' The University's ROTC program thui far has
escaped the waves of criticism which are engulf
ine the programs of many major universities and
colleges.
r Because Nebraska's ROTC program is similar
'"' to most other college curriculums across the na
tion it is necessary that It, too, should be reevalu
. ated and consequently revised.
The criticisms which have been leveled at oth
er universities have been against compulsory ROTC
''' courses, against giving academic credit for ROTC
7"; courses and against the very existence of military
' " training programs on college campuses.
Nebraska's compulsory ROTC program was
"I'.' rescinded three years ago and so the first critl
- cism does not apply here.
ROTC students In the four-year programs, how
ever, receive at least 16-24 hours of credit for
.-. military instruction. Junior and senior men in the
"-three programs also receive from $40-$50 a month
. ; during their last two years for participating in the
program.
.... The University took a major step by making
the ROTC program voluntary but now another step
. ,. is needed ana tnat is denying academic credit for
' ROTC courses.
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William F. Buckley, Jr.
Although the programs' required hours do not
exceed 24 hours in any of the three ROTC branches
- many of the men enroll m more military courses
as electives. Thus it is possible that a large por
tion of a man's education can be received in the
ROTC program.
Sacrificing academic hours for military instruc
tion could not help but lower the level of the gen
eral education a student receives at the Univer
sity. This situation could be particularly harmful
.when a former ROTC student seeks employment
, after his required military service only to find that
. . . his general education has been inadequate.
The three ROTC programs here, and In particu
lar the Air Force program, are beginning to lib
( eralize their curriculums. Such instruction techni
ques as seminars and visiting civilian lecturers are
being used in the programs.
However, no matter how liberalized the ROTC
program becomes, its basic purpose will still be
to train men for war and this goal simply does
not correspond (or at least it shouldn't) or help
foster the university's basic ideal of free inquiry.
The ROTC programs are providing an easy
and cheap vehicle for the United States to train
future military officers. There are several officers
candidate schools in the country which are dis-
associated from any university or college and
these are the appropriate places to train military
; officers.
If the University would no longer give credit
for as many other universities are considering do
. tag, ROTC courses, the program would lose Its
.X- appeal and would probably be removed from the
. university. And this is where officer training pro
. : grams belong outside the educational system.
.x Cheryl Tritt
pininirimmiiininimrmiinininmmiiimniiiiiiniiiiiiinnmimnfflmiinmifflmnii
: Campus Opinion
; Dear Editor:
3 Too often too many of our young people fan
rr heir to unjustified criticism. Their critics accuse
. them of apathy and Irresponsibility.
It is unfortunate that these same critics could
i k,not have witnessed the students' participation at
- the speech of Senator Kennedy.
They would have witnessed a group of young
? "people who were vitally Interested in what happens
1 in and to their country. They would have seen a
- group of young people who were determined to
have a voice in their country's future. They gave
the Senator from New York an orderly forum,
one that clearly illustrates their strong beliefs in
the democratic form of government All in all,
; their performance said much more about the ways
2 and means of democracy than the words of any
y speaker.
jr Edward Schwartzkopf
Member, Board of Regents
University of Nebraska
Dear Editor:
We the undersigned wish to petition the Ne
braska Student Union to reinvite Harold Stassen.
The opportunity to listen to this man was lost be
cause of the conflict in schedules between Ken
' nedy and Stassen on March 28.
William Kyser
Richard L. Karohl
Dick Abramson
Rodney Patent '
Daniel J. RItzdorf
Thomas J. Rupprecht
Eric Olson
Ron Loyd
Jerry Strutevant
Milt Kennedy
Daniel D. Rockmann
Glenn Ness
Bob Stephrum
Robert Frey
Matt Varney
Ron Foster
Jim Ludlg
J. M. Tesar
Russ Rebman
Jerry Wolf
Roger Kemper
Dennis Kelly
R. Court Olson
Jim O'Hare
Jerry Welks
Randy Httbbird
Larry Nelson
Ron Alexander
Susan Ditore
Daily Nebraskan
vol w. o. n April Ml
- Second-clam postaira paM al Ltaeoln, Net.
TELEPHONES: Editor 47J-2M. Newt 472-258, Btmaesa 473-33M.
SaiMcrtpUm rata are M per emeeter or t tor the academic fa.
rnbttiiwd aJnaday. Wednesday rSiureiajr and rrtda durial 1st tcimi
now luring Taseuune anri auid perioda, by ins anmen'a
(.mveraity w Nebraska under Die Inrladictioa of th Faculty iIxb
titlec oa KtuiVol Pobhratkms PoWcation Malt ke fret from cenor
"iP o 'ho Subcommittee ar an persoa mtaida the I'nlveretn. Mem
era et the Nebraakan are reaponaibM tor what thev caoaa la M
eftated
MfmBeraaodated Collegiate Prtaa. NittooaJ edncaUoul A4nr
The Young Americans for
Freedom, an organization of
the politically sane In the col
lege campuses, has been
picketing IBM's offices in
protest against its vigorous
solicitation of business be
hind the Iron Curtain. Vigor
ous, that is, in Eastern Eur
ope. By no means vigorous
as advertised in America, be
cause the company's officials
are aware that there is pub
lic hostility to trade with the
Communist bloc.
You are not likely, then, to
see full page ads by IBM
boasting, "America's Leading
Manufacturer of Computers
Has Sold Its 1400 Line to Bui-
garia, Poland, Czechoslo
vakia, and Hungary . . . Our
newest 360 system has been
sold to Yugoslavia, and is of
fered for sale to the o t h e r
East European States. There
is no accuracy like IBM ac
curacy. With IBM, you can
fire a missile five-thousand
miles away and hit the town
square in Armonk, New
Yorkl Put in your order now,
while America still lasts."
These young boys and girls
of YAF don't deny that Mr.
Johnson's State Department
has the power to authorize
IBM to sell the most sophis
ticated computing machinery
in the world to countries en
gaged in sustaining the North,
they merely assert their right
to protest IBM's complicity
with that policy.
Isn't there a permissible
form of private protest? We
know about the impermissi
ble forms, the physical ob
struction of agents of Dow
Chemical, the refusal to per
mit the other side to be heard
. . ; But is there nothing be
tween that, and direct gov
ernment action? It seems to
me, as it does toyounger
Americans for freedom, that
there is; and there are rea
sons to believe that many of
ficials and employees of IBM
agree.
Larry Grossman
More than one world away
The sun rises early in Aca
pulco, gently warming the
grey waters of the bay. The
fishermen pull their nets onto
the beach and chase the blue
finned fish that flop wildly on
the sand. Little children in
ragged clothes wait their
turn along with the pelicans
to glean the nets for crabs
and tiny fish to have for
breakfast.
The pelicans hover over
head and dive-bomb with
their sharp pointed beaks into
the now transparent azure
waters. They make aloud
plopping noise when they hit
the surface and emerge drip
ping. As they float on the
waves, they toss their heads
to swallow the fish. They
seldom miss.
Thus the world appeared to
me for four days last Decem
ber when I camped along
with my friend Tim, on t h e
beach at Acapulco, Mexico.
We stayed on the same beach
with our packs, canteens, and
paperback novels, that filled
everyday with rich tourists
from the United States, all
avidly cooking their winter
whitened skins a uniform lob
ster red. They were staying
la Acapulco for 80 dollars a
day In air-conditioned double
suites while Tim and I spent
maybe a dollar or two if we
tried hard.
I was amazed in Acapulco
as I am always amazed to
see in Mexico, the existence
of rich and poor side by side.
(I am not referring to the
tourists and ourselves!) With
in walking distance of our
campsite were two eating
places.
One was a slick imitation
of an American drive-in com
plete with greasy hamburg
ers, wilted french fries, a
rushed attendant who took
your order and shoved the
food across the stainless steel
c -nter v,;;,'i a bill totaled in
pesos and centavos, and a
juke box that blasted the air
with Monkees' and Beatles'
tunes.
Closer to the beach was a
hut slapped together from
scrap lumber, a few pieces of
tar paper, some ancient tin
that attempted to act as a
roof, and a sand floor. The
beach hut served as the mess
hall for a group of construc
tion workers who were build
ing a luxury hotel on the ad
joining lot.
Tim and I met the Mexi
can who ran the place and af
ter letting him play with our
wrist watches and teaching
him a few words in English,
we asked if we could eat
there. He agreed and for 5
pesos (40 cents) we were
given a piece of roasted meat,
a stack of hot tortillas, and
black beans. Cokes were 6
cents. The food was good and
as our stomachs had already
been cauterizied by the cook
ing on the trip down we ate
without fear.
Eating in the hut at n o o n
was an adventure. The work
ers were surprised to see two
North Americans eating with
them. But behaving in the
true Mexican manner, they
smiled and encouraged us in
our feeble attempts to speak
Spanish. The men were from
- all parts of Mexico and had
the tough, wiry look that
characterizes the farmers
and workers of the nation.
Their faces expressed only
two emotions, happiness or
total passivity.
Two of the men were Indi
ans and they tried to t e a c h
me to count to ten in t h e 1 r
native tongues. One was from
the state of Michoacan and
spoke Tarascan. The other
was a native of the central
highlands who spoke Nahua,
the ancient tongue of the Az
tecs. They had lots of questions
for us . . . did we like Acapul
co? Mexico? Where did we
learn to speak Spanish? Two
of the men knew a little Eng
lish from working in Cali
fornia during the harvest sea
sons. We shook hands all
around the table and told
each other our names. We
camped with some of the
workers that night, drinking
their tequila and sharing
their paper cement bags for
blankets.
In the daytime we sat back
and watched the girls in bi
kinis, read paperbacks, or
talked with the people around
us. We met a couple from
New York who were in Aca
pulco for a midwinter vaca
tion. The wife wore a dia
mond on her hand the size of
large grape. Her. husband
sat back and pontificated
about the amazing eyes of
the Mexican people.
Two Americans from a
Texas border town stopped
over to talk. They spoke per
fect Mexican Spanish. One
had a ranch In northern Mex
ico and asked us to visit him
sometime. A group of M.I.T.
dropouts drifted by with their
beards and old jeans, looking
more like a gang of beach pi
rates than frustrated physics
students.
A group of clothing jnanu
facturers from Mexico City,
whose kids had kicked sand
on us, invited us out for beer
and a conversation in Span
ish and body English.
The best person I met was
a skinny old Australian who
was traveling wRh a young
Japanese girl in a VW bus.
He started talking about his
around the world travels and
threw out place names fast
er than I could locate them
on my mental map. I thought
he was a phony but he
seemed too confident and
talked like he had actually
been everywhere.
I wanted to find out how he
made his money in Australia
but he avoided the subject. I
asked him what advice he
could give me gained from
his world tours. He thought
for a moment, blinking slow
ly behind his dark sun glasses
and said "Travel light".
On the fourth day we went
back to Mexico City and then
home to Lincoln. The tem
peratures on January 1 were
the cloudiest of the winter, 15
below. I had come from sum
mer to winter in three days
and the change was harsh. I
stayed close to my furnace,
venturing out only once with
my parka hood pulled over
my sunburn.
McCarthy's college corps
Milwaukee, Wis. (CPS) -As
they did in New Hamp
shire, students played an im
portant role In the Wisconsin
primary.
On the two final weekends
before the April 2 primary
5,000 students mostly from
the Midwest, especially Chi
cago, but also from many oth
er areas, including Texas
came into Wisconsin to work
for Democratic Presidential
candidate Eugene McCarthy.
They joined 4,000 students
from Wisconsin colleges who
are working for McCarthy.
.
As In New Hampshire the
boys were asked to shorten
their hair and -shave their
beards and the girls to leave
their minis at home. Those
who didn't comply worked be
Bifid the scenes In cfik-es
licking envelopes, running
mimeograph machines, ard
answering phones..
But most of them went door-to-door,
trying to get out the
cote for McCarthy. Besides
the requirement of being,
"neat and clean for .Gene"
they were also given brief
ings oa how ts deal with the
voters. Sometimes those brief
ings npset volunteers with lib
eral and radical political
views. Bapertad u studeat
who was part of a group from
Michigan canvassing in Wau
kasha, a small city outside
Milwaukee:
"We were warned that we
might have to sell out quite
a bit to get a big vote for
McCarthy. Waukesha went 80
per cent for George Wallace
in the last Presidential pri
mary. "The first sell-out came
when the campaign headquar
ters sent all the Detroit black
students back, from predom
inantly white Waukesha, no
doubt reasoning that black
students representing McCar
thy would lose him support.
"It was suggested that we
appeal to the issue that each
voter was most liberal on and
avoid antagonizing or argu
ing. If they confused Gno
with Joe we were urged to
leave them alone. After all, a
vote for McCarthy Is a vote
for McCarthy.
Others found the experience
difficult because of their lack
of experience in grass roots
campaigning and particular
ly in dealing with voter apa
thy, especially in small towns.
They find some people an
tagonistic but many others
seem almost afraid of the students.
Sometimes the volunteers
met unforeseen and embar
rassing circumstances. In
Beaver Dam, pop. 660, sev
eral students approached
about two dozen people who
were gathered in a backyard,
Introducing themselves, and
-started handing out literature.
After an embarrassed silence,
one woman told the students
that the gathering was a go
ing away party for her neph
ew, a soldier who was being
sent to Vietnam.
"Under the circumstances
it would have been difficult
to explain that If McCarthy
were President the boy could
stay home," said one student.
The student end of the cam
paign was run by two gradu
ate students, Sam Brown, of
the Harvard Divinity School
and Marge Sklencar of Munde
leln College In Chicago. The
effort was co-ordinated by a
harried but serious - looking
staff of collegiate volunteers
downstairs in Milwaukee's
Wisconsin Hotel, the McCar
thy state headquarters.
The Milwaukee office sent
the arriving students oat to
38 local headquarters art rad
the state. "When students
come la we know they're
needed and we send them to
that local headquarters. The
local headquarters is respon
sible for putting them op
either In private homes or
places like church base
ments," explains McCarthy
staffer Susan Spear, a Wel
lesly College senior who
seems anworried about the
exams she has to take back
la Massachusetts the day af
ter the primary. .
"Virginia G 1 b b s, a recent
University of Wisconsin grad
uate takes care of all the loose
Sople who wander into the
cCarthy headquarters. '
"Bus loads of people were
committed to come last week
end (March 23-24,) but they
couldn't because of snow in
New York.
As In New Hampshire, the
McCarthy campaign was try
lag to keep. the state from
being overran by students.
"They didn't eacourage any
body west of the Rockies, or
else they would have had 20,
ftps .mre,'' says Michael Kort
amar, a awaihmore graduate
who left teaching in a New
York City high school two
weeks ago to wsrk for McCarthy,
Rodney Powell
A serious note
After surviving five classes, Monday night
meetings and several cups of the strongest coffee
taaginable, I begin to get an idea what l should
write about in this column come Tuesday morning.
Usually I decide that It is at long last time to
put aside cute word plays, seemingly endless di
gressions and continued avoidance of direct state
menu and to write something serious. Besides,
about the only comment I ever hear Is I liked
your column, but what does it mean?" This can
become very frustrating.
Last night was no exception. The thought of
myself on a white charger, deftly skewering the
manifold ills of society, appealed to me. Here
was an opportunity for the Real Me (as opposed
to that unreal me I somehow manage to be 99
I am
a Walrus
L
and 44-100 per cent of the time) to assert himself,
to come foreward and accept the congratulations
of the applauding thousands - modeitly, but with
the realization that this adulation was after all,
quite justified.
And so I went to bed, determined that this
morning I would write the first of a series of very
meaningful probes into the condition of life on this
As grandiose dreams become the night, so
modesty becomes the morning. Arising an hour
later than I intended, I struggled down to break
fast, very sure that I really didn't want to writ
about a damn thing this Tuesday morning.
Not Johnson's decision not to run, not Ken
nedy's chances, not McCarthy's chances, not (have
en help us) Nixon's chances, no, not one single
solitary thing. So I looked at the newspapers.
The Lincoln Star was wondering if capitulation
to communism In Asia was really the answer. The
Omaha World-Herald was reserving Judgment on
the wisdom of the President's decision to under
take a bombing pause mustn't let those com
mles take advantage of anything.
'
Back to the Lincoln Star; it was calling the
President's withdrawal a victory for Joan Baez
and Dick Gregory you know, that crowd whose
less than total love for the current American sys
tem does not satisfy the Stars patriotic fervor.
Sacrifice. Things won't be easy. Pull together. Heal
the wounds . . . Blah, blah, blah.
Well, damn it, it is true that things aren't
easy, that problems just won't go away, that ef
fort is always required, that it is much easier to
go on with any task when we all agree that it is
a necessity.
These are things we all know unless we're
loony. But it debases the notion of thought Itself
to see these things printed in newspapers which
have, with many other Influences, so distorted our
Image of the world for so many years that, as
proof of our delusions, we continue to read them
and even believe them.
Most of us still think that if we read the pa
pers faithfully, check out Time every week, maybe
even sneak a peek at some of those intellectual
magazines (you know, Atlantic or Harper's) wa
will be able to understand and talk pompously
about almost any topic. Our store of facts will
be sufficient to give to our utterances the ap
pearance of wisdom or at least of good old com
mon sense.
To deny these notions is only to deny the valuo
of "the mass media" (what a horrible phrase!)
What is needed is a sense of proportion since
most of us (I assume) have a difficult enough
time sorting out the events in our own lives, it
seems incredibly presumptuous to think that wo
can, with so much confidence, and facility, explain
the world.
I see that I have indeed managed to mount
my white charger and, with rushing Moral Indig
nation assault the foe. Maybe next week I'll bo
whistling dixie again, but this week has seen the
triumph of the Message, the Overstatement, the
Ego.
But after all, none of us is perfect
Refusing to fight
Waltham Mass. (CPS) Results of a poll of
male seniors at Brandeis University here, released
this week, Indicated that 70 per cent of them will
try to avoid the draft.
Of the 180 students polled (out of a total of
194 male seniors), 16 said they would go to jail,
and 44 said they would leave the country rather
than accept Induction. Another 65 said they would
"seek some kind of deferment" to avoid the draft.
Of the 30 per cent who are not planning to
avoid the draft, half said they would definitely
serve, and the other half were undecided.
The poll at Brandeis was one of several that
have been conducted on college campuses slnca
the new draft regulations were announced February
15.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), a poll of 404 seniors and first-year grad
students Indicated that 29 per cent of those con
tracted had either decided to leave the country or
were- seriously considering it, rather than face'tho
draft. Another 17 per cent have either decided or
are seriously considering, going to jail as an' al,
ternative to the draft. J M
Previously, the Graduate Student Council at
MIT passed a resolution In support of those who
refuse on moral grounds to serve la theirmed
forces while the Vietnam war Is going on.
.t..AaUiSf ib0 oMVWrtw of the undergrade
ates and 150 male graduate students at Yale Unl
versity in Connecticut showed thet 20 cer cent n
those polled would emigrate rather iWsSm An!
0th?r J8 5?f ceBt rewse servfce, but r
matata this coun&y and face the & con
All of the remainder 62 ner cent ..m
they would serve if drafted, altSoug? mwv 5
them said they will 1 try to avoid the draf?bget
fems r y attemPtin 10 fail the physl