The Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, May 8, 1963
Commentary
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
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utstanding
Nebraskans
- This semester's Outstanding Nebraskans are
. representative of a new dynamic breed found on
today's change university campuses.
Both Ivan Volgyes, outstanding professor, and
John Schrekinger, oustanding student, advocate
student power and a stronger voice for students
in making university decisions.
Professor Volyges has a firm grasp of the type
of educational atmosphere and the type of student
which should be found within the classroom. His
students are excited about learning; and grades
are secondary in Volyges' classes as any of his
admiring will confirm. Students line up for his
courses and what Volyges terms "real"' students
even take extra time each week to go into his
home for stimulating discussions.
His unique ideas about student-faculty relations
are very refreshing amidst the impersonality of a
growing campus.
Professor Volyges does not remain enclosed
within the University. He is very politically oriented
, and many of his classes turn into pungent political
debates about "who is the best man for president."
This is what education ij all about and professor
Ivan Volyges' classroom is where it is found. He
is indeed an Outstanding Nebraskan.
John Schrekinger was probably one of the first
people" in the state to realize that a young adult
doesn't necessarily have to be at the magic age of
21 to fcfiji competent voter.
He Js one of the hardest working core mem
berjof the Nebraskans for Young Adult Suffrage
committee, which is campaigning for passage of
an amendment to allow 19-year olds to vote. If
his efiCrts could be any indication of the success
of ttte ?SYAS, the voting amendment will pass next
November.
Like many other college students Shrekinger is
conoeiiied about the racial situation which is
haunting the country.
Unlike the majority of students, however,
Schrekinger has acted rather than talked. Recent
ly -he traveled to the South during one of his va
cattflTil.,to help register Negroes to vote. John
SchXEJSJger also- deserves recognition as an Out
standing Nebraskan.
'Ll' Cheryl Tritt
file beat of a
rent drum
University expansion is always a hot topic but
recent discussions concerning land purchases in
the Malone area east of the campus have caused
a blaze in the entire Lincoln community.
Some of the residents have accused the Uni
versity of "bulldozing" the Malone residents with
its land purchasing policies and now a small group
of students have accused the University of being
insensitive to the relocation problems of theresi
dents. Students should be very concerned about the
Malone are a situation which could prove to be an
explosive one in the future. But before they place
the entire blame for the situation upon the shoul-
depy.of the University perhaps disatisfied students
should investigate the problem much more closely
than they have been.
First, if the University's purchasing policy for
the Malone area is investigated it will be found
to be very equitable for the standards and values
system which exist for University administrators,
Lincoln realtors and hard nosed landlords.
They feel that f a landlord comes to the Uni
versity and wishes to sell his property he is renting
to poor, underprivileged people then he has a per
fect right to do so. The renters which are conse
quently left to find new homes recive sympathy
and the help of about a dozen groups who wish to
help them "relocate."
Seen from the moralistic viewpoint of some
students the University is placing its "manifest des
tiny" type of expansion above the rights of the rent
. er who doesn't want to leave a home which he has
-inhabited for perhaps 20 years. Viewed from an
Idealistic viewpoint the landlords are placing mone
tary gains above the needs of anothe human being.
Also viewed from this standpoint the realtors are
wrong who won't help these people relocate because
they refuse to sell over 50 per cent of their real
estate to minority races (the figures are even
higher for rentals.)
So in the eyes of the University the Malone
problem is not acute. It is fairly handling the renters
and perhaps it feels if it advertises its policies then
mor people will realize hew fairly the Malone resi
dents ire being treated. The University will also
feel it is being more than fair it it applies pressure
to thetlincoln Board of Realtors to actively cam
paign, to relocate these people in good substantial
bousing.
The University also feels if it continues its
policy-of never buying any property in this area
through its powers of eminent domain then the con
science of the middleclass majority will be ap
peased. But in the eyes of a fiery group ef students who
refuse to accept the accepted ways as being morally
right the University's purchasing of property in the
Mahmtr area is wrong. They say the Univeristy
should stop buying land and erase its pipe dream
of manifest destiny as it crawls eastward.
The students are right; society is wrong. They
can however storm the Chancellor's office with their
cries of immorality but no one will listen. They
cann call the realtors racists; but no one will listen.
They can call the landlords insensitive and again
no one will listen.
Columbia found a way to make people listen
but anarchy erases society; it doesn't correct it.
There has to be an answer. Somewhere there is a
way to make today's middle-class society value
human beings above material wealth.
The idealistic student may have part of the
answer but cow he must find a very loud drum.
Cheryl Tritt
Co-ed sit-in
for freedom
Athens, Ga. (CrS) Ac
cording to the women's rules
at the University of Georgia,
a coed, regardless of hef age,
cannot go to dinner with her
parents and have a drink.
Coeds, in fact, simply are
not allowed to drink, on the
campus, in Athens, or any
where else.
This is one of the major is
sues in a stepped-up student
campaign to liberalize wom
en's r u le s. The campaign
reached a climax recently
when about 300 students,
about half of which were
coeds, staged a two-day sit-in
in the Academiv Build
ing, which houses the admini
stration Building, which
houses the administrative of
fices. The sit-in began after an
administration representative
refused to accept a petition
from about 500 students who
were holding a rally in front
of the building. "The sit-in was
spontaneous, and it involved
average coeds," said Richard
Moore, editor of the student
newspaper, the Red and Blac
Dan Looker
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It's been a very weird year
Politically, this has been a
wierd year. I won't even try
to recap everything that's
happened. Everyone readily
agrees these days that any
thing is possible.
Right now it looks as if Hu
bert Humphrey will get the
Democratic nomination, and
here in Nebraska McCarthy is
surprisingly strong. So what
am I going to do? I'm sup
porting Kennedy.
No, I don't burn incense in
front of his personality poster
at home. I'd be the first to ad
mit that Kennedy is chock full
of weaknesses and flaws but
he's the best candidate run
ning. McCarthy has been held up
as the only "honest" politician
alive. Vet he has conducted
the most one-sided campaign.
It's true that Vietnam was
first among national problems
but the United States has an
abundance of problems.
People talk of McCarthy's
"courage" but after serving
in the Congress and the Sen
ate for 20 years and being al
most untnown what did he
have to lose by running for
president?
These views are shared by
no less a liberal than Rob
ert Schere, editor of Ram
parts. There is nothing incon
sistent with being a liberal
supporting Kennedy. A large
number of JFK supporters
now support Bobby.
Critics of Kennedy contend
that he doesn't have the abili
ty his brother did and that he
is trying to capitalize on his
name.
That charge is inevitable
but it is hardly justified.
Even when the hero worship
around JFK is discounted, he
was an extremely able man.
His policies were progressive
and he was willing to experi
ment. And out of the Demo
cratic contenders, RFK is
certainly not identical to his
brother and he is much more
similar than Humphrey or
McCarthy.
Robert Kennedy was prob
ably one of our most able at
torney generals. He wasn't
afraid to fight organized
crime and to fight segrega
tion. As a candidate, he has
spoken more explicity on do
mestic problems than anyone
Kennedy doesn't ignore the
'problem, as do the Republi
can candidates and he is more
realistic than'McCarthy.
Kennedy calls for upgrad
ing the ghettos, economically,
educationally, and culturally.
He believes in welfare reform
and some sort of guaranteed
income. The most important
thing is that Kennedy favors
letting the local community
run its rebuilding programs.
Kennedy's program seems
to be the realistic first step
toward racial equality and to
tal integration. Most of the
Negroes have more confidence
in Kennedy than McCarthy.
The war in Vietnam won't
last forever, but our racial
problems have a good chance
of doing just that. Kennedy
seems to be the best man to
solve our greatest problem,
and, consequently, the best
man for president.
Rodney Powell ...
Sounds of noisy desperation
well, well well, spring is
here with a vengeance (that's
like Asiatic flu, only worse)
Terry Carpenter is mak
ing lunatic statements again,
a sure sign of the vernal equi
nox (or most any other equi
nox you can think of) and
those hallowed University tra
ditions, Spring Day and Ivy
Day now form a portion of
our book of living memories.
And, as another school year
sinks slowly out of view, it
is time to pause and reflect
some, let us reason togeth
er. "By adopting a pose of
sweet reasonableness, we will
learn to live together in peace
and friendship." The Whale.
"Life is like a sewer
what you get out of it de
pends on what you put into
it." Tom Lehrer.
(Now you are probably won
dering now these quotes fit
together,. On reflection, the
first appears unfair, the sec
ond pungent.
It is now time to penetrate
to the core of the problem,
to get in there and dig out
the meat, to sink our teeth
into it, to run it up the flag
pole and see if it salutes.
(This paragraph, while ap
parently only filler is actually
the key to this entire column.
But don't take my word for
it, I'm a notorious liar.)
(To constantly rework the
same material reveals a pau
city of critical intelligence.
You find this column boring,
I find this column boring, we
all find this column boring
a sure sign of contemporary
malaise (goes well with ba
con, lettuce and tomato. Have
I used that one before?) But
we continue to continue.)
... to talk of many things
(Having started the semes
ter with a few anti-columns,
I found it strange at the end
of the year to be attempting
to write the real thing. My
didactic companion (look that
one up in your Dictionary of
American Slang) is always
' struggling to burst out and de
liver oracular comments (the
price of fish eyes in China).
Daily Nebraskan
Mar (. 19a
Vol. tl. No. 167
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Member Associated Collegiate Press. National Educational Advertising Service.
In a last gasp effort to save
this column, this Serious Fel
low advises me to strongly
recommend that all of you
out there still reading, read
Death at an Early Age by
Jonathan Kozol this summer.
It's just out in paperback and
is worth the chips, (choco
late preferably. )
... not with a bang, but
a whimper . . .
(And so, bidding a fond
adieu, we say "Farewell for
ever, o verdant grass of
green." For callow youth,
time marches on, but the
messes remain (a fine cou
ple.) In the immortal words of
Samuel Pepys "And so to
bed.")
(Logically speaking, I ara
not satisfied with this column.
It is too diffuse, too ramb
ling, too arch. But then who
asked me?)
The rest is silence.
When the rain heals against my windowpane .
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. . . I'll think of summer days again
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McCarthy alone
T i
ii
I can begin anew
The following article was submitted by Asso.
Professor Robert Narveson in the department of
English. It expresses the opinion of the Daily Ne
braskan. Last fall the state of our nation was causing
widespread concern. We were engaged in a war
in Asia which we could not win, and were not sure
that we even should win. The immense cost of
the war was crippling government programs, both
domestic and foreign. The cities of our r tion were
unfit to live in and were rapidly growing worse.
The rural sections of our country were suffering
from depression caused by their very success in
efficient production.
Eugene
McCarthy
Sections of the country were pitted against
one another; hate was being preached everywhere.
Age, race, and belief were becoming impassable
bankers between our various citizens. Our sense of
national unity and purpose had dwindled. It seemed
as if the nation we all loved was headed toward
self-destruction, while we looked on helplessly.
Sen. Eugene McCarthy, like many other promin
ent political figures, observed all this with grow,
ing concern. As he said at Boston University last
April 11:
"One of the ancient rules of moral theology
is that anyone who is in power has this
responsibility: although he cannot eliminate
all conditions which may drive men to
viciousness or evil, he has the obligation of
trying to establish conditions such that a per
son need not be expected to exercise a
kind of heroic virtue in order to stay out
of crime, to avoid dishonesty or anti-social
behavior."
When he entered the primary contest in New
Hampshire, everyone predicted he would be over
whelmed, because he was not backed by his party,
he had no personal political organization, and he
wab almost unknown to the voters. Yet the voters
of New Hampshire gave him nearly half of their
votes and 20 out of 24 delegates to the national
convention. That was only the beginning. As Sena
tor McCarthy moved on to Wisconsin, a dazed pub
lic suffered first one shock and then another.
Sen. Kennedy changed his niiud and decided
it was safe to enter the race; President Johnson
took himself out of it. Once more there is political
dialogue, and the machinery of democracy is be
ginning to function again.
If Eugene McCarthy had not had more cour
age than prudence, where would the nation be to
day? Would there be an open contest for the
Democratic nomination? Would President Johnson
have taken even the first hesitant step toward
peace? Or suppose that McCarthy had received
only 18 per cent of the New Hampshire vote instead
of 42 per cent. Then would Sen. Kennedy still be
sulking cn the sidelines, while President Johnson '
pursued his futile course? i
If McCarthy were only a man of courage that :
is how things might have gone. But the voters of
New Hampshire and later Wisconsin found his
straight talk, his obvious integrity, his intelligence, ',
maturity and humor to their liking. Perhaps when '
the voters of Nebraska find out the sort of man '
he is, they too will recognize him as the man :
to lead us out of our present difficulties. i
A good example of McCarthy's remarkable ap- ;
pea! is the way the young people have flocked to
his banner. Reporters quickly dubbed his campaign :
a "Children's Crusade." But these children were :
the most intelligent and talented students in our
colleges and universities, ;
By showing that be trusts them and will level J
with them. Gene McCarthy is convincing the vot- ;
ers thai they may trust him. By appealing to rea-
son and intelligence, even when the problems are
complex and tax the understanding, McCarthy has ;
raised the level of public discussion to an unac-
customed level and people admire hira for it, '
even though they think that other people will not ,
have the patience to listen to him. By refusing to ;
be mercbanized like a bar of soap, or to play
on emotions, or to appeal to minority grievances
out of context, McCarthy is revising our notion of
the politician. We are . convinced people will re
spond to the confidence he shows in intelligence
and good sense.