The Daily Nebraskon
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1968
the
by Ed Icenogle
What a tale Friday Afternoon
. Column has to tell you today.
All was bleak until a letter
wafted down from out of the
blue:
"Dear Mr. Icenogle;
"In regards to your article con
cerning 'old-fashioned' pledge
training, I have a few questions
which I would very definitely like
answered.
"Recently I was introduced to a
Sigma Chi alum from the
University of Missouri. Upon
entering our house, and before I
could find out if he was truly a
Sigma Chi, he had the first pledge
he met on the floor and was
vigorously working him out in a
manner in which you yourself
would term as 'physical hazing.'
Upon checking Into the situation
further, I found that he was none
other than a fraternal brother (Phi
Gamma Delta) of yours from our
own beloved University of
Nebraska.
"Now, I ask you Mr. Icenogle,
what will happen if this pledge, who
knew nothing of this type of physi
cal hazing until this incident, pro
tests by walking out the door and
taking all his pledge brothers with
him? Possibly, before writing any
further articles on this subject, you
should strive to attain 100 support
in your own house.
Fraternally,
Barry E. Bayer
Sigma Chi Fraternity
"P.S. This incident occurred
after your opening article on the
subject."
TO CARRY this alleged incident
to its logical conclusion:
If the pledge had not ever been
part of a Sigma Chi push-up patrol,
would he have dropped down for
exercises at the command of an
alum he did not know? Logically,
he would not. If his house did not
have push-ups as part of a physical
hazing pledge program.
But, the tale is far from over.
THE INCIDENT is more of a
study in Sigma Chi pledge training
than a case of latent hostility on the
part of the imposter who unearthed
the situation.
The false alum was not sup
porting push-ups; he was discover
ing the "old-fashioned" way.
Unfortunately situations exist on
this campus too often in which
pledges are subjected to a pyshical
and mental hazing. There is no one
house that can claim the sole
glory.
AND THERE are other houses,
the one of the imposter alum, for
instance, which have taken steps
forward. Although support is never
100 per cent (or even more
than a bare majority), at least
progress is being made.
Greek actives have differences of
opinion on pledge training.
But how can hazing stack up to
an intelligent, mature dialogue
between actives and pledges?
Page 2
Ollt
wafts
useful
letter
01
Larry Eckholt
Film-fare good, varied
Film-fare for Lincolnites is ex
tremely good this weekend.
The return of two classics, two
current box-office extravaganzas,
and too long overdue arrival of
pure farce make up the post-election
movie ticket.
I haven't seen "The Producers"
yet, but I think it should be pointed
out that it was playing in St. Louis,
and other cities, exactly one year
ago this month. The issue may be
contrived, but I can't see why it
takes so long for some movies to
get to Lincoln. Issue raised and
concluded.
"A Man and a Woman" returns
in English. I really have no desire
to see it in English.
"West Side Story," the movie
that grows younger, its advertising
reads. And so it does. The current
tension in the ghettoes certainly
underscores the action in this
musical, filmed nearly ten years
ago.
There's Noplace . . .
The writing is not going well.
Perhaps it is the cold, or the death
of Peace and Freedom or
Homecoming or the spring and
summer and fall already spent at
the typewriter. The words no longer
..fight one another to get out.
TThere are still things that must'
be said, mountains that should be
moved before January and the
switch to another typewriter. The
most painful fact, after all the
writing and the talking and the
working, is that nothing has
changed.
Walking up 16th Street or R
Street or S Street makes this clear
"There are still the pledges stuffing
crepe paper into chicken-wire,
there are still the signs pushing
Susie or Linda or Connie for this or
that queenship. There are still the
dorms, more of them now, stretch
ing the ugliness down 16th and 17th
toward Holdrege.
THE INSTITUTIONS of this
" campus are structured to resist
change. In many ways that is good.
In other ways the stubborn
maintenance of the status quo is an
affront to every intelligent man, as
with the homecoming displays, the
all-white pledge classes and the
push-up, panty-raid mentality that
is the hallmark of most
fraternities.
Saturday the sad, slightly tipsy
faces of the alums will light op in
recognition as they view the old
frat with the old display in front
and think how good it is that not a
damned thing has changed in thirty
years. How nice.
An Open Letter to Warren H.
Storms.
Warren Storms, why don't you
wake up, throw off the cloud that
covers your mind, take off your
combat gear and realize what being
an American and a human being
really means?
America IS the freedom to dis
sent without toe harassment of the
police, the selective service and
Wallace. Americans can only
survive by questioning and by the
actions of people striving for a bet
ter America. Blindly following old
policies and parroting old worn-out
cliches won't save America. This
world is changing and it is time
that America lives up to the ideas it
was bounded on and professes;
from the tyranny of a ruling clique
and rule by a dictatorship.
WHO ARE Americans killing in
Vietnam? They are killing mostly
the Viet Cong, who happen to be
THE people of South Vietnam and
not invaders from North Vietnam.
No matter who it is led by, the war
is still a popular revolt by the peo
ple of South Vietnam against a
distant and corrupt government
which could not exist without the
support of 500,000 United States
troops and billions of U.S. dollars.
Now tell me, Warren, is the South
Vietnamese government "of the
people, by the people, and for the
people?"
You talk of Viet Ceng atrocities.
What of United States atrocities?
What of naplaming villages and
fields? What of the U.S. bombing of
the North and its villages, cities,
and manned military targets?
You allude to the fact that we are
lucky not to be fighting in
Yellowstone or Tennessee. Well,
Warren, just who will we be fight
ing at home if we don't stop the
It is hard, however, to judge the
importance of the other two movies
showing in Lincoln currently,
namely "Barbarella" and "The
Boston Strangler." Both are well
worth seeing, though.
"Barbarella" is nothing more
than a re-make of "The Wizard of
Oz." This time it's "follow
the psychedellic road;" and Judy
Garland has been replaced by a
much more bare-able star, Jane
Fonda. It is debatable if this film
will ever become an annual
television treat for our children in
the future, as the other trip over
the rainbow has become. But if
television revolts as much as the
motion picture industry has, it just
might happen.
"Barbarella" has to be the all
time nudie recordholder. Ruling
out various anthropological
documentaries, this film must con
tain more bare-breasted beauties
To the relief of most Nebraskans,
the love-in, the be-in, the sit-in and
the bitch-in have reached this
campus, if at all, in extremely
diluted forms. This institution has
become one of the last great bas
tions of isolationism.
-'Some day, Cornhuskers, you're
going to have a black candidate for
Homecoming Queen. You're going
to have to face up to the age.
You're going to have to shed your
fraternity pins and your paternal
attitudes and face up to what's
happening in America.
U'RE GOIXGUo. haw4o tari
a'slung some question beyond who's "
gonna win the game.
Outside now they're trying to win
the game. Strange to think that all
that competitive hollering and
horn-blowing and shivering won't
do Dick Davis or Bob Devaney a bit
of good. Strange also to think that
all the touchdowns in the world
won't hold the casualties -down in
Vietnam this week or keep Watts
from blowing up this summer.
Nebraskans, shorn of any of the
other trappings of civilization, have
a strange tendency to substitute
sham and ceremony for thought
and action. Perhaps this will be it.
Perhaps this will be the year when
the Homecoming Queen lifts a
clenched fist clothed in a black
glove and bows her head while they
play "There is noplace like
Nebraska."
Flashes of lightning, swirling
confetti, that is it! Nebraska is
noplace, U.S.A.
Jack Todd
Viet Cong in Vietnam? Perhaps the
Viet Cong? Or the North Vietna
mese (all fourteen million of
them)? Please tell me how they are
going to get the forces to Yellow
stone or Tennessee from Vietnam?
By junk or river boat? Or maybe by
airlift from their 100 fighter planes?
I SEE THAT you believe killing
and laying waste a nation is to
stiffle opposition and maintain a
free country. Whether it be in
Vietnam, the streets and parks of
Chicago, or the ghettos of New
York, these types of tactics won't
bring about freedom or save
America. I refuse to have my lifp
wasted for a corrupt, military
regime in Vietnam.
I feel sorry for you. Warren, and
the other brave American men who
have died in Vietnam. Because you
have sacrificed and died not to
protest freedom or to save America
but to perpetuate a corrupt dic
tatorship and to stiffle freedom in
Vietnam. THIS is the tragedy: The
wasting of men's lives plus the
wounded men and the tremendous
cost for something that is contrary
to the ideals that America stands
for and was founded upon.
Gregg Siefkor
Homecoming 196?
The homecoming season is upon
us and to whom it will benefit most
is still undecided. While we blunder
through these homecoming
festivities. I'd like to pose a few
questions which have not been
answered satisfactorily.
this weekend
than any other non-stag film
released. Qualifying this somewhat,
it surely has to be the Number One
sex romp to ever screen at the
Stuart Theatre in Lincoln.
But skin is not the only thing
"Barbarella" offers. It is a rather
simple-minded, yet highly en
joyable entertaining form of
escapism. From Miss Fonda's
titillating strip in a weightless
chamber which opens the film, to
Pigar's, the blind angel (played
sympathetically bv John Phillip
Law) courageous rescue flight at
the end, Roger Vadim directs with
flair.
"The Boston Strangler" could
have been the worst movie of the
year, especially if it had been made
for violence at its own sake.
However, a convincing
performance by Tony Curtis, an
attempt to add sociological im
portance, and creative use of the
split-screen, multi-screen technique
There are many activities in
volved with homecoming but in
general, the crowning of a queen is
most important; or is it? This
beautiful coed will reign over the
homecoming festivities and crown
her successor next fall. But who is
she reigning over? Who or what
does she stand for? On what basis
is she chosen? Who selects her?
Why?
is t t
THE ANSWERS to these questi
ons have been vague and distorted
coming from people very closely
associated with the activity.
For example, we know that
queen is to be "any" Nebraska
University junior co-ed with at
least a 2.0; who is poised and at
tractive . . . No one has ever
completed the list of qualifications
-uMiiiMiiiiiiiii - inn, - - .-. ..
Daily NebrUfkan
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Editorial Staff
Edilot Jack twid, Managing Editor Ed Icenoelt; New Editor Ln GutK
chalk; Night News Editor Kent Cckn; Editorial Pme AMtifrttnl Molly Murreit;
Ass:Unt Niht New Editor John Kranda; Spurt Editor Mark Gordon: Af.si-.taat
Sport Editor Randy York: Nebiakan Statt Writer Jim Evintrer. John Chmak.
Larry Eckhott, Georve Kaufman Jolte Mwris, Jim Peder"n. ferry Giobe. Hill
Smitherman, Connie WinUlei ; Semot Copy Editoi loan Wagoner; Copy Ed'Ms
Phvttt Arikiin. Dave Kilipi. June Wagoner. Andrea Wood: Photography Chiet
Dan Ladeiy; Photographer J Shaw: r?tt Gail Pies man
Business Staff
KuMi.t Manager J L Schmidt; Bookkeeoet Kmer Uuve: Pfodwi.oa Man
set John Fleming; al mat Ad M;inaRei r rii shoemaker, itunii Stvieiary
ajii tlaM i'H-d t.iniij I 'Inch: SuhMfipUon Mitne." Jun ''it n n . i i"U's
M.naei H in P.nfika Kick Domn. Adxertiting Representative Meg Brow J
Jeel Iavift, Git on Fnendt, Nancy Gmlhatu Uaa Looker. Todd Slaughter.
add impact to a gruesome sub
ject. The film studies two subjects:
Boston and the strangler, Albert
DeSalvo. The first part of the
movie explores the effects of the
murders on the city itself. The en
tire city seems on edge. Women are
scared; no one can be trusted. Yet
the murderer is let into apartments
with no apparent struggle.
When DeSalvo is captured, and
his split-personality is discovered,
society must then decide what is to
be done with him. The end of the
film, too shattering to describe, is
epilogued by a plea for society to
act. It's a trifle overdone, but the
film's merits should be judged
before its weaknesses.
So, if you don't have tickets to
Simon and Garfunkle, you're not
going to the Homecoming dance, or
if you're just in the mood for a
movie, you do have a choice this
week.
V ... . .
for such an important honor.
Honor? It must be since the women
who usually become finalist; arc
attractive sorority girls with high
CPA's. And a list of ac
complishments a mile long. Why is
this? Is it more important to this
segment of the campus community
to have a queen? IF so, why?
Who chooses these young ladies?
A panel composed of faculty
members, a person from administ
ration, the presidents of Corn Cobs
and Tassels, along with the Yell
King. This is the way it usually
runs but if this contest is open to all
(independents, sorority, off campus,
etc.), why aren't people from these
other areas on the panel.
PEOPLE LIKE the IDA presi
dent or female representative,
someone who can represent the
Larry Grossman
The house was
not a home
The fondest memory of my
freshman year was the night we
threw the homecoming display into
a ditch. I had pledged a fraternity
with several of my friends without
considering the consequences. We
had been overwhelmed by
handshakes and bright sports
coats.
Homecoming was early that '
year. It coincided with the first
round of hour exams. I was just
beginning to get the feel of how to
study for my tests when the pledge
class was ordered to spend the next
week and a half stuffing crepe
paper into chicken wire for the
homecoming display.
.. .
I WAS worried because I wanted
to do well on my exams, but I was
still concerned with being a
fraternity boy. I obediently
marched outside with my fellow
pledges each evening and stuffed
paper. We were assisted by a gig
gling gang of freshman sorority
girls, all with short hair and black';
and white shoes.
Pledgeship was wearing on my
nerves. I was getting turned on to
the treasures of the library, the
plays at Howell Theatre, and Union
foreign films. Each evening,
though, I came home to push-ups,
polishing shoes, and a thousand
mindless questions, like the name
of the mythical founder of the
house Hobart Blowbladder.
Pledgeship was a nightmare. My
studies went to hell. Finally one
day I decided I was crazy to stand
for this nonsense. It wasn't that 1
couldn't take the push-ups or the
hazing. Any idiot could do that. I
lack and-or foreign student might
encourage girls who might apply.
As it stands, the board is not repre
sentative of the student body.
Therefore, the student body most
likely feels alienated either directly
or indirectly.
But let's not let all these ques
tions bother us. They're only basic
and everyone knows the answers
anyway. Let's just forget them and
make this the best homecoming
ever. Make the biggest and best
displays, spend lots of money,
make everything just right so we
can please ... the alums?
Claude Bolton, Jr.
Afro-American
Collegiate Society
Dear Editor:
In regard to your editorial of
November 7, 1968, 1 feel it is about
time you face up to the facts about
the use of napalm in Vietnam. Did
you know that the Viet Cong use
napalm in their flame throwers
against our soldiers as well? Do
you remember the massacre of
ab iui 2f,0 South Vietnamese in a
mountain village in which the V.C.
surrounded the ville and brazed it
into the ground?
Are you aware of the unconven
tional warfare tactics the V.C. are
usin against us? As a civilian I do
not expect you to comprehend the
horrors of war, Jack, but if you
think the effects of naualm are bad.
have you ever seen a man impaled
on '! 12-foot bamboo stako that had
bj i'a:;H in a cleverly i-incealei
ti?ev 'it?
HAVE YOU ever seen the
realized there was absolutely no
sense to belonging to an organiza
tion that produced its new mem
bers by a process as absurd as
pledgeship.
HOMECOMING NIGHT was the
culmination of my brief career in
the fraternity. That evening. I. met.
with my "brothers" and the hOflse"
actives in the basement of a Lin
coln home. Everyone got roaring
drunk on pink champagne.
The pledges had to leave the
party early. I remember lolling in
the back seat of the car while my
date vomited at the light at 10th
andO in front of a crowded bus
stop.
We drove to the house. Sixteenth
Street was torn up that year. A
ditch, eight feet deep, ran up the
center of the street. Three of us cut
the Homecoming display down (a
representation of a football player
going to the bathroom on the op
posing team) and tossed it into the
ditch. We carefully covered it with
dirt.
I DISCOVERED the next morn
ing that I was persnoa non grata at
the house. In the hungover light of
a Sunday morning I saw things
clearly. I parted company with the
house at Thanksgiving.
I wonder now when I pass mobs
of squaling freshman stuffing
paper into chicken wire if they
really believe that what they are
doing is important or fun. Perhaps
they think that this is the purpose
of college. The reflection of light
from chicken wire actives' pins has
a way of distorting things.
effects of a "bouncing betty" or
"Malayan Gate?" Have you ever
seen a man ripped in half by a
20mm cannon round (a weapon
commonly used by the V.C. against
our ground troops)? Have you ever
seen a man die from the bite of a
Krait which had been hung in a
tree by its tail to deliberately strike
its victim in the face?
Have you ever seen the pulpy
remains of a man who has stepped
on a "155" round the V.C. had
booby trapped and buried in the
ground? Have you ever come face-to-face
with the enemy in a human
wave attack?
Napalm has saved thousands of
American lives in Vietnam and I
can truthfully say I wouldn't be
here today writing this article if it
hadn't been for a little napalm at
the right time. I think its about
time you enlist instead of being an
armchair general with no right to
condemn the Dow Jones Chemical
Corporation for at least doing
something to help our men. What
have you done to help lately???
WAKE UP, Jack, and face the
reality of war. Sure a few innocent
people get killed in a war, but
that's no reason to over-emphasize
it as things like that have happened
in every war. Instead why not tell it
like it is and do some research into
how many American lives have
been saved by the use of napalm,
against Victor Charlie!
I'm just a little tired of you
armchair generals with your know
all opinions. You draw your ideas
from what you read and interpret
them to your own way of thinking.
Why don't you go to Vietnam for 13
months and see how it really is or
yourself? I guarantee you will feel
differently about things when you
come back! That's the trouble with
you 1i?snters today, you're all talk
ani or action.
Wwrea 1L Storms