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MONDAY, MARCH 3, 1969
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
VOL. 92, NO. 72
Manley:
relate to
by Bill Smltherman
Nebraskan Staff Writer
The modern university must help
students relate to their society, ac
cording to Dr. Robert Manley, pro
fessor of history at Hiram Scott Col
lege. ;
The University of Nebraska was one
of the last major universities in the
country to institute a campus social
program, Manley told a luncheon au
dience at the dedication of the
Nebraska Union Centennial Room
Friday. ..
Much of today's student unrest is
occuring because colleges are not
relating to today's society, Manley
said. .
Students today are actively
searching for their places in society,
he continued. A modern university
must be a place where students can
discover how to reach their goals.
MANLEY, WHOIScurrently
writing a history of the University,
said that students have always taken
an active role in the affairs of the
University.
During the University's pioneer
years, rules governing students were
very strict, he said. Chapel twice a
week and church on Sunday were
compulsory. He added that students
could not leave school without a writ
ten permit from the chancellor.
Students were not as docile as the
rule-makers might have liked,
however.
It was during this time that one
graduating , class took memorable
revenge on an unpopular rhetoric
professor, Manely said.
The class graduated at a downtown
theater, Then the new alumni return
ed to University HaU, dragged the
professor from his office and threw
him down the front steps.
STUDENT LIFE IN T H E e a r 1 y
years was centered in boarding
houses. The fact that the school was
established in a large community
made dormitories unnecessary, at
least from the administrates point
of view.
Manley said mat tne i y piace
students could really Interact socially
was at the literary society meetings
held on Friday nights.
These meetings were tolerated by
the University faculty, Manley said,
under the condition that they end by
promptly 9 p.m. It was considered
suspicious to be in the streets later
than this, he continued.
The problem of student housing has
been one of the most lasting the
University has faced, Manely said.
When there was little student social
Applications due Wed.
for ASUN Senate seat
Applications for tha vacant ASUN
Senate seat from the professional and -graduate
colleges are due Wed., Mar.
5, at 4 p.m. in the ASUN office, ac
cording to Mike Naeve, president.
Applicants from the professional
and graduate college must appear
before the Senate on that Wednesday.
Applications are available in the
ASUN office.
There are also Senate vacancies
from the College of Engineering and
Architecture and the College of
Agriculture and Home Economics.
These applications, available in the
ASUN office, are due Wed., March
12 at 4 p.m.
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She might have been seri
ous, but she was also humor
ous; anyway she did it. Jill
Eiche earned audience ap
proval Friday night as she
was; awarded the first place
trophy for Coed Follies trav
elers acts.
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Colleges
current
interaction there was a corresponding
iacK ot scnool spirit. There was also
an air of restlessness bordering on
despair among early students.
MANY EARLY STUDENTS worked
from eight to ten hours each day as
well as carrying heavy class loads,
Manley said. The strain ot student
life led to frequent mental or physical
collapse among students and
sometimes even death.
University programs to help relieve
some of the strain on students grew
out of very real necessity, Manley con
tinued. The game of "canebreak," a fifteen
minute free for all between the
freshmen and sophomore classes, was
a popular student event in the late
1800's. The game was later condemn
ed by officials, however, when it
became the source of numerous in
juries, Manely said.
DEAN ROSCOE POUND CITED his
introduction of football to the N.U.
campus as one of his most important
contributions to the school, according
to Manley.
Pound also led a campaign against
swearing that was common in
athletics at the time. He and his
followers led the movement for
"cussless victories."
During the early years students
Convention approves
appointments, agenda
by Jim Pedersen
Nebraskan Staff Writer
The ASUN constitutional convention
Saturday approved appointments, ac
cepted the Rules and Credentials
committee reports and organized the
committee structure of the convention
in its opening session.
Tom Morgan, chairman of the con
vention, announced that the agenda
would consist of the topics which were
submitted to the Executive com
mittee. They are:
The purposes of ASUN
The preamble to the ASUN
Constitution
Reapportionment
Election of NSA coordinator and
election of delegates to the NSA con
vention. The powers of ASUN
The organs of ASUN
The amendment procedure of the
ASUN constitution
New topics may be added to the
agenda by a majority vote of the
delegates of the convention.
BEFORE MORGAN couW submit the
reports of the Rules and Credentials
committees, Randall Prier, a delegate .
from the off-campus independents;:
moved that the Executive committee
be dissolved and that the convention
elect a new committee and
chairman.
"For the convention to be
authoritative, we want to act on our
own accord," he said. "We should
not be an extra arm of the ASUN
Senate; we should not be controlled
to such an extent by an act of
Senate."
"I think this would set a precedent
for playing parliamentary games,"
Bill Chaloupka, Senate delegate, said.
"We can show our autonomy best by
our actions." -
MORGAN RULED the motion out
or order and Prier challenged the rul
Proving that beauty is skin deep, Chi Omega put on the charm
to capture first place in Coed Follies competition Friday night.
Kappa Alpha Theta placed second. Diane Theisen and Dave
Buntain were named Ideal Nebraska Coed and Outstanding Col
legiate Man at the conclusion of the show.
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society
spoke out again and again for the
building of dormitoreis, Manley said.
Editors of the "Hesperian Student"
concluded, in the 1890's, that the
University would never have a
cohesive student body until students
lived together.
Newly emerging Greek fraternities
satisfied some of this need. However,
only a small percentage of the student
body could live In the Greek houses,
he said.
THE UNIVERSITY didn't begin the
building of dormitories until the
1930's, Manely continued. In the same
years, the Nebraska Union was built
as the first campus social center.
Manley commented that the
University has always made a great
contribution to the society of the state
by educating its young. Today's
University must be able to help a
student realize his place in society,
he continued.
He concluded by urging students
and faculty to donate primary source
material such as dairies and other
documents to a historical file on stu
dent life.
After Manley's speech, a check for
$650 was presented to the Union Board
to buy a Cenennial seal for the door
of the new room. The money was
collected from the student body
through living units.
ing of the chair. The motion of
challenge was defeated 25-2.
The Rules committee report pro
vided that only voting delegates may
have speaking and debate privileges;
however, a voting delegate may yield
the floor to an alternate or non-voting
member of the convention. The report
also provided that the ex officio
members of the convention, the ASUN
president and second vice-Dresident,
shall be voting delegates.
In other organizational business, the
convention approved the appointments
of John Wirth, assistant chairman;
Dave Van Horn, sergeant-at-arms;
and Mike Naeve, parliamentarian.
The convention then moved into the
committee of the whole to discuss the
establishing of committees.
Chaloupka suggested that the con
vention should not be bound by strict
committee rules.
The convention decided that any
delegate can take an amendment or
topic to a committee and recommend
r : that the committee include the topic
, in its report. If the committee rejects
the delegate's proposal, he may in
troduce the legislation on the floor
:.. of the convention.
:'" TOE CONVENTIONthen establish
ed three committees.
The ASUN structure committee will
be made up of 11 delegates and will
handle the parts of the agenda con
cerning the preamble of the constitu
tion, the powers, the organs, and the
purposes of ASUN.
A Miscellaneous committee of four
members will work with the amend
ment procedures of the ASUN
constitution and with the topics con
cerning NSA coordinator and con
ference delegates. ,
The . committees . will , elect a
chairman from their, membership.
Alternate delegates will have the
same privileges in committee as they
do on the convention floor.
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Dr. Robert Manley, professor of history at Hiram Scott College, speaks at a luncheon dedicating the
Union Centennial Room.
Bill to abolish 'derogatory books'
introduced by Senator Danner
by Sue Schlichtemeier
Nebraskan Staff Writer
Legislative Bill 178, expressly pro
hibiting such familiar novels as
"Emperor Jones," "Little Black Joe,"
"Little Black Sambo" and
"Huckleberry Finn," is being in
troduced in the Nebraska Legislature
because the books allegedly use racial
epithets considered "degrading or
derogatory to ethnic students."
The philosophy and purpose of the
bill was explained to a group of
students and teachers during an in
formal discussion Wednesday night by
one of its sponsors, Omaha Sen.
Edward Danner.
Danner began the discussion saying
"I'm just like an old time steam
engine; you have to get me fired up
to get me started."
DURING the course of the evening, ,
the group successfully fired him up.
"If I'm standing on your toe, it's
you who knows if you have a corn
or not," Danner said. People
themselves know where the pain is,
he continued. A doctor cannot
diagnose until the patient tells him
where it hurts.
Danner explained that the white
people cannot tell the Negro what
hurts him, because the whites don't
feel it.
He condoned the appointment by
each school district of a three-member
committee to select textbooks which
reflect the achievements of the iNegro.
He said that Negroes had spilled their
blood in every war involving our na
tion. He is seeking to bring into proper
perspective the contributions of the
Negro. "Once you bring the Negro
up, you bring everyone up," Danner
remarked.
THE FIRST sign of vocal disagree
ment came when a young lady said
"I think Negro history is fine; the
thing I quarrel with is most of the
rest of the bill." Danner would amend
exisOng statutes to which she refer
red. Danner said that the listed publica
tions he suggested would be deleted
from the bill, because he realized
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developing this list would be like
covering a waterfront.
He continued, repeating, "You can't
tell me what hurts me! I cannot tell
you what's hurting you and what you
object to!" He said that he has never
introduced legislation of a separatist
nature.
Danner said that a person should
be allowed of his own volition, to read
works (i.e. "Little Black Sambo") in
the library or buy them at a
bookstore, but a student should not
be compelled to sit in a classroom
and listen to such degrading material.
ONE STUDENT commented that
there seemed to be a misunderstand
ing and that Danner was dealing
with ultra-Americanism.
A University professor asked why
any work shouldn't be excluded that
treats any minority in a derogatory
way from the curricula.
The comment was made that in effect
LB 178 was providing for censorship
boards who selected only upgrading
information about Negroes and that
the Nazis were the first group to burn
books.
Someone asked if we should then
delete Negro history that doesn't
reflect the Negro in a favorable light?
The suggestion was made that this
might hurt the Negro even more.
A TEACHER questioned whether or
not the whole thrust of the book
should be censored and excluded
because of an epithet.
Most of the group agreed that
allowing three people to decide
whether a book is derogatory could
be dangerous and inconsistent.
Fred Link, English professor,
emphasized that we must "Tell it like
it was!" Why censor why ex
clude how can we change the past,
he asked.
One girl argued that without the
complete picture (inclusion rather
than exclusion), we won't feel Negro
history. Books won't be able to build
up the prejudice so we can look at
it objectively, she said.
A BLACK student said that the two
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sections of LB 178 are in sharp con
rast. He thought that the bad
arts when Negroes were slaves,
times they were denounced by white
society should be included to prove
the greatnes? of the men who
overcame these obsacles to achieve
greatness. '
They discussed the fact that ex
cluding such literary achievements as
Ellison and Baldwin would mean an
amission of worthy Negroes' work. ;
Elbert Hill, a black student, com
mented that the lines in the bill which
say, in effect, that no curriculum
committee shall approve reading
material using any racial " epithet
considered derogatory to any ethnic
student! was an interesting state
ment. Being black, he said that in other
words, if his brother said, "Teacher,
don't read this, because it is
degrading to me," the committee
would be compelled to censor it from
the curriculum. Thus, the ethnic stu
dent would be dictating the cur
riculum. "Senators, I don't feel you have
listened to us," someone said.
"I have," Danner replied.
"But do you hear us?"
Danner then asked for concrete
suggestions, explaining that the bill
must be kept general to be passed. "
..'IT
THE DISCUSSION turned to very
constructive ideas. Most of the group
agreed that they were in complete
sympathy with Danner, that Negro
history should definitely be taught in
the public schools, but that present
history books were not false, just in
complete. '
The group wanted the bill to
be phrased to leave it less am
biguous.
THE BILL provides that beginning
in 1971, all American history textbooks
approved for certain grade levels
shall adequately stress Negro -contributions
to the development and
growth of America into a great ma
tion; contributions to art, music,
education, medicine, literature,
science, politics and the war services
in all wars of this nation. r
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