PAGE 6
MONDAY, MAY 5, 1969
THE DAILY NEBRASKA
Parting students evaluate with candor
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HOSTSMD JtWIUM AMUUCAN M XXItVf
by Jim Pedersen
Nebraska n Staff Writer
Are men great because of their
ideas, or are ideas made great
because the men who espouse them
are considered outstanding? It is a
rhetorical question that holds no ob
vious answer.
In the past the Daily Nebraskan
has chosen one outstanding faculty
and student member of the Universi
ty, labled them as such and delved
Into their achievements in the last
issue of each semester.
This year, the staff of the
Nebraskan chose seven people who
are leaving the University three
faculty and four students who are
considered outstanding; not for their
deeds and accomplishments so much,
but rather for the ideas and values
to which they ascribe. The following
Interviews present these people and
their ideas. We offer these prople
because of their ideas. We present
their ideas because of the people they
are.
Rodney Powell
Most of the students here at the
University don't belong in college.
Rodney Powell, former editor of the
Cornhusker and member of Phi Beta
Kappa, said Sunday that people
graduating from high schools are just
pushed into something they are not
capable of doing and don't want to
do.
"People coming out of high schools
aren't ready to go to college because
they aren't academically inclined." he
added. "They could be doing
something else, something that could
be more valuable."
ACCORDING TO PoweU, most
students at the University come here
with a "Readers Digest" mentality.
"It has been pounded into thm that
they should be good kids ami not
question authority," he said. "As a
result, what they should have learned
in high school, they have to pick up
in the first couple of years of college."
Students then move on to a "Time
Magazine" mentality, Powell con
tinued. They think that they unders
tand what is happening in the world
because it is clearly explained in the
magazine.
"PEOPLE HERE spend their four
years of undergraduate study shaking
off their background," he said. "It
takes three or four years for them
to see what is going on around them
and how the University can be
changed.
"it isn't until people are getting
out of here that they see what they
could have done. That is why I am
pleased with the surfacing of the Afro
American Society. These are people
who know what they want and are
tough enough to force the changes.
"White students aren't organized
like black because they don't know
what they want and how to effect
changes. They also don't liave the
moralistic authority of blacks. The
administration isn't likely to feel
guilty about what has happened in
the past few hundred years to af
fluent, middle class whites," Powell
said.
POWELL INTENDS to carry his
education further to the University
of Chicago where he will work
towards his doctorate in English.
"When I look forward to four years
of graduate school, it seems like I
am turning tail and hiding, but maybe
I can effect the system I will be in."
"I think colleges Should be like the
Centennial College," Powell added.
"Relevance and action are needed but
they should be a part of institutions
other than universities."
Frank McClannahan
The university system continually
emphasizes that students should not
specialize, but in the end the
university specializes the student in
education, according to Frank
McClannahan, a graduate student in
English.
"I always thought that a university
community was a free world," he said
Thursday. "But universities are so
bogged down with their cynical way
of looking at things that they prevent
people from being independent and
creative."
McCLANNAIIAN WILL receive his
Masters degree in English this year.
He then intends to teach in the New
York City public school system for
at least a year. He would then like
to go into advertising where he "can
think creatively." Wall Street also
holds a particular attraction for
McClanahan.
If a person wants to think and be
independent, according to McClan
nahan, he must make himself in
dependently wealthy. McClannahan
thinks advertising providesevenmore
opportunities to be creative.
"Someone is having a lot of fun
creating those Alka-Seltzer ads," he
continued. "And I'm all for humor.
We live in such bleak times.
"IN GRADUATE school I see people
ho are unhappy because they really
lon't know what they want to do,"
McClannahan continued. "They take
v lemselves so seriously. Advertising
people don't." '
"Society expects young people to
know and have opinions on subjects
they can't possibly know about
because they haven't experienced
them," he said. "Society expects
young people to know what they want
to do with their life at too early an
age.'
"When you are young and not stuck
with responsibility, you should be
liberal and free. There isn't any
punchcard on a creative mind. I may
be wrong about what I want to do
with my life, but It would be much
worse for me to stop, give up hope
and get in a rut."
McCLANNAIIAN. who has been
in Massachussetss, came to Nebraska
as a child.
"There Ls a certain stress on suf
fering in the Midwest," according to
McClannahan. "It's good to have that
feeling. That is why Midwesterners
succeed more often than Easterners.
People from the east coast just don't
want to work that hard."
"The people in the rural Midwest
are so stable and sound," he added.
"I used to think they were stifling,
but they appreciate the real things
in life. They aren't influenced by the
art of sophistication."
McCLANN AH AN. who has been
recognized both locally and nationally
in poetry contests, intends to continue
his writing after he graduates.
"Writing is fascinating as well as
good for your spirit," he said. "It
rounds out the soul."
McClannahan is not fascinated by
libraries or any need to record
poetry.
"A great poem is a great poem
whether you record in or not," he
added. "The poem must be ex
perienced in life. That is where it
counts."
Dan Looker
The University community is too
much of an "idyllic world" which
makes students feel comfortable, ac
cording to Dan Looker, NU senior.
"I think when you come to the point
of feeling too comfortable, you cease
to grow as a person," he said Sunday.
"That is when you have to get out
and go elsewhere."
Looker is now training in the Peace
Corps internship program to go to
Colombia. If he Is accepted by the
Peace Corps, he will travel to South
America in June. If he is not ac
cepted, he will remain at the
University and graduate in January.
"I WANT to get into the Peace
Corps so that I can gain experience
in life and do as many positive things
as I can without being a know-it-all
American," Looker added. "What the
Continued on page 8
Die A; Davis
There is a complete alienation
between black students and the
University of Nebraska, Dick Davis,
former NU football player and a
member of the Innocents Society, said
Saturday.
"I feel that there is a lack of hope
and motivation for black students,
he added. "You can only bang your
head against the wall so many times
until you realize that there are other
alternatives."
"If those alternatives are formed
out of a negative point of view against
white society," Davis continued, "then
that may be the only way."
" Davis himself faces three
alternatives about what he will do
in the coming year after he graduates
in June.
He will either sign to play pro foot
ball with the Cleveland Browns; work
towards his masters degree in art
education or sociology education at
Penn State University; or he will re.
main here to work towards his mas
ters in the same areas.
"If I get my Masters degree in
sociology, I will want to work in an
inner city area," he . said. "I want
to contribute to the lives of other peo.
pie. I want to make life more signifi
cant for the people I come into contact
with.
"When I talk about sociology,
mean black culture," Davis added.
"Once you establish what motivates
blacks and what does not motivate
them, then you can give incentives
to better the entire people."
Davis wants to create a better at
mosphere for all black people so that
they can live peaceably with digni
ty. "Any way I can go about ac
complishing that goal is fine with
me," he said. "It doesn't make any
difference what vehicle , I use to
achieve it."
Davis feels that there should be a
new direction taken at the University
to completely involve all students.
"I have been fairly well accented
in this university experience," Davis
said. "But I wish that other people
who don't play football or create a
grade average could also be in
corporated into the system. There
should be a complete integration of
thoughts."
Has there been any progress
towards the acceptance of all
students?
"There has been no progress
towards breaking down prejudicial
barriers here," Davis adled. "The
same things that have existed in the
past exist today."
Continued on page 10
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Dick Davis
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