!ii:;!l]iii!ii PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT: November 18, 1943 The Emerald should be congratulated for presenting the problem of a Student Union building at the University of Ore gon to the present generation of students. The amount of care ful study of the long and complicated historical background of the student union movement is to be commended. Even in these war times when new building construction is out of the ques tion, the students on the campus should not be allowed to for get the need for the earliest possible construction of a Student Union. I have gone on record before, and 1 am glad to do so again, to the effect that, in my opinion, the next building to be'built on this campus from student fee income should be a Student Union, The importance of such a building in giving a focal point for the social and other extracurricular activities of the students cannot be overemphasized. As the University of Ore gon grows, as it inevitably will after the war, the need for such a center of student life will be even more serious than it has been in the past. A Union building will be not only a great con venience for both students and faculty, but it will serve as a unifying structure on the campus to bring the members of the University community together in a more and more effective and efficient fashion. Every university with which I am familiar that has built a Student Union has found it indispensable to the best operation of the institution. The question has arisen as to the position of the Student Union on the priority list of necessary postwar construction on this campus. We will certainly need additional classroom and laboratory construction for the purely academic operation of the institution quite as much as we will need a Union building for the efficient operation of the non-academic part of the Uni versity. But I have taken the attitude, and shall continue to do so, that the academic needs should be met through the appro priation of state funds by the legislature to the State Board of Higher Education for the benefit of the University of Ore gon and that the student building fee income, just as fast as it becomes freed from the service of previously incurred bonded indebtedness for such buildings as the library, physical educa lion DUiKllllg, ail(l V^llcl])Iliail mill, MIUUIU in- indue CU ciuauiv, the Union, i sec no reason why this should not be regarded as a reasonable division of financial responsibility and financial provision. The funds provided by the legislature in Oregon have not been used to meet the building needs on any of the campuses for fifteen years or more. All of the building that has been done has been financed by means of the student building fee plus such outside ft»»<U, including those provided by the federal government during the depression, as we could obtain. One word further on finances. In addition to the building fee income that will be freed as past building debts are paid off and as enrollment grows, there arc other sources of funds. 1 ljc alumni holding company has over $40,000 which is available in cash, there is the authorization to borrow up to $250,000 which was granted by the 1940 legislature, and there are old Student Union pledges made by alumni upon which considerable sums may be realized. Therefore, 1 repeat that I am glad that the Student Union building issue is being kept alive. And I am glad to reiterate my assurance to the students that 1 will use my office to the best of mv ability to insure the earliest possible construction of a Student Union building after the war. DR. DONALD M. ERB President, University of Oregon STUDENT UNION WITHOUT CONCH SHELLS—1953 . . (Editor’s note: Perusal of the accompanying column by Mr. Polit/. will enable you to develop a mere intelligent perplexity concerning the above surrealorama. That the pictured ideas are those of Mr, Politz borders on the obvious.) Fellow Students: You have the facts! They have not been gathered just this year or last year; they are not the work of one small group of peo ple. They are the result of the ideas and the dreams of hun dreds of University students— students, who for twenty years, have felt the pressing- need for a Student Union building on the University of Oregon campus. Through the combined efforts of the Emerald staff and the ex ecutive council, this Student Un ion edition of your paper has been published. It will be sent to al umni members throughout the United States. Because of the many letters we are receiving from these former students, we know that their interest is still alive and that they feel that con struction should begin as soon as building materials are available. Now it is up to you! A strong financial program must be de veloped at once in order that ac tual building can be started as soon as the war is over. Every available resource must be ehan (Please turn to page three) Student Union iAction’ 1 hiring the "gulden eras" of Student Union planning' at Oregon, the call went forth continually for ACTION. That call was muffled throughout the depression, pressure of intellectual and academic needs, and it is now going through a war. While students were hammering at the word "action,” they were ignoring the basic method of action on this campus, channeling of money. To he sure, Student Union budget forms were set up, "possi ble" resources were listed but it is strange to see an Kmerald summary of the 1941 Union activities which closed with the statement: "The preliminary steps have been made and in the future lies only ac tual plans for financing and construction." Notice that word "only." Students at that time were so jubilant that the famous Hill No. 25<> authorizing a $250,000 bond issue subject to state board approval for a Stu dent Union had been passed by the state legislature that they figured finances would run like oil into their seventeen year-old dream. They were wrong, very wrong. This is the twentieth anniversary of long, long years, of a million and a half of student dollars spent on buildings other than the one building they have always wanted—a Student Union. This is the year when John MacGregor and his class of '23 were to come back and stage one heck of a celebration. This is Student Union year, and it is the year to look toward postwar building on this campus. With these twenty years behind them, students can right now bring their opin ions and their force of numbers to the agenev which can help to clear the way for a Student Union building as first on the prioritv list of postwar building. The State Board of Higher Kducation meets December 13-14. and that meeting could, at last, break the ground which students (Please turn to page four) Illl!!llll!l!lllllilllllllllllilllllllllilllllll!l]!ll!lir N uf Sed By CHAS. POLITZ We had been graduated and when we came back 10 years later to get our J.C.—there it was—the Student Union. Robert Moses and Henry Kaiser had built it on their weekend off. In accordance with the principles of functional design it was built on pontoons and was floating in a huge pool of atmospheric con densation surrounded by eight o’clocks. We were dazzled by its white and peppermint marble expanse, the poker players’ wing, the ad vanced pigging annex, and the 4-block neon sign announcing “THE STUDENT UNION THIS AIN’T NO MIRAGE” that flashed on and off like an English prof’s whim. It Was Nice of Him The liveried doorman did some thing noble—he opened the door, and we went in. The interior was immense. Howard Hughes had set up a branch to build cargo planes in the smoking room. Rita Hayworth was building morale in the Bull Session lounge. Four pink-puffed cumulus clouds held up the Eleanor blue ceiling. The main lounge known as the “Greet - Meet - and - Get Reet” room, was done in yellow and green with an occasional casual dash of orange. Huge fires burned in wastepaper - basket - shaped fire places. Pledges on roller skates distributed Esquires with the Vargas cut out to coke-sip ping upperclassmen. Nothing was lacking. There were special tables to stick gum under, and “blind date” trees on which were hung the names of campus queens. The queens hung there themselves in their off hours. If Freud Were Only Here Far aloft and commanding a view of every nook and cigarette butt haven was the glass-encased observation booth where tri-fo caled psych department profs studied the stimuli and respons es of the milling throng. Little duck-shaped sight-seeing trains, with quack-quack horns and vacuum cleaners in thfeir noses wended their way all over the place. We hepped on board and were whisked past the SU barber shop and Co-op store, into a spacious suite of offices re sounding with the din of record room of the Or egon Daily Emer ald. u. The room was painted a bSjrt • and penetrating yellow and sev-“ eral staff members could be seen in one corner kow-towing before a Shinto shrine to William Ran dolph Hearst. The edit staff was in the asbestos-lined editor's of rices still arguing over whedier they should mention “Clingman's” in the gossip columns. The editor was at her desk on a high-speed (Please turn to page four) Thanks! For their work in research and interviews for this issue, and for the Student Union his torical, financial, editorial files which at last are becoming us- ^ * able and definite, appreciation is expressed to the following students: Jack Robinson, Audrey Ho^ liday, Norris Yates, Ann Rey nolds Leo, Helen Holden Man ning, Courtney Swander, Mar tha Jane Switzer, Beverly Padgham, Barbara Younger, and Carol Cook. We also wish to thank the faculty members and alumni who have added their opinions and- comments. The Emerald Editors Oregon W Emerald MARJORIE MAJOR EDITOR ELIZABETH EDMUNDS BUSINESS MANAGER MARJORIE YOUNG Managing Editor ARLISS BOONE Advertising Manager Published daily during the college year except Sundays, Mondays, and holidays and 6nal examination periods by the Associated Students, University of Oregon. Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice. Eugene, Oregon.