Emerald
MARGUERITE WITTWER-WRIGHT
Editor
GEORGE PEGG
Business Manager
BOB FRAZIER, TED GOODWIN
Associates to Editor
JACK L. BILLINGS.
Managing Editor
tULiU
News Editor
MARYANN THIELEN and
walt McKinney
Assistant Managing Editors
BOBOLEE BKOrtix ana
BRUCE BISHOP
Assistant News Editors
JEANNE SIMMONDS
Women'* Editor
PAT THOMPSON
Executive Secretary
JUNK GOKTZ.E
Assistant Women’s Editor
BOBBIE FULMER
Advertising Manager
Signed editorial features and columns in tne Jtsmeram
ions of the writers. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
editorial staff, the student body, or the University.
Entered ns second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon.
— I. ■' ■ — --
On Housing -
Inquiries from some of the 60 men now temporarily housed
in a barracks in the PE building as to how soon they can ex
pect to move into the new vet dorm can best be answered, In
the near future.”
Dr. Karl M. Pallett, assistant to the president, said in Fri
day's Emerald that the new building should be finished shortly.
Neither he nor Mrs. Genevieve Turnipseed, director of dormi
tories wanted to build up hopes I* riday afternoon by setting
any specfic date but ag'reed that the second floor might be fin
ished iti about two weeks.
Just A Guess
We looked over the job and arrived at the non-expert con
clusion that the second floor can be finished in two weeks and
the first floor by the end of the month.
Mrs. Turnipseed said that the new building will accom
modate 378 men. This will relieve the present crowding in
vet hail number 1 and will leave two men in each double room
and one ineabh single. It will provide a section for the 33 men
of Phi Sigma Kappa and rooms for men now temporarily
housed with townspeople. The combined capacity of both vet
halls will be 753.
The cafeteria, which was finished on time in spite of labor
difficulties, is now feeding about 600 men and can accommo
date up to l,00tt, Mrs. Turnipseed said.
^ The Reason
The delay wcj,s the result of a work stoppage by the local
carpenters as the result of a failure to negotiate a wage dispute
with the general contractors' association. 1 he other building
trades continued to work but their progress was retarded by
the absence of carpenters from November 27 until December 26.
Work was resumed when the carpenters local and the con
tractors’ associated signed a contract establishing a new wage
of $1.75 as the scale for Eugene. •-*
Prior to the establishment of a “going wage" scale, the
FHPA contract held the Walle-Camplan Co., which is build
ing the dorm, to the old scale of $1.55 an hour. 1 he carpenters
refused to work at that scale and until tire new scale became
officially established by agreement with the contractors' associ
ation, the. carpenters' part of the work was suspended.
Pioneers
Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, and Sigma Kappa are
three organizations whose lead other sororities and living
groups would-be wise to follow. 1 hese sororities were the iiist
to agree at the end of fall term that their underclassmen, mem
bers would not be required to spend between-class hours in
th over-crowded library.
h'or years, ^sororities, always aware of the (• PA required
of their pledges, have sent their freshmen to the 11b 1 a 1 \ for
a set period of time. It was assumed these coeds would spend
that time studving. Actually, worthwhile study and learning
cannot be enforced, and often the underclassmen spent their
libe hours gossiping with friends, meeting their dates, or sleep
ing in the browsing room.
h'or years, this situation caused little comment although
some observers have consistentlv taken a dun \ic\\ of the nai\e
practice of sentencing freshmen to serve "time' in the library.
Past fall when the unprecedented enrollment shrank available
study space some consternation arose over the disturbing
groups of giggling coeds oh\ iously not studying. Letters to
the editor and an editorial appeal to relieve the situation final
ly brought about the hoped-tor result.
The above-mentioned sororities were the first to relax their
rules, b'reshmen and pledges will be allowed to study at their
houses during free hours and only those with actual work to
do in the library will utilize the facilities there.
To these houses, daring enough to break with seemingly
inflexible tradition, our compliments.
Toward One World * ♦.
uo
Moral Inferiority of Minorities
4
f
(Editor’s note: The following article by Dr. Ber
reman, prdfessor of criminology, is a continuation
of a series of weekly essays contributed by the Uni
versity One World Club. The article carries out the
policy of the club to promote better race relations by
exploding theories of "white” superiority.)
By DR. J. V. BERREMAN
Divergent and unpopular minorities become vic
tims of our habit of stereotyping and are often con
sidered to be bad in the degree to which they are dis
liked. Race and nationality groups in America repre
sent this principle.
A part of our common stereotype of the Negro
now, and of Chinese and other immigrant groups
perhaps more in the past, is that they are criminal.
This belief has perhaps been a factor in keeping alive
the common prejudice against them, with its atten
dant problems.
It is true that some of these minority groups have,
or have had in the past, high rates of arrest and com
mitment. This, with its attendant publicity has helped
establish the stereotype. But many such beliefs have
no basis in fact. Moreover, in the degree that those
groups have high crime rates it is impossible to at
tribute the fact to their race or national origins as
such.
Corrections
Before the crime rate of Americans and of the for
eign born can be properly compared certain correc
tions must be made.
For example, a very large part of the crime of na
tional minorities such as Chinese and Mexicans con
sisted of acts which were entirely permissible in their
own countries, and which they had not learned to
look upon as anti-social.
Another factor in the apparent criminality of mi
norities is their greater exposure to those social con
ditions out of which crime grows.
The great majority of immigrants were common
laborers. Their low income coupled with discrimina
tion against them forced many of them into the city
slums. Some groups, including Chinese, Japanese,
and American Negroes have never been able to get
out of these areas. Hence, they are subjected to at least
two conditions known to be statistically correlated
with crime, namely—low economic status, and resi
dence in the most crowded and run-down sectioii of
our cities.
art
Negroes
Such social factors probably account in large
for a high crime rate among Negroes.
The Negro as a class lacks education and ecoi im
ic security. He has little political experience
and
is discrimiEj ted
ive
lit
ect
ob
4 ■
little industrial training. He
against in employment. He is forced to
in thee most dilapidated- slum areas of our
ies and on our poorest tenant farms. He is sut
constantly to restrictions upon his activities and
tacles to the realization of his ambitions. It isbojl
surprising that he develops at times embittyfreji ,
titudes toward white society. It would be strang in
deed if he proved as law-abiding as the people rho
suffer none of these frustrations.
Compared with whites of similar economic ant oc
cupational status, similar education, and sit lar
sub-standard living conditions the Negro does lot
show excessive criminality. Moreover, Negroes luve
low rates of conviction for embezzlement, U ud
drivjng while intoxicated, and auto theft, ai e
smaller proportion of Negro prison commitments ire
for sex offenses than is the case among whites.
Court Bias
A final factor in the criminal record of mini itj
groups must be mentioned. That is the bias in c m
inal statistics which results from unequal treaty :nt
by police and the courts. Negroes are more oftei ar
rested on suspicion than are whites. They are ra elj
permitted to serve on juries. _
Other sample studies have shown Negroes ti ice
as likely as whites to be committed to prison if < in
victed, only half as often paroled or placed on pro >a
tion, and granted pardon in only one-fourth the) -o
portion of white prisoners.
In the years when feeling ran high against
,h
various immigrant groups those minorities were i ib
ject to comparable discriminatory treatment at
hands of public officials
he
;lief (
seei t
jiat
When all the facts are considered the
linority groups are inherently criminal
est on the flimsiest of foundations. The same ca b
hown to be true of other common stereotype! on
vhich our racial, national, and religious preju&es
est.
f
1
Primer
for Freshmen
No. 2—Professors
You may be doubtful, but the Su
preme Court has ruled that profes
sors are people. Additional evidence
lies in the fact that the census taker
counts them and the telephone com
pany puts their names in the book.
It is not surprising that one may
have questions because students,
parents, and merchants often call
them (the professors) by other
names. It is not strange that on
lookers wonder because they (the
professors) often act up in ways
that may be professorial but which .
are rather distantly connected with
human behavior.
Professors are folks who have
ideas and get sore if others are too
tired to have them. They are per
sons who can't understand why a
fellow puts a pillow over the alarm
clock at 7:45 a.m. They are individ
uals who think the alphabet starts
with “D” or ,-F.” They are those
who think it is a crime to copy some
famous speech and hand it in for a
term paper. They are creatures who
study the heredity of the atom for
fifteen years and expect you to solve
the question of "Why?” in fifteen
minutes. They are fellows who talk
in other persons' sleep. They are odd
bipeds.
Professors are easily identified if
you know' what to look for. Most of
them carry brief cases that are
filled with unnecessary weight.
Most of them don't have their suits
pressed. Most of them wear glasses
and most of them have sparse cra
nial decoration. Most of them tell
the same stories year after year.
Most of them buy more things than
they can pay for and w'hen out of
debt break their necks to get back
into the red-ink puddle. Most of
them love geniuses and hate dumb
bells and most of them grade stu
dents by the method of “what the
devil, when the devil, and how the
devil.”
Most professors rub their heads,
pull their ears and say “ ’er” and
“ah” between words when lecturing.
Some have a sagging sense of hu
mor and some have “I” trouble. A
few have itching degrees and
scratch and dig at them continual
ly. Most professors think the world
is in an awful mess and most of them
have written books about it, but new
professors always think old profes
sors make a mess of books so they
(the new ones) write new books.
When a professor runs for office he
gets licked; but when a commiL—
member is needed to serve witlfcut
pay, he is sure fire to accept,
always ready to make a speech
out expenses and vaguely wo:
how it happens that he is so
lar. His secret ambition is to
a building named after him andjhis
secret hope is that an oil well
unexpectedly gush up in his
yard.
You may like professors becaus
there isn't anything else you cand<
with them and you may dis ik|
them for the same reason. When ’o|
get old you will remember them y
not in your will. When you
the soup you may ask them towfi
a “character” for you and whenjto
kids go to college you may make a
trip to the professor’s office to do
a little apple polishing for the ytung
“pride and joy.”
Yes, professors are peop4ebuJs<
are milkmen and tax collectonj
—From Kent State Univei^it;
Ohio.
&
i
BANTER
By Lejeune W. Griffith
The $64 question - Discussions on
cab drivers always bring to mind a
particular character encountered in
Chicago. He was a little round man
who assured us that we were the
luckiest people in the terminal when
we drew his cab. He went on to say
that he was the sharpest character
this side of Bob Hope.
The cabbie started out with a
few classic quiz chestnuts, such as
“a little Indian and a big Indian
were walking down the street.
The little Indian was the big In
dian's son, but the big Indian was
n’t the little Indian's father. What
was the relation?”
After passing this and similar
tests successfully, the S64 question
was offered—with the drivjfri
promise that $64 actually would|
paid if the answer were correct
And so began the questi
“There’s a big battle, see? 1 >j
have one army, I have the otl r.
We have the same number of m n,
same equipment, everything is
equal. We fight. All the men ire
is.
hilled off except the two of
Which one wins the battle?”
We told him the question wa^ ri^
diculous and unfair be-sg-jpe ti
was no possible answer for it.
we asked additional questions,)
merely repeated the originahquel
;ion over again. Finally we stoppJ
talking, and he leered back at is^—
(Please turn to page six)