Extensive Guidance Program Needed—
Our Inefficent Advising System Claims a Victim
By Kirk Braun
A 17-year-old freshman left
school yesterday, largely because
of an inefficient advising system
and the “passing of the buck” by
both his adviser and the depart
ment of geography and geology.
The blame does not lie entirely
with these two parties, however.
A variety of underlying causes
contributed to the situation; a
situation, which if repeated, will
not win friends for the Univer
sity of Oregon( NOR WILL IT
BUILD STRONG STUDENTS
OR GOOD CITIZENSHIP.
The victim of the inconsistent
system (organized chaos for
freshman) whom we’ll call Art,
registered this term for 14 hours,
including a four-hour course in
geography. After two weeks he
decided lie should switch to geol
ogy, which he did. This was a
mistake anil the volunteered ad
vice from fraternity brothers
didn’t help the situation any.
Both his adviser and the de
partment okayed the change, al
though his adviser suggested
suggested that these courses were
not particularly useful in his pre
law curriculum.
After a rough exam, Art
learned from the instructor that
he was in the third term of a
geology course, the members of
which composed “the cream of
the crop” from the previous two
'terms. Since he had neither of
the two prerequisite terms, he
was advised to drop the course.
It was too late to add courses
and he couldn’t afford to stay in
school with only 10 hours. So he
petitioned to add a two-hour
hour course, Survey of Broad
casting, which lie immediately
started attending.
The academic requirements
committee turned down the peti
tion.
Winter term, Art’s first, he had
a GPA qf 1.60 on 14 hours, six
of which were sophomore courses.
Spring term he was making a de
cided effort to improve his aca
demic standing. After all, 1.60 is
no disgrace. Many a graduating
senior did worse than this in his
first term at the University.
Then why was this green fresh
man not given expert counseling
and why was he allowed to get
into a course in which he didn’t
belong?
Professor Allen Hugh Smith,
his adviser, says that he usually
leaves the course-sequence prob
lem up to the department. Dr.
Samuel Dicken, head of the geol
ogy department, believes that
the responsibility rests with the
adviser . . . and the student. He
admits that it is impossible to
keep a faculty member present at
the card-stamping table all dur
ing registration. A freshman girl
often does the job.
Professor Smith has 65 ad
visees. With this many, it’s only
natural that one or two will slip
through. But one slip is too many.
AN EXTENSIVE AND CON
CENTRATED GUIDANCE PRO
GRAM FOR FRESHMEN CER
TAINLY IS NEEDED.
Sure, every freshman should
study the catalog. But it takes
most students three years to get
enough education to be able to
understand its intricacies. IN
TERPRETATION IS CERTAIN
LY PART OF THE AD\ ISEK’S
JOB;
Considerable irony lies in the
fact that although the instructor
of the Survey of Broadcasting
course, Bob Davy, felt that Art
had not missed too much to catch
up, the academic requirements
committee turned him down. If
petitions for adding courses are
going to be considered, should
not the instructor involved have
a vote ?
Well, by this time, Art is on his
way home. He got $18 of his
$42.50 tuition refunded but most
of it went to pay pledging fines
and other expenses incurred
through no fault of his own. If he
never comes back to Oregon, he
certainly cannot be blamed.
The whole thing has a rather
disagreeable odor.
Today's Elections
Today’s ASUO elections climax several weeks of intensive
campaigning by the two major campus political parties.
Aside from several minojr “incidents” like the tearing down
of posters on Monday night, the pre-election campaigns have
been unusually free from the horseplay, petty bickering, and
bitternesses of former years.
Perhaps it’s a sign that student political leaders are attaining
a degree of maturity not reached by many of their predecessors.
Although they contained the usual platitudes, of course, the
platforms published in Tuesday’s Emerald appeared to have
been carefully drawn up and each contained worthwhile sug
gestions which will deserve consideration by next year’s stu
dent government.
Any attempt on the part of the Emerald to evaluate the two
platforms or the candidates of the two ^rties could lead only
to confusion.
Instead, we suggest that each voter today carefully weigh
for himself the issues at stake and the merits of the various
candidates, and then vote as his conscience dictates.
Although the Emerald is not concerned with how a student
casts his ballot today, we are hopeful that a greater number of
persons than usual show an interest in student government by
exercising their right to vote.
To every student on this campus we say: You owe it to
yourself and to your fellow students to vote in today’s election.
If campus politics served no other purpose, it could be justi
fied on the grounds that it offers the student an opportunity to
exercise the most cherished right a democracy can bestow—
the right to vote.
Religion's 'New Look'
Sure, and the world really must be changing. It has been
found necessary for the first time in 60 years to revise the Rom
an Catholic Catechism—the book that gives Catholic doctrinal
answers,
Basic beliefs remain the same, but problems have come up
in the last 60 years that need clarification. And then, other mat
ters have been resolved, and are not maintained in the revision.
Television is an example of the new look in doctrine. The
revised edition of the catechism states that a person must be
bodily present at the place where mass is celebrated to fulfill
his attendance obligation. Though television is not mentioned
specifically, this obviously rules out hearing mass in the com
fort of your living room via video.
The new catechism shows more awareness of the problems
of labor.
The old book stated that according to agreements, servants
or workmen must serve faithfully and honestly, and that em
ployers must see they are kindly and fairly treated and justly
paid their wages at the proper time.
But the new book looks at it from the other side. It says, “Em
ployers who defraud laborers by not paying them a just living
wage keep what belongs to others and are guilty of grave in
justice not only to the employe, but also to the members of his
family."
The employe is admonished, however, that he will be vio
lating the "thou shalt not steal commandment" by loafing on
the job. and being careless with his employer’s property.
Now we’ll see what the next 60 years will bring . ..
Chinese Tragedy Began In 1937
(Editorial note: Columnist Cal
lahan, a sophomore in history,
has spent about ten years of his
life in the Philippines and the
Orient.)
By Michael Callahan
The tragedy that is today be
ing enacted on the shores of the
Yangtze river in China began
iiiui e: liica.ii ttu
years ago. On
the morning of
D e c e mber 12
1937, a squad
ron of Japanese
p 1 a n es roared
ed down upon
the anchored
American gun
boat Panay and
blew it apart. Within a week the
White Man had made his answer
. . . we demanded apologies and
money.
To the Chinese peasant army,
hard pressed by the Nipponese i
tanks and poison gas, it meant
the end of the last great hope for
peace. And in Tokyo the war
words dreamed of a vast new em
pire with white men made slaves.
We survived only after fight
ing up the bloody trail that be
gan on Guadaeanal and ended
with, a billion-dollar bomb over
Hiroshim.
The cycle of history now has
brought us back to the same cri
sis on the same river. Within the
past few days the British have
lost more than 100 men dead and
wounded, and have sumffered
heavy damage to four ships, after
Chinese Communist artillery
sprang an ambush in the Yangtze
narrows. One ship and 60 men
still lie trapped beneath the Chi
nese guns, and their fate depends
on the whim of some Red officer.
The question is . . . where do
we go from here, THIS TIME?
We can’t see that the Commun
ist trap was any accident. By a
single clever stroke they have de
stroyed what little prestige the
white men had left in the Orient,
and have kicked the British lion
in its most tender spot, the navy.
The Chinese guns successfully
stood off the finest British ships
that could rush to the scene, and
thus have put the rest of the
world squarely on the spot.
Winston Churchill today will
demand an explanation from the j
British government for the Yang- i
tze disaster. For what it is ;
worth, we would like to pass on
on our own proposed solution to
the mess. We might say in pass
ing that we base this on the ex
perience gained in more than ten
years spent living in the Orient. •
It is high time that the British
think back to the days of Rud
yard Kipling and the old Empire,
of “far-flung battle lines” and
"regiments of British infantry.”
The Communists have attacked
the Empire . . . well then, fling
the challenge back in their teeth!
Considering the millions of Red
troops deployed along the Yang
tze, British soldiers would have
little chance to drive home a les
son. The navy has shown itself
unable to force a passage up the
river. Therefore, that leaves only
the air force. And the Chinese
Reds have flew, if any, planes.
It is in the air, then, that the
British should answer the ag
gressors. Squadrons of bombers
from Hong Kong and from the
aircraft carriers reported on the
way to China should spend a few
leisurely days scourging the of
fending artillery positions. A few
days’ work with bombs, and ma
chine guns would show the Reds
the error of their ways.
This is admittedly reactionary,
and has little to do with the
Brotherhood of Man. But it is also
necessary if the prestige of wes
tern culture is to remain in the
Orient, and if the same tragic
path of appeasement that we fol
lowed after the Panay attack is
not to repeated. This time the
score must be evened and respect
restored.
Footnote: A wise man once
said that history repeats itself.
From Our Mailbag
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Mr. Editor:
As two former Emerald editors
who still read the shack’s daily
production with consuming- inter
est, we were fascinated to read
yours of the 22nd, in .which you
announced an Emerald policy of
neutrality with the contention
that politics at Oregon are farce
produced by infantile student
governors, and as such are not
worthy of positive comment via
the editorial page.
No one has bemoaned the im
mense stupidity and laxnesss of
student councils and campus po
litical leaders more than we . . .
but when did the policy of non
attention ever correct what are
coyly called “existing evils” ?
It is one thing to hop on a po
litical band wagon for the ride
and the journalistic (?) experi
ence—it is another thing to
weigh issues (or the lack of is
sues) and as editor evaluate them
from a viewpoint of student in
terest—it is still another thing
to sit on the fence out of fear
that some of the boys might get
rough.
We would question whether
the Emerald position over a
period of fifteen years has
been a generally neutral one,
in politics or the latest coed
styles. When so many people
gether in one spot—with varying
backgrounds, ambitions and pat
terns of behavior—'there's bound
to be at the very least a differ
ence of opinion. The editor’s job,
and his most important challenge,
is the evaluation of these differ
ences.
The “fightin' editor,” who
nonetheless gives his critics their
day in court with news stories
and often with editorial space,
has seldom lacked the respect,
however grudging, of the student
body he serves as an individual
and as a citizen of the University
community.
Yours truly,
Marjorie Goodwin
Bob Frazier
(Editor’s note: Marjorie Good
win edited the Emerald in 1943
44, Frazier in 1947-48. Both aro
presently employed by. the Eugene
Register-Guard.)
Oregon If Emerald
The Oregon Daily Emerald, published daily during the college year except Sundays,
Mondays, holidays, and final examination periods by the Associated Students, University of
)regon. Subscription rates: $2.00 per term and $4.00 per year. Entered as second-class matter
t the post office, Eugene, Oregon.
JILL YATES, Editor VIRGIL TUCKER, Business Manager
Associate Editors: June Goetze, Boblee Brophy, Diana Dye, Barbara Hey wood
Advertising Manager: Cork Mobley
BOB REED, Managing Editor
Assistant Managing Editors: Stan Turnbull, Don Smith
BOB TWEEDELL. City Editor
Assistant City Editors: Ken Metzler, Ann Goodman
NEWS EDITORS
Chuck Grell, Hal Coleman, Steve Ley, Vic Fryer, Diane Mecham