Dear John
The Oregon State Barometer gets letters to the editor—all
sorts of letters, and lots of them, too.
But hardly anybody ever writes us anything. Oh, once in
a while some student comes through with some complaint,
praise, or comment that he wants written with his name un
der it; but this is the exception.
In yesterday’s Barometer there were 16 letters—mostly
about fussing (OSC term for Pigging) at athletic events.
There were also letters on other topics, and even a poem from
the student body president.
Does our student body president write poems for the Em
erald? No, he does not.
Do Oregon students write letters to the editor? No, they
generally do not.
Why? We have a letter to the editor column—In the Bag.
But we usually get left holding it—empty.
So won’t you please step up and write what you think? The
rules are simple—in English (preferably) and signed. If the
matter is so topical that the student, or faculty member, wishes
to have his name withheld, the Emerald will honor that re
quest.
Also the shorter they are the more likely they are to be read.
And sometimes letters get results. Remember, you can read
in the Browsing Room now until 10 p.m. because Fred Taylor
wrote a letter to the editor.
Who knows what other mighty things a letter could evoke?
/I Rode 9d a Rode 9d a Rode by Morton Bootd
Explanation of the Short Spring Vacation
What’s this shortened
spring vacation all about?
Why are we only getting four
days this year instead of the
usual nine or ten? When two
of our fifteen members said
they would be graduating in
March to recuperate from Fi
nal Week pressure, we real
ized that their answer was a
flippancy, but that com
plaints have been quite wide
spread. Not only will the
much desired vacation be lost
but also students who' are a
long way from home will not
be able to get away for the
vacation.
The Board of Deans, osten
sibly created this calendar
shift for two important rea
sons—to keep terms as near
as possible with the same
Offhand Olu&uuitio-n*,
Reverse it for a Situation
It may seem a little ambitious, an amateur
criticizing the professionals, but the Regis
ter-Guard fumbled the ball the other day.
Somewhere in the back of the paper there
a p p e a r ed a
photo that
p r o p e rl y be
longed on the
front page. It
was a picture
of a group of
Japanese who
are guests of
theUnited
States; they
are over here
t o get fi r s t
hand informa
tion on the lo
cal g o v e r n
ALEX'
PIER Cl
ment of this country. When this particular
picture was taken, they were being ejected
from the Boston city hall.
Now it so happens that the Japs, no matter
what else they may have been in the past,
have always been polite to the point of obs
equity. It ought to make citizens of this coun
try a little curious about what sort of an im
pression they will be taking back to Japan
with them. The Japanese delegation is going
to be a little curious about a couple of things
too. It is going to be wondering what sort of
barbarians won the war, and it's going to be
wondering if this business of democracy is all
McArthur has it cracked up to be.
The purpose of our occupation of Japan,
anil no doubt it's costing us plenty of the old
Yankee dollah, is on the surface at least to
teach the Nipponese to be good democratic
citizens. With the big white brother giving
them such an example as they were shown in
Boston, we could just as well be diverting our
money to the North Pole for rehabilitation of
the penguins. If we aren’t careful, the Japs
aren’t going to be any more ready to take
their place in the great global brotherhood
of mankind than we are.
, And then of course there is also this to re
member: If the situation had been reversed
it would have created an international inci
dent.
number of teaching days and
to let students out a week ear
lier in June.
This is the only manner by
which there can be approxi
mately the same number of
teaching days in a term. It
would be a simple mattter if
a few days could be taken
from fall term and given to
winter, but the Christmas
holidays make this an impos
sibility. Actually there will
be three and a half less teach
ing days this school year. In
1948-49 the school days
stacked up thusly: fall, 63^ ;
winter 54; and spring, 58V2
This year there were 60^
fall; 58 winter; and 54 spring.
Getting out a week earlier in
June this year will give Ore
gon students a better oppor
tunity to seek much desired
summer employment. It will
also allow for a week of vaca
tion before summer session
begins.
More than one student has
cited the difference between
our schedule and that of Ore
gon State College. Actually,
the two schools are independ
ent of each other. An inter
institutional committee has
always deemed it best for the
University and the College to
open and close on the same
date, but there is no ruling
stating that the academic cal
endars must be identical.
This is left to the discretion
of the individual institutions.
Some put the blame on the
Veterans’ Administr a t i o n.
But a check with the VA of
fice this week revealed that
GI Bill payments are not af
fected by the length of the
school year. Payments are
only decreased if a vacation
during the year is more than
15 days long.
There has been some mis
understanding that the school
year must be kept at a cer
tain length to meet require
ments of accrediting commit
tees for professional schools.
Most deans of professional
schools said this week that
their schools are not evalu
ated in this manner. But
stands must definitely be
taken into consi deration.
When committees like the
American Association of Uni
versities and the United Stat
es Committee of Education
rate colleges and universities
they consider the number of
teaching days in the year.
Therefore, it is quite logi
cal that the equalization of
length of terms, an early close
to the school year, and the
maintenance of a respectable
academic calendar are the pri
mary reasons for our present
Final Week schedule and
shortened spring vacation.—■
Members of Mortar Board.
Why Study—Speech
Most people recognize that
through one’s manner of speaking
do others evaluate his intelligence,
his character, and his personality.
Dress, physical features, and overt
behavior are indices also of the in
ner person; but nothing is so per
sistently revealing as the words
one employs and the manner in
which he arranges them, articu
lates them, and intones them. It
follows, therefore, that those who
are genuinely concerned about
others’ impressions of them should
diligently strive to improve their
speech.
If these observations are valid,
why do not all students in the Uni
versity, instead of only the major
ity who need it least rather than
the minority who need it most,
elect some type of speech courses?
There are three deterrents:
(1) The first is fear. Speech is an
acutely personal matter, so that not
all persons have the courage to
face criticism and to endure the
laboratory activities necessary for
salutary improvement. Students
therefore choose to avoid the ex
perience of speech study and to
reconcile themselves to their in
adequacies.
(2) The second deterrent is skep
ticism that taking a speech course
will result in one’s speech improve
ment. Observers note "that those
who take a single course in speech
do not always show substantial
improvement in their speech hab
its. The answer to such doubters is
that those who expect the teacher
to improve their speech for them
make little gain; only those who
are willing to accept the responsi
bility of making their own im
provement under the teacher’s
guidance profit measurably. Fur
by Dr. Roy McCall
thermore, speech habits of long
standing are not easily uprooted.
Most college students have been
talking for at least fifteen years;
they should not expect to be able
to establish new patterns in a mat
ter of fifteen weeks.
(3). The third restraining factor
is the blight of elocution which
still hangs upon speech instruction.
Experience with an “elocution”
teacher provides reason enough to
avoid all forms of speech traing.
Few people realize that the past
cjuarter century has seen radical
changes in both the objectives and
the methods of teachers of speech.
Students are understandably cau
tious of both the speech man and
the medicine man.
T he question, therefore, should
not be one of why one should take
speech but rather of why speech
does not take.
Omxm Daily
EMERALD
jMTfct 1
The OREGON DAILY EMERALD, published daily during the college year except
Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and final examination periods by the Associated Students,
University of Oregon. Subscription rates: $2.00 a term, $4.00 for two terms and $5.00 a
year. Entered as second class matter at the postoffice Eugene, Oregon.
Opinions expressed in editorials are those of the writer, and do not claim to represent the
opinions of the ASUO or of the University. Initialed editorials are written by associate editors.
Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.
Opinions expressed in an editorial page by-lined column are those of the columnist, and
do not necessarily reflect the opiniou of the editor or his associates.
Don A. Smith, Editor Joan Mimnaugh, Business Manager
Barhara Hey wood, Helen Sherman, Associate Editors.
Glenn Gillespie. Managing Editor
Don Thompson, Advertising Manager
News Editors: Anne Goodman, Ken Met tier. Sports Editors: John Barton, Sam Fidman.
Assistant News Editor: Mary Ann Delsnian. Chief Night Editor l<orna Larson
Assistant Managing Editors: Hal Coleman, Copy Editor: Marjory Bush.
1'otn King, Bill Stanfield, Stan Turnbull. Desk Editors: Marjory Bush, Bob Funk,
Emerald Photographer: Gene Rose. Gietchen Grondahl, Lorna Larson, Larry
Women’s Editor: June Fitxgibbons. Mciser.
GwUcUeiif Old Vet ChoCjrinSCl Steve Jloy
I have just cancelled my subscription to the
Oregonian. I am going to refuse to go to the
Mortar Board ball, and the BA major who
wrote the letter to the editor about cheating
is no longer a friend of mine, even if he does
live across the hall from me.
Why? Because I’m hurt. Hurt to the quick
over the shabby way all these people treat me.
Who started the present furor over cheating?
I did. So what happens? Wilma Morrison
writes a very comprehensive story for the Ore
gonian and leaves out the best authority on
cheating in the whole University. And I
thought I was already disillusioned.
Whee! The weather is human again and
all roads lead to the coast. If von haven’t time
to go to the coast (who has?) you can al
ways buy a case of beer and get a sexational
woman and go on a picneck. Before long you
will hear the procrastinators screaming for
rain, "so I can get some work done.’’
1 he next time I don't have to read a book,
I would like to delve between the covers of
I Just Had to Before I was Twenty.” Hav
en t the slightest idea what it’s about, but
with a title like that it ought to be a best sel
ler soon.
1 he registrar’s office deserves congratula
tions for the method they devised for show
ing seniors how they are progressing toward
graduation. 1 he scheme is actually simple.