Lost in the Shuffle
With all the fuss about personalities, and three candidates
for student body president, the constitution is likely to get lost
in the shuffle next Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday, too).
The Constitution skimmed through, illegally, in April with
a little over 50 per cent of the students voting. It is reasonable
to believe that a 50 per cent vote will be obtained next week—
which places those persons who sit back with a smug smile
and say “I don’t have to vote, the best way to defeat it is to not
vote,” in an awkward position.
Those people who don’t like the Constitution have to get
out and vote “no,” if they are to have their opinion considered;
since it is pretty well assured that the 50 per cent that voted be
fore will be voting again.
Which makes us very happy. It is irritating to see people
defeat something simply by taking no action whatsoever.
It will at least be interesting to see them walk to the polls.
* * * *
Inner circles report that Hendricks Hall members have been hold
ing recent closed meetings to vote on petitioning for entrance into the
Greek bloc. If the vote is affirmative, the Hall will change its name to
Hendricks Alpha Hall, or HAH.
The Word From ATO
To the Editor:
We feel that the myriad of unfounded accusations directed
at our house and at its candidate’s principles in its relation
to the USA party have necessitated an immediate stand as to
our motives in bolting the Greek bloc.
For the past few days you have heard that our withdrawal
from the bloc is a set-up deal, that a pressure group is call
ing our moves and should we secure the election, we will im
mediately return like an errant sheep to the AGS fold; you’ve
heard that we don’t trust the USA and simultaneously that
the USA doesn’t trust us; you’ve heard us called a group of
“dissatisfied malcontents;” and you’ve heard us called trai
tors, shrewd politicians and Machiavellian in the sense that
any means to secure office will be justified by the ends.
What is the basis for these beliefs? Is there any founda
tion to them? Definitely not. Rather to us, the accusers are
utilizing every possible means to smear us to win the elec
tions by any means by which they might profit. Then why
did we bolt the bloc? What are our own and our candidate’s
intentions? What will we do if elected?
Now get this. These are our principles and we have sin
cerely advocated them and will even more sincerely adhere
to them. First we bolted because we don't like to be told who
to run and when, we don’t like the AGS s conception of rota
tion of office, and finally because the USA representatives in
an effort to achieve a fair government came to us and asked us
to run in their nominations.
As to intentions. If elected we plan to maintain those UbA
party principles we have advocated through our candidate in
whom we have the utmost confidence. We want fair campus
government with office rotation based on merit rather than
living organizations. We want above all to remove an unwar
ranted social harrier, to erase the line that exists between
Greek and Independent students politically.
What will we do if Mountain is elected? Just as we have
maintained above. WE ARE NOW AN ACTIVE PAR
TICIPANT' OF THE USA PARTY AND ITS POLICIES.
AND PLAN TO BE INDEFINITELY. WE’RE NOT GO
ING TO “SELL ANYBODY DOWN THE RIVER.” Both
Greek and Independent students stand to gain by having
our candidates elected for we promise to you the fair stu
dent government inculcated in our party platform.
The handwriting is on the wall. There is only one candidate
for number one position whom we are sure is sincere,in his
promise to be loyal to the students, both Greek and Independ
ents, to his partv and the policies he has advocated. \\ e plead
especially for objectivity to the Independent students. Don t
let unbased propaganda engender mutual distrust between
our party and its candidate. If you do. the pressure group will
have its candidate on top of the political heap.
Joe Richards
President
Alpha Tan Omega
Ozeaan Daily
EMERALD
The OREGON DAILY EMERALD, published daily during the college year except all
Saturdays lint lunior Weekend, Sunday, holidays, final examination periods. Monday pre
ceding 1 mtior weekend in Mav, and the last Thursday in May by the Associated Students,
University of Oregon. 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 arc those of the columnist, and
do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editor or his associates.
Don A. Sun n, Editor Joan Mimnaugk, Business Manager
Anne Goodman, Tom King, Associate Editors
Glenn Gillespie, Managing Editor
«74e S^uiwd Coe*},
A Fable About Pats, Plebes, Etc
Stan ^liisutbuil
Animal fables seem to be
the thing now, so here’s a not
too-obscure one to try on
your own Wurlitzer.
(Might as rvell point out
ourselves, and save the editor
the trouble, that views of col
umnists are their own.Would
also like to point out that this
columnist’s views — and
doubts—are shared by others.
And so as not to make this
too obscure, let’s drop the
blue and green ducks, and
talk about ancient Rome;
we’ll call 'em the patricians
Pats — and p 1 e b i a u s, or
Plebes.)
No use in filling in too
much back history; the Pats
were an organized group
and the Plebes were a group
that was originally all un-or
ganized but now included
some disgruntled Pats.
When it came time to elect
officers to the Forum, par
ticularly Emperor, in the
spring of 1950 B.C., one of
the very largest factions in
the Pats suddtenly announc
ed it was going to run on the
Plebe party, with the inten
tion of “cleaning up Rome’s
politics.” This was very,
hard for the citizenry at
large to swallow, the the fac
tion yelled it very loud, so
loud that the honest, capable
leader of the Plebes believed
them.
The Pats then had only two
really top possibilities for
Emperor; one of them had
held office before and knew
the ropes, the other had not.
At the nominating assembly
the one who had not, won by
two votes. It was hard to
believe that he was the best
candidate, and many honest
people thought maybe a sub
versive group with Greek
letters was behind it.
That made two party-sup
ported candidates in the race,
but a lot of honest people
thought it was possible the
“reformed” Pat would soon
throw back in with the Pats,
so that in effect the Pats
might have candidates on
both tickets, both backed by
the greek letter subversive
group. But in all honesty,
they could not prove it, par
ticularly in the case of the
“reformed” one, who honest
ly did appear to be up and up.
Then came the next event:
the candidate who had stuck
with the Pats, who had held
offices, and who had made
no “deals” (or he would not
have lost, being the obvious
ly most qualified candidate),
and who had not gotten the
Pat nomination, heard lots
of citizens say that he was
the best candidate, and that
he should run. So he entered
his name in the race for Em
peror, on a no-party ticket.
With the elections very
near, he tried to gather sup
port on two grounds: 1, that
both the other candidates
may be.backed by the subver
sive group, although the “re
formed” one might be sin
cere ; and 2, that regardless of
anything else, he was the
most experienced and ablest —
candidate. He had served on
the Senate, something that
neither of the others had, was
definitely not allied with a
subversive group, and had
the respect of both honest
Pats and Plebes alike.
That was the way matters
stood on the eve of elections
in 1950 B.C. Strange to re
late, the next page of the his
tory^ book was torn out, so we
don’t know the outcome.
9+t Ratf
Here is a Difference of Opinion
Jlette/il
To the Editor:
To begin with, I would like
to commend you on your in
telligent and forthright inter
pretation of the present poli
tical scene. There seems to be
only one answer to your ques
tion, “How far can Barry
Mountain and the ATO’s be
trusted to support the poli
cies of USA?” That answer
is: No farther than you can
throw the ATO house. The
ATO’s will hardly wait for
the ballots to be counted be
fore returning to the AGS
fold. USA or AGS, ATO is
still TNE. “The Club” has it
figured out mathematically:
A 100 per cent chance beats a
50 per cent chance. With TN
E-backed Gerry Smith on one
team and TNE-backed Moun
tain on the other, how can
TNE lose? With this situa
tion, it is obvious that Art
Johnson's efforts for demo
cratic student government
will give the student voter the
same amount of choice as a
Russian voter. USA or AGS,
it’s still TNE.
A disgusted independent,
A. O. Giovannini
The opinion expressed in
j'our letter is no doubt held
by a number of people—main
ly independent, but undoubt
edly some Greeks, too. How
ever, the opinion is not-nec
essarily an accurate or cor
rect one.
Yesterday we asked these
questions, in the hope that
someone (preferably the can
didates) would come forth
with the answers. Some of the
answers are printed else
where on this page.
Your suspicions are ones
that can understandably arise.
And they are real suspicions
that must be considered by
the candidates and the politi
cal parties: for these suspic
ions will influence the vote,
or decision not to vote.
But we should not pass fi
nal judgment until we have
attempted to honestly get the
answers to these questions.
And do not get discouraged
or disgusted because there is
no independent running for
the number one position.
The USA coalition elected
the first independent student
body president last year since
the late 30s. If USA has de
cided that the best candidate
this year is a Greek, that is
not an indication that the in
dependents have been “sold
down the river.” The USA
still offers each individual a
chance to run for the party’s
nomination—it does not dis
criminate against the Greeks,
nor does it discriminate
against the independents.
As to the charges of TNE,
all candidates deny any affili
ation with such a group. And
you may further look to their
actions to determine if they
are backed by such a group. If
you are truly interested in
student government it would
be wise to ask each of the
three candidates to come be
fore your living group and
speak.—Editor.
Oops!
Editor, The Emerald : ^
I should be very happy to
be misquoted in your excel
lent paper on almost any sub
ject from St. Augustine to
sex. But in these times, when
various agencies are building
up files on various people
from various sources, I
should prefer not to be mis
quoted in print with reference
to Russia.
Your headline Tuesday at
tributes to me the view that
world revolution is not Sta
lin’s plan. I am aware that
most of your readers are to
tally indifferent to my view
on this or any other subject;
but just in case this clipping
should be added to some
body’s file, I should like to
straighten out the record. It
has always been, is now, and
will probably continue to be
my view that world revolu
tion has always been, is now,
and will probably continue to
be Air. Stalin’s long-term
goal.
Very truly yours,
Gordon Wright ♦'