Daily
EMERALD
The Olson* Daily Emesalo published Monday "<*** .5*“^ throueb'?*; *»d
„r,,n. i)-* in. nee 5 throuah fan. 3; Mar b through 28; May / , *>o\. iutoukh »*u
«ftcrPMay 2-1 with isues on l$ov. -4 and May 12, by the Associated Students ot the l V”*V*'J^‘5Z
JfOrcft*. lintei ed as second class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription
rates: $5 per school year; $2 per term.
«SStM=s s a ssss s
the associate editors. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor.
Asita Holmes, Editor _
Masiel Scaoocisi, Business Manager
People Who Live in Glass Houses...
Distinction between right and wrong becomes difficult to
ascertain when the matter of life and death is brought in as a
contending factor.
Considerable controversy was aroused recently when
Walter A. Brown, president of the Boston Athletic Associa
tion, put the damper on a trio of Korean track stars.
“While American soldiers are fighting and dying in Korea,”
Brown asserted, “every Korean should be fighting to protect
his country instead of training for marathons. As long as war
continues there, we positively will not accept Korean entries for
our race on April 19.”
The three marathon runners, who can do nothing but bow
before the slap, finished 1-2-3 last April in international compe
tition with 131 thinclads.
Who is right? Who is wrong? Both factions have a pertin
ent argument, but either can be condemned.
American doughfoots slogging through bitter cold, and red
dening the soil of Korea with their blood are quite enough to
shame the Korean entry into submission.
On the other hand, what of the handling of American ath
letes in the last war. The United States was fighting for its
■existence then. The road to victory was uphill and the war ef
fort taxed the strength and minds of the American people.
Yet, how many athletes were detained at various posts and
bases almost solely for their prowess on the gridiron, or other
fields of athletic endeavor? All branches of the service were
guilty of such action. The great, almost fabulous service teams
were no offsprings of coincidence.
Athletic skill is commendable, even admirable to a point, it
is contemptible to hold a muscular and coordinated y o u t h
away from the scorching fire of war—only to sacrifice a plain
fellow.”
Our treatment of athletes in the last war is still a glowing
blackeye that the armed forces cannot refute even if they should
blow themselves blue in the face shouting about “morale.”
For America to pat the Korean runners on the head and say
■“it is wrong for you to run in these times,” is quite unimpres
sive—since America’s shiner is still showing.—S.F.
The'Harmless' Prank—a Sober Reflection
The recent episode that resulted in members of Phi Kappa
Psi fraternity being fired upon by police for participating in a
campus prank when mistaken for burglars inspired the follow
ing pertinent comments by the Oregon State Barometer (1'cb.
10 issue) :
“The narrow aversion of a tragedy last Sunday morning in
Eugene, resulting from a misguided fraternity ‘prank,’ can give
cause for thought to us all.
“It doesn’t detract from the gravity of the situation to blame
the police for being ‘trigger-happy.’
“Although an affair such as the U. of O. fraternity men’s at
tempt to retaliate was contemplated and carried out with no
malicious intent and no prospect of permanent dispossession of
anything, the similarity of action to that of criminal entry is too
close for comfort.
“Sororities certainly cannot be expected to investigate a
suspected criminal action to discover whether or not it is merely
a ‘prank’ before summoning the police, and with the ever pres
ent possibility and recurrence of campus robberies, the police
cannot be expected to be impractically cautious in their hand
ling of the suspected burglaries.
“It is the duty of the students to avoid such situations, or
bear the consequences.”
\ THE DAILY
goes to Kappa Alpha Theta and Phi Gamma Delta, both of
which got off to a good start for Dads’ Day weekend by win
ning the annual letter contest.
THE OREGON LEMON ...
to the living groups which entered the “Shack” before
the proper time to secure Emeralds first so that it might win
the same contest—fortunately, the ruse was discovered. (A
lemon also goes to those groups which ignored the contest
completely and failed to pick up the papers when available.)
On Restriction in SU
Piano Room Open to Students Again
The piano room in the Student Union again Is
available to students today.
It's Iwvn cloned since Friday last—but students
may gain admittance as Of this morning by picking
up the key at the main desk In the lobby and leav
ing their Identification cards as temporary deposits.
Student Union Director Dick Williams took this
action Wednesday as a result of a letter sent to
the Emerald severlv criticizing his closing the room.
Plans for keeping the room shut until the middle
of next week were wisely abandoned.
Why was the room closed?
Because, as the letter says (it was written by
Daniel Yuzon, a sophomore from Honolulu), it was
"misused.”
Williams, it develops, discovered some partying
going on In the room, and decided to close It for a
week and a half in order to formulate {dans fer
preventing a similar occurrence.
The s t ri c t action we feel was unjustified on
two counts:
(1) It is unnecessary to close up a room to
make plans for setting up proper controls it could
remain open and the new policy invoked when de
cided upon.
(2) A week and a half is an unnecessarily long
time to make such preparations.
Williams, aware of the double responsibility of
protecting the students' interests both by way of
preventing abuse of the Union and by allowing stu
dents to receive the maximum benefits of its fa
duties reconsidered the situation und acted ac- |
cordingly.
Thus:
The original action of dotting the room wan un
warranted; In effect it punished students who had
nothing to do with the room's misuse.
That Williams haa decided to reopen It after
reassessing the case in light of the letter is laudable.
The letter writer strongly condemned the first
decision to close the room, saying In part:
"I hardly believe Mr. Williams' decision nn In
telligent one. 1 always thought: punish the offender
and no one else.”
The writer suggests: “Appoint Mr. Williams tho
head of the University for a couple of weeks. Ila\e
someone ‘misuse’ every building on the campus,
meanwhile tipping him off. Just think, tn one week
no studies. We rould start with the library and end
at the dorms. Mr. Williams’ derision Is greatly
reminiscent of the army.”
So went the letter, calling to attention the un
necessarily strict supervision exercised In the case.
To conclude:
The SU is no place for abuse of privileges at any
time.
The more confidence put in students ns to their
ability to conduct themselves the better, i \s Di
rector Williams says himself, on the whole the Ro
dent body has cooperated excellently in keeping up
the HU.)
tret's remember; It's a building for, of, and to n
large extent, by the students. T.K.
I
Sky’s
The Limit
By
Sam Fidman
Response to the call for student
attendance at Executive Council
meetings was nil. Perhaps that is
due to the fact that Oregon stu
dents are completely satisfied
with the status quo. All well and
good.
The trenchant remarks that can
be heard from every quarter of
this fair campus might simply bo
the result of that splendid old
American tradition, griping.
It might be pointed out that the
habit of attending Executive
Council meetings, at least once
in a while, could prove valuable
under the next regime. The new
constitution provides for a marked
enlargement of the powers of the
Senate (the new name for the ex
panded Executive Council).
Where there is power there is
action; where there is action, there
is effect; where there is effect,
there cannot but be multiple re
percussions.
Presently Ihe right to attend
Executive Council meetings is a
certainty. What if that right were
to be removed? What then?
Would the student body sit idly
by and ignore the potential evils
of such a move? Very likely this
student body would do Just that.
Where the fault for this apathy
toward student government re
sides cannot readily be ferreted
out. Most likely it belongs to the
era when power was removed from
the hands of student government,
for justifiable reasons, and trans
ferred to other groups.
However, that very apathy has
nourished the existing situation
and unless that slumbering giant,
campus opinion, is aroused and ef
fectively applied where necessary,
there is little liklihood of a desir
able change.
Personal impressions of the
Council, after just one sitting, are
that it is composed of honest, and
for the most part, capable indi
viduals. Also, there is the possi
bility that both the Council and
the students-at-large would bene
fit from an aroused student inter
est—and packed galleries.
^-Campus Critic—
Hollywood Has Its Day:
'Oscar' Plans '51 Debut
By Don Smith
On March 22, Hollywood's elite
will gather' together in the Pan
tages theater and sec some of its
number get blessed with "Oscar,"
the award of the Academy of Mo
tion Picture Arts and Sciences for
excellence. All attention is being
directed to it now.
It looks like a buttle between
the east and crew of “All About
Eve,” the picture getting fourteen
nominations, including two for
best supporting actress.
But Hollywood people are sen
timental, and "Sunset Boulevard,”
a film about Hollywood people,
looks like it has an inside track for
some of the awards. "All About
Eve," you not', was not about Hol
lywood at all, but about Broad
day.
Gloria Swanson, a sentimental
favorite, is out for her first Oscar,
after her dramatic comeback in
"Sunset Boulevurd.”
William Holden, I-ouls Calhern,
Jose Ferrer, .fames Stewart, and
Spencer Tracy are the nominees
for best actor award; with Fer
rer and his portrayal of Cyrano
do Bergerac heavily favored hy
critics.
But his characterization may
not meet with the approval of the
1800 voting members of the aca
demy, which have pulled sur
prises before.
This Is Oregon
u Hte'jVj
UNH/, PPv
StENtOte
?
s
C H U POH
“Aw, Fellas, you-all air only Kidding,” said the honest cotton-picker
hopefully.