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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1951)
May 24. With Istm on Nov. 4 and May 12. by the Muoents ■f Oregon. Entered u second class matter at the pontoffice. Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: iS per school rear; $2 per term. v _ Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the writer and do not pretend to represent the opinions of the ASUO or of the Unirersity. Initialed editorials are written by (he associate editors. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor._ Akita Homes, Editor Maitil ScboogiiI, Business Manager Loan a Laison, Man Aging Editor___ Ton Kmc, Kim Mimn, Jackie Paitiim, Associate Editors Fxan Neil, Advertising Manager LETTER TQlMISS LARSON Dear Lorna, This is not the calmest night in the Emerald’s career, but it is nonetheless a good one in which to write a letter to the new editor. Every spring such a letter is written just before the daily ceases publication for the year. We have two more issues, you know, before another spring is salted away. Let me tell you a little about the months you face. Tonight is not typical, but neither is it unique in the editor’s life. We’ve been on the telephone half the day walking on those sands which shift beneath a news story or editorial once it has reached print. Stories conflict. Answers are jumbled. \\ ords are I hOSe weasled. And we must wait before writing that edi Delays torial which almost writes itself. You’ll do lots of waiting next year. And no matter how long you consider or ponder a question, some will say your decision was wrong. Maybe that's the mark of a good editorial page pleasing half the people half the time, but never all the peo ple all the time. You’ll have freedom of decision as great as any editor in the country. But always that “for the good of the University phrase will stick in the back of your mind. You 11 hear it a jil lion times next year, and every time you’ll have to weigh it against another principle. Should these Oregon students live in a cocoon? Should the college paper be little more than a bulletin board? Should you j try and do some good either in the long or short range? Those are questions you’ll face and ultimately answer in the months to come. Administrative officials may ask you if the Emerald ever considers “the good of the University,” but you’ll have to re member that these officials have a job to do and they have no choice but the stand they take. You’ll sometimes marvel at their cooperativeness, and sometimes become disgusted at their “no comment.” ••e\\A You'll find firm friends to turn to when the go n ing’s rough . . . like “old dawg” Emerald editors Dawgs still around and patient professors in the journal ism school and personal friends you couldn’t do without. And if next year is at all like this one, you’ll have an aggre gation of the University’s best making up your staff. There’ll be no Greek-Independent line on the Emerald staff, and you’ll be proud of it. If a man merits a promotion, he’ll get it regard less of affiliation or non-affiliation. You’ll find a stick-to-gether-spirit unknown to any other campus activity you’ve ever entered. And you’ll have a good feeling of security when you enter that editorial office in the Shack. Your being a woman won’t make a bit of difference in that editorship .. . anyway, not that you’ll ever notice. Maybe crit ics will be a little softer in their criticism, and maybe men will be a little more suspicious of you. They’ll all get a kick out of referring to you as “lady editor.” Student government will be a little wary of you. But you 11 be in a good position next year in the new Cabinet. You’ll ex ercise no votes and won’t have to worry about being a sore head and writing about your pet projects which didn’t win the Executive Council’s approval. You, Lorna Larson, have proven your ability. In the past three years you have become an integral part of this small pub lication. None of these things I’ve told you are new or startling, but maybe they’ll help a little about the middle of winter term. It’s not easy to clean off the editor’s desk and put a new name on the door, but it’s with great confidence that I do it. Yours is a challenging job. You’ll do it well.___ THE DAILY ... to the cast and staff of “Anne of a Thousand Days,” who amply displayed the result of many weeks preparation at the Friday night opening. THE OREGON LEMON... in a tall glass, please, with ice added. -—Letters-““ The Campus Answers As It Exists TY> the Editor: It is high time that the Emer ald, with it’s chorus of highly emotional letters* to - the - editor writers who filled the Emerald editorial pages last week with their unrealistic ravings, got their ’’heads” out of the clouds and looked at the Greek-racial problem as it exists, and not as they would have it in their Utopi an society. Having nerved as a fraternity president last year, I feel that I have had due opportunity to make the following observations: (1) When a student enters a Greek social fraternity or soror ity, he or she must accept the fact that they must subordinate some of their own desires for the gen eral good of the chapter. The whole future of the chapter de pends upon its good social repu tation. (2) By the very nature of the college fraternal system, it is ob vious that it is definitely within the confines of “for the good of the chapter” that a member not act in a manner that would bring unfavorable attention to the group, from ANV other group, or a substantial portion thereof. (3) It should be obvious, then, oven to the enlightened and cru nading Emerald editor and "cor respondents" that, alas, in our Imperfect society, some people just don't completely approve of white-negro dating. (4) It would appear, In conclu sion, that the find to be aware of this fact would bo the negro in volved, and his actions in dating a white sorority girl can be con sidered a deliberate and poorly considered breach of the mores of the society in which he lives. 1 Name withheld by request i • • • Things Getting Confused To the Editor: In regard to The Code of Preju dice at Oregon', it seems to me ttiat after reeding the responses in Friday's paper that perhaps the prejudice is getting confused with another question that faces the students of thts university. Is it the sorority’s action at a whole that heroines most pre dominant In people’s minds over a question so great us this? I wonder If we are forgrttlng that people, n o matter where they live, have attitudes and opinions that make them Indi vidual. Prejudice is not limited to sororities or any one |Hirlirular living organisation—It exists all about UN. That Ih the Htartllng evidence that has been brought to my mind. Wn are a group of college, students, supposedly living In a situation whore we are exposed to experienced that ahull ultimate ly make ud Individual or broal education and understanding We are the expected Jeaderd of our generation. Wo have excellent op portunltlea to learn to live with . one another. This l« the Ideal itnd proverbial "college education." But Hoinewliere along the line we are forgetting the values iiw. essary for experiencing real-life situations with other Individuals. Just what in an '-duration doing for us If we cannot get along with I each other? There are probably very few atudenta who have not taken some eouroe In the university , which has proven in maenre, "We | of the HUMAN HACK are all more alike than we are different." And to think, we Htill carry with ua .such prcjudicea that are aAfcin shown to be invalid. That to mo seems the great disaster of our educational career the diauater that hua been ho pointedly brought out and should be food for thought for EVERY one of us. Adeline Khrlleh . r - Campon €ritle< ' —— I Sororities, Ruth Roman, Westerns Crowd Sentiment in Last Column - By Don Smith This being my last regular col umn before I go out into the cold, cruel world, I suppose I should make some sentimental observa tions about the last four years. But rather than take off on such a vein, which from me would be ludicrous, I think I shall stick to my guns and discuss “Take Care of My Little Girl," a film that criticizes the sorority system. Twentieth Century Fox, pro ducers of the film, has sent out ample publicity to colleges on this technicolor movie which “will be coming your way this summer.” The cast is one that has pre viously shown it has ability— Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, and Betty Lynn being a few of the younger people who have rrlade for themselves some reputation as actresses. Jean Negulesco is directing, and can usually be counted upon to turn out a dis tinguished job. The story of the film, which you may see “picturi/.gd” in the May McCall’s, traces the first few weeks of life for freshmen girls who rush and pledge sorori ties at college. Its main target is cynicism and snobbery which it claims sorori ties encourage. The heroine of the film, Miss Crain, is a superb pledge—up to a point. She suf fers pledging guff, absurd indig nities, and snobbery, but her ex periences disillusion her, and she turns in her pin. The moral tof this seems to be that sororities aren’t all they’re crackad up to be, and a few fresh man girls are smarter nowadays than they used to be. * * » There is a film at the MacDon ald that I would very much like to see — “Lightning Strikes Twice.’’ In it, “Ruth Roman is all woman,’’ the ads claim. I al ways thought she was pretty much of a woman in her previous films, and I’m quite eager to see what happens in this latest of her movies. She has Meree<les Me Cambridge, the sharp political s»ecrctary of "All the King’s Men," and Zacharay -Scott to help her out. * * • A gory production called “Only the Valiant,” with Gregory Peek and Ward Bond, was at the Mac earlier this week. After a slow start reminiscent of the melo drama “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” the movie about half-way through got into some vicious In dian battles. A group of about eight men, none of whom likes each other and all of whom have a desire to kill the Captain in oharge of then],, hold off several thousand Indi ans to protect a fort a few miles to the rear. After a few attempts by the men on the life of the Cap tain. after several Indian attacks, complete with arrows through bodies and battle axes In necks, it looks like everyone will be kill ed. But just in the nick of time, over the only hill in the vicinity, come the reinforcements com plete with Rattling gun. After one more bloody slaughter, the film ends. • It Could Be Oregon 11 ' “Remember the good old days—before blue jeans, pedal pushers . .