Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1952)
Oregon Daily . _ _ (EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Feb 4 thru 8, 11 thru 15, 18 thru 22, 25 thru , March 10, Apr 2 thru 4, 7 thru 11. 14 thru 18. 21 thru 25, 28 thru May 2. May 6 thru 10, thru 16. 19 thru 22, ami May 26 by the Associated Students of the University of Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates. $5 per school year, $2 per term. 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 University. Initialed editorials are written by the associate editors. Unsigned editorials arc written by the editor. Help Week: A Success While Oregon fraternities have toyed with the idea of the abolish ment of Hell Week, one school in the Northwest has taken definite action along this line. During January several University of Washington frater nities replaced Hell Week with Help Week. And all of them seemed to be pretty impressed with the success of the experi ment. Zeta Tsi and Delta Upsilon started it off, and five other lrats fol lowed their lead. Included in the latter group were three fraternities represented on the Oregon campus— Pi Kappa Alpha, 1 an Kappa Epsilon and Chi Psi. The theoretical purpose of Hell Week is to unify and inspire the pledge class. Certain Washington fraternal leaders evidently began wondering if a week of torture and endurance-testing was serving that purpose. They suggested that their fraternities cooperate with the King county (Seattle) welfare department in helping poor families, improving conditions at hospitals, etc. The usual procedure for the fraternities cooperating in the Help Week movement was for the pledge class to put in a week of eight-hour work days at some welfare job, such as the clean ing and repairing of poor folks’ homes or the removal of aged trees from the grounds of a children's hospital. The fraternities found that Help Week did more than unify and inspire the pledge class. According to one pledge: "It left us feeling good.”—D.D. A Chance to Do Good On March 18 the greatest show in Oregon comes to the campus and we the students are presented with an opportunity to do some thing individually for our University. We l>elieve that deep down inside nearly everyone on this campus would like to be able to point to at least one thing and say: "I did this for the University of Ore gon.” The “show,” of course, is the State High School Basketball Tourna ment. The opportunity is to sell our University to the state’s high school students. Our school will never be any better than its student body, and the competition for the top high school seniors is rugged. As a case in point we would cite the tactics of our Beaver friends. The Oregon Staters have used every trick in the book to get high school seniors down to Corvallis for things like our Duck Preview weekend. They’ve done everything to get the State Tournament moved to Gill Coliseum except burning down Mac Court. The tournament comes right in the middle of final week this term and there’s the challenge. Let’s not let the youngsters get on our final week nerves. Let’s show them a good time and let them know we want them down here this fall. While w’e’re at it let’s invite some of them back for Duck Preview. These seniors may have heard about such far away places as the University of Washington, or Stanford, but if they have actually BEEN to our campus we stand the best chance of getting them. The opportunity is there, so let’s take advantage of it.—R.N. Oh the Hi/i... KASH to Air Jurgens To day By Don Collin Half-hour of music by the Senior Ball's Dick Jurgens will be featured on KASH’s “Bands in Review” today at 1:30 p.m. KORE is the first authorized station in Oregon to carry (Sat urday 3 p.m.) the International Relations club show, “Foreign Students Forum.” Discussions are on current problems and feature the for eigners’ view. This week’s pro gram is on the coming presiden tial election. The broadcasts are part of the University’s IRC work. * * * Climbed aboard that south bound train again last week or at least KUGN felt so. When this column contacted the station about NBC shows they really didn’t know what the program ming was going to be despite the inference to the contrary here last week. As station manager S. W. Mc Cready put it, “KUGN is still committed to ABC ... until... June. However, we will carry as many NEC programs as possible, depending on available time and commercial committments” . . . Know anymore now ? * * * New programs: Mario Lanza (KUGN, tonight, 7:30) . . . H. V. Kaltenborn (KUGN, Saturday, 3:15 p.m.) . . . NBC Symphony (KUGN, Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) ... Martin and Lewis (the funny men) on KUGN, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. . . . Tallulah Bankhead’s “The Big Show” (KUGN, Sun day, 4:30 p.m.) . . . "Philip Mor ris Playhouse on Broadway” (KERG, Sunday, 8:30 p.m.) Speaking of Philip Morris their advertising is going to be toned down a bit. FTC is after them for claiming less nicotine than other cigarettes. To prove it P-M cut holes in rabbits’ tra cheas to pump smoke into their lungs (five of the rabbits died, but P-M says they were smoking rival brands.) FTC was unim pressed. More on page 96 in cur rent Time magazine. A* Cditosual We Must Preserve Our Island of Freedom There's ft stenlthy monster stalking our campuses today. On some, it has moved in for the kill. It's a many-appendaged thing, with some in the form of loyalty oaths ... or "gag" rules ... or news paper censorship. It's fear ... of u single word. Fear of Itelng Identi fied with this word: communist. Fear of the loud mouthed half-informed McCarthyite. took at some manifestations of this fear monster. Loyalty oath at the University of California. Many faculty members refuse to sign and are fired. It's been rescinded, but the harm's done. The fear's created. (And, we might add, the school's suffered greatly in loss of prestige.) , Loyalty oath at the University of Oregon? Dur ing the last days of the recent Oregon legislative session a loyalty oath requirement Including all college faculty in the state was Introduced. Only fust. Intelligent uetion from believers In academic freedom tabled the hill. In the next session . .. the story might have a different ending. Jump across the country to Ohio State univer sity Last fall the board of trustees, fearful lest "subversives” be allowed to taint the minds of the student body, granted the president absolute author ity to screen any ar.d all speakers coming to the campus. Biographical sketches of nil regardless of wheth er they would speak in a class, to the YWCA, in a living organization or to the International Re lations club are to be submitted 10 days prior to appearance. Then the president's office begins to probe, and if the officials decide the speaker will conform with what they want to hear, then .. . and only then ... is approval given. The Daily Californian, student newspaper of the University of California, ran signed articles this fall concerning conditions inside the Soviet Union, written by students who had visited there. The articles indicated conditions were actually not as bad as painted by the West. So, a 13-member "advisory" board and a "day-to day advisor” will now "assist” the publication. Six of the 13 board members are students. University President Robert G. Sproul said it is "not to be in any sense an agency of censorship.” This is so much hogwash. Any time faculty have official control over the paper even in an "ad visory" capacity there’s going to be censorship. We're not vindicating the California staffers. They admit using "poor judgment," and students here acquainted with the situation agree. But the Imposition of the 13-member bonril and day-to-day advisor nllows no more freedom to Judge. So the Incidents accumulate. We’ve been fortunate ... so far. In fact, we’re kind of an Island In a sea of fear, distrust and vanishing academic freedom. If we can keep the McCarthy-mouthed monster from our shores... stave off the loyalty (or as we prefer to call It: anti-disloyalty) oath... continue to permit speakers to speak, without setting up a minor FBI to screen them, we'll keep our freedom. Chancellor Charles I). Byrne expressed our feel ings most eloquently in a talk before alumni lurft Saturday. He said: "... A great university must not necessarily yield to the spirit of the times. Too-frequently our society experiences waves of hysteria; minority or even majority groups advocate unsound economic or social programs or philosophies ... A great univer sity dedicated to Justice and truth must be in a position to, and have the courage to resist, and to provide the factual Information and leadership to discredit such Movements." How can we gain factual Information hash- to In telligent decision formation If we are permitted to hear only one side of the story? Only by learning the true faults of communism, can we authoritative ly say It Is had. You gain nothing by creating a nation of sterile, protected minds. As Dr. Bryne said: "These loyalty oaths are a most Ineffectual meth od of fighting communists. Those who hunt for communists In great universities mistake their na tural habitat, for a free university Is not a place where communism can thrive. Freedom of thought and expression Is Just what communism cannot practice or tolerate.” The simple word freedom was one of the basic foundations upon which these United States were budded. We loudly proclaim this freedom ... In our schools ... in our speeches ... in our communication media ... in our contacts with other nations of the world. And the world looks to us as a free nation with free inhabitants. Hut our glowing proclamations echo emptily In a day when the fear monster Is slowly claiming llio minds of our countrymen. We criticize the "Iron Curtain" which ban us from any contact with the Communist-dominated peoples. Are we setting up our own? - - Letters to the Editor - - A Vote Against Taft Emerald Editor: Your Tuesday editorial about Taft tends to perpetuate a false myth that he is sincere, honest or loyal. All the evidence from Taft's record indicates to me that he is willfully lacking in any of these virtues. This most political of all figures has carefully fos tered such legends about himself as part of his unprecedented two year campaign for the presi dency. First about Taft’s “honesty” and “integrity.” The abominable record Of the 80th and 82nd Con gress has been accomplished largely under Taft’s leadership and direction. As acknowledged guide of Re publican legislative policy, Taft could have done much to restrain Senator McCarthy and could have kept him off key commit tees, but instead he aided and quietly encouraged McCarthy. Is this honesty? An honest Republican would have investigated the fradulent Maryland election and opposed seating Senator Butler, but the Senate Republicans, under Taft's leadership, hamstrung that in vestigation. Is this honesty? Finally, Taft is now trying to enter all primaries where ho thinks he’ll win, but is carefully avoiding those (including Ore gon) where he is not sure of a good showing. At the same time he has zealously lined up conven tion delegates. He is not looking to a vote of the people to nominate him, but rather to the politicians in the convention. AH the while he claims he wants the people to choose. Many have done this be fore, but Is it honest? About Taft’s “loyalty.” He has tried repeatedly to undermine General Eisenhower’s position in Europe. Even after he lost the “great debate” and the “troops to-Europe” issue was settled, he keeps bringing it up in other issues. Eisenhower is a genius with a frightfully difficult task, on whose success our safety against Communism in Europe depends, but all Taft does Is try to hamstring him. Taft has failed to show any feasible alternative policy in America's interest, which would justify scuttling Europe, so that his efforts are purely destruc tive. Is this loyalty? Under Taft’s leadership, Kc pilhlleans reduced Voice of Amer ica funds, limiting tlie most ef fective means we have for reach ing the Russian people them selves. Does he really want us to heat Communism? Taft's only loyalty I can see is to those who pay his vast expenses for the longest campaign In recent times. As to "sincerity," no man who contradicts himself so often can be sincere. The ofi’y sincere thing I can see about Taft is that he sincerely wants to be presi dent. Now-even if Taft were loyal, honest and sincere, these mythi cal qualities alone (no other vir tues are claimed for him) are not enough. Headhunters are sincere. Most mental patients are honest. Your editorial misses the main point about Taft: that he has done nothing but opportunistic criticism (which anyone can do!, and has offered absolutely noth ing constructive as an alterna tive. In my opinion, he Is a mis guided front for the most self ish elements in our society. I believe his election in this most critical year of history would be a catastrophe. You may rightfully object that some of my argument la “ail hominem.” But when the only virtues claimed for a candidate are personal ones, this kind of answer is invited. Tracy F. Caldwell Or Was It McCarthy? I unnerstan ole Prt>f. Snarf made so much dough on hjs book ‘The Evils of Capitalism’ that he’s writing a new one denouncing it.’’
