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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1954)
Oregon Daily •EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald if published Monday through Friday during the college yeat from Sept. 15 to June 3, except Nov. 16, 25 through 30, Dec. 7 through 9, 11 through Jan. 4 March 8 through 10, 13 through 29, May 3, and 31 through June 2, with issues on Not. 21, Jan. 23, and May 8, by the Student Publications Board of the University of Oregon. En tered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: $5 per school year; $2 per term. , A Great Newspaperman We got into one of those bull sessions over a cup of coffee "Wednesday and during the conversation someone asked us why ■\ve were in journalism. He wanted to know what we thought we were getting out of our journalism courses, out of our college courses in general and what we expected to do with journalism. Today people from throughout the state of Oregon who are "doing something with journalism’’ are on campus. The annual Oregon Press Conference is in session and this afternoon these active newspapermen will hear the eighth annual Eric W. Allen Memorial Lecture. Eric W. Allen taught many of these men. His memory, his ideas are still teaching journalists here. He was a great newspaperman. Palmer Hoyt, publisher of the Denver Post—an example of what can he done with journalism by a graduate of Oregon—, once called Allen a "practical philo sopher.” Practical philosophy is a good description of this business of journalism, Most newspapermen we know are philosophers— they dream, they think, thew imagine—but they’re practical. You have to be in this business, because it is a business. Somehow the ideals, the philosophy must be combined with the cold, hard, business facts and the sometimes unpleasant gath ering of the news. It’s a newspaper’s job to report the facts, the truth—and that’s often an unpleasant and difficult job. If you can’t do that job, ^•ou’d better get out, a newspaperman of many years experience 'pnce warned us. Eric Allen felt his students needed a broad education before *ehy tackled the job. He recognized the value of having "some thing to write about” as well as a technical knowledge of journal ism techniques. At the time of his death a Eugene Register-Guard editorial said “he displayed an insatiable curiosity about the world we live in and this is what he transmitted to his neophytes in journalism.” The Allen Memorial fund was set up by the Oregon News paper Publisher's association as a tribute to this man—a "living tribute” because that’s what Eric Allen would have wanted. What are we getting out of our college courses? We hope xve’re learning "something to write about,” we hope we’re learn ing how to tackle that job of transmitting the news. We think it’s important. Eric Allen thought so too.—(J.W.) Which Way Will They Go? We’ve been thinking over a few of the statements made by John Badeau, president of the Near East foundation, during his campus appearance here Thursday. There’s one trend he emphasized that we'd like to mull over for a few paragraphs. The countries of the Near East seem to be striving to achieve “neutrality” in the current world friction, rather than taking sides with East or West. We’ve watched that happen with Nehru in India. He’s strad dling the fence between the Soviet and the free world. Which way is he going to jump? If Egypt, the Near East countries and the African states are working to form a neutral ‘Afrasian’ bloc in world affairs, just where dbes that leave the U.S. and the rest of the free world? Are the “backward” nations of the world blind to the advant ages of the freedoms of the western world ? Can they possibly be lieve they can ignore the friction between East and Wst? Is neu trality possible in a world torn by two incompatible idealogies? The questions are endless. The answers, unfortunately, are Tiarder to come by. We don’t think it’s a question of which side the middle-of the-road nations favor, They need neutrality and they need peace to develop their own national governments, educational systems, economies and culture. We don’t think these nations are pro-western. They are still ■too busy reaping the harvest of western imperialism to accept western propaganda at face value. But they aren’t pro-communist either. Possibly, if and when a <choice is forced on this neutrality bloc, these countries will go with the west. Independence, freedom, humanity are after all the goals Asia and Africa are seeking. Since World War II, national problems have ocupied the neutral bloc. They’re working to erase that “backward” label. Their aim seems to be to rise out of the colonial state. * That seems more important than existing world tensions in 1954. It should be equally important to nations of the western world. If they can solve their own problems, our battle against -communism is more than half won. It’s an awfully big ‘if’. We only sincerely hope they never have to jump either way to make a cold war hot. -A Day at the Zoo Bulwark of Western Reaction Dies by Subversive Hand by Bob Funk Emerald Columnist “Even the daintiest flower has its roots in some dirt." —from Pessisiniism’s Gamebook Who knows what evil dwells in the hearts of men. Surely Thelga Slum, Professor of Mod ern Fables, did not know. She, for that matter, did not particu larly care. She was thinking about other things. Perhaps the reader will be disappointed to learn that "other things” in this case meant a poem which Thelga was writing. (“My aching heart,” the poem went, "doth raise this question; Can this he love, or indi gestion?” And then some more.) MIhs | (and it WAS | MISS Slurm; " terribly, definitely, hoprlmiy MISS Slumi) was writing; the poem to read at the annual Con fessions Dinner of the I'niversit ty Reactionary League, of which she was a member. It was gen erally known ground campus that AIlss Slurm was the very bul wark of reaction west of the Mississippi. She had gone out and gotten drunk the night Taft didn’t be come Republican nominee. She had been arrested for illegally voting for McCarthy in Wiscon sin. She had never wore red; al ways white and blue. She had stock in American Tel. & Tel. Miss Slurm entered Amiable Hall, her poem wandering through her head. It was late afternoon, and she thought she would just go up to her office and — WHOOMPHRTJMPLES CRUMPN!! Something heavy hit Miss Slurm from above; her head was severed from her body. It ricocheted off a drinking foun tain and landed at the foot of the stairs, quite dead. Somewhere above, someone ran away from the stairwell, and a door slam med. There was no sound but the drip, drip, dripping of blood. “SLURM DECAPITATED BY FALLING SHAKESPEARE VARIORUM,” the University Daily Birthstone said by way of a headline. And below' this: “Booth Truth, President of the Reactionary League, stated last night 'that he believed Miss Slurm’s death was a direct re sult of ‘subversive activity.’ ” And below this there W'as a head line which said “Dance Sched uled, Set for Mon.”, but that was irrelevant. Ignace Rongsister and Janet Planet, student body president and campus beauty queen, re spectively, were sitting in the student union, reading the Birth stone. "Subversive, eh,” said Rongsister. “I must remember to put this on the Senate Agenda." “Yeah,” said Janet Planet, who was hoping that he would Dean E. L. Johnson Returns From LA E. L. Johnson, dean of the col lege of liberal arts, returned from Los Angeles this week where he was serving on a Ford Foundation selection committee. Purpose of the meeting was to review teachers from colleges and universities of the Western states, Alaska and Hawaii as possible candidates for awards from the “Fund for the Advancement of Education,” which is subsidized by the foundation. The recipient of such an award will receive a full year’s salary and be allowed to travel or study to improve his teaching. buy her a hamburger. "Rut thul ol’ daddy hunger is ngnowin’ or my innards." Rongsistcr offered her a life saver, and she accepted and crunched thoughtfully, .lust ther a sinuous dark woman entered dressed in a red dress. She war wearing a veil, and there was 11 knife clutched in her teeth. She hipped her way across the room and seated herself betweor Rongsiater and Janet Planet "My name is Ignace Rongsiater student body president," said Ig nace Rongsiater (rather nervous ly; he was not used to womer in red). "My name's Janet Planet,’ said Janet nasally, "and that ol daddy hunger is agnawin' on mj Innards, still." “And MV name," said th< Woman in Red "is Alice Malice Communist Spy."And the waj she said It with the knife betwecr her teeth made them shiver Something, they felt, was in the Wind. (Next week: Was Shakespeare a Communist? The Pioneci Father and Mother a Frustra ted Romance; Alice Malice Forms a Cell.) Billiard Tourney Begins Tuesday The three highest scoring Indi viduals In each event of the Inter collegiate billiards tournament will receive an expense-paid trip cart to determine the college Individual champlona, Jack Soeotufsky, chair man of the tourney, has announced. Scheduled to start on campur Tuesday, the tournament will con tinue through March 10. Oregon placed third nationally in last year's tournament. The tourney will Is? held In the Student Union under the direction of I-ouis Belllstmo, recreational director. Scores will be forwarded to Chicago for compailson. The Billiards Congress of America and the Association of College Unions sponsor the matches. Applicants Wanted By Geophysics Co. Representatives of United Geo physical Company. Inc., M. \V Harding and Flint Agee, will? he on campus Friday to interview 1 possible applicants for work in i their field.and to talk with any faculty members and students at all levels who may be Interested. There Is a strong demand for men with a combination of geo logy. physics and mathematics, ! according to the firm representa tives. Appointments for interviews i can bo made at the graduate placement office, Emerald 206. A meeting for Interested persons has been arranged for Friday at 2 p. m. In Commonwealth 102. Education Forms Spectrum Of Mankind's Knowledge by Eric Allen, Jr. ( (Kd. Note: This article is reprinted from Allen's column in the Medford Mail-Tribune. Kric Allen. Jr. is city editor of the Mail Tribune and is now on leave as the Kric Allen fellow at the University journalism school. He is the son of the late Kric Allen, founder and dean of the journalism school from 1912 un til his death in 1944. We think Allen's "spectrum of knowledge” is something every college student might well ponder.) When one looks at a university or college catalogue, it’s easy to think of "education" as being a whole group of separate compart ments of knowledge. Too much, I think, this “compartmentaliza tion" has dominated our thinking when we regard the process of education. More and more I am coming around to the conviction that know^j ledge is knowledge, and has been brokn into parts (schools and de partments) simply for the sake of manageability. Education is not a bunch of separate subjects, but a spectrum or circle. For the fun of it the other day, I tried to diagram this circle and to fit each “compartment” lifto Us proper relative place. It came out something like this: Starting with mathematics at the top, it moves to philosophy, re ligion, literature, music, art, architecture, applied technological an<^ vocational studies, economics, political science, law, history, lanp* uages, education, sociology, anthropology, psychology, physical efi_ ' cation, medicine, biology, chemistry, geology, physics and back to mathematics. This is, of course, a purely arbitrary arrangement, but it seems to furnish a coherent whole. In looking at the circle, I was suddenly impressed with the fact that each had to be related to mankind, or else it had no meaning. So I stuck “man" right in the middle of the circle, as equally related to each "compartment." If I were 'to be asked where journalism fits In, I’d have to place it In the middle of the circle too, for this business of mass com munications is related to all the activities of mankind. It’s true that it concentrates on some more than others, but none of these 1 “arts or sciences” is without application to news work, for none is without application to man and his activities. At one time in history, notably during the Renaissance, a few of the so-called “universal men" like Leonardo da Vinci, were able to Lake the whole circle of knowledge as their field. Eeven these men/ giant figures that they were, could no longer do the same, for each "specialty’ has become so complicated, so involved, that no one per son could be expert in more than one, or two, or perhaps three of the ^ arbitrary divisions of knowledge. t In this country only two men I know about have come anywhere to ? being a “universal man.” These were Thomas Jefferson (who un- i doubtedy has his “blind spots" too) and Benjamin Franklin, who J was equally at home in electric science, philosophy or diplomacy, j or in establishing a fire department. Others have approached this ideal, hut few have had the sheer brainpower and concentration to become true “universal men.” One who came as close as anyone in this century, It would appear, was | the late John Maynard Keynes, the British economist, whose range of knowledge and activity was staggering when compared 'to that of the average person. 4M Perhaps it’s pointless to think about these abstractions, yet such ' pondering does perhaps result in a better understanding of what ' makes men tick, why they act the way they do, why in the last 20 ^ or 30 centuries thq,t man has developed into a being who has the « capability of governing himself, or splitting the atom, or killing other A men wholesale. ^ Man is a dangerous, fascinating, inspiring study. And he’s still got a long way to go. ^