The Oregon Daily Emerald is published five days a week during the school year
except examination and vacation periods, by the Student Publications Board of the Univer
sity of Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Sub
scription rates: $5 per school year; $2 a term.
Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are those of the writer and do not pretend to
represent the opinions of the ASUO or of the University. Unsigned editorials «*re written
by the editor; initiated editorials by the associate editors.
JOE GARDNER. Editor
JEAN SANDINE, Business Manager
DICK LEWIS, JACKIE WARDELL, Associate Editors
PAUL KEEFE, Managing Editor DONNA RUN BERG, Advertising Manager
JERRY HARRELL, News Editor GORDON RICE. Sports Editor
Chief Desk Editor: Sally Ryan
Chief Makeup Editor: Sara Vahey
Feature Editor: Dorothy Her
Ass’t. Managing Editor: Anne Ritchey
Ass’t. News Editors: Mary Alice Allen,
Anne Hill, Rob Robinson »
Chief Night Editor: Valerie Hersh
Ass’t. Sports Editor: Buzz Nelson
Office Manager: Bill Mainwaring
Nat’l. Adv. Mgr.: Mary Salazar
Circulation Mgr.: Rick Hayden
Ass’t. Office Mgr.: Marjcc Harmon
Layout Manager: Dick Koe
Classified Adv.: Helen R. Johnson
Morgue Editor: Kathleen Morrison
Woman’s Page Co-editors: Sally Jo Greig,
Marcia Mauney
Is It Inconsistency?
The appearance in Monday’s Emerald of an unsigned col
umn—"The Inside" by Mr. X—probably confused many of
our readers. One of them. Wes Nelson, has taken the time
to write us concerning his doubts about the column, and we
are printing his letter in today’s paper.
The Emerald, as Nelson points out. has a policy of not
printing unsigned letters. How then, he asks, can we justify
the printing of an anonymous column? Has the Emerald
made the mistake of being “inconsistent?”
The distinction, we admit, is a fine one. The Emerald, it
is true, will net accept for publication any unsigned letters.
We will, however, withhold the name of a letter writer
if he so desires and can show sufficient reason for remaining
anonymous. This has been stated in these columns two or
three times already this year.
Ouranonymous column, “The Inside," fits iqto the category
of a “Name Withheld by Request” letter. The columnist—we
chose to call him Mr. X—asked that his name be withheld.
We felt he had sufficient justification for remaining anony
mous, and we also felt he had something in his column worth
say ing. So we ran the column.
Our readers would prefer the column labeled “by Mr. Name
Withheld by Request”—and if there are other "Inside” col
umns—we will drop the byline Mr. X. Our mistake, if any,
was in assuming our readers could discern this distinction
themselves.
Sensible Reconsideration
It is with a sense of relief that we learn the rumor that
the Oregon band would not perform at the Homecoming game
is just that, a rumor.
Not that we think non-performance of the band at Home
coming would be a major tragedy from which the University
could not recover. It would indeed be unfortunate, both for
Oregon spirit and for the band’s own public relations, if
the band were to refuse to participate in Homecoming ac
tivities.
Such ill-considered action as refusal to playr at the Home
coming game would tend to discredit the band in the eyes
of the entire student body. It would not win for the band the
understanding and respect which it deserves.
Admittedly^, the band got rough treatment at the San Jose
State game. After it had finished putting on a clever and
original half-time program, the band returned to the stands
only to be booed when they" hesitated before playing for the
San Jose rally girls. An empty beer bottle was thrown at the
band—one of the crudest displays of bad temper and poor
judgment we’ve ever witnessed.
The individual band members contribute a great deal qf
their time and energy so that we might have a band. They
practice long and hard on the half-time shows, and anyone
who thinks it’s fun to slosh through wet fields in endless
formations is sadly mistaken. Serious thought and careful
planning goes into the staging of the half-time programs
like the one last Saturday, which showed considerably
more originality than most bands would dare to employ.
Nevertheless, the move—supported, we understand, by
some band members—to discontinue half-time shows because
of last Saturday’s mistreatment was a display of poor spirit
and bad judgment. No group should be so sensitive to criticism
that it .will sit down and die the first time something unpleas
ant is said about it. If that were the case, the ASUO senate
long ago would have ceased to function, tire rally squad to
lead yells and the Emerald to publish.
We’re glad the band has sensibly reconsidered the move to
stop presenting half-time shows. The men and women of the
band have demonstrated that they can weather criticism and
forgive insults. It is now up to the student body to give them
the support and consideration they deserve.
-A DAY AT THE ZOO—
'Daily Diatribe Editor Abandons
Principles for Collarface Column
Once upon a time in a land
somewhat southwest of Prob
mountains of Utterly Ridiculous,
a state legislature had. in a
moment of wild abandon, char
tered an institution of higher
learning.
This institution was perhaps
just a little out of the ordinary
ability, and
of the
I In that -It was
attended entire
y by mungees
;s, the mungi
3st of which
were the ones
editing the Dai
ly Diatribe, a
tabloid - type
student paper
printed on pow
der blue lunch
eon napkins.
mere was an editor mungeese.
who had a desk and frowned
into a typewriter; there was a
vice-editor mungeese, a lady,
who also had a desk and who
looked into a typewriter and
said chirp chirp 1 which was un
usual for a mungeese, because
you know what kind of a noise
they usually make); and there
was a sub-vice-editor mungeese,
who also had a desk, and who
looked into a typewriter and said
Arf. That was more like the
kind of a noise that a mungeese
was supposed to make. And there
was this other extremely super
ior-type mungeese who kept
•writing about some zoo (which
was rather odd, because there
were no zoos within miles, not
even a service station with a
cobra pit or a Show-the-Kiddies
the Real-Buffalo).
The Daily Diatribe was a
very- high-type literary enter
prise, and the editor and the
vice-editor and the subviee
editor set large stacks of it
in tasteful arrangements about
the campus just In ease any
body happened to want to read
it; or was eating lunch with
out a napkin; or had a runny
nose.
Of course, there were Journal
istic Responsibilities connected
with putting out the paper, even
if you were just a bunch of
mungeese. Responsibility num
ber one was PRINTING THE
TRUTH BECAUSE THE PRESS
IS FREE. This meant printing
the names of campus mungeeses
caught contributing to the de
linquency of one another with
bottles of beer; this was the
most handy type of journalistic
truth lying around.
Another Responsibility was
SOLICITING LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR SO THAT BOTH
SIDES CAN BE HEARD. Of
course, allowing the other side
to be heard necessitates having
a first side that is heard first,
and this side was supplied by a
column of editorials about
sprinklers and heat in the li
brary. Soliciting letters was very
difficult, because mungeeses
were not particularly outspoken
or crusaderish; or at least they
had a peculiar aversion to being
so in print—they said it gave
them hives. It did not give them
hives quite so much if they didn't
have to sign their names; but
the editor and Chirp and Arf
insisted upon Brave Identifica
tion, so letter-writers had to
sign their names.
Every afternoon the editor
frowned, the vice-editor chirp
ed, and the sub-vice-editor
arfed, and everyone typed fur
iously. The result was more
blue napkins which Chirp
sprinkled with One Mad Night,
which was a bottle of toilet
water.
One day, in the midst of all
this tweeting and arfing and
everything, someone with an up
turned collar for a face came in
and offered to write a sure-fire
column which would elicit an
unprecedented number of letters
to-the-editor. Chirp chirped and
Arf arfed and the editor showed
this new person (who was also
a mungeese — everybody was
around there) over to a fast
typewriter and put his hands in
position.
“Do I have to sign this?" said
Collarface.
“Nhw,” said the editor, "only
the people who want to express
opinions different from ours
have to sign." Which was not
exactly true: because Chirp had
trt sign, and Arf had to sign; and
the Zoo person had to sign, which
on some days involved the use
of an heroic amount of nerve.
Now on this same day an tip
(Mmitlon munK<'c*e wrote it let
tor-to-the-editor. The editor
took time oft from reading on
EXCERPTION of nn address
by O. MEItEIHES WII.SON,
and wrote a scathing editorial
alNtut the uboinlnaltle spelling
In the leter, the venom of
which won only partlully dls
(Continued from f’di/e .tix)
Letters to the Editor
ai
Tradition Evaluated
Emerald Editor:
‘'Seems a tradition has died
at Oregon. More and more fel
lows arc bringing dates to
games (especially in Portland),
and the crowd very rarely lets
out he old razz ‘Pigger.’ Fail
ure to segregate men and
women’s sections at games is
probably tq be blamed."
Taking this Item by degrees,
we see that a very sorrowful
thing is coming to puss; a tra
dition is In tlx- process of dy
ing. Katber than lament the
death, would It not be better
to determine first whether the
death is so painful as it Is
made to seem?
"More and more fellows are
bringing dates to games. “In
other words, people are no
longer afraid to do what is
natural though hysterical tra
ditionists do not approve. Not
withstanding the possibility
that college society is made up
of homosexuals, we should
think It quite natural for fel
lows to take GIKl-S to games.
“...(especially in Portland)
...” With one social.exception,
mixed company should be much
more pleasant than segregated
parties. When there is a lapse
of ‘dead’ time, such as the time
needed to travel between Eu
gene and Portland, the atmos
phere is considerably bright
ened by the presence of the
opposite sex.
“... the crowd very rarely
lets out the old razz ‘Pigger.’
Supposing tills is hieant to in
cite the crowd to resumption
of their social duties; to feel
like naughty delinquents of
tradition, we would like to
know who, and by what righl,
they determine the responsibil
ity of crowds to voire aceept
anre or disapproval of individ
ual actions of this nature!
We would also like to know;
do the traditionists believe
tradition to be made for peo
ple? or people made for tradi
tion?
Is there some divine knowl
edge of right or wrong to
which the ‘we’ of Mr. X's col
umn have privileged access to!
How do they presume to
deify themselves and dictate to
the populace from their anony
mous throne!
“Faiiure to segregate men
and women’s sections at games
in probably to bo blamed.” Tbits
Implied Notation was enough to
make any self-respecting indi
vidual suffer mortal indigna
tion. Even segregation in the
classroom would seem much
more natural or justifiable
than segregation at a public
athletic contest.
Such drastic violations of in
dividuals’ freedom are sugges
tive of monarchial societies to
which the founding fathers of
our constitution were so vio
lently opposed.
We would like very much to
hear both sides of this ques
tion more fully expounded in
the pages of the Emerald. We
are veterans and this is our
first year at Oregon so any
deficiency in our general
knowledge of campus protocol
is understandable.
Billy W. Hardin
Dean R. Mainline
Cloak of Anonymity
Emerald Editor:
Mr. X tells me today that
we shouldn't walk across the
Seal. Mr. X tells me that the *
band isn't quite a* CO-opera
tive an he would like. Mr. X
tells me that the Skull ami
Dagger hua made the oversight
of not consulting him about its
selection of members.
Mi. Emerald Editor tells me
that when I write him, I must
sign my letter with my actual 1
legal name at the bottom, so
that It can be checked up on.
Mr. Emerald Editor wants no 1
opinion published In the letters *
department unless someone
eau be held responsible for
them.
I quote from the Oregon
Daily Emerald, Friday, Oct.
22. 19M, I’g. 2. Flea si- Sign
Them:
"However, we feel that a
'r.ame-withheld-by request’ let- i
ter carries very little weight.
Opinions are only as good as
those who hold them.1'
But no! You aee, this sinister
voice tells us. directly under a
sinister picture, that we’d bet- i
ter keep off the Seal, and that
Skull and Dagger had darn
well better clean Its house and
be careful from now on. and
the hand had dam well belter
see to It that more considera- *
tion is shown next time. s*e,
cause I don't like it one bit.
This is probably not the im
pression meant by Mr. X, but
one cannot help receiving that
impression when the cloak of
anonymity is so used.
Mr. Editor, Hi1* ambiguity
hasn't helped you any, I hope
that you will take a stand on
this subject; either to allow
unsigned letters and editorials;
or to recognize neither. This Is
a. small decision to make, in
fact the issue which I bring
up is at most a trifling matter.
But I think that making a de
cision in favor of u policy of
unsigned articles will make
the Dully Emerald a better
paper.
And, of course, a paper can J
lie made or broken only by its *
editor and lilt policy.
Wasn't It that great Greek,
Esophagus, who said “We are
all either men or monkeys, and ^
the decision lies entirely within
ourselves.”
Sincerely,
Wes Nelson
(Editors note: See editorial ‘
column, page '£.
Case Closed, P. S. t
Emerald Kill tor:
John Jensen's letter in Wed
nesday's Emerald not only
amounted t.o a gross misrepre
sentation of facts but is also 1
widely considered one of the
most ridiculous letters ever '
written in the Emerald. Those
of us who have known Bob
Summers and -his record imme
diately concede that for Bob
to mimic anyone would be ut
terly ridicu’o 's and in Jensen's
case impossible.
Upon learning of the case of
the lost story in the Theta Chi
house, many members frantic
ally searched to uncover what
in Jensen’s mind was the scoop
of the century. In our minds
we know it could only have
existed in Jensen’s mind.
Yours truly,
Gary L. Jones
President
Theta Chi