Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1955)
+ EMERALD EDITORIALS + Uninvited Guest » Do you have a date with Fire for your house dance this weekend ? Fire may be your uninvited guest if proper precautions have not been taken on the , decorations. A Eugene city ordinance requires that all dance decorations except the floor cov ering be flame proofed. The local fire de partment has requested that all basic safe ty precautions be taken and all exits cleared. And Saturday morning they'll check those decorations. Those which don’t pass the in spection may he removed. The firemen don’t want to spend Saturday evening fighting a campus equivalent of the Cocoanut Grove fire of some years ago. The fire prevention bureau has listed two formulas, one for treating papers, one for treating cloth, which may be used to fire pr6of decorations. They have also recom mended use of fireproof crepe paper. Whether their recommendations are carried out or not is up to the houses in volved. They may find themselves without decorations for their dance. At any rate, let’s hope that fire and inade quate fire precautions don’t break any dates Saturday night. —(S.R.) Just a Game? Oregon students know little and care less about the activities of student government. An informal random sample of student opinion taken by the Emerald and reported in Tuesday’s paper indicated an appalling ignorance of the affairs of student govern ment on the part of Oregon students. Worse yet. it indicated a general apathy. True, the sample was of less than 50 stu dents, but some assumptions can be drawn from it. The answers to the question, “Do you believe that University of Oregon students have an adequate voice in self-gorern . ment?” were not startling. The answers clearly showe^the existence of two schools of thought on the subject: The “cynical” group, or that which believes that student government is a game or a puppet group with no real power; and the “optimistic” group, which believes that student govern ment has the power to regulate student activities and to assist in the formulation of administrative policies which affect the students. The shocking element of the poll was that 13 persons declined to comment, presumably because of ignorance of the subject, and sev en more admitted that they did not know enough about the subject to make any com ment Under an administration as liberal as Ore gon’s, student government can be much more than ja game. Perhaps the strongest point of student government at the University of Oregon is the student-faculty committee system, whereby students have an active voice in ad ministrative matters which concern them. •Through these committees, students take an active part in the formulation of student affairs policies, exercise authority in -disci plinary matters, and take part in such activi ties as the selection of University assembly speakers. m The ASUO senate, functioning in many cases as an investigative body, has consist ently fought for important campus issues. The senate has kept the Millrace issue alive over the years, it investigated last year’s basketball “inquisition,” and it will soon review the University athletic recognition policy. The senate also sponsors, in con junction with the University, such activi ties as Dads’ day, Junior Weekend, and Homecoming. Another positive value of student govern liient is tlie role it plays in developing leader ship. .Many successful politicians got their start in student government. But in the long run. student government can he no more than the students make it. Through student government, the students can make themselves heard if they will, and through active participation in it, they can make student government one of the most . useful activities of their college careers and much more than just a game.—(J.H.) Still a Friend Few students recognized him when he appeared on campus; fewer knew him well enough to speak to him. Yet, he played a vital part in the development of the Univer sity through the last quarter century. He is William Tugman, late editor of the Eugene Register-Guard, now editor-pub lisher of the Port Umpqua Courier in Reedsport. Tugman’s .connection through the years with the University was not of such a nature that he could become well-known by the students. True, he was a visiting lecturer in journalism since 1946. but his real influence was displayed through the editorial columns of the Register-Guard. Under Tugman’s editorship, the Register Guard has been a consistent champion of the University—not so much in opposition to the claims of other educational institutions throughout the state, but rather as a vital member of the Eugene community. For Tug man w as first of all a man of the community and he realized the important part the Uni versity plays in that community. A chronological listing of the contribu * tions Tugman made toward the University . through his editorials is beyond the scope of the present writer—and perhaps this would not tell the real story of William Tugman and the University anyway. It is enough to point to his efforts during the depression to maintain the University at Eugene and his recent efforts in behalf of Millrace restoration. We’ve heard it said—since Tugman left the Register-Guard—that the University has lost a friend. We don't think so. For wher ever he goes and in whatever capacity he serves, the long-time Eugene editor will re main an active supporter of the University. We won't forget him—we're sure he won't forgetjis. A Day Like Wednesday Almost every Emerald editor, at one time or another, has probably written an editorial about the weather. So far, we've resisted the temptation. But Wednesday morning- the sun was shining too brightly, the air was too brisk and invigorating, the sky too cloudless to resist any longer (and besides there was an empty space on the edit page). An editorial on the weather was definitely in order. What is it about the weather that can so profoundly affect a student’s attitude toward classes and studying? On one of the gray, drizzling mornings that confront us so often anytime between October and April, it is almost sure torture to drag off to class. Even the most stimu lating lecturer can fail to cast a spell over the depressed class. A trip to the library through the rain becomes a dreaded excur sion. The trip up to campus and the walk over to the library is sheer pleasure. But then there is the temptation to quit it all—take off for a long drive in the country, call up a few friends to plan an out-of-season pic nic. Rain or shine—the weather is bound to affect the student’s attitude toward his stud ies. And on a day like Wednesday, studies can definitely lose out to the weather. A DAY AT THE ZOO Education Turnabout By Bob Funk Em«r*l<l Columnit* Onc*> upon a time there was'a bunch of ol’ Indiana that lived beside a'rippling branch In the Far West and spent their time drinking branch water laced with algae out of tin cans. They were actually DP Indians, having slunk west after having suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Ules or the Ptules or the Zutes or one of those tribes, they never could remember. Anyway, all they did was refill their tin cans and sit around rassling and swearing and barbe cuing people like Marcus Whit man, and col lecting uncm ploymentcom pennation. Their leader, Chief Brave ,1 y- a a-the-f i hrous-p u m a g U t, decided, after having seen a movie in San Fran cisco about what Indiana do, that his In dians should scrounge up some visible means of support. First they drilled for oil. like the Okla homa Indians, but that was too much work for a naturally, in herently, inborn, just plain cus sediy lazy tribe. At last, after everyone had about decided Hint all means of support which were visible were too much work, Chief Bravely suggested that they set up an educational institution. The tribe had not brushed frequently against education, being com posed mostly of self-made rnen; but from what little experience they had had, they knew that education was a snap, if you were on the teaching end of it. You just talked all day, and then had your evenings and summers to pretend you were doing re search. A Founding of the Educational Institution dance and branch water luau was held in the H« ap Big Medicine and Marshmallow Bonfire Circle. Everyone received honorary LLD and LLH degrees so that the catalog might pre sent the faculty as being learned (Lillian Mud-in-the-Slough. LLD, LLH, Branchwater Seminary, 1945; at Branchwater since 1945 and a long time before that, too i. The new institution was chris tened, with new tin cans full of double shots of algae, Branch water Seminary. And a few pros elyting raids on neighboring tribes drew a student body to the campus. Branchwater Seminary of fered majors in Pioneer Bar becuing, Hassling, Swearing, Pot latches, Retreat from Bo feat by Utes, Technique of be ing Movie Extras, and for the more creative, War Whoop Union (a cinch A) and War Paint Design (no grade). For some years everything went smoothly. Occasionally, the students spent too much time drinking branchwater with the faculty; but in order to alleviate this condition, a Code of Conduct was composed, which in effect made it all right for the students to do anything except the things the faculty could do. Student re action to these rules was un friendly. They had a student gov ernment, but what was it against tin' Cod* of Conduct? "Ugh," commented tin- Daily M m o k <• Signal, a student publication. "Hmmph," said the student body president incisively. “Hoowah," said several campus leaders si multaneously. Chief Bravely, who had seen another movie in Han Francisco about how the student and facul ty at some Technicolor institu tion had worked together and sung, as a finale, “It’s You Who put ihe IJ into tiio "U," decided that there ahould be more free dom for students. He put them In control of student funds, and per mitted them to choose the J’m neer Massacre Coach. The students held u forum to decide how their freedom was coming along. They convinced each other that things were t<-r rlble. Their c o m m e n t s wen printed. or rather smoked, by the daily smoke signal. Ho Chief Bravely. Who was spending a great part of his time in Han Francisco seeing movies, sent u telegram telling the faculty to go emeritus, and handing every thing over to the students, pro vided they stayed away from Han Francisco. The students took over ihe seminary and awurded them selves 1.1.Its and n few l.l.lts so they would l>e qualified to teaeh. Since there was no one to uttend BruneIt water Sem inary at this polut, the emeri tus faculty decIdi-d to go lan k to college sinee here was a good chance to get some lioita fide degrees in the courses t hey hud previously been teaching. Things somehow did not work out too well. The emeritus fac ulty. now the student body, stayed down at the branch drink ing water late at night, and slept through their 8 o'clock Sur vey of American Drumlx-ats, which was a required course. On Friday afternoon. 65 per cent of them skipped Torture Lab. They had some idiotic idea that they should be able to hire and fire the War Dance Coach, like the students at Cal did. The new faculty m-nt an emer gency smoke signal to old Chief Bravely in San Francisco, but he was seeing Cinerama for the fiftieth time and refused to an swer. ••Fellows," said the ex stu dent body president, who was now directing War Whoop Union, "teaching is no fun." "But w»e have so much free dom." someone else said. “What good Is freedom," some one else (quite a crowd had gath ered) said, "when you have it." The only time freedom is good is when yon have enough to com plain about the government with out getting scalped, and not enough to be in a position to be complained at." And so the new faculty I r.issed a resolution to hire hark the old faculty, but the old faculty, which was having a forum entitled “How Free Are We, Now Really,” was hav ing too much fun being op pressed to take up the offer. As for old Chief Bravely, he died eventually from whirling around in his theater seat in San Francisco after they invented that new kind of Spinimascope where the screen goes all uround the room. oreqon )lu, Siegcld fuminatWmVm! v*arolionnl.<!v*'l| l>“' <!«'« » »'wk during I In- n lioi.l yrar Entered „« , i Jy i'' • Publiratlune Hoard ol tlir Univertily ol (1m j-ui. •cbo«l y “r; *2 . tejiT “ ,h' » >*«*•*■«. Oregon. Sulr.erlp.loo rul»: i'< ••XZiSSZ’Zt'tF 1 ’:r'' »■•« «h.« .«.».1,. pnrtnd initialed editorial, by mewb“° “(til” ^“ilor”!'J “,l wri"»“ *,y JOE GARDNER. Editor hi \ l\. I iir inr-• M DICK LEWIS, JACKIE WAKDELL, AilocUte Editor*
