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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1958)
Daily IEMERALD End of the Trend? On the surface, at least, the controversial “dry zone’ issue has been resolved for a while with the approval by the Eugene city council of three package beer licenses from grocers within the now-illegal zone. The lack of action by the joint city coun cil-University committee, set up at Mayor J. J. McGinty’s request, may have signi fied the beginning of the end of the “dry zone” principle. The three new package beer outlets—if the licenses are, as is expected, approved by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission— are not expected to have much effect on the amount of beer consumed by Univer sity students. Consequently, it is highly doubtful if such a drastic step as asking the legislature for a legal "dry zone" will be \aken by the University until further infringement of the present zone area appears to pose a real threat to the University. The idea that beer nearby should not be considered a “threat" to an enlightened, ma ture University community is doubtless valid. Unfortunately, we do not possess, on the whole as yet, such a communitv. Certainly the University must never ap pear to be encouraging or supporting the abolition of the dry zone principle—if for no other reason than for public relations. The present situation, with the granting of licenses, is not, we hope, indicative of a trend which will end with tap beer on the borders of the campus. BISFEA Needed Has curiosity died out at Oregon? Can someone tell us what has become of the narrow-eyed individuals who used to be on campus, seeking out and challeng ing unexplained events, pestering Physical Plant employees about their solemn and often puzzling tasks, and reading disturb ing meaning into every laconic announce ment from Student Affairs? These were the hardy individuals who surmised that the Oriental Art Museum doesn’t have windows because its archi tect was blind; who suggested, every time a campus tree was pruned or cut down, that certain prominent faculty members needed fireplace wood. Included also were those intrepid explorers whose inquisitive* ness led them to trace out the maze of heat ing and utilities tunnels which underlie the whole University. An oblong, heavy wooden box carried to the biology department by University employees became a coffin en closing a freshly-dug cadaver, etc. Their basic spirit was that which prompt ed the “Whispering Greek” of last vear, Bob hunk’s “A Day at the Zoo” series and similar efforts. An insatiable curiosity dominated those University students—to every untoward thing that appeared on campus, they first asked themselves “Why”, and then set about answering their own questions. We suppose this sort of thing possesses the “Sidewalk Superintendents” who flock to big construction-sites, to stand transfixed on the sidelines, watching the heavy equip ment with one eye and making wild spec ulations with the other. * In place of this condition, there seems to be a general apathy, a lack of wonder among today’s Oregon student body. Nobody ap- - pears to be really concerned over the long, deep trench being dug by University la borers on the west side of Johnson Hall or that obnoxious odor which permeates the Audio-Visual film studios. As a partial remedy for this deplorable situation, we propose tlie following: A Hoard for Investigation into Strange Fix tures and Extraordinary Activities on the Oregon Campus, to he abbreviated “BIS 1'EA”. Members of this board will he selected from that curious group (if any representatives are left) who would rather observe campus doings and make specula tions about them than endure the mundane truth. Furthermore, we suggest this partial pro gram of investigation: 1) What is the significance of the little fence of iron arrows which border the roofs of Deady and Villard? B) What goes on in the gargets at either end of the top floor of Deady—there are windows but no doors. 2) Why was the Primate Lab moved from the quonset south of Deady, and where is it now? Why ‘were oddly human cries sometimes heard there? 3) What i» underneath Friendly Hall? 4. \\ by are there so many dark, uni dentified. locked rooms in the Library? Make your own surmises, for practice. Our Oontem, \p or dries Two-level System of Higher Education Needed (The following editorial is re printed from the Christian Sci ence Monitor, Jan. 23, 1958.) Colleges in America are ma jor pillars supporting the ad vance of knowledge—hence na tional survival in an age of breath-taking change. Colleges also are being taxed beyond ca pacity by the demand of young America for a campus experi ence. Yet not everyone knocking at the gates is deeply dedicated to advancing knowledge or suf ficiently prepared to undertake it. If the burden of these latter were lessened, colleges would have more room, facilities, fac ulties, and money to devote to fruitful instruction and discov ery. If this were all there were to it the answer, in theory at least, would be simple: Elevate en trance requirements so as to screen out all but the intellec tually able and concentrate the faculties qualified to teach them, the libraries, and the laboratories in a relatively few institutions. Such a revolution (and it would be just that) would not oe without meritorious by-prod JCts. It would erase, for in stance, the stadium-annex col ege with its battalion of re cruited gridiron warrior*. But that is not all there is :o it. College in America has become an integral part of its social pattern. Granting the emptiness of unearned “pres :ige,” even an abbreviated col ege is something millions of r'oung Americans expect and nillions more hope for. And :heir contact, at least, with scholarship, and citizenship in a society of their contemporaries ire not to be laughed at. How to supply these social values without diluting or starv ng the intellectual? And how :o do this, as Americans will nsist, at their own state, home -own, and denominational insti cutions ? The most promising answer ippears to lie in further exten sion of the general or junior college idea. This recognizes chat millions of young people can benefit from at least two years beyond high school taught by competent teachers, not necessarily profound scholars or researchers. Others who can and wish to pass through fine mesh academic screen can, instead, be put on the track of “honors” courses, then in “senior,” as distinct from gen eral colleges, and in graduate schools devote themselves to the more exhaustive and exacting studies. An evolutionary, not a revo lutionary approach and one al ready in operation in many places. Perhaps it needs only to be extended and applied more stringently. * * * (ACP)—Pulitzer prize poet Mar ianne Moore, at a San Fran cisco press conference, was quoted by the Daily Californian on the subject of censorship: “No,” she said, “I don’t be lieve in censoring. We can’t be sure what to censor and once yiu start it’s like a prairie fire. The most obscene poetry will die quickly if it’s simply left alone.” Edffiir E;mc*r "It appeal to me only ON£ of you took the TROUBLE TO VO THE OUTSIPE ASSIGNMENT LA^T NlTE’/'"' jU WiL Aon ‘Toiling Bodies Help Little To Solve IFC s Problems Saturday's aun will rise and fall on the toiling bodies of Ore gon fraternity men. An all-day car-wash tor the March of Dimes will tear them away from in tramural ban ket ball practice and the library. There may be several reasons for the labor they will per form Saturday. A few of them may happen to L.IKK washing cars. Some may feel they are contributing to a worthwhile cause (one that ban suffered Hinee the introduction of the Salk vaccine). Others may think they’re earning; pub lic relations for their fraterni ties. And still others will in scrubbing those sidewalls be cause an upperclassman is standing behind them, taking notes. But the real reason, I think, and the reason for Greek Week clean-ups, Halloween parties and “Help Week” activities. Is a desire on the part of fraternity leaders to justify the existence of their organizations to a sup posedly hostile community. Which leads us to a logical question: Why docs one segment of the campua feel it must justify itself to the other seg ments and to the rest of The world ? As a Greek, I feel I have a right to know what it is we’ve done that calls for this eternal penitence. It will be argued that IFC is embarking on this car-washing project strictly for charity’s sake. It’s hard indeed to ques tion such an evidently worth while motive. But fraternity men, along with the rest of the campus, contribute to all the charity drives which (in spite of - the United Fund) come along several times a year. And during Greek Week and “Help Week” their pledges give to the community more free labor than It can use. Fraternities have done their part for charity. Why then should they be required to give more than their share in proj ects such as the one which comes up this Saturday and the others which may follow? The answer is simple. Fraternities, constantly worried about their reputation*, feel they need the favorable publicity which *uch project* will bring. They're failing to go to the root of the problem Bad pub licity (which the public remem ber* much longer than it docs good publicity) result* from two major problem* with which fra ternity leader* are trying to cope One problem 1» drinking; the other i* dl*crimination. It ne>ms to me, al*o, that fraternity men overentimate the Impact of thcae problem* on the community. Drinking has been a problem In college life ever since the concept of edurution for every one become a reality in Amer ica. Higher education has come to include worldly education ns well as scholastic education. \ certain amount of drinking is —and has Iwen for many v ears —going to take place. A couple of publicized drinking incidents do not lower the fraternity sys tem's esteem ns much as its leaders think. Disci iminaticn i* Blowly but nurely going out of the frater nity system. It geta little pub licity, but it need* none. And Ihooe who believe that fraterni ties are hot-bed* of racial and religious prejudice are not going to be swayed from their convic tions by any amount of car washing or kiddie-entertaining. Only by going to the heart of both problems and by trying to eliminate them — as is Iveing done by a few fraternities—can the fraternity system end any had feeling that exists in the community. Charituble projects and the resulting public relations are well and good but they’re only stop-gap measures that fall short of solving IFC's public re lations problem. OREGON' DAILY EMERAIJ) The Oregon Daily Emerald it published four times in September and five day* a week during the school year, except dm in# examination and vacation periods, by the Student Publication* Hoard of the T’nr cr »ity of Oregon. Entered a* second c ant matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon, Subscription rates: $5 per year, $2 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial \ age are those of The Emerald and do not ore tend to represent the opinion of the ASUO or the University. ALLEN JOHNSON, Editor CARY CAPPS, Business Manager WILLIAM COOK, Editorial Page Editor PHIL HAGER, Managing Editor GLEN GRAVES, Advertising Mgr.
