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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1961)
The Anonymous Letter Anonymous letter writers are usually cowards, but even more important, they are generally misinformed. The Emerald re ceived an especially vicious letter in the Saturday mail. It concerned one of the Uni versity’s less prominent administrators. We refuse to discuss the exact nature of the let ter, but suffice it to say that the letter at tacked the man on grounds of incompetence and even criminality. Nothing could be farther from the truth. THE LETTER finally catalyzed a sense of distress that we have felt while reading recent letters to the editor. The let ters, in part, have made excellent points, but phrases like “the iron-fist policy of the ad ministration” and the over-all condemna tion of the ASUO Senate strike us as being gross over-simplifications. The Senate’s primary function is to serve as a lobby group for its constituency—the students of the University of Oregon. This lobbying may be done with the Legislature, with the State Board of Higher Education, with a dean or department head; or it may take no more substantial form than discus sion which is reported in the Emerald. IT MAY NOT SHOW on the surface. Lobbying is a matter of first recognizing student opinion and then presenting a per suasive argument to “the powers that be.” Much of this cannot be measured. But this does not mean that the Emerald has been overly sympathetic with the Sen ate. Far from it. While we have been quite pleased to see many new ideas spring up, we also regret that the Senate has been slow in reaching decisions. If the Senate does not make rapid judgments, it soon finds itself discussing projects which “the powers that be” have already considered and decided upon. This is our objection, not some slogan like “the Senate is the pawn of the administration.” THE CATEGORICAL grouping, “t h e administration,” seems to be another com mon over-simplification. In the last analy sis, the University administration is one man—Acting President W. C. Jones. Under him spreads a very thin hierarchy of men who must make administrative decisions about University financing, student welfare and conduct, dormitories, dining facilities, etc. Each of these men is an individual. Each of these men, in his individual way, is dedicated to students and the University. But they can make mistakes. They may he caught in a web of habitual practice. They may forget to explain their actions to the student body. THESE ARE AREAS in which the stu dent must be alert. Students should con stantly demand information from the vari ous administrators land be prepared with persuasive arguments if decisions appear unjust.) It is one thing for a semi-literate coward to make criminally libelous statements about an administrator who is trying to do the best job he can. But it is by far another for a serious student with a serious com plaint to use catch words and halt-thought out slogans. W e expect this sort of thing from the coward. But we expect the serious student to research his position before fly ing off the handle in some gross generaliza tion. Keep Off! Anyone who has been at the University more than a week should know that if one pedals his bicycle across the grass, the grass will get all rutty and ugly. AT SOME metropolitan colleges there isn’t much grass. But we have grass at the University. We are proud of it. It looks nice. Don’t pedal your bicycle on our grass. If this sounds like a high school editorial, don’t be disturbed. It’s aimed at a high school mentality. Footnotes Dry zone, hah! We’re lucky if we can get to classes without swim fins. * * * * According to a radically informal poll, the new dixie cups the SU slops our Cokes into are pretty popular. At first we thought it was just some stunt to impress the high school kids down for the festivities. But we’re glad to see that the new green cups will be with us for a while. And for you economy minded students, they hold the same amount of Coke (or anything else, come to think of it) as the old ones did. JJ Wal tar Movies Better Than Ever; Adultery Funnier Than Ever (Once a year the Emerald holds its annual awards ban quet. And I don't think I ran make a less controvershU state ment than that. And at this lianquet are given some seri ous and some humorous awards. One of the humorous awards Is the Miss Purity Award for the cleanest mind on the Emerald. Currently leading In competition tor this uwurd Is an editor who. In one regrettable slip of the tongue, admitted that he opposes sexual Indul gence before marriage. Most people would sooner watch their grandmothers hang than make such a damning admis sion ; and. Indeed, this poor careless fellow apologized pro fusely for his startling breach of etiquette. But although his apologies were accepted, he Is still the top contender for the Miss Purity Award. With this column, unfortunately, 1 prob ably place myself In the next closest competition for the hu miliating honor.—Author) Back in the good old days when nickel candy bars were only a dime, a comedy was not fun ny unless at least three charac ters were hit in the fact with a custard pie. Nowadays, how ever, we are all sophisticated and worldly. In fact, the whole society is avant garde. We don't laugh at comedies any more. We smile at them. And now we find ourselves smiling at adultery and or propensity to same. Oil THERE are other sub jects for comedy, of course. In "Tunnel of Love” the viewer was treated to the hilarious spectacle of a couple who could not have the children they want ed; in "Imitation General'' there was a riotous sequence in which Glenn Ford and Red But tons killed four Germans in a machine gun nest; in "The Gazebo" murder was the pri mary humorous element. But childless couples, war. and mur der aren’t funny any more. A comedy just isn’t a comedy un less some poor slob gets cuck olded. Now any fool can plainly see the immense potential for com edy in adultery. For example, think of the scene where the husband discovers his wife's in fidelity. A good comic actor can turn this into a maelstrom of mirth just by facial expan sion alone. Or think of the scene wherein the would-be adulter er can't remember which mo tel his girl promised to meet him. He drives nil over town trying to find the right motel. Then, when the wife gets homo late, she tells her husband she was Just out buying groceries, and the audience explodes with laughter at the befuddled ex pression on the cuckold's face. ACTUALLY, these movies have a subtle value for some members of the audience. For instance, a fellow and girl who are pinned or a newly-married couple can view these movies and learn through laughter that infidelity is not really so bad as some would paint it. They can. in this way. have a much healthier attitude when they learn of it first-hand, and they will be able to cope with the situation more realistically than they otherwise would. Aft er all. Dr. Kinsey put the oc currence of infidelity in Amer ican marriage at around 50 per cent of all marriages, which is pretty funny in lt»elf. Any spouse who expects 100 per cent fidelity from his or her part ner is a kind of laughable fool anyway but In a nice home spun way. So contemporary movies can serve ns a valuable educational aid to these naive idealists. And certainly, edu cation is a "good thing." But after a while, of course, the public will tire of infidelity as a comedy subject, and new worlds of humor will have to be explored. AMI I HAVE just the thing. I'm working' on a comedy script right now. The story is set in the polio ward of a metropoli tan hospital. One humorus as ject can be seen right away by the perceptive viewer with a keen sense of humor, and that (Continued on page 3) OREGON DAILY KMKKAI.il The Oregon Daily Emerald ii published lour time* in September and live day* a week dumng the school year, except dur ing examination and vacation period*, by the Student Publication* Board ot the University of Oregon. Entered a* second claim matter at the po*t office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rate*: |5 per year, $2 per term. Opinion* exprr**eri on the editorial page are those of The Kmetald and do not pre tend to represent the opinion of the ASUO or the University. JIM BOVD, Editor STEVE MILLIKIN, Hu.me*. Manager Little Man On Campus I »‘ mip-iwimt m § * *0H, I THINK. fiOlNQ TO COLLEGE IS QREAT—W PADCA/HE UP LA^T WEEK AM 6AIP IF I SiPtt' 1'P HAVE 1J? TAKE 60/HE COVg$&*
