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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1961)
Not at Thanksgiving Thanksgiving vacation and Homecoming on the same weekend? Ridiculous. It must be a nasty rumor started by some crank. Everyone knows Thanksgiving is only a slightly better time than Christmas vaca tion. Why, if Homecoming were at Thanks giving, students would have to return from vacation early, if indeed, in some cases, they could go anywhere at all. Since freshmen could not live in the dorms over the vaca tion, they would have to live in motels (for bidden by University regulations) and the University surely wouldn't want that. ANOTHER reason we're so sure Home coming won’t be at Thanksgiving is that the two people most directly in charge of Homecoming, acting alumni director Bill Landers and Soph class president Dennis Lynch, have both agreed that this is not the best time. The people who are spreading this terrible rumor say that Thanksgiving was chosen because it is at that date that we play OSC, or OSU, as the case may be. The only alternative to that is the San Jose State game Oct. 21, which, rumor says, the committee felt fould not be a big enough drawing card for alums to make the trip. THE THEORY, supposedly, is that Homecoming is an alumni show, and that students just set it up. This, of course is the rankest nonsense, since the bonfire, rally, and varsity show are mainly for students. Some say that the football game is the only reason alums come down, but we maintain that they come back to see their old friends and that a game is only a minor attraction. Friends will be the same no matter who plays the football game. IF THE OSC game is such a red-hot drawing card (and it might not be if our team and their team play only mediocre games next season) then maybe the alums will come down anyway. They probably won't want to, though. They might have other committments at Thanksgiving, like family reunions and things like that. Maybe they wouldn’t come to Homecoming for the same reason, if Homecoming were at Thanksgiving, that is. But of course, this is all just a nasty ru mor. It just has to be. Nobody would plan Homecoming at Thanksgiving. Would they ? Good System with Two Faults Pacific Telephone-Northwest operates an extension system for the University design ed to serve the communication needs of the University and its students. Except for two minor deficiencies, the extension service has been doing a fine job. But the system, as a whole, works so well, and the faults are so minor, we wonder why they are allowed to continue. THE FIRST complaint is that operators are unable to provide changes of number for students who have moved since fall term. At present when one tries to find the num ber of anyone who has moved since fall term, he is referred to the fall term Pig gers’ Guide, which is somewhat less than helpful. If the operator does not recommend the Piggers’ Guide, he advises checking with the registrar's office. Just for laughs we tried that once, and they told us we'd have to come over in person. Too bad if you call after 5 p.m. IF THE UNIVERSITY would give a list of the changed telephone numbers to the operators at the beginning of each term, the system could perform more smoothly. This could he done immediately after reg istration each term, and the extension sys tem people have e*ven requested it. Why it hasn't been done is anybody's guess. THE SECOND complaint is the frustrat ing experience of dialing a dormitory be tween 9 and 11 p.m. and somehow getting in touch with six or eight different people all at once. The reason for this, according to the telephone exchange supervisor^ is a deficiency in the equipment. Another cause for crossing lines is students who dial “9” and then dial "0” in the hopes of reaching the city operator. Unfortunately, all this does is throw a trouble switch at the Uni versity switchboard, and the lines will be snarled until the student hangs up. BUT THE MAIN FAULT is in the equipment deficiency, which the staff of the extension system admit quite openly. Since the Pacific Telephone Northwest operates the extension system for the University, it should be the responsibility of the Univer sity to request that the equipment trouble be cleared up. Why this hasn't been done is anybody’s guess. Letters to the Editor A PHONY LETTER Dear Emerald Editor: I real ly think that Thanksgiving is OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald is published four times in September and five days a week during the school year, except dur ing exi.mina.tion and vacation periods by the Student Publications Board of the University of Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: $5 per y*ar, $2 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of The Emerald and do not pretend to represent the opinion of the ASUO or the University. DAN PFAFF, Editor STEVE MILLIKIN, Business Manager RON BUEL, Managing Editor KEITH POWELL, News Editor TED MAHAR, Editorial Page Editor PHIL COGSWELL, Assistant News Editor DULCY MORAN, Assistant News Editor YVONNE EGGERS, Assistant Managing Editor DAVE SANDS, Photo Editor PETE DOWNS, AL HYNDING, LARRY KURTZ, Triumvirate BARBARA CHANTRY, Women’s Editor EDITORIAL BOARD : Dan Pfaff, Ron Buel. Keith Powell, Ted Mahar, Phil Cogswell, Yvonne Eg gers, Jim Boyd, Sue Hunter, Larry Lynch, Virginia Anderson, Allison Blak ely, Gayle Osburn. a really dumb time to have Homecoming. We students do not get a chance to go home and see our parents very often and if Homecoming was at Thanks giving then we’d get cheated out of going home even then. I think it is only right that you shouldn’t have other holidays and staff interfering with Homecoming, after all it’s not something you have every day. If those guys in the athletic de partment want to have Home coming when we play the Bea vers, then why can’t they change the Oregon State game over to another weekend. I real ly think the whole thing is real ly dumb. Juanita Greenback, Freshman. * * RIGHT AND WRONG To the Editor: In regard to the recent ar ticle, “The Strange Silence Among the GOP’’ it is the opin ion of Messrs. Phillips and Rus sill that some part of the Ken nedy administration has flubbed with regard to the Cuban and Laos affairs. Some people seem to think that whenever there are two sides to an issue and one side is right and the other is wrong, when in actuality both sides may be right, or both may be wrong. In actuality both sides of any issue usually incor porate some right and some wrong tenets in their policy. As specifically regards the Cu ban question, it was the old story of jets and tanks, U.S. small arms. Anyone cOuld guess the outcome had he paid heed to the Hungarian revolution. What do Messrs. Phillips and Russill suggest that Kennedy do. He could send the U.S. troops and easily take Cuba but is Cuba worth training the brand of “Bully” associated with our country. Unfortunately senti ment doesn’t carry the same authority as tanks. Carl E. Mel I or, Grad in physics. The Best of Biblcr ' Av, toai- X 6or a TUTOR with wy conK£*ft>HPWof a*M$£.to JCilk P,nJ( The Jazz Festival: Considering, Reconsidering By KEITH POWELL. Emerald Nfws Editor On April 6 the ASUO Senate voted to approve the now-lan quishing Student Union board sponsored three-day jazz festi val by a vote of 13 to 16. On April 20. the Emerald pub lished an editorial angrily an nouncing that SO,000 was too much money to be spent on a project which might not be fi nancially successful during its first year. ON THE same evening the ASUO Senate, never noted for its firmness of mind (i.e. the 5-month USNSA fiasco), with drew its support of the festi val. The ASUO Senate is not so powerful that its disapproval may scuttle a SU board proj ect so easily, but all board spe cial attractions carrying a price tag over $1,000 must be un derwritten by the University's Budget Board. Aiding by the Senate is not expected to help the cause of the jazz festival before the Budget Board one whit. WHETHER or not the edito rial influenced the Senate vote is a moot point, but the edito rial must be challenged, even if somewhat belatedly, because (1) it was written by one mem ber of the editorial board with out the discussion of the full board; (2) it contained factual errors; (3) the editorial took a highly superficial approach to the problem, and (4) the edi torial seemed to take the po sition that the safe way is the only way. Although the occasional de vice of capitalizing all the letters in the word ‘jazz' was so gauche as to be almost charming, one cannot overlook the damage the editorial seems to have done to the cause of the jazz festival. FIRST of all the factual er rors; The editorial said that the Junior Prom lost $1,800 and the Sophomore Swing ‘‘very close” to that amount because of jazz artists Andre Previn and Shelley Mann, who played, incidentally, only for a pre dance concert not for the dance. Si Ellingson, SU director, said May 11 that the Swing lost only $975 and the Junior Prom only $1,000. This may be a minor point but it is indica tive of the seeming lack of in vestlgatlon or serious interest in the festival. INCIDENTALLY, Hi Elling eon said that "losses would have been even larger" if jazz ar tists hadn't been brought in. In fact, even "top” popular ar tists “with a much more varied appeal" couldn't make a suc cess of such antiques as the big campus dances, which are con siderable less popular than in past years except for Homecom ing. The editorial also failed to suggest that 11 pre-dance con cert is hardly the occasion to schedule Jazz artists who de mand more concentration than people psyched up to dance are willing to give out. THE JAZZ festival is a gam ble, of course, no one denies it. And. ironically, the kind of fes tival what ran be a financial success, is the kind that needs the breadth and the big names that the Emerald and Senate oppose because of cost. About half of the income from the Festival would have to come from outside the Eugene area. This problem could be hoped with in great measure by scheduling it during the spring or easter vacations of the se mester schools on the coast. AND IT is only with b i g names and a program of depth that these students are going to be attracted to, and this is said with no sarcasm intended, the hinterlands of Eugene. The editorial seemed disturb ed because some student monies may be lost. However, but here again the matter was not looked into very deeply. The Student Union Board will sponsor next year as It has in years past, several other spe cial attractions, besides the jazz festival. The editorial's stri dent cry for more "popular" en tertainers will be gratified here — and help absorb whatever losses the jazz festival might have the first two times out. Ellingson says that with careful selection by tlie SU board popular artists can be ob tained who will, if not com pletely absorb, will go a long long way towards absorbing whatever losses the festival might incur. But more disturbing than the errors and the superficiality of the editoriul is the attitude also seemingly shared by the Sen (Continued on page 3)
