Discrimination and tradition
Discrimination has become traditional. In
past generations, almost every national fra
ternity and sorority has at one time or an
other had a race clause in its charter. There
are still fraternities and sororities, a num
ber of them on this campus, that have never
had a Negro or Oriental in their organiza
tion.
YET, IF IT WERE left up to the present
generation to decide—the ones who are
presently occupying the fraternity and
sorority houses—many, if not all of the
houses at Oregon, would by this time have
some non-Caucasian membership.
Without the amorphous ties with the
past and the prejudices that were born with
the Greek system in the Southern United
States, there would lie decidedly less dis
crimination in the fraternities and sororities
on this campus. But the tradition of dis
crimination lives on. And even as race
clauses fall by the wayside, the practices
they initiated continue.
IT ALMOST GOES without saying that
the Emerald is strongly in favor of the total
destruction of any such impositions cur
rently being placed on the membership of
local organizations by persons on the out
side. For this reason, we were pleased by
the recent statement of the State Board of
Higher Education that all fraternal organi
zations with race clauses will he eliminated
fr^m state university campuses by January
1963. And for the same reason we would
like to see similar action taken against
sororities with negative recommendation
systems.
These recommendation systems, although
not as obvious, nor as binding, can and are
used to discriminate against an individual,
on the basis of race, color or creed. An alum
more likely to be prejudiced than an ac
tice, can keep an individual out of many
sororities on this campus. This is not true
of fraternities. They do not have alumni
recommendation systems. Unlike sororities
they do not require an alumni recommenda
tion for pledging. Unlike sororities, an alum
can't and doesn't hold an individual out.
BECAUSE GREEK organizations are
by nature selective, discrimination on the
local level cannot be proven nor can it be
fought outside of the minds of men. But
something can be done to assure that sor
orities will be left unhindered by outside
forces. The abolition of the sorority rec
ommendation system would be a step in that
direction.
Realistic approach
With such a strong current emphasis on
education, articles about higher education
and its problems have become more and
more prevalent in the last few years. Articles
on sex, of course, however prevalent, are
almost always well read; moreover, in many
publications they have become increasingly
intelligent in their viewpoints. The latest
Harper’s magazine has included in its 12
article supplement on colleges in America
an excellent piece concerning both colleges
and sex and their relation to one another.
The article is titled “Sex: The Problem
Colleges Evade,” and was written by noted
author Maya Pines and Milton I. Levine,
M.D. The article, well worth reading in full,
said in part:
“When college girls by the dozen come
to their childhood pediatricians desperate
and in tears because they are pregnant, it
is time to question what is being done in the
colleges to protect them.
“EVERY GENERATION, of course has
had to deal with the problem of illegitimate
pregnancies among young people, some on
the college level. And as the Harvard Crim
son put it in a recent article, ‘in sheer wild
ness today's college students do not com
pare with their fabled predecessors.’ Two
factors, however, make the current crop
different: (1) premarital sex in all its forms
is much more widespread and openly dis
cussed among students; and (2) in the midst
of this apparent sophistication, at a time
when highly reliable methods of birth con
trol exist, the majority of students are near
---- -- -----
ly as ignorant of the facts as the poorest,
illiterate Indian peasant.
“ . .. colleges should face these facts real
istically. Besides their primary purpose, edu
cation, they cannot escape responsibility for
the emotional and physical life of young
people on their campuses. Since they know
that a certain number of students will bas e
premarital sexual relations despite official
disapproval, the colleges should try to make
sure that all students know how to avoid
the most serious consequences.”
THE ARTICLE GOES on to outline a
number of ways in which college adminis
trators can and have successfully done much
to remedy in part at least this extremely dif
ficult problem.
It concludes: “Certainly the colleges
could help students understand better the
phychological, social and moral implica
tions of their sexual maturity. To do this
effectively, however, they should take into
account the sexual activity that exists on
campuses today and try to match their pol
icies to deal with it as realistically as pos
sible. As a practical matter, all the colleges
in America are still a long way from this
goal.”
Of course we haven't any statistical data
either to verify or discredit these state
ments as they may apply here. But we can
be reasonably certain that this school is not
an exception. The solution which the authors
outline is by no means a complete one. But,
realistically, it may very well be the only
one.
Letters to the editor
Millrace perspective
Emerald Editor:
It has been rumored that
many of Oregon’s revered tra
ditions have been dying out.
However, we would like to as
sure you that one of the oldest
traditions is still firmly en
trenched in the University’s way
of life. We refer to “The Move
ment to Restore and Beautify
the Historic Scenic Millrace.”
As timid matriculating fresh
men in the fall of ’57 (current
ly members of the 5-year pro
gram) we were lead like lambs
to the traditional “Frosh Pic
nic” new student week. There
the “Oregon Spirit” was instilled
in us by the Yell King and the
various student body officers.
How well we remember some
service-minded individual with a
Jolly Roger on his chest point
ing to the miasmic body of
water referred to as “the race”
and saying, “Did you know only
two universities in the world
have a millrace on their cam
pus? Oregon and Cambridge!”
Well, no! We didn’t realize
(naive freshmen that we were)
that we held such a distinction.
(Neither did any of the sopho
mores, juniors, or seniors we
later ascertained.)
He went on then to outline
the numerous improvements
“The Movement to Restore and
Beautify the Historic—Scenic
Millrace Committee" had
planned, “Dredge the millrace”
(cheers) “acquire more land ad
jacent to the millrace for recre
ational purposes," (more cheers)
“open the locks for fresh flow
ing water” (lour cheers) “land
scaping and beautifying,” (more
cheers) “a firm bottom laid on
the race floor to facilitate swim
(Continued on pai/e 3)
Little man on campus
I
^a net Cjoelze
What everybody should
know about Friday the 13th
For all who are vitally inter
ested. there Is a dearth of in
formation on Friday the 13th.
I FOUND that out one night
at the library when I decided
to investigate the topic for a
bit of personal enlightenment.
About all I found out was that
certain savage tribes consid
ered Fridays religious or holy
days, and anybody who worked
on Fridays was tempting fate,
the gods, and other-wrath
filled powers. The peoples of
Europe apparently developed
some apprehension about the
day, too, and when Good Fri
day came along their fears were
not alleviated. Just how the
number 13 works into the whole
scheme of things is a little hazy,
but the number has had signifi
cance of some sort for quite a
while.
Thirteen was considered a
lucky number at one time, and
some people who were born on
the 13th day of the month in
years ending in 13 still think it’s
pretty lucky. I suppose it's bet
ter than not being born at all.
HOTEL BUILDERS have
found that there are enough
people around who are suffici
ently squeemish about 13 to
warrant eliminating it from
the numbering systems for
rooms and floors. Other hotel
men use the 13th floor for busi
ness offices, apparently showing
that they have no fear of the
number jinxing their financial
condition.
And the French, true to form,
have a word, or words, for it,
that solves the problem pretty
well for them. In fact, they
have a whole plot that disguises
the thing so well that you’re
never really sure which floor
you’re on. In the first place,
they call the floor that comes
after 12 ’’douzieme bis,” or 12
twice. But the clever French
start their numbering with the
second floor by calling it ‘‘pre
mier etage,” which translates
something like "first story,”
so that by the time you get to
the 13th floor you find that the
French have labeled it the 12th
story, and when you go to the
14 th floor the French are all sit
ting around pretending that they
are still on 12. But it doesn’t
seem to bother anyone.
80 MUCH for the French.
After them come the red
heads. I’m not quite sure how
they fit into Friday the 13th,
but apparently the two of
them have alwaya been with u*.
I gucsM il'» all connected with
luck one way or another, and if
you are a redhead now you arc
very lucky, becauae If you had
been a redhead in the Middle
Agea life would have been tor
tuouH. Itcdheada of the Middle
Ages were always being tor
tured becauae they were sus
pected of being witches, a pro
fession frowned-upon at that
time. In Italy redheads were
held In 111 repute because legend
had it that Judas Iscariot had
red hair, and Judas has never
been regarded as a national
saint.
ANYWAY, after they were
tortured and tormented for a
few years, the redheads of the
Middle Ages were burned at
the stake, which gave rise to
another superstition: that all
redheads are fiery tempered.
But back to 13.
Some people won’t sit at a
table with 12 other people be
cause It is supposed to be an
omen that one of them will die
within the year. A few local
proponents of the scientific
method have suggested that
somebody make a point of go
ing to large dinner parties, with
10 to 15 people in attendance,
and taking note of the guests.
Then the number of deaths oc
curring among guests who at
tended dinner parties of 13
could he compared with deaths
among guests at parties of other
sizes. The theory is that one
(Continued on pat/c 3) ^
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
The Oregon Daily KineraM in published
seven (true* in Septernlicr ami five day* a
week during the school year, except dur
ing examination and vacation i>eriod* hy
the Student Publication* Hoard of the
University of Oregon. Entered a* second
ciaaa matter at the post office. Eugene,
Oregon. Subscription iatc*: $5 per year;
$2 Per term.
Opinion* 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 PFAPP. Editor
STEVE Ml LUKIN. Business Mgr.
RON HULL, Managing Editor
LEE 11 ’R.\Bl ll, Advertiiinf Mgr.
KEITH POWELL. News Editor
TED MAHAR. Editorial Page Editor
PHIL COGSWELL. Asst. New* Editor
DIJLCY MORAN Asst. New* Editor
YVONNE KGGKKS. Assistant
Managing Editor
DAVE SANDS, Photo Editor
PETE DOWNS, Sport* Editor
JOE HKRGER. CHRIS < 11UKCH,
Assistant Suorth Editor!
BARBARA CHANTRY, WctneVf Editor
LINDA BROWN, Entertainment Editor
JANET GOETZK, Feature Editor
EDITORIAL HOARD:
Dan Pfaff, Ron Hue!, Keith Powell,
Ted Maliar, Phil Cogswell, Yvonne Kg*
gers, Allison Blakely, Ga le Osburn,
(Juentin B'»*en, Pete Downs, Virginia
Anderson, Barbara Chantry.