‘Duck Preview’
New Program Offers a Chance
To Raise Quality of Student Body
“Duck Preview” will take place this Sat
urday. For the first time, it will not be
an overnight program. More than 750 fresh
men and their parents will be on the cam
pus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The initiation of this new program, one
directed at recruiting the serious high
school student, is a significant step for the
University.
Change comes hard on this campus, par
ticularly change in a progressive direction.
For a long time Duck Preview has been a
two-day social, a chance for fraternities and
sororities to do some rushing. The empha
sis has been on the ball game, the dance,
and anything but the classroom.
The reputation of a University has a
lot to do with the type of student it at
tracts. The University has long had a rep
utation of being a party school, a country
club. Previous orientation days have done
nothing to change this image.
The University is in a position where
any real progress awaits a more serious,
scholarly student body. There are those
who somewhat justifiably claim that this
“more serious student body” will not ar
rive on this campus until a change in ad
mission standard takes place.
Until the State has built a Community
college system, capable of taking the pres
sure off the state universities, they say,
the quality of our student body will not
rise. There is no hope for a more progres
sive Greek system, for a more realistic
dormitory policy, for an improved and aca
demically-oriented student government, un
til the 2.0 high school students are weeded
out before they arrive. A real academic
community hinges on this factor, they
claim.
This new Duck Preview program is a par
tial answer to these pessimists. By holding
it on a day without a ball game, by taking
away the overnight stay, the Greater Ore
gon committee seems to be moving in the
right direction. Our suggestion for the fu
ture is to create more such opportunities
for high school students to visit, but to or
ganize these on a departmental level, much
like what is already done in many schools
and departments.
We noticed that the Oregon State Baro
meter criticized a similar program started
at OSU this year. We hope that those in
volved with the program here, and any
one else coming into contact with high
school students this Saturday, will make
an attempt to give the innovation an op
portunity to prove itself by keeping the
activities on a serious academic level.
Duck Preview' could become an oppor
tunity to increase significantly the level of
academic ability in the University student
body.
Dead Issue
We run the following editorial from the
Eugene Register-Guard because we believe
it makes some very telling points. It ap
peared Monday, Jan. 21.
Ben Musa, president of the State Senate, asks
a good question, one that has occurred to manj
as the Legislature begins looking at budgets.
Why, he asks, in a state which has increased in
population 5 per cent, must the higher edu
cation budget go up 20 per cent?
Like most good questions, this one has a good
answer. The higher education establishment
serves directly not the whole state but the peo
pie of the state who are, roughly, in the 17 to 22
year old age bracket. In the next biennium these
will be the people who were born between about
1941 and 1948.
Next year’s college freshman, at 17, was born
in 1946, the year daddy got home from the war;
or if daddy got home early, he was born in
1945 and will be 18 when school opens next fall.
His little brother or sister was born in 1947 or
1958 and will be showing up on the campus be
fore the 1963-1965 budget period has expired.
There were a lot of those “war babies.” They
are the ones for whom we built grade schools,
junior highs and high schools in the ’50s and
early ’60s. Now they are planning on college, and
in increasing percentages as they seek to ac
quire the skills they will need for tomorrow.
In 1957, public higher education in Oregon
was serving 19,494 students. By 1962, the can;
puses were getting the baby crop of the early
war years, and were educating 29,993 In the next
biennium, the one for which this Legislature is
budgeting, enrollments will go up to 34,671. it
is likely that there will be more students at
tending summer school next summer than there
were attending regular sessions on the campuses
in 1954.
That accounts for part of the 20 per cent
that Senator Musa wonders about. Also, the tax
payer and legislator are invited to recall the
events of the past two years. The 1961 Legisla
ture adopted a bare-bones higher education
budget. Implicit in that budget was a certain
level of service that the Legislature intended
the institutions to maintain. It was estimated
that enrollments in 1961 would be 24,196, or an
increase of 11.5 per cent. The estimates were, as
usual, conservative. When 26,835 students showed
up, there just wasn’t enough money to provide
education at the level the Legislature had di
rected. The service level was reduced, as it had
to be. Part of the request that Senator Musa
finds so baffling is accounted for by the fact that
this level of service, as fixed by the Legisla
ture, ought to be restored.
Unfortunately, the Senate president is given
to the inept analogy. He told a reporter, “I don’t
accuse them (the educational establishment) of
padding the budget, but you can take a skinny
man when he dies and fry him and still get fat
out.”
True, true. But the man is dead.
Letters to the Editor
Against Controversy
Emerald Editor:
Please do not invite Harry
Bridges to the University of
Oregon. He is controversial.
Controversial people are not
good. We should not have peo
ple like that near us. It would
be much nicer if he did not
come. Thank you.
Michael Scott,
Philosophy Junior
Burgess Hall.
About the ‘O’
Emrald <sic) Editor:
The missing “0” on the Skin
ner Butte knoll at the foot of
Willamette Street is being
missed even if the students
haven’t marched in mass to the
Corvallis campus. The attribut
ed cost .of the “O” was stated
as $500; now if this isn’t con
sidered grand theft maybe some
one should abscound (sic) with
Emrald (sic) Hall or even the
Student Union, then the fac
ulty and campus superiors
could utter again “when the
students express a desire to see
it returned then we’ll attempt
to recover it” or “there’s a
better one in Missoula.” The
law enforcement agency of this
vacinity (sic) is pretty adept
at recovering past-due parking
meter fines.
Accepting the fact of nonre
covery, a number of possible al
ternatives could be carried out
for replacement of the “O.” 1)
Take contributions of jewelry
and other gold items, melt them
down, and cast a solid gold “O”
of some value; 2) Make the “O”
from paper mache’ (sic) so
that its loss could be tolerated
finantially, (sic) or 3) Place the
new “O” behind charged barb
wire and in a mine field which
possesses a secret path . . . but
its (sic) clear the “O” needs
replacing otherwise the fresh
men will have nothing to paint
. . . and the farmers nothing to
steal.
M. J. Lokken,
Senior in Psy-Mth.
A/W>' iNf)
First Fraternity Column
Discusses Pre-initiation Week
Sometime last Spring, the
Emerald promised the Inter
Fraternity Council space for
a column giving news and
views on the Greeks system.
The column will appear
every other week.
This first one is by Kd Ileal
ton, chairman of the IFC
Greek Newspaper committee,
and was submitted Wednes
day.
With this edition of the Ore
gon Greek, a new tradition is
being initiated Hereafter, at
regular intervals in the Etner
aid, a Greek column will be pub
lished in which topics of tunelj
interest and importance to the
Greek system will be discussed
and analyzed in their relation
to the University as a whole
The purpose of this column is
not to enumerate the achieve
ments of the Greeks nor to re
dundantly praise them either in
dividually or collectively, hath
er, the reason for the existence
of this column is to stimulate
constructive thinking not only
on the part of the fraternity
man but the non Greek as well,
to insure the publication of both
sides of various controversies,
and in general to emphasize the
fact that the fraternity system
on this campus is able to step
back and make a detailed, dis
cerning analysis of itself, its
problems and its future
In the past several weeks, a
great deal of criticism has been
directed toward the fraternity
system The generating factors
for a large part of this criticism
are the activities carried on by
some fraternities during their
initiations Therefore, as one of
the most controversial fraterni
ty issues, the value of some
phases of fraternity initiations
is a suitable topic for this edi
tion of the Oregon Greek.
Initiation procedures for the
most part are divided into two
separate phases, the informal or
pre-initiation and the formal. It
is in the informal part that the
criticized activities occur, and
thus it is this phase whose value
is under analysis.
There is no doubt that, as one
portion of pro-initiation week
activities, some fraternities en
gage in practices which are de
grading both to the individual
and to the fraternity as a whole;
i.e., those practices referred to
collectively as hazing. Such ac
tions are indefensible, purpose
less, and have not part ir, initia
tion proceedings. They are
grounded and perpetuated in
traditions which at one time
were accepted by society, but
they must now be rejected for
they are functionless relics from
an era which has now come to a
close. In short, they constitute
the undesirable aspect of frater
nity initiations.
On the other hand, however,
there is also no doubt that many
beneficial activities are carried
on during pre initiation week.
The purposes of informal initia
tion are in brief the following:
to acquaint the initiate with the
history of his fraternity and to
bring about a clearer under
standing and deeoer apprecia
tion of its goals and ideals, i e .
to make the initiate's member
ship more meaningful and pur
poseful. to instill in the initiate
respect for and responsibility
toward his fraternity, the com
munity, and the University, in
general, to cause »he initiate to
analyze and re-evaluate himself
and his personal attitudes in re
lation to his environment, there
b y stimulating constructive
ideas and high standards These
objectives are not merely ideals,
but are incorporated into initia
tion activities in the form of
group discussion, instruction,
and work projects Further,
these objectives are not merely
localized thoughts but can be
found in the "Principles of Ac
tion" published by the National
Inter-Fraternity Conference To
be sure, fraternity members do
lose sight of these goals: it is
then that the good to be derived
from initiation is nullified How
ever, the proper application of
the above purposes constitutes
the beneficial aspect of fraterni
ty initiations.
Some believe that informal in
itiation should be eliminated en
tirely, for they feel that this
would be a perfect solution to
the hazing problem Is such ac
tion warranted'’ An equitable
decision can be reached onlj af
ter all aspects of the question
are analyzed.
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
The Oreg<*ti Daily Emerald is published
seven tune* in September and five day* a
week during the school year, except dur
ing examination and vacation period* by
the Student Publication* Board of the
University of Oregon. Entered a* second
class matter at the post office*, Eugene,
Oregon. Subscription rates: $5 per year;
$2 per term.
Opinions expressed on the editorial page
ase those of The Emerald and do in t pre
tend to represent the opinions of the
ASUO or the University.
RON ffUEL, Editor
MARTY KKTEES, Business Manager
TED MAHAR, Managing Editor
EVERETTE DENNIS, New* Editor
PH * L cocswell,
Editorial Pafc Editor
LARRY WILLIAMS.
Advertising Manager
LARKY CRAVES. Sports Editor
DC LCY MORAN.
Assistant Managing Ed tor
DA VE SANDS, J I M F R AKK,
JANET OOETZF.
Assistant News Editors
CEORCE HICHAM, Photo Editor
LIN'D/ BRC WN, Entertaiun ent Editor
RON COWAN, CATHY NE I LLE,
EDITORIAL BOARD :
Ron I uel, Phil Cogswell, fed Mahar
E erette Dennis, l)nv< Sands
I nicy Moran, Linda Iroun
I al Carpenter, hob F jrsyth
Cra it Ledger wood, Dot r Kagen
Jan t C< etze, and I ill H Jtchison