Opportunity Missed
AWS Elections Could Have
Brought Differences Into Open
Less than 450 women students voted out
of a possible 3,585 in the Associated Wom
en Students primary election last week.
This does not mean there will be a similar
ly poor turnout in the final election today.
But the original turnout is indicative of
a distrubing situation.
Should we turn to the much-overused
scapegoat, apathy, for an answer? We
don’t think so. The fact that women's rules,
especially the apartment rule, have been
the subject of much heated and controver
sial discussion overrides the idea of apa
thy.
Is the poor turnout a result of the fact
that only one candidate, Joan Yasui, is
running for AWS president? Did the wom
en feel, “What’s the use of voting; she has
to get it.”? Did they stay home from the
voting because there was really no election
controversy or competition to stir their
interest? This may be the case.
The Emerald feels that Miss Yasui is
extremely qualified to serve as the AWS
president and that her progressive views
will serve women students well. Offhand,
we cannot think of a better candidate.
But it is difficult to believe that 100 per
cent of the women on campus support her
views. The very fact that women’s rules
have been controversial is evidence that
there are many diverse viewpoints, that
there is more than one side to the several
issues.
Why, then, after they had talked and
argued their views all year and complain
ed about AWS, didn’t these women come
forth as candidates where they could do
something about their views? One write-in
candidate received enough votes in the
primary to indicate that 100 per cent of
the women did not agree that Miss Yasui
was the only one to represent them. But
this write-in candidate also refused to run.
This presents a much more provocative
question. Why aren’t women students with
strong interest in women’s rules and activ
ities seeking to further these views
through AWS. Is it because they feel,
“What’s the use?” Do they think that AWS
is ineffective, that if they did run they
couldn’t get anywhere anyway?
But if AWS is ineffective it may simply
be because these women with divergent
ideas aren’t participating in the organiza
tion. In every previous year AWS has had
no primary election. Candidates were se
lected through a screening committee.
Under this setup, it was very likely that
those elected could have simply represent
ed the viewpoints of the screening commit
tee. AWS voted to alleviate this situation
by eliminating the screening committee
and instituting a primary. Thus, for the
very first time women might have had a
chance to bring out their varied viewpoints,
to see just where the controversy was, and
to see just how effective AWS might have
been.
Now that the channels for bringing dif
ferences of opinion into the open have
been established, why haven’t the Univer
sity’s women taken advantage of this op
portunity?
Dear Dad—Bring Money
At the present time students are being
asked to write their Dads and ask them to
visit the campus Feb. 22 and 23 for the
annual Dad’s Weekend.
Dad’s Weekend makes a very conven
ient excuse for inviting your father to the
campus, assuming of course that you want
him to come. If you don’t want him to
come, we certainly don’t want you to invite
him.
The event offers a chance for the men
who largely support the University to find
out how their and/or their children’s mon
ey is being spent. If the University has
the parents’ confidence, it increases the
possibility that this confidence will influ
ence other segments of the state’s popula
tion.
Students, themselves, also profit from
Dad’s Weekend since it is the principal
way that the Dad’s Club gets revenue to
finance scholarships and other programs
to help the University.
In the past, we have noticed that the
fathers who come down for their weekend
seem to enjoy themselves. Come to think
of it, this is probably the best reason for
having the weekend at all.
3ranUin W. Sight
UO Biologist Discusses Effects of Fallout
The following column, writ
ten by Franklin W. Stahl, as
sociate professor of biology,
was presented as testimony to
the ways and means sub-com
mittee on civil-defense of the
Oregon Legislature on Febru
ary 4.
Stahl is a Research Associ
ate in the Institute of Molecu
lar Biology, and will speak in
the Student Union at 7:30
Thursday on fallout shelters.
* # £
No program of Civil Defense,
in the sense that the expression
is used today, can be expected
to provide meaningful protec
tion for civilians in the event of
nuclear war. This contention is
supported by a consideration of
the consequences of a medium
sized nuclear war as it might oc
cur in 1963. In the discussion
which follows, it is assumed that
the United States is attacked by
a foreign power, rather than be
ing herself the aggressor nation.
At present, the United States
has on her own soil approxi
mately 250 launching sites for
Intercontinental Ballistic Mis
siles (ICBM’s). A strike against
this missile force would deliver
on to U. S. soil 7,500 megatons
of nuclear explosives.’
Since a foreign power mak
ing a nuclear attack could ex
pect retaliation, not against her
empty missile-launching sites,
but against her cities, it is like
ly that her first strike against
our soil would involve a “bonus”
attack against our cities. 2,500
megatons delivered to cities dur
ing the strike would bring the
total size of the attack to 10,000
megatons.
According to the U.S. Office
of Civil and Defense .Mobiliza
tion, 40-45% of the U. S. popu
lation would die as an immedi
ate consequence of such an at
tack. This estimate assumes the
“successful” completion of a 13
billion dollar Civil Defense pro
gram.
The fallout from a 10,000
megaton attack would be equi
valent to the radioactive debris
from the fission of 22 kilotons of
Uranium per square mile. The
average dose to unsheltered or
ganisms would be 7,000 roent
gens in the first two weeks fol
lowing the attack. All mammals
and birds and many kinds of
plants and trees would be killed
by such doses. The “balance of
nature” would be profoundly
upset.
Vast amounts of additional
damage to crop lands and for
ests would result from fires set
by the exploding bombs. Loss
of top soil by erosion woukl pro
duce vast areas of desert. Ero
sion and insect plagues might
well make agriculture impossi
ble. Many of the “survivors”
would die of starvation.
Other survivors would die of
the long-term effects of radia
tion exnosure. An “average per
son” perfectly sheltered for the
first two weeks and unsheltered
thereafter would receive a dose
of 90C roentgens. A shortening
of life-span of about 20 years
may result from that exposure.
Furthermore, consumption of
Strontium - 90 in agricultural
products from an “average acre”
would induce leukemia in 30%
of the children (calculated to
(Continued on pni/e 3)
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Our Contemporaries
Salaries, Rules, Studies
The South can afford better
higher education hut, “so long
as the Wallaces and the Bar
netts contribute to divisive
prejudice, to callous injustice,
and to encouragement of those
willing to destroy public edu
cation,” the South will remain
at its present low-level.
This was the sentiment of
Ralph McGill, editor of the At
lanta Constitution in a column
which appeared in the Daily
Iowan last week.
A recent report by the Amer
ican Association of University
professors concluded. "On the
aggregate. Southern institutions
pay far less than do those in
the rest of the country.”
THE SURVEY graded the
pay scales of institutions of
higher education on scales grad
uated “A”, "B” and "C”, etc
Duke was the only Southern
University listed on the “A"
scale. Only ten Southern insti
tutions appeared on the “B"
and “C” scales and none of
these were state schools.
The report states. “There re
main many faculty members
whose salaries are scandalously
low. In the least aflluent insti
tutions salaries for the lowest
ranks are not enough to pro
vide for a reasonable degree of
subsistence.”
McGill commented that uni
versity presidents everywhere
are hampered by a lack of
money and by political pressure
involved in getting more funds.
McGill concluded that higher
education “must go, hat in
hand, to the legislature seek
ing more money.”
* * *
SIGNOUT FOR women stu
dents at UCLA has already
been abolished. There is now
some discussion considering the
possibility of removing lockout
too. One of the administrative
assistants to the dean of wom
en at that school has stated that
even if the present closing hour
rules were changed in the dor
mitories, they would remain
the same in sororities on the
campus.
An editorial in the Daily
Bruin commented:
“We feel each sorority should
decide for- itself what should be;
done. At least a few of them
might wish to join the majority
in the social structure which
comprises our present age.
“The archaic rules of lock
out and signout (the latter al
ready abolished) are hangovers
from the 19th century social
patterns which demanded strict
chaperones and pre-arranged
marriages.
“Now is the time for all
young ladies to exhibit the en
ergy displayed by their colleg
iate predecessors who demand
eel greater women's rights more
than 50 years ago
« • •
A STAFF writer on the Utah
Chronicle has concluded that it
is possible that studies are
stealing all of the University
students' time. Ruth Ann Lewis
reached this conclusion after
asking 16 students three ques
tions; two concerning local
University news and one/on the
national level.
Seven of the students knew
about President Kennedy's $11
billion tax cut. One coed excus
ed her unawareness by saying.
"I’ve just been out of it this
quarter." More of the students
polled knew about campus af
fairs but knowledge was still
below 100 per cent.
Whether the conclusion that
the University is requiring too
much study time is a valid one
remains tq be seen, but the fact
that college students often are
not aware of much outside of
their chemistry book or the
house dance is often evident.
CHRISTOPHER Ishr-rwood,
author of Prater Violet and The
World in the Evening, was in
terviewed by the UCLA Bruin
staff last week, l.sherwood ex
plained how he nad been able
to exist as a writer in Los An
geles, a city with a reputation
among writers as "a modern
Tar Pit, a luxurious and decep
tive watering-ground from
which no writer ever returned.”
“You see, I never made the
mistake of identifying Los An
geles .with Hollywood.’’ Isher
wood lives near Santa Monica
canyon overlooking the Pacific.
“I guess this is the best place
to live in the world. Unfortun
ately the rest of Los Angeles is
uninhabitable.”
When asked about modern
F rench writers, Isherwood grim
aced slightly. "The French bore
me to extinction—the last fun
person in France was Rimbaud.
I reread The Stranger recently,
and I honestly can’t see what
all the fuss was about.”
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
The Oregiin Daily Kmeralri is published
seven times in September and five flays a
week during the school year, except dur
ing examination 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 year;
$2 per term.
Opinions expressed on the editorial page
ase those of The Emerald and do not pre
tend to represent the opinions of the
ASUO or the University.
RON BUEL, Editor
MARTY KETELS, Business .Manager
TED MAHAR, Managing Editor
EVERETTE DENNIS, Nev.s Editor