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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1963)
Vote Yes on NSA We’ll Never Know What It Can Do Unless We Vote To Give It a Try For an entire year, the ASUO Senate has been divided on membership in NS A. We believe the best way to end this division and make a logical decision is to vote to join NSA so that we can judge it on a trial basis. We also feel membership in NSA has a great deal of potential values for this cam pus. Faculty and students who occasionally stand a few paces away, figuratively speak ing, and take a long, slow look at the at mosphere which pervades this campus, in variably find themselves labeling the Uni versity “an essentially provincial school.” Even those who praise our fine faculty will admit that the average University student is really not too concerned with much other than his own little world of the Student Union, the dormitory or fraternity, and the grades he will receive this term. We think NSA could help eliminate some of this provincialism. By sending capable delegates, selected by the entire student body because of their stands on national and international issues to the NSA Con gress, the significance of student govern ment here would increase greatly. And when these delegates returned, the ex change of ideas and issues which are impor tant to students all over the nation could be transferred back to this campus. No longer would the University stand aside, out of the mainstream of American student life. Legislation which the NSA Congress passed last year, for instance, concerned such issues as federal aid to higher educa tion, the House Un-American Activities Committee, nuclear testing, the role of the federal government in civil rights, the Mc Carran Act, and many other subjects of interest and importance to students who value their role as student citizens. But more than this, to stay out of NSA would be to fail in our responsibility in the society as a whole. NSA is the only group that really represents students on the national and international scene. The small part that students of this Univer sity should be piaying in the affairs of this nation and the world should not remain neglected any longer. Elsewhere in this paper is a full-page ad vertisement signed by many students no longer in student government, sort of the “old guard.” those who have kept us on our own small campus for so long. They will say that NSA costs too much, that NSA is not structurally perfect. To us, these arguments are irrelevant when matched against the stimulation NSA offers to our student body when matched against our long-neglected responsibilities in na tional and international affairs. Students should join their future student leaders, both presidential candidates and ten of the 15 senator-at-large candidates, in supporting NSA. These student leaders know that joining NSA is the only way we can accurately de termine exactly what it can do for us. Vote Yes on HU AC Abolishment y ’■ In the Wednesday election students will have an opportunity to express in a mild sort of way their opinion of the controver sial House Un-American Activities Commit tee. After several months of work by the ASUO President’s Civil Rights Committee, the HUAC resolution is finally on the bal lot. The resolution itself reads, “that the ASUO . . . hereby petitions the U S. House of Representatives to abolish the House Un American Activities Committee.” If ap proved in the election, copies of the reso lution will be sent to President John F. Kennedy, the Speaker of the House of Rep resentatives, and the chairman of the com ipiittee. In voting on the proposal, University stu dents must make a decision in two different areas. They must first of all decide whether sending such resolutions in the name of the entire student body is the proper function of a University student body. If they do think such resolutions are a proper func tion of the student body, then they must make a decision as to whether the commit tee should be abolished. Only if he decides affirmatively on both aspects of the issue should a student vote in lavor of the resolution. We think that the students should vote for the resolution. In a previous editorial we commented that consideration of such issues is very real benefit to the Univer sity since it helps remind students that they issues is a very real benefit to the Univer are not living in a vacuum but are a part of a larger society as well. Students must realize that they should be making deci sions concerning the affairs of the nation as well as the affairs of the University. We think that it is the proper function of any informed group in this country to express its opinion on any issue, national or local, which is of concern to the group’s members. We do hope, however, that when the result of the resolution is announced, providing it passes, that it will be pointed out that this was a majority decision, not a unanimous one. Those students who vote against the resolution have a right to be noticed also, and the actual number of votes both for and against, should be announced along w'ith the decision. We do not think that the passage of the resolution will have any noticeable effect on the existence of HUAC, but we hope that it might do a little bit to encourage either the abolition of the committee or at least certain changes in its operation to bring it more into line with the way in which we would like to see Congressional Committees operate. We do not disagree that it is the prero gative of Congress to investigate whatever it wants to, but we also maintain that it is the right of the people to criticize such in vestigations when they are conducted in an improper manner. Letters to the Editor For Hosford Emerald Editor: i As primary candidates for Sophomore Class President, we are very interested and concern ed with the caliber of the final 1 ists for this office. Next year, the i Sophomore class must plan and execute Homecoming on Thanksgiving weekend. It will be our job to make it as big a success as it was this year. It is important that much planning and hard work be done between now and the middle of next fall term. With this in mind, we feel that it is imperative to decide correctly which of the candi dates is more capable to take on the responsibilities of the 1963 Homecoming. The President of the Sopho more class will be the general chairman of this event. We feel that the candidates for this po sition should have a detailed knowledge of the organization and execution of these events. We would like to see our Home coming the biggest success ever. From listening to the views of the candidates for president, we (Continued on page 3) «<*■> A\AouSik> W*.TW«* CHINESE WATER. TDRTURE Some People Who Stand For Membership in NSA “I favor membership in USNSA. The organization pro vides the facility for the orientation of our delegates to wider concepts of student involvement. Hopefully, this would prepare them to develop the human resources on our own campus.” —Phil Sherburne, candidate for ASL 0 President * * * “We must find out about NSA first hand. Observers will be most effective if they are able to participate and be a part of the conference. Only by trying NSA in our own environment will we know what it can do for us and we can do for it. It is time for action, not second-hand analy sis.” —Denny Lynch, candidate for A8UO President * * 4i “By involving students in debate on issues throughout the year, rather than for only a brief period of two weeks in the Spring, NSA will benefit every student.” —Neil Goldschmidt, 1962-63 ASL'O President * * * “The United States National Student Association has a 15-year record of outstanding service to the American stu dent, his campus and his nation. Its contributions to inter national understanding and cooperation and to improving the welfare of individual students are vast.” —The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan * * * “The NSA congress was not only a legislative meeting, but an intensive educational process as well.” —The Daily Texan, University of Texas * * * “USNSA would be a very fine thing for the student gov ernment of this University to join.” —University President Arthur S. Flemming * * * “The National Student Association has splendidly artic ulated our national ideas and reflected the vigor of our college and university young people. The NSA has behind it years of useful activity and experience. It has made generous and effective contributions in many areas of public policy—foreign affairs, civil rights, academic free dom and international student exchange.” —President John F. Kennedy * * * “I welcome this opportunity to congratulate each of your members on the splendid work you are doing to ad vance student aims and to contribute to our American ways of life. —Richard M. Nixon, former Vice President of the United States. * * * “The Thirty-seventh Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors welcomes the devel oping program of the National Student Association for making an informed student opinion effective in Ameri can higher education and for extending the influence of free education to other parts of the world.” —American Association of University Professors
