Not Just a Uniform
Class Honoraries Should Offer
Some Benefits to Tlxyir Members
The University’s six class honoraries
pose an interesting question to members
of the academic community. These groups
supposedly select outstanding members of
each class in terms of academic records
and activities, and single these individuals
out for the honor of membership in Kwama,
Druids, or the other groups. The conflict
is the type of activity with which these or
ganizations generally choose to concern
themselves.
Take many of the outstanding students
in each class, let them wear uniforms once
a week, let them sell candy coated apples
and usher at special attractions and the re
sulting benefit to the participating students
and to the campus in general is nill. The
fund-raising activities of these groups are
important since most of them offer schol
arship aid to University students from the
funds raised during the year. Yet it is un
fortunate that in most cases these fund
raising activities are virtually the only in
terest of the group.
Granted, students who are selected for
membership in the six honoraries are al
ready involved in other activities and don’t
have a great deal of time to donate to an
other major organization. Yet it seems that
students designated as outstanding academ
ically could find time for some activity a
little more stimulating than ushering for a
Peter, Paul and Mary concert.
Each group has faculty and, or adminis
trative aavisors. It would seem logical to
assume that one reason for the stipulation
that such advisors be appointed would be
to stimulate some sort of rapport between
faculty and students. Yet it has been a long,
dark day since any honorary other than
Friars held a coffee hour or informal dis
cussion with their advisors or other faculty
members. Contact is usually limited to per
sonal conversations squeezed in during
business meetings called to discuss dues,
membership selection, or a fund raising
drive.
One of the faculty rating forms circulat
ed at the University in the past was drawn
up and administered by Mortar Board, yet
Mortar Board as well as all of the other
honoraries has remained silent during
the current discussion of faculty evalua
tions. If the membership of each of these
six groups is actually made up of students
who have good academic records and who
are active in campus affairs, these students
should logically be among those to join into
the dialogue of issues effecting the academ
ic community and could possibly add their
weight -as a group to such discussions.
Even without planning special activities,
honorary groups could take advantage of
academic retreats, lecture series and other
cultural or academic events on campus by
encouraging participation as a group. The
realm of possible activities extends far be
yond the usual framework of being able
to wear a uniform once a week, to list mem
bership in one honorary as a major activity
when applying for membership in another
one, and earning money for scholarship aid.
Although membership in such groups
should be seen primarily as an honor and
not as an activity requiring a great deal of
time and effort, it seems only logical to as
sume that the participants would expect
to gain some benefit from membership.
A new group of participants will be tap
ped for membership during Mothers’ Week
end. In organizing their groups we hope
that they will consider the broader scope
of activities possible and keep an eye to
offering their members some benefits as
well as the honor of belonging.
Good Program
Last week the School of Architecture and
Allied Arts brought a remarkable visitor
to the campus. He was Nicklaus Morgen
thaler, a Swiss architect who is one of the
Atelier Five, an enterprising group of archi
tects who created the Halen housing devel
opment near Berne.
A perceptive critic of environment and
architecture, he challenged much of the
status quo that seems to regulate the Amer
ican environment, questioning whether we
should build our life and environment
around the automobile. He believes rather
that the design of our environment should
be based on human needs. He argues that
we ought to re-examine our total environ
ment so that a new emphasis can be placed
on the search for satisfactory answers to
human needs in an industrial age of com
plex metropolitan areas.
The Halen development was planned,
built, financed and sold by the Atelier Five.
Recognizing the need for new concepts in
urban living, several Swiss architects or
ganized Atelier Five to implement their
idea for a two and half million dollar urban
community. The design was a complex of
five buildings centered around a central
piazza and enclosed street. Most controver
sial was the proposal to sell the eighty-five
living units separately with each owner
having a share in the ownership of the sur
rounding grounds.
Having completed a period of residency
as visiting Professor at the University of
Minnesota, Mr. Morgenthaler is now visit
ing across the United States. His phenom
enal achievement is more impressive in
that he received no formal architectural
training.
In light of President Johnson’s program
to re-evaluate and beautify our environ
ment, we hope that the School of Archi
tecture and Allied Arts will continue to
emphasize the problems of the American
environmental scene by bringing more
speakers of such exceptional caliber to the
campus.
One of the most meaningful student ac
tivities seen at the University for some time
is the ASUO’s Migrant Labor Project. The
project offers college students the chance
to use their brief summer vacation to try
out a program which is somewhat compar
able to the Peace Corps or several of the
poverty programs which are currently at
tracting large numbers of college graduates
each June.
Under the project last summer 15 Uni
versity students worked with public health
officials and county agents in several parts
of Oregon attempting to improve conditions
in migrant labor camps and to show some
of the families basic health habits which
may prevent disease fronv spreading in the
future.
The project funded by the federal gov
ernment, is primarily a public service to the
state of Oregon but also serves as a very
good public relations medium for the Uni
versity. Applications for this summer’s
project are due in the Migrant Labor office
on the third floor of the Student Union
Wednesday. We hope that qualified stu
dents will continue to participate in this
program and to strengthen it.
VON T?t •*'!
’If YOU INSItf ON VOTING (OUIWT YOU JfND IN AlHNTtE lAllOTS?"
Letters to the Editor
Symbolism?
Emerald Editor:
As many persons may already
realize, the department of Eng
lish has been very highly irrt
tated by the new design of the
letterheads for University sta
tionery. In their minds, the
University symbol resembles an
upended toilet bowl seat, and is
aesthetically distasteful.
Regarding their preoccupation
with the "hideous and vulgar"
symbol that was adopted for
the letterheads, the following
information should be made
public.
The design for modern toilet
bowls can be traced to a study
done by Backwater and Clog
(1927) wherein fifteen shapes
were compared for function ra
ther than aesthetic acceptabil
ity The thesis of the study was
that elliptical bowl designs
where one semi-axis does not ex
ceed .665 of the second semi
axis ase of maximum functional
worth in spite of their obvious
inferior aesthetic value. In def
erence to the desirability of
brevity in this letter, it must
only be stated that the thesis
was substantiated as fact
Another study of more recent
vintage (Flush, 1942) demon
strated that the horizontal depth
of the water container should
not exceed .751 of the smaller
semi-axis of the bowl proper
As a result of these studies,
the American Plumbing Com
pany, Ltd., designed (In 1954)
a standard bowl of maximum'
acceptability. This bowl pattern
was selected from an original
sample of well over 500
Unfortunately the symbol on
the new stationery does not fit
the recommended pattern of the
American Plumbing Company.
Neither does it conform to the
standards established in the
studies of Backwater and (’log
or Hush.
In a study conducted on this
campus during the past quarter,
bowls of the shape identified by
the English department increas
ed bathroom accidents U2 per
cent for adults and proved to
be completely disastrous for
children.
In light of this information it
seems feasible that the symbol
should be recognized merely as
a yoke of suppression for the
English department rather than
a toilet bowl.
I looked a little,
I looked a lot,
But I still can’t say
it resembles a pot.
Cordially,
(i. M. Martin,
Grad. Student.
* * *
Confucianism and
Communism
Emerald Editor:
The warm and pleasant per
sonality of Iir. Chan, who spoke
on Confucianism in Communist
China Tuesday night, won al
most every heart (luring his ler
ture
When we think about the let
ture contents, it seems that a lot
of evidences about the red hot
concerns about Confucianism in
Mainland China were given,
though they were not quite con
crete in nature The sources
were only vaguely presented if
the evidences were not possible
to be clearly stated and be pub
licly observed, why they ap
peared in the lecture at all"’
Were the examples given sup
posed to bring light or to lay a
mysterious and foggy overcast
upon the ideas?
Were half known facts more
valuable than complete ignor
ance? Was ignorance ironically
put as worthiness or were our
probable ignorance about Confu
cianism being taken advantage
of later on in the lecture’ Was
the lecture Implying that com
munism might appear bad', yet
it did possess certain 'good'
points especially in Communist
China?
In the lecture, we were
told that Communist China
stressed one side of the word
'jen,'* the society and the fam
ily We were given an answer
that politeness as well as Jhe
relationships between parents
and children were important
elements of ’jen.'
Before I came to the states,
however, I asked my nine-year
old cousin who visited Hong
Kong from Mainland China what
were taught in school. S h e
proudly replied, "Love not your
father; love not your mother,
but love only your country."
We may then be convinced that
the Communist does stress the
significance of the society.
Nevertheless, how can wc be
convinced that family relation
ships will exist at all if the
(Continued on paye 3)
OREGON DAILY EMERALD
The Oregon Daily Emerald n puh
b died five tinted in September and five
day* a week during the academic yc.tr,
except during examination period*. i;y
the Student I'tihlicitioni Hoard of the
Cniversity of Oregon. Entered as second
class matter at the post office, Eugene,
Oregon. Subscription rate* $.S per year;
$2 per term.
Opinion* expressed on the editorial
page are those of the Kmrrald and do
not represent the opinions of the ASl’O
or the University.
Cathy Neville, Editor
J. Craig Mathiesen, Business Manager
Chink Hegg*> Managing Kditoi
Kenneth 1C Kappel, Advertising Manager
Stephen Green, New* Editor
Dave Jordan, Associate Editor
Joe Hoffmann, Sports Editor
Phil Sernas.
Associate News Editor
Irma Dawn Moar,
Associate Managing Editor
Hob Carl, Assistant Managing Editor
Steve Dirneo, Entertainment Editor
Boh Derm is ton, Walt Biddle,
Photo Editors
Mary Stamp, Feature Editor
Editorial Board: Pom Bladine. Pat
Molt, Stephen (Ireen, Chuck Bcgg>,
Dave Jordan, Phil Sernas, Karen
Winn, Hob Carl, Mike Gannon.