Outlook (May 6, 1958)
On Games and Governors
It is spring, and there is a strange new game going around campus. A very strange new game. I never thought I would live to see the day when students would dress up in summer tuxes in order to view the sunrise.
These students have perfected a wonderful prayer movement which resembles a snakelike motion. When they have finished their swaying, they weave toward their dormitories singing a mournful, throaty chant. You would think that this new occupation would reflect itself in consumption of Dining Hall breakfasts, but actually the revers is taking place. Less and less students are seen in line in the morning. There must be an explanation, but I am completely in the dark as to what it can be.
Other things have been happening also. The Governor came down and dedicated Pink Teddy Hall amid flowers and high-sounding words, and they threw a banquet for him and honored guests. The night before, there were about 400 folding chairs in front of the library and five guards watching over them to stave off the criminal element of our great University.
When you think of the library, you cannot forget the misquotes int he DBK article which attested to having taken a sample of the opinions of the campus concerning said edifice. One of the little fillies who was quoted was much disturbed to find herself violently misquoted. When she was asked what she thought of a ladies room, with the tile and all. When she read what the paper printed, she found such eloquent phrases as … grand place to study … love that pink tile, etc. As I say, she was much disturbed.
I have noticed that Zal has been happy lately. I wonder why.
Looking through the pile of newspapers that come in each week from universities across the nation, I found one that touched my heart. There is a university in the mid-west, known as the University of Minnesota, which is printing some very exciting articles. The particular issue that I found is dated April 11, 1958. The article was all the more interesting because this school is situated in Minneapolis, which is not very far from St. Paul. It draws the bulk of its students from these two cities, and is reputed to be a five-day college.
This all sounds familiar, eh? A lot of the lack of enthusiasm on our campus has been attributed to just such a situation. That there is enthusiasm on Minnesota’s campus can be seen in a few of their articles. There is one story on the front page, the gist of which is that students at the university have seen fit to draw up a petition to abolish the existing student government and to replace it with a more representative one. One of the strange things in this move is that for the remainder of the semester, should this petition go through, the duties of the student government will be turned over to what would correspond to the Faculty Senate on our campus. I am not saying that such steps should be taken here, especially with the new constitution coming into being, but I am happy to see that weekday colleges are not fated to lie in the doldrums of apathetic existence.
One of the columnists on the staff of their paper saw fit to publish a few poems dealing with the issue, and the following is one that I find particularly memorable.
DIDDLE, DADDLE
Diddle, Daddle, A. U. C.*
How I wonder what you be?
Way above our heads, I fear.
Is your extinction drawing near?
It is good to see issues like this stirring up interest somewhere in this nation. It keeps my faith alive.
*All University Congress.
