tl19661024-002 "October 24, 1966 TOWER LIGHT Exposure Focus on Leadership By RICHARD MILLER The crowd was noisy yet ap-prehensive as Mr. Al Diem, President of the S.G.A., rose to the platform to address the Opening session of last week's leadership con-ference. Silence came and Mr. Diem began to speak. As he did, various ob-servations be-came clear. The first was Miller that Towson's student leaders were very in-terested in bettering Towson State College. Of course, there were a number of disinterested Spectators who obviously were leaders only for the sake of achieving recognition and sta-tus. However, an overwhelming number of student leaders were there to listen and learn and to find purpose for their efforts. As Mr. Diem combined words to make sentences and combined sentences to convey meaning, the second observation became c'hvious. A time of change has Come to Towson and Al Diem is the leader of that change. Mr. Diem is a leader whose competence is exceeded only by his dedication. He envisions a time when Towson students will Georgetown Alters Rule Washington D.C. (CPS)�. A rule prohibiting drinking in dormitories has been unexpect-edly reversed by Georgetown University. Officials said the new policy, Which allows all men to keep u�t11 beer and hard liquor in their rooms, was designed to heln students develop personal 1,�esPonsibility. According to the neverend Anthony J. Zeits, di-rector of student personnel, authorities who have studied the earllnus drinking issue have concluded that ""the formation of Young men is facilitated When they are given the free- ""41 to choose whether to use �I' not to use alcoholic bever-ages."" Georgetown officials also said the move was made to end the 'l retense of enforcing an unen-forcible rule�a primary con-sideration, according to several stud.ents. Studies of other col- :Iges which allow liquor on -,4111Pus have shown that ""most SLudents do not over-indulge 1:/}len allowed to have alcoholic �.�'everages in their dormitories,"" rather Zeits emphasized. The step taken by George-u3wn is a surprising one, ac-ehl) rding to Gerry McCullough, L'e14's editor of the student pa- Per. . McCullough said the drink- 1Y l dision was handled quiet- . The Student Council dis- (tlissed the issue with adminis- Ztion officials last year. The ,7\vsPaper knew nothing of the L'r�ceedings until the matter ""as settled, McCullough said. be capable of determining their social life. He advocates teacher evaluations and an honor code for students. He is a proponent of fraternities and greater stu-dent- administration cooperation. He is, in other words, the cham-pion of liberal students and ad-ministration officials alike. However, Mr. Diem is not an extremist. He does not believe in irtresponsible, immediate change. He believes that chan-ges must be made and will be made but in a constructive and well thought-out way. He be-lieves that each student should work individually to do his part in any way possible to improve Towson. Mr. Diem supplied those leaders who were present at the con-ference with a purpose. All students incited by Mr. Diem's example have returned to Tow-son with a will to fulfill it. Let us all, regardless of our posi-tion or beliefs, follow Mr. Diem's example in the same way. Hemline Crisis By ROD RITCHIEL, (CPS) Mini-skirts were blamed for economic crises in three West-ern nations September 28, as a University of Toronto debate team unanimously defeated the resolution ""Shorter Skirts Are a Threat to Democracy."" Speaking for the ayes, David Mossop, a ""panty man"", blamed mini-skirts for economic crises in ""the three great democrati-ces, Britain, Canada, and the U.S."" Mossop cited a British ditch-digger, distracted by the skirts, whose productivity fell to 15 from 25 shovelfuls a minute. He called on prime minister Wil-son to ""freeze the hemline ra-ther than freeze the prices."" He said that because of the mini-skirt the cancellation of medicare in Canada will breed a new disease�sexual frustra-tion. ""The next miniskirt you see, tear it down,"" he ordered. Bernie Bomers of the nays defended mini-skirts on grounds that ""they are an institution of the people, for the people, and by the people."" He said that skirts are de-mocratic because ""like democ-racy, they help to release energy."" Stan Emerson of the ayes accused Bomers of trying to ""hem and skirt"" the issue with a ""diarrhea of words and constipation of thought."" ""Mini-skirts are a threat to mother-hood,"" he said. He said that, while equality is one of the cornerstones of democracy, ""mini-skirts empha-size the differences between the sexes""�to which one engineer shouted, ""vive la difference."" ""Mini-skirts discriminate a-gainst older women,"" Homers said. ""There is much to be said in praise of older women."" Page 3 VIEWPOINT: Quizzes By PAT KOZLOWSKI Class quizzes prove to be a frustrating event for students inexperienced in effective note-taking techniques. Students who record a lec-ture word for word will find themselves bogged down with unimportant materials, where-as persons who leisurly jot down a sentence or two from an en-tire class lecture will need to fill in much material before be-ginning to study. The former problems are not easily resolved. Flashing red lights are being used by movie makers to warn the audience of an upcoming and terrifying scene. This technique causes the audience to watch and listen with greater attentiveness. I would like to recommend a technique of a similar result for class lectures. The general idea would be the installation of blinking lights to be used by an instructor for any point he would like to be recorded. The colors for these lights would differ according to each subject so that the student being a-roused from his previous under-takings would first be reminded of what class he is attending. Conservatively Speaking The American Cause By WESLEY McDONALD This Tall the Towson Young Americans for Freedom in co-operation with Constructive Ac-tion, Inc. will be offering with-out cost to the student body copies of Dr. Russell Kirk's book The Ameri-can Cause. First pub-lished in 1957, and then repub- .lished in Sep- Ai*skt. tember, 1966 by McDonald the Henry Reg-ney Company, Thc American Cause is a short, simple state-ment of American ""moral and social principles."" A Tradition-alist, Dr. Russell Kirk has writ-ten a number of scholarly works and Gothic novels including The Conservative Mind, John Ran-dolph of Roanoke and Beyond the Dreams of Avarice. He has also written a number of essays for scholarly journals and, of course, is the popular columnist for the magazine ""National Re-view."" The original purpose of his latest published book, writes Dr. Kirk, was in reaction to the ""As I See It"" Political Thought by DALE L. The average American citizen, when confronted with the news of a political assassination in one of the underdeveloped coun-tries of the world, will shrug and say some-hing like ""What else can you ex-pect from un-educated peo-ple."" On the other hand, we attrib-ute political as-sassinations in the United States to mentally unbalanced people, and refuse to acknow-ledge the fact that the attitudes of the average American citizen have something to do with the dastardly deed which we find so shocking and revolting. It is my belief and contention that all of us, as citizens of a country which prides itself on its wise use of the democratic process, have a duty to make sure that we do not derogate any individual, let alone one in high political office, merely be-cause we disagree with his views. When we are engaged in dis-cussions with friends, most of us state our disagreement with-out resorting to name-calling and mud-slinging. Also, we can discuss the issues without bring-ing in unrelated points, such as a person's personal habits, and how he treats his dog. Unfortunately, it has long been a habit of the American people and politicians to engage in mud-slinging, or what the logicians call ""argumentum ad hominem"" when discussing the views of a political leader. This is not to say that man's Steinacker STEINACKER moral attitudes might not have some influence on his actions as a governmental official, but the legitimate area al concern in this relation does not extend to whether or not he pulls the ears of his dogs. During the early years of the New Deal, opposing politicians even went to the extent of criti-cizing Franklin D. Roosevelt's dog, Fala. Also, some people were criti-cizing President John F. Ken-nedy because he walked in front of his wife as Presidential pro-tocal demands. In response to this criticism, he followed his wife out of Air Force One short-ly after the plane had landed at Dallas' Love Field on Friday morning November 22, 1963. lt is not my desire to limit discussion of political issues, I am merely asking that all of us refrain from vituperative, personal attacks on an individ-ual just because we disagree with his views on one or more issues. Fortunately, in this country, each of us, as an American citi-zen, has the right to vote when we reach a certain age. We also have the right to try to per-suade others to vote as we would like to have them vote. How-ever, we should not abuse this right by engaging in personal attacks. It is the duty of the educated people of the United States to take the lead in raising the level on which our country's political discussions are held. If we make a sincere effort to limit personal attacks on our political leaders we could possibly prevent an-other dastardly deed on another day, in another Dallas. apparent susceptibility of A-merican troops during the Kore-an War to Communist brain-washing. ""It rarely was tor-ture or drugs that rendered our troops easy victims to the Corn-munists ;"" he writes, ""the records show that Communist 'brain-washing' was simply clever po-litical indoctrination. usually without physical intimidation. Our men were betrayed by their own ignorance, lack of confi-dence, and weakness in reasoned debate. Even the minority of prisoners�less than ten per cent of the total�who actively resisted such indoctrination scarcely could tell how or why they resisted, although they look to themselves, with pride . . ."" (3-4) ""In the prison camps,"" Kirk continues, ""our men died by the thousands�not from physical mistreatment, except in a few instances, but principally from despair, bewilderment, and lack of faith."" (7) Kirk writes as a man un-afraid to declare his belief in God and God's law in an age when it is popular to dismiss God in three words�""God is dead."" ""Most Americans,"" he preceives, ""are convinced that certain of these enduring truths were revealed to mankind by God. Among these principles are the necessity for worship-ping the Creator, the essence of private morality, and the nature of love which teaches us our duties toward other men and women."" (14) ""We cannot un-derstand our American cause, therefore, unless, we first un-derstand the principles upon which the American people have formed their complex society."" (15) After dealing in detail with the Christian-Jewish intellec-tural basis for Western society, he compares it with Communism which he declares in many re-spects in a caricature of Chris-tianity, making it all the more dangerous. Communism only succeeds not when men are poor, ""but when they are emotionally and intellectually distraught."" (114) His answer to the Commu-nist's criticisms of Western society seems at times a little too obvious to take the time to write a whole chapter on it, but maybe that is just what we need�a short statement that declares just what the Western society does stand for. A Com-munist can certainly support his beliefs, but how many of us could give a convincing argu-ment in favor of capitalism. How many of us, in fact, don't feel a little guilty everytime capitalism is mentioned because of the bad connotation the word has received in recent years. What does America and the American way of life stand for? It is an interesting question. Do we really know? We certainly give enough lip-service to the ""American way of life."" Lets find out what it really is. Might this columnist suggest that in addition to having Dr. Kirk's book on campus that we might have him in person to speak on just that subject. "
