The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 12, 1967 Page: 2 of 8
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editorial
the rice threeher
1/iefaant: "PCea TRea&nt
Representative Bob Eckhardt of Hous-
ton recently distinguished himself as the
first Texas Congressman to advocate a
de-escalation of the Vietnam War. The
United States, he said, must halt the
bombing of the North, scale down its
operations in the South, and push more
strenuously for a negotiated peace—a
policy entailing no precipitate withdrawal
from Vietnam. Congressman Eckhardt is
to be applauded for his courageous and
realistic proposals to end this costly,
fruitless conflict.
Eckhardt and the ever-expanding le-
gion of Vietnam critics are most visibly
distressed with the administration's dog-
ged pursuit of a military victory—"the
catharsis of total violence," in Galbrai-
thian terms. This objective is to be at-
tained. presumably, by demolishing the
North Vietnamese lines of communica-
tion, and through that uniquely bloody
instrument, the "search and destroy"
mission. Neither aspect of this military
policy has met with singular success. In-
deed. the war has drifted into a familiar
pattern of attrition: North. Vietnam
>eems to possess an inexhaustible supply
of bridge spans, rail lines, and anti-air-
craft ordnance, while American industry
welcomes the production of warplanes as
an easy and profitable task.
Nor is the vicious ground fighting like-
ly to prove decisive. The bulk of Ho's army
is still in the North, and if he is ever
pressed by a troop shortage, he may well
call upon his populous allies for "volun-
teers." Similarly, the United States has
scarcely tapped its own vast fund of man-
power, though strain is now being felt
in academic sanctuaries which are no
longer privileged. In short, the dynamics
of the war strongly point to stalemate-
irreconcilable, pointless, sanguinary.
However, bolder strategists envision
ways of breaking the deadlock and win-
ning the war. Strike at the source of the
Ho Chi Minh Trail, they claim, and you
will choke off Hanoi's lifeline to the
South. The most lucrative target, under-
standably, is the harbor of Haiphong,
which would be bombed, mined, or block-
aded. Yet any combination of these tac-
tics would risk the destruction of Soviet
ships; it would overtly challenge the right
of the Soviet Union to defend an ally in
need.
To fully appreciate the perils of any di-
rect confrontation with Russia in Asia, it
is worthwhile to reflect upon the Cuban
missile crisis of 1962. Following Soviet
acquiescence to the American ultima-
lum, President Kennedy confided to Ar-
thus Schlesinger, Jr., his fear that people
would thereafter expect Communist de-
termination to crumble in the face of
toughness. Kennedy recognized only too
well the distinctive features of the missile
crisis: it occurred in an area where we en-
joyed local conventional superiority, where
Soviet national security was not directly
involved, and where the Russians could
not convincingly sustain their case before
world opinion. "Things would be differ-
ent," he warned, "where they could per-
suade themselves and others they were
in the right."
Thus, a reasonable assessment of the
evidence yields these unmistakable con-
clusions: bombing cannot win the war;
ground fighting is of little consequence,
militarily; further escalation may trig-
ger a wider conflict of disastrous propor-
tions. Yet the administration persists. It
proclaims its willingness to stop the
bombing and negotiate, but only if Hanoi
"reciprocates". That is, North Vietnam
must not utilize the pause to its own ad-
vantage; it must refrain from infiltrat-
ing men and supplies into the South.
These pre-conditions for peace talks
are incredibly one-sided, so much so that
President Johnson seems to be trying to
dupe a doting Ho. Obviously, Ho's war
machine sputters to a halt without sup-
plies from the North, and his troops and
sympathizers are at the mercy of the
American air cavalry, whose logistical
ties are still well intact. The peace initia-
tive, then, lies with the United States.
We must act unilaterally, coupling an in-
definite cessation of the bombing with a
relaxation of ground operations. With
clear evidence that the United States is
acting in good faith, and is sincere in its
search for a fair political settlement,
there is no reason why talks should not
begin. And most importantly, we must
reconcile ourselves to a solution which is
acceptable to North Vietnam. This is pre-
requisite to any lasting peace.
But there will never be a favorable cli-
mate for a bombing halt, let alone produc-
tive negotiations, until we abandon the
notion that Ho is an Asian Hitler and
South Vietnam his Czechoslovakia. No
one is really certain if this facile analogy
is the cause or the justification of our
Vietnam policy. Whatever the case, it is
irrelevant to the unique circumstances of
Asia, and must therefore be scrapped.
As Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., observed, the
multitude of errors committed in the name
of "Munich" may exceed the original error
of 1938. Indeed, peace in our time may
well be preferable to endless conflict.—WS
s4vt loaifatian
The Rice campus offers all too few and too
narrow a range of undergraduate publications.
A developing writer, poet, artist, or photograph-
er can easily miss a couple of Janus deadlines,
be turnedoff by Thresher style or be too impatient
for Campanile work, and entirely miss afty op-
portunity to present his work publicly.
To broaden the number and variety of campus
outlets, the Thresher is pleased to announce two
special on-going projects.
First, the Thresher Review, a sporadic col-
lection of fiction, poetry, and graphics is being
prepared for publication early in November. A
slick, magazine-styled review, literary collection,
or journal requires inordinate amounts of time
and money and can appear only infrequently,
handling only a limited number of contributions.
The Thresher feels that in sponsoring its own
Review it is contributing to the development of
Rice as an artistic-literary community.
All manuscripts, drawings, and photographs by
any student or faculty member should be sent,
clearly marked as Thresher Review copy, to the
Thresher office on the second floor of the RMC
before October 31.
Second, any member of the Rice community
with a worthwhile project will be given space
in the Thresher any time the space is available.
This week we are running a second section—four
pages in addition to our regular eight. The sec-
tion is ideally suited for special projects—a
short humor "magazine" for instance, or an
underground newspaper, perhaps even a parody
of the Thresher. Anything. We only require that
the undertaking be seriously conceived and worth
the production cost. We are looking for the un-
usual or experimental idea and would welcome
an opportunity to work out the details with either
an individual or a group.
John T. McCants
This past week Rice University lost one of her oldest and
greatly valued members, John Thomas McCants. His career
of devoted service to every good cause on our campus spanned
the entire history of Rice. In fact, as secretary to our first
President, Dr. Edgar Odell Lovell, Mr. McCants took an active
part in the planning of what was then called The Rice Insti-
tute. When Rice actually opened, those few of us who were
members of the early faculty remember him well and grate-
fully, for he was most helpful to each one of us in getting settled
in Houston and in the effective beginning of our work. As re-
gistrar and bursar and the President's secretary, he attended
most faithfully to translating into action the plans of Dr. Lovett
and his staff members for the adequate equipinenl, operation,
and sound growth of the new university.
Mr. McCant's concern for the welfare of the students was
as genuine and fruitful as his interest in the teaching and re-
search of his faculty colleagues. All Rice students knew that
in him they had a never-failing friend, ready to listen to their
pleas and problems and to help them in every way possible.
Multitudes of students through the years were enabled to re-
main at Rice and to graduate through the material help which
he secured for them. To this day his name is blessed in who
knows how many homes of Rice alumni all over the land.
His devotion to the University was unwavering. In every
way and on every occasion J. T. McCants was a faithful cham-
pion of every measure that would help to realize the high
purposes and ideals of Rice. He was jealous in defending the
good name and renown of Rice. It has been the very good for-
tune of Rice that from the very start and all along through the
years we have had administrative leadership and direction of
the highest order. In this inspiring record the role of John
Thomas McCants should be and will Jbe gratefully remembered.
—RADOSLAV A. TSANOFF
Dept. of Humanities
Shanor considers students' rights
in expressing views to University
By JACK MURRAY
Thresher Reporter
Rice Student Association pres-
ident Charles Shanor gave
prominent members of the
Houston business and profes-
sional community some first-
hand thoughts concerning the
relationship between the student
and the university recently
when he participated in a
panel discussion on "student
power" at a luncheon meeting
of the Downtown Rotary Club.
Other student panelists invited
to voice their opinions includ-
ed Susan Logan of the Uni-
versity of Houston and Walter
Fontenot of TSU.
Dr. Richard Evans, professor
of psychology at U of II, led
off the program with a short
discussion about the sociologi-
cal and psychological factors
important in defining and rec-
ognizing a power trend or
movement. He then asked the
panelists to define student pow-
er and explain how it applies
to their specific situations.
Student Voice
Shanor responded by citing
three categories in which stu-
dents should have at least the
right to be heard by university
officials, and in the case of his
last example, to hold unrestrict-
ed authority.
"Students deserve the power
to voice their opinions to uni-
versity administrators at any
time," Shanor stated, "and to
propose action whenever they
feel it necessary to do so. No
implication that the views of
the students will be carried
through is intended, but every
administration has the respon-
sibility to listen to the griev-
ances of its students."
Unlimited Power
Shanor also considered stu-
dent participation in policy de-
cisions to be important, with
student representation on uni-
versity committees proportional
to the degree of student in-
terest or involvement in the
decisions of each.
Shanor concluded his opening
remarks by calling for students
to be given unlimited power to
administer their own affairs,
such as student publications and
the invitation of guest speak-
ers, without the threat of uni-
versity pressure, interference,
or censorship.
Shanor later answered a
query from the floor about the
university's responsibility to
see that speakers such as Tim-
othy Leary do not come to the
campus by saying that Leary's
presence at Rice last year prob-
ably "turned more people off
than on."
Critical Analysis
A major function of every ac-
ademic community, Shanor stat-
ed, is to provide its members
with an opportunity to critical-
ly analyze different viewpoints
on major issues. To neglect the
educational angle by denying
such opportunities merely per-
petuates ignorance, thus intensi-
fying the problems.
Shanor's response to another
question revealed that the term
"student power" does not imply
that students are entitled to
certain rights of self-govern-
ment only because they happen
to be citizens of a community.
Asked whether it is not a self-
delusion for students to seek
the power to make most of their
own rules and decisions now
when after graduation they will
find themselves at the bottom
of the business hierarchy, with
little or no policy say, Shanor
answered that the situations
are not analogous.
All students at private uni-
versities, he said, have a vested
interest in "the type of educa-
tion they receive and how it is
accomplished because they pay
the university for the privilege
of attendance. This implies that
the students have every right
to expect a loud voice in the
formulation of the rules by
which they should govern
themselves.
Fontenot, president of the
TSU Honor Society and secre-
tary of the university's chap-
ter of the NAACP, concluded
the half-hour program with an
observation that participation
in the student body of the uni-
versity is a model for later par-
ticipation in society.
I he rice thresher, october 12, 1967—page 2
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Hancock, Darrell. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 55, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 12, 1967, newspaper, October 12, 1967; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245009/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.