University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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The all-American crew-cut college kid no longer exists. He belonged to the late forties and fifties when the Cold War, flag waving patriotism, and Pat Boone were in vogue. Today ' s college student, though coming from the same background, has encountered a vastly different university than his predecessor did a decade and a half ago. He is more aware and recep- tive to the world around him. His concern for civil rights sparked the Southern Negro voter registration drives of the sixties. His concern for the underprivi- leged peoples of his own country and the world are manifest in his interest in VISTA and the Peace Corps. But in the last year, this concern has appeared to be waning, or at least changing direction. There are several reasons for this change. First, the university has assumed a much more prominent role in the structure of American society. The largest segment of the university, the students, are now more interested in student power the way they can use their collective influence in changing the univer- sity and the world around them. Second, the war in Viet Nam and its corresponding demands for man- power have reached such proportions that students can no longer take an extended absence from school or join one of these volunteer programs after gradu- ation for fear of being drafted. American society is turning to the universities for finding solutions to its problems and at the same time demanding that its students go out and solve those problems. It is not the students who have changed the university from a monastery to a government research plant and em- ployment source. But the students are at the very center of that change. For the following six pages of the Dome, four students discuss these topics and their relation to the students. On pages 10 and 11, Jon Sherry, senior government major and ASP party chairman, outlines the history and goals of student power in the nation ' s universities and specifically at Notre Dame. On pages 12 and 13 Forrest Hainline, a senior English major, attacks American involvement in Viet Nam, while Chris Manion, a senior history major, demands a quick, decisive victory. Then on pages 14 and 15, Ned Allen Buchbinder, senior General Program ma- jor and student draft counsellor, tells what he knows of the Selective Service ' s plans for the class of 1968 and suggests alternative actions for students who need them. Keith Harklns