Fort Hays State University - Reveille Yearbook (Hays, KS)

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Working to increase awareness of issues, senate helped to bring Campus Government to the Students They approach the Memorial Union from all directions, coming from apart- ments, greek houses, residence halls, classes and jobs. Once inside the union, they climb the stairs to the second floor and enter the Prairie Room for their weekly 7:00 p.m. meeting. With the sound of a gavel, they are silenced to at- tention as the meeting is called to order. Elected in the spring by students shar- ing their same major, 34 student senators b egin their term in July as represen- tatives of the students. They are invested with the power to write resolutions and bills, pass or vote down legislation, ap- prove or deny travel request money for various SOC approved organizations, af- firm or reject presidential appointments and carry out varied requested tasks as stated in the constitution. Everything considered, their purpose is to represent students at various levels of government, Kevin Faulkner, student body president, said. In fact, SGA Student Senate passed many appropriations bills to give groups funds for conventions and workshops. Diane Erker listens to discussion before voting on one such request. represents the 5,000 students before the administration, the Kansas Board of Regents, the state legislature and even on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Nevertheless, SGA administrators worry that various organizations and many students do not realize the ex- istence of SGA and the purpose it serves. Consequently, Brands formed an ad hoc committee to discover the reason behind the SGA identity crisis. A survey, writ- ten and distributed shortly before the end of the Fall semester, drove home the fact that students were unaware of SGA’s activities. Although it was considered devestating, the negative results were an- ticipated by the SGA Vice President. Primarily distributed to general educa- tion classes, the majority of students responding to the 259 surveys were freshmen. For the most part, those who answered the survey understood SGA’s function even though they did not know SGA’s function even though they did not know who their representatives were or how they were selected. Most important- ly, only 23 believed they were well- informed about SGA’s activities. “We’re not sure how to better inform them about SGA,” Brands said. “We have a few ideas, but after awhile you wonder if the students really even care.” Nevertheless, SGA continued to func- tion as the voice of the students at the state level, through the efforts of the Associated Students of Kansas lobbying organization. While informing the state schools and Washburn (a private university with membership in ASK) of Kansas’ pro- blems, Cheryl Knabe, ASK Campus Director, believes the organization is in- strumental in unifying the institutions. “ASK prevents Fort Hays from being isolated from the other schools,” Knabe said. “And, it helps bring them closer together.” The senate began looking into the various alternatives available to join a na- tional lobbying organization. Their efforts to locate suitable representation for FHS were complicated by the folding of one organization and the lack of materializa- tion of another. Nevertheless, some progress was made in the discovery of COPUS, a na- tional lobbying organization for private colleges. It would provide important infor- mation about proposed legislation on Capitol Hill. It may not be the answer SGA hoped for as far as national lobbying groups go,” Brands said. “But it is a start and for now, there doesn’t seem to be much of a choice.” Monitoring discussion in Student Senste, President Kevin Faulkner takes notes for future reference while Vice President Lyn Brands chairs the meeting. We ' re not sure how to better inform them about SC A. We have a few ideas, but after a while you wonder if the students really even care. — Lyn Brands STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION Feature 21

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Tubes turned to M A S H, on national and local level, to watch a Series Come to a Close Bryon Cannon Through early morning fog I see. Vi- sions of the things to be; The pains that are withheld for me. I realize and I can see That suicide is painless, it brings on many changes and I can take or leave it if I please . ” — Suicide is Painless (theme from M ' A’S’H by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman. Not very many people know these words. They were sung during the open- ing titles of a movie that came out in the early 1970s. The movie was M A S H. M ' A ' S ' H was a different genre of motion picture. It was clearly an anti- vietnam statement, but the message was spoken through the mouth of another war — the Korean Conflict. M‘A S H took the exploits of a couple of draftee doctors in Mobile Army Surgical Hospital M077 and made them legendary. Then it hit the television screen. For 11 years, M A S ' H reached into the American living room and enter- tained and shocked the family sitting there. There were hijinks and paralyzing moments of drama. M’A ' S’H was America’s first “black humor’’ series, blending laughter and tears with such perfection that many people are con- cerned for the future of television now that it is gone. On Feb. 28, 1983, the 251st and final episode of M‘A‘S H was aired. After 11 years on television, four times longer than the real Koren Conflict lasted, peace was finally declared. Former President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan and former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger, all sent telegrams of con- gratulations to the cast and crew of the series. Closer to home, at Fort Hays State, there were M’A’S ' H parties, celebrating and lamenting the end of the war and series. Most of those students who wit- nessed the final episode had grown up with M ' A ' S ' H and were beginning to wonder about life without it. The major M A S H parties took place, at the local taverns. At the Home I, hospital I.V. bags filled with water were suspended from the ceiling with the tubes appearing to lead into the beer taps. A big screen television was set up for the final viewing. Big screens were also set up at Judge McGreevey’s and DJ’s. The crowds were generally quiet as the last episode unfolded before their eyes. With few exceptions, the patrons of the parties dressed like their army heroes on M A S H. Olive drab was the coloring. Uniforms varied ac- cording to what the wearer had on hand or was able to bor- row. One partygoer, Jim Younger, Hays fr., dressed like a golfer, wearing a beret and plaid pants. He said he dressed in golfing attire to represent a sequence from the M ' A ' S ' H movie. In the film, Elliot Gould (Trapper John McIntyre) and Donald Sutherland (Hawkeye Pierce) went to Tokyo to per- form an operation but spent most of their time playing golf. Wiest Hall sponsored a party in the building’s basement where free beer was offered. However, most residents prefer- red to join their fellow residents on their respective floor to view the episode in their lobbies. All seven floors were filled with viewers. There was a gathering in the other halls and in the Memorial Union’s Livestone Lounge, where the big screen is permanently established. Before the actual showing of the last episode. Life magazine estimated that the show would have over 65 million viewers. CBS charged advertisers $450,000 for each 30 second commercial run during the two and one half hours. Newsweek magazine predicted that M’A ' S ' H reruns will be seen by over 200 million people, well into the 1990’s. M ' A ' S ' H was a vehicle to protect mass slaughter in southeast Asia without blatantly condemning our presence there. The diversified characters made M ' A ' S’H the unqualified success it was and is. The main character, Benjamin Franklin Pierce, portrayed on television by Alan Alda, was a surgeon who was not successful in hiding from the Crabapple Cove, Maine, draft board. Hawkeye was the main focus of many of the M ' A ' S ' H episodes. His overbearing sense of humor kept himself and the rest of the camp from achieving the Section 8 psychological discharge that Corporal Max Klinger, the camp transvestite, so badly wanted. Pierce also has a deep sense of humanity in him, which never failed to manifest itself, even toward the enemy. “Hawkeye makes the best of the situa- tion, and in the modern-day army, that’s what you have to do or you won’t show any improvement,” Gordon McMillian, Beloit fr., said. Of the show’s end, Doup Winder, Nor- ton fr., said, “They ended the show well, and it showed how people feel after being together so long and then being separated.” The Korean Conflict has never official- ly ended. A cease-fire was signed and the fighting stopped, but the war is not truly over. For the cast of M ' A’S’H, Korea is ended for them. “Goodbye, farewell and Amen.” Television sets all over campus were turned to the last episode of M’A’S’H. Students watched as goodbyes were made on the screen. They ended the show well, and it showed how people feel after being together so long and being separated . — Doug Winder M A S H Feature 23