University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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THE JAYHAWKER We present the initial installment oj an informal portfolio of campus events, gossip, and personalities C ROM that sticky night in May when proud and beaming parents heaved a sigh of relief as we left high school behind until that not-too-far-off proces- sion down the Hill to the stadium as we say goodbye to K. LJ., one unpleasant idea more than any other is K. U. version o the Mar. on the Street forced upon us. Beginning at home with Mother and Dad, big brother and the proprietor of the local drug- store, and continuing through the endless chain of Chancellor, dean, prof, fraternity upperclassman, and editorials in the Kansan, we are never allowed to forget that we are here for study primarily. Dismal thought, don ' t you think, George? As a rule, a few semesters on what the poet chooses to call Mount Oread s sunny slopes are sufficient to dispel any considerable faith in this popular super- stition, but occasionally on a dark night you may stumble over some firm believer asleep on the library i f aistrallon opnins , BEGINNING: By THE JAYWALKER steps. Through the year in these columns the Jay- walker will defend his firm conviction that, Phi Beta Kappas to the contrary notwithstanding, it ' s the little things in life that count at the U., as elsewhere. The friends, the parties, the embarrassing moments, the big shots, the jams, and the breaks that make the four college years the hub of our life history. One more word and we ' re off. In this little chronicle of the people and places that will make up the bits of the mosaic that will be the next year, I ' ll try not to infringe on the territory of the Social VheeI or Cam- pus Polylogia. My aim is to be neither a society reporter nor a scandalmonger. Rather, I ' d like to pick up the little ends that often pass as too commonplace for notice and preserve them here. And so, if you ' re ready, let s be off and see what ' s been doing and who s been doing it. Probably the most deserted place in Kansas about September 1 is the campus, and nothing brings more of a thrill than to be on hand as the students return. It brings back life like a pulmotor to a near-drowned man. I ' ve often had the feeling that the deserted campus had about as much personality as dead fish. George O. really ought to have a medal on hand for the first student to put in an appearance each fall. The first unmistakable sign of the imminence of school s opening is the glimmering of a few sorority house lights, and the scattered representation of the male element calling up indiscriminately and asking, Who ' s back? Does she want a date tonite? And the first break of the year by Mary Markham, Gamma Phi s blonde contender for honors as campus queen, who left home in such a flutter that she forgot the keys to her trunk. Charlie Long, Mr. Blue Mill to you, greeting old- comers and newcomers with a genial smile in his anJ ends some flours later

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OCTOBER , DISCRETION, NOT DISCIPLINE The student advisers ' job is to help, not to punish By G. ROCKWELL SMITH IN the good old days of the rah rah college boy, to be sent to the Dean was something for the alumni to boast about along with the pranks of hell- week and how the homecoming football game was won: but to the undergraduate it meant a severe shak- ing of the knees and a general loss of sleep. But daugh- ter, oh! Today, students are not only invited but urged by the Dean of Vomen and the Dean of Men, through their message in the K Book, to come in just to get acquainted. Under the present plan, discretion rather than discipline is employed to help solve the students ' problems. Even the title of Dean has been dropped and changed to Adviser. Miss Elizabeth Meguiar, the Adviser of Women, came to the University in the fall of 1918 to teach in the home economics department, and was appointed to her present office to succeed Dean Agnes Husband in the spring of 1955. Miss Meguiar was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and has all the charm and hospitality of the true Southerner. She grad- uated from the Sci- ence Hill School for Girls at Shelbyville, Kentucky, and enrolled in the Univer- sity of Chicago, where she majored in home economics. From there, she went East to teach in the depart- ment of home economics at Pennsylvania College. After spending three years there she was asked to teach home economics at Chicago University, but because of sickness she was unable to complete her first year. She then taught in the University of Texas, coming from there to K. U. In addition to serving on enough committees to make a whole bowl of alphabetical soup if they were to be put under the present national administration, she directs employment for women students, supervises their living conditions, authorizes all social affairs of each Hill organization, and makes up the University social calendar. Her office strives to promote a spirit of harmony and to coordinate social and extra-curricu- lar activities for women. Miss Elizabeth Meguiar Air. Henry erner Mr. Henry Vemer has been Adviser of Men at Kansas University since 1929, when he succeeded Dean John R. Dyer to that position. In the role of Adviser to Men, Mr. Verner is a very busy and important personage in the life and activities of students in the University. His office provides a center of advice and informa- tion to all men stu- dents. It is his duty to see that student life as a whole is running smoothly, and that student organizations are functioning. Mr. Vemer was born in England and personifies the non- chalance and tact of the English gentleman even to the accent. Before coming to Kansas Mr. Verner attended the Liver- pool Technical School, the University of Liverpool, and the Physikalisher Verein in Frankfort, Germany. In 1920, he came to the University of Kansas and received his Master of Arts degree in 1928. Aside from being the Adviser of Men, Mr. Werner serves on the Student Activity Committee, the Union Operating Committee, and the Committee on Student Affairs. He is also associate professor of chemistry, and is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Academy of Science, and the University Club. Mr. Verner is an ardent fisherman, and in collabo- ration with Professor H. B. Chubb, has been working on a new method of fishing that is truly revolutionary. After many years spent in laboratory research and studying the habits of certain fish, they have worked out a plan whereby a piscatorial decoy is used. A fish of the type they wish to fish for is caught, and a small hole is punched in its dorsal fin; then a string with an inflated balloon tied on one end is fastened through this hole. Fish such as wall-eyed pike and crappie stay in schools, so when their fish is released, he will swim until he finds a school of other fish, and then he will stop. AH the anglers have to do is to follow the balloon and they know exactly where to fish! This method has already been adopted on Leech Lake, Minnesota, where the two men spent a month (ConlinupJ on Page 8O)

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OCTOBER 19 6 THIS THAT newly renovated hangout. The Mill, long popular with the coke snifflers, has been enlarged and redecorated during the summer. Charlie also boasts a new air cooling system to match that of Dick Wagstaff, owner of YViedemann ' s, and dean of the permanent student body. If you haven ' t already done so. drop into the new Sour Owl office in the Union basement, and hear the Owl s success story from Major Bob Corey, business mana- ger, and man about the campus. The Owl is expanding this year and boasts a section dedicated to our neigh- bors at Kansas State. Plans are under way to circulate the Owl all through Kansas this winter so it seems inevitable that the homefolks will know the worst. Dave Ham- lin, editor of the humor mag, promises a bigger and better Owl than ever had in the memory of living man, and less of the cheap sheet of the last few years. The funny paper was a few days late in its first appearance, and the boys used that prize of printer ' s alibis, the ink didn ' t dry. The first issue justified all predictions, and if the good work keeps up Owl and Co. will have a banner year. Vfi n itte herd receives its instructions The new crop of pledges was a bumper one in quantity and the Greeks say in quality as well. The boys fought it out in the good old-fashioned way, and it still hasn t been decided who won. Any possible violations of the rules were settled out of court to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned. The girls ' rush rules are a bit more complex and to my mind a bit medieval. Locking fair maidens in castles went out some six hundred years ago. But what sthe use? You can generally tell a Kansas coed, but you can ' t tell her much. Dropped in for a few minutes at the fresh- man convocations, which seemed to have more upperclassmen in attendance than fresh- men, and half of the former on the stage as speakers. Despite dire warning the yearlings Braving tfc rain to attend convocation always delight in start- ing the year out right. VhiIe their little pasteboards stated that attendance would be taken as evidence of cooperation with the Dean ' s office or words to that effect, it evidently hasn ' t taken them as long as it did some of us to discover that life at the U. consists of incessant cooperation with the Dean ' s office, while that office seldom cooperates with them. (ConlinueJ on Pag ' . 80)