University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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FALL NUMBER, 1948 27 A LIVING MONUMENT FOR OLD BILL WHITE Staff Writer, University Daily Kansan Auikted by Photos by ijw Jones According to the newspaper fathers the only way one could become a good newspaperman was to eat ink and sleep on the composing stone. That might perhaps have been a fine truism 80 years ago, but today what greater opportunity could tomorrow ' s disseminators of news and information have than the new William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information? The new School of Jour- nalism is named after the sage of Emporia, the editor of the Emporia Gazette, who was born and reared in Kansas. He lived here until his death in 1944, fulfilling a life of high public service. Bill White was a warm-hearted citizen. He was brave, forthright, and kind. He lived and preached good will. He always fought to defend the right and de- feat the wrong. There could be no greater monu- ment to his character and ideals than a school named in his honor. Who is going to turn the new School ' s far reach- ing plans into reality - - the enticing reality of a journalistic mecca at K.U. whose influence would enlighten the public opinion of the nation? Burton W. Marvin, the first dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Public Information, would surely have found favor in the eyes of the beloved Emporian. At thirty-four, Dean Marvin has had a broad background of journalistic experience. Majoring in journalism at the University of Neb- raska, he got his first job as a reporter for the Lincoln Star after his graduation in 1935. One year later Dean Marvin entered the Pulitzer Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia Univer- sity on a Hitchcock Scholarship. He received his Master ' s degree from Columbia in 1937. After graduation he went to the Chicago Daily News. The following nine years saw the dean-to-be advance from reporter to copy-reader to assistant city editor to cable editor and to telegraph editor. During his last year with the News, Dean Marvin taught at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In September of 1946, he decided to devote his full time to the teaching at the Medill School. After Northwestern came the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where the dean taught until he accepted his deanship at K.U. on September 1 just 15 days after the School was accredited by the American Council on Education for Journalism. He is at one time an educator, accomplished journalist, efficient administrator, and a down-right good Joe. Married to his college sweetheart, a Phi Beta Kappa and a fellow Nebraskan, he is now the father of three children. The dean is currently trying valiantly to meet a tremendous schedule of speeches, talk with architects about remodeling the Fowler Dean Marvin and Professor Beth Discuss Plans

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I K. U. Journalism Hangs Its Shingle Shops (which the School may call Flint Hall and occupy by 1950), run the school itself, teach, and still have time left for his family. But what about the future of the new school? The primary objective, as the dean said, will be to give the student sufficient technical training so that he can go into newspaper work or whatever phase of journalism he chooses with a little head start over the fellow who has not had any technical training. But more important, what the dean likes to empha- size within the School is the channeling and inte- grating of general knowledge that students should obtain from their liberal arts courses. He is also looking forward to the day when the School will ex- pand its facilities to meet the need for progressive education in all of the communication arts motion pictures, radio, television, newspaper, facsimile, and publishing. Working hand-in-hand with the new school will be the William Allen White Foundation, supported by a trust fund which already amounts to $70,000 and which the promoters hope will reach at least a half million dollars. The foundation was organized by Bill White ' s friends to enlarge the extra-curricular activities of the school. The Foundation will be limited only by the vision of its faculty committees and the resources of its budget. The important task which the Foundation will attempt to undertake is indeed significant and unique. It will gather and publish pertinent papers which will provide up-to- date documentary teaching material in the entire field of the communication arts. The Foundation may also create casebooks to be called the William Allen White Problem Books which will be built from actual problems in the journalistic world. This is a project which will not only aid K. U. journalists but which will be a new mile- stone in the progress of journalistic educa- tion in the country. The books will be available to educational institutions throughout the nation. Undoubtedly this data will advance the training of com- petent young students in their profession. Furthermore, the Foundation will sponsor lectures, seminars, and roundtable discus- sions at K.U. by distinguished persons in journalism. Playing an active part in the school, as it has since 1912, the University Daily Kansan wil continue to serve as a practical laboratory in the training of neophyte reporters. Under the guidance of Prof. Emil L. Telfel, the news- paper ' s faculty news advisor, the Daily Kansan has for the second consecutive year received an All- American award, the highest given by the Associated Collegiate Press. From the time a story is conceived in the mind of the city editor until the time you read it, reporters, copy-readers, and editors have been busy getting prac- tical experience in newspaper work. At 9 a.m., the city-room is tense with activity as reporters hammer out their stories which the copy-readers check and re-check for style and errors at the city-desk, while At Work on the Linotypes X