University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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The University of Kansas started off school year 1973-74 with a lot of news: new chancellor, new buildings, new relationships be- tween students, faculty and administration and a new spirit high- lighted by a winning football season. There was also a new athletic director, a new assistant athletic director who was famous, a new health director, new restaurants and new officers in campus organizations. These new things were certain to make the year distinct, although it probably will not be remembered by anyone separate from the University. The factors that made up 1973-74 promoted a state of campus normalcy, and it was a happy tiding for those students who could remember the campus turmoil that occurred in 1969-70. Perhaps one reason the campus returned to a state of normalcy was that all eyes were turned to national affairs: Watergate and the Energy Crisis. No one really had time to bother about disrupting the campus. Impeachment-of-Richard-Nixon talk was mounting and declining, and trust in the government was wavering. Students were thinking about the energy crisis. It was a time of wonder: Wondering if the winter would be severe and hoping, in- deed, that it would not be. Wondering if severe weather might cause severe living conditions. Wondering what Phase Four really meant. And wondering, for many, how they would get home when airline companies were reducing their numbers of flights around Christmastime. 28

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Features - open to the view

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It was a time of revelations. Students standing at prominent places on campus, or- ating about Jesus Christ and sin and salvation. Several persons handed out informa- tion on Millineum 73, the Divine Light Mission featuring Guru Maharaj Ji. There were several campus religious groups: Mustard Seed, The Lawrence Christian Libera- tion Front, Navigators, Yeshua House of Campus Christians, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and Canterbury House. Then there were several other organized groups of students who would get together for Bible studies. Perhaps, in future years, this will be regarded as a counter attack against the no-news-was-good-news era in which we lived. Transcendental Meditation was gaining pop- ularity, and many students were convinced that after meditating for 20 minutes they were as relaxed as if they had slept for eight hours. Fraternities and sororities were regaining a lost popularity, and an American Graffiti era came to an end when the Wescoe Boardwalk was torn down, signifying the fact that a large new building was almost completed. There was the Week of Shocks when no- body really knew what to say or do. Vice-President Agnew resigned after newspa- pers and magazines connected him to corrup- tion in Maryland state government. One typical conversation went like this: Did you hear about Agnew resigning? Yes. Isn t it great? Now all they have to do is get Nixon. Other students felt insecure about the whole matter and thought the government was col- lapsing before their very eyes. President Nixon, who had succeeded in avoiding the press in his first administration, was on television at least once every three weeks during the fall of 1973. Operation Can- dor, the President s counter-attack against Watergate allegations, was the theme he used to try to get the country back on its feet. 29