Spectrum, 1951-04-27

              the spectrum official student publication of the university of buffalo volume 1 mtflli » buffalo n y friday april 27 1951 color blind everyone is worried about academic freedom those over 45 are convinced that 75 of college students are radical the trouble with them is they're color blind they can't tell red from green — dr samuel p capen speaking on educa tion panel at the civil liberties conference pictured below are barton bean popular government instructor david mix student moderator and chancellor emeritus samuel p capen who comprised the education panel at the civil liberties conference held at norton friday ( april 20 these men reaffirmed the concept of academic free dom which has bcome a tradition at the university of buf falo before students faculty and residents of the area who packed the auditorium civil liberties produce interesting situations reassuring proof of the alert ness and intelligence of university students was provided on friday when more than five hundred gave up their usual social activities to attend the civil liberties confer ence at norton union conceived organized financed and presented by students the con ference succeeded in bringing into focus the importance of civil liber ties to the continuance of the amer ican way of life special emphasis was placed on academic freedom by chancellor emeritus samuel capen speaking on the education panel a fitting keynote for a stu dent sponsored discussion his statement that persons who object to so-called subversive ac tivities o*l college campuses usu ally preface their remarks with the statement i believe in academic freedom but ..." there is no such thing as aca demic freedom but you either have it or you don't have it re ceived thunderous approval from the jammed listeners the panel discussions were jammed with alert participants many of whom were forced to stand the views expressed by the panel speakers were not in every case docilly accepted however acute minds sought out the di lemmas and inconsistencies often leading to heated argument and in every case to a more complete grasp of the problem students found themselves liter ally in the public eye with news men from the new york times the associated press and both buffalo papers in attendance ing from a half century of experi ence in civil liberties fights the sixty-nine-year-old liberal alter nately entertained and astounded his fascinated audience criticizing the average american citizen for leaving civil liberties cases to the radicals who fight them for propa ganda purposes he asserted there is no cause quite so worth fighting for as the right of the in dividual to be himself a heated exchange between a student and mr jay barnsdall area attorney electrified the police panel mr barnsdall had quoted from a police manual which stated that if it were necessary to use violence upon a prisoner the blows should be directed at a part of the body where the marks would not be readily visible the student a member of the buffalo police force challenged the statement asserting that the manual was not in use in buffalo upon question ing mr barnsdall revealed that the manual was dated 1931 hays dynamic address highlight of the conference was the evening address by arthur garfield hays new york corpora tion lawyer and general counsel of the civil liberties union speak potiphar's wife alluded to a probable reference to the spectrum's notorious potiphar's wife took students by surprise in his keynote address judge charles s desmond said there are always among us those who for profit or out of ex hibitionism and infantilism insist on peddling smut either by the spoken or the printed word i un derstand that such persons are found even oh university campuses and that their output even finds its way into college publications judge desmond warned against absolute liberty saying if every little group of agita tors can under the slogan of civil rights create disorder and make life and government difficult for the rest of us without remedies or hindrances then we are all slaves to those small groups state-regional conference held by nsa this weekend u.b is host to fifty-five schools all students invited to attend ♦ more than 160 persons includ ing delegates alternates observ ers guests and faculty will par ticipate in the annual spring con ference of the new york state re gion of the national student asso ciation the three-day assembly will be held at the university of buffalo in norton union represented in the conference will be students from all area col leges and universities also from colleges and universities in upstate new york aproximately 65 schools are sending representatives the assembly will begin friday evening with a plenary session held at the lafayette hotel this will be followed by the presentation of a district talent show at norton union auditorium after the show . a keynote speech will be deliv ■ ered i the activities on saturday will ; consist of a plenary session fol lowed by panel discussions this will be divided into four groups international national regional and campus the participants in these panels will attempt to dis cuss and reach solutions to many of the problems which are facing today's college students the whole afternoon is devoted to discussions and commissions a report of each panel will be presented at a plenary late saturday afternoon such prob lems as student's bill of rights student finance student govern ment student activities and stu dent faculty relations will be dis cussed banquet saturday the highlight of the conference will be the banquet at the crystal room of the hotel lafayette mr nagel of the republic light heat and power co will be the guest speaker an informal party and dance will follow the banquet the session will resume sunday morning at the buffalo state teach ers college on elmwood avenue elections of new state officers will take place and this will be followed by an open discussion on this year's national convention to be held at the university of minno the regional executive commit tee feels that this is a very ambi tious and energetic program it ia hoped that all students at the university of buffalo interested in student and campus life attend all the sessions the committee ex tends a cordial invitation to all students at this university to take an active part in this three-day conference deferment tests still available to male students there seems to be considerable misunderstanding on the campus regarding the selective service system's plan for a national apti tude test if the inquiries coming into the personnel office are any indication chief misapprehension is that the last day for applying for this examination has already passed this is not so students are applying and may continue to apply for the examinations which will be given on may 26th june 16th and june 30th some men whose marks place them in the upper half of the freshman two-thirds of the so phomore and three-quarters of the junior classes have indicated that they felt they need not take the test colonel george a irvin field division national headquar ters of selective service stated in a speech on april 4th while it is true that men with a desig nated class standing may not next year require the evidence of an aptitude test score to make pos sible their consideration for defer ment the world situation is so fluid and the picture may so change that the two criteria may of necessity need to be considered together for this reason registrants would be well advised to be prepared with this evidence in their hands of their respective local boards the personnel office urges all students who have any further questions to refer to their local draft board their own dean or the personnel office for informa tion local talent to be displayed tonite at district talent show this evening from 7:30 to 9:30 the final district talent show for the n.s.a will be presented local talent shows in various western new york schools will be sending in their prize winning acts previ ous shows at st bonaventure's and niagara university have proven that a great deal of talent lies within the confines of our local uni versities and colleges niagara will be capably repre sented by the ever popular 8 socks and a boot rosary hill college and d'youville will entertain with sing ing acts and a monologue respec tively buifalo technical institute and buffalo state are presenting something out of this world while st bonaventure's is invading with 3 sharps and a flat the university of buffalo is sending in the three winning acts of the local variety show first the dreamers consisting of loretta borowiak carole rosenbach john delettera jim o'shaunecy phil palermo pete guillare second im personator tom michael and third vocalist jim o'shaunecy chairman of the talent show is frank romano members of the committee are tosia winiarski joan mclennon and sue griffiths remember the time — 7:80 the place — noirton union auditorium and the cost — 50c there are a limited number of seats so get i there early and be assured of one air force rotc to begin on campus next september in a letter to dean puffer mr finletter secretary of the air force has informed the univer sity that the air force will estab lish an r 0 t c unit on our campus the contract to begin july 1 1951 this means that the pro gram formulated last february and clouded in mystery ever since its conception has at last been placed on a concrete basis however several facts of con siderable importance to the student body still have not been clarified by the air corps last february as a result of the mass meeting in the gym the university informed the air force that they would ac cept a compulsory unit but would prefer a voluntary one this point along with the status of next year's junior and senior students still remain in the dark veterans how ever can enlist directly into the advanced program providing they can pass the physical all these issues were disregarded by the let ter which merely informed the uni versity of the air corps choice and stated that representatives of the air corps would arrive in a few days the program which begins in september will according to figures presented three years ago be ad ministered by three non-coms and three commissioned officers as signed to the university the university is very fortunate to have secured this unit as only 62 ou :-, of 450 applicants were se lected it is to be hoped that this will aid in easing the pressure which has recently forced the re lease of many faculty personnel number 16 continued on page 4 attention all students interested in any phase of newspaper work are cordially invited to join the spectrum staff typists and copy readers are especially needed at the present time