Collegian - 1965 November 12

              STUDENT:
'SOMEBODY
CHEATED!'
LEGISLATOR:
'SO WHAT?'
Vol. LVIII, No. 9 Beilingham, Washington Friday, Nov. .12, 1965
ADOPTED BY LEGISLATURE
At Monday's Associated Student Legislature meeting,
Program Vice President Brent Hayrynen moved that the
following resolution be accepted by the Board:
"Whereas Mrs. Riddell, wife of our articulate Executive
Vice President, has given birth to a baby V. P. and where­as
we have received inexpensive cigars, but cigars none­theless
in making this achievement, I move that this Board
adopt Ken Douglas Riddell as an honorary member to said
board and encourage Mr. Riddell to continue in such en­deavors."
Voices were raised
on 'foul play' vote
Solons clash at
bitter meeting
LISA HOBBS, a reporter, for the San Francisco
Examiner of the Hearst newspaper chain, spoke
before 300 students at Western" Wednesday on
her recent trip behind the Bamboo Curtain. She
augmented her enlightening, talk with slides.
Inquisitive reporter cracks
Chinese Red's bamboo curtain
By PAT WINGREN
Collegian News Editor
Though she was unafraid to enter
Communist China under false pretens­es,
Lisa Hobbs confessed herself to be
'.'terrified" of a microphone.
I n spite of her supposed terror, the
y o u n g Hearst newspaper r e p o r t e r kept
a crowd of spectators in the Viking
Union Tuesday attentive, for nearly
t w o hours whilje she spoke of her
t r a v e l s in China.
Mrs. Hobbs was admitted to the Communist
country as an Australian housewife after her
applications as an American reporter were ig­nored.
Though she has been working in San Fran­cisco
for the past 12 years, Mrs. Hobbs has
retained her Australian citizenship. She be­came
the first journalist from the United States
to enter Red China in almost ten years.
I feel more than half American," she com­mented,
"and I hated to have to deceive the
authorities to get into the. country."
UNBELIEVABLY CLEAN
The reporter's first, impression of the Com­munist
country was the unbelievable cleanliness
of all the public facilities.
"I thought it was staged at first," she said,
"but ~it was the same in all six of the cities
I visited."
j She travelled with a tourist group of ten
people, accompanied by three interpreters who
were absolutely necessary, according to Mrs.
Hobbs.
"There is no English spoken at all," she
remarked. "Even the tourist signs are in Chi­nese."
Another thing the journalist noticed immedi­ately
was the singular lack of beggars in the
streets, a sight so common to other Asian coun­tries
she has visited.
"Though there is obvious poverty, everyone
I saw was cleanly and adequately dressed,"
she recalled. "There was no sign of affluence
or destitution."
FREEDOM TO WANDER
Mrs. Hobbs said she was surprised that she
was given the freedom to wander around the
cities she visited, taking pictures and asking
questions. l
"The only restrictions on photography we
encountered were those on pictures taken from
the air," she explained. "We were alsfa asked
not to use binoculars while aboard a;plane,"
she added. '".-..!.
The Australian said she felt the definite pre­sence
of a revolution among the people of
China.
"There's a certain spirit that's hard to de­fine,
but was present everywhere I went," she
said. "Even those relegated to menial tasks
like cleaning a pig pen found something in­spiring
in their work."
The motivation of the peasants, she said,;
stems from the feeling that all work is of value.
"I don't know how much of Marxism th<
people understand," she commented, "but most
of the people will support the government when
the chips are down." / -
SLOGANS EVERYWHERE
Mrs. Hobbs was struck with the number of
slogans used in China, by the people and on the
government public .address systems.
"You can't move without hitting a.slogan,"
she said. "Some people talk entirely in slogans.";
She termed this an example of the absolute,
total, stifling rigidity of. thought in China.
"Most Chinese feel that an invasion by the
Americans is inevitable," Mrs. Hobbs said.
She described a sign she saw in several
places in Peking. It read: "Be prepared to
defend your homeland against aggressive;
American invaders."
For the Chinese, the presence of the Seventh
Fleet along the coast is. evidence of this ag­gression;
.
On the lighter side, Mrs. Hobbs said that
she did not see a woman wearing a dress all-the
time she was in Red.China.
"I was told that dresses are worn during
the summer," she explained, "but then cotton:
is rationed to seven yards a year, and wool
is very expensive."
On the whole, Mrs. Hobbs felt that in re­moving
the threat of starvation from the lives
of the peasants, many of the people are in
many ways better off new, than before, in spite
of our dislike of their form of government."
By BOB GRAHAM
Collegian Managing Editor
I n w h a t was p e r h a p s one of t h e b i t t e r e s t meetings
of t h e q u a r t e r , t h e Associated Student L e g i s l a t u r e de­cided
Monday not to i n v a l i d a t e t h e Homecoming elec­t
i o n which had allegedly been m a r r e d by "foul play"
a t one polling station.
At last week's l e g i s l a t u r e meeting, Senior Legis-lator-
at-Large Denny F r e e b u r n had disclosed t h a t t h e re
w e r e r e p o r t s of campaigning by poll-clerks for t h e de­feat
of t h e constitutional amendment on t h e ballot.
An investigation of the matter by the Elections Board the
next day revealed that there had been a "minor fault" at one
polling place.
Although the Board could not invalidate the election, it pro-posed
a number of changes in election procedure which, it felt7
would eliminate future problems. ,
HARDLY SATISFACTORY
Monday afternoon, however, Freeburn thought this was
hardly a satisfactory settlement of the matter. He moved that the
election be invalidated and a new one be held Thursday, Nov: 18,
Junior Legislator-at-Large Larry Elfendahl then moved to
amend Freeburn's motion by having the election, if invalidated,
held winter quarter. The amendment passed 8-5.
A number of legislators were quick to speak in opposition to
the main motion.
Their objections centered around the idea that the fault at
the polling place was merely a minor one, and a second election
would prove nothing in light of the landslide rejection of the class
government proposals.
On the Homecoming ballot, 651 students opposed the proposal
while 463 voted in favor of them. The change required a two-thirds
affirmative vote in order to pass.
In reference to the foul play at the polling station Freeburn;
said, "It doesn't matter if this was one case or a thousand. I think
the election should be invalidated."
, When one legislator stated that a hew election wouldn't
change the results because of the overwhelming rejection on the
Homecoming ballot, Freeburn got .mad.
RAISED VOICE
liaising his voice, he replied, "Whether it failed or passed
is irrelevant. It could fail again. The point is that there was foul
play at the election!"
Senior Legislator Byron Mauck moved to place the motions
to invalidate in indefinite committee, but this motion failed.
See 'DEFEAT' p. 2
Empty stomachs to be filled
By surrendering the evening
meal next Thursday the students
of Western. can. help to fill the
empty stomachs of thousands of
less fortunate Americans.
The funds derived! from the
Thanksgiving Fast for Freedom
will be used to provide-food for
impoverished families in the
South.
The Fast for Freedom is a
joint project of the National Stu­dents
Association and the Young
Democrats* in co-operation with
the Department of Agriculture.
Dan Barkley, NSA Co-ordina-tor,
arid Byron Mauck, represent­ing
the~ Young Democrats, are
heading the operation on West­ern's
campus.
"Students who wish to partici­pate
will place their names on
a sign-up sheet taken around to
the dorms Barkley explained.
"Then on Nov. 18,\ these students
will abstain froma the evening
Saga meal. The > money
saves will go to the Fast for
Freedom fund."
Sign-up sheets will he taken
from door to door in the dorms,
giving all resident students the
opportunity to take part in the
fast.
BarMey* urges students, who
want to sign up to do so before
Nov. 15. This is necessary be­cause
Saga must know how many
meals to prepare, at least three
days in advance of the fast.
Collection boxes will be set up*
in ithe Viking Union from Nov,
15-18 for donations from off-cam­pus
students. "Faculty members
are also urged to participate,"
Barkley said.
The money raised will finance
the distribution for federal sur­plus
foods in states like Missi­ssippi
and Alabama. In addition,
a number of self-help programs
will be initiated with money pro­vided
by the fast.