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Show pretty new cars, they get grades, learn enough to get jobs and will, if unchecked, multiply the rest of us out of existence. That great mainstream of traditional values flows onto campus in the morning and washes out at night, doing very little except cutting the broad channel that education must run in. In perspective they are the shape of things-they pay for education through taxation as well as tuition,they arethe community that ignores the university or criticises it. Speculation aside, we are all obviously at the mercy of this mass. Only the very apathy we decry or deny saves us the time and place to observe it. One can hardly expect to stare down his nose at a behemoth and have it go away. The university tries to challenge set ways of thought and must compromise this challenge to continue existing. Evaluation and change of attitudes takes place in each person's mind, keeping the mass mentality relatively unstirred and unaware. No one belongs to this group; no one knows anyone who does-but someone must be responsible for the limitations placed on us all in its name. Who are these people? Who are THEY? Where are they? Out riding in those bright/shiny/speedy/ god, mag wheels and four-speed cars, taking chicks with teased and lacquered hair who dress in too-neat hip clothes out to Drag State. PROTEST, DEMONSTRATION, RIOT A university occupies a unique vantage point in a society. It actually shelters human elements that only compete part of the time. Presumably, some portion of the difference is spent in constructive or investigative thought. As a haven for thought, the university is invaluable in observing the tides of human affairs outside it. The temptation to influence these tides has affected many (ask J.D. Williams), and lately this desire to become involved has infected the mass of students as a whole in the United States. There is a long global tradition of student activism, but prior to the 1960's there was very little in the U.S. (apologies to Columbia graduates). So far, this year has been quiet, 22 except for Santa Barbara. People are waiting to see what Nixon will do, both in remedial and repressive measures. As things become more and more clear, polarities are again emerging and activism is building up. A very small percentage of the so-called movement has been frightened off by elementary scare tactics, but more have gone completely underground. Next year might not be so silent. This is not a threat, but an observation. The gap between the Ins and the Outs is wider than ever, due to polarization-fostering pressure from establishment and police. While it may take a little longer to build, there is definitely the possibility of organized resistance to legal authority in the future. A comment. Radicalism is as much a set of responses as a set of attitudes. Lack of identity, alienation, rebelliousness and rebellion are all responses to an environment that is wrong or false somehow. Identifying with a new culture or striking out a-lone are two possible ways out of Facade City. Loners get lost. No one sees or hears them unless they write the Great American Novel, but others show up like billboards. The University of Utah is very conservative (we don't care what your mother told you). Our "liberals" would be conservatives or moderates on any |