The Muse, vol. 11, no. 11 (07 February 1961)

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MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND
A man of taste,
Who read with vast applause the daily news,
And kept a close acquaintance with The Muse.
-JOHN WOLCOTT, The Lousiad,
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VOL. 11.  No.   11
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND
February 7, 1961
HANS DE BOER
URGES STUDENTS
SEEK PEACE
By LOUISE DAWE
"As long as we send military men to peace conferences, we
might as well send vegetarians to meat conferences," said Mr. Hans
de Boer in condemning the way Eastern and Western nations were
trying to meet together.
Mr. de Boer was speaking to the WUSC luncheon at the Bamboo Gardens on the topic "Students in the Soviet Orbit."
Love  Your   Neighbour f°r two years before they can en-
"The task of this generation is     ter  University.     Mr.  de Boer also
Hans de Boer addressing a large group of students at the WUSC luncheon at the Bamboo  gardens last  Thursday.
LEGION BLASTS EDITOR
At the regular monthly meeting of the Executive of St. John's Branch of the Canadian Legion
held on January 26th, one of the items considered was the blatant attempt of the Editor of the Memorial University Paper "The Muse" to drop the word "Memorial" from the masthead of the paper.
The Executive noted that the action in dropping "Memorial" from
the University's paper masthead was
the action of the Editorial Staff of
the paper, apparently without authority or official sanction, and the
Executive was pleased to learn that
the Student Council moved quickly
to censor the actions of the Editor
of the paper.
The'St. John's Branch has already gone on record to the Provincial Command of the Legion recording, its strong objection to any
proposal to delete the word "Memorial" from the name of the University and the Branch views with
great concern the present attempt to
have the title of the University
changed.
The Memorial University was
erected by the people of Newfoundland as a memorial to the men and
women of Newfoundland who laid
down their lives for freedom and
democracy in the First World War
and, who, by their sacrifice, and the
sacrifice of thousands of freedom-
loving people throughout the
world, made it possible for us to
have a University and to follow the
democratic way of life. When this
way of life was once again threatened in 1940, students and ex-students of Memorial University joined
with their fellow Newfoundlanders
in their efforts to crush the very
real and serious threat to our way
of life. Indeed, one of the very first
casualties was an ex-Memorial boy,
Philip Templeman.
It is not inconceivable that at
some future date it will again become necessary for the people of
Newfoundland to take up arms in
defence of freedom and to subdue
would be dictators and aggressors,
and we have no doubt that if that
time should come our people will
be amongst the first to take their
place on the front line wherever it
may be.
The Executive of the St. John's
Branch does not believe that the
action of the Editorial Staff of the
Memorial University's undergraduate students paper in dropping the
word "Memorial" from the title
was authorized or condoned *by
either the President of the University or the Board of Regents, and it
is the hope of the Branch that suitable reprimands will be forthcoming to the persons responsible for
the attempted change in name.
The Branch is of the opinion that
the only real authority qualified to
authorize a change in the name of
the Memorial University of Newfoundland are the people of Newfoundland in view of the fact that
it was they who built the University as a Memorial to the war dead
of World War I, and certainly not
a "minority group" of students attending classes at Memorial,  most
of whom were not even born when
World War II started and were not
even attending day school when it
ceased, and who know little or
nothing of the many sacrifices demanded of a country at war.
to think what it means to love your
neighbour and your money," Mr.
de Boer stated. ."We have to be
peacemakers/' He felt that WUSC
was one of the great organizations
helping people in other parts of
the world.
"If the Western student is willing to do away with the wrong
teachings of his forefathers, he can
do away with war," he continued.
He blamed our magazines for the
cold war. "They are reporting in
an era of Stalin and Truman," he
charged.
Love of Country
The students' pride in their
country and in what their government has done was emphasized by
Mr. de Boer. He gave several illustrations of this. When he attacked the censorship existing in
Russia, he was told that fifty years
ago the people couldn't read at all.
Requirements
Students must serve in the army.
They must also work in a factory
"No Offence Taken
When No Offence Meant"
Sir Leonard Outerbridge, when approached by the writer, said
he did not desire to make any comment other than that he felt sure
that there was no intention to pass over or belittle the memory of
those who fell in battle or the debt that we shall ever owe to them.
First To The Fight
Like "Wayfarer' 'in his "notes
and comments' 'appearing in the
issue of the "Daily News" of Feb.
1st he recalled a resolution passed
in the debating society of Oxford
University shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War,
when a majority decided that they
wouljd not fight for King and country. It was only a few months
later when many of these young
undergraduates were the first to fall
fighting in the Battle of Britain and
in the Royal Navy.
Sir Leonard said he was a great
believer in the saying "no offence
taken, when no offence meant."
SIR LEONARD OUTERBRIDGE
pointed out that one-quarter of the
Russian professors are working in
factories as well as lecturing.
Many students can speak English. They are required to learn
one Western and one Eastern language.
Moral Standards
He found that moral standards in
Russia were higher than in the
Western world. The Russian students love jazz; only the "boogie
woogie" is condemned. He saw few
drunken students.
USSR Universities are crowded
with coloured students. There is
no race or colour discrimination.
Thsi was something to be considered he felt, when the "main problem of our times is whether the undecided nations of Africa will go
East or West."
Religion
Mr. de Boer felt that there was
as much apathy to religion in Russia as there was in the Western
World. The Baptist and Russian
Orthodox Churches were both
strong in Russia. Since the death
of Stalin anti-Semitism has practically disappeared.
Student Life
Answering questions, Mr. de
Boer revealed that students do have
Students' Council elected by the
students. These Councils organize
dances and such events. There are
no student newspapers; there was
one in Poland but it was abolished.
He pointed out that Communism
varies all over the world. In Russia the students are fairly free to
criticize the government while in
China and East Germany they are
not. "The greatest difference between East Germany and the other
Communist countries," he claimed,
"was that they couldn't or didn't
get rid of  their Stalinists."
When asked where students were
receiving the best education he replied that if he had children of university age, he would send them.lor
two years to an American Uniwfr-
sity, two years to a Western European University, and two years to
a Soviet University.
PICTORIAL  PROGRESS  REPORT
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