Page ii llllnols institute all ‘l‘oehnoloyiyp @hloapo lit, llllnolo Technology Film Unit has the stormi- est life of any student activity idea that I have ever witnessed on this campus. It is also one of the most promising ideas that have come up in recent years. The attempts at establishing it have brought to view some important points about their student government for stu— dents to consider. According to the proponents of the idea, TFU is designed to carry on the renowned SAM film program and, in addition, to produce short documentary films for illustrating student activities, with costs paid by the activities pic- tured. In addition to regular, working members, it would have associate mem- bers who subscribe to non-voting mem- bership privileges. The board of di- rectors, consisting of technical spe— cialists among students, would be guided by three technical advisors in the fields of movie showing, drama, and production. The organizers, through procrastina— tion and lack of coordination, did not submit the constitution required in a reasonable time. They did not prepare according to established procedure. They were first reminded of this by Dean of Students Clarence E. Deakins, whose experience with TFU organizers he summarized to me Thursday as follows: “The project is very worthwhile and I sincerely want to see it suc— ceed. The basic issue in the con- troversy centered in the refusal of the persons responsible for the or- ganization to follow the established procedure until drastic action was taken.” The drastic action was brought out to me as being the warnings given to the organizers to submit a constitution without delay. It went so far as Jim Gaffney’s asking membership salesmen of TFU to stop illegal, though ambiti- ous, solicitations in the registration line and in the South Union lounge. At a meeting with Mr. Deakins, Jim Gaifney, president, and Don Lynch, vice~president of ITSA, the TFU group had its constitution and plans discussed for nearly three hours with a view toward eliminating bugs and clarifying phrases. Mr. Deakins personally cane celled the first three films on the TFU schedule, even though SAM. had booked them months in advance for their own program and before TFU’s inception. This was done though Johnnie Best, as an SAM spokesman, indicated that his organization might carry out the film series until such a time as TFU was recognized. lncorporting suggestions gained at the Tuesday meeting, TFU brought its revamped constitution to the Wednes- day ITSA meeting for consideration. I missed the discussion of it; judging by what action was taken, I think the ITSA board is in for criticism as well as TFU Why was it necessary for a pro- longed discussion to go to the point where it became a matter of person— alities, with the influence of Jim Gaffney and Dean Deakins serving to secure the tabling of the TFU constitution? Obo servers of recent ITSA, history know that such would be the inevitable out~ come, since about half of the board now are green officers. If it were the intention of the ITSA board to table the constitution on lack of evidence, it would seem to me more statesmanlike of the objectors to enu— merate quickly all points of difference and have the matter referred immedi— ately to a committee for investigative action. Jim Gaffney announced his se- lection of such a committee to me Thursday afternoon. The delaying action taken is justified on the grounds of specific doubts gen- erated by inadequate compliance of TFU with ITSA procedures. A two- week period is sufficient time to in- vestigate these doubts. The committee should resolve them quickly and allow TFU organizers to continue with full encouragement. Whether or not the TFU men will re- train their original enthusiasm is a problem, since some may have inter- preted lTSA‘s action Wednesday as punitive and designed to discredit them. If that is the case, I hope it clears up quickly, for the TFU idea is too good to miss. Ed Michelle February E27, tddd My fill Mlfitdhhlfi SUCflESSFUL STUDENT ACTIVI- ti‘es aren’t born, they’re made. They take up time and work. In return for the effort, one can win recognition, but the benefit of the experience is not always to be measured by recognition. Recognition serves as both reward and incentive to attract leaders, but the in- fluences of training in leadership tech— niques can be just as important. Recognizing leaders has been a diffi- cult jOb in the past, as in picking Tech's selections for “Who’s Who in Amer— ~—~—- lean Colleges and Uni- versities.” Even if We could do a good job of recognizing them, why stop there? Unless I am mistaken, one of the purposes of higher education is to build , . leaders. We need men to direct people intelligently and per— suasively toward higher standards of living and increased cultural achieve» ment. We seldom see steady, method— ical attempts made here to build lead- ers other than occasional incentives. You have read columns in Technol« ogy News eulogizlng “Men of the Week,” persons whom the editors thought had outstanding records in stu-n dent life. We tried to bring out their views on student activities. Almost without exception, they urged you to “join, clubs and join early," a cry you have doubtless heard since high~school days. But still some of you have been unimpressed by these “incentives.” It may be our fault, really. We may have given you the idea that a “campus wheel” is one who wears a weighty key chain, runs breathlessly from one club meeting to another showering his pearls of wisdom about and who leers ‘at you from every other page in the yearbook. If that is so, it will be doubly hard to convince you that organization build- ers are persons who get right into committee work, doing odd menial jobs in order to learn the methods of the organization. They get their hands dirty in the little jobs, do them well, and then ask for more work. This goes on until one day they become officers. This is more or less an ideal conception, I’ll admit. 0n the other hand, there are some situations which permit inexperienced and possibly ineffective persons to rise to the top of a group. This happens in organizations with large turnover, lack of drive or few attractions and stimula- tions for membership. These outfits do little else than elect officers and pub- lish their names in the yearbook. One of the most discouraging things is the disintegration of a large and ac— tive group resulting from ineffective leadership. Officers here find that they are desperately doing all the work, and no one is being trained to carry on. In all these unfortunate cases, the “men” are never really separated from the “boys" and the members never learn to cooperate effectively. To the Editor: Registration is now over, the war is now over, and shortages of space and his structors should be things of the past. Nevertheless, all too many (if not most) sections are too large for the desirable , student~teacher relationship, which 4 poses a long range problem that de- mands attention. Immediate action can be taken, how- ever, on the problem of overcrowded classrooms. Why, to illustrate, should the 9 am. class (MWF) in 300MH over- flow its room while the instructor and nine students in another subject can find no other meeting place than 131MC, where they feel like a lost Girl Scout troop in an empty Grand Central station? Instructors aren’t always interested in providing more spacious, better lighted, and better ventilated class- rooms for their sections. To whom may we turn? Eager Idealist. To the Editor: Although moderately successful, the APO book exchange has been handi- capped in performing its mission by the incessant process of changing the textbooks required here. For reasons not always apparent, or for no reason at all, a sizable percentage of the “popun lar” courses on campus list changed tent specifications each semester. Books are a considerable item of ex- pense to the typical Techawk. It stands to reason that the Institute should de— sire to make only well—justified switches in text selections, because of the added burden on student finances which re— sults when used books are unsalable and unusable. Doubtless it may be charged that books are changed to bring added reve- nue to the bookstore, or to line the pockets of royalty—hungry erstwhile authors on the staff here. Probably not, but why, for example, have three dif- ferent texts been used in Mechanics 201 during the last three semesters? Perhaps these expensive changes are made on impulse, to satisfy whims of instructors. Obviously what is needed is a system to curtail adoption of dif— ferent authors or new editions except where such moves have been carefully thought out and found justified. F. C. and l). L. Published every Friday durln the school your by the students of “limit Institute of lnchnoloov. 33043 5. Federal. Chlcago lb. llllnoln. Entered as second class motto: October to, was, at the purl office at Chicago, llllnols. under Hm Ad at March 3, . Re resented for national advertising by the National A£erflslnq Service. nc.. Madison Ava. New Vorh [7. N. Y. Advertising rates furnished 0 on request. Sub- scriptlontwflomosllc: $1.50 per term. melon: $2.06 our t . orm fir d: fr Editor-instituted. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .hb assassin: business Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ellt‘l“ arisen Notes on Scholastic integrity: Copying from another man’s paper is cheating. Copying from another man’s book is plagiarism. Copying from two other men’s books is research. it %t *- lnterested old lady (questioning mildel): “Do you mean to say that you pose for a man with no clothes on?” Model: “Heavens no! He must wear pants and everything.” “Glee, it’s my wife's birthday. I’d like to give her a present and surprise her.” “Why don't you give her a dress?” “I gave her a dress last year. This year I'd like to give her the slip!" Deena: “l don’t like some of these modern dances. They’re nothing but hugging set to music.” Nancy; “Well, what is there about it to which you object?” Deena: “The music.” Three little triplets, cute as bugs ears started their first day at school and were met by the teacher. “Gosh! are you ever the cute ones. I’ll bet you’re triplets. What are your names?” “My name’s Peter and l’m no saint,” snapped the first. “My name’s Paul and I’m no apostle,” growled the second. “My name’s Mary and am i ever blushing,” shyly said the third. Catholic Gus.