I am writing this letter in response to Blue Maas’s suggestion (Iowa State Daily, Thursday, September 19, 1996, “Do it. Do it quietly. Just do it”).

I want it to be clear that I have tried to follow her suggestion; it has not been an easy task.

Last October after I had read a letter from a full professor on this campus stating his views in opposition to Carrie Chapman Catt, I called and made an appointment to meet with him.

I prepared for that meeting; I took with me a file of material from both primary and secondary sources concerning the words of Catt.

When I arrived and he observed that I had this file with me, I was told that I should not leave the file because he would not read it if I did. He stated that he had never liked the suffragists anyway and then asked if I believed they had a sense of humor. He said, “To me they always looked as though they had an aspirin between their teeth.”

I tried to explain that the women chose to present themselves in a serious manner in the hope they would be viewed as having a purpose and a conviction.

He did not look at the material I brought to leave for him. I left with the file.

In March when GSB was meeting for the first time to discuss this issue, I, with the help of another individual, distributed to each Senator over thirty pages of material drawn from the primary source of the piece.

I was told before I did this that the Senators would probably not read this information because, “Students don’t like to be overwhelmed with facts.”

In fact one Senator did call to discuss this material. He said to me, “I go to school full time and have a job as well as other commitments. Could you boil this down to twenty-five words or less?”

I do not criticize this student. We talked for a long period of time.

He was the only student to call.

These are only two examples. Of course I was met politely on occasion. A few times I was encouraged to leave the material; I do not believe that it was often read. Others whom I called in the hope of discussing the issue left a message that they would get back to me when they had more time or felt better. That would be the last I would hear from them.

A letter was printed in several Ames newspapers which opened, “Like Will Rogers, all I know is what I read in the newspapers.” The writer then proceeded to discuss at length the building and its name.

It was always my understanding that Will Rogers, a very well read individual, used this line to assure his listeners that they could relax — he was really no better educated than they were. The fact was quite different. Do we now have pride in how little we know?

In the Daily there was a quote by a professor concerning an assignment that had been made in a class. This assignment asked students to form an opinion on this issue by reading the letters to the editor, a memo, and articles from a student newsletter.

I attended this university as an undergraduate. I took over fifteen courses in the English Department. I consider that I had the finest professors there of any area of the university.

If I had been given this assignment, I would have considered it a joke. My sympathy goes to the professor if she was misquoted in the Daily.

These and other examples lead me to ask the Iowa State Daily for its help. I call on it to print, in its entirety, one speech by Carrie Chapman Catt each day for a period of three weeks.

This speech could be introduced by a brief paragraph written by a professor in History or in Political Science and explaining the background and outcome of its original delivery.

Hundreds of speeches exist; fifteen should be easy to find.

There will undoubtedly be those at the Daily who will believe that this would be way too boring and that no one would read them.

For those who agree, you have proved my point.

Jane Cox

Associate Professor

Iowa State Theatre