N.U.T.

"It is we, as the next generation to come into possession of this planet, who are inheriting the earth. But, in a phrase of Farell's, it is a world I never made. . . .

"We see around us, particularly among our elders, unfilled and frustrated human potentialties, personalities ground flat, material want, and ruined lives. . . . Small wonder that the first post-war generation could be called silent. In view of this history, 'mute' would have been better. We demand your patience; we learning how to talk." from an editorial in New University Thought

Coverage of the National Student Association's annual Congress, held this August at the University of Wisconsin, indicates that students have, for some reason, become news copy. To anyone familiar with the usual A.P. or U.P. dispatches dealing with undergraduate activity ("A record number of students at the University of Iowa were crammed into a phone booth this afternoon. . . ."), a press that casts a serious eye on the students is a minor miracle.

It is logical, on the other hand, that news should concern those who are making it; and students, as students, have initiated much significant political activity of the last few years; the sit-ins, the San Francisco protest against the House un-American Activities Committees and the Freedom Riders are only the best publicized examples.

A WAVE of new magazines, most of them quasi- political, have accompanied the growing sense of student community. Of these, none is more committed to accurately and strengthening the current of among the students and young professionals than New University Thought. A handsome quarterly published at the University of Chicago, NUT is a far more thorough and perceptive index of student activity than and political magazines which have recently found the new generation so enthralling.

New University Thought was founded as a political magazine, a scholarly journal and a journal of opinion ("these functions appear to be disparate only because they have been so long dissociated in our over-specialized thought"), and has succeeded remarkably in retaining its balance. In one issue, a sophisticated commentary on film aesthetics braces a statistical discussion of African independence movements, and a series of ingenuous impressions of Cuba reminds you that not all students and young professionals have polished their analytical techniques.

Despite this occasional lapse in the calibre of its contents, New University Thought is now heading into its second year with a circulation of 10,000 and hopes of attaining some financial stability. There is talk at Chicago of putting out a Latin-American edition, and interest in furthering the magazine as an American student forum.

"WE, young intellectuals, students and professionals," the editors proclaim, "founded New University Thought because we were dissatisfied with what we saw. The gigantic resources of the academic world seemed to be focused on everything but the most crucial questions in our society. How rare it was when leafing through the professional journals, that we saw discussed the problems of physical and mental survival in our age." If NUT can continue discussing them intelligently and openly, it will help transform the students into a loosely defined interest grouping, capable of direct influence on the social, political and intellectual structure of this country. This effort deserves far more attention than the headline-seeking of some self-interested student politicoes.