SOUTHWORDS
January 1971
'Anteater Press' now circulating
no author
A second student newspaper, 'The Anteater Press,' published by the Student Independent Party, has been circulating the halls of Maine South in the last few weeks.
The Student Independent Party is one of the first political parties ever formed by students at South. They plan to run a slate of candidates in the coming Student Council elections. The party, known as S.I.P., Has nominated Bill '72 for president and Mike '72 for vice-president. The S.I.P. Also plans to run candidates for the other SC offices, as well as for positions as complex leaders, committee chairmen and homeroom representatives.
Bill said of the S.I.P., "We are not a radical party. Our goal is to make students aware of their rights and to get them to actively participate in school and in community activities." Bill claims that the party has about 100 registered members and that "there are many other students here who have said that they sympathize with our party." The president of the party is John '71.
According to Bill, the S.I.P. operates on a democratic basis. The party adopts no policies "unless there has been a vote among the party membership, and the majority of the kids are in favor of the proposal." Bill thinks that homeroom representatives and complex leaders should operate on the same principle in Council. He claims that as a homeroom representative himself he has voted for proposals that he was personally against because the majority of students in his homeroom were in favor of the measure.
'The Anteater Press,' the newspaper controlled by the S.I.P., is a two-page leaflet that has come out on three different occasions. 'The Anteater' is typed by S.I.P. members and printed on a mimeograph machine owned by Bill. The editor of the S.I.P. newspaper is Randy '71.
In the January 20 edition of 'The Anteater Press,' the paper outlined its policies. It said that it would accept open letters or articles from any source, whether that person be a student, a teacher or an administrator. 'The Anteater' also offered to sell advertising space to the public for a penny a type-character. The first three issues of 'The Anteater Press' consisted of Student Council news, editorial commentaries, and poems and quotes from such men as Frank Zappa and Albert Einstein.
As the S.I.P. presidential candidate, Bill said that he regarded Student Council as a body with vast potential. "We want to change the image of Student Council," he said. "We want to change it from a weak mouthpiece of the students into a respected and responsible adviser of the administration." Bill also said that if the S.I.P. won control of Council it would involve the students more actively in community affairs. He suggested that one way to accomplish this would be to send a student representative to the District 207 meetings in an effort to let the student voice be heard.
The S.I.P. according to Bill, has hopes that the party newspaper can be printed professionally by the end of the school year. Bill said that he sees "The Anteater as a possible rival of Southwords. We hope that the S.I.P. will become a permanent institution at Maine South and that the 'Anteater Press' will remain along with it. Either we want to stimulate Southwords into becoming a better newspaper, or we want to replace it as the school paper."