Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATrIONS Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, ,AICH. Truth Will Prevail NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. £~"'$J- ...r ,.,yt'-$ '- - t -~- ,~f F 10 At~ tS ' , SOW. FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: JILL CRABTREE The Referenda Results: Put Students on the Committee THE RESULTS of the student referenda on classified research and the with- drawal from the Institute for Defense Analyses are discouraging for those who wish to insure the continued free climate of this University community. However, the size of the vote and the level of interest aroused over a sophisti- cated and complex issue confirms the contention that students have far more than a transient interest in University affairs and must be given an equal role in University decision-making. Students, as well as administrators and faculty, make short-sighted decisions, as yesterday's vote clearly shows. Yet this in no way lessens the student's claim for an effective voice in University decisions affecting the direction and purpose of an educational institution of which he is an essential component. E REMAIN adamant in our conviction that classified research has no place in a university committed to the right of free inquiry. It is one researcher's free- dom to 'do classified research against everyone's freedom of inquiry. We hope the new Student Government. Council President, Michael Koeneke, will be successful in persuading his large constituency of the rectitude of his "un- equivocal- opposition" to classified re- search. There remains no justifiable reason for the University's continued participation in the Institute for Defense Analyses. By remaining in IDA, the University is ac- tively sanctioning the institute's role as a resource group for immoral American actions in Southeast Asia. President Fleming must join with Princeton and University of Chicago in leaving this relic of the tense cold war days of the 1950's. NEXT MONDAY, the Faculty Assembly is expected to approve the Elderfield Report - the faculty's ambiguous an- swer to the problem of classified re- search. The report asks for the creation of a special review committee to pass on the appropriateness of classified re- search contracts. This committee would supposedly reject those contracts whose sponsors and title could not be revealed and which would develop ways "to, de- stroy human life." The committee, which could be over- ruled by the Vice President for Research, would unfortunately be composed exclu- sively of faculty members. The nature of the Elderfield Report leaves the whole problem of classified research up to a committee for interpretation. Therefore, the composition of this committee is crucial. STUDENTS must have a place on this committee. The defeat of the refer- enda does not mean that students are not concerned with the issue of classi- fied research. It should only be inter- preted that the blanket end to classified research which the referendum asked for has been rejected. While the referenda vote was unwise, it in no way undercuts the student right to sit onthe classified research review committee. -MARK LEVIN Editor 'We ARE showing therm the letter, Mr. President . . . But, the Viet Cong can't read English!' Echoes of the InnerCity -NEAL BRUSS Th e Myth o Stu den tia lism The newly-elected Student Government Council hopefully will find that it is most effective when "the student voice" does not feel the need to make itself heard. This certainly does not mean that students should abandon Uni- versity affairs and spend their free time watching faculty committees run the University. It does mean that students, faculty and admin- istrators with similar views should work together against students, faculty and administrators with opposing views. LATELY IT SEEMS "the student role" has been isolated. Students have felt that somehow their views were different from those of other persons, that their views were integrally related to their status as students, and that their views would only be recognized when su- dents as students were given some sort of official representation. This view had unfortunate resuts. ! Activism became identified with students by mass media, gov- ernment officials and even persons in, the University. And because demonstrations were blamed on students, they were trivialized as typically student behavior like spring beer blasts on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale. * Students espousing particular positions failed to work with non-students who held similar views. Thus when partisan students were rebuffed by, say, administrators who held different views, the students felt their defeat was due to their inherently student status. * The wide variety of opinion among the University's students on given issues was ignored. It was felt that if students came to- gether, they would quickly be able to articulate positions and demands. This never occurred and has been a constant source of disillusionment to those who champion "the student role." "STUDENTIALISM," the view that there is a single student voice to be recognized in University affairs, has surfaced as a political philosophy in most recent campus issues. The champions of studentialism felt that students opposed fac- ulty on classified military research, that students opposed merchants and th'eir administrative henchmen on the establishment of a Uni- versity bookstore, that students opposed Regents in the fight against parietal rules. Such perspectives were wrong for two reasons. In all such issues, not all students were allied against non-students. Similarly, students were supported by large and important groups of non-students. The view of studentialism further provided a perverse and incor- rect political portrait of students as largely disinherited persons under 21. Participation by students within the larger community of the Uni- versity and the nation - their individual activity in political groups, their right to vote in elections as members of the larger community- seems to be ignored by both critics and students themselves. The ulti- mate triumph - and defeat - of studentialism came when Time Magazine decided to sample "student" opinion in a mock Presidential election on campuses across the country, Their opinions were isolated as the student voice - somehow making them trivial on the national scope. Opponents of political protests identified them as student disciplinary problems and felt that all that was needed was a system of rules to punish students' disorderliness. They failed to recognize - or ignored - the participation of faculty and non- students. And they were all too willing to see very hot ideological disputes treated as misbehavior. The term "student" should stand only for a certain academic status. It does not indicate a particular view towards University or political affairs, and it should not be a mark of Cain culling individuals from homogeneous ideological groups. STUDENT GOVERNMENT COUNCIL should work for the dis- persal of students into ideological blocks. It should declare Invidious rules and policies which politically define persons in terms of academic status. And it should increasingly attempt to sharpen the ideological lines in the University community by avoiding the temptation to use "the student voice" when a voice of persons who are students may be combined with the voice of others who are not. By WALTER SHAPIRO and ANN MUNSTER THERE ARE some obvious lim- itations on the insights one can get about the Detroit ghetto sitting inaMark's Coffee House on East William Street in Ann Arbor. Even if you are talking to John Watson who publishes the Inner City Voice, a fledgling monthly newspaper in the Detroit black community. Watson, in town last week and returning this afternoon to speak at the UGLI, describes himself as a socialist. "I'm an anti-imperial-, ist black revolutionary interna- tionalist, as opposed to black cul- tural nationalism," he explains. The Inner City Voice with a current circulation of about 10,000 is designed to serve as a focus "to organize certain elements of the community - workers, commun- ity organizers - into a revolu- tionary black political party.'l Focusing on the role of the black people as workers, he con- tinued, "We must recognize the use and the role ofdestructive power. We can have effective power in the plants. For the black people have the power to stop the economy." VERY FEW RADICALS, either black or white, have any sem-' blance of a masterplan for the future and in many ways this lack of cant is a saving grace. But there is still an ethereal,unreal quality about the terms Watson uses. The vagueness may merely be a function of the gulf between Ann Arbor and Detroit. But one sus- pects it is ultimately a conse- quence of the impotence of the position blacks hold and will con- tinue to hold in American life. In many ways Watson reflects as much the traditional left as he does the black radicalism of the sixties. He regards last summer's "rebellion in Detroit as basically rooted in class and economics, and not race." Turning to the situation in De- troit the spring after the summer before, Watson was quite explicit, "The black people had better have guns. Due to the precarious nature of the situation' the black people have got to be armed." WATSON contended that self- defense demanded that the black community arm itself. "We must adequately defend o u r s e 1v e s against a right-wing attack. De- fense and survival is the watch- word. As a result of the polariza- tion created after the rebellion, certain elements of the commun- ity ' like Breakthrough - are going to be trying to precipitate an incident," he said. Sounding slightly reminiscent of John Foster Dulles, Watson contended "there will be much less violence if the other side knows we intend to respond to violence with violence." Watson also provided some new insights on the much-abused term black power. He assessed the black community in Detroit as "probably the most politically sophisticated in the country." Consequently, he said, "We have passed beyond the super-nation- alism. We have passed beyond the Black is Beautiful stage. We now take 'that sort of thing for granted." WATSON'S alternative to this kind of ineffectuality is an at- tempt to place black autonomy in the context of more traditional. leftist political analysis. As Wat- son does this, one is often re- minded of images of romantic revolutionaries of a more idealis- tic era. At a time when communication between the ghetto and the larg- er society has dwindled to prac- tically nil, Watson today brings to campus a somewhat muffled echo of the inner city voice. 4 Making Language Optional THE LITERARY COLLEGE curriculum committee is presently considering a restructuring of the required language course sequence which would vastly im- prove its educational merit. The proposal calls for the creation of a second sequence of courses in each language which could be used to fulfill the requirement. Unlike the present se- quence, the new program would empha- size the development of reading skills at the expense of oral ability. This "reading track" would provide a solid alternative to those, likerscience majors, who will have a greater need for visual rather than spoken skills. However, even if the proposed changes are made, the college's language pro- gram will still be handicapped by an edu- cational anachronism - requiring mini- mal proficiency in a foreign language for graduation. IN THE FIRST PLACE, speaking prag- matically, it is unclear whether objec- tives of the foreign language require- ment are now met. According to the lit- erary college catalogue, languages are taught "to develop the essential skills of speaking, understanding, and reading the language as a preparation for its use in professional and civic affairs, and to provide a general view of the culture of the people." Though no definitive study is avail- able, it appears, from conversations with students, the elementary 1 a n g u a g e courses achieve neither of these goals. After two years of study few students think they have mastered the basic tech- nical skills of the language. Statistical studies should be made. Nor do the elementary language courses appear to make any full blown effort to expand the student's perspec- tive of the foreign country's culture. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 120 Maynard St., Ann Arbor. Michigan, 48104, The Daily is a member of the Associated Press. Oollegiate Press Service and Liberation News Service. Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular summer session. Fall and winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by carrier ($5 by mail);,$8.00 for regular academic school year ($9 by mail). Business Staff RANDY RISSMAN, Business Manager KEN KRAUS............Associate Business Manager DAVE PFEFFER.............. Advertising Manager JEFF BROWN.............Senior Circulation Manager In. the second place, because the lan- guage sequence is required, these objec- tives are oftenr self-defeating. By requiring students to take two years of a language, the literary college is fill- ing its classes with students who have little desire or need to be there. Students who take a language course only because it is required sometimes de- stroy the educational atmosphere in the classroom situation. Such students often seek only good grades and the fulfillment of the requirement. These students do the amount of work they consider necessary to obtain the grade they desire and nothing more. Their classroom participation is stifled by the fear of erring when it should be fraught with a desire to learn. Without the burden .these students place on the instructor and the rest of the class, the program could be intensi- fied because the impetus to learn, where present, is always greater than the drive to obtain good grades. In addition, stu- dents who are not particularly adept at language would not be forced to con- tinue, thus improving the general level of the class. FURTHERMORE, the elimination of the requirement would not mark the be- ginning of a trend to end all language studies. In fact, enrollment in elemen- tary language classes would probably not decrease as much as one might ex- pect. They will still be filled with stu- dents who wish to go to graduate school and those who have hopes of traveling abroad. It is highly unlikely that professional language study will suffer. Most lan- guage majors either had contact with their language before they came to the University or were sufficiently interest- ed to have taken an elementary course without coercion. By eliminating the requirement, inter- est in language might conceivably in- crease because the stigma currently at- tached to the study of foreign languages would have been removed to a large ex- tent. Foreign language courses at the Uni- versity presently stand one level above all others because they are required. Are foreign language skills truly more basic than skills in mathematics or knowledge of history? Clearly the answer is no. PY ELIMINATING the requirement, the l+i'tTnrun11pan nwill nit foreign l an. Letters: Legislator's Finance Rebuttal EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an open letter to the students. fackuty, administratorsiRegents, and alumni or thle University. T HA come to my attention that several of you are rather upset over the statements attrib- uted to me in a Daily article of February 28th. I don't deny that these statements represent approx- imately my views, although I cer- tainly did not authorize their publication. It is true that the financial manipulations explicated in the audit report by the Legislative Au- ditor General may result in a somewhat smaller appropriation this year for the University than might otherwise have been the case. If this happens, it should be clearly understood that the manipulations are the cause - not the Auditor General's report of them. You will notice that I said may not will. No one can say with any certainty what may or may not be included in an ap- propriation bill until after the bill is enacted. Judging from the tone of the article, as well as from that of other items on the editor- ial page of the February 28th issue, it appears that neither The Daily reporter nor the editors un- derstand this fact. IT IS TRUE, as several of you have boasted, that the University of Michigan is a great university. It is not true, however, that it is the only good institution of higher education in this state - as some of you have alleged. Loyalty to your university is very commend- able; but all of us must realize, sooner orlater, than an education is only what we make of it. Secur- ing an education presupposes a measure of effort on the part of the individual, and there is no reason to believe that Univer- sity students are the only ones who exert themselves. HoDefully, a good education obtained at a vran imvscit .-+w l(,h A ou nrs of such a large institution. I be- lieve this, and in your hearts you do too. With regard to the numerous charges that the University has suffered from financial malnu- trition at the hands of the Legis- lature during recent years, just let me point out that the Legis- lature has appropriated several millions of dollars for operations in excess of the amount actually spent for such purposes by the University. If ' professors have been underpaid, if any department has been understaffed, if student financial aid funds have been in- adequate - if any form of fin- ancial malnutrition has existed in University operations; it has been the product of priorities es- tablished at the University, by University officials, for allocation and expenditure of the funds made available for University use. There is no doubt in my mind that any college or university in this state would happily swap ap- propriations with the University of Michigan for any given year- even this next one. IT IS with this in mind that I and other appropriation commit- tee members, as well as the mem- bers of the Legislature at large. will review the needs, requests, and recommendations for appropria- tions fdr higher education for the 1968-69 fiscal year. -George F. Montgomery, State Representative, 21st District Member Committee on Appropriations Davis on Davis I'M SURPRISED by Ruth Tnom- as s reaction to my inaugura- tion speech (letter, 14 March). Miss Thomas accused me of being "completely out of order - in -.- appearance, . . . tone, . . . (and) message," of failing to salute the president, of failing "to pledge any nncishon eanftnn +n hP +A1rn h tt 4 t - j h J~c. 6yIs R t ~" 5.~ ~ ,.,. ~ j ti " fr MT!MT 'F Fi 4' 'You see one campus, you've seen 'em all...,.!' of improving those relations will fall hardest on;the man we were inaugurating (a reason for show- ing understanding and patience in the vears to come): and that I to raise significant issues where I could be heard by all the deans, Regents, Vice Presidents, and most important faculty; and so left the student place in the pro- gram to no one. or to a student Kenya Act To the Editor: WE, AS BRITISH citizens, would like to express our shame at i