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Freshmen: 'To be an upper something'
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1968'
NIGHT EDITOR: JILL CRABTREE
The Lawler Committee:
:
Diselo sing
A FULL two years ago, the files of the
Office. of Student Affairs were pros-
tituted to the whim of the Inquisition
when University administrators meekly
complied with a congressional subpoena
and submitted the names of student rad-
icals to the House Un-Anferican Activi-,
ties Committee.
Since that time there have been many
assurances from the administration that
a repeat performance is now impossible-
that guidelines for the handling of sub-
poenas have been set up, and that the
files haxve been purged of any potentially
damaging material.
Despite these assurances, an aura of
mysticism has continued to surround both
the contenhts of the OSA files and the way
in which they are administered,
IT HAD BEEN hoped that the report of
the tri-partite Student Affairs Com-
mittee on Disclosure would set aside all
further doubt about possible dangers in-
volved in maintaining the OSA files. Un-
fortunately, the report passed unani-
mously by the committee Tuesday, adds
only further confusion to the situation.
The fundamental problem with the re-
port is its lack of information concerning
the contents of the OSA files. This is es-
pecially strange when we note that James
Lawler, the director of OSA's records op-
erations, was the committee's chairman.
For example, the final report of the
committee suggests contingencies for the
disclosure of records of disciplinary lac-
tion taken against students.
j AWLER insists that such information
is no longer placed in the OSA files.
Yet one can only wonder, lien, why he
OSA files
t°
allowed the committee to deal with this
problem at all.
Even without this' confusion, the prob-
lem of the OSA recdrds is far from solved.
Some items of information generally ac-
cepted by the committee as being appro-
priate for the file are of dubious value
and potential harm to the student.
Why, for example does OSA feel com-
pelled to keep a record of a' student's re-
ligion, his photograph, admissions appli-
cation and aptitude test results. In fine
with the report each of these items would
be disclosed to persons outside the Uni-
versity only upon writtenaconsent of the
student. Yet faculty members would have
free access to them.
In fact, the 'OSA files form a virtual
bastion of ammunition for unwarranted
prejudicial discrimination by the few fac-
ulty members w h o s e ethical standards
fall short of the generally h i g h level
among professors and instructors. Both
the student's religion and his photograph
(which might be used by the lecturer of
a large class for identification) as well as
data under the obscure category of "cam-
pus leadership" constitute unnecessary
information which is readily available to
faculty.
PARANOIA? Perhaps. But as long as an-
other HUAC or its equivalent is a pos-
sibility in our society, no care is too great
to guard the student's right to privacy.
Student Government Council, Graduate
Assembly and the Student Relations
Committee must all act quickly on the.
Lawler Committee report. Clearly they
must re-evaluate all the issues and facts
in light of the disturbingly cursory per-
formance of the Lawler committee.
-MARTIN HIRSCHMAN
By RICK PERLOFF
EDITOR'S NOTE: Caught in the
flow of events like the recent sit-
Ins in the County Building, it is
easy to forget that the first few
weeks of the semester are also an
important period of adjustment for
over 5000 freshmen. The following
article by a Daily, staffer is based
on his personal impressions of what
it is like to be a member of the
Class of '72.
X IS THE unknown, the uncer-
tain factor. To a freshman it is
how 'to adjust at the university.
Usually t h e problem requires a
year to solve, but it is known to be
unraveled within a semester -
whenever the perplexity, the be-
wilderment and the mystery of X
has disappeared.
A freshman is a strange sort of
creature. He walks decisively
through the Diag, but suddenly
will pull out a map. He'll unravel
the thing in the midst of upper-,
classmen taught not to g i v e a
damn, sometimes discovering it
really wasn't worth the effort.
A freshman knows he's under-
takihgsonething new, that a part
of his life has died and a pew. era
has been, launched. He wanted it
to begin August 29.
Desirous of the experience an
upperclassman can deliver w i t h
that certain look in his eye, the
freshman wants to be able to say:
"Take, care of these first few days
before classes. You'll need them in
October." Trouble is he can't,:
TO APPRECIATE the freshman
it is necessary t start like he
did - with the towels, and shirts,
and pants, and socks, all packed,
along with a hunk of typewriter,
the "new attitude" and memories
of the old life.
And it is the old life, for that
is basic. T h e freshman coming
from high school was then inform-
ed that a period of his life was
now finished.
Some freshmen are happy to get
away from the parties on Friday,
no school Saturday and "mom will
do the rest" routine. But few can
leave withoift mixed feelings.
There were a lot of memories left
behind - no questions asked, And
there was a certain sheltering and
protection that was, if not appre-
ciated then, a successful formula
for minimizing the misgivings.
The process of birth, growth and
maturity is taking its roots, and
make no mistake - this is a cycle
that by and large befalls everyone
- YAF, SDS, NSA. There is good
in it and there is bad. There are
those who feel the good of mak-
ing one's own mark outweighs the
bad of, well of . . . home.
IT IS STRIKING that not so
long ago I was one of those sloppy
kids on the bike, riding through
the city. I may ride a bike and I
may be sloppy and it may be
through a city, but somehow it
won't be the same, It couldn't pos-
sibly be. It wasn't meant to be.
It shouldn't be.
I recall my last summer day of
"freedom" right before fall orien-
tation. I had one thought - how
the summer could have passed so
quickly.
"ANN ARBOR - 15 miles,"
reads the roadnsign and the ob-
vious begins Anew. Can I make
it in the "Big Time?" Do I want
to? What of combining "work
and play?" .-. . Ann Arbor .
Congratulations to the Univer\
sity of Michigan . . . congratula-
tions to a thing.
But there I was at last on
campus, looking at buildings, the
cars, the dress, the life. It was
what I expected, but much better
laid out. They told me it was
beautiful and they lied.
But there remained a certain
quaintness aboutivy on the quad
walls and the Economics Build-
ing in the middle of what they
called the Diag that reminded
one of Harvard Yard, or Oxford.
Rumor had it that the intellec-
tuals from Berkeley were now in
Ann Arbor. The action was here
and it was only mid-August. If
one ran naked in the, morning
'across the Diag, at least a hund-
red people, it seemed, would
glance and turn away, unchanged.
Students didn't actually study
here, did they? .i
One sees contentment on
campus, at least sometimes. It ap-
pears that students or quasi-stu-
dents were doing what they want-
ed. There was laughter and al-
ways somebody in a phone booth.
I wanted to laugh and talk in a
phone booth. As I walked on S.
University, I passed people, feel-
ing that certain "out-of-it" senti-
ment, which I hoped would be dis-
pelled and dispelled quickly.
-0
a
Some freshmen want to know
severy loophole, all the BMOC's
and the location of the best
parties. They discover it isn't quite
possible, but the wonderful thing
about a freshman is that he ac-
tually thinks such impossibilities.
He actually believes there will
be time to ace the course, know
the cliques, chat with the prof,
see the shows, work on the Daily,
get the sex, and sleep in the room
the 'U' built. By the sophomore
year, he will lose much of this
enthusiasm - he will become
more specialized, more computer-
ized, more "Michiganized" and
older.
He will know more about his
goals, what he wants and more
about himself. He will hive made
mistakes, it will have cost him
and he will have been scarred. But
the wonderful thing about August
in Ann Arbor for a freshman is
that he's clean, his record con-
tains rio blemishes - he can start
out fresh. And it ends so quick-
ly, it is said. Come mid-Septem-
ber, a bruise here, a scrape there,
he is slowly losing his "freshman-
inity."
ON THE DAY I arrived at East
Quad for fall orientation, parents
were plentiful, their cars lined up
on E. University like a taxi squad.
We. are welcomed, but this is
only the beginning of the never-
ending welcome wagons, pulled by
all sorts - administration, facul-
ty, students, welcomers-in-resi-
dence.
My resident advisor walked
downstairs with my mother and I
",as we made the first trip to bring
baggage from the car to my room.
"You don't have to help,"
mother Said, as if to thank him
already.
"I'm not," he jarred us and
walked on as if to say, "You're
on your own, buddy," and he was
right. We were.
'My first night in the Quad was
nothing special. If there were
supposed to be guilt feelings, lone-
liness, and concerns about college
competition, they didn't come. In
fact nothing much came except
an obsession with 6:30 a.m. - the
time I had to rise the next morn-
ing.
Those deep philosophical discus-
sions with one's self don't always
occur in the middle of the night
or even after some jolting exper-
ience. Sometimes they occur when
one walks through the Diag\ or
during a lecture in chemistry.
WALKING ALONE to the dorm
I noticed other students were
walking together. A freshman is
often alone. He doesn't feel quite
with it going into a pizza hut at
'I wish Fleming was here'
midnight and watching bands and
seeing others socializing. He has
not yet weathered the storm but
he's not been caught in it yet
either - he's still in a womb of
,sorts and is lonely and unsure of
tomorrow.
The freshman who smokes the
pipe is indicative. He may like the
puffs of tobacco in a pipe, but it
seems one of his motives is accept-
ance. He won't look so new if
he smokes a pipe. He's more-
adult-like -' or is he?
MONDAY NIGHT is President
Fleming's welcome to the Class of
'72.
The SGC president speaks first
and is really quite entertaining.
To wit: "Why did you come to
the University? Some 'of you
have asked that already and some
of you won't dog it until after the
first exam." The place eases up
and Robben Fleming looks at his
watch.
When Fleming finishes his ora-
tion, there are freshmen faced
with the decision of whether or
not to give the President a stand-
ing ovation. Common courtesy
dictates rising but the pressures
of non-conformity say "sit and
do what you think is right." We
stand.
The Glee Club is next and when
they sing "I want to go back to
Michigan, to dear AnnbArbor
Town, back to Joe's and the
Orient," we wonder "Wher'e is
Joe's and what is the Orient?"
But the freshmen laugh at "If
your feet are big and your head
is small, you can go to State and,
play football."
ON TUESDAY I sit through the
LSA Assembly-a conglomeration.
of professors' poorrpunsuhefor the
entertainment of freshmen. Thef
distinction of being admitted to
Michigan seems to lose something
by repetition. We all snicker as
one man urges us to continue the
search for the basic essence, the
truth.
That night around midnight I
find that I meet everyone I know
in the dorm bathroom.
Next afternoon our orientation
group meets on the diag and I
bring my New York Times in an-
ticipation of a long wait to see a
counselor. No such luck. I meet
him in an auditorium and he.
claims he rather likes counseling
-but be frank, would' you?
We talk about taking History
101 or History 102 and he informs
me that I have to make up my
own mind.
ALL IS PEACHY until the gen-
tleman mumbles something I hope
I didn't hear. He says it rather
softly and I don't blame him. Its
an awful position to have to tell
a freshman that English 123 is
closed. Just like that? It's closed.
The end. Panic. What will be my
fourth subject? A completed pink
schedule card is now torn up.
Now he advises me to take Eng-
lish 231, a course in poetry. We are
both informed that it carries a
prerequisite - a friend named
English 123. How about- Anthro-
pology? Nothing except possibly
botany appeals to me less and
that doesn't even satisfy a science
requirement.
He calmly tells me that is all
that's left andn Xsign up for it.
I see my orientation leader Who
informs me that Section 41 of
English 123 is now open.
ONE DISCOVERS freshmen are
shocked,, in a comal of closed
courses, when they don't get the
classes and times they wanted,.
One upperclassman was asked if
she was taking what she wanted.
"No," she said simply, and con-
tinued her walking.
I think that this scheduling has-
sle takes much of the enthusiasm-
for learning out of the cotirses. It
appears the counselors don't real-
ly listen to students either. It's as
if they're using earplugs which
relay the Tiger game, so when the
student presents his form they
sign, grunt and yell "next."
One girl had the right idea. She
groaned, "I'd like to have Fleming
stand in one of these lines. I'd
like to see him drop and add and
stand here for hours for no con-
ceivable purpose."
I drop and add twice in. the
same day, change my schedule
rather drastically, bring back half
my books and watch Humphrey's
'acceptance speech. And the year
has just started.
I PICK UP some more needed
books and see more activities be-
gin, and figure my time will come
and that werfreshmen will have
our day, won't we? It's slow and'
agosnizing, being a freshman. It's
often a cruel process but it's 1got
its moments.
The freshman year is a mixed
experience. It 'has plenty of spills
-from scheduling right on down.
It is uncertainty and it is over-
confidence. It promises the unfor-
seen, the supreme frustrations,
and that outsider complex. But a
freshman, at least - for a little
while, has to be an outsider -
otherwise his name wouldn't be
freshman.
And those of '72,will never, well
not really,, go through the same
experience again. They will have
graduated from X.
w
4
Clifford and the ABM
SECRETARY of Defense Clark Clifford
has confirmed that the United States
is prepared to pursue a costly and dan-,
gerous policy in search of elusive na-
tional security.
In his announcement that his depart-
ment's $5 billion 'sentinel' ballistic mis-
sile system would be exempt from the
ordered congressional spending cut,
Clifford has let loose a federal program
which may provoke an arms race or worse.
At a time when this country desper-
ately needs to concentrate on its grave
internal, problems; the government is
preoccupied with defective projects which'
succeed only in aggrandizing the power
of the Pentagon while they intensify
the already serious world situation.
THUS, THE President and Congress
have chosen to belittle or ignore the
Poor People's March, and the report on
civil disorders.
Instead, they have adhered to the war
in Southeast Asia that has drained the
country financially while it has under-
mined the country's position they world
over.
The war, which blew the defense budget
up to over $80'Y billion each year, has
brought the government increasingly
under the influence of the military, to
the point that all other programs have
been subordinated to military ones.
CLARK CLIFFORD assured us that the
'sentinel' system is' only to guard
against attack from China. But the very
nature of large military programs make
them impossible to contain once they get
under way.
Already, high Pentagon officials are
talking about a comprehensive ABM sys-
tem to guard against Soviet attack. Some
estimate the cost at $45 billion. Others
foresee the expenditure of $10 billion per
year for the next decade or more.
And once 1passed by Congress, a pro-
gram gains momentum until it is nearly
impossible to turn back. Defense pro-
grams take on a special, sacred quality
in Congress. To dissent is to be unpa-
triotic.
LIKE THE Vietnam war, the 'sentinel'
system ,could grow larger and faster
than anyone now envisions.. Like a "few
thousand advisors," the commitment of
$5 billion in earnest money could be the
down payment on a mammoth arms race..
Besides prompting the Soviets to
strengthen their useless ABM system, thus
provoking the United States to respond,
it also sets the stage in the country for
a more vociferously hawkish attitude and
a disregard for the catastrophe of a
nuclear holocaust.
-BILL LAVELY
tH
41
'Freshmaninity' at the 'U'
Letters: Alumni respond to welfare crisis
*1
Goodell not a bad choice
CONGRESSMAN Charles Goodell will be
sworn in today as Senator from New
York, taking the seat left vacant by the
assassination of Robert Kennedy.
The political portrait of 'Charles
Goodell is, at first glance, one of mild
contrasts. Goodell's voting record in the
House seems to place him as far right as
minority leader Gerald Ford. For exam-
ple, he has backed state rather than fed-
eral control of poverty programs.
But Goodell was a staunch supported
of Rockefeller in his Presidential bid. He
was a leading combatant in fighting the
Reaganite hatwks on the Republicans'
Vietnam plank.
THE PUZZLE resolves itself when you
consider Goodell's role as a member of
the opposition party, a role which he has
studiously accepted. Although he does
not oppose the war on poverty, he oppos-
es, In the Republican tradition, the ad-
ministration of the poverty program by
the federal government. Goodell unsuc-
cessfully tried to cut Lyndon Johnson's
poverty request almost in half. Goodell
also sought to replace the Job Corps with
a similar program run by private indus-
try.
However, Goodell's role as a critic
often stops when the issue comes to a
vote. He spoke against the Administra-
tion's position to establish the Teachers
Corps. But when the legislative attempts
to amend or substitute for ,the bill failed,
Goodell voted with most Republicans in
favor of the bill.
NELSON ROCKEFELLER appointed a
good party man. His voting record be-
sneaks a narty allegiance that is as good
To the Editor:
WE ALL, or most of us, are con-
cerned about the plight of
ADC mothers everywhere, includ-
ing Ann Arbor. We all, or most of
us, are opposed to sin and are in
favor of motherhood. However, I
am sick at heart at-what has hap-
pened at Ann Arbor during the
past few days.
I am certain that most of the
students at Ann Arbor are respon-
sible, serious adults, and as an
alumnus of Michigan for over 30
years I want to do something for
them, about the situation, and,
curb in any way I can the violent
leadership (much non-student)
of the misguided minority which,
In the name of justice, really does
not care about the ADC mothers,
the University, or, for that mat-
ter, America. They only care for
themselves., Why?
They are and have been re-
garded as "kids" all' their lives up
to now. What does this really
mean? It means that-their peers
and some of us oldsters really be-
lieve that their standard of con-
duct should be that of kids: ir -
responsible subject to modest au-
thority, and forgiven for defying
the very social order that provides
seized this opportunity to further
their own desires for more hand-
outs to themselves-not really to
aid the ADC mothers. Kids!
There were people when I first
came to Ann Arbor who were re-
sponsible adults at 16. At that
time Nscholarships .were few, gov-
ernment or industry handouts did
not exist. These young folks per-
severed and many graduated with
honors and went on to graduate
schools-all on their own respon-
sibility and effort. Sure,; ome
dropped by the wayside, some bor-
rowed money, but none demanded
a free ride from somebody ,else.
There are young adults today
similarly coming to Ann Arbor,
not asking for alms-but asking
for an education and willing to do
what they can to get it. I suspect
none of these' were engaged in the
protest for ADC mothers, which
really was a protest for continuing
furnishing to themselves-toeir
mother's milk or that of some wet
nurse paid for by someone else.
What can I do about it?
CEASE the small contributions I
have made over the years to the
University to aid its pursuit of
excelence for the men and women
--w n llfuo nrmiay of Min
fessional agitators) who )artici-
pated in the "protest" represent
not the student body of Lhe Un;-
versity but are really that srall
fraction found inanysociety at
the low end of the bell curve,
--ERNEST L. RUSHMER
Sept. 9
Bunch of punks'
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following
letter was sent to University Presi-
dent Robben Fleming by an alum-
nus following the sit-ins last week
at the County Bldg.
here must be thousands of loy-
al alumni who share with me a
feeling.of diminished pride in the
sickening conduct of a large seg-
ment of the student body whose
arrests have brought shame and
disgrace upon the good name of
our beloved University. That in
itself is bad enough, but even
more sickening is t h e spineless
conduct of the University adrpin-
istrators in not only condoning
such 'conduct but courting the fa-
vor of the punks by supplying cash
bail in order to get them out of
jail.
Has the university gone soft?
Time was when students under
arrest for misconduct would not
be bailedout; they would be boot-
d out nf the TTniversity and told
sity." Reports further show that
the demonstrators met and organ-
ized their plans on the campus.
This, in my opinion; is ,a direct in-
volvement of the University and
should be so held.
THE USE of University funds,
whether private or public, to bail
out of jail students who deserved
what they got is a disgraceful use
of such money. President Fleming
said, "the money for it has been
collected over the years, but none
of it 's personal funds or state
money e v e n the oldest alumni
know about it." I think I might
be classed as one of the oldest
(Law '13) and have kept in close
touch with University affairs, but
I never heard of any such fund.
If it is not a "personal fund or
state money," what is it? It might
not be out of order if state au-
thorities conducted an investiga-
tion to determine if any moneys
held by the University should or
could be used for bailing arrested
students out of jail. I am satisified
that no adequate explanation will
come from the president.
Over some fifty years I have
paid my fair share of taxes to sup-
port our educational institutions
as I thoroughly believe in ,supply-
More on protests
To the Editor:
I FAIL TO understand how sup-
posedly well-educated univer-
sity students can be made to look
like !such fools as they did last
week in the welfare mothers' pro-
test.
The mothers had been offered
$60 a year for clothes. A small
amount, true. But they were or-
ganized and protesting together
and their demands were being
seriously considered and nego-
tiated. A figure of $72,000 dollars
was being proposed by the Super-
visors Ways and Means commit-
tee, a sum that even the mothers
admitted was larger than the
amount needed to provide clothing
needs for all the ADC dhildren in
the county.
IN THE MIDST of this orderly
process, 700 students rally to the
county building, over a thousand
engage in a diag rally, and nearly
200 break federal law and are ar-
rested "to protest." There was no
better or prompter way the moth-
ers' demands could have been
handled than was being done by
the authorities, and the student
\