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By STEVE ANZALONE
ACADEMIC REFORM of some
sort seems likely to be ushered
in this year. That is, at least, the
tacit assumption made by various
campus groups, both radical and
otherwise. Few are asking if this
is the right time; there is a gen-
eral consensus that it is. The
questions that department forums
and radical groups are asking are,
"What is to be done?" and "How
are we to do it?"
If reform does occur, it is prob-
ably a safe assumption that it
will proceed on both the depart-'
mental and college levels. It would
be a mistake to postulate that the

various channels of academic re-
form will operate independently
of each other. But it would also be
a mistake not to delineate the im-
plications of possible reform meas-
ures for both academia and the
student groups lobbying for
change.
THE BANNER of departmental
reform is being carried by stu-
dents on one end and faculty on
the other. The history department
was the first out of the blocks
with the initiation of the faculty-
student department forums to be-
gin to stake out the areas of pos-
sible, change. The philosophy,

economics and math depa
have begun to follow suit
These departmental refo
grams can lead to mea
changes in curricula and
and direction of the depar
But the important feature
departments is the fact t
faculty and students can f
a program together.
On the college-wid
though,-specifically the
college-someone else will
rying the banner. The actio
will come not from facu
dent co-operation as in1
partments, but from sour
ternal to the traditional ac

SATURDAY, OCTQBER 5, 1968

NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID MANN



E sdept. ,reform:
For upperclassmen only

"Hey, mister! Your band turned right at"
the last corner!"

THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT is about
to undergo a long needed revision of its
incredibly outmoded curriculum. And
since. the present situation is such that
almost any change would represent a,
significant improvement, the depart-
ment should be commended for finally
planniIng some action.
At long last they have perceived the
total irrelevance of the existing fresh-
man composition course. And they are be-
ginning to discover the inadequacy of
senseless, surveys which supposedly give
students a broad overview of vast
amounts of material. The student gains
few deep insights into any of the ma-
terial and the teacher cannot be expect-
ed to treat all of it with the same ex-
pert'ise and enthusiasm.
The major intent of new department
chairman Russel Fraser's proposals-to
impiove the concentration and graduate
programs and reduce the faculty teach-
ing burden-is laudable. In particular,
the introduction of 40-man studies cours-
es will significantly *improve the non-
honors concentration-program.
CURRENTLY, FRESHMEN and sopho-
mores, generally oppressed by large
lecture courses in which professors and
teaching fellows seem to conspire to over-
whelm them in a break-neck race to cov-
era wealth'of material, are able to take
small discussion courses in English at
te 20 evel
Speculation1"
JNFbRMED SOURCES speculate that in
few days the President will submit to
the Seate 'a new nomination for the
half-=vacan post of Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court.
The President is epected to nominate
great public servant, an eminent Tex-
an,, ancd a lifelong friend of iHomer
Thornberry-one Lyndon Baines Johnson
of Johnson City,. Texas.
S'The nomination will be propelled
through the Senate by the telling argu-
ament that opposition will give aid and
comfort to the North Vietnamese an'd
thereby endanger our war effort.
Once approved, Johnson will resign as
President and thereby give Hubert Hora-
tio Humphrey his lifelong dream of be-
ing President-at least .until the Nixon
ihauguration in January.
Johnson's motives are crystal clear.
For if the Court is as powerful as Spiro
Agnew claims, who, wants to waste his
political life merely being president?'
-W. S.
'1
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Many students have felt that these
courses were among the best which they
had at the University. A substantial num-
ber of English majors make their com-
mittment to the department on the basis
of these exp riences.
Naturally, one can always point out1
that some mass lecture courses are good
and that some smaller discussion classes1
fail miserably to create the interaction
between student and professor - which
they are supposed to., But these excep-'
tions should never be used to justify a
generally bad rule.
NOW THE DEPARTMENT is seriously
considering eliminating this vestige
of humanized education and consigning
the underclassmen to the same kind of
mass torture which most introductory
courses have become.
The English department is not en-
tirely to blame for this. In the Univer-
sity as a whole, the administration is un-
willing to commit adequate funds for
freshman and sophomore courses, oper-
ating under the facile assumption that
until a student has survived for two years
and made a committment to sbme spec-
ialized field of study; he is expendable.
Probably the best solution to this
dilemma would be a complete revision of
the freshman and sophomore ciurriculum.
Instead of subjecting students to two
years of assorted watered-down 'intro-
ductory courses, students and teachers
should be allowed to determine together
the material they will study within a giv-
en. discipline.
This might also be a better alternative
to the freshman composition course than
imposing Shakespeare on all of the
freshmen.. A :one-semester Shakespeare
course cannot be expected tR completely
compensate for any student's cultural
deprivation. Neither, unfortunately, is it
fair to expect the freshmen to be unani-
mously enthusiastic 'about having this
great "literature forced upon them.
An attempt should be made to accom-
modate individual freshmen interests as
much as possible and to make the most
of the skills and interests of those faculty
who teach freshmen.
IN GENERAL, the trend to abolish im-
possibly broad ranging survey courses
and allow faculty interests to shape the
curriculum should be applied to more
areas of the department than just the
regular prograhi for undergraduate ma-
jors.
' But nonetheless it is crucial that the
English department, hopefully aided by
additional funds from the literary col-
lege, maintain the fine program it nas
for unperclassmen .at the 200 level. con-
version of these courses to mass lectures
would be a distressing blow to quality
education.
Furthermore, it :must be made clear
that student participation and a deep
concern for their educational needs must
be made, an integral part of any move-
ment to reshape the English department.
-ANN MUNSTER,

K A
-,r
AVA

."f

academic.
rtments structu: e. The conflict the e ill
t. be imbedded closely into the fom n
im pro- of campus politics-into the i ei ms
aningful of Voice and Student Governme-t'
control Council.
rtments. There seem to be a few distinct
for the avenues of reform there with vary-
hat the ing degrees of political implica-
orge out tions for the campus.
The first, and simplest, approach
e scale to reform within the literary col-
literary lege centers on the distribution re-
be car- quirements-especially language.
n there That is the program being plan-
lty-stu- ned by both Voice and SGC. This
the de- one issue could probably draw the
ces ex- greatest student support because
cademic of the annoyance that so many
students find there.
The political implications and
motivations of, the removal and
adjustment of the distribution re-
quirements are obvious. For SGC,
the prospect of leading a fight
against distribution requirements
promises a boost to the sagging.
legitimacy of SGC in the minds of,
many grateful students.
For Voice, the language require-
ment serves as a rallying point for
mobilizing normally apolitical
students. Voice needs such sup-
port for it is the'only way they
can bargain effectively with the
administration.
Voice has, in fact, organized
their campaign around this issue.
But they are also attempting to
work in the departments. Two
committees were established at
their last meeting: one to circulate
a petition demanding an end to
all distribution requirements and
the other to seek to make changes
in the various departments.
The Voice program is in large
part' the position of the Voice
establishment, 'the Radical Cau-
cus. While not meeting any serious
opposition from the Jesse James
Gang (known none too affection-
ately to the Voice establishment
as "the crazies"), they do not
necessarily subscribetoythat ap-
proach.
The James gang's 'approach is
known here and elsewhere as
"radicalization" of education. The
gang's concern is not with the
exercise of student power in aca-
demic affairs, but with reshaping
the University to make it a tool
to be used in their re-construction
of society.
This won't be done through the
abolition of language xequire-
ments but through the "liberation
of classrboms" -- taking them
over and discussing with students
what the gang considers more im-

re orm
lortant. such as classified re-
search. By this classroom con-
frontation. they feel, student sup-
port for radical politics could be
enlarged.
While more closely attuned to
their goals, the gang's approach
seems unlikely to meet with much
success. It can easily be tested,
however. although at some cost in
their standing, and if unsuccess-
ful, alternate means will be sought.
An approach only slightly dif-
ferent is to have members of the
class themselves disrupt the
teaching to tell the instructor they
did not like what was being done.
They would then proceed to en-
list support from among their
classmates, but once again success
seems unlikely.
ANOTHER VARIATION, cen-
tering on the graduate level, alms
for a reconsideration of course
content. This involves the writing
of "radical sociology" or "radi-
cal history" to compete with the
traditional disciplines. This is
limited first by the scope of radi-
calization - it. could only apply
to those with a clearly political
content - and the demands it
makes - the definitionand writ-
ing of radical disciplines is no
minor task.
The problem of enlisting sup-
port is probably even greater here
than in the cases cited previously.
Graduate students are much more
committed to their departments
fnd especially their 'disciplines
than are undergraduates. And al-
though there are encouraging
prospects, such as in the recent
conventions of the national politi-
cal science and sociology associa-
tions, they still remain dim.
The last likely avenue of re-
form lies in structure, not con-
tent, in the organization and run-
ning of classes, not what is taught.
The advocates of this type of re-
form seek smaller classes and in-
creased contact with professors,
Although ,currently being dealt
with by groups aiming at campus-
wide reform, this will most likely
be handled on the departmental
level through student and faculty
co-operation.
And so the various avenues ,
leading to academic reform are
not mutually exclusive. The dif-
ferent methods will be operating
at the same time. What the Uni-
versity's curricula may look like
next year could very well be
a combination of different ideas,
fought for under different ban-
ners, sought for different snotiva-
tions.

0

fe

J

__ _ ..n_ _. - .
1

Letters: Peggy Collins in her own defense

To the Editor:
WAS THE subject of an article
written by Chris Steele which
graced the editorial page of the
Sept. 26 issue of 'The Daily. I am
amazed at Steele's articles I don't
know whether his article is an ex-
ample of inept writing or a deli-
berate attempt to make me look
bad. In addition, he took three
weeks to interview me, and he still
got many facts fouled up.
Steele said that both my father
and I appeared on the platform
with Governor Wallace. This is not
true. Although I did appear on the
platform for a few minutes with
Governor! Wallace, my father was
not even in town the night of'
Governor Wallace's speech.
Steele said that my father has
not been to church since he walk-
ed out on a serrmon by a priest
who said that people need not fol-
low the Ten Commandments. This
is not true. Several years ago a
priest did say this at a Mass at-
tended by my father, but my
father did not walk out. Last year,
my father did walk out of a Mass
at St. Mary's here in Ann Arbor
when the priest said we could
learn to love from the Hippies.
Of late, my father has not at-
tended Mass at home because he
must work on Sunday. Somehow,

Steele mixed these facts together
and the result is a totally untrue
statement.
I DO NOT CLAIM to be a real
strong Catholic, just as Steele,
says. However, his article said I
date non-Catholic boys. Period.
What Chris Steele failed to men-
tion is that I have dated a Catho-
lic boy very steadily for a year
and attend church with him each
Sunday.
Steele says that I learned the
proper use of drugs 'during my so-
journ in the College of Pharmacy
(not Pharmacology). I did not
take a course" in chemistry past
Chem. 106. I think any freshman
could agree that the proper use
of morphine, heroin, and LSD is
not taught in Chem. 106.
Steele said that an Afro-Amer-
ican friend of mine left "with a
terribIe question in his eyes" when
I told him that I was supporting
Wallace. Upon reading Steel's ar-
ticle, my friend said Steele was
badly mistaken.
I also do not see how Steele
could tell by the look on my face
that I was going to show him
something. The object of a news-
paper interview is to repoit what
a person says on issues, not to try

and interpret the looks on his face
or the expression tin his eyes.
Before I consented to the inter-
view with Steele, I requested that
he let me see the final article be-
fore it was printed. He said, "May-
be." So I went ahead with the
interview, thinking he would prob-
ably let met see it if I decided
I had a strong desire to. During
the span of three weeks, I literally
hounded him to let me see it. The
night before the interview was to
be printed, he flatly refused to let
me see the article before it went
to press.
I realize that I wouldn't have
been able to change Steel's opin-
ions about what I said, but at least
I could have demanded that the
erroneous statements I have point-
ed out be corrected,
I WANT TO clarify the reasons
why I am supporting George Wal-
lace. I realize that some Amer-
icans have been denied their
rights, but rioting is certainly no
answer to the problem. Anyone
who participates in a riot is a
criminal and should be treated as
such by the police. Furthermore,
rioting has only served to worsen
racq relations.
The best way to end the Viet-
nam war is to win it. Five months
of negotiations in Paris have net-

ted only adamant refusals by the
Communists to make any conces'-
sions, and the war could go on for
many more years if we continue
to figsht .a holding action as we are
now.
I feel that employment, school-
ing and housing programs can be
more effectively administered at
the local rather than federal level.
On the basis of my views 'in these
areas I do support Governor Wal-
lace.
-Peggy Collins, '69Ed
Sept. 29
SACUA
To the Editor:
WE IN THE Senate Advisory
Committee on University Af-
fairs and in the Senate Assembly
have been eminently pleased with
the coverage accorded faculty
activities by The Daily. However,
I should like to correct two items
that appeared in your article on
SACUA in The Daily Thursday,
Oct. 3.
No one knows what per cent
salary increases will be received
by the non-academic University
employes who are currently nego-
tiating contracts with the Univer-
sity. SACUA in particular does not
know, and it is not in any position
to make a prediction about the

outcome of those negqtiations. We
do not predict 15 per cent in-
creases and to the best of my re-
collection we, did not predict 15 or
any other per cent in our conver-
sation with your reporter last
Wednesday evening.
The second matter requiring
correction is the reference to "the
declining reputation of the Uni-
versity." What SACUA did say,
and is willing to repeat, is that if
the salary scale for the instruc-
tio74al staff is not raised, the Uni-
versity will not be able to attract
or to retain those distinguished
teachers upon whose reputations
the reputation of the University
ultimately depends. To estimate
the present reputation of a uni-
versity is an enormously difficult
and complicated task. I have no
idea whether the University's repu-
tation today is higher or lower
than it was one or five years ago,
I believe it is still a, great uni-
versity with a magnificent reputa-
tion. But I am aware that unless
the salary level for professors is
brought back up to the A level on
the AAUP scale the University
cannot help but decline, both in
fact and reputation.
-Irving A. Copi
Chairman, Senate Assembly
and SACUA
Oct. 3

,,

'*1

How the

f

ic Carthy

Studebaker

keeps

running along

By RICK PERLOFF
IT MAY NOT appear to be get-,
ting anywhere, but the trusty
old McCarthy Studebaker refuses
to call 'it quits and head for the
political junkyard.
Many thought the "Impossible
Dream" had come to an end in the
streets of Daley's Chicago in late
August. But in Michigan and sev-
eral other key states determined
bands of McCarthy diehards are
now organizing presidential write-
in campaigns aimed at November
and beyond.
In Michigan four weeks before
election day the McCarthy 'people
headquartered in Ann Arbor would
be lucky to get as much as three
per cent of the vote compared to
an estimated almost 20 per cent
for Wallace.
Probably as many as half the
people on campus who formed the
nucleus of the McCarthy legions
elast spring aren't participating In
the current write-in effort. But
the other half hasn't stopped at

people in Ann Arbor held another
organizational meeting. This time
most of the discussion centered on
developing a rationale for the Mc-.
Carthy write-in. And people there
weren't any surer of the whys at
. 10:30 p.m. than they were at eight.
4bout 50 people showed up, but"
only 25 agreed to do canvassing.
The discussion at the meeting was
by no means unified. It was apt
to turn dramatically from the po-
litical+ issues at hand, like when
one man wanted to know what the
possibilities were for organizing a
coffee house that would dish out
sandwiches and seminars.
For the first time all evening
the meeting came alive. There was
excited talk about those legendary
Berkley coffee houses and every-
one agreed that someone should
look into the coffee house situa-
tion.
That was three weeks ago and
since then things have livened up
a bit. There was a canvassing at-
tempt in Oak Park last week to
pass out the tiny stickers neces-

IT SEEMS APPARENT that the
McCarthyites h a v e withdrawn
from the hard realities of primary'
campaigns into a cocoon woven of
question marks, disillusionment
and unenthusiasm. The effort has
stopped concentrating on reaching
masses of people with a kind of
"You take Elm Street to Hickory
and I'll take the rest" routine.
Now they focus on areas where
support is pretty much expected-
forlorn outposts of liberalism like
Jewish suburbs and college towns.
The disenchanted veterans of
the whole McCarthy campaign can
now be classed, perhaps too neat-
ly, into three groups - the ambi-
valents, the drop-outs and tha en-
thusiasts.
Dr. Ed Pierce, Mayor Wendell
Hulcher's Democratic opponent
last time out, is an ambivalent. He
says he's glad the write-in exists,
but his ho-hum voice gives hin
away.
He sees no chance for the write-
in movement and figures the whole
thing is just a waste of time. Last
_mino ha m orh 'Pr ha .ia 4_nn .

nesota senator endorsed Humph-
rey he might just'change his mind.
JERRY DuPONT who ran un-
successfully against Vivian in' the
Democratic congressional primary
in August, is a McCarthy drop-
out. Previously a staunch support-=
er, he is now a man extremely dis-
gusted with politics in general fol-
lowing his own defeat and the
Chicago deluge.
He will be devoting his energies
to the county board of supervisors
race, but Dupont sees little hope
for t h e write-in campaign, al-
though he respects what they're
doing.
"Ten months is enough for any-
one," he explains.
Enthusiasts like Prof. Mark
Ross of the physics department
don't see it like that at all. Des-
pite all their talk about ridding
themselves of the system, they are
captives of the same political pro-
cess they loathe.
Their hero, Eugene McCarthy.
for all his heretical tendencies is
definitely a man of the system.

see the candidates as carboned
copies of law, order and militar-
ism. They won't help HHH.
Nor will they sit back and gawk.
Ross argues that the McCarthy
write-in is the first step toward
the development of a new party.
If McCarthy can still tap the
reservoir of 'support he accumulat-
ed in his fight for the nomination
maybe he's got a chance to roll
up a sizeable vote, the enthusiasts
reason. They like to snag 10
per cent of the vote. They realize
"this is Michigan" but they figure
it's worth a try.
"If we don't undertake this
write-in, President Nixon will see
it as a tempest in a teapot," a
leader .of the write-in drive ex-
plains. "But if we do get some
votes, maybe he'll pause and fig-
ure if he wants to stay in for eignt
years, he'd better reckon with us."
McCARTHY'S NAME provides
another reason for the electoral
campaign. Some of his supporters
find him "so lovely a candidate"
that they want him to continue in

They really believe they have a
chance, feel their efforts have
meaning, and just can't give Mc-
Carthy up, ever.
For to stop the campaign would
mean stopping a why of life. It
would mean stopping the spirit of
the canvassing across the country,
it' would mean ending the coffee
and coordination &latches every
Sunday at two.
McLUHAN SAYS the message is
the medium and he may just be
right. Because for these people the
process is what is important. For
the McCarthy enthusiasts the joys
of campaigning are so acute that
long ago they lost sight of exactly
what they are fighting for.
The campaigning itself stole
much of the sharpness from the
war and the problems of the ur-
ban ghettoes. The bitterness and
tragic disaff~ciion of a year ago
were transformed into the victory
celebrations after the Wisconsin
landslide.
No wonder the students t o 1 d
Mare Ross the spring of the pri-

I