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r4e ifr~igau Datlij
Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications
Deans, dirty words and college press
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1968
NIGHT EDITOR: JIM HECKI
By FRANK BROWNING
First of Two Parts
FOR SOME REASON the pro-
cess of creating life always
seems to embarrass "responsible
men"-especially the presidents,
deans, publication boards, and
taste-makers of public decency at
a broad swatch of Midwestern uni-
versities, where a number of nor-
mally mild-mannered college dai-
lies have dared this fall to include
"f--k" as acceptable vocabulary.
"F--k" is ostensibly the most
heinous culprit for the hackled
administrators. But at almost
every paper involved, the editors
maintain that crackdowns on the
so-called obscenity only consti-
tues a veil for far more pervasive
attempts at social control through
manipulation of journalistic pol-
icy.
To date :
-The:Minnesota Daily was
called to task by students, par-
-The Kentucky Kernel has
sustained a barrage of attacks
from conservative students, an
alumni group (headed by profes-
sional basketball player Frank
Ramsey) and state citizens dis-
satisfied with the paper's cover-
age of left-wing news; surrepti-
tious threats regarding editorial
policy and appointments have fil-
tered down from university ad-
ministrators, too.
-The Indiana Daily Student is
reportedly being sued by the In-
diana University campus police for
$750,000 after the paper labelled
them "the dregs of society."
-A media committee report at
this University recommended the
Board in Control of Student Pub-
lications take a more direct hand
in selecting editors for The Mich-
igan Daily, although that provi-
sion was defeated yesterday.
All the papers are dailies which
are at least 50 per cent self-sup-
porting. The Minnesota Daily with
Regents and Panhel:
Delayed reaction
IF CERTAIN national sororities were
outraged by the Regents' decision Fri-
day ruling use of binding and required,
pledge recommendations in violation of
University policy, their chagrin must
have been shared by left-Jeaning students
appalled at; the University's apparent
commitment to ending discrimination.
Traditionally slow' to act, administra-
tors and Regents have fruitlessly pond-
ered the issue of fraternity-sorority dis-
crimination for almost two decades. Their
action and peculiar alliance 'with Pan-
hellenic Association and Student Gov-
ertment Council-at the risk of alumnae
wrath-is commendable, if overdue.
Since 1949, when the war torn con-
science of the nation first became aware
of the necessity of ending discrimination,
the University has responded only meekly
to external pressures. In 1949, the Re-
gents ruled that no groups could be rec-
ognized, if they discriminated in mem-
bership selection.
However, sororities and fraternities
were treated as organizations apart, not
subject to University regulations.
BUT WITHIN two years, liberal ele-
ments in the community were press-
ing for abolition of discrimination in
sororities, including the binding and re-
quired recommendations for membership.
It is now clear that a tougher stand 15
years ago might have eliminated the em-
barrassing situation of having to fight
for a minute piece of anti-discrimination
legislation four years after the enactment
of major civil rights legislation.
Nevertheless, early , attempts at com-
bL ating even the most blatant methods of,
discrimination in fraternities and sorori-
ties were stymied by the administration.
In 1951, a forerunner of SGC, the Student
Affairs Committee called for the aboli-
tion of discriminatory clauses in organi-
zation constitutions, but was overruled
first by then President Ruthevan, and
later by former President Hatcher.
AS LATE as 1958, the University was
maintaining-with some difficulty- a
"hands-off" policy on sorority affairs. Al-
though SGC questioned the effect of a
suspension by the national of two Sigma
Kappa chapters which had recently
pledged black girls on the local chapter,
the administration did not respond,'
When Council withdrew recognition
from the local chapter of the sorority for
tightening their membership require-
ments, a University administrative board
overruled SGC.
Having no other recourse, Council ap-
pealed to the Regents, citing the 1949
ruling prohibiting recognition of groups
which discriminated. But the Regents
ducked the issue: they could concern
thlemselves only with general University
policy, not with the circumstances of a
particular case.
But by 1959, the questions about the
nature of sororities and fraternities de-
manded an answer. Controversy centered
around both general University policy
and immediate legality of individual
cases:
second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mlrhigan,
420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 48104.
yDaily except Monday during regular academi school
year,
-Are sororities and fraternities to be
considered student organizations rather
than private organizations?
-Do the Regents have legal authority
to require fraternities and sororities to
comply with membership regulations?
-May the Regents delegate the ad-
ministration of its regulations to sub-
ordinate groups-and has this authority
been delegated to SGC?
CONSISTENT Regental inaction, how-
ever, suggested that change would
have to come from SGC, if it were to
come at all. Four years later, in 1963,
the Regents finally passed the buck to
Council, granting student government
the powei to recognize-or withdraw rec-
ognition-from student organizations.
But Council was in a delicate situation,
and Panhel knew it. While Council hoped
the sororities would abolish discrimina-
tion on their own, the sororities hesi-
tated, fearing opposition from national
chapters. The sororities were faced with
the chance of-losing their recognition as
acceptable University housing, or losing
the equally important financial lifeline,
with dominating national chapters. Not
until this gear, did Panhel dare to de-
mand Regental backing for their action.
In 1968, Regental backing of local
'chapters was essential\ to ending the
power of binding 'recommendations, the
power of alumnae, over local chapters.
Without Regental backing, the sororities
stood alone.
HOWEVER, by 1968, only six houses at
the University still honored' binding
recommendations. And the weak Panhel
resolution endorsed by the Regents only
compels sororities to file all recommen-
dations with SGC. How recommendations
will be deemed discriminatory is yet to
be decided.
So, under scrutiny, the Regents of 1968
have not behaved so differently from the
Regents of 1951. In the last analysis, it
is obvious, the only commendation the
Regents should receive is for not over-
ruling the Panhel resolution. The lack
of Regental initiative in the light of
nearly two decades of Regental dawd-
dling is inexcusable.
To begin to classify this change as
progressive would be a sad misrepresen-
tation of its true worth. To consider it a
panecea to the problem of discrimina-
tion in sororities would be tragic distor-
tion.
PLAINLY, discrimination is inherent in
the sorority system. Any member of
any local house still has the power to
accept or reject new members. All that
differs, is that alumni cannot be pinned
for any charges of discrimination.
Hopefully, the sororities will prove they
are sincere and will abide by the plati-
tudes expressed with the resolution. Per-
haps they will drop any narrow minded
attitudes in selecting future members.
If not, no amount of legislation can
end sorority discrimination.
And certainly no University body, not
even the Regents, will-or can be ex-
pected to-act to change the sorority
system.
-LESLIE WAYNE
"Is intellectual scatology in the columns of
newspapers less offensive to the sensibilities of
the public than any of the material appearing in
college newspapers in recent weeks?"'
:.".x. . . ..m. . . a.vs SY":":":":'"""SS a >:SSSSf
the student newspaper, the Ex-
ponent, and have terminated his
association with this newspaper
in any capacity."
That was a Friday. Saturday an
extra edition of the Exponent
came out reporting what had hap-
pened, complete with letters from:
outraged faculty, a statement of
support for the paper from the
Student Government, and a de-
claration of the Exponent's senior
staff to continue publication with-
out any change in policy.
Monday, the staff declared
Smoot would continue as editor,
and the administration retaliated
by demanding the entire staff re-
sign. A subsequent compromise
left Smoot in office while a special
study committee prepares a report
for release Dec. 1.
The climax to the Exponent
case apparently came Nov. 7 when
the paper published a poem in a
literary section which made open
reference to people f--king. Earlier
a colum entitled "Black Book"
noted that Purdue's preside.nt was
not "anal-retentive," that he had
indeed "dumped on students" and
that while the student senate was
"combing the presidential feces
out of its hair, (the president
out of its hai'.... (the president)
is wiping his ass with the philoso-
phy department's petitions (for
curricular reform)."
Exponent managing editor, Paul
Buser, is confident that the uni-
versity's action was really a cul-
mination of anger toward and un-
happiness with the Exponent. The
paper has held a politically active
editorial voice this year, and ac-
cording to Buser, Purdue's Presi-
dent Fred Hovde had cited "alum-
ni pressure" as one reason for the
crackdown. Mallett denied the
charge in an explanatory state-
ment.
Prof. Harry Targ of Purdue's
political s c i e n c e department
charged "the reaction has been
engendered by the editorial stand
w h i c h has been maintained
throughout the year and not be-
cause of any obscenity." In a
letter-to-the-editor, Prof. Joseph
Rubinstein of Purdue's psychology
department, asked, "Is intellec-
tual scatology in the columns of
city newspapers less offensive to
the sensibilities of the public than
any of the material appearing in
the Exponent in recent weeks?"
Apparently so. And especially
so when the owners of those city
.r "
4
ents, legislators, professional jour-
nalists, and some queasy admin-
istrators for using the word di-
rectly and displaying it in front-
page picture coverage of a campus
"obscenity" controversy.
-The Wisconsin Daily Cardinal,
a financially independent paper,
printed a CPS story which in-
cluded so-called obscene words;
its editor was ordered to appear
before an upcoming regents meet-
ing and present policy guidelines
to guard against such usage in the
future;.
-Purdue University's Exponent
had its editor suspended (and
later reinstated pending a study
committee's report after publish-
ing a supposedly obscene poem
and a column which declared the
university's president had "wiped
his ass" with a faculty petition
for academic changes.
-Three of the top editors of
The State News at Michigan State
University had salary cuts threat-
ened by the paper's adviser (Gen-
eral Manager) after it used "f--k"
in a story about censorship cases
at Wisconsin and Purdue.
By ROBERT L, JACOBSON
NEW YORK (CPS)-The Col-
lege Entrance Examination
Board appears ready to concede
that its admissions testing pro-
gram is geared primarily to serv-
ing institutions of higher educa-
tion and that, as a result, an im-
balance exists between this service
and the individual needs of stu-
dents who want to continue their
education beyond high school.
But the board does not seem
prepared to make any radical de-
partures in its basic program of
aptitude and achievement tests,
without which few students can
be admitted to colleges and uni-
Iversities.
Its emphasis more likely will
be on offering additional services
to help students make more real-
istic judgments about themselves
and the educational institutions
they might attend.
THAT WAS the impression left
at the ,board's annual meeting by
its president, Richard Pearson,
,and by the chairman of its com-
mission on tests. The 21-member
commission was appointed in 1967
to conduct a "broad review" of
the theory and practice of the
College Board's testing program.
It was charged with gathering
"evidence of the need for change"
and deciding what new examina-
tions might be needed in the fu-
ture.
So far the commission has been
unable to reconcile widely diver-
gent views among its members.
But Pearson, in his annual report
40,000 readers proclaims itself the
world's largest circulated college
daily; although it gets free shop
composition from the university,
*isconsin's Daily Cardinal has
been an independent corporation
since the early 1930's. The State
News boasts the largest budget of
any campus paper in the country-
$600,000. And The Michigan Daily
is the only college paper publish-
ing six days a week.
So far, at least, the Purdue Ex-
ponent represents the most blatant
censorship case. Usually univer-
sity administrations have learned
to soft-pedal their attempts at
muffling the student press all the
while maintaining heartfelt al-
legiance to "free expression."
But in a signed statement Nov.
8, Purdue Vice President for Stu-
dent Services Donald R. Mallett
declared:
"By the authority vested in me
by the Board of Trustees and the
president of Purdue University,
and acting in my position as Vice
President for Student Services, I
have today removed Mr. William
R. Smoot II as editor-in-chief of
-Daily-Larry Robbins
papers and their colleagues con-
tribute substantially to the uni-
versity's support. Probably the
most telling issue at The Minne-
sota Daily case this fall was the
fear that the university might
suffer a legislative cutback in its
next appropriation due to the pub-
lication of "f--k. At least one
local commercial newspaper col-
umnist uttered his disgust for the
"juvenile" journalism and de-
clared he would no longer make
contributions to the university.
(Newspapermen's wealth and in-
fluence being what they are, that
probably doesn't worry Minnesota
P. esident Malcolm Moos too
much.)
What does worry him and other
university people is a precedent
set several years ago when the
state legislature did cut support
after The Daily printed another
naughty word:,"damn." The mat-
ter so concerned university ad-
ministrators and The Daily staff
that Editor Paul Gauchow prom-
ised he would do everything in his
power to counteract the bad ef-
fects with the legislature.
TOMORROW: More of the
same at Wisconsin, Kentucky,
MSU and the University.'
mrng -
to the College Board, saidl
understanding of the comr
intention was that "it lo
new tests and inventorie
would give students a bet
derstanding of themselv
the board's traditional t
and also for better inforr
publications and compute
ed guidance to give stu
better basis for choice an
sion" about colleges.
Seeing this as a "long-t
fort of program developme
Pearson went on to voice '
sumption at the present ti
that much, though perhaps
of this developmental work
on outside the admissions
program."
BUT SOME MEMBERS
tests commission. at leas
not revising
his own 'Thresher said there was a "wide quite a
nission's diversity" of opinion on the com- du'es."
)oks for Descr
es that mission, rangig from "bland con- ly conse
tter un- tentment at one end to fulnina- althoug
es than ting discontent at the other." the idea
ests do, given mw
national .HE SAID the group had shown leges, h
r-assist- a willingness "to contemplate and cipitous
dents a seriously consider a variety of in- establis
id deci- novative and experimental propos- out car
als which go far beyond the
erm ef- board's present, conventional pro- YET
nt," Mr' grams." Some of these ideas are seemed
his "as- so "radical," Tresher added, that tion tha
isne s they could be introduced only success
not all, gradually. Said'
k will go But an indication of how a compar
testing radical approach might be resisted tests m
came from another commission self-fulf
member, John B. Carroll, who dents w
of the commented in an interview that tests als
st, have "We're probably going to keep whichi
MW, A the CEEB
lot of the current proce-
ibing himself as "general-
ervative," Carroll said that
h he could go along with
a ,that students need to be
iore information about col-
he would not favor "pre-
" changes in the board's
hed testing program with-
eful research.
TIEDMAN and Thresher
to take issues with the no-
at a predictor of academic
is necessarily relevant.
Thresher: "Discriminatory
isons in scholastic aptitude'
ay in part bring, about a
filling prophecy. Those stu-
rho do well in the aptitude
so do well in the curriculum
is geared to the tests."
Butdhe saidit ' is "common
knowledge that college grades
have little relation to later social
effectiveness in non-academic oc-
cupations."
"If the curriculum itself is
somewhat irrelevant and therefore
provies a criterion of questionable
value for test validation, screen-
ing and selecting, the resulting
meritocracy becomes d i v e r t e d
from rational human purpose," he
said.
Tiedman urged recognition of
the view that "the linking of ap-
titude test scores with collegiate
grading has made aptitude tests
a feedback mechanism Instead of
a feed-forward mechanism." The
tests show what has existed but
not what could exist, he said.
(with the permission of The Chronicle
of, Higher Education)
been greatly impressed by de-
mands for fundamental realign-
ments within the testing program
itself, and it is on this point per-
haps more than any other that the
commission is stalemated.
David V. Tiedman, chairman of
the commission, believes it will ul-
timately call for some "evolution-
ary" changes in board activities
rather than "revolutionary' ap-
proaches to testing.
Neither he nor the commission's
vice-chairman, B. Alden Thresher,
were able to say in a "progress
report," however, that the com-
mission had resolved its differ-,
ences over such basic questions as
whether the board should continue
the testing program more or less
as it stands.
Letters to the Editor
FEIFFER
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Neanderthals.?
To the Editor:
MUCH OF THE recent discus-
sion seeking the abolition of
foreign language requirements for
an. undergraduate degree seems to
me to have ignored some essen-
tial matters in its eagerness to
identify a 'weak link in the alleged
structure of academic compulsion.
To put it briefly, the monolingual-
ism of most Americans has play-
ed its part in establishing the pat-
tern of condescension, mampula-
tion, and sometimes violence that
has characterized our relations
with other nations in recent de-
cades. Inability to understand and
communicate with foreigners (en-
emy, client, or ally) in their own,
terms easily feeds the already,
present disposition to make the
world over in the American shape.
Once the others are like us, of
course, all problems will disappear.
THAT STUDENTS who claim
political sensitivity and abhor
great power imperialism should
want to perpetuate the shambles
created by one-way communica-
tion calls for their basic commit-
ments into question.
Of course, foreign languages are
often badly taught in the schools,
and 'sometimes the universities are
not much better. T h i s failing,
where it exists, is a practical and
not an ideological magttei; it can
be corrected. The gut fact is that
ground to the neanderthals, fan-
farons, jingoists, and militarists.
-Prof. Albert Feuerwerker,
History department
Nov. 15
Consumer's cartel
To the Editor:
WOULD LIKE TO clarify the
the following point which ap-
peared in a Daily article Nov. 13,
regarding Inter-house Assembly's
objections to SGC's Student Con-
sumers Union proposal for dormi-
tory laundry service.
IHA's objection to the proposed
contract does not mean that the
contract idea is killed. There has
been no sufficient mandate for
or against the contract even on
the basis of the IHA vote. The
basic objections to the contract
were:
FIRST, THE STUDENTS a r e
presently trapped in a sellers
monopoly. The contract is an at-
tempt to establish a situation more
advantageous to buyers. The con-
tract will be awarded on the basis
of competitive bidding.
Second, there is no legal com-
punction for t h e University to
sign the contract even if bids are
sent out. If prices' do not suffi-
ciently alter the current status
quo, the University canr refuse to
enter into the contract. The worst
outcome from the proposal would,
be the maintenance of the status
quo. In addition, if prices elicited
from the launderers are not suffi-
ciently lower than present rates,
SCU will strongly object to sign-
ing contract.
Third. a multi-year contract
dorm s t a f f members to handle
laundry money and boolkeeping
for up to five different firms. Con-
tract reduces duplication of these
efforts resulting in a net 'saving
to the dorm system which can be
better spent in other' areas (i. e.
better meals).
It is my feeling that Jack Myers
and John Feldkamp have tried to
sell h o u s e presidents a bill of
goods. Myers has made a political
football out of this issue using it
to 'enhance his position in line
with the negativistic stance he has
ordained for IHA.: Feldkamp has
constipated ,the process by failing
to fulfill his commitment to poll
all the houses on this matter. To
this date he has not sent out bal-
lots he promised to send out three
weeks ago. A great many argu-
ments against the contract are
based on half-truths and misin-
formation.
-Gene Smith
Chairman Student
Consumers Union
Nov. 15
Graduate Assembly
To the Editor:
THIS IS an open-letter to the
graduate students of the Uni-
versity:
The Graduate Assembly has
been used already to promote
SDS's University -'wide student
strike during the national elec-
tions.
Each department is constitu-
tionally allowed its own represen-
tatives - one f o r 25 graduate
students in a department, two for
101, three for 201.
4
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