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 Mailer and Aidridge: Not just friends 420:Maynord St.,. Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-05521 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in oll reprints. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: PHILIP BLOCK Today's rally: A necessary, first step AT NOON TODAY on the Diag, Radical Caucus is holding a rally to protest distribution requirements. Between 3000 and 4000 students have signed petitions demanding an end to requirements, ard after the rally the Caucus will present these petitions to, literary college Dean -William L. Hays. With the petitions will be presented an ultimatum: End language requirements by January or "appropriate action" will be taken.% Undoubtedly, many studerits-includ- ing some who favor abolishing require- ments 'or' at least the language require- ment-will have misgivings about the Caucus' procedures. Despite such misgiv- ings, students should attend and support today's rally.' THE VALUE OF learning a language is clear; not so the value of being re- quired to take a language. A number of studies indicate that undergraduates only learn languages if they are interested in learning them. Those forced to enroll in foreign language classes may fulfill the require- ments (often after much suffering) but they don't learn the language. On them the value of learning a language is lost. Rather than require languages, the indicated solution would be to expand the counseling system both qualitative- ly and quantitatively. Students persuaded of the value of language-learning will be far more likely to learn the language rather than fulfill the requirement. For those who advocate learning languages, allowing students to decide for themselves then is not only fairer but more practical. PROBABLY FAR more students support ending o n 1 y language requirements than abolishing all distribution require- ments, although the petitions so far do not reflect this preferance. However, the current distribution requirements are deficient in several respects and require thoroughgoing alterations. The January-or-else ultimatum is both unfair and unwise; the threat of "appro- priate. action" tied to the ultimatum is undoubtedly a tactical mistake, mostly because it binds Radical Caucus to make good on a threat it m a y later wish it hadn't made. But students who attend the rally need not participate in delivering the ultima- tum, and are in no way bound, to take any action in the future. And those who favor abolishing only the language re- quirement can attend the rally in good conscience, knowing that this is only a first effort to demonstrate to the Uni- versity the extent of student dissatisfac- tion. T END THE LANGUAGE requirement and obtain restructured distribution requirements in other areas students m u s t demonstrate their disagreements with the current arrangements. Attend- ing today's rally is an extremely effective way of demonstrating disagreement, for it will be impossible for the literary col- lege faculty to ignore a massive turnout. -URBAN LEHNER Editorial Director By STEVE ANZALONE IT'S ONE THING to be a friend of a tour de force like Norman Mailer. But it's quite another to be Mailer's biographer while he is still alive. Prof. John Aldridge of the English department is both. For 20 years, Aldridge has been a friend of Mailer. During that time, Aldridge has consistently reviewed Mailer's works in leading periodicals and has written the first criticism of Mailer ever to appear in book form. Now, Aldridge is confronted with the almost monu- mental +task of writing the biography of Norman Mailer. WHEN SIMON AND SCHUSTER asked Aldridge to do this book albout a year and a half ago, he was aware of the problems involved in examining the life of a man who is still alive. Procuring information from family and friends, for example, is more difficult. Nevertheless, Aldridge seized the !opportunity to chronicalize the life and career of the enigmatic novelist- turned-journalist. He expects that this venture will take him longer than the three years that his publisher has allotted him. Mailer was at first hesitant about the biography. Having his biography written at this time gave Mailer "a profound sense of mortality," according to Aldridge. But when Mailer visited Ann Arbor last spring, he told Aldridge that he had changed his mind. Mailer gave him first crack at any biographical materials that he would need, including correspondence and taped interviews. ALDRIDGE'S INTEREST in Mailer is not merely the interest of one friend in another. He believes that Mailer is "the most exciting writer of this generation in this country." The professor describes Mailer as a "not quite first- rate novelist but a first-rate'journalist of the American psyche." Aldridge sees Mailer's role more as a "cultural anthropologist" than as a writer. A good deal of Mailers reputation as a journalist rests on the success of his Armies of the Night and his recent Miami and the Seige of Chicago. In these two books, Mailer reports vividly the events of last year's march on the Pentagon and the story of this year's party conven- tions. ALDRIDGE AND MAILER became acquainted before Mailer turned to this brand of journalism. The two men met in New York in 1951 following the publication of Ald- ridge's first book, After the Lost Generation. They met through novelist Vance Bourjaily. At the time Bourjaily and Aldridge were beginning a literary magazine called Discovery. Mailer contributed a piece for the magazine entitled "Dead Gook." After that meeting, Aldridge and Mailer continued to see each other intermittently. Six years later Mailer and Aldridge lived near each other in the Connecticut countryside. Novelist William Styron also lived closeby, and the three of them would gather, as Aldridge puts it, to play croquet and argue. be the pioneer work in the criticism of the new post-war authors. Two of his other books, In Search of Heresy and A Time to Murder and Create, have also garnered considerable attention. Before coming to the University in 1964. Aldridge lec- tured at Princeton University and held a criticism chair at New York University. He also won two lecturing Ful- bright fellowships which sent him to Denmark and Ger- many. In addition to his book reviews for magazines like Harper's, Life and Commonweal, Aldridge was writing a biography of George Orwell. He abandoned that project when the recent volume of new material including Or- well's letters was released. He says it would now be un- feasible to write a biography of Orwell. INSTEAD ALDRIDGE will now devote his time to devote his time to finishing a second novel and to the Mailer biography. Aldridge hopes that his story of Norman Mailer will be not just a biography but also a commentary on the literary and political scene of which Mailer is so much a part. He plans to write it as a chapter of literary history with Mailer as the main character. Aldridge will give pro and con comments about Mailer the person, but he says that the book will be an affirmative statement about Mailer's works. The concept of treating Mailer as the main character in a chapter of literary history is borrowed from Mailer. In his recent journalistic accounts he has treated himself as a character. If Aldridge's subject is to be Norman Mailer, his genre, then, must be Mailer too. ALDRIDGE UNDERSTANDS Mailer to be an enorm- ously ambitious man. One ambition is "to have a more direct impact on the public than a novelist has." Aldridge feels that Mailer wants to project an image that the public can immediately respond to. Only actors and political figures can evoke such an image, Aldridge says. Mailer's running for mayor of New York and his constant candidacy for President then are a joke, but to some extent not a joke. Mailer's preoccupation with himself appears to be part of the legacy of Ernest Hemingway. Aldridge says that Mailer inherited from Hemingway the concerns about how "a writer should behave and how a writer should create his own style. MAILER CERTAINLY has created a style. He has been successful as ta novelist, a journalistt, and most re- cently a maverick movie-maker. And while Aldridge is trying to 'make some organic sense out of the colorful career of Mailer, his character will probably be making movies, reporting some' of the great events of the day, and shocking the American public with his descriptive language that is embellished with four-letter words. to Aldridge believes that this was a bad period in Mailer's career. He had already written The Naked and the Dead,' Leer Park, and Barbary Shore; and his career seemed to be languishing when his second 'two novels did not reach the success of The Naked and the Dead. THE DAYS IN CONNECTICUT became a turning point for Mailer. He wrote the first draft of "White Negro," which has become his most important piece of non-fiction. Aldridge remembers reading the first draft of the paper and not liking it. He now likes the piece but says that at that time he felt it was a bit "over- inflated." 'Since those days in 1957 Mailer has earned a place among the significant literary figures of the last two decades. His latest novel, Why Are We in Vietnam?, was a huge success and won nomination for a 1967 National Book Award. Aldridge, too, has become an important literary figure. He is recognized as one of the nation's most prominent literary critics. After the Lost Generation is conceded to ii Reconstructing language reqieet 'Classified research: Solid reasons for student conicern RGUMENTS AGAINST the Univer- sity's involvement in classified re- search never seemed to impress students very much. When a referendum question- ing the participation of University scien- tists in "secret war research" came .to a student vote last spring, voters o v e r- whelmingly endorsedl classified research. But the issue is not dead; faculty, ad- ministrators and researchers are keeping it alive. A nine-man faculty review com- mittee (the Coon Committee) has been scrutinizing all new proposals for classi- fied contracts since late September, and there is some indication that they have found certain proposals "'inappropriate" for research here. At the same time, it appears that the number of classified contracts being done at University laboratories has increased this year, ,although the dollar value of contracts is down. Conspicuously, the core of students who had decried the University's contri- bution to the "'war machine" have found more viable concerns in academic reform. And although local groups occasionally resurrectlast year's controversy, t h e y usually reveal only how woefully misin- formed they are on the extent and condi- tions of the University's commitment to the defense department. BUT BEYOND THE furious New Left propaganda, there are still solid rea- sons why students should be maintain- ing an interest in the development of the classified research complex here. On moral grounds, students should be concerned about the attitude rampant among researchers that "Unless you are making bullets your work is not necessar- ily for war use." Although not all classi- fied research is war research, it is dan- gerously irresponsible to assume all re- search done peacefully in laboratories has no immediate application in tech-, nological warfare. It is equally clear that the defense de- partment "overclassifies'-' projects, in- discriminately placing security restric- tions on research which has only peace- ful application, but which requires use of classified equipment or information. CERTAINLY, on pragmatic grounds, stu- riatc a r actt,+ na n.ct in i4n.r- about the foreign research in which Uni- versity scientists become entangled. The defunct but once infamous $1 million Thailand project, which involved a handful of University personnel in Southeast Asia, has, in retrospect, been deemed unwise even by many faculty and administrators. But there is no t i g h t guarantee that the University will not again land a contract that places scien- tists in counterinsurgency work abroad. Indeed, the very vagueness of the El- derfield Report guidelines - the only guidelines which the Coon Committee has for judging the merits and demerits of a contract proposal-should c o n c e r n conscientious students. Several research- ers and administrators, including A. Geoffrey Norman, vice president for re- search, have consistently explained that the,, Elderfield Report did not really change the criteria for accepting or re- jecting research at the University. BUT THE VAGUENESS of the guide- lines under which the committee is operating compounds its power and re- sponsibility. Like a supreme court, t h e committee can interpret the report; and even Norman's veto cannot prevent the committee from demanding an open hearing before the Senate Assembly. Therefore, students should (but have not been) vitally interested in getting representation on the committee. While Coon and Norman have both advocated placing students, especially "mature" graduate students on the committee, Graduate Assembly and Student Gov- ernment Council have failed to t a k e them up.° If the administrators are merely pay- ing lip service to the appeal for student power, as SGC President Mike Koeneke has said, then it is time for students to call their bluff. THE SENATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE on University Affairs and the Faculty Assembly have both endorsed the notion of student representation on all Univer- sity committees, and the only excuse for students not being on decision-making committees, is now the intransigence of committee chairmen or the apathy of students. While the Coon Committee was itself slow in organizing, it has been operating By NEILA POMERANTZ CHANGE - NOT ABOLISH- distribution a n d language requirements. From all view- points, this is the most practi- cal and feasible solution. Assuming that' the abolition- ists are morally and philosophi- cally right, do they actually ex- pect the faculty to accept and endorse this class,- reducing slap-in-the-face? To be grate- ful for the ego-deflating infor- mation that years of hours spent on lecture preparation and presentation as well as on test composition and theme correction have b e e n all in vain' To give thanks to t h e stripping of any professional pride that society still affords? Furthermore, the faculty, who d e c i d e distribution require- ments, believe strongly in their judgment of what constitutes a liberal arts education. Both history and our present society illustrate the difficulties of changing human nature, espec- ially where ego is involved, no matter how moral or noble the cause. The best that can be tangibly hoped for is re-construction - not destruction - of the pres- ent requirements. THEN, THERE IS the typ- ical reaction to radical de- mands. The Radical Caucus and friends must realize that ex- treme action arouses extreme reaction - which results in non-action on ,the issues. Validity of the abolitionist view of itself is questionable. True, the present requirements are too restrictive. False, an 18 year-old 'is intelligent and ex- perienced enough to successful- ly chart his own liberal educa- .tion. For evidence I can only cite my own college experience. I never would have taken a n y physical science had I not been forced to by my distribution re- quirements. My two geology courses not only gave me prac- tical knowledge of the subject but opened my e y e s to the scope and essence of geology and h o w it relates to other physical and social sciences. An Organic Evolution course. interrelated geology, evolution, theology, anthropology a n d philosophy for me. My social science and humanities courses have been deeply enriched by the substansive insight gained from this course. Only one reqiired course (general physical science) has been of negligible value to me which is probably no worse a batting average than I could have earned by selecting my own courses., TWO HOURS A NIGHT, five days' a week with elemen- tary Spanish was admittedly irritating. But at the end of two years I had gained: (a) ap- preciation for Garcia Lorca, (b) determination to read Don Quixote unabridged, (c) ac- quaintance with Spanish liter- ature in general, (d) a feeling for the history and present con- dition of the life and people in Spain and Latin America; (e) reading knowledge= and crude speaking competence of the Spanish language; and (f) sev- eral friends and many hours of 'fun and' games' while listening with one ear. I fully realize that many stu- dents are not able to study a foreign language. There is no' reason, though, not to stuay a foreign culture. Foreign culture study is virtually ignored in public schools and most stu- dents do not fill this void 'in college. Studying at least one other foreign culture is 100 peri cent consistent with the current liberals' desire to break out of the "ivory tower," understand the world as it is, and do some- thing constructive about it - starting at home (e. g., Ann Arbor welfare mothers activi- ties),. THE BEATLES now say, first fix yourself so you will be cap- able of fixing the world. Pro- fessor Feuerwerker (Nov. 19 letter to editor)'is not all wrong in suggesting the paradoxical narrow-mindedness of the "an- ti-imperialists" w h o oppose this. If a student is so opposed to courses 'which may spark new interests or reveal new abilities, he can, attend a "free univer- sity," a specialized career school or take random courses. A de- grei carries w i t h it. certain learning responsibilities;. if.ob- taining a degree makes -educa- tion impossible, then forget the degree and get your education as you see fit. The game can be won from within by playing it right; the world is grey, not black and white. ,, t W __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 412 IV ~ / a Letters to the Editor Reply to Feuerwerker . To the Editor: AS A 1966 GRADUATE of the University as a French major, I would like to make some com- ments on the language require- ment controversy. I feel the requirement should be abolished. Those who. argue that there are values to bi-ingualism and list Treasons for the study of language are missing the point. The central controversy is not, "Is it good to study languages?" but "Shall some people coerce other people into studying languages?" Prof. Feuerwerker in his letter (Daily, Nov. 19) argues sensibly and clearly for the advantages of bilingualism and discusses the de- struction caused in the world by t h e provincial, condescending American who expects every other culture to conform to his. I couldn't agree with him more, and his are some of my reasons for having chosen to study languages. However, I feel that his argu- ment is so good that it could stand alone. If the courses were well taught' and worthone's time to take them, people would take them, were good reasons m a d e available to them. The University depends on its ability to coerce students into studying languages, in order to avoid the responsibil- ity of having to offer decent ele, mentary language instruction. I could only conclude it was the teaching methods here that were at fault, as the students were cer- tainly no stupider here, than there. I took a second year Italian course which consisted mostly of conversations in English about Italian grammar. Periodically the instructor would moan, "Why is everyone doing so poorly?",'I sug- gested to her t h a t one cannot learn Italian by talking about it in English. Her response was "How can I talk to the class in Italian when they don't understand Italian?" Sh e maintained that "There is just simply a lot of boring rote memorization to learning ap lan- guage." Prof Feuerwerker says the same thing. I know for a fact from my own experience that this is not true. A language can be learned simply and naturally if the meth- ods are good. There Is no reason to memorize a list of translations when one can learn by conditioned reactions the same way one learns his native language. AT MY F I R S T COLLEGE, where Italian classes were active experiences conducted solely in Italian, where the students par- ticipated in the learning and were constantly doing instead of being talked at, the fact is there that these students spoke Italian. Here, ,where Italian was talked abou~t in p.