lw Hirityigan DailI 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 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editoriats printed in The Michigan Daily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1968 NIGHT EDITOR: ROB BEATTIE Kissinger THE ALMOST'UNANIMOUS enthusiasm with which Prof. Henry Kissinger's ap- pointment has been received by estab- lishment intellectuals is not without significance. It not only demonstrates the extent to which the chambers of foreign policy-making have become an ideologic- ally closed club; it also highlights h o w self-perpetuating this club has become. Kissinger, who will be Nixon's advisor on national security, is considered a "moderate Republican."' The New York Times's list of those who applauded his appointment includes Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, George Kennan, Adam Yarmolinsky, Francis M. Bator and James Reston, who threw in his paean to the Harvard political scien- tist in an editorial page column. The eye scans this list in vain for a moderate Republican. Why should this array of liberal Democrats wax so ebul- lient over the nomination of a Republi- can? They could not have feared t h e naming of someone f a r to Kissinger's right, because it is hard to think of an expert on national defense with suffi- ciently general experience who h o 1 d s strong conservative convictions. INDEED, ideological diversity is not one of the characteristics of this nation's tiny clutch of academic defense special- ists. And Kissinger is no dissenter from the m'ajor outlines of post-war American policies. A strong Europe-firster who was born in Germany, Kissinger in theory advo- pates strengthing NATO. Even if it was, possible to beef up the Atlantic alliance, such a move would hardly represent a major shift in American foreign policy. And it is doubtful whether it is possible. Defense department studies show that NATO is currently far stronger militarily than the Warsaw pact, so the advantages of increasing alliance spending on arma- ments would be at best negligible. Fur- thermore, the Europeans are convinced that any conflict on the continent will inevitably unleash nuclear weapons; per- suading our allies of the value of higher expenditures on conventional weapons will not be easy. Kissinger has been a proponent of the non-proliferation treaty and was one of the first of the defense intellectuals to argue for a "stable nuclear deterrent." To work in practice, stable deterrence re- quires the maintenance of the delicate psychological balances needed to con- vince nuclear adversaries that their po- sitions - are secure. Any jolting of these balances, such as the construction of a thick Anti-ballistic missile system or increased spending to obtain military superiority - two of Nix- on's scarier campaign proposals - would render deterrence unstable. Consequent- ly, Kissinger can be expected to h oI1 d forth strongly against such measures in future White House policy debates. HIS 1POSITIONS, then, do not vary sub- stantially with those of such estab- lishment liberals as Schlesinger and Gal- braith. The differences are in emphasis - as in the case of our policy towards NATO - and not in basic goals. This, of course, is the problem. Our foreign pol- icy has been made by consensus for so long that t h e r e are no more critics. Among academic defense experts, critics both on the left and on the right are few in number and less influential even than their numbers warrant. Only in the So- viet Union are policies formulated with a i o r e dangerous lack of competing views. Ideologically, Kissinger will be the McGeorge Bundy or Walt Whitman Ros- tow of the Nixon administration. That he will be is not so much because he is not really a Republican, as the Wil- liam Buckleys will almost certainly con- tend, as because the credulity range with- in defense policy councils is inordinately narrow. Genuine radical and left-liberal professors with expertise in defense ar- eas, for example, regularly tone down their arguments for fear of losing any influence at all in the state and defense departments. - That their fears are well founded is illustrated by an incident that occurred under the Kennedy administration. Dur- ing the inner sanctum debates at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, Adlai Stevenson argued against the naval blockade. He contended, not unreason- ably, that t h e installation of offensive. nuclear weapons in Cuba did not endan- ger our security, since Russia's f i r s t strike. capacity from other launching sites was already far more than needed. The removal of the missiles could have been engineered through a swap with the Soviet Union for the removal of our mis- siles in Turkey, a step which President Kennedy had previously favored. Indeed Khruschev later proposed such a trade.) THE POSITION .Stevenson took, how- ever, convinced the Kennedys t h a t Stevenson wasn't "tough enough." The issue, apparently, was proving America's manhood, and our government, while re- sisting the hoarse cries for bombing Cuba voiced by some fringe generals, thought it necessary to go to the brink of nuclear war to establish our masculin- ity. Within the confines of t h i s narrow range of acceptable opinions, Kissinger will be a responsible voice in the Nixon administration. Indeed, within the Nixon administration he may become a liberal martyr. He will resist pressure from the Strangegloves in the military, but he will be endemically unable to question the fundamental assumptions of American policies, such as the necessity of a healthy Atlantic alliance. Intellectual incest has been carried to such an extreme among the clan of defense experts that they are all, more or 1 e s s, Henry Kissinger. It would have been hard not to appoint him. -URBAN LEHNER Editorial Director Of By WALTER SHAPIR Associate Editorial Direct N A STRANGE way, th week of a semester is inv full of almost tragicritui By dint of hastily written and recopied class notes, s are grappling with the loo of another all too brief se And for a few moments this last minuts frantic p are all haunted by the vi some educational migh beens. At moments like this, w ingly wonder whether the something fundamentally with the entire education tem. But this sense of uneas only a passing annoyan few of Us follow these i doubts back to their prime gins. FRESHMEN BRING t University a prefabricated tional attitude, molded to survival in our public sch tems. There students are tioned to regard the teach veritable fount of wisdor spews forth unchalle truths and defines the par of acceptable class discuss From high school to th uate seminar, most studen tinue to regard education sort of socially sanctionedg which the winner accumula best grades with the lea penditure of effort.- When a student imbued these perverted values ent University, he is confronte a mass lecture system whi advertently encourages the tuation of the worst of th cational attitudes spawned secondary schools. The mass lecture system logical outgrowth of an tional theory held by mos copied no RO universities in this country. This or theory contends that freshmen e 1 a s t and sophomores must undergo an ariably initiation period of large lecture aria. classes until they are sufficiently papers intellectually mature to handle seminars. tudents se ends MONEY FOR STATE institu- mester. tions such as the University is during appropriated largely on the basis ace, we of the enrollment of freshmen and sion of sophomores. However, this Uni- it-have- versity and most others, contrive ,e fleet-.to divert a disproportionate amount of these funds to pay for re isn't the education of upperclassmen wrong and graduate students, who a r e ial sys- deemed worthy of far more in- siness is dividual attention than incoming ce, and freshmen internal oval ori- BUT WHAT financial calcula- tions neglect are the educational to the costs of such a hierarchical sys- tem. educa- ensure Confronted with three or four ool sys- large lecture courses during his condi- first semester, a freshman is ier as a quickly transformed into a kind of n who legal stenographer, concerned only ngeable with meticulously recording the ameters verbatim proceedings of the class- ions. es he attends. e grad- A result of such a one way edu- its con- cational system is that it does n as a little to develop a student's intel- game in lectual assertiveness or his criti- ates the ical thinking. Students are as sub- ast ex- servient to their professors as they were to their high school teach- w i t h ers. The resulting intellectual tim- ters the idity totally destroys the value of ed with these upperclass seminars. iich in- perpe- WE HAVE all been exposed to he edu- the results of this intellectual con- I by the ditioning that inadvertently leads to an emphasis of student apathy a is the and disinterest. educa- Remember those terribly em- st large barrassed silences when a well- rides, of meaning professor attempted to alter the one-way monotony of mass education by asking for questions or even trying to spark a discussion. A few students busied them- selves with wiping their glasses, two others coughed nervously, the remainder either peered blankly into their open notebooks or look- ed intently at the blackboard. Finally, as a kind of verbal testa- ment to our mutual failings, the professors attempted to recover face by saying hurriedly, "Well, as I was saying in my lecture ..." The underlying problem is that the student is not interested in do- ing serious academic work when he enters the University and the lecture system hardens his apathy into an almost unalterable atti- tude toward education. TO MAKE such a mindless sys- tem even begin to work, coercion must become one of its major motivational elements. This coer- cion primarily takes the form of grade point averages and the aca- demic terms which demand a fixed amount of work to be com- pleted according to rigid dead- lines. While coercion has never been tQo popular with educational theorists, the justification for these academic regulations is that under the present system they re- present the only way of guaran- teeing that the student will ab- sorb at least a minimal degree of intellectual content per semester. Some of the more coercive as- pacts of the University, language and distribution requirements, are currently under student attack. And while the rationale for coer- cion is weakest in regard to the language requirement, there are larger implications in this issue worth examining. The most convincing argument advanced by the proponents of the language requirement is that the current regulations are the only way most students will ever gain a proficiency in another language. While it is difficult to deny the importance of a knowledge of a foreign language for adanced work in many fields, what is for- gotten is that the requirement breeds a sense of hostility in students which all but thwarts the practical goals of coercion. The reason coercion is so dis- tinctly unsuccessful in spreading a knowledge of foreign language is because the bulk of any intro- ductory language sequence, unlike most other academic programs, consists primarily of rote memori- zation of an entirely new vocab- ulary and grammatical principles. Opponents of the language re- quirement feels that its removal would force counselors to come into closer contact with students in order to persuade them of the importance of learning a foreign language. ONE WONDERS whether we shouldn't apply this same princi- ple to the University at large and seek to restructure undergraduate education, so that the student de- velops a better personal rationale for intellectual labor than the coercive, "I have to." We must recognize that at- temptsrat meaningfulmass educa- tion are wasteful impossibilities until we destroy the deep-seated resistance to learning held by a large number of undergraduates and a significant number of grad- uate students. The University should consider as its initial function - upon which all else depends - the de- struction of these built-in defense mechanisms against education. Any attempt at readjustment of education values must proceed to abandon the present lecture sys- tem which tends to isolate the student from any glimpse of the dynamic aspects of education. late papers There are many forms which er been able to enroll more than could be taken by a freshman and a fraction of Pilot freshmen due sophomore program geared to to a shortage of funds, make incoming students deeply in- volved in shaping their own edu- YET THE FINANCIAL woes of cational destinies. And it would the Pilot Program are merely sym- be premature and arbitrary to ptomatic of the degree to which attempt to outline any specific the University has minimized the programs here. importance of challenging t h e educational attitudes of its stu- HOWEVER, IN THIS context, dents. the Pilot Program is a hopeful ex- If education is ever to be more periment definitely worthy of than a massive charade for the mention. The significance of the majority of students on this cam- program has been largely over- pus, the University must make an shadowed by the more glamorous immediate commitment to in- and far better financially endowed volve incoming students with di- Residential College. rect participation in their own While current financial reali- educational lives. ties preclude a large scale expan- Retaining the traditional no- sion of the Residential College tion that seminars and small concept in the forseeable future, a classes are reserved for upper- much more modest capital outlay classment and graduate students would be necessary to expand the merely enhances the prospect that Pilot Program from its current these students will not be pre- outpost in Alice Lloyd Hall pared to take advantage of such The philosophy behind the Pilot intimate classroom settings. Program attempts to provide in- Unless incoming studets are coming freshmen with an environ- Uls noigsuet r ment in which the division be- inspired to revere education for tween classroom and dormitory is its own sake, rather than as a significantly lessened. Like any mythical passport to some distant attempt to create a sense of in- kingdom, the significance of any tellectual community, the ilotacademic reform on this campus Program strongly promotes stu- is pathetically small, dent involvement in their own The futile gestures of the last educational destinies. weeks of a semester clearly Indi- Yet from the outset the Pilot cate that coercion is no substitute Program has been pathetically un- for student involvement. derfunded. Just one small exam- But until students are inspired pie of the consequences of this to discover that borrowed lecture lack of support is that Freshman notes do not hold the key to aca- Seminar, a course designed to re- demia, these futile posturings are place English 123 with something destined to be repeated with the far more content-filled, has nev- regularity of the seasons. The Great Race of .1969 By STEVE ANZALONE WHETHER ONE GETS his daily news from the New York Times or from Chet and David, he has probably been aware lately of an unusual absence of big news events. The news media has been using feature stories to compensate for the news slump in this time of limbo between two Administrations and two holidays. This deceptiye appearance that the world has again resumed a leisurely pace will not last long into the next year. Politics 1969 will not move at a gracious, leisurely pace. If anything, Politics 1969 may be seen as the Great Race. The Great Race will be run between young sprinters carrying the baton of radical politics and the better conditioned long-distance runners who will be carrying the politics of appeasement. THE WINNER WILL EARN a large element of dissatisfied people in the country not committed to radical politics. These people may live in the ghetto, go to college, or even attend high school in New York City. These are the people that radicals must enlist to give their movement any kind of lasting political significance. At the same time, the appeasers will be out to convince the dis- satisfied that things are not really that bad. They will argue that radical politics is a hoax. They will try to convince the dissatisfied that they should settle for less. Right now, the smart money is on the appeasers--Nixon, welfare programs, liberal Democrats, college presidents, police. After a lot of misunderstanding and foolish mistakes, most of these are beginning to learn how to wage an effective offensive of their own against the radicals. Unfortunately for radical politics, conditions in America are prob- ably going to get better before they get noticeably worse. This will make possible the new offense: Accommodate instead of repress. THE RADICALS FEAR this reform movement. It could kill them. If enough people are "co-opted" or bought out forusmall reform, their movement will never get enough support to launch a meaningful attack at the roots of America's sore-spots. The appeasers will no longer assist the radicals by taking un- popular stands against issues like student power. Now, student power has become middle-of-the-road, a catch-all phrase symbolizing things like moderate academic reform. In the past, university administrators mistakedly confused student power with radical politics. But now with the cries for a "liberated" university, presidents and department heads are becoming convinced that it might not be a bad idea to share a little power with the students. Their original fears-that someone like Mark Rudd would be run- ning the school-no longer worry them. They are learning that students involved in decision-making will probably be reasonable. It is safe to bring them into the decision-making process and thus pit student against student. The radicals' base of power will then be seriously undercut. IN A SIMILAR WAY, city officials and police forces across the country are slowly beginning to learn from the horrendous debacle in Chicago that the way to suppress radical opinion is not with clubs and MACE. The Mayor Daley's will probably no longer aid the radicals by denying them access to public facilities. All public officials will be less inclined to make mistakes in the coming year. And without the mistakes of the Grayson Kirk's, the politics of confrontation will be in real jebpardy. The radicals will no longer have issues made for them; they wil be forced to make their own. This was the lesson of the SDS march into the Administration Bldg. during the student strike on election day. Once inside the building, the strikers could not think of an issue they "could win on." President Fleming did not create one for them by calling in the police to evict them. They had little choice but to leave. ERIC CHESTER POSED the question at one Radical Caucus meet- ing, "Where does radical politics go when the war ends?" It is a question with no immediate answer. Military research has proved to be an ineffective issue to provoke student wrath. There are very few good cases of flagrant violations of academic freedom. Students on all- white campuses will not rally against something as nebulous and "in- visible" as racism. It is necessary to have a concrete issue like Vietnam because most people do not respond to issues in the abstract. Foreign military inter- vention is not an issue until people see the "boy down the block" or son Johnny being sent to Asia. Police brutality is not an issue until Amer- icans can see the Chicago "police riot" on television. The radicals need good concrete issues to enlist support for their movement. Without genuine abuses on the concrete level, support does not increase. And radical groups like SDS must measure its power in terms of its numbers. If they cannot increase their numbers, radical groups are finished as a political movement. Not only are the appeasers becoming less inclined to make issues for the radicals, it is likely some radical support will revert to the liberal Democrats as they attack Nixon. With the Democrats leading a good attack, who needs radicals? I Fr 1 McCracken YESTERDAY, President-elect Richard Nixon appointed, Prof. Paul Mc- Cracken of the business administration school as chairman of his Council of Economic Advisors. McCracken, who formerly served on the council during the Eisenhower ad- ministsration, finds himself after a lapse of eight years, heir to the most import- ant economic post in the federal govern- ment. Like many of the advisors who will surround Nixon, McCracken sees infla- tion and the overheating of the economy as a major problem that must be correct- ed. ' Hopefully, McCracken will be able to achieve price stability without aggravat- ing the nation's social problems. IN A SPEECH in Montreal last October, McCracken said, "While we can never be complacent about any unemployment, with the unemployment rate at the third- quarter level of 3.6 percent, the economy was experiencing heavy price-cost pres- sures." McCracken believes he can keep our work force at virtual full-employment while cutting inflation. are held under 2.5 percent per year, average family income will be close to $11,000 by the middle of the next de- cade. He seeks "some form of more rational and generalized income maintenance "to achieve effective redistribution of in- come between white and nonwhite mem- bers of the work force through govern- ment expenditure programs. ,McCracken believes his policies pre- sent a "fundamentally liberal strategy of economic and social policy." However, the 'probability that "liberal" goals like Mc- Crackens can be achieved is highly doubtful in light of certain campaign statements Nixon made last fall. Nixon maintained there is a "security gap" in U.S. armed forces and will pro- bably favor major defense spending for research projects and for full-scale anti- ballistic missile system - which could cost upwards of $70 billion. Furthermore, the whole question of "risking unemployment," and changing the tax structure to cool our overheated economy, is essentially a problem created by the expense of the Vietnam War. 'Er'KT TTCI TTTTTVKTrT T _ nnei1'iffMr- HOWARD KOHN ggll In praise of folly For Sale: Male, 18, guaranteed for 120 credit hours or life (whichever comes first). JIMMY J. JAMES came to the University to beat the system. Because of his deferment he could escape the inhumanity of the military without going to jail. Because his parents paid the bills he could avoid the indignity of work without going in debt. Jimmy J. James had a lot going for him. He learned enough' to be an expert but not enough to be a thinker, the best combination un- der the circumstances. His ideas were fertile and his feelings sterile. He learned how to lisp in French. He learned the alphabetical order of every insect in the genus cucaracha, which includes cockroaches. When he cut classes he bragged. When he got an 'A' despite cutting classes he bragged even more. "THIS IS THE WAY it should be," said Jimmy J. James. "I have forsworn the temptations of the degree-and-profit world. I am a student. I study what is extraneous and I learn what is use- less."' Yet deep down, under the footnotes of his honors thesis, he could see the wholesalers of and Robert's Rules of Order without believing either. He could sign petitions without reading them. So he changed his allegiance to a more liber- ating creed than academics. And he joined the forces of the Lone Ranger boy scouts and the Jackie Robinson pink panthers. "THIS IS THE WAY IT should be," said Jimmy J. James. "I have exposed the emptiness of grades and research papers..I am a radical. I am the most loyal and the most cynical and the most apathetic revolutionary of them all." But still the profiteers smiled and waited. Now there were other recruiters with them, recruiters who promised sweat and infections instead of martinis and vacations. Jimmy J. James tried not to panic. He work- ed harder at beating the system. He prepared more speeches for noon rallies. He sent more hate letters to HUAC. And he took his work more seriously. He stopped reading Green Hornet comic books and playing all-night card games. But the others told him he would n e e d more organization and more discipline if he was to remain free from the bureaucracy of the sys- tem. And so Jimmy J. James learned about The -w