Sixty-Ninth Year
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The
Un.iversity: An
Inquiry
Y, MARCH 15, 1959
NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT JUNKERI
'Great Game of Polities'
Shows Up Little Men in Lansing
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first
of a series of articles dealing with
the nature of the University-com-
munity and its problems.)
By PHILIP POWER
Daily Staff Writer
F SOMETHING isn't done, this
place is going to visibly de-
cline," a University official re-
marked the other day.
But perhaps the skid has al-
ready started.
The financial crisis has only ag-
gravated a gradual erosion of the
quality and prestige of the Uni-
versity. Faculty comment and
complaint recalls the past "when
this University really was some-
thing." Even seniors remark that
somehow the University in the
past seemed to "have more stuff,
more straight educational guts,"
than today.
* * *
ONE FUNCTION of a univer-
sity is to critically examine life.
Perhaps it is the time to turn the
University's function upon itself,
to inquire in a rational critical
way into the state of the Uni-
versity in the spring of 1959.
Such a critique, in order to be
valid, must be responsible and
constructive in nature.
It must be directed toward solv-
ing problems, rather than toward
a demonstration of the critic's wit
or knowledge, or toward an attack
on some person or institution. It
is presented in a spirit of- good
will, of humble straightforeward
analysis and comment. The place
of criticism is to build rather than
to destroy, both by suggesting new
solutions for problem areas, but
also by pointing out and analyz-
ing problem areas which have
perhaps previously been over-
looked.
* * *
WHAT THEN, is the nature of
the University we must analyze?
More specifically, what makes a
university a university, and not
just a collection of buildings and
grass and trees?
A university is a place.
IN A STATE darkened by unemployment,
threats of payless paydays and continued
sport failures, a little optimism is welcome.
Prof. Harvey E. Brazer provided some in a
speech Thursday night by predicting that the,
Legislature will eventually pass a tax bill.
Prof. Brazer, a member of the economics de-
partment, was research director for the Legis-
lative tax study committee.
His optimism, however, has been tarnished
some by the corrosive action of politics at
Lansing.'The Legislature has triedto solve
Michigan's financial crisis with proposals,
counter-proposals, reports and even sudden
bursts of profanity.
A NEW ATTITUDE must be taken because as
long as the Republicans refuse to consider
any of Gov. Williams' bills and Democrats de-
feat Republican proposals, no action will be
taken.
Republicans must stop thinking any bills
proposed by Gov. Williams are unacceptable
because he is a Democrat.
The games being played in Lansing are not
gaining votes for anyone in the Legislature
but undoubtedly will only help any individuals
who might decide to seek election.
People on relief and state employees threat-
ened by blank checks aren't impressed by the
juggling acts in Lansing. They only fear that
their money will be cut off.
THE REALITY of votes should stop the
Legislators from playing politics and move
them to consider the general welfare of the
state.
Unfortunately, they act as if they were
shooting a mammoth game of dice instead of
trying to solve the problems of a state that is
facing a 110 million dollar deficit by July. Its
time the state's elected representatives mature.
-KENNETH McELDOWNEY
It is a place dominated by a
certain "esprit de corps," a "spirit
of the body."
'T'his spirit is a sense of com-
mon purpose and goal. It is a
dedication to education on one
hand and to scholarship on the
other.
As an educational institution,
a university is dedicated to creat-
ing responsible, intellectually
trained, mature individuals. As a
scholarly community, it is devot-
ed to the advancement of learn-
ing, to far sighted, objective,
rational inquiry.
It is thus an intellectual com-
munity of individuals, motivated
and bound into a meaningful en-
tity by its own spirit.
Perhaps it is, more than, any-
thing else, this spirit which has
ceased to flourish here.
* * *
IN THE last analysis, the effec-
tive functioning of a university
depends largely on its student
body. Regardless of the short-
comings of a university's facilities,
the student himself must willingly
grasp the educational opportunity
offered by the school. Students
themselves must be ready and
willing to participate fully and
freely in a university community;
It cannot do the job ,by itself.
The faltering of the University
results partly from the student
body itself, which may have fallen
so low in interest and ability that
it is incapable of either generat-
ing or participating in a growing,
meaningful university.
All too many students are con-
tent to muddle through any uni-
versity safe in the assumption
that somehow they will "become
educated" through no effort of
their own - by osmosis, perhaps.
All too many students at Mich-
igan are unwilling to be students
in the true sense of the word: in-
terested in learning for its own
sake, rather than for the 'A' grade
or for the good job after gradua-
tion. Too many such students
make it almost impossible for the
University to educate instead of
train.
Something Better Than a Booklet
WXT= SGC ELECTIONS calling attention to
long-gone and long-unresolved campus is-
sues, the course evaluation booklet has slipped
again into campaign speeches. Most of the
candidates "think it's a wonderful. idea." '
Some work was done on -:a booklet last year
by SGC. It turned out to be unfeasible. No
adequate technique was found for getting
course opinions down on paper, and the project
was duly shelved.
Unmindful of the newly dug grave, candi-
dates forget to pay the homage of inattention.
Nevertheless, careful consideration of course
evaluation could give it a final burial.
BUT A SMALL,. not loudly heralded, com-
mittee in the literary college, is in the pro-
cess of collecting information on all introduc-
tory and distribution courses. Letters have been
sent to all departments requesting information,
on 1) geneN"l course objectives 2) a subject
matter outline 3) necessary preparation for
students and 4) how the couse is taught-lec-
ture or labs, texts, supplemental readings, out-
side reports expected and general examination.
pattern.
Returned questionnaires will be bound in
loose leaf notebooks. As supplementary an-
nouncements, copies will be given to counselors
and placed in the Undergraduate Library.
Opinion will not be represented, but course
information will. Feelings will not be hurt, and
at the same time, an adequate guide for electing
courses will be available.
THE ONLY addition needed to make the
supplementary announcement as valuable,
and perhaps more so, as a course evaluation
booklet might be inclusion of information on
particular teachers' treatment. It would tell, for
example, that Prof. X emphasizes the philo-
sophic approach to Shakespeare, while Prof. Y
takes the histdrical approach.
The supplementary announcement is actually
under way and its feasibilty makes an evalu-
ating booklet a dead issue. The candidates
would be wise to forget, and leave dead eiough
alone.
-NAN MARKEL j
THE PROBLEMS raised by the
student body lead to another
problem area.
The University of Michigan i
faced squarely with the dilemma
of a public university which none-
theless is trying to retain the in-
tellectual quality of a private in-
stitution. This is unfortunate,, for
in many respects it forces the
University to ride two horses at
once - neither of them well.
In many respects, the students
from outstate give the Univer-
sity's student body its excellence,
essentially because of the high
selection standards applied to
this group.
However, the University is also
a constitutional body of the state
of Michigan, created to educate
the citizens of the state. It must
then accept a number of students
from within the state who do not
have the academic potential of
those from outside.
* r ,
A FURTHER complication is
ilustrated by the sorry state of
the University's finances result-
ing from the confusion and petty
political motivations of a State
Legislature which cannot collect
enough money to finance its own
approprations.n Such hfinancial
troubles are not at the base ofhprbesoanielcul
the problems of' an intellectual
community, but they aggravate
an already difficult situation.
Clearly, a private university
controls the sources of its income
and need not bow to the opinions
See A SENSE, Page 5
LETTERS
to the
EDITOR
Help! Help!,.
To the Editor:
AM WRITING this letter in the
hope that other Daily readers
may read it, and give me some
enlightenment. Listen to this sad
story:
I am a junior, majoring in Eng-
lish, and working for a teaching
certificate. This semester I am
carrying six courses, 17 hours.
School has been in session, in-
cluding this week, approximately
five weeks. Now in that relatively
short time, I have had to write
four papers, totaling about 4,000
words. Besides that I have had Wo
read to 500 page novels, And, I
have had two exams.
Now, certainly I came to college
to seek knowledge. And, among
other things, to stimulate my
thinking processes. Yet, to me,
college is not all studying-it is
a place where one learns and
makes lasting friendships, where
one is privileged to take in various
cultural aspects - concert plays,
etc. And it is a place where the
mind is opened-one is able to"
meet students of foreign back-
ground, different religions, differ-
ent ideas. Knowledge comes first,
but it is not the only thing present
on a university campus.
In these five weeks, I have been
literally living from, paper to
paper, exam to exam. I have not
had a chance to converse as long
as I would like to with my friends.
I have been to few concerts, lec-
tures, etc., because of academic
assignments, and to those I have
attended, I really could not enjoy
them as I felt guilty about my
work at home. I have not been able
to converse with people of differ-
ent religions, ideas, backgrounds,
due to the fact that both they and
myself have not had time to sit
down and have a man.to man talk
about the condition of the world,
etc. In these five weeks, I have
been stifled, my mind is .closed,
overburdened with facts, bedause
of the heavy assignments I have
had to meet. Learning has not
become pleasureable - It is a
drudge. On top of that, I have had
to stay up late, and thus, am fa-
tigued the next day, so that I
See SHOULD, Page 5
Where Are We All Going?
REPUBLICANS AT FAULT:
M
Misplace State Money Crisis Blam
JUST INQUIRING * *G..by Michael Kraft
Seeing the Shades
EEEEEEEER20REEENMMEOM .EEEEMW50EEMMWN EES
PERHAPS Southerners aren't the only ones
who see the world in terms of black and
white.
Foreign newspapermen attending last week's
international press congress at the University
of Missouri charged that American papers
don't give enough space or attention to world
news.+
Frank Starzel, general manager of, the As-
sociated Press replied that the wire services.
"deliver each day several times the amount
of copy that any newspaper can print. What is
printed reflects the people's views.
"People are likely to want a win-or-lose
black and white story," he said. And as if to
prove his point, a "Berlin Box Score" came
over the wires, showing at a glance that the
Russians led in making demands but the West
is ahead in saying no.
Unfortunately, this approach to world and
other affairs probably lies much deeper than
merely the newspaper's lack of space and the
reader's lack of time.
EVEN AY-TO-DAY activities on campus
prompt the suspicion that something else
is missing, not lack of perspective but perhaps
an inability, or lack of willingness to really
see things in their various shadings.
In a class comprised of junior and senior
English majors, a girl asked during a recent
discussion said, "What bothers me is why you
English teachers always seem to disagree. How
can a poem mean so many different things?
Why can't you ever get together?"
And down the hall, one can hear someone
else say, "the nice thing about math is that
you're either right or you're wrong."
Some of these attitudes also run through
discussions of attempts to change the literary
College's distribution requirements, finding ex-
pression in the fear that proposals to broaden
the science requirements will result in students
getting only an empty framework of theories
and methods without any facts to fill them.
THE CONFLICT between extensive and in-
tensive approaches to understanding will
probably always be with those wo hope to
further a liberal education's 'attempts to de-
velop the "whole man."
And the "let's have the facts" approach has,
of course, been a time: honored and usually
legitimate one. But the volumes of statistics
and figures which continually flood the nation
indicates something approaching an obsession,
It even carries over into the areas where really
accurate facts are almost unattainable: TV
ratings, public opinion polls and consumer re-
ports.
Perhaps this also underlies the public's will-
ingness to accept the burden of the science
race. It's easier to count the number of satel-
lites and decide whether they're red, white
and blue or just red than it is to watch atti-
tudes and feelings flow across the Asian and
African continents.
YET PARADOXICALLY science itself is dem-
onstrating the unreliability of facts. Con-
tinual discoveries force men to discard one
cherished theory after another. Not only does
man see his world as the result of evolution,
but the way he sees the world has also evolved
through the years.
This of course gives rise to all sorts of un-
certainties and doubts, in some cases leading
to a complete rejection of organized religion
and in other to an eager, acceptance of "the
truth" whether in religion, communism or
other usually dogmatic ways of viewing life.
A University's purpose runs directly counter
to this. "If a student graduates with the feel-
ing that he knows much less than he did four
years ago as an entering freshman, then we've
done our job," a dean recently said.
BUT UNFORTUNATELY, while this realiza-
tion may be there, the tendency to assume
otherwise comes in an attitude of viewing
By JAMES SEDER
Daily Staff Writer
THE STATE'S reputation is being
pilloried by both state and na-
tional ultra - conservatives as a
gruesome . example, of economic
collapse. The guilt for this ca-
lamity is being assigned to Gov-
ernor Williams and Walter Reu-
ther. Their sins are "welfare-state-
isms" and "virulent unionism."
The scarlet letters of their guilt
are "the flight of industry from
the state," "the large pool of un-
employed workers," and the state's
"cash crisis."
Although the state is faced with
genuine-and relatively serious-
problems, the above arguments
are patently specious. The fact
that they are so widely believed is
a fearful'example of the effective-
ness of tle "big lie" technique.
Neither Governor Williams nor
Walter Reuther is a particularly
henious person. Both are intelli-
gent, sincere, honorable, and per-
sonable. Both are used as symbols,
because they are the most success-
ful - and perhaps the finest ---
representatives of social philos-
ophies. Governor Williams repre-
sents honest, progressive - yet not
rampently liberal - state govern-
ment. He has been overwhelmingly
endorsed and re-endorsed by state
voters. Reuther represents honest,
forceful - and seemingly not ir-
responsible -unionism.
* * *
BUT IS "welfare-statism" lead-
ing Michigan into economic hell?
If one reads Republican party
platforms, many of the newspapers
of the state, or listen to the pro-
fessional- anti-Williamists of the
Legislature or some of the large
corporations, one is likely to think
so. But if one listens to the eco-
nomists of the state, one hears a
considerably less doleful tale. Al-
though Michigan does have an un-
desirably high rate of unemploy-
ment and several large corpora-
tions have left Michigan and
others are de-centralizing their
operations, it has proved diffi-
cult to establish that "Michigan's
high tax rate" is the cause of all
this woe.
Michigan does not have an un-
reasonably high tax rate and taxes
bring with them advantages-fa-
cilities and sufficiently educated
workers-to large corporations.
"Virulent Unionism" is a won-
derful term. It conjures up shades
of bearded anarchists, grim com-
mnkfn 'n no r e n1nl ul-
But a few examples of "bad"
unions which have been around
for a long time hardly seems like
an appropriate incentive for a
sudden "mass exodus" of industry
from the state.
* * *
ALTHOUGH high wage de-
mands, in themselves, are not in-
centives to business expansion in
that area, Michigan compensates
for this by having a large pool of
highly skilled workers And busi-
nessmen are aware that if they
want skilled workers-and they do
-they must, by the principles of
Adam Smith, pay for them.
Does this mean that the state's
economic outlook is unrestrainedly
bright? No, of course, it does not.
Michigan does face the prospect
of business diversification outside
the state.sHowever, Prof. William
Haber of the economics depart-
ment and other economists at a
United States Senate hearing in
Detroit recently pointed out one
solution to the problem: attract
smaller businesses to the state,
Gov. Williams suggested another
approach to the problem: with the
University's research facilities and
the state's pool of skilled work-
ers, perhaps, airplane and missile
corporative giants can be attracted
to the state.
So there are at least some in-
formed people who do not feel that
the state's economy is crumbling.
In view, of this, the citizens of
Michigan seem justified when they
ask why the solvency of the state
treasury is at the mercy of the
generosity of General Motors and
other industrial giants in paying
their taxes early - at cost to
themselves.
The blame for this slightly en-
ervating phenomenon is, rather
glibly, hurled on Michigan's
"patch-work tax structure."
Since 1946, the Republican-
dominated Legislature has ap-
proached every situation which
clearly called for a tax increase
as a crisis. For example, when the
Legislature finds that all its avail-
able tax funds have been appro-
priated and there is still need for
highway funds, the Legislative ap-
proach has been to pass an addi-
tional gasoline tax and stipulate
that this money must be used for
road repair.
This system works out fine-for
a year. But if the next year the
state found that it did not need
all that money for road repair, but
_hnnefllvuthv wanted +h TTni-
strength has shrunk from
political domination of the
to the point where they hav
a few vestigil fortresses se
around the state, the Repu
apparently feel that they ar
ticing "sound politics."
* * *
REP. ROLLO CONLIN, h
the House tax committe
parently had the interestso
the state and the Republica
in mind when he set up th
partisan citizens advisory c
tee.
This group's plan has r
approval-at least for itsg
ideas-by a few of the Repu
and almost every informed
in-the state.
Apparently some Repu
honestly believe that any o
which causes the state to
or disperse a cent constit
threat to the American way
honestly believe that this-
handling of money by the s
is the first step to somes
nightmarish socialistic tot
ianism. The other reasoni
these gentlemen appear 1
with hate of the governor.
These gentlemen remain i
er because they accurately:
the opinion of the small o
"downtown business men
control the local Republic
See CONSERVATIVES, Pa
PERHAPS because few students
really know why they are in col-
lege, all too many have adopted
a "know how" approach to edu-
cation instead of "know why."
Students with the "know how" at-
titude seem to regard education
as merely the stepping stone of
technical training for future jobs.
For this group, the education-
al process is merely a specific
means to a specific material end.
Such an attitude can go much too
e far. It denies the meaning of a
flourishing intellectual communi-
ty, for it allows it validity only as
virtual a means to an end, and not for
e state its own sake.
ve only * * *
attered THIS ATTITUDE is not only
blicans confined to the student body. Per-
e prac- haps influenced unduly by the
student body it deals with, the
administration also seems signi-
lead of ficantly inclined to accept an edu-
e, ap- cational philosophy' "devoted to.
of both the tangible advantages of four
n party years on campus.
e non- In one of its publications, the
ommit- University itself states, "More
specifically the goal of the Uni-
eceived versity may be described as the
general development of persons who:
blicans ,1) Are successful in profession-
person al and business life;
2) Appreciate our cultural heri-
blicans tage and use it to enrich -their
ccasion lives and the lives of those around
collect them;
utes a 3) Combine healthy self-respect
V. They and self-interest with responsi-
- the bility for the welfare of the com-
tate - munity, the nation and the
sort of emerging world community;
talitar- 4) Can get along with others
is that and can get along with them-
blinded selves,"-
There is little in this statement
n pow- which stresses the development of
reflect the thinking, morally and ethical-
utstate ly responsible individual -- the
who type of individual most needed in
an or- an intellectually healthy univer-
age 5 sity,
t
V
AS LEGISLATORS SEE IT:
Income Tax Called Marxist Me asure
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following Is
a statement sent this week to John
Hannah, President of Michigan State
University.)
WE ARE most vehemently and
unequivocably opposed to a
system of taxation which will
serve as an instrument for carry-
ing out the Marxist concepts of
a redistribution of the wealth, a
leveling off process by which we
will be converted into the socialis-
tic state; a system of taxation
which discourages and destroys
the incentive of the individual to
invest his capital in the truly
American fashion of economic
free enterprise as we have known
it in the past and the thing which
has made this the greatest and
the most envied nation in the
world. We refer specifically to the
progressive income tax which Karl
Marx advocated for destroying
the hopes of improving them-
selves in our cherished -"profit"
system, and to provide employ-
ment for their fellow men.
WE BELIEVE 'that the theory
of the income tax is un-American
and violates the fundamental ten-
ets of our Republic; that the most
dangerous threat to our form of
government is "internal," that
governments nowadays obtain
power over their own people, not
by the sword, but by taxing away
the earnings of their people and
then doling it back to them, minus
the bureaucratic brokerage.
When state and national gov-
errment together have discour-
aged private industry the left-
wingers will shout that govern-
ment must do it.
We can accept prgoressive in-
rnP - in ,M,,hi-an nd asten
amazed, and we very sincerely be-
lieve, that it is appalling that a
professor of Economics in a tax
supported university would advo-
cate the redistribution of income
as Milton C. Taylor of the Michi-
gan State University has done in
his staff report to the Tax Study
Committee of 1958, as follows:
"The progres'sive income tax is an
instrument for leveling inequali-
ties in the distribution of wealth
and income. The advantage of re-
distribution of income is that it
checks the tendency toward cu-
mulative economic inequality, and
so assures more nearly equal op-
portunity."
We are, indeed, shocked and
chagrined and very much con-
cerned to know whether or not
the citizens of Michigan who are
paying the taxes to support this
Editorial Staff
RICHARD TAUB, Editor
:ICHAEL KRAFT Jo
ditoriai Director
DAVID TARR
Associate Editor
OHN WEICHER
City Editor
4'
LE CANTOR ................... Personnel Director
AN WILLOUGHBY .... Associate Editoriai Director
AN JONES ................... .. Sports Editor
ATA JORGENSON.........Associate City Editor
IZABETH ERSKINE ..s Associate Personnel Director
COLEMAN......... Associate Sports Editor
VID ARNOLD................Chief Photographer