]AY. APRIL' 23, 1959
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
RAY. APRIL 23, 1959 TUE MICHIGAN IiAILY
SW, ~ .~ .
Professor Says Man Faced
With Conflicts on Religion
SIMICH 'STILL BUSY':
Asks Perceptive Joint Judic
BY PHILIP POWER ~ t
Collection
Of U.S. Art
On Display
By CHARLAINE ACKERMAN
"Man is presently faced with
many conflicts involving religion,"
Prof. George E. Mendenhall of the
Near Eastern Studies Department
said last night, concluding the
B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation's
series, "Religion As I See It in
Mid-20th Century."
A major crisis of our time, Prof.
Mendenhall held, is founded in,
values, with Biblical ethics refus-
ing to grant prestige to power,
wealth and knowledge for its ownI
sake.
Modern man also finds himself
in conflict . with society, which
presses him into a mold of con-
formity, he said. "Religion creates
the conception of human responsi-
bility, rendering man more than
a mere adjustment mechanism;
yet, this inner-controlled person-
ality finds himself in conflict with
his environment."
The systematic attempt to make
religion objective also creates ten-
sion, Prof. Mendenhall affirmed.
This goes contrary to the subjec-
tive nature of religion, he pointed
out, as man accepts supreme values
without empirical evidence, tran-
scending partisan interests.
"The friction between scientific
and religious thinking, very promi-
nent on a university campus, really
has no foundation," he contended,
contrasting real with false con-
flicts. "As many leading theologi-
ans believe, this seeming conflict
really deals with two major but
different factors, values and facts."
Citing religon's search for a
more adequate system of expres-
PROF. GEORGE MENDENHALL
... speaks on religion
sion, Prof. Mendenhall asserted
that this problem of communica-
tions also occurs between disci-
plines in the University, between
the University and the community.
The conflict of organized versus
private religion is erased, he con-
tinued, when the individual learns
about the institutions he is criti-
cizing. Knowledge also explodes
the myth of religion's "evils," he
said, as no religious community
presently defends historical acts
sanctioned in religious guise.
Contrary to normal expectation
for retired "campus leaders," Ste-
ven Simich, '59E, former chairman
of Joint Judiciary Council, finds
himself even busier this semeser
than last, when he was in active
duty on the Council.
Simich's calm an dsoft-spoken
behavior belie the fact that he
is now occupied with 18 hours of
courses (15 of them in graduate
school) a 12-hour-a-week job as
student assistant to a professor in
the engineering department, a
meal job and "trying to live a
normal social life."
Friends say his store of energy,
enthusiasm and interest in people
remains inexhaustible through it
all.
'Super Senior'
Sitting quietly relaxed for a mo-
ment, Simich noted that his aca-
demic situation is rather complex.
Not officially a graduate student,
since he does not yet have his
undergraduate degree, he charac-
terizes himself as a "sort of a
super senior," a fifth year student
in the engineering college.
Simich explained that in June
he will be getting a Bachelor of
Science degree in industrial engi-
neering and will have attained
three quarters of a master's degree
in business administration.
Reflecting on his original inter-
est in Joint Judic, he ascribed it to
two main motivations.
First, he had always been in-
terested in the educational and
constructive advantages offered by
participation in activities at Mich-
igan.
Wanted Stimulus
But, further, he wanted to do
something "of a more intellec-
tually stimulating nature" than
his previous activities.
Before he became interested in
the Council, he had worked "on
subcommittees of _.subcommittees
in general," as business manager
of the Michiganensian as a soph-
omore and as chairman of J-Hop
as a junior.
Through members of his fra-
ternity, Phi Gamma Delta, who
had been connected with Joint
Judic, he learned what working
on the Council involved and "a
little of just what the group was
trying to accomplish on the cam-
pus."
Joining the Council in Feb. 1958,
he was elected to the chair in the
spring of 1958, and served as
chairman until this February,
when Allen Stillwagon, '60, was
selected as his successor.
Must See Problems
Thinking for a minute, he point-
ed out, "When a person first
comes on the Council, he is over-
whelmed with his new responsi-
bilities," and thus he may lose
sight of what is his most import-
t
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s
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-Daily-Allan Winder
FORMER CHAIRMAN-Steve Simich, retired chairman of Joint
Judiciary, sits casually, belying his still very active life.
Selections from the collection of
the late Edward Root, 47 works by
23 contemporary American artists,
are currently on exhibit at the
University Museum of Art.
Upon his death in 1956, Root
bequeathed a collection of modern
American paintings to the Mun-
son-Williams-Proctor Institute of
Utica, New York. Richard McLan-
athan, director of the Community
Arts Program of the Institute, in
consultation with Root's widow,
has made the selections now on
display at the University Museum.
Root was one of the outstanding
patrons of American art of this
generation, and known particu-
larly for his encouragement and
support of young and unknown
artists.
Most of the artists of the cur-
rent exhibit are represented by
only one or two works, although
there are several by Charles
E. Burchfield, Theodoros Stamos
and Mark Tobey.
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ant function, "to see into student
problems, perceptively, as a stu-
dent."
The problem of selecting stu-
dents to serve on the Council is
a difficult one, he remarked. New
members are chosen in interviews
with the Council, and serve for a
year before election to an office.
"The Council certainly isn't
looking for a completely righteous
and pious person in all his
thoughts and actions, but one who
has an understanding of -what's
happening on campus and in the
students' minds," he remarked.z
"I think 'righteous' is a derog-
atory way to describe a member
of the Council," he continued. The
best thing for a member to do
is to see things in their true per-
spective as students.
Council Mediates
Simich reflectively commented
on Joint Judic's function within
the campus community. "The
Council acts as an intermediary
between the administration and
the students," he explained.
The administration sets up the
rules and regulations saying what
Organizin
Notices
Christian Science Org., testimony
meeting, April 23, 7:30 p.m., League :
see bulletin board in main lobby for
rm. no.
* . .
Deutscher Verein, meeting, VERSE
von Eugen Roth. dem bekannten Hu-
moristen und Dichter, werden von Pro-
fessor Doktor Walter Puchwein vorgel-
esen und besprochen.
Italian Club, coffee hour, April 23,
3-5 p.m., 3050 FB. All welcome.
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society should be, he remarked,
and these affect the students who,
make up the society. There is an
interaction between these two
groups, which gives rise to some
problems which must be settled.
It is the function of Joint Judic,
he said, to bridge the gap so
formed. The Council can under-
stand what administrative policy
and its implications are, and at
the same time can preserve a feel-
ing for the individual and his cir-
cumstances in the community, he
noted.
'Twilight' Areas
Probably the most valuable area
for Joint Judic to operate in, he
said, is that where the violation is
not one of specific laws or rules,
but where none apply directly.
The Council, being composed of
students, can understand more
fully student conduct in such "twi-
light" areas, and come to a more
just decision than other bodies.
In response to the common ac-
cusation attacking Council mem-
bers of their "holier than thou"
attitude, Simich remarked that
Joint Judie is a stuednt organiza-
tion, and those students on the
Council are just as human as oth-
ers. But their position on the
Council increases their responsi-
bility, however, both to themselves
and to the University. "It is this
that poses the big problem," he
added.
Reflecting on his career, Simich
mused that his work in Joint Ju-
dic was "everything I expected it
to be." He noted as especially val-
uable his personal interaction with
students, faculty and administra-
tive personnel, and his experience
in analyzing and understanding
people and their motivations.
Faces Difficulty
A curious difficulty faced while
acting as chairman, he said, was
that he had to learn to speak and
think as "the Chair" instead of as
himself, which demanded "real
concentration and awareness of
the weight attached to what I
had to say."~
Simich, who was also elected
president of Vulcans, an engineer-
ing honorary society, will enter
the Navy as an officer from the
regular NROTC program at the
end of this semester. He hopes to
return here after his three-year
hitch and complete his master's
degree.
Eventually, he plans to go into
industrial sales, probably in capi-
tal goods. He remarked that his
experience on the Council should
help him here, for it has taught
him "to understand people, their
motivations and what they want,"
and sales largely involves deter-
mining the same things.
"Anyway," he added, "it's been
a real challenge, and I've gotten a
lot of enjoyment and satisfaction
out of it."
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