Sixty-Ninth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN "When Opinions Are Free UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Truth Will Prevail" STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. ' ANN ARBOR, MICH. *-Phone No 2-3241 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. The Physical Residence Halls Miss Goals of Michigan Plan Y, MAY 3, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: PETER DAWSON (Continued from Page 1) In Lansing and Ann Arbor:t Real Story Confused HE UNIVERSITY administration has been failed to supply a payment to meet the Uni- put in a difficult position by the current versity's end of May payroll. financial crisis. The state Legislature must be It seems inconceivable that the administra- made to think that the University is in the tion, which is at the same time telling the worst of all possible financial conditions. At the faculty they will be paid, has not drafted a plan same time administrators at home must make of action in the event the University's, rather the faculty believe that things aren't entirely than the State's, resources must be used to bad and paychecks will be sent regularly. keep this promise. The dilemma of the administration, then, E BEST OF ALL possible administrators, is to please everyone, to cry "wolf" in Lansing TH BET OF ad"optimism" at home, In this best of' all who "ooze optimism locally at every oppor- and " optimismisagesthing. tunity, should certainly have a plan drafted to possible universities, optimism is a good thing' make this work. A moral consideration enters The administration is still walking well on both here too.I h nvr sideraintev sides of the line. An example will suffice to point here too. If the University does li fact have up the effectiveness of this procedure. the resources to meet another payroll, it should inform the state of this fact. This will enable 'We have lost some of our top faculty people," the all-too-scarce state cash to go for the most one said in Lansing. serious crisis in Michigan, meeting welfare pay- "There is not a rise in the number of people ments and hospital expenses of the indigent. leaving but there have been more offers to our It appears to be about time the real story of top people," another said in Ann Arbor. the University's financial crisis was told all over. There seems to be a sufficient reason for PERHAPS the most interesting result of the the best of all possible administrations to the financial crisis has to dG with the future, decide what the situation really is, and to re- Administrators claim there has been no "official port it honestly and consistently. discussion" of what would be done if the state -ROBERT JUNKER The Bord and the Bowl OPPORTUNITIES, DIVERSIONS: Study Conditions in- Fraternities men need social contacts with up- perclassmen and that to put the new students in separate housing would deprive them of their op- portunities to gain from older, more experienced contemporaries. The argument has some validity but with the present program there aren't too many upperclass- men anyway. 'They can hardly wait to get away from the fresh- man and the rules he engenders. * * * BESIDES, the advantages to be gained for upperclassmen out- weigh the possible deficiencies of the freshmen who would also gain by being exposed to a higher con- centration of staff people. In the long run the freshman would be more inclined to re- main in the system with a more liberal future in prospect and would reap the benefits of a resi- dence hall system that would, serve more students better and create an atmosphere conducive to a well-rounded university edu- cation. The system would then be a definite contribution to the edu- cational experience, in fact would be a large part of that experience. Most of the residence halls do have definite programs to promote educational growth to some ex- tent. One, for example, has a lim- ited faculty-guest program in which the house invited profes- DURING the three-day Big Ten Conference beginning May 21, Michigan will vote on whether it wants to continue the Rose Bowl contract. Casting Michigan's single vote will be Prof. Marcus B. Plant, whose official title is Faculty Representative to the Intercollegiate Confer- ence on Athletics.,. Contrary to the implications of his title, Prof. Plant does not represent University faculty opinion as such. Since the University's Ad- ministrative-faculty-student-alumni Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics was given jurisdiction over the Intercollegiate Athletic program by the Regents, he reflects its opinion. The Board has already decided in favor of participation in the Bowl. From this it would seem that the issue is settled and Michigan's position has been taken. But the Faculty Sen- ate has called a special meeting May 18 to dis- cuss the issue and Student Government Council will take a referendum within the next two weeks to poll student opinion on the problem. JUST WHAT practical effect such recommen- dations will have, on University athletic policy is not clear. Under the Regents' By-laws, the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics receives recommendations from the Faculty Senate Advisory Committee and any expres- sions of student opinion. But what should hap- pen to such advice from there is conspicuously absent from the by-laws. It seems, then, that whether the faculty's and students' opinions carry any weight is en- tirely up to the Board. If their decisions should run contrary to the Board's, it would have to decide either to pass them off with a shrug or meet again to reconsider its decision. The whole situation seems a bit confused, but if six Big Ten schools vote against the Bowl as they have indicated they will, it won't really matter anyway. No team from this part of the country will go to the Rose Bowl. --JEAN HARTWIG By JAMES BOW Daily Staff Writer IN THE beginning there were no fraternities on the University campus. Nor were there cavernous libraries with elevators, electric lights and cigarette machines. The Athens of the Midwest in the ninteenth century was a farm town, and students helped pay ex- penses by working in the fields in- stead of in laboratories. North Campus was a forest and the Uni- versity stadium was pasture land. Under the administration of President James Angell the Uni- versity embellished its intellectual environment with new buildings. Tappan Hall and the Economics Building are the last vestiges of the period, unsentimentally call- ed "the fire house school of archi- tecture." TODAY, Hill Auditorium and the General Library, Angell Hall and North Campus illustrate the variety of cultural opportunities at the University. Housing units have their own study rooms and libraries, which, theoretically at least, further the pursuit of knowl- edge. Studying is left up to the in- dividual, even if other individuals in the next room may prefer stereophonic sound. And students forsake the luxury of their own study rooms for the congenial quiet of the libraries. One freshman, faced with the opportunity of his own study room in a fraternity, thought he would still choose the libraries. On the other rand, a sophomore fraternity member compared the evening hours in his house to a morgue. "Everybody who wants to make noise leaves the house." "Most fraternities have quiet hours for studying," Jim Martens, '60, Interfraternity Council presi- dent, pointed out. "The comments that one can't study in a fraternity are very untrue." But in spite of modern innova- tions and a campus of 23,000 stu- dents, the University possesses some reminders of earlier days. These vestiges of the past are not easily seen but they are integral in the lives of many students. * * * THE SMALL living unit - the fraternity, sorority or cooperative house-is a reminder that the Uni- versity itself once was small, that professors as well as every stu- dent used to recognize one another when they met on campus. Co- operative housing is reminiscent of traditional college rooming houses, in which students waited table and stoked the furnace. And the problems of fraternities and sororities are not new; their early days saw opposition from the faculty and administration. Thus, with some 25 libraries on campus, studying is a matter of choice. Small housing units pre- sent many diversions from the study desk, and at the same time seek to develop the traditional cul- tural opportunity of small discus- sion groups. AT HILL AUDITORIUM: Festival Concert Fresh, Delightful sors to break bread with students of the professor or students who are interested in a particular field of study. * * PROGRAMS, of this sort, if handled correctly, add much to the education and social growth of students and should be encour- aged. They not always are. Similarly programs of films de- picting social life in other coun- tries, political conditions, histori- cal facts, art forms and practi- tioners, and documentaries are first-rate horizon -broadeners, for residents. Several programs of this sort have been instituted and are well attended. Another crucial facet of insti- tutional living is the quality of study conditions. They are not of the best in the University's resi- dence halls. Acoustics are quite good, too good in fact, and it's easy to be distracted if one's neighbor, on the other side of ex- tremely good sound-conducting walls, has the dry heaves or plays Stan Kenton too loud. Study halls are available in most houses but are somewhat underused except during final exams. * * * IT SHOULD be pointed out that fraternities offer little better study conditions and the Undergraduate Library absorbs much overflow of exam-worried Greeks as well as residence hall scholars. Apart- ment dwellers can, of course, have a greater influence over their study situation. Unfortunately there areneighbors in apartments too .The easily distracted student is not in the best of all possible worlds. Part of the difficulty could probably be alleviated by upper- class housing. The arbitrary, staff- developed, sometimes - enforced, sometimes-not quiet hours invite violations whenever the chance arises. With more mature students and mutual, student-defined study rules less pressure for rebellion and more pressure for considera- tion of others would be generated. Would Discourage The freshmen houses would, on the other hand, be slightly higher in staff concentration and this would discourage the rambunc- tious underclassman from venting his spleen by slamming doors, and yelling down the hallway. It is obvious then, that the full potential of the Michigan House Plan has not been realized. Opin- ions differ on the extent to which it has been achieved, but it's plain that improvements are needed de- spite any measure of success which may have been achieved so far. a U N N ACKNEYED orchestral works in brilliant performance by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra and some fine singing by Dorothy Kirsten lent Saturday evening's May Festival concert an appropriately fresh and spring- like character. Purist considerations aside, the Bach "Chaconne" has always seemed mostcompelling in its original form for solo violin, al- though the elaborate but tasteful transcription for full orchestra which opened the program served to effectively highlight inner voices not obvious in the monochromatic texture of violin performance. Louis Gesenway's orchestration provided a showpiece for the noted woodwinds and strings of the Philadelphia group. Miss Kirsten has a lyric soprano voice to match her cool blonde good looks. Though not of a size necessary for greatest effect in the operatic repertoire, Kirsten's voice has an unfailing accuracy of pitch with a distinctive reedy quality and is exceptionally well-focused. Her interpretations of the major arias from Puccini's Tosca and Charpentier's Louise were beauti- fully vocalized, but did little to suggest any difference between tpe passionate Latin inamorata and the Parisian seamstress whose temperament is nearest Miss Kirs- ten's own. Prokofiev's Seventh Symphony, has been regarded by some as Exhibit A in the realm of politi- cally approved contemporary Rus- sian music. It manifests its com- poser's affinity for mordant, bit- ter-sweet lyricism in a relatively well-mannered and diluted fashion and has a seemingly deliberate triteness of thematic material, particularly in the final movement. This work, which is perhaps more tongue-in-cheek than the "Clas- sical" Symphony, was given a superlative reading by the orches- tra, though it would lend itself to a more introverted approach. ** * THREE pleasing songs by Hn del, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Landon Ronald completed Miss Kirsten's scheduled offerings. Her exquisite though small-scaled legato sing- ing made "Care Selve" from Han- del's Atalanta and the Russian "Nightingale and the Rose" truly lovely, with a particularly haunt- ing effect achieved in unaccom- panied passages of the latter song. Miss Kirsten's encore "Un bel di" from Butterfly, was sung with gratifying attention to vocal clar- ity and characterization. Only in the climactic passage did her voice prove inadequate a Roussel's pungent and unique blend of French impressionism and Russian barbarity, as exemplified in the Second Suite from the ballet "Bacchus et Ariane," is eminently suited to the talents of the Philadelphians. This was from the top-drawer of orchestral per- formances, with Ormandy holding the coruscant masses of sound in complete control. -John McLaughlin I OFFEE.. .BLACK By Richard Taub Secrecy in the Senate' ONE FUNDAMENTAL belief of those wh~o put out a newspaper is that information is good --that an informed public or an informed soci- ety will be a more successful one than that in which people do not know what is happening. Whether explicit or not, this is also the fundamental principle of those connected with a University. For the University is devoted to the advancement and dissemination of infor- mation about the world we live in; the theory being that this increase in information might somehow make the world a better place, if man can restrain his more traditional impulses. Yet, many faculty members seem to deny this very value, that of free information and public discussion, in their own community. Their actions are marked by a curious reticence about letting the world know what they are doing. Examples are numerous. AST MONDAY, the Faculty Senate spoke out vigorously against loyalty oath requirements in National Defense Education Act scholarships. The action is commendable, as have been other faculty statements this year, since for the first time in a long while the group is beginning to speak up vigorously. But by holding the meeting secretly, the faculty deprived the campus community of hearing vigorous discussion with keen insights concerning this particular problem. Such a public discussion would have helped the com- munity greatly to understand the peculiar and sometimes sensitive position of a university in our society. A Senate committee also reportedon the problems of increased size of the University, but alas, not at all for public edification. It might surprise faculty members, but there are many students and other members of this com- munity, who have thought about this problem quite deeply and for whom additional infor- mation would be quite valuable. HE SENATE passed up the opportunity to promote public discussion and an informed community, in an area where such discussion might have accomplished a great deal. Ironically, many of the faculty members supporting this secrecy are the same ones who vigorously oppose "over-classification" of gov- ernment information, and the deplorable lack of information available to the public about specific government operations. "Playing it close to the vest," is not only a idiocy almost anywhere, but even more ridicu- lous in a University community. The final result is two-fold. One, the com- mittee is in the position of "springing" the results and plans on an unprepared community, which may react strongly simply because of the novelty of the idea. SECOND, the committee may have deprived itself of many good ideas from students or even other faculty members. There is just a general fear of reporting tentative conclusions. Part of this is probably a result of general faculty processes - for researchers are fre- quently afraid to report tentative conclusions or lines of research, for fear they will be dis- credited or perhaps plagiarized. There is also the fear that the public would begin to criticize something which is merely tentative, a possible consideration, or a future dead-end. Yet, frequently public discussion, even that which attacks tentative conclusions may be valuable. It may show a new line of approach to a problem, it may point up new obstacles, and at the very least it might prepare the public for the eventual decision, thereby avoid- ing the sudden and often deadly reaction. MORE IMPORTANT, perhaps, such action would encourage discussion of University problems, discussion which does need much more stimulation. We have a feeling that if enough people are discussing certain difficulties of the University, things are going to get better before they get worse. There probably is some genuine faculty doubt about the quality of discussion its deliberations might lead to. This is part of a general faculty problem on this campus, at least in the literary college. Many faculty members under-rate the intel- lectual capacity of the undergraduate student. Of course, those that do, fail to see what value there would be in undergraduate comment. They might be surprised, especially if the right students are utilized. THERE IS even additional value in the com- ments and opinions of the undergraduates. For the faculty member does have a limited viewpoint. He may make tests, studies, evalua- tions; but he still does not know what it is like, no matter how recently he has done it, to sit on the other side of the lecturn. Students will always see things faculty mem- ha,.e d non il nmAtimP-, +h~ an. birP +.o Senimore Says -0-0-0 AFTERNOON CONCERT: Thomson Works 'Weary' THE AUDIENCE was given three special treats on Saturday af- ternoon's May Festival Concert: William Kincaid's excellent flute playing, the premiere performance of Virgil Thomson's "Fugues and Cantilenas from the United Na- tions film Power among Men," and the rarely heard Dvorak "D Major Symphony, Opus 60." William Kincaid is the grand old man of the flute. His playing is legendary. Except for the first movement of Thomson's "Flute Concerto" there was very little dis- tinguished music for Mr. Kincaid -Daily-Denny Leland INDEPENDENCE!" "FROM THE PATERNAL.. . TO THE FRATERNAL ... TO REAL' TOWN AND GOWN: City, University Closely Bound Together By THOMAS TURNER Daily Staff Writer "ANN ARBOR, Research Center of the Midwest," proclaim the signs at the approaches to the city. The research facilities referred to are of codrse those of the Uni- versity. Perhaps no adequate gauge of the extent to which the Uni- versity dominates the city in other ways could be made, but Chamber of Commerce publicity may be helpful. Other Ann Arbor advantages the publicity stresses are the hos- pital facilities, which the 856-bed University Hospital dominates; the cultural activity, in which the University's May Fertival, Concert Series, Platform Attractions, Dra- ma Season bulk large; and recrea- tion, with the University's athletic department providing almost all spectator sports. Lest it be concluded this domi- nance by the University is super- ficial, it is necessary to look at some statistics. A recent estimate set Ann Ar- bor's population at 64,500, of which annnximatelv 20.000 were Arbor's living costs are as high as any of the country. To some ex- tent, this is the result of the high percentage of professional people the University employs here. And in one sense it is an asset to the community. But at the same time it is a handicap to these faculty members and others, as they at- tempt to make ends meet, shop- ping in Ann Arbor stores, buying property here. The students of the University have also to contend with the prices prevailing here. About 1/3 live in non-University housing- the number has been estimated around 7,000 to 7,500 and the majority of them shop out and cook their own food. These students living in rented rooms and apartments are of course an important source of in- come to the city's landlords. As the University grows, the cur- rently - loose housing situation seems likely to tighten up, for there are only a certain number of houses near campus convertible to multiple dwellings. Whether rents will rise greatly cussed in the past, never com- pletely resolved. A glance down any commercial street near campus reveals as many men's and women's cloth- ing stores as the whole down-town area. These stores, (and the book- stores, in a sense), are a benefit reaped by the non-University resi- dent of the city, for without stu- dents to support these stores his choice of places to shop would be severely crimped. For the future, the close ties be- tween town and gown promise both advantages and disadvantages. The University's growth will fur- ther alter the face of the city, and require continued close work with city officials to ensure minimizing of conflict. But the advantages to the city are many, to play, but when he played it was real magic. The premier of Virgil Thomson's "Fugues and pantilenas" was very, disappointing. Perhaps this is good music for the film, but it is dull as a concert suite. This is surprising, particularly since Mr. Thomson's excellent score for the film "Louis- anna Story" made very engaging concert music. The third Thomson work was "The Seine at Night." This is a picture postcard of the noble French river. Perhaps a good pic- ture postcard, but weary music. * * * VIRGIL THOMSON is the "mod- ern American composer" for this year's May Festival. Mr. Thomson may be modern but this music is not. It is a collection of hackneyed 19th century cliches which, on oc- casion, are put together in a dis- tinguished fashion. This kind of "modern music" is what one has come to expect from the May Festival. Prokofiev, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, etc.,, are all dead, and their music is as familiar in concert as that of Brahms. The argument presented by musical enterpreneurs is that "modern music" does not sell, audiences go to concerts to hear Brahms and Tchaikovsky. As proof that people don't like modern music," we are told "the Thursday night May Festival con cert is always sold out and people like Brahms." * * * WITH ALL due respect to Brahms, Rudolf Serkin, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the reason that Thursday night sells out is because everyone goes to opening nights and because it is always. more of a circus than a concert. More important however, Hill Auditorium is sparsely populated when "modern/ music" is played because it is not really modern music. It is the music of composers who are trying to write with ma- terial everyone has heard over and . t ,.~