I "Welcome To Geneva" A' 'T hr m1rhigan Daily 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. '(ESDAY, MAY 12, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: THOMAS KABAKER Discrimination Debate Laeks Spirit of Sensibility i M X w j * x S] 2 Y , b Ya JV(f(( yid' A ! Ell os'w M sfi c v . 3 3 r y { i DRAMA SEASON Macbeth Provides Fine Opening Night THE 1959 DRAMA SEASON got off to a fine start last night with a spectacular production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Honors go first of all to set and costume designers, Ballou and Emma Hirsch Mellen- camp, for providing very exciting visual effects; the set was useful, allowed for a maximum of movement on the small stage, and gave an opportunity for variety. Some of the movements involving extras were clumsy, but that is always a problem at Lydia Mendelssohn, especially with student performers who must be trained during a brief rehearsal period. The costumes were handsome and bright. THE PRODUCTION got off to a slow start. Indeed, the first act dragged in spite of some excellent touches: the witches were first-rate, ", 4 [N THE MYRIADS of attitudes and arguments concerning fraternity discrimination a num- ber are valid, and a number are not. In viewing the rights and wrongs of discrim- ination, two moral arguments are repeatedly dragged forth. Both are handy defenses of respective positions, neither highly useful in reaching an equitable agreement. One is the argument that a fraternity, as a voluntary social association, has the "democratic" right to selective membership, and that the individ- ual has not the inherent right to eligibility. The other contends just as firmly that the indi- vidual has the "democratic" right to equal opportunity, and thus the inherent right to eligibility for membership in any fraternal group. Both constitute nice moral injunctions, but In trying to convince each other of their personal righteousness, each side is overlooking at least one important consideration: that. moral principles can rarely be foisted or dic- tated to someone already predisposed to reject them. HERE ARE, HOWEVER, a number of valid reasons for removal of discriminatory clauses. For one thing, a state university which does not practice racial or religious discrimination in its admissions requirements, classrooms, dormi- tories, which 'provides its students with broad opportunities for interracial, inter-ethnic con- tacts, cannot condone discriminatory practices among organizations it officially recognizes as student living groups. Fraternities have for too long been walking the thin "public-private" line. When it means pelp from the Assistant Dean of Men (and implicitly, the University), when it means the use of the University fieldhouse and other facilities, the fraternities are implicitly taking the role of public organizatons.But when it comes to the matter of discriminatory clauses, the fraternity system withdraws to "private" status. A fraternity system at a public-sup- ported university cannot adopt both roles. Not ony are undergraduate fraternity men and alumni directly concerned with all phases of the fraternity system, but so also is the "public" -including taxpayers, administrators, faculty, and students. A SECOND REASON for removing clauses is that their existence brings a certain amount of discredit to the fraternity system, to the University, and to the nation. Third, in some cases a local chapter is limited in Its freedom to pledge a man because of regu- lations unposed by the national organization. Fourth, while insufficient evidence presently exists, there is a distinct possibility that fra- ternity discriminatory clauses at state univer- sities are unconstitutional. Fifth, clauses are an obvious and flagrant contradiction of the National Interfraternity Council's "Principles of Democracy." IN SUPPORTING clauses, fraternity men re- turn time and time again to the normal argument for voluntary .associations. Or they argue, "morals cannot be legislated." While they are often correct in claiming morals cannot be dictated, it is not completely true to say they cannot be legislated. For without legislation, no legal and jurisdictional guides or framework would exist to give diregtiort to efforts to elimi- nate clauses. The central question here is not whether a university (or state) should legislate, but what degree of legislation is desirable. Again, extieme views' arise. One is the time limit for clause removal proposed by many schools. This is unrealistic, since in many cases a fraternity cannot remove a clause in the time allotted, and in other cases, the national fraternity is willing to sacrifice the chapter rather than a prohibitive membership policy. The opposite extreme is total removal of all pressure, allowing a gradual educational process to smooth out the problem. This too is in many ways unacceptable. In the first place, the progress so far has been excruciatingly slow. While a number of fraternities have elimniated clauses, in reality most have maintained the same membership policies. Gradualism is often a cloak for inaction. W ILETHIS IS NOT an issue which can be resolved quickly, since it involves a social Editorial Staff RICHARD TAUB, Editor as well as constitutional change, and while there is no simple blueprint which, if followed, will end discrimination, there are a number of moves towards settlement which might be taken. The first is in the area of legislation. Return- ing to the question previously posed, what is the, proper amount of legislation? The answer is not simple, and it varies from school to school. The University of Michigan is a colossus among American educational insti- tutions and, as such, has a commensurate re- sponsibility to take a strong and forceful lead in this area. The statement from Dean of Men Walter B. Rea and Vice-President James A. Lewis, published in Sunday's Daily, is encour- aging. It. is hoped that President Hatcher and the Board of Regents adopt a strong-worded stand, leaving no ambiguities. THE PROBLEM is to be dealt with effec- tively, Intprfraternity Council must become more vigorous in the area. Ten years ago, IFC pledged itself to a campaign of education and action against existing discriminatory practices. While the creation of the present selectivity study committee is highly commendable, the organization has been generally lax with regard to its pledged duty. Unfortunately, the same laxness permeates the fraternity system. The number of fraternity men who know and/or care little about the issues involved is frightening, particularly since the IFC argues that change should come from within the system itself. The sociological term "pluralistic ignorance" fits the situation in many fraternities; too many men have a wrong opinion about the general feelings of their brothers, as was pointed out in a survey taken a few years ago. This creates the real necessity for discussion within the local chapters. Discussion is the healthiest means of eventually coming to terms with the stumbling-blocks involved. An analogy might be used here. When new practices are initiated in industry, there will be resistance unless the practices have already been discussed with all concerned. The same holds true for the fraternity system. ANOTHER IMPORTANT problem, and one which must be faced somehow, is that of members of an ethnic group who face discom- fort and uncertainty over what would happen if they rushed a house of another ethnic background. A form of self-segregation might arise even if discriminatory bars are cleared away. Therefore, those persons who are leaders in various ethnic groups must try to develop some device to help incoming freshmen use their opportunities. Then there are the nationals. In some in- stances, the local chapter is restricted to choos- Ing its members by the national's membership code, In many cases, it seems an ideal solution would be to give the local chapter autonomy as far as membership requirements are concerned. Yet national's tend to be reactionary, which undergraduates are tempted to be idealistic or liberal, thus setting up a definite conflict. While not going to the extreme of severing national ties, undergraduate chapters, particularly in the North, have a strong responsibility to exert all the energy possible for removal of clauses. If this is not carried out, difficult though it may seem, outside pressures for local autonomy will only increase. THREE THINGS have so far gone largely unsaid. They are extremely simple theses, yet all three are at least as important as any- thing yet mentioned. The first is simply this: the problem of fra- ternity discrimination will be settled and the solution is not so far off as a great number of fraternity men believe. With crisis after crisis erupting on American- college campuses, with pressures piling up from various civic groups, with unfriendly attitudes from legislatures and courts increasing, with anti-discriminatory statements such as the one issued last week by Dean Rea and Vice-President Lewis, with more and more pressure from the rushee, a solution seems inevitable and not too distant. The second point is simply that the elimina- tion of clauses does not eliminate discrimina- tory practices. However, it should be recognized that the clauses represent unwarranted dis- crimination and their removal would be a step forward. This must be the first move taken in facing discrimination in fraternities. All the same, a careful eye should be kept by the IFC, campus leaders, and the administration on nationals which practice circuitous means of discrimination. Censure, or even stronger ac- tion, should come from all three groups in cases where it is felt that the national group is practicing evasion. A strong statement of University feeling, although it may antagonize a national, could be quite effective as a catalyst. T HE THIRD POINT is probably the most im- portant of all. It is simply that a spirit of sensibility must be adopted by all concerned. Discrimination in a free democracy is a sensi- tive, even seamy, topic. The tremendous emo- tion which has been already expended serves no ............9._. t .-U _.. ...«.A . - 1_,., - _ - A ,7 CAPITAL COMMENTARY : The Senate a {:y WILLI FOR THIS SUMME'S more or ent Senate, and part less inevitable summit confer- controlling Democrats ence President Eisenhower has general state of mind available to assist him a powerful Like everybody else second-line force from -the Senate. confere ce of foreig The Senatorial reservists, how- will bring some progre ever, are not 'aching to be called East-West tension. Lik up; and certainly they will go into else, it doubts very mu no action without his specific and will occur. So, it assum clear invitation and command. crisis will really come a An infantry outfit is reckoned in a summit confrontat by old soldiers to be really grown President Eisenhow up once the men have learned the Khrushchev, and the first law of army professionalism, our British and Frenc This is that a good soldier keeps There is, therefor his mouth shut, his eyes open, and slightest feeling in th never, never volunteers. The Sen- sponsible Senate quart ate will not volunteer. Senate representation The idea of bipartisanship in eign ministers' meeti foreign affairs has now reached a either necessary or des similarly adult and professional It is' felt to be possit level. This is a very good thing in- -and only possible - deed. In the past years those de- summit conference itse voted to doing things in the bi- duce a reason and a n partisan way have sometimes ate representation. It leaned too far forward. Adminis- for example, that th trations sometimes have too en- might think it wise thusiastically called on the Senate Senate to send observer to come into the game too soon. the big show under t Past Senates, like rookie soldiers tions: looking for premature glory, have 1) If, toward the cl insisted sometimes upon getting summit, he was actuall into the game before they were ing a proposed agree really needed or really useful, the Russians. The consequences have been to 2) If, as would be i downgrade the proper authority of tairesenate action, sa the executive branch of govern- cation of a new treaty ment and to cause unnecessary 3) If this arrang confusion in the outer world as to such as to make it pru who was running what on our side, tecusladsp the counsel and supX * * *Senate before the Presi THE LEADERSHIP of the pres- name on the line. xnd the Summit [ANi S. WHIT ticularly its , is in this e, it hopes va Big Four n ministers ss in easing e everybody ch that this nes that the bout August ion between, 'er, Nikita leaders of ch allies. e, not the he most re- ers that any at the for- ng will be sirable. ble, however - that the elf may pro- eed for Sen- is assumed, e President to ask the r-advisers to hese condi- imax of the y approach- ement with all but cer- it would re- y the ratifi- ement were dent to seek port of the dent put his FEW HERE believe the Presi- dent will ask Senate participation under circumstances short of these --the Democratic leaders specifi- cally believe he will not. They themselves do not, however, dis- cuss at all another kind of cir- cumstance in which, this cor- respondent suggests, the President might well summon them to the scene. It is entirely conceivable, though raising the suggestion at this early point is not relished, that the real function of a Senate delegation might be to take the President off the hook. This is a crude term to recognize a plain possibility: the. summit meeting might develop overpowering "peace" pressures, from our own people and our allies, for making with the Russians the kind of deal which a chill and un- pleasant realism would be unwill- ing to make. At this point, the President might find a Senatorial delegation infinitely useful. He could say to all concerned, in sober truth, that while he himself would risk going along the Senate simply would not. The Senate in a word, though few realize it, can be far more resistant, to emotional clamor than can the Presidency. This might become the true and. ultimate utility of the second-line forces from the Senate, though, of course, nobody in his right mind wants to see this sort of thing become necessary. (Copyright 1959, by United Features Syndicate, Inc.) their costumes, chanting and movements were appropriately eerie and poetic. But it was only in the second half of theproduc- tion that the play really came alive; the scenes involving Lady Macduff and Macduff were gen- uinely moving bits of theatre; the final action, involving the most ex- citing (and exhausting) battle scenes probably ever staged at Lydia Mendelssohn, was an ap- propriate climax to a production Inotable for its stagecraft. The acting was, in many senses, first-rate. Charlton Heston is a magnificent Macbeth, since. he combines a fine figure with great skill of physical movement; he looks, and is, impressive. Indeed, this element of, vitality, of sheer physical handsomeness, is charac- teristic of almost every member of the large, mainly professional, cast. However, one expects that they will look their parts (and here one must not ignore the stunning contribution of the cos- tumes.) BUT ACTING involves more than presence and movement. It involves the voice. During the in- termission, there were many com- plaints about difficulty on the part of the audience to hear; in a theatre as small as Lydia Men- delssohn, and with its generally good acoustics, this is a major fault. In this case, the problem is twofold: the failure of the actors properly to project their voices and, more si gnificantly for Shakespeare, ,their unsuccessful struggles with the poetry. This is poetic drama. And no matter how §killful the production of how handsome, the language is essen- tial; it must be clear (last night it was, on several occasions, simply sacrificed to the musical score) and it must convey the poetry, which, after all, is the meaning. Mr. Heston, unhappily, spoke as if he had a sore throat; his voice lacks inflectional range and musi- cal quality. Nor are the others. much better, except that Ernest Graves has obviously a well trained professional voice which he uses well. And Miss Brookes had a moment or two of fine suc- cess, particularly in her first soli- ioquy. The Drama Season's Macbeth achieves distinction for many technical (even i m a g i n a t i v e) touches; as such, it is character- istic of a great segment of the American theatre today. Its short- comings are really the result of a failure .in vision. The play is seen merely as a story; costumes, mu- sic, setting and actions, however fine, are devices of the narrative or of certain psychological in- sights into character. The tragic vision, inherent in the play, and conveyed by Shakespeare's superb language, is lost or misplaced. Without that element, however exciting or spectacular or skillfull the production, we are simply missing the essence, the wonder, and the awe. Prof. Marvin Felheim English Department WHAT judicial bodies are very qualified to do is gain an under- standing of an individual and allow that understanding to tem- per their decision. Understanding, in the context of a student ajudi- cating group, halts when members ' attempt to play the role of psy- chologists or read an entirely er- roneous meaning intos a case. Attempting to gain insights not available to them, a judicial body could miss a point entirely and let a student off who told a "belev- able story." The same situation in reverse would result in a reticent individual being "socked with a heavy fine" because he was un- willing to reveal his financial situ- ation. The middle ground which groups tend to go beyond or fall too short of is understanding students and dealing with them, not as coun- selors, but as a group of peers sitting as sympathetic jurists, * * * CERTAIN judicial groups fail to do this. In the residence halls, ,staff members often work to have viola- tions heard on the quad level rather than allow a house group to handle a case. More confidence is placed in the higher body be- cause of the maturity of its mem- hers. What this points to is a lack of responsibility which house coun- cils sometimes demonstrate. In one, a member pointed out that hip Judic was a "mickey mouse group" that failed to make which avoided any controversial issues. In a different house, a judicial body does not exist because the residents feel that handling disci- pline problems would cause too much friction. Two houses does not amount to the failure of the judiciary in individual houses in the residence halls. It does however point out that students have not yet as- sumed the necessary responsibility to take discipline problems out of the hands of the staff and into the realm of house government. Among the women the problem often becomes not a question of lacking responsibility but of show- ing individuals in the residence h1alls that University regulations were made to be observed. IF 90 PER CENT of the resi- dents supposedly conform to the rules, it is confusing to learn that in April of her freshman year a woman was still unaware of the regulation which prohibits un- chaperoned women from entering men's apartments. Courts argue that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Student judicial'groups should not strictly follow that thought, but rather in- clude the idea of education while handing out fines and/or periods of probation. Drawing the line of their func- tion at a combination of punish- ment tempered with the idea of counseling by a group which may or may not be qualified to help students cut short the services that judicial bodies can perform. The ability to educate and show mature understanding, which some of the group have shown, are the two areas which judiciary groups must develop further. -Charles Kooll JUDICIARY: To Solv Problems COUNSELING a violator rather than mechanically punishing him is stressed through all. udi- cial bodies on the campus. While this concept is extremely valid in the "extra-legal" system of dealing with rule infractions, the idea of students counseling students has a certain built-in danger which must be avoided. The greatest difficulty here lies in placing too much trust in stu- dents to discover the motives of one of their "peers" and arrive at means to correct their behavior. For while judicial bodies, have shown much perception, it cannot be assumed that they are com- pletely qualified in areas of human relations. i i' EAST, WEST JOCKEY OVER GERMANY: Both Sides Yield in Conference Opener GENEVA (JP) - Both the Soviet Union and the West had to yield points in order to get the Big Four meeting started yesterday. The West beat a Russian ma- neuver to extract international re- cognition for Communist East Germany. But Russia established a limited right for East and West Germans to intervene in the Big Power de- bates on their country's problems. Both Russia and the West had to yield something in order to get the conference started. **e * GROMYKO, seeking a voice and a seat for East Germany at the conference table, settled in the end for the right of the East Ger- man delegate to ask if he might speak. In that sense Gromyko won a point. His maneuver also enables the Russians to pose as the cham- pions of both Germanies to have a say in the conference room. The West, resolved to confine the role of both Germanies to that of advisors, emerged from the brush with their lines intact and their position only slightly changed. Neither Foreign Minister Lothar Bolz of East Germany nor Heinrich von Brentano of West Germany will be full participants interventions by either German squad. But already an informal East-West understanding - a sort of gentleman's agreement -- has been reached that the veto will not be used in normal circumstances. * * * IF IT IS USED, the aggrieved: side will be able to ask for an in- formal meeting of the Big Four to resolve the particular difficulty. The entire episode, underlining Gromyko's intention to bargain in the toughest traditions of the Kremlin, served to confirm the most pessimistic forebodings of Western officials that this confer- ence is unlikely to produce any im- portant political agreements. It suggested that little progress is likely toward a settlement of the basic problems of Germany and Europe. Delegates of the West consider Gromyko has come here under or- ders to do no more than to guaran- tee holding of the proposed sum- mit conference. These results highlighted 24 hours of hectic exchanges between the Foreign Ministers of the two great rival power blocs. Britain's Selwyn Lloyd and Rus- sia's Andrei Gromyko plunged right into the heart of the issues confronting the powers, centering on the status of the two. Ger- manies in the conference room. nx MICRALL KRAFT Editorial Director DAVID TARR Associate Editor JOHN WEICHER City Editor DALE CANTOR ...................Personnel Director JEAN WILLOUGHBY .... Associate Editorial Director ALAN JONES. ....... .... Sports Editor BEATA JORGENSON .....Associate City Editor ELIZABETH ERSKINE ... Associate Personnel Director SI COLEMAN........ . Associate Sports Editor CARL RISEMAN .............Associate Sports Editor DAUT ARNOTC.-_-----hief Phntnernher DAILY OFFICIAL . ;, .