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. SUNDAY, MAY 24, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: THOMAS HAYDEN STILL INQUIRING . .. by Michael Kraft The U's Tragic Flaw? .'.>rxr" r {"aM 5Er,;{tyM . v'e i T Mzrtw e:i., "-S'""," {::'g5 Aspects of Nuclear es ting REGENTS MEETINGS are rather strange affairs. It's not that they seldom start on time - something normal when there are reporters around who have a deadline to meet. Nor is it the resulting speculation on whether their tardiness stems from someone having warned the "chefs" at the Union that the University's governing bodies were coming for lunch, or that maybe the something special cooking might be a big story and the Regents are tak- ing extra time to discuss it. And after two and a half years of cover- ing Regents meietings, one even gets used to being handed a mimeographed news service release saying, "ANN ARBOR - The Univer- sity of Michigan Regents today decided to ..." before the group actually finishes the motions of voting. FOR ACTUALLY, Regents meetings are quite plural. The members meet at least twice, first in closed sessions and, later in the day, with the press. As a result, the meetings "with" sometimes have a rather staged quality. After a few meetings, one can almost predict the lines and is sometimes tempted to write a review instead of a n ews story. But Regents meetings, sometimes become rather strangely frightening affairs and man- age to crack the pallid mask of pre-discussed "discussion." And the obvious urgency of the University's problems sometimes even gives the meetings a disturbing emotional quality. THE LAST meeting was utterly depressing because it began to answer some questions that have been bothersome long before this attempt to write the Editorial Director's tra- ditional last column - jammed with the cul- mination of four years of opinions and ob- servations that somehow seemed impossible to squeeze into the countless other previous columns and editorials. The questions probably can be distilled into one: What the hell's happening here? The last Regents meeting underlined the di- mensions of these problems and called to mind a related question prompted two years ago by one of the University officers sitting around the Regents' table. He was newly returned to Ann Arbor and had just taken over one of the top administrative positions. Like freshmen of the younger generation he was firm in his opinion. "The thing the University has to sell is an Idea - the concept of quality education." Two years later, more familiar with the small minds in Lansing, he might well be won- dering about the questions he prompted - about the difficulties of finding buyers, and the even more important one of whether he'll have anything left to sell. 'fUALITY EDUCATION. It's a wonderful intangible. But unfortunately, it hasn't gained, at least in Michigan, the status of flag, country, mother, and the necessity to "hold the line" on appropriations. FRIDAY'S MEETING was so depressing be- cause it should make clear to even the blindest State Senator that time is joining him in running out on the University of Michigan. The ever-so-smart proponents of "common sense" and the "school of hard knocks" love to condemn professors for being too impracti- cal, for not keeping their feet on the ground. They should thus not be too surprised when more and more faculty members take the offers of salaries a third higher, and working condi- tions far better, The one gratifying thing, said a University vice-president; is the faculty's loyalty to the University, and by implication, to the state of Michigan. But how long can one be loyal to begrudging Dutch uncles who value "hold- ing the line" above expanding the mind? The loyalty, of course, is to something else. As the Subcommittee on the Economic Sta- tus of the University said in its excellent re- port, "In the larger sense, the economic status involves the whole 'conditions of work' and even the conditions of life - the character of the University community, the opportunities for stimulation and social and intellectual intercourse, and the sense of having the right tools for the Job." MUCH OF THIS is a circle, once pleasant, but in great danger of becoming vicious. If enough good faculty members decide thier tools are inadequate, the opportunities for stimulation fade, top students go elsewhere, and the character of the University commu- nity changes. Already, size seems to limit really effective social and intellectual intercourse. But the circle is not self contained. It might be nice if the University actually were an ivory tower where people could concentrate on the pursuit and organization of knowledge, shield- ed from the noises of the rest of the world. However, it isn't and the University's prob- lems, really frightening in the frustrations they involve, are part of a state-wide picture.. sell the idea of quality education. But also, the quality of the education it offers to its students seems to suffer from a major flaw, permitting students to spend four years here without really becoming aware of the climate around them. THE FACULTY report speculates, quite soundly, that the present problems are a symptom of a more deeply seated disorder, both moral and economic. It questions whether "the moral climate of the state is one in which the things of the mind are held in low esteem, and which the flashier furnishings of life are given the highest priority." In a mastery of understatement, it says that possibly the difficulties are only temporary, occasioned partly perhaps by the circumstance of having a governor of one party and a Legis- lature of another over a period of years." THIS WRITER contends that the crisis the state faces is not only economic and moral, but political, which partly lies behind the first two. It's not just a matter of one party con- trolling the Legislature and the other the ex- ecutive, but the whole state governmental sys- tem. As long as the state is gerrymandered so cal- lously, permitting a handful of men to repre- sent not even the majority view of their own party, but solely their own personal turn-of- the-century outlook, the state will continue to fail to honestly come to grips with its prob- lems and adequately support its institutions of higher education. In part, it's the local version of the urban- rural conflict, with representatives of the de- creasing group managing to maintain their dominant political position. YET, THOSE who contribute to the chaos and not to the solution remain in power. And this is in part a sign of the University's failure. The state's institutions of higher education should be the source of leadership, awareness and concern for the state as a whole. But the University seems to have trouble selling the concept of quality education to all too many of its own students, let alone the rest of the people in the state. In short, too many leave Ann Arbor with polished manners but minds only roughly aware of what's going on. The University is muffing its opportunity to develop an active, interested citizenry who really could be the "leaders of tomorrow" in- stead of merely fairly well-trained somewhat "broadened" suburb-settling alumni. Mean- while their University is helpless at the hands of a state political situation which remains hopeless because not enough people are willing to work hard enough to change it. BE SURE, the University must work with its raw materials, the products of the so- ciety around it. But in too many ways, the University merely accommodates it. It even has its own materialistic standards. Grade point averages are as cold and hard as cash. "Publish or perish" is a more efficient criteria for judging a faculty member than trying to find out how many students leave his class tingling with intellectual excitement. And the University encourages a flourishing Greek sub- culture (although its members, of course, in- sist it's dominant) where academic interest is expressed through exam files, gut courses and the necessity for keeping the house average up. "Read that book?" No. "Sing that serenade." And for the masses, the University provides fall afternoon spectacles. A look at the press box, where a couple of hundred men gather from all over the country to report the antics of twenty-two 20th century gladiators is enough to make the term institution of "higher education" weep with irony. THE INDICATIONS are all too strong, in surveys by sociologists and in comments in the current issue of the Daily Magazine, that the biggest change the University offers is not in the mind, or in increased awareness in the world, but in "social adjustment." A nice goal, but too often, social adjustment means not fighting for what you believe is right, or even bothering to think about it. Too few of the graduates are "socially ac- tive," really concerned about the problems that lie beyond their own, immediate concern, or willing to realize that they are affected by their economic, moral and political environ- ment. The last Regents meeting crystallized a feel- ing that what is happening to the University is that it has been hushed to the point of immin- ent deterioration. AND AFTER four years at the University, one can't help but wonder if his graduating class might not be the last one from a Univer- sity of Michigan that stands in the top ranks of the world's universities. It's also impossible not to wonder how many of the worthwhile people will still find it worth Both Sides Want, Fear Atom Ban By SUSAN FARRELL Daily Staff Writer "THE SOVIETS apparently want a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons. The wisest people on our side want it also, but neither side is eager to accept the risks in- volved or to pay the full price in terms of the obligations and con- trols required," Prof. J. David Singer of the political science de- partment said. The risks of a ban are formid- able and not to be easily dismissed, he continued. A test ban would slow down de- velopment of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Cessation of testing would also inhibit the development of tactical nuclear weapons which might per- mit "limited war," Prof. Singer said. This would expose both sides to the less attractive alternatives of capitulation or massive retal- liation, he explained. And it is possible that negotia- tions for the ban might be inter- preted by the Soviets (and our allies) as a sign of weakness, he said. We must make it clear that the West considers such a ban to be in the best interests of both sides. AMONG THE MOST obvious ad- vantages of a test ban are the humanitarian and health consider- ations, Prof. Singer said. Radio- active elements that endanger our own and future generations would no longer be spread through the atmosphere. It might also lead the Soviets to re-evaluate American strategy and recognize that the West's rearma- ment program is essentially a defensive action, Prof. Singer con- tinued. As a result of this modifi- cation of their concept of Ameri- can intentions, the Soviets might be willing to make other conces- sions on related problems. * * * IN ADDITION, the experience gained by both sets of inspection teams would be valuable in work- ing out an inspection system in any subsequent ban on the manufac- ture of new nuclear weapons or the retention of old ones, he ex- plained. "After weighing these risks and advantages on both sides of the question," Prof. Singer said, "I believe that the Soviets and the West should negotiate to abandon weapons tests." Our current technical ability to detect Soviet testing of nuclear weapons could be termed ade- quately satisfactory, Prof. Singer said. Atmospheric tests are easily de- tectable. The consensus of opinion is that underground tests of weap- ons of more than 10 kilotons could be detected by seismographic equipment 85-90 per cent of the time. If both sides permitted some ground control stations within their borders, detectability would be greater. And although there has been no formal declaration, both sides agree in principle that earth satellite equipment will be adequate for the detection of test- ing in outer space. WHAT ABOUT THE future of East-West negotiations for a nu- clear weapons test ban? "My own off-the-cuff prediction is that the Soviets will eventually agree to having a majority of for- eigners on inspection teams in ex- change for the assurance that inspection visits will be held below a certain specified level," Prof. Singer said. "It all adds up to the fact that we have to weigh the military dis- advantages of cessation of testing against the humanitarian and psy- chological advantages," he con- tinued. "But I don't see a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons as a major point of disarmament con- ferences," Prof. Singer concluded. "It is only a mincing first step." GENETICIST: Discusses Radiation Effects on Humans By SHARON EDWARDS Daily Staff Writer PROF. William J. Schull of the Medical School's human gen- etics department, is a research worker in population genetics, an area of study which must be ful- ' ly understood before any mean- ingful study can be made of the effect of irradiation from man- made sources, especially in regard to potentially harmful human mu- tation for which it may be a causal factor. "In order to measure the extent to which irradiation influences mutations, one must first accumu- late information concerning the normal rate of spontaneous muta- tion, and the so-called "fate" of the mutant genes, that is, their ul- timate nature," Prof. Schull said recently. "This involves a study of the frequency of spontaneous muta- tion," he continued, as well as study of the selective handicaps of the mutants and the range of selective values-advantages and disadvantages-associated with a variety of genetic backgrounds." The methods of obtaining such information include the clinical study of inherited abnormalities, study of biochemical changes in the human system that occur without gross physical changes, and study of blood group types in association with certain inherited diseases, he added. "Every geneticist would agree," he said, "that the relationship be- tween rate of mutations and ex- posure to radiation is a linear one. However, with the techniques presently available we cannot mea- sure the genetic changes produced at the radiation levels which re- sult from the fallout of atomic weapons testing. "Let me emphasize that this does not mean that the effect is not there. No one would dispute the fact that it is there; but we cannot measure it." WHEN QUESTIONED about the effect of much larger doses of radiation than are received from radioactive fallout, such as that experienced by the people of Hiro- shima during World War II, Prof. Schull said, "There is some evi- dence available that the genetic effects of acute irradiation are more pronounced than those of chronic irradiation. This is defi- nitely true in test mammals, as the mouse, but we have only very in- complete information as to this ef- fect in humans. "That is to say the same amount of irradiation can have quite different effect if adminis- tered all at once, or in small doses over a period of some time. "This may indicate that there are "repairable" types of muta- tions, mutations that will reverse themselves if given time. How- ever, if the amount of irradiation is administered in one large dose, the genes are "swamped" and cannot "repair" themselves. * 1* * "THEREFORE, the comparison of effects from acute irradiation can not validly be compared to the effects of chronic irradiation, such as that experienced by radi- ologists, for example. "Of course, it is rather soon to be able to study the inherited ef- fects of the A-bombs on Japan, but there is now some evidence of effect on the sex-determining chromosome, by a change in sex ratio of children born. Lethal mu- tation of this sex-determining chromosome, a mutation incom- patible with its life, would have an effect on the offspring accord- ing to the sex of the child. Had the mother been exposed, a de- crease in male births would be evident. The opposite situation would hold true if the father had been exposed. * * * "THERE ARE human popula- tions who receive high chronic ir-: radiation. For example, it is esti- mated that between 80 and 100 thousand people live in an area of southwestern India on a sandy soil that contains appreciable, amounts of radioactivive mater- ials. The people there might re- ceive as much as 15 times as much irradiation in a definite period of time as we do here. , "A similar situation exists in Brazil. Many plans have been laid for a study of these areas, but there are great problems of fi- nance, personnel, and the avail- ability of an adequate control population for study. "Since artificially induced mu- tations, as far as is known, are the same as spontaneous muta- tions, all' measurement of differ- ences in the two must be quanti- tative, not qualitative. At this point, our technical knowledge to make such measurement is rather incomplete, and we experience OPPOSES TESTS: Ioulding Criticizes A nnihilation' Policy By CHARLAINE ACKERMAN Daly Staff Writer WHILE THE nation rests un- easily as the Russians dead- lock the Geneva negotiations, there are those in this country who hail the Soviets' stubbornness as providential. Citing our country's increasing dependence on nuclear weapons, these Pentagon and Atomic Ener- gy Commission officials argue for further atomic tests. Their "top- sneakrecy" policy tries to prevent filtering of the fact that, if un- abated, these tests will shower the country with Strontium 90, Carbon 14 and Cesium 137. "Annihiliation with representa- tion" is the charge Prof. Ken- neth Boulding of the economics AEC. INTRODUCING A new dimen- sion to the concern expressed over recent radioactive fallout figures, Prof. Boulding pointed out that harmful effects are not limited to our own country. With the scope of fallout fal - reaching, he con- tended that foreign governments have as much right to formulate our nuclear testing policies as do the five men who sit in Washing- ton. Prof. Boulding further deprecat- ed the Atomic Energy Commis- sion's mis-information policy. This has not only disturbed the trust- ing Mr. American Citizen, whose children are now drinking Stron- tium 90-enriched milk, but has caused a rift between the govern- ment and many top-level scien- tists, he said. Citing a total collapse 'of the concept of national defense, Prof. Boulding said, "Mutual annihila- tion is not national defense." Al- though hopeful about future Rus- so-American relations, he feels than an amalgamation of Soviet and American armed forces is our only possible future. THE GREATEST danger within the next 10 to 20 years, he said, is an atomic accident or explosion of undetermined origin, which could spark uneasy nations to relieve themselves of cumbersome stock- piles. Admitting the probable difficul- ty of establishing a workable in- ternational control system to de- tect and report any violations, Prof. Boulding nevertheless con-' tended that such risks are mini- mal in comparison to those now involved in pursuing our present arms race. In a speech here last month, No- bel Prize winning chemist Prof. Linus Pauling also looked to the Geneva test ban talks as a pos- sible "first in a series of signifi- cant international developments in limiting nuclear weapons." ALTHOUGH MANY atomic sci- entists list outer space and the depths of the earth as ample and "safe" laboratories for further great difficulty in detecting -such differences." * * * GOING FROM the question of atomic war devices to the con- sideration of peacetime uses, of atomic power, Prof. Schull noted "Some feel that there is a potential danger in industrial plants far greater than that of fallout from weapons testing. In case of a dis- aster in such a plant, far fewer people would be involved, but there would be much more acute irradiation. "Not only the delayed effects, those mutations passed on to the offspring would be evident, but al- so immediate body effects-for in- stance, leukemia, bone cancer, and cataracts. "Of course, we have no experi- ence as to the safety of power plants. A compromise must be reached between the absolutely foolproof and the practically feas- ible in any industry. "But outside the possibilty of disastrous accidents, the addition- al amount of irradiation we would receive from atomic power plants would not be appreciable, even if we switched completely to atomic power. * * s "THE THING that concerns ev- eryone most about atomic fallout is that certain fallout products of a very long half-life, as Strontium 90 and Cesium 137, are handled by the body very much like Calcium. They are stored in the bone. How much an individual may store is a function not only of his ex- posure and diet but also of his age, since a growing child stores much more of these bone-building ma- terials than an adult. "It is conceivable that this might have a more important ef- feet on somatic than germinal (i.e. gene) tissue. While the rate of leu- kemia and bone cancer might rise, it is not 'as probable that such effects would be inheritable. As regards statistical informa- tion, "Numbers can be manipu- lated in various ways and, because of the inadequate information available, a variety of answers are obtainable. * * * "IT IS MOST unfortunate that the lay public gets not the facts, but judgments on the facts. The statistics that can be derived from the inadequate information avail- able probably have no relation to reality. "There is a serious problem of impressing the public with the gravity of the question while re- taining a proper perspective. If the dangers of irradiation are con- stantly published in terms of these rather meaningless numbers, the public concern may be blunted. "The insidious nature of Irra- diation makes it difficult to cre- ate an appropriate awareness of its dangers. We have to live with this problem, as well the genera- tions to come, and the public should be aroused to the dangers so that they may face it with a sense of reality," Prof. Schull con- cluded. Standards? WASHINGTON ()- A govern- ment scientist today told Con- gress it may take up to 300 years to determine reliable and accurate danger limits for radiation. Because there are wide gaps in A ROTC PROFESSORS: Colonels Support -Continued Testing By PHILIP SHERMAN Daily Staff Writer BOTH Col. Earnest A. H. Wood- man, professor of military sci- ence and tactics at the University, and Lt. Col. Alfred D. Belsma, pro- fessor of air science agree that nu- clear testing should be continued. Col. Woodman pointed out that "we don't know all there is to know" about atomic . power and should continue to test in order to find out. He stressed both military and civilian objectives in testing as being equally important, add- ing that whenever the military greater firepower, which is pro- vided by nuclear weapons. * * * THE IMPORTANT field of mili- tary testing today, is in limited- yield weapons to destroy a specific tactical objective. Testing these weapons, intended to have a lim- ited fallout, would add little to radioactive wastes in the air he said. Large weapons are already big enough to destroy the world and need no further testing, Lt. Col. Belsma concluded. Col. Woodman noted that the Army has weapons as small as eight-inch artillery shells and probably was testing even small- sion. A key to the military atti- tude is shown in the following quotation from an Army manual issued to students: "THE AMERICAN ARMY has always nourished the idea of se- curing the effect of mass by fire- power rather than by sheer man- power. Therefore an attempt has been made to furnish the troops with the very best weapons -. - in World War II and the Korean conflict the Army was equipped with a complete system of excel- lent weapons. Accordingly, Ameri- can military actions in those wars were characterized by the use of