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. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: JUDITH DONER NE FOR THE ROAD By Richard Taub Ev aluaton 0 u R LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Student Participation Problems Raised A YEAR is a long time in the life of an under- graduate, for it is one-fourth of a college career in which he is supposed to grow, find and locate himself in a world which has sud- denly become so much more vast and complex. It is even longer for the editor of an under- graduate Daily. For every day is crowded with events in the world, on campus and of the mind, of which he must take cognizance. And every day is a special sort of crisis with a dead- line to meet and stories which must be covered. It is a day crammed full of events from the classroom to the copy desk. Many words get written in that time. And of those, there are some which should not have been, and, unfortunately, there are many which should have been, which were not. But there is always that one last chance, when the writer is so fullof ideas that it is difficult to bring them into order, to keep them from chaotically spilling all over the page. FOR THE UNIVERSITY of Michigan is a great university - at one time it could be said without question the finest state univer- sity in the country. But it can't be said without question any longer, and thereby hangs the tale. If the University is not continually evalu- ating its goals and aims, and its programs to- ward those aims, it can only drop still further down the ladder - no school can afford to unthinkingly stand still. This becomes more important with the Uni- versity's financial situation in such an uncer- tain state. If the University is not able to pay salaries which. are competitive, its non-salary considerations, "fringe benefits," must be so far superior to those of other schools, that present faculty members will still want to stay at the University and new people will still want to, come here. "Fringe benefits," in this case, are working conditions and general climate, not pension plans, etc. AND IT'S ALSO highly probable that the University will have to achieve its standard of excellence not by hiring great scholars for its faculty, but by doing more to produce great students. Of course, this need not be a con- flict - great researchers may produce great students, but all too often this is not the case. In short, the University is going to have to concentrate to an extraordinarily high degree on all the elements that make up a great in- stitution because the easier way - bringing great researchers to the University through higher salaries - will be simply impossible for at least the next few years. 37H AT THE UNIVERSITY officials have cre- ated a climate which is somewhat more satisfactory to, faculty members than many other universities is 'quite clear. Just compare the mass exodus at Michigan State, which is under a somewhat .more authoritarian lead- ership, to the number of faculty members leav- ing the University under equivalent financial conditions. But much more :must be done, before the well of good will runs -dry. And there are sev- eral areas in which work can be done. First, there is the problem of faculty rights. Many a faculty member recalls the days when three professors -were peremptorily suspended, and two of them later dismissed, (with what seemed to many no good cause.) The Univer- sity, through the Faculty Senate, has taken steps to prevent that kind of decision from taking place, but perhaps more needs to be done. PROF. GUY SWANSON in an article in The Daily magazine earlier this year, suggested the creation of a "Board of Visitors," whose members would be "representative of the poli- tically active groups," and "chosen in a fash- ion that dispels the suspicion of their being tools of the college." Such a group would objectively evaluate the programs of the University in terms of public needs, and in this broad context "it should stand ready to evaluate for the public such charges as the one that the college is infested with radicals." Such a group would help to take the pres- sure off a harassed administration in times of Editorial Staff RICHARD TAUB, Editor MICHAEL KRAFT JOHN WEIGHER Editorial Director City Editor DAVID TARR Associate Editor DALE CANTOR ...........Personnel Director JEAN WILLOUGHBY .... Associate Editorial Director ALAN JONES......................Sports Editor BEATA JORGENSON. ........Associate City Editor ELIZABETH ERSKINE ... Assocate Personnel Director SI COLEMAN ............... Associate Sports Editor CARL RISEMAN ..............Associate Sports Editor crisis, allowing it to deal more effectively and less self-consciously with individual problems. It would also have the positive value of contin- ually evaluating the work of a large and com- plex institution. SECOND, somebody must invent a way -for greater faculty participation in the running of a large and complex University. As it stands now, the Faculty Senate with its long, dull (so we are told) meetings twice a year which few attend does not really fulfill this need. And yet, faculty members who have a role in Uni- versity policy are, we believe, going to be more interested in being faculty members. FINALLY, the University needs the vigorous, articulate and creative leadership which previously has not been forthcoming. This need applies to other areas as well as that of keeping faculty members here, as we shall see, but it is important in this light too. The University needs someone who will shout to the nation, to the state, and in fact, to anybody who will listen, that the University is committed to "quality education," and will do all it can to achieve that goal; that quality education is economically inefficient if one makes a ratio of dollars to diplomas, but has greater implications for the nation as a whole; that any study of the University which uses "efficiency" as an index to effectiveness, while it might be helpful in effecting some econ- omies, is all wet; and that the University is so thoroughly committed to high quality edu- cation, that it. will fight tooth and nail to maintain it, IF THE University is to maintain its stand- ards as a great school with a limited budget, it must use all the skills at its command to do this. Especially, there is something known as intellectual climate, or acaemic atmos- phere, which must not only be maintained but vastly improved. Students must talk about Montaigne as vig- orously as Michigras, Shakespeare as earnest- ly as Spring Weekend, and Handel as much as Homecoming. Atmosphere is a reflection of attitude-in this case the attitude of things toward the mind - and there are numerous ways to attack it. THERE ARE some trends already which show that strides are being made in this area. As the faculty Senate has reported, the construction of the Undergraduate Library and the thereby increased accessibility of books has been a step in this direction. The departmental honors programs, and the all-college honors programs under the ener- getic direction of Prof. Robert Angell, have also made 'more than a dent. But there is a long way to go. One obvious place to begin is in campus living units. This is, so given the nature of the University, especially so as it is broken into so many schools and colleges. It seems so obvious and yet nobody seems to have done anything about it. RESIDENCE halls make absolutely no contribution to the education of their stu- dents. To be sure, the people concerned spend a good deal of effort maintaining order, and there is also some effort expended to see to it that students are "well-adjusted," but that really seems to be about as far as it goes. Freshman dormitories where effort could be expanded on "adjustment" and the "main- tenance of order," and upperclass houses where effort could be expended more fruitfully have been suggested time and time again by this newspaper. So far they have met with mere hokum for answers, which really means the University is afraid to try anything new. Far too much time and energy is expended on "ad- justment" anyway, and somehow intellectual values go by the way-side. Fraternities and sororities in this respect, if anything, are even worse. It is heartening to note that in the last year or so affiliate lead- ership both on campus and nationally has be- gun to show signs' of awareness that this is no longer the 1920's. But again, there still is a long way to go. Affiliates have made con- cessions to the academic world by having study sessions, examination files and competition for grades, but unfortunately these efforts have been in the wrong direction. Faculty members are sometimes invited over for teas, and on even rarer occasions for din- ner. Teas don't really facilitate communica- tion; dinners are more helpful here. It is un- fortunate that teachers are invited up more for the purpose of browning them up than for providing a stimulating exchange of ideas. TIS LEADS into the whole problem of stu- dent-faculty exchange - which can prob- ably do more to change the academic climate of the University than any other single factor. This become especially true as the University To the Editor: THE PROBLEM of student par- ticipation in college policy. making is not unique on the Uni-. versity of Michigan campus. It is one that faces colleges and uni-. versities . throughout the United States. The four major problem areas most commonly identified and 'studied are: 1) establishing avenues of student participation; 2) defining the areas and degrees of student participation; 3) de- veloping effectiveness of student participation; and 4) overcoming traditional thinking and proce- dures and developing good rela- tionships between students and members of the faculty and ad- mini aai.. The typical American campus has a number of avenues of stu- dent participation, some formal and others very informal. The most common formal structures are such things as the all-campus student government, men's and women's government organiza- tions, and the fraternity and dor- mitory groups. The value of in- formal discussion of policy prob- lems is emphasized by honorary societies, individual contacts, and newspaper articles. ORDINARILY, the most im- portant single representative body is the all-campus legislature or council. Two major types of gov- ernment may be distinguished here. One, the "community" sys- tem, places questions before a single body, composed of repre- sentatives of all elements of the campus - faculty, students, and administration. The other form, the student government which consists of students alone and which concerns itself only, or chiefly, with student activities, is more widespread. The community government automatically ensures an avenue of student participa- tion in actual decisions in areas in which it has a voice, whereas "in- dependent" student government does not guarantee this participa- tion without other channels of communication or a grant of complete authority in a given area. The second major problem, that of defining the areas and degrees of student participation, is one that is very much in the forefront, especially on the Michigan cam- pus. There seem to be two major schools of thought as to the defi- nition of precise areas of partici- pation. The first emphasizes set- ting up "spheres of authority" in each of which students, faculty, and administration operate alone or in specified combination. The second stresses the idea of more complete shared control between students, faculty, and administra- tion. The spheres-of-authority procedure may most commonly be divided into three spheres: i) the sphere in which the faculty and the educational and business ad- ministrations have control; 2) the sphere in which students have control; and 3) the sphere in which the students and members of the faculty have joint control. THE SECOND concept, that of student control, is less concerned with delineating areas in which students shall or shall not be in- cluded on a long-term basis. It as- sumes that from year to year the areas and degree of student par- ticipation will vary, sometimes in- creasing and sometimes drawing back, depending on the needs, is- sues, nad abilities involved. The issue of final control does, of course, involve recognition that all committees, be they student, student-faculty, or student-facul- ty-administration, are subject to higher administrative authority and ultimately to the trustee power, in Michigan's case the Board of Regents. No model method of consulta- tion can alone satisfy the require- ments for worthwhile contribu- tion if students are not well-pre- pared to deal intelligently with problems placed before them. This problem has several facets - lack of qualified leadership, absence of continuity, lack of time, and lack of background information and understanding of complex problems. * * * THE PROBLEM of continuity, however, is a much larger one. It has been found to be one of the major drawbacks in student par- ticipation. In most schools, stu- dent members of the legislature or council change each year. This means that the new student mem- bers must be taught every year about the function of the council. There is not only a lack of con- tinuity of student membership, but there is often no continuity of commitment to the work of the council from one batch of student members to the next, and there seems to be little continuity of in- formation passed on from one batch to the next. As a solution to this problem, many colleges and universities have established leadership programs for students, aimed at preparing them to take on their responsibilities with as little discontinuity as possible. The four general problem areas set forth here pose complicated questions for any college or uni- versity, and their solution in many cases will depend on basic administrative reforms. Most im- portant, however, is that there must be a sincere belief on the part of the faculty, students, and administration in the need for student participation, and a will- ingness of all these groups to work toward making such parti-* cipation as effective as possible. Ahmed Belkhodja, Grad. Festival .. . To the Editor: [T IS QUITE apparent from David Kessel's remarks concerning the Choral Union Concert Series, in- cluding the May Festival, that at least for him, the opportunities to found or to expound a neo-nihilism is a realized ambition. Since he has also apparently committed critical hari-kari for this cause,- and in the process has spread the most disgusting por- tions of his internal self rather ungracefully about the columns of The Daily throughout the year, may we respectfully suggest that it is now time for a clean-up detail to remove the sad remains of Kes- sel's vessels. Meanwhile, for Kessel himself, may we also suggest the final step of the true nihilist in order to round out his arguments irrevoc- ably. Any one of his readers, or the artists who have taken part in this year's musical season will gladly furnish him with the means. What shall it be Dave-a gun or a knife is too prosaic-how about a black-widow spider in a fifth of absinthe???? -William H. Stubbins To the Editor: THE DAILY should be ashamed for having printed twenty inches of trash by its "critic," David Kessel, in the issue of May 21. If Mr. Kessel could conduct but half as competently as "Andante" Smith he would not need to be wasting his time and money here at the University annoying those of us who seek mature criticism from The Daily. It is unfortunate that he has in his head only a glib tongue, but then a few persons have managed to win a measure of respect with cheap imitations of Shaw. Summing Up: When Mr. Kessel fell into the League fountain some- one should have sat on his head. Fed up with Kessel's juvenile prattlings, I am -D. B. Schneider, Grad. No Treaty *. * To the Editor: A QUEER bizarre editorial ap- peared in the May 10 issue of The Daily. It labelled India's in- transigeance to enter into a mili- tary treaty with Pakistan for de- fense of the subcontinent as myopic, especially in the face of Red China's aggression across the borders 'in Tibet. Though fully cognizant of the fact that rapprochement and a friendly settlement of long stand- ing disputes between India and Pakistan would be highly bene- ficial, yet a military entente be- tween the two countries will only further endanger world peace. We have had religious wars, political wars and strifes of other nature since the dawn of time. Each war always managed to find (or dig up one if it can't be found on the sur- face) some "honourable" common cause to unite one group of hu- mans against another. It is high time that leaders of the world are sensitive and phil-. osophic enough to break away from this age-worn tradition of making some common cause or issue the bonding cement for unit- ing one group of humans against another group. Unless it has to be accepted that war is an inevitable periodic repetition in the annals of mankind, the leaders of the world are faced with the respon- sible task of finding some new ap- proach, other than this age-worn tradition, to prevent war and weld human unity. A mutual defense treaty with Pakistan is merely to meander in the groove of this age-worn tradi- tion. It will merely give the man in the street in India and Pakis- tan an anti-Chinese complex and prejudice, a feeling of that "yellow man" across the border, much as the American in the street is made to feelaagainst anything Russian. Such a complex only takes the world a step closer to war. Thus India is determinedly re- solved to break away from this age-worn tradition and do every- thing to bring humans together rather than to grab a common cause or issue to unite one group against another. If this be labelled as myopic, the accusers are dull of understanding and stubborn not to realize that given the same set pattern (a common fervour for a group to unite against another) the same end result of war will follow, as history has shown since the beginning of time. -Thomas David, Grad. Meaningful?, . . To the Editor: A LOT has been said recently about the attitude of the Uni- versity Administration towards students. The comments made by some administrators at the SFAC Conference seem to show that more and more the interests and well-being of the students are be- ing forgotten and subverted to the interests of administrative feasi- bility and big business principles. It seems that when the Resi- dence Halls become big businesses, not only are students getting a raw deal, but so are the principles of the Michigan House Plan. In fact, the Michigan House Plan, much boasted of and much cele- brated, seems to have gotten lost in the flood of administrative pro- cedures. If, as Mr. Stoneham would have us believe, the Residence Halls are not a convenience for students, what are they? From Mr. Stoneham and others comes the answer: Residence Halls are big businesses, operated accord- ing to administrative procedures, where the desires and well-being of individual residents are of no importance. But, Mr. Stoneham has forgot- ten one of the major principles of big business - competition. The residence halls are filled primar- ily with studentswho are forced by the administration to live there. Freshman men and un- affiliated undergraduate women have no choice. Theoretically the residence halls provide a meaningful living experience for the students living in them. From my- own experience in residence halls I find that this experience is meaningful only to those people who agree with the administrative and counseling staffs. Any attempt to show in- dividuality in a way which is not considered acceptable is frowned upon, and is likely to bring about a refusal for readmittance to the residence halls. If the Michigan Residence Halls are going to call themselves big businesses, let them compete on an open market, and not only apply those big business principles which make things easier for them. Let's be realistic and have an end to the supposed meaning- ful experiences and other glowing goals of the Michigan House Plan. Simon Katzenellenbogen, '61 Election . . To the Editor: I WAS overjoyed to read in The Daily that next year's officers for the B'nai B'rith Hillel Founda- tion have been selected and will be installed Sunday. Of course I, like other Hillel members, had received a notice that elections would be held, but I must concede that not having an election is certainly more democratic and a much bet- ter idea than having one. Out of curiosity, I inquired fur- ther about this matter and dis- covered two things. The first is that next year's officers were en- tirely chosen by this year's officers and the Hillel director. Here it seems appropriate to comment that these five people certainly should have the sole right to speak f or the hundreds of Hillel mem- bers; after all, the organization is, as it should be, being run primar- to compliment this year's officers on this action. They really did a bang-up job. --A Former Hillel Member [*idway . To the Editor: THE CARNIVAL activity and numerous barkers infesting the library steps and vicinity are rapidly becoming a serious prob- lem. The constant din makes it difficult to use parts of the library and classrooms in adjoining build- ings for serious purposes. Student organizations and the student gov- ernment should consider some rea- sonable voluntary restraints. The. invasion of the barkers into the halls of some classroom buildings is a further violation of the pur- poses of these buildings and of the dignity of the University. Perhaps, we should consider establishing a mall-at some dis- tance from the campus - where vaudeville entertainments, initia- tions of various kinds, and other spectator sports can be staged without restraint. This might help to eliminate the kind of desecra- tion of the library which occurred recently when ope initiation cere- mony covered the library steps with a red pigment which was then carred throughout the library building. --Ronald Freedman Sociology Department Experiment . . To the Editor: HAVE witnessed a Soviet labor camp and have been an unwill- ing participant in many "spon- taneous and happy" parades of the Soviet Union. Permit me to intro- duce a few segments of the area of the "great Soviet experiment in mass education" which were not presented by Dr. Hatcher. The unfortunate ones of the labor camps of the Soviet Union are not to be found in the base- ment of the Moscow University but in the restricted industrial areas or deep in the Siberian taiga not to be reached by a comfortable jet plane but by a box-car with barred windows. The Russian youths who have been banned from higher educa- tion because of their "undesirable socio-economic or political back- ground" are not found strolling in the halls of the Moscow University. Where does one find those too fearful to enter a house of wor- ship? Those who dared are not likely to be encountered in the Moscow University classrooms. The friendly paraders who did not have the opportunity to convey their suppressed feelings about the Communist victory slogans and banners they had to carry. Dr. Hatcher, I fear, did not meet those millions who have lost their freedom and now possess nothing more than their pride, honor and anger. Nor did Dr. Hatcher meet those whose sufferings were finally covered by the kindly soil sealing the lips of the living dead. It is still difficult for me to be- lieve that the shining rails of Soviet "progress" impressed Dr. Hatcher to the extent that he did not sense the masses of skeletons which support these rails. It is a sad commentary on our grand country when in our Christian cul- ture, in our desire for peace we become so addicted to swallowing the sweet pill of forgetfulness in order to hide from the reality of the tragedy of the Baltic States, Katyn Forest, Hungary, Tibet ... and the 11 American airmen. After each insult to humanity we try to convince ourselves that Russian Communism is changing and does not seek world domination. When we begin to fear atomic fallout more than the loss of our freedoms we place ourselves in grave danger of waking one morning and finding the flag of this country of my choice is not there .. . as it hap- pened to the blue-black-white tri- color of my country of birth. -Rurik Golubjatnikov Rebuttal . To the Editor: WE FEEL THAT the views ex- pressed in the article "Class of 1959 - A Profile" regarding the School of Nursing, published in the Magazine section on May 24, 1959, are not indicative of the gradu- ating nursing students. The days of Florence Nighten- gale have passed a long time ago, and today's society has placed ever increasing emphasis on profes- sionalization. We came to the Uni- versity for an education and on June 13.139 of us will walk away with a diploma and some with a husband. However, more important than these gains, we have learned to think creatively and in regard to our lives, to analyze, to evalu- ate; and although these may be skills of a technical nature, they are essential to us. Devotion to humanity and to the bettering of their lives is one of the functions of a nurse; but it is through an effective process of thinking, which we have acquired here, that we have learned to express this devotion efficiently and to do so to the advantage of. our fellow man. We would like to suggest that a similar interview, aimed to repre- sent the graduating senior, should be conducted with more discretion and less generalizations. We feel that if statements, such as were printed, are brought before the public, a wider cross - sectional opinion should be obtained. We do not feel that this. article was re- presentative of our class. -Diane Pugno Mara Asaris Janet Morey Roberta Scott Kay Fredricks Claudette Rosenquist Friendship . . . To the Editor: REGARDING the letter appear- Ernest Lilienstein entitled "Fra . ternities: Comradeship of Mob or Team?" We,, speaking for Pi1 Lambda Phi and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities, wish to present the actual situa- tion which exists between our two houses and which seems to be in question. Mr. Lilienstein poses this question, and it is quite evident by the indiscriminate wording of his letter that he is referring to our houses. Our two fraternities take great pride in the close friendship that has existed between us for many years, a friendship of cooperative activities and mutual respect. Per- haps if Mr. Lilienstein had the op- portunity to attend one of our-an- nual joint parties or take part in the many informal gatherings of our houses during the year, he would see our relationship in- a different, more accurate light. Ob- viously, he can see nothing of this, living across the street as he does, but only a few instances, easily misunderstood by an outsider, and by no means, indicative of the re- lationship that exists between us. This is why the accusations Mr. Lilienstein made which point to- ward hate and maliciousness be- tween our two fraternities were obviously based on distorted in- formation. He has unjustly de- graded the integrity of the two fraternities with respect to them- selves and to each other. We feel that the fraternity sys- tem of living creates an environ- ment of close relationships not only within the individual houses, but among the various members of IFC. Rather than being the self- contained, antagonistic groups pictured by Mr. Lilienstein, we see ourselves as representative of the cooperative nature of the Michi- gan fraternity system. -Irvin Schatz, President, Pi Lambda Phi -Louis Grimaldi, President, Sigma Phi Epsilon I EDUCATION: Rickover Lambasts Progressive Plans Senimore Says . i 0 fl~A ~ I 0 ~ ~w-J II. ; ~3 t 4 ~ ~'~2 ~IIJ I --.-- * p iIbII C [. ~ 'J F.} By RUTHANN RECHT Daily Staff Writer V'ICE-ADMIRAL H y m a n G. Rickover is lambasting pro- gressive education again. He told Congress that America's school system is Russia's greatest secret weapon: "If I were in their place I would spend a great deal of money to keep it going." In another verbal slap at pro- gressivism, Rickover said that American schools keep students in "perpetual adolescence" throughout college. ** * PERHAPS Rickover is right. Many University teachers com- plain that they cannot teach stu- dents even elementary college, subjects, as they must first teach them what the high schools have paigning for more than two years for an overhaul of education in the United States, said the great- est weakness in the school sys- tem today is the lack of uniform nationwide standards governing qualifications of teachers and teaching programs. He has also thoughtfully pro- vided a solution to this problem, urging that Congress provide a helping hand by "working for uniform education standards." Another solution to the prob- lems of progressive education has been put into practice in a few areas. It involves a stricter appli- cation of the practice of failing students who have not passed the required work for the term. This would apply to elementary as well as high schools.