Foreign Policy Decision INTELLECTUAL STIMULATI - Sixty-Ninth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY 'STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL-OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241 n Opinions Are Free uth WiD Preail" Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. RSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: LANE VANDERSLICE o ff4Broadway Theatres Serve Rich New Fare By RICHARD CONDON \ Daily Staff Writer IT IS NO SECRET that for the past decade or so the number of thoughtful, intellectually inspiring plays produced on Broadway has been rapidly diminishing. True, there have been dramas like "The Death of a Sale'smna," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Streetcar Named Desire," "A Touch of the Poet," and "Shadow of a Gunman," but works of this quality have been few and far between. All too often on Broadway, intellectually void, trite, vulgar, puerile and uninspiring melodramas have gained prominence instead, catering to an audience which is fundamentally opposed to intellectual r ALTER -p l-'ASP(TAL Dorm's 'Confidential Files' Need Close, Hard Look ECENT DISCLOSURE of the Residence Hall's pink slip has caused many students see red. Much of the reaction is deserved; >me .of it isn't. The rational given for the existence of the pink slip" by John Hale, senior resident rector of the men's residence halls seems gical at first examination. Hale calls the ports, a sheet of data on each student, "insti- itional m mory," and says they are essential filling out questionnaires by prospective em- oyers. The "pink slip" helps the student in this spect by enabling the quadrangle directors give what' is usually a most favorable recom- endation. How many of these men did the rector actually know, or how many does he member? Considering the number of men the quadrangles, it does not seem likely that ve years after a man. has graduated the rector would have very much first hand nowledge. He must rely on the "pink slip." TILL THE "pink slip" give him adequate information to make an intelligent sum- .ation? Assuming the report is correctly filled it, yes. But the questions call for more than ie average staffman is able to offer. The staff assistant is asked to comment on tudy habits, motivations and attitude, and nancial and family problems." The first he n answer through observation, the third only the student has discussed the problem with ie staff man, the second question is' usually far beyond the staffman's ability to answer. Very few staff assistants qualify as motivational psychologists. This is not the staffman's fault. but rather the fault of a question he should not be asked to answer.. Another sore spot is the inquiry into personal neatness and the neatness of the student's room. Few students on this campus are so slovenly that they do not present a respectable appearance. But most students feel that their appearance is no one's business but their own. In addition to this, what a student may choose to wear while attending school, and what he may wear five years later does not necessarily have much connection. In all fairness it must be said the information on the pink slip is handled as objectively as possible by the quadrangle directors, and that some of the information is necessary in room- mate selection, considering applications for loans, and considering a student's application to reenter the quadrangles. BUT . . . MUCH OF IT is unnecessary, some of it, as in the case of neatness, is ridiculous, and in the case of student motivation, the ques- tions are unfair. This plus the fact that a staffman's bias almost invariably enters his report calls for a careful reevaluation of the "pink slip."The re- ports take up much of the staffmen's time with questions they are uncualified to answer, or for which there is no need. -THOMAS KABAKER ;;: .. CAPITAL COMMENTARY 'With Plodding Courage'