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FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1969

NIGHT EDITOR: STEVE NISSEN

The LSA faculty meeting:
A first step

THE RESULTS of yesterday's special
literary college faculty meeting were
hopeful but leave much to be desired.
The overwhelming vote in favor of
open meetings and many of the com-
ments on language and distribution re-
quirements indicate a great willingness
on the part of many segments of the fac-
ulty to seriously consider the issues which
students have raised.
The faculty voted to open all future
faculty meetings with minor restrictions
oi seating and speaking. The right to go
into executive session was reserved, but
all - final votes must be taken in open
session.
It is a fair motion.
Visitors are limited to certain areas in
order to facilitate vote tabulation. But
since the Senate Assembly applies the
same rule to faculty visitors, the LSA
faculty cannot be faulted for doing the
same.
EVEN THE DENIAL of speaking privi-
leges to visitors is not intolerable,
especially since this ban has already
been modified in practice. A request that
students be asked to speak on the issues
before yesterday's meeting led Dean Wil-
11am Hays to take an action which can
only be a precedent for improved stu-
dent-faculty communication.
When the suggestion was ruled out of
order, Hays employed his privilege as
dean then to ask a student to speak.
Widespread use of this privilege in the
future would do much to encourage, an
active dialogue.
There is the possibility that the power
of going into executive sessions may be
abused on issues which are the legitimate
concern of students. The unamended.
motion originally limited executive ses-
sions to matters of a confidential nature.
But the change cannot be condemned
until it is actually misused in practice.
Editorial Staff
MARK LEVIN, Editor
STEPHEN WILDSTROM URBAN LEHNER
Managing Editor Editorial Director
DAVID KNOKE, Executive Editor
WALLACE IMMEN ...............News Editor
CAROLYN MIEOEL ...... Associate Managing Editor
DANIEL ORRENT............... Feature Editor
PAT O'DONOHUE ............. News Editor
WALIER SHAPIRO ... Associate Editorial Director
HOWARD KOHN .. .. Associate Editorial Director
NEAL BRUSS ................Magazine Edito,
ALISON SYMROSK. Associate Magazine Editor
AVIVA KEMPNER....... ......Personnel Director

THE MOST IMPORTANT feature of
yesterday's discussion of language and
distribution requirements was the fac-
ulty's clear willingness to consider the
whole question of the purpose of under-
graduate education at the University.
While this may not lead to immediate
action, this willingness to re-evaluate
fundamental educational concepts is en-
couraging.
However, this willingness to reconsider
the assumptions underlying distribution
requirements should not be used to ob-
scure the immediate problem of the lan-
guage requirement.4
It is appropriate that the faculty would
want to consider the issue in depth. But
the language requirement is particularly
disfunctional to undergraduate education.
It is only a measure of how little the fac-
ulty knows of its students that they do
not realize the overwhelming burden the
requirement has imposed.
THE CURRICULUM committee current-
ly is preparing its report on the
requirement. The conclusion of the com-
mittee is self-evident. The importance of
learning a language cannot be denied.
But the educational and administrative
problems are presently too much for the
college to handle. The college just doesn't
have the financial resources to procure
the necessary staff and classroom space
to teach language to over 1,000 new stu-
dents who every year take elementary
courses to meet the requirement.
There is simply no question in students'
minds that the language requirement
ought to be abolished. The faculty has the
opportunity to do this Monday without
suspending the rules.
While the professors' concern with edu-
cational objectives is commendable, the
faculty seems to have ignored the deeper
issues students have recently raised.
The inequities of the language and dis-
tribution requirements and the faculty's
apparent unawareness of this condition,
are a manifestation of structural faculty
isolation from the student body. The so-
lution lies at least partly in giving stu-
dents an equal share in the operation of
the college.
STUDENTS ARE challenging the fac-
ulty's right and ability to determine
curriculum when they act in such com-
plete isolation from the student body.
The faculty should be aware that stu-
dents have fresh and vital perspectives to
offer on the issues before the college, and
that incorporation into the decision-mak-
ing process is the, best way to insure
their implementation.
It would not be sufficient to grant stu-
dents an advisory role, one which depends
on the discretion of the faculty. Decision-
making structures which do not include
all concerned parties discriminate against
the parties with no power. Such systems
are invariably slow to respond to the
needs of other groups and insensitive to
new trends.
-MARK LEVIN, j
EditorI
-RON LANDSMAN

By WALTER SHAPIRO
and JIM HECK
"HERE'S ONE card from the
establishment that no stu-
dent will ever burn."
For once the advertisement was
telling the truth. For what was
pictured in last week's Daily was
TWA's 50/50 Club Card, that air-
lines' version of youth half fare
plan.
Few business innovations have
had the impact of the student half
fare plan which was introduced
by American Airlines just three
years ago. Under the American
Airlines approach anyone between
the ages of 12 and 21 could fly
half fare on flights where space
was available.
Suddenly flying became the
cheapest way to travel. Even on
airlines like Delta which instituted
their own-thirds price reserved
seat plan for students, flying sud-
denly became inexpensive enough
for students to take trips, as well;
as saving money on going home
for the holidays.
ADMITTEDLY THE PLAN was
not perfect. The word "bumped"
suddenly began to have harrowing
connotations for both students
and their parents.
Almost everyone between 12 and1
21 had their own particular horror
stories like 14 hours spent in Pitts-
burgh airport waiting for a flight
out. Four o'clock in the morning
flights to Miami developed sudden
popularity around the time of
Easter vacation.
Parents enlivened cocktail par-
ties with their own tales of wait-
ing for eight hours at Metropolitan
tan Airport only to discover that
all planes from Boston were filled
and their daughter was staying
over and coming in on another
flight at seven thirty the following
morning. '
While no student would ever
burn a card which opened so many
travel opportunities to him, the
effect will be the same if a recent
Letters:
To the Editor:
I WOULD LIKE to make a few
disjointed comments which I
hope adequately express my en-
thusiastic and deeply felt support
for the student position as ex-
pressed in recent words and ac-
tion by members of the Radical
Caucus.
The L.S.A. faculty meeting is
not representative of the L.S.A.
faculty. The repute which this as-
semblage has with the faculty is
adequately demonstrated by the
low turnout it receives-often not
enough for the quorum of 100.
Many of us who are not apathetic
have learned that the meeting is
easily controlled by the Dean.
D e c i s i o n s of administrative
bodies of the University that I
have observed are not motivated
by high ideals like concern for
quality education and the ad-
vancement of knowledge, but
rather by smaller, more corporate
concerns. Often they are made in
a degree of secrecy virtually un-
heard of in public bodies and cer-
tainly not consonant with the
often professed ideal of the uni-
versity as a place for free and
open discussion. It therefore
strikes me as odd that President
Fleming should make the following
statement in his Jan. 22 Michigan
Daily article: "In a rational com-
munity one would suppose that an
appropriate debate could be car-
ried on in which the merits of the
issue would be explored."
THE ARTICLE mentioned above
seems to me to be unfair in places.
As an example, consider the fol-
lowing sequence: President Flem-

ing says that The Daily quotes
several members of the Radical
Caucus as saying that the issue
is "the right of students to make
all of their own academic deci-
sions" and goes on to say, "No one
would want to be treated by a
medical doctor who got his degree

recommendation by an examiner the continuation of youth fare.
of the Civil Aeronautics Board is

allowered to stand.
IRONICALLY, the decision was
made in the name of civil rights
-perhaps the cause which in-
spired the most fervent and wide-
spread response among this na-
tion's students-that the examiner
recommended that the half fare
bonanza be discontinued because
such fares are "discriminatory."
While these recommendations
are being reviewed by the CAB as
the result of a particular challenge
from American Airlines, the out-
look is less than favorable.
Somewhat like insurance exam-
iners, CAB examiners rarely do
anything that pleases even a few
of the major airlines. However,
this time 10 of the nation's 24
major airlines have concurred
with the examiner's recommenda-
tion.
Adult paranoia against the re-
puted power of American youth
reached new heights in the deci-
sion by CAB examiner Arthur S.
Present that the adults of America
are being discriminated against by

WHAT PRESENT FORGETS in
his narrow and stilted conception
of "discrimination" is that the
concept is only valid in the con-
text of "opportunity." The key
point of the usually dormant CAB
should be how to best equalize the
opportunity for all people to travel,
not how to make all fares the same
price.
Here the airlines are prime of-
fenders. What with the cost of a
ticket being sufficient to cover in-
flight movies, piping hot meals, as
well as the cost of transportation.
Special reduced ticket prices for
special segments of the population
have long been considered legally
valid and have been encouraged
as a means to increase the op-
portunity to travel.
Family plans, special excursions,
monthly discounts, and charter
flights are not only common in the
airline industry, but in almost all
other forms of transportation as
well.
IN ADDITION to these reduced
fare plans, many cities have re-

duced fares specially for the elder-
ly on their public transit systems.
Such differentiated fares for the
elderly are designed to make it
easier for the retired to travel. In
today's business world a large pro-
portion of the working population
are forced to retire by age 65.
From then on they are generally
forced to live on their savings or
investments and Social Security or
similar retirement plans.
The goal of such reduced fares
for the aged is to equalize their
oportunities to take advantage of
the service.
Of course, the ideal situation for
transportation systems such as
airlines would be a sophisticated
ability-to-pay system. For simple
reasons of practically this, is not
at all feasible. But this should not
invalidate cruder attempts to
equalize the ability to travel
through differentiated air fares.
PRESENT BASES his decision,
to recommend the abolition of
youth fares on the basis that
youth "have the same character-
istics" as other airline passengers.
If such an assessment were true
his decision might be defensible.
However, in light of the facts it
is almost comic.
For instance, a large proportion
of those flying under youth fare
discounts are college students.
Many of these students are self-
supporting and it has been es-
timated that the average income
for this group is about one half of
the national poverty level.
While the act of attending col-
lege is voluntary, it is encouraged
by the government and universally
considered essential to the nation-
al welfare. Yet for many students
travel over large distances is an
integral part of obtaining a quali-,
ty education.
If the CAB were really interested
in, airline discrimination, a more
fruitful place of investigation
would be the difference between
the accommodations in the air-

ports available to the general pub-
lic and those available to the
"professional traveller" in the spe-
cial airport lounges that the air-
lines provide for this special breed-
of traveler.
ADMITTEDLY WHEN Amer-
ican Airlines initiated the half-
fare plan back in 1966 they did
so primarily from the standpoint
of more profitable use of their
facilities. And they certainly have
benefitted from this program.
Youth travel has increased more
than 300 per cent since the fare
was introduced.
Nonetheless, the student fare
did tend to equalize the oppor-
tunity to travel and lessen the
discrimination inherent in a sys-
tem of one standard prize for pub-
lic services.
Careful consideration of the
problem leads to the conclusion
that special fares should be ex-
tended to all segments of the pop-
ulation who need to travel. Rather
than recommending the abolition
of youth half-fare, the CAB should
advocate extending the discount to
25 and 26 year old students.
THIS EXTENSION would not
make the system equitable. But. it
would certainly be a step in that
direction. Abolishing the half fare
can only be regarded as a step
significantly narrowingthe op-
portunity to travel.
It is unlikely that governmental
leaders have completely grasped
the real meaning of discrimina-
tion. The final outcome of the
CAB decision will probably revolve
arounda fightubetween different
segments \of our major airlines,
making the situation even mur-
kier.
But in th final analysis it is
the only valid concept to be con-
sidered here. Upon this realization
it seems almost totally absurd that
the CAB would abolish youth fares
in the name of civil rights.

I

Students must demand reform

by taking only those courses which
interested him. No client would
want a lawyer who picked only
those courses which pleased him."
The first quote seems to be a bad
misrepresentation of the Radical
Caucus position as stated by Bruce
Levine in the January 16 Daily,
He says, "In this fight (to abolish
distribution and language require-
ments in L.S.A.) we aim at. three
targets: first, of course, the abo-
lition of the requirements them-
selves; second, faculty recognition
of student decision-making rights
here . , ." Certainly, students as a
group having decision-making
rights with respect to requirements
is not the same as individual stu-
dents making all of their own
academic decisions. Concerning
the second quote, there are many
comments one could make. Most
are not printable; here's one that
is. Bruce Levine talks about the
"'educational' impossibility of
forcing students to be liberally ed-
ucated." He obviously makes a
distinction between liberally and
professional education, a distinc-
tion which I thought was well rec-
ognized. I wonder what Pres. Flem-
ing meant in saying that the two
kinds of education are not "basic-
ally different."
I BELIEVE arguments against
student action which talk of alien-
ating the faculty are unrealistic.
The present conflict is "a conflict
of perceived interests" as Mr.
Levine says. I also believe, as he
does, "That conflict will be re-
solved in favor of the students on-
ly when students choose to mar-
shall in their interests the kind
of determination with which the
faculties and administrations safe-
guard their privileges. If we wish
any measure of self-determination
at all we will have to assert our
right and our determination to
secure it." Beautiful! But some of
the faculty will be influenced and
inspired by determination for an-
other reason. The faculty, es-

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Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor

pecially but not exclusively the
nontenured faculty, has also suf-
fered from arbitrary, and auto-
cratic decision-making. A success-
ful and well-handled fight by the
studey ts will be especially welcome
and may result in coordinate fac-
ulty action.
i
WE ARE in the midst of critical
times. One would hope that the
University would play a substan-
tial and positive role in the resolu-
tion of problems confronting us.
In its present corrupted state the
University is weak and does not
have the will to do good. A dem-
ocratization led by students and
joined by the faculty could result
in an infusion of moral strength.
It may be possible. For this reason,
and others I strongly support stu-
dent actions to democratize the
University.
--J. D. Halpern
Ass't. Prof. of Mathematics
Jan. 29
Language requirement
To the Editor:'
DURING THE recent LSA mass
meeting, the main thrust of"
statements by students, protest-
ing language and distribution re-
quirements, seemed to aim at the
question of personal motivation
versus coercion. Recurring themes
also included poor teaching meth-
ods and techniques; or, inability
of some to learn languages (we
can learn all about other cultures
in translation); or, sacrifice of
valuable time for study of sub-
jects in which the student is real-
ly interested.
It was my feeling that we never
came to grips with what I now see,
as the real issue in this debate -
is a liberal and/or general educa-
tion, at the undergraduate level,
still considered to be a valid goal
for our society. No student ser-
iously objected to required sub-
jects in medicine, law (this is ap-
parently also true for graduate.
work in the arts and sciences). At
this stage, the student is prepar-
ing for a career and is willing to
be an apprentice and to sit at the
feet of the master.
LIBERAL EDUCATION as a
desirable goal and as a foundation
for career specialization seems to
have been rejected and m a n y
seem to have a strictly utilitarian
motivation for learning. Such a
state of affairs can only spell dis-
aster for this nation, especially at
a time, when humanitas seems so
discouragingly primitive, in com-
parison with a technology so so-
phisticated.
In spite of statements to the
contrary, I think anyone can learn
languages - if these languages
are taught properly and language
departments are obligated so to
teach, if one is going to insist on
the inclusion of language study in
the liberal education curriculum.
Translation is not enough. To di-
gest the thought, the aims, the
cosmology of other speech com-
munities, as verbalized by their

tional process. It is not enough to,
just study about linguistic struc-
ture (not at this level or for a
liberal education). T h e student
must "experience" t h e cultural
content, verbalized by the lan-
guage studied.
If the Apollo 8 astronauts made
us more aware of terrestrial unity,'
we shall never really fully com-
prehend the full implications of
this message, until we learn to
"understand," to "speak," and ev-
en to "think" in some of the many
tongues of this earth.
-Raleigh Morgan, Jr.
Professor of Romance
Linguistics
Jan. 29
Reply to Levine
To the Editor:
IN RESPONSE to the editorial by
Bruce Levine, Jan. 16:
"The educational impossibility
of forcing students to be liber-
ally educated is painfully common
knowledge to most students."
Most students, especially in their
first couple years where the dis-
tribution requirements hit hard-
est, will not voluntarily subscribe
to a program of diverse (liberal)
education on their own initiative.
Let those students who do not
want and do not obtain a "liberal
education" not seek a degree
which would say that they have
such a liberal education.
What "right" does the student
(body) have "to abolish the im-
posed -requirement?" Where
(what) is the source of this right?
Your implementation of your
goals is well designed and expres-
sed.
WHAT ARE THESE "elemen-
tary student rights? Whence are
they "elementary?",
You say the faculty would not
have created "a binding prece-
dent" if the students had been
allowed to stay. What would you
have said at the first succeeding
meeting when the students were
asked to leave?
" . ..to take such power into
student hands, for student power,
not benevolent despotism..."

When in history have students
seized power, even temporarily,
and not abused it?
If you wish to rule, or enroll, in
anarchy (please forgive the sim-
plification) enroll in the Sor-
bonne. The methods you will use
here, applied on a national scale,
would endanger our civilization. I
don't know whether that is good
or bad. But I fear the destruction
of the revolutionary movement of
which you are a part rather than
the profitable assimilation of its
personnel and aims if you per-
sist in these techniques.
-Clifford Jack Prentice, Jr.
Jan. 29
Dionysus
To the Editor:
YOUR REPORTERS Marcia Ab-
ramson and Jim Heck missed
something of Monday night'd ses-
sion with the Performance Group.
In pulling at each other's clothes
the group didn't "tease the au-
dience" as was reported; that
would have been dishonest and
degrading to themselves and us.
The group was brilliantly teasing,
taunting, mocking and ridiculing
one of our silliest= laws and the,
mentalitybehind it..
-David P. Smith
Jan. 28
y l,
'Fiddler'
To the Editor:
IT IS UNFORTUNATE that the
actors in "Fiddler on the Roof"
were fully clothed. Had they ap-
peared naked, you might have
come out with an extra issue, and
surely would have appreciated the
excellent performance they .gave.
-Marc Sussman, '72
Jan. 28
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letters are subject to editing;
those over 300 words will gen-
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New perspectives on racism

By MARY RADTKE
Highly militant demonstrations
by black students throughout t h e
nation have provoked a generally
hasty attempt to appease demands
for black curricular courses.
Such nascent and sometimes ill-
planned studies as "Negro History,",
Ghetto Sociology," and "Black Lit-
erature" have been the response to
cries racism has prejudiced the
educational system.
Often these "solutions" fail to
recognize that black studies such
as these provide no insight into the
causes of the recent racial tensions
---white racism.
At the University such a focus has
been sought, and the newly organi-
zed Group Independent Study on

more than just problems between
whites and blacks. It involves a
whole set of attitudes toward human
relationships."
The concept of slavery, too, Ais
broadened to include the whole
range of dominance-dependency re-
lationship including the authoritar-
ian relationships in general, such
as husband to wife, or men students
to women, etc.
Such discussions as the "Woman's
Liberation Movement" are occassion-
ally featured. Discussions of t h i s
nature challenge the traditional
concepts of superiority and inferior-
ity.
But as well as racial introspection,
the course also examines institu-
tionalized racism.
Taking the concept out of i t s

Meyers adds, "People tend to look
at racism as only the foaming at the
mouth, KKK type which is rela-
tively minor in comparison with the
sort of underlying racism that en-
compasses our institutions."
Field studies have been planned to
provide opportunities for the stu-
dents to actually witness racism at
work within society.
Two people are trying to organize
a group of high school students to
meet and talk about racism, the
draft and other relevant topics. Oth-
ers plan to sit in on selected court
cases to observe how racism oper-
ates in the courts and how race may
involve people in legal trouble. Stu-
dies of the welfare system and the
housing problems have also been
suggested.

Working within such a flexible
framework, students develop a high
sense of personal involvement in the
study of racism. Tova Klein, '71,
helped organize the course because
"a lot of people use the term rac-
ism in a very narrow way and are
hung-up on the issue and need some-
one to talk to."
Betty Jane Andres, '72, feels that
"if you conclude society is racist,
you must also conclude that you, as
a member of society, are a racist.
This issue involves you and your
relationship to the whole society."
Jo Ann Evanoff, '72, hopes that
one discussion will be devoted to
learning how to talk to a racist
about racism. "How do I get my par-
ents to read Sarte's The Jews and
Anti.emitism anr then how can I

PIA 

r O