Wednesday, April 16, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Pnri Ce-~
Wednesday, April 16, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
rag e
m
The Campus in turmoil: Review of rhetoric
I 1
By HOWARD KOHN
If Mike Wallace, Harry Rea-
soner and Eric Sevareid were on'
campus as students, President
Robben Fleming's dilemmas
would be solved.
The CBS' news triumverate
turned Sunday dinner cook last
night and served up the student
protester glazed over with media
images and sprinkled lightly
with addled adolescence. P r o-
duced by Burton Benjamin "to
shed light rather than heat,"
the TV magazine special w a s
simply a lesson in static com-
munication.
Mike Wallace moderated the
student half-hour: "What can.
we expect from you?" he asked.
To answer him were four of
the most stereotyped students
CBS could apparently find in
Chicago: (1) Bob Ross, the aca-
demic radical, organizer of; a
Radical Sociology Union at the
University of Chicago; (2)
Gloria Ferris, the token unlib-
erated woman, a graduate stu-
dent in humanities at the U of
Chicago; (3) Denny Boggs, the
articulate conservative, former
president of the Young Repub-
licans at the U of Chicago; and'
(4) Jim Turner, the black spirit-
man, a goatteed representative
from Northwestern University.
Conversation between the mod-
erator and his four subjects was
an exercise in rhetoric, unsatis-
fying for the lecture-hardened
student, unintelligible to the as-
sembly line engineer and gen-
erally unexciting.
Turner hit hardest at the is-
sues, expunging the universi-
ties for "gobbling up land in the
cities where black people live"
and exposing their double stan-
dards in "saying they don't
want violence on campus when
the campus is a breeding ground
for violence with ROTC and the
Institute for Defense Analysis."
Ross, consistently remote and
ideological, saw clearly enough
to ask "How are we going to get
.air that is breathable and water
that is drinkable - write to US
Steel? Or how are we going to
end poverty - by p r e s s clip-
pings?"
"How are we?," Wallace count-
ered.
Ross began mumbling some-
thing about organizing politi-
cal campaigns or picketing or
circulating petitions or using
pressure tactics. In the back-
ground Boggs of the YR, who
earlier allowed that he was
against Social Security but
didn't go around blowing up
Social Security offices, piped up
"That's been done before' and
you know where that leads . .."
"Why, you're such a fantas-
tic distorter, it's laughable,"
Ross smiled back.
"Did you know that Hitler
learned everything he did from
America - . . from the way
America treats its black peo-
ple?" interjected Turner, who
had gotten a little carried away.
"Let me ask you this, Bob,"
shrilled Gloria, who had been
successfully ignored up until
then. "Yes, let Gloria talk. She
hasn't had a chance to say any-
thing," observed Wallace.
And Gloria proceeded to talk
and continued to say nothing.
Then it was Harry Reasoner's
turn with the university presi-
dents, whom CBS had secluded
in another roundtabled confer-
ence room to avoid any direct
confrontation and possible dia-
logue.
In order of appearance were
Morris Abram, a former govern-
ment bureaucrat now president
of Brandeis; S. I. Hayakawa, a
former semanticist now presi-
dent of San Francisco State;
and Robben Fleming, a former
labor mediator now president of
the University.
In a rather amazing sequence
of answers all three adminis-
trators agreed wholeheartedly
with each other. Hayakawa:
"White radicals just want to
destroy this culture. But I take
blacks seriously because they
have a reason for redress."
Fleming: "Whites try to capi-
talize on black demonstrations.
But they haven't been success-
ful because the blacks run their
own show." Abram: "Blacks de-
serve special attention because
of special needs."
Reasoner didn't bother to ask
each man exactly what he had
done to meet those needs.
In unrehearsed unison the
three ran down a list of com-
mon pleas: Universities don't
need reform as much as the
society outside, universities are
picked on because they are the
most vulnerable to internal and
external pressure, universities
have no alternative but to meet
with force, student militancy is
polarizing the general public
against universities, etc.
Hayakawa showed some of
his patented aggressiveness by
placing part of the blame for
"campus turmoil" on professors.
"Hell hath no fury like an in-
tellectual scorned," he recited.
"Faculty members, especially in
the humanities, feel that they're
smarter than the average busi-
nessman and are incensed that'
the wrong kind of mentality is
running this society."
/
"But what happened to the
kids?" Reasoner wanted to
know. "Is it something in the
air from nuclear testing?"
"Most students come from af-
fluent families and they have
feelings of guilt when they see
examples of poverty. And there
is no good reason why there
should be poverty with all of our
affluence," said Fleming.
"In fact if we ever lose sight
of the fact that our young peo-
ple are basically right, then we'll
have lost .
"But they're wrong about a
lot of things," interrupted
Abram, who had been looking
anxiously at Fleming
"Oh, yes, certainly," Fleming
hurried to agree. "I didn't mean
to ,,."
"Listen, I'll give you an ex-
ample of their backwards think-
ing-logic, I guess they call
it..." .
And so it went, every man to
his own myth. And Eric Sevareid
also-to the city of weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
"In no other country is it a
social sin to be old," piqued
Sevareid, although seemingly
oblivious to the fact his gen-
eration lets our grandparents
subsist on less than $5,000 per
year.
"If the young do start a re-
volution, it will. be only sym-
bolistic," he added. "But the
repression that will move to
stop it will be realistic."
Eric Sevareid, in his wisdom,
had said it for us all. And CBS
news had reached a journalistic
low in the abyss of media in-
sensitivity.
FPA differs
with Phi'Ep
over women
(Continued from Page 1)
ed with the fellows in the fra-
ternity system, and for the frater-
nity members to decide whom they
want to be a part of their house,
and since the girls do not have a
role in deciding who will be ad-
mitted, then the role they play
should be limited.
But Natale went on to say that
"since the girls are a vital part of
the system at Phi Epsilon Phi,"
the recommendation sought only
to limit their role and not com-
pletely ban it.
Natale said that he felt that the
presidents were also concerned
that the purpose of the fraternity
system would be destroyed and
that each house would be vying
with one another to see who could
get the prettiest girls, "which
would set up a false front of
what the fraternity system is all
about." Natale also pointed out
that there is a ruling against the
usage of girls in rush according
to IFC bylaws.
You keep flunking
your best subject
6ect
Think it_ overover cofre.$
Thelhink Drink.'
Foryouwo"nThink Drink M ug. tend 75C and yourname and address to:
Think Drink Mug, Dept. N, P.O. Box 559, New York, N. Y: 10046. The international Coffee Orgae.a,z#.
CORE AND MORE:
RC structure gives students
personal, institutional power
Soc faculty,
students
(Continued from Page 1)
tial College. Unlike the rest of
the literary college, RC is well-
adjusted to student power, with
students deeply imbedded in the
decision-making structure. Ten-
ure is not at stake in RC, but cur-
riculum is, and RC students have
as much power on the institutional
level as they do on the personal
level.
A recent controversy over the
core courses was allayed by the in-
stitutional workings of student
power in the college.
The RC Representative Assem-
bly, which has eight students, two
resident fellows and eight facul-
ty members, in the past semester,
has decided to:
- extend the time a student has
for satisfying RC's rigorous lang-
uage requirement from two years
to four;
- establish a student-run
course as an alternative to "Logic"
or another required course for a
limited number of students;
-oremove, the obligation of
sophomores to complete a set of
comprehensive exams on t h e i r
.,first two years of study.
Reform in massive educational
institutions must usually be forc-
ed by the now classic techniques
of confrontation. But the aca-
demic generation gap in RC is
bridged by the common loyalty of
faculty, students and administra-
tors on which none of them pre-
tends to lay an exclusive claim.
The coming year will show whe-
ther, or not the= source of that
loyalty can be legitimately iden-
tified as the "core" or, instead, as
the' more subtle concept of a; col-
lective ways of learning and
teaching.
Next year, RC's first junior class
will leave East Quad, which har-
bors all underclassmen. Almost all
will have completed "core" r e -
quirements and only 45 per cent
will be pursuing RC concentra-
tions. Even these concentrations
will involve taikng a majority of
courses in the literary college.
The concentrations are none-
theless very much designed with
the RC student, and his distinctive
features, in mind. RC is develop-
ing new interdisciplinary concen-
tration programs in urban stud-
ies, the history of ideas, polyling-
ual comparative literature and the
drama.
Innovative concentrations are in
the near future for many RC stu-
:ents, and this should form one
of the ties holding them to the
college.
Another project designed to ar-
rest the RC's decline to a two-
year junior college is the $3 nil-
lion remodeling of East Quad in-
tended to improve the massive
pre-war dormitory's merits as a
community center by the addition
of a library, lecture hall and cof-
fee shop.
Another step taken to assure
the continued participation of
upperclassmen in the college is the
recent selection of five students
to serve as resident fellows in their
junior year.
It is characteristic of the RC
that the success of a residential
experiment has been left, not to
a residency requirement, but to
the resources .of its students.
Tomorrow: The Faculty Hang-up
meet today.
Sociology students and faculty
will meet today at 4 p.m. to discuss
problems which have arisen be-
tween students and faculty within
the department.
The meeting, which will be in
the sociology graduate lounge, was
called by the Sociology Student
Union.
The students sent the faculty a
letter inviting them to the meet-,
ing to try to relieve some of the
hostility resulting from students'
attendance at a departmental fac-
ulty meeting two weeks ago, ex-
plained Robert Grobe, '70.
At that time the faculty ad-
journed the meeting because stu-
dents were in attendance. All fac-
ulty meetings in the department
are closed sessions. The sociology
union has demanded all faculty
meetings to be open to students.
Students want to discuss the
questions of a student yoice in
tenure decisions, opening faculty
meetings, undergraduate curricu-
lum reform and releasing student
evaluations of department faculty
members to students.
N.
F I
CAr f
:
. _
: .
,
<
._ r
;' 4
_ a:Y:
}i
f
i: i':
r'. .' C" l . qp^""v.;"" 1a: "dr~x 1 i-r}". . ...y ";r r~ A;t.~i.1{;; y
:ti{4r1 r .{L. . . . . . . .." :1vf; ;r ri'""; 111r':J1 .Y .N ~
"ti~t :'vi1 '.k '..3*r" .v."4 .*. .'.V" .V ". ... ?:. . .1.1 . .Si~".S.. 1. :'"~i3P
Andy Warhol
won't be eligible to enter the
FALL CREATIVE ARTS
STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL
I
t*
LATE FOR DATES?,
DON'T MISS THIS ONE
June 1 is the last day for submitting applications to the
Bachelor of Business Administration Program. Students plan-
ing to seek admission for the fall term should submit appli-
cation and required credentials immediately to assure time
for consideration.
Maybe your film will have a chance-Plan
now to enter-Cash awards
Information at UAC offices
2nd floor Union, 3rd floor League
.
E
t
t
I
'4;
U
Here-without
the hysteria-
is Red China's
case against
the West
In spite of all her clumsy propaganda,
Communist China does have a case
worth hearing. Our tradition of fair de-
bate, our sanity, and perhaps our ulti-
mate survival require that we hear it.
C. R. Hensman-a non-Communist Asian,
formerly a BBC producer-has done a
vital service for the West by presenting
this case in calm, civil language. Drawing
upon documentary material not readily
available in the U.S., he sheds revealing
light on China's mind, her motives, and
her real intentions toward her Asian
neighbors and toward the West.
-- --
" ; _,
,
'*
3 ''?; .
.
,, ', .
t' '
,'
; '
r
3
s !
Y4
r '4
^'t
} ...
'
.,,,
t"
}
,
'S
.
S
f
'
1
' .
;
Al
Two reasons for joining Du Pont, and three for quitting.
Du Pont offers open-end opportunity. You don't
go into a training program. You go to work-in a
series of growth jobs that broaden your base for
professional progress and help you find the specific field
you want to grow in. We call it "planned mobility."
Du Pont works at the outer limits. Sure, every-
body claims they do the far-out research. But
Du Pont is a world leader in research with the
money and the engineering capability to translate ideas
Ii
They go to universities, to teach-recognized
authorities in their profession.
They go into space, or other government projects.
J~3 And they go to our competitors, who are smart
enough to know where to look for the top men.
We don't like to lose men, and we don't lose many. But
when you hire the best, then help them to get better,
vnt rar~ .en --4+-1- -U -4*-
al
L.91.11u1umr
Jill
I