Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVERSITY OF MrICAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS ..- - - ere Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARORMICH. Truth Will Preva 4. A NEws PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily e press the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. Y, MAY 5, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: WALTER SHAPIRO U' Negro Employment: Substantial Commitment Needed 'HE UNIVERSITY Regents at their April meeting did take action regarding the 'oblem of Negro employment in non-! ademic positions within the Univer- ty. How effective such action will ever ove to be is another question. After hearing a report prepared by the fice of Financial Statistics citing a crease in the percentage of Negroes em-' oyed by the University since 1962, the egents appropriated a scant $35,000 to nploy a three member staff to intensify cruitment efforts. One member of the aff would be assigned to seek out quali- ed individuals outside of the-University, pile the other would be in charge of aining programs aimed at current em- oyes. The third staff member would pro- de secretarial assistance. The Defense Department report criti- zing University employment practices, sued last March, seems to have forced e University administration to give the pearance that they are making a sin- re effort to alleviate an unfortunate ,uation. 'HERE ARE, HOWEVER, certain intrin- sic deficiencies in the Ann Arbor com- iity which will probably prevent the. cress of any such recruitment effort, en if it were adequately financed and operly staffed. Without a sufficient public transpor- tion system the large majority of ashtenaw County Negroes, who live in rthern sections of Ann Arbor, Ann Ar- r Township, Superior Township and )silanti, have no means of transporta- tion to and from work at the University. And even if they wish to move into the city of Ann Arbor in order to secure em- ployment with the University, there is no adequate housing available for them and their families. At present there are 75 emergency cases of families waiting for places to live in Ann Arbor. The one public hous- ing project is not as yet even under con- struction. When completed it will only begin to meet the present need. The University by not providing stu- dent apartment housing has caused the severe housing shortage in the rest of the city. Low-income dwelling currently occupied by students would more than fill the need for low-income housing. THUS, UNLESS the University can per- suade the city to provide public trans- portation, which would require some sort of subsidy; or is willing to shoulder the responsibility for student housing, Ne- groes, in the proportions expected by the Defense Department and other federal agencies, will never be employed by the University. There is little doubt that the University has the ability to take these necessary actions. The University's new program may be, partially successful in training Negroes presently working within the University setup for jobs of greater authority. But, the recruitment of a large number of Ne- gro employes can come to fruition with- out a'substantial commitment to either housing or public transportation. -MARK LEVIN "Lynda Bird, would you be interested in writing a boob, about your life with President Johnson ?" Letters. to the Editor South Vietnami Need s Land Reform Pose Vital Questions . Communications This is the last part of an address given on December 15, 1966, by Nicholas Johnson, a Commissioner of the Federal Communica- tions Commission. Mr. Johnson poses the questions we must answer effectively.if we are to meet the challenge in communications, Public accountability, of some kind, is obviously necessary for meaningful consideration of the various problems I have sketched. Here are some examples of additional data which might be useful. Congressional investigations ,have given us much information on eavesdropping technology, but perhaps we should institutionalize the process, so that the public can continually be made aware of the cur- rent threats to its privacy. Public disclosure of cost analysis of new telephonic technology also might, be useful. That way consideration could be given to what the public pays for having new equipment-and what it pays in doing without. Programming of popular music and the television fare of three networks could be provided at much lower cost. How much "local programming" is being provided. ir. fact, by our 7,000-station broad- casting industry? Or take comparative broadcast license allocation hearings. They cost the public, and the industry, millions of dollars annually. For what? Is there evidence the public receives better pro- gramming from the performance of the winner (as distinguished from his promises) than from a licensee who purchases a station and avoids the expense of hearings? BROADCASTING standardsrand information are especially im- portant, because regulation of program content encounters undefined statutory and constitutional limitations on "censorship." But such limitations cannot totally frustrate the public's search for standards and the desire for information, for the programming product obviously lies at the heart of broadcasting's public accountability. Measuring pro- gramming performance has troubled the FCC for, decades, with the result that, to my knowledge, not a single station's license has been revoked or failed of renewal for programming reasons alone during' the past 30 years. Surely all would agree that audience and critic response. properly measured, are relevant to program evaluation. Central to meaningful analysis of media is accessibility of its product: newspapers, magazines, radio and television tapes or films. The news coverage of two news- papers easily can be compared in hundreds of newspaper libraries. To compare the news coverage of tw networks is extraordinarily dif- ficult and expensive; it is often literally impossible. Television's cover- age of the Army-McCarthy hearings came within a hairsbreath of being forever lost. The president of a major national television network recently told me he was unable to find President Kennedy's inaugural address in the network's library. There are many reasons for establish- ing national libraries of broadcasting's creative product, but compara- tive evaluation is obviously one WHAT else should the public know? What of stories that were not covered in news or documentaries. or were covered and killed? How about changes in entertainment programming-or even news-brought about by advertisers. or through other economic forces? Should the public know the ownership of broadcast properties, including the full range of media and other interests of the conglomerate corporate owners? Would more financial information be useful regarding in- dividual shows' cost and profits? Of course. to be of use such program- ming material and financial information would have to be analyzed and reported by some competent group.. Perhaps a privately funded. independent group-suggested occasionally over the years by broad- casting leaders, legislators and academicians-would be preferable to the FCC. Would more comment from the public be useful? All agree the ratings systems could be improved Would it be desirable,- as the British do. to poll more viewers more often. and measure the intensity of their involvement and response, as well as whether the television set is on? How do we measure how they might have responded to what has not been offered? The "letters to the editor" column offers meaningful appraisal of many of America's print media. How about broadcasting? Should efforts be made to obtain more public participation in the FCC's exam- ination every three years of a station's service to its local community? Should radio's "open mike" programs be used to this end. and pos- sibly be extended to television, te allow public comment on the per- forinance of the very station receiving FCC evaluation? CRISES BRING public awareness, and therein lies my hope for 1967. It will be a year in which America wil be forced to focus as never before on one of mankind's most fundamental needs: an understanding 4 'A Gift of Values' A proposal for land reform in the new constitution for Vietnam was defeated by a 30 to 1 ratio. Also Premier Ky has announced that the 50 per cent of the farm population living in the Viet Cong area will not be allowed to vote in the coming election. Of course, the new government will tax them and the landlords will re- turn to collect 10 years of back rents, as soon as our armed forces have bombed and burned them into compliance. It is becoming obvious that the Ky regime of landlords is un- willing to reform itself and offer a healthyalternative to Commu- nism. This is the real problem and always has been. I have lived in Southeast Asia intermittently forthepasts30 years and have seen the real problem at first hand. It is an outworn system of feudalism. Hereditary landlords live off the backs of the tenant farmers who work- from dawn to dusk to get their meager share of subsistence crops. If it is not enough, they bor- row rice from the landlords, at 12 per cent and more annually. I have seen families still paying back for the rice their grandfathers ate. Landlord profit is 35 per cent or higher. THIS SYSTEM is the root prob- lem. We have lost 10,000 Ameri- cans already without coming to grips with it. No solution is in- tended by the new Saigon regime. Ironically. the U.S. knows how to solve this problem. Magnifi- cent economic results have taken place in Japan and Taiwan, where we offered help to both countries. We were a full partner in the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruc- tion (JCRR) in Taiwan, which has revolutionized both land owner- ship and also industry and export trade. The plan, now completed, took 10 years, U.S. economic aid is no longer needed and has stopped. Landlords were given government bonds at five per cent for the value of their land, while tenants bought the land they tilled in 10 annual installments. I was there in January, 1965. when farmers got full title to their land. Actual- ly, farmers now have a better standard of living than city dwel- lers. The Saigon system is just the opposite. The Ky landlord regime. assumes that we will continue to dance to its tune because of our obsessional fear of Communism. IT IS ASSUMED that we are eager to exhaust ourselves, even kill ourselves, to perpetuate a sys- tem which feeds on the labor of others, uses its wealth for osten- tatious splendor and exports the surplus cash Ito Swiss banks, where it lies ready if the landlords have to evacuate. Japan and Taiwan are now on the way to modernized economic systems by their own efforts. Cap- ital is generated and reinvested in their own countries; products are exported, but not capital. Vietnam's best defense against Communism is a growing, mod- ernized economy built on land and social reform, with full fran- chise for all those who are gov-. erned. Let us talk to Premied KY again and escalate our social and moral condition to: "Reform or fight your own civil war." If a firm American stand on social reform were laid down it might give hope to the Viet Cong and even North Vietnam. As long as we spinelessly comply with Pre- mier Ky, we offer no negotiable hope except to the landlords, mon- ey lenders and rice brokers. -Irene Murphy Regent-Emeritus ' PEAKING AT commencement ceremon- ies in Ann Arbor last Saturday, India's ce-President Zakir Husain offered his :lience, especially the new graduates, reral challenges -on how to give civill- Ion "a worthy gift of values." His ideas the role of the individual in the na- n-state strikes a responsive chord, in ht of the events of the last several nths. With increasing public dissent er a host of foreign policy and domestic ues, the citizen's obligation to his coun- has sometimes been placed at odds, h - his duty to follow his own con- ence. -usain claims that to prevent the na- n-state from committing political ex- ses and injustices, the citizen with a sitive and dauntless conscience can fy the state in the interest of the te and assert the primacy of the mor- values." Such is the basis of the argu- nts advanced by the critics of the war Vietnam. They feel Arnerica has trans- ssed the moral bounds and imposed force upon the Vietnamese people. n the context of discussing the rela- nship between American and India, sain ,brings up another important point oreign aid. He feels that disagree- nt can arise solely because of differ- :es between political and economic sys- tems, and urges that nations "raise the discussions much amove the formal lev- el." True understanding is found, he feels, not by attaining an "equally high stand- ard of living but an equally high standard of truthfulness to ourselves, of tolerance of ways of life different from our own and the effortless sense of equality of men and women." To carry his message one step further, it can also apply to the United States and its civil rights problem. Economic equality alone will not solve the Negro's plight but also a sincere respect for him as a human being. THE LIST of applicable examples could go on forever. More important than their universal appeal is the need for them to be practiced right now in all as- pects of a nation's life. If not, states de- velop into machines which creates seri- ous 'difficulties in the way of the human conscience asserting itself. This forced ordering of values with little moral basis is what Husain fears and what every in- dividual should work against. But it re- quires constant application of the "wor- thy gift" of ideas which Husain gave to the graduates and wants for all mankind who are "members of one another." -AVIVA KEMPNER .TRAN VAN DINH: Saigon: Students' vs. Military Altering Engi Image AST SEMESTER, there was a big fracas over the issue of the so-called "engi- er's image." A lot of name-calling be- een insulted engineering students and f-righteous humanists took place, but e debate was never resolved. 3ut now, the College of Engineering, frequently under fire for requiring a rhly-specialized and, narrow, technical ogram, has sought to narrow the gap in understanding between the "two cul- tures." The acceptance of curricula revi- sion by the engineering faculty indicates recognition of the need to liberalize the school's program and provide more aca- demic stimulation for students, Approved changes will put more em- phasis on the humanities and social sci- ences by requiring an absolute minimum of 24 hours, including a freshman Great Books sequence and classes in advanced English and English literature. IN A COMMENDABLE concomitant move, the college plans to permit an engineering student to graduate in eight terms instead of nine or ten by increas- ing the efficacy of classroom time and by cutting down on overlap. The faculty has approved a revision and moderniza- tion of sequences in physics and mathe- matics, as well as in the engineering school courses. Even freshman entrance requirements will be raised to include an extra unit of English and a recommended Unlike most of their colleagues in the U.S., the students in Viet- nam have been always in the front lines of political battles. This is in line with, the Viet-, namese tradition of the scholar's responsibility to his society. Pre- mier Pham Van Dong, General Vo Nguyen Giap of North Vietnam started their political career at a very young age in high school continued through French pris- ons, the jungles into the govern- ment in Hanoi. In South Vietnam, during the last years of President Ngo Dinh Diem's regime, during consecutive military administrations and es- pecially now under General Nguy- en Cao Ky's, the students have been subjected to prison, repres- sions and liquidations. But being Vietnamese and being students, they refuse to bow under intimi- dation and terror. On February 20 this year, 70 student leaders and professors of all universities of South Vietnam sent an open let- ter to U.S. students. , THE LETTER, reproduced below somehow escaped the attention of the mass media in the U.S.: Dear Fellow Students. We are students and profes- sors from all the universities of South Vietnam (Saigon, Hue, Dalat, Can Tho and Van Hanh) who write to thank you for your action in trying to stop this terrible war in our country. We cannot act officially as you did, because the universities here are not permitted by the gov- ernment to express themselves freely. We have made petitions' and appeals, but we cannot let our names be made public, be- cause we would be arrested and imprisoned. This is the kind of society we live in here today. the war to end, but they are losing hope. They are not Com- munists, but if the war does not soon end, they will join the National Liberation Front be- cause they see no other way out. 3. Americans should not, be- lieve that they are protecting the South Vietnamese against Communism. Most of us believe that the United States only wants to control our country in order to prepare for war with China. 4. The present government of South Vietnam is not our gov- ernment and is not representing our people. It was imposed on up by the U.S. and is controlled by military men who fought for the French against the Vietna- mese before 1954. If we could vote freely, that government would not last one day. We want a government of our own, not controlled by either side, so that we may be able to settle the problems of Vietnam by our- selves on the basis of national brotherhood: to negotiate peace with the National Liberation Front and North Vietnam, and negotiate for the withdrawal of American troops with the Unit- ed States. 5. Do not believe that the danger of a Communist takeover justifies continuation of the war. We believe we are strong enough to form an independent govern- ment.. The decision however should be ours, not yours, when it is our lives and country that are being destroyed. 6. We endorse the proposals outlined in the book written by our friend Thich Nhat Hanh, "Vietnam-Lotus in a Sea of Fire," and ask your help in realizing them. appeared in South Vietnam at the beginning of this year. It became an overnight bestseller. Although suppressed by the Saigon military junta, the book is now in its fifth printing and its -70,000th copy - an unprecedented record in the history of publishing in Vietnam. The author Thich Nhat 'Hanh is a Buddhist monk, a scholar and poet who lectured in 1962-1963 at Columbia University. Last sum- mer, he made a lecture tour in the V.S. and Europe. Because bf his criticism of the Saigon mili- tary junta, he is now prevented from going back to Vietnam to his post as director of the School for Social Services, of the Van Hanh University. The school which was founded in early 1964, prepares young Viet- namese of Buddhist and other faiths to serve as volunteers in. the villages. It functions on a budget of less than 5000 U.S. dol- lars a month (and consists of 400 students, half of whom would always work in the villages). One- fifth of the budget comes from the Buddhist church, the rest from individual contributions. Not only does the school lack support from Saigon government, it has been subjected to all kinds of restric- tions and attacks. Last year, in May during the campaign of suppression of the Buddhists conducted by General Ky, hand grenades were thrown into the school. Most recently on April 24, in the evening, 11 hand grenades were tossed into the school girl dormitories: one girl student and one woman teacher were killed, while 10 students were seriously wounded. THE PRESS in the U.S. did not mention the incident. Buddhist of what our communications systems can do for us--and to us. Our communications challenges surely pose need both for analyses of complex modern problems and for sweeping new strategies. In chal- lenging the accepted wisdom we must sometimes ask hard, embarrassing questions. What are the economic and institutional rigidities impeding the development of communications systems that might serve man with greater eoconomy and satisfaction? How much better to ask such ques- tions now than to reflect back in later years upon an America that might have been. Sticky Si'tuati'on * p e Daily is a member of the Associated Press and giate Press Service .mm'~r subscription rate: $2.00 per, term by car- ($2.50 by mail) $4.00 for entire summer ($4.50 nail). ily except Monday during regular academic school ily exceptnSunday and Monday during regular mer session. Asfaras I know, the President has never: publicly acknowledged an understanding of the extreme- ly complex and delicate position the North Vietnamese are in with regard to negotiations. The North Vietnamese war ef- fort is, very dependent onsthe flow of military and consumer goods from Red China. It is doubt- ful that Ho Chi Minh could long continue his current role in this civil war if he alienated the Red Chinese and supplies were cut off. Ho is forced, therefore, to respect to some degree the wishes of the Chinese. The Chinese have made it quite clear that they would like to see the war last indefinitely and are delighted over the possibility of the United States committing more and more of her resources to fight a land war in Asia. They, obviously, are opposed to any at- tempts by Hanoi to reach a nego- tiated settlement. If Ho was interested in nego- peace talks are unrealistic and we should expectuthat Ho Chi Miph will continue to reject them. Mr. Johnson has stated that be- fore we wil considertstopping the bombing of the North, the North Vietnamese must first stop the infiltration into the Southt. . From Ho Chi Minh's viewpoint, that is the equivalent of complete surrender. If Ho were to comply, he would face two alternatives. He could abandon his 50,000 troops in the -South and stop sending them food, medicine and military sup- plies; without such support, these forces would soon be destroyed and the North Vietnamese role in the war would be eliminated. Or, sec- ond, he could recall his troops to the North but this would constitute a withdrawal from the conflict. If Ho met our terms in order to get negotiations going, he would have nothing ieft to negotiate about. I do not believe we will secure