Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD m CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLiCATIONS
Orientation: Getting Into the Know
By THOMAS COPI
_.. - ..,
Where Opinions Are Free,
Truth Will Premal 0 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1967
NIGHT EDITOR: PAT O'DONOHUE
A
Johnson on the Middle East:
Of Grits and Homilies
IT WAS A DEPRESSING morning for all
those who nurtured some hope that
the major powers might have learned
something from the recent cataclysm
in the Middle East. Yesterday's speeches
by President Johnson and Russian Pre-
mier Alexei Kosygin only proved how in-
capable they are of seeing any issue out-
side the traditional framework of East-
West conflict.
Each bloc leader emerged as a sort of
super-cheerleader for one of the bel-
ligerent war camps. Kosygin's pro-Arab
speech said little of any consequence
whatsoever and probably could have been
written by the Associated Press as soon
as the Soviet leader announced he was
coming to the United Nations.
In a way Johnson's speech in support of
Israel was far more infuriating since its
promises and performance clashed so viv-
idly. It was a pretentious pronouncement
which juxtaposed repeated appeals for
flexibility with cliche-ridden justifica-
tions of American foreign policy which
mirrored the ponderous prose of Dean
Rusk.
The President gave the world yester-
day morning his "five great principles of
peace." These principles are noteworthy
only as illustration of our failure to per-
ceive that our national interest is synon-
ymous with peace in the Middle East.
And they indicate once again Johnson's
lack of courage to make the political
sacrifices which a peace effort requires.
iHE FIRST "and greatest" of these
epic credos is the vacuous contention
that "every nation . . . has a fundamen-
tal right to live." Obviously this global
declaration ignores Vietnam, and does
little more than provide another vague
American assurance that Israel should not
be pushed into the Mediterranean.
Johnson's second point breaks with Is-
;ael far enough to proclaim "the nations
of the Middle East must at least address
themselves to the plight of those who
have been displaced by wars." It is signifi-
cant that all this proviso says is that Is-
rael should notice that there is some sort
of problem with displaced persons. The
President seems totally devoid of ideas
for aiding these refugees, a term which
Johnson carefully avoided using. At no
time it is certain, did Johnson counten-_
ance the idea of American aid to the
more than a million Arabs huddled in
make-shift camps.
Ignoring our mid-ocean blockade dur-
ing the missile crisis of 1962, Johnson's
third principle proclaims that "maritime
rights must be respected." However,
Washington appears no closer to determ-
ining how to protect these rights than
during the Gulf of Aqaba crisis. In fact,
today's statement was less specific than
our futile pronouncements before the war.
Johnson also declared that "this last
conflict has demonstrated the danger
of the Middle Eastern arms race of the
last 12 years." Brushing quickly over the
substantial American contribution to this
military buildup, Johnson unveiled his
sweeping and comprehensive plan for
ending the arms spiral. He suggested that
all nations register their Middle Eastern
arms shipments with the United Na-
tions. Not only would this provide ample
deterrent to arms sales, but it would
make use of the same clerical skills ex-
hibited when the UN served as a reposi-
tory for Arab surrender notices during
the recent war.
THE LAST POINT was clouded with per-
haps deliberate ambiguit'r as the Pres-
ident declared in his unforgettable drawl,
"The crisis underlines the critical im-
portance of respect for political inde-
pendence and territorial integrity of all
the states in the area." When combined
with support elsewhere in the speech for
the Israeli position that troop withdraw-
als must be linked with general settle-
ment, this leaves America in the flexible
position of having no clear policy what-
soever on this central point.
Johnson's failure to enunciate a work-
able peace proposal represents a lost
opportunity. Kosygin's performance can
at least be understood by the necessity
for Russia to regain standing in the Arab
world after the recent diplomatic break-
downs. America was in the rare position
of having committed no major blunders
during the current crisis. We avoided
military intervention, except in the para-
noid visions of Nasser, and Israel, our
semi-ally, still managed to score a mas-
sive victory. Yesterday gave America a
rare chance to take a statesmanlike ap-
proach to the troubled Middle East. As
usual, Johnson chose political platitudes
instead.
-WALTER SHAPIRO
0-ri-en-ta-tion - determina-
tion or sense of one's position
in relation to some particular
person, thing, field of knowledge,
etc. -- Webster's International
Dictionary.
Yes, orientation lets you know
where you stand. And at the
University, the Summer Orienta-
tion Program brings home to the
prospective freshmen the fact that
they're moving from the top of
their totem poles to the bottom
of a much larger one. It tells
them they're moving from a small
pond to a large one in no uncer-
tain terms. Sometimes by de-
sign, but more often by accident,
the orientation program lets the
incoming freshmen know that they
don't know it all-in fact, they
know next to nothing about this
big, wonderful, diverse University.
Realizing that experience is the
best-and sometimes the only -
teacher, the orientation program,
under the aegis of Herbert S. Sig-
man, does what it can to lessen
the unavoidable cultural shock of
the switch from high school to
the University.
"The 80 per cent below you is
gone now," the orientees are told
in Aud. B grouprcounseling ses-
sion. "You may get your first
'C's and 'D's here-but don't feel
badly-you won't be alone."
But still confident, they look
around to see who the speaker .is
talking to-"It can't be me..."
"Some of you may find by the
end of the first term that you've
flunked out," he's saying. It's like
water off a duck's back now, but
it's also something that may be
remembered too late, when that
first fateful transcript goes home
in December.
FROM THE FIRST day's "cen-
tral campus tour," where they're
shown the Fishbowl and the Law
Club, to their meeting with their
counselor on the last day, the
new freshmen are rushed pell-
mell through two days of "get-
ting to know the University."
"Even with all the things that
are wrong with the orientation
program," says one member of
the class of '71, "it's a lot better
than making us come up here
cold in the fall. We get some idea
of what's going on here, of what
the place is like."
It's confusing, for one. Big, for
another. -But mostly, simply un-
familiar. Something one has to
take time to learn about. Some-
thing one can't really be told. But
they try.
FOUR GUYS in coats and ties
give a slide show in an attempt
to tell what the University Ac-
tivity Center is all about. Terms
like "sesquicentennial escort serv-
ice" and "Sesquigras" roll off the
UAC men's tongues with ease. But
prospective students in the audi-
ence are polite and besides, they
don't want to be the one to ask
the "stupid" question.
Then comes the movie. The
introduction: "This is the sesqui-
masa.Jimasasiema asAiRRY GOLDWA TER ms au ........asa e
Th Cedbiiy apAgi
No sooner had war erupted in
the Middle East than a disturb-
ing rash of rumors erupted in
Washington. That they could hang
so persistently on the Washington
grapevine is a sad commentary
on the lack of confidence that
has developed regarding the ad-
ministration's public statements as
opposed to private actions.
The rumors concerned certain
"package deals" with which the
administration would try to buy
Soviet help in calling off the
war against Israel-a war most
agree could not and would not
have begun without the full co-
operation of the Soviets with
Egypt's socialist empire builder,
Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Despite variations in detail, the
main contesgt of the package ru-
mors involves Vietnam: :the Unit-
ed States would halt its bombing
of North Vietnam in return for
the Soviets halting their support
of Nasser, thus forcing an end to
the fighting.
Such a deal would have had
two profound effects. First would
be the obvious effect in Vietnam
where a halt of the bombing would
turn the war. into an endless quag-
mire of jungle fighting. It would
enable the Communists to continue
the war at their own pace and on
their own terms until they
ready to negotiate an end
all-presumably on their
terms.
were
to it
own
THE SECOND would be the ma-
jor impact on the world at large.
Should the Soviets have taken
any action to cool the fighting,
you can bet your boots they
would have taken the most ex-
travagant public credit for it,
becoming overnight the world's
greatest peacemaker.
Deal or no deal, the Soviet
Union stands to come out the
winner in the Middle East war
if for no other reason than hav-
ing shattered every tie this nation
had built up with the various Arab
nations.
Their weapon was the cold, cal-
culated, tactical decision that they
would gladly see the nation of Is-
rael wiped off the face of the
earth if it would advance by a
foot the plans of Communist con-
quest. This country, on the other
hand, has attempted in all its
diplomacy to avoid facing the
blunt fact that Arab nations have
never been talking about any-
thing less than exterminating Is-
rael.
OUR DIPLOMACY, had it been
realistic, would have openly ac-
A Metamorphosis?
knowledged this and then have
taken every firm step possible to
bring the Arab world around to
acknowledging, whether they hated
us for the effort or not, that
Arabs and Israelis would have
to learn to live together and that
an act of virtual genocide against
Israel could not be tolerated.
At the same time, all legitimate
Arab claims against Israel, as.
for instance,sthe plight of the Pal-
estinian refugees, would have to
be faced with equal frankness.
Instead, the situation has been
permitted to drift-with inept se-
cret diplomacy substituting for
open firmness. War has been the
result.
It would be comforting to be
able to scoff at all such rumors as
a secret deal to gain Soviet aid
in ending that war. That is diffi-
cult to do, however, when to this
day the terms of the settlement
of the Cuban missile crisis re-
main under a cloud and when, de-
spite all official denials, the
strange fact is that this nation
did dismantle various of its mis-
sile bases after the Soviets took
down its launchers in Cuba.
This, too, is part of the cred-
ibility gap in Washington.
Copyright. 1967, Los Angeles Tumes
centennial film, made in honor of
the University's 150th birthday.
It's been shown around the coun-
try and around the world, and
you people are lucky enough to
see it now."
"So show it already."
"Oh, boy ...'
"How come we're so lucky?"
The movie's only real weak-
ness is its dialogue. Sometimes
trite, sometimes simply inane, the
movie is another attempt to in-
troduce these people to the Uni-
versity. It paints a very bright
picture. Some of the very forget-
table narration: 'This, then, is the
University of Michigan, where the
rough edges of thought are
smoothed and polished by the
friction of one mind against an-
other"
BUT JUST to set the orientees
straight, just to give them the
real nitty-gritty of what the big
"U" is all about, Student Govern-
ment Council President Bruce
Kahn takes a turn. It is hardly
overpowering.He ready a speech
about how one of the major
problems of the University is that
students are being robbed of the
informality of personal contact.
He didn't even read any speech-
es during his campaign for office.
Kahn, like nearly everyone else
involved in the orientation pro-
gram, touched on problems with
which he is familiar, but about
which the incoming freshmen
know nothing.
In the smaller meeting which
followed the evening's fun and
games, one of the orientation
counselors gave instructions to the
group for the following day's. ac-
tivities. I couldn't understand
them. No one could understand
them. I think they went something
like this:
"Tomorrow at 8:30, go to 1315
Angell Hall, unless you're in nurs-
_____the c ryst
ing or engineering, in which case
you go to 2718 Mason Hall or
3619 Natural Resources, respective-
ly, or unless you've been noti-
fied that your appointment is after
noon, in which case you should
go to see your counselor an hour
early,tunless you're in the pilot
project or in honors, in whch
case you might as well go an
hour late..
ONE OF THE freshmen played
it smart. He asked at the begin-
ning if the instructions would be
posted anywhere. Since theanswer
was yes, he simply ignor"ed the
verbal maze the orientation leader
drew, and satisfied himself with
throwing paper wads at the blonde
sitting in front of him.
I wondered for a while if any-
one were listening, but discovered
occasionally that there were some,
as someone would interrupt with
a question that would set the en-
tire lecture back a good 10 min-
utes.
Then there was a mixer. It may
have been their first, but it cer-
tainly won't be their last. Too bad,
A mixer, however, gives them
an opportunity to talk:
"What courses are you going
to be taking?"
"I don't know . . . I guess
I'll take what I have to . .. I
wonder which are the best ones
to take .. . it doesn't sound like
we get much choice .. ."
One of the major complaints
about the orientation program is
that there is too much emphasis
on extracurricular activities. The
orientation people don't want the
kids to get the idea that they
have to be bookworms here, so
they tell them about all the other
nice things there are to do
BUT THEY GO overboard. Some
of the kids really do want to
know about the academic side of
the University. And to assuhe
that their counselors are going to
tell them is to be unbelievably
naive.
Which' courses are the best?
Does it really matter which teach-
er you get? What should you do
if you think the teaching .fellow
leading your recitation is terri-
ble? Are office hours really only
for complaining about tests and
grades?
After all, the vast majority of
the people who come to the Uni-
versity come to learn. And as
bright as they are, it's still a
new, unfamiliar environment, and
they need help in learning how
to take advantage of all the op-
portunities' for learning that are
here.
Some of these questions are an-
swered in the semi-organized
"bull" sessions which are conduct-
ed each night of orientation. But,
according to many of the incom-
ing freshmen, not enough.
All letters must be typed,
double-spaced and should be no
longer than 300 words. All let-
ters are subject to editing;
those over 300 words will gen-
erally be shortened. No unsign-
ed letters will be printed.
4
4
4
4
SUPPORTERS OF THE WAR in Viet-
nam have been making a major issue
out of the Vietnamn doves' hard line pos-
ture in the recent Middle East crisis. Have
we witnessed an indefensible contradic-
tion-intervene for Israel but not for
South Vietnam?
No. The similarities between the two
situations are slight and largely irrele-
vant.
Those who claim that the U.S. com-
commitment the U.S. has to Vietnam
mese are the same are off-base. The only
commitment the U.S. has to iVetnam
takes the form of our informal promise
written by Eisenhower to dictator Ngo
Dinh Diem 10 years ago. The U.S. chose
to inherit the French colonial position
in 1954 in the name of "anti-Commu-
nism," but the prophecy of a Communist
takeover in Vietnam was self-fulfilling
once the West tried to stop the primarily
social revolution which coincided with
and followed World War II.
So the U.S. today supports an obnox-
ious military regime with only a most
shabby facade of democracy. Further, we
are trying violently to suppress an indig-
enous, social revolution which wants to
achieve only what the U.S. has itself
achieved internally. Such a victory in
Vietnam would not have been harmful
to the U.S.-had our government not
chosen to make it so.
How is this similar to Israel? Purely
in terms of "commitment," the difference
is undeniable. The U.S. commitment to
maintain the territorial integrity of Israel
was made to a clearly democratic and in-
digenously supported government whose
validity cannot be denied on those terms.
to exist? Clearly, if anyone had envision-
ed these problems 50 or 100 years ago,
another place might have been found for
the Jews. However, in their 20 years of
official nationhood, the Israelis have
earned the right to their existence. Bill
Mauldin's comparison in his recent arti-
cle was apropos. Where once Palestine
supported 800,000 Arabs in a meager
hand-to-mouth existence, Israel now sup-
ports three times as many Jews far more
comfortably, though not luxuriously.
ON THE BASIS of the present situa-
tion-the presence of 2/2 million Jews
who have no place else to go, while the
Arabs have vast lands-the Israelis ask
that their national existence be assured.
The Arabs must eventually be willing
to admit the existence of Israel as a fait
accompli and to deal with the present
situation, which differs from the one that
existed 20 years ago. The U.S. position,
equivocal as it is, recognizes that fact.
It does not want Israel destroyed any
more than it wants Israel to claim all or
even any significant part of the land it
won in the recent conflict.
O THE NATURE of the doves' position
is not so odd as some newspapers, no-
ticably the Detroit News, would make it
seem. The U.S. has blundered in Viet-
nam, and rather than continue a war
which is internationally frowned upon,
not only by the Communists but by most
of our own allies, from Japan to France,
who would like to see an honorable with-
draw. Israel also failed to receive much
support, but the reasons were obviously
more economic than ideological, i.e.,
France's desire to protect its oil interests
tal
palIace-
An LSD Primer
_
ai y
. r vim' . 4g >
a
J Y .S }$. r .f : :2 Y7
. ' ' ".:L Y.
X JA. i s' -
°o' 2
% i' '.
- ]3 , :.f
, , 'fir . ,. ,
' >:
o , <
,. .f'% r. r!','.
t{iti: ' f -a'ej i .
,. i
v $
S t f Z 1 ty
r f
'tr 3 ', . >" .
r T # : h
T ,t a ' : . ;t
i
,r ,. "" ,
" ,
+'.'.' r s
.,,
;
1''y
11
{'
7k -
. " ,.
, y.
By DAVID KNOKE
Four acid heads lose reading
vision after staring at sun under
influence of LSD .. .
Donovan croons:
Sunshine came softly
Through my window today
Could have tripped out easy
But I've changed my ways.
Do acid heads ever .have bad
trips? Hear a real dialogueb:
Paul Krassner: I've had six
trip in the past two years-all
of them good. Why don't I have
any bad trips?
Timothy Leary (PhD): You've
had all the bad ones already.
"EUGENE ()-A University of
Oregon geneticist yesterday re-
ported an unusually high inci-
dence of genetic damage in cells
of a small group of persons who
have taken the mind expanding
drug LSD..."
* * *
"Fantastic visions of extraordi-
narily vividness." Dr. Albert Hof-
mann of Sandoz Ltd., Basel, Swit-
zerland, 1943, sniffs samples of
ergot. Presto the first LSD-25
high.
Ergot, a dark, purple fungus.
All beautiful things from ugliness
come.
* * *
NEW YORK PHYSICIAN DE-
MANDS STRONG ANTI - LSD
LAW.
ply of towns like Levittown.
Castro can "turn on, tune in
and drop out" more .people than
Leary could hope to.
The good doctor, rudely de-
frocked of his titles, wants to
"turn on mon and dad." If he
gets a following, he has a religion,
acid is the sacrament and he beats
the federal rap.
If the Native American Church
of New Mexico can use peyote
buttons, why can't a hippie say
his prayers while blowing his
mind?
"One pound of LSD can provide
trips for 4.5 million people." And
their chromosomes.
* * *
Bellevue admitted 100 "psychot-
ic" cases in 18 months from ef-
fects of LSD. "One per cent use
it," says Bellevue's head. That's
200,000 people.
Two hundred agents of the
FDA's Bureau of Drug Abuse-Con-
trol swarm undercover on cam-
puses. FDA Commissioner James
Goddard asks "aid in eliminating
the illegal use of hallucinogenic
and stimulant drugs."
But LSD sale only is prohibit-
ed; possession for individual use
is not a criminal act.
All sources of the pure acidt I.e.,
Sandoz) are dried up; what's left
is homemade or comes in from
Mexico with grass.
After 20 years of "research,"
*1
p.
*1
/
V' 4
j '"
;,,.