i i io rw rrrr+ ri rr Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS AL Where Opinions Are Free, Truth Will Prevail 420 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. WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID DUBOFF Grad Language Requirements: An Improved Approach STUDENTS WORKING toward the PhD will be able to give more attention to the demands of their individual programs as a result of last week's reform of the doctoral foreign language requirement by the Executive Board of the graduate school. The board decided that foreign lan- guage requirements could best be devel- oped by the program committees of the departments. Thus, a doctoral student's language requirement will be set by the faculty of the department in which he studies. The board's action ameliorates the tra- ditional uniform language requirement. (Presently reading proficiency in two lan- guages.) It should also eliminate abuses of reading examinations, and course sub- stitutions which hurt students in the studies of both their languages and their majors. The new requirements will set a mini- mum and students will not be forced to sidestep these requirements in order to spend more time on their majors. Most important, the change allows depart- ments to take greater authority in shap- ing their doctoral programs. THE .DEPARTMENTAL recommenda- tions should be submitted t ohExec- utive Board of the graduate school' by January 1, 1968, and should be processed by the board by September 1, 1968. Until all the departmental recommendations have been reViewed and approved, the present foreign language requirement will remain in effect. The new requirements will apply to all new and continuing doctoral students. However, continuing students can elect before. September 1, 1969, to meet the present requirement. The board's was a high-quality deci- sion, a creative academic reform, al- though perhaps it will be no better in the end than the consideration the pro- gram committees exert in formulating new requirements. But the inputs which led to the Execu- tive Board's decision were very good in themselves. Departments, individual fac- ulty members, and student groups con- tributed. A thorough and thoughtful sur- vey of graduate students' feelings on for- eign language studies was prepared, con- ducted, and reported by members of the former Graduate Student Council, now the Graduate Assembly. The survey indicated that the many doctoral programs of the University are increasingly specialized and that uniform language requirements could be effec- tively replaced by language requirements designed for specific study programs. THE CONCLUSION of the student sur- veyors are clearly embodied in the board's move. But this, in turn, is part of a larger philosophy for graduate studies. "A continuing review of the doctoral pro- grams under the supervision of the Exec- utive Board is essential if the graduate school is to be effective both in the en- hancement of its programs and in the distribution of financial support," gradu- ate school Dean Stephen Spurr said in a message on the change. While students may contribute to and anticipate the decisions on the foreign language requirement coming from their department, the work of the Executive Board, faculty and graduate students cer- tainly deserves credit now. It is only through communication and academic ef- fort such as theirs that high-quality de- cisions can be made in the University. -NEAL BRUSS Letters to the Editor Greene Responds to 'Michigan Alumnus' Reprint Juvenile Courts 'Gone Bad' MONDAY'S SUPREME COURT decision granting juveniles identical rights as adults in courts of law is the result of a well-intentioned idea "gone bad." Conceived around the turn of the cen- tury by such notable humanitarians as Jane Addams and Julia Lathrop of Chi- c'ago's Hull House, and Denver's crusad- ing Judge Benjamin Lindsay, the juven- ile court was originally intended as a de- vice to separate youthful offenders from hardened adult criminals in penitentiar- ies. As it evolved the juvenile court was supposed to serve as a place where a benevolent judge could take a juvenile delinquent under his paternalistic wing and perform some magic rehabilitation. With a high degree of informality and flexibility, the court supposedly could pre- vent the juvenile from performing fur- ther criminal activities. The substitution of the social worker and psychologist for the police officer signaled this new, more humane approach to justice and the pen- al system. Unfortunately, too much depended on the capabilities and sympathies of the in- dividual judge in such a system. The fan- cy of each magistrate was often the only factor in determining the future of the juvenile offender. Thus, if the judge saw fit to sentence a juvenile delinquent to 10 years in the local reformatory because he felt he was a "nasty brat," the juven- ile had no recourse. This subjective ap- proach, although originally benevolent in intent, has been totally alien to the com- mon law development of American juris- prudence. PRIOR TO THE DECISION, the juven- ile had no right to habeus corpus, no guarantee of counsel, could not face or cross examine his accusers, had no right of appeal to a higher tribunal, and lacked The Daily is a member of the Associated Press and Collegiate Press Service Summer subscription rate: $2.00 per term by car- rier; ($2.50 by mail) $4.00 for entire summer ($4.50 by mail). Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. essential protection against self-incrimi- nation. The case before the Supreme Court was brought by the} parents of Gerald Gault with the assistance of attorneys furnish- ed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Gault was adjudged to be a delinquent in June, 1964, when he was 15 years old, after a juvenile court judge found he had made lewd telephone calls to a fe- male neighbor. He served six months in the state industrial school. Gault's parents challenged the decision of the juvenile court on the grounds that Gault had been given inadequate notice of the charge, that the women had not testified in the case, that he had not been offered the assistance of counsel and that Arizona law does not permit an appeal of juvenile court decisions. SUPREME COURT found these vio- lations of civil liberties inexcusable. "Neither the. 14th Amendment nor the Bill of Rights is for adults only," Judge Abe Fortas explained in the majority opinion. "Under our Constitution the con- dition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court." Fortas went on to cite studies which show that about half of the nation's juvenile court judges have no undergrad- uate education, a fifth have no college education, and a fifth are not members of the bar. As Justice Black predicted, the decision will probably strike a death blow to the juvenile court concept. But the initial concept of a benevolent court had been transformed into a kangaroo court where the juvenile stood dangerously unprotect- ed. The juvenile court concept when put into practice just had "gone bad." --MARK LEVIN Daffodils DAFFODILS HAVE COME to symbolize peace, student power and all sorts of other liberal leanings. Many of the pick- eters at the U Thant honors address wore the flower, as did the protesters at the London School of Economics a short time earlie rBt daffodils have limitles The following letter by Wal- ter Greene was sent to Robert G. Forman, editor-in-chief of the University's alumni publi- cation, "The Michigan Alum- nus." Mr. Greene, former direc- tor of the Defense Department's Office of Contract Compliance, was instrumental in the prepar- ation of two reports-one in No- vember, 1966, the other in March this year-criticizing the Univer- sity for enrollment and employ- ment practices. The first re- port said that the University is known as a school "basically for rich white students" and made 25 recommendations for "broad- ening equal opportunities" here. The second report made 16 rec- ommendations on University hiring policies. It recommended that "a crash program" be es- tablished to improve the "ex- ceptionally bad employment practices which currently exist in the School of Engineering." Mr. Greene is now deputy di- rector of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.-Ed. Dear Mr. Forman: Aftertthe March 9, 1967, confer- ence between Dr. Harlan Hatcher, his staff and three specialists from the regional Contracts Com- pliance Office, assistant secretary of defense, there were several newspaper articles, in various pub- lications, responding negatively to the recommendations for affirma- tive action discussed in the con- ference. The articles named me specifically in most cases and cast me in the role of a govern- ment "persecutor" by implication. Foremost among those making attacks was the "Chicago Tribune" editorial which is reprinted in your May 1967 issue of "The Michigan Alumnus." The reputation of the "Chicago Tribune" is well-known for its opposition to federal activity in local enterprises and it has a pub- lic image for resisting causes to improve opportunities for minority group people. Accordingly, any re- sponse from me to that publication would have been without value. Your reprint of the editorial, I believe, carries some different sig- nificance because the alumni of the University have a special, close relationship. The article, reprint- ed alone and without basic facts from the parties involved in the conference, certainly leads to er- roneous impressions and ultimate- ly false conclusions. It is my hope that you will provide your con- stituency with the information cit- ed in this letter so that the alum- ni have fairer opportunities to make intelligent judgments about the survey. THE FEDERAL government re- quirement for those in contractual relations to engage in practices to provide employment opportunities without racial, religious or na- tionality discrimination has been a continuous condition in govern- ment contracts for more than 20 years. Organizations in offering to do business with the government, employment practices of contrac- tors to determine whether or not they were fulfilling their agree- ments pertaining to equal oppor- tunities. Since that date, many thousands of employers have been the subject of compliance reviews and the University of Michigan agreed to cooperate in such a review in October, 1966. A basis of understanding was made with the top administration of the University'to conduct the re- view with full cooperative partici- pation of university personnel con- cerned. All data and documenta- tion were evaluated carefully and in great detail by personnel of the Government Contracts Com- pliance Office at Detroit. This normal review process is identical to long standing gov- ernment procedures in reviewing all performances of each contrac- tor to assure compliance with each specification of the contract. Re- views are conducted regularly to assure compliance with various laws on labor, wages, hours of employment as well as quality con- trol, production schedules, packag- ing requirements, transportation provisions and many other provi- sions of the contract. We are not aware of either editorials or indignation pertaining to controls in those areas. THE MARCH 9, 1967 conference was convened with Dr. Hatcher and his staff to present findings, analysis of the data compiled by the University and top resent rec- ommendations for improving the continuing program of equal em- ployment opportunity. Not only was that conference conducted on the very righest plane of respect and mutual exchange, but a top member of the University staff characterized the report and rec- ommendations as "very good." No orders, directives, or threats were made by any parties pres- ent. No ratios or numbers of mi- nority group employes were cited as an objective or goal. The Uni- versity was commended for the accomplishments made in "dem- onstrating" equal opportunities in some of the schools, colleges and service agencies. In those parts of the University where only mini- mal or no accomplishments in equal opportunities existed, com- ments were made accordingly. The conference closed with a friendly and mutual understand- ing that appropriately cited units of the University would review the recommendations made and a sub- sequent response would be made to the Federal Contracts Compli- ance Office as to the feasibility of implementing the recommenda- tions. THE UNIVERSITY of Michigan was not selected for review as any special subject of consideration, but it was under review in the normal course of business in the Contracts Compliance Program. What was done at the University of Michigan has been done at two other major state-owned uni- versities and one other in Wiscon- prerogative and right. Federal con- tracts compliance procedures re- quire all information developed in a review to be held by the govern- ment as restricted to the parties involved. Such restrictions are not imposed on thep rivate contractor. Consequently, the subject edi- torial and other published articles are not based on facts known to the publishers but result in "pre- conceived" and perhaps emotion- ally charged innuendoes. An ex- ample of the gross misunderstand- ing in the editorial is the large error pertaining to Negroes in the University of Michigan student body. The citation is 1800 in a to- tal of 36,000. University officials estimated the fall 1966 enrollment to include a range of, 450 to 500 Negro students. Anyone familiar with the University is likely to know there is no history of Negro enrollment having approached as many as 1000 at any one time. IT IS MY HOPE that the large body of alumni of the University of Michigan will understand that a responsible federal agency work- ed with the University administra- tion in a cooperative spirit to seek improved employment practices where needed. It is hoped that they will repudiate -the irrespon- sible speculations that "high hand- ed commands" were given to the University or that the University in anyway was threatened with the loss of future government con- tracts. -Walter R. Greene Deputy Director, Michigan Civil Rights Commission Vietnam Who really believes that in the end the people of Vietnam will be better off because we fought and lost lives there? If you believe it, why do you believe it? Can you convince me that the Vietnamese will suddenly acquire truly dem- ocratic ideals and institutions if we destroy the communists? Can you convince yourself? I am not convinced. If we are not fighting for them, we must be fighting for us. How can we gain? But . . . what would we lose? If Vietnam were a com- munist state would it effect us in any way? How important is it to us that Cuba is a communist state? What is Cuba?-a dead fish floating in salt water. Do we protect India and the Philippines by fighting in the jungles of Vietnam? If I were a general I would chose to fight on the high seas or on the plains of Northern India, where my enemy was forced to cross the ocean or the Himalayas to reach the battle field-and not among jungle creepers and fungus only 500 miles from China. Vietnam is not the place for us to fight. SOUTH VIETNAM is completely infiltrated by the enemy. The physician amputates the limb which festers and is rotten with -,TRAN VANDINH= U.S. Misreads o When General William C. Westmoreland came home to report to the nation on the state of the war i Vietnam, he said the following in his speech at the annual meeting of the Associated Press in New York on April 24: "The enemy does not understand that American democracy is founded on debate and he sees every protest as evidence of crumbling morale and diminishing resolve. Thus discouraged by repeated military defeats but encouraged by what he believes to be popular opposition to our effort in Vietnam, he is determined to continue his aggression from the North." General Westmoreland's statement, I am afraid, did not reflect the realities of the history of Vietnam and of the thinking of the leaders in Hanoi. 1) Hanoi does understand on what principles American democracy is founded. In fact, President Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Dem- ocratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) admired these prin- ciples so much that he embodied these same ideas in his own solemn Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945. The Declaration started with this sentence: "All men are created equal. They are en- dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The U.S. Constitution as well as the constitution of the USSR were subjects of study by the political cadres during the early days of the Vietminh 1945 Revolution. Ho Chi Minh himself constantly read U.S. newpapers and magazines. Recent visitors to Hanoi saw on his desk copies of "The New Republic" and "The Nation," which are not published by the United States Information Agency but by private individuals whose opinions do not follow the administration lines. No doubt, at this moment, with bombs falling all over country, President Ho is very disappointed with the U.S. he had admired. In January this year, Mr. Harry S. Ashmore, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Center for the Study of Democratic In- stitutions, together with two other members of the Center, went to Hanoi to invite a mission from North Vietnam to attend the Pacem in Terri II to be held in Geneva on May 28-31, 1967. In the course of the visit, they were received by President Ho Chi Minh who asked them: "I know your country. I haven't been there in a long time, but I was there years ago and I've always admired the U.S. and I thought I knew it very well. But I just don't understand what's going on there now. Tell, me gentlemen, is The Statue of Liberty standing on its head?" 2) THE NORTH VIETNAMESE Ministry of Foreign Affairs' "American Division" in Hanoi is staffed by experts on U.S. history and politics. One of them is a Ph.D. from an Ivy League college in this country. Of course these experts read Gallup polls, the Congressional Record, and all U.S. publications from left to right. By now they surely must have come to the conclusion that the U.S. is divided over the Ad- ministration's Vietnam policy because that is the case. 3) President Ho and his colleagues, from past experiences have learned that political dissent in the enemy camp and military victory on his side are not the same thing. During the Indochinese War (1945- 1954), the French people consistently and openly expressed their dis- approval of the "dirty colonial war." Not only intellectuals and stu- dents marched in the Champa Elysee, but workers organized strikes which paralyzed the French economy for days. No people were more sympathetic to the Vietnam cause than the French. Ho started his political career in Paris, joined the French Socialist Party in the 1920s and helped found the French Communist Party in 1923. In 1945 when Ho was President of Vietnam, his friend and comrade, Maurice Thorez, leader of the French Communist Party was Deputy Premier of France. Yet during a session from March 14 to March 18, 1947, the French conservative politicians rose in the French National Assembly during a crucial debate to thank their "Communist colleagues and the USSR for leaving France alone to fights its war in Indochina." Faced with these brutal facts of life and politics, the Viet- namese people had to fight alone and it took them nearly 10 years be- fore they defated the French militarily at Dien Bien Phu in May, 1954. The French colonial-military machine was defeated by the soldiers of Vietnam in the jungle battlefields of Vietnam-not by the existen sialists in Paris. 4) In their long history, the Vietnamese people had to fight long wars of national liberation to defeat foreigners, especially the Im- perial Chinese. The Chinese conquering armies led by prestigious generals such as Koubla Khan were annihilated by the Vietnamese soldier-peasants without the help of the Chinese students demon- strating in the streets of Peking or Chinese poets writing verses of protest. 5) THE FAMOUS ARTICLF or "wars of national liberation" by Marshal Lin Piao, Mao Tse Tung's heir apparent, published in Septem- ber 1965, advised self reliance to the revolutionaries in the under- developed countries. 6) Hanoi and the NationalrLiberationFront often expressed gratitude to the peoples of the world (including the American people) for their moral support. But neither Hanoi nor the NLF has asked for volunteers although these were offered by communist countries. Even without a war with the USSR. I am sure theVoice of America and the U.S. press would express joy and gratitude if 200,000 Russians marched in the streets of Moscow to protest against the Russian sup- plies of MIG's to North Vietnam. 7) Early this month, Hanoi made its position clear regarding dis- sent in this country. In the May issue of the "Quan Doi Nhan Dan" (People's Army) one can read- "We deeply appreciate the courageous fight of the progressive Americans against the leaders of the U.S. It is a strong support for us but we always believe that the decisive part is being played on the battlefields," The same paper added. "We know very well that we shall have to struggle hard and for a long time and that the nation will have to undergo greater tests before victory, is at- tained. The people of Hanoi and Haiphong are determined to sacrifice all for the defense of North Vietnam and the liberation of the South." TO ME, the dissent in the U.S. is not going to prolong or shorten a war which will ultimately be decided by quiet diplomacy in the chan- celleries of the world and by the thunder of the guns in the jungles of Vietnam. This is a sad, brutal reality but it is a reality the Vietnamese have learned to live with for many centuries. And if there is anything the dissent will prolong, it is the life of the democratic institutions on which the U.S. is founded. The Widening War A 4 * 4 *I