Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
'I
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re Opinion AreFee. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD PRATT
Today's New Leisure Time:
Its Use Is a Challenge
RISING ABOVE a crowded and congest-
ed street towers a 20 foot globe. "Trav-
el, See the World" are the words the neon
lights perpetually flash to the crowds. A
tempting-looking billboard representation
of "sparkling burgundy" throws shadows
on the street, while pedestrians pass their,
viewing the huge color TV in the store
below.
The place is Times Square, but the
large city, U.S.A., and the quoted words
sights described could be found in any
that stare back at us from our magazines
and televisions continue to warn, bribe,
and dictate the best way to spend that
ever-increasing commodity, spare time.
Not long ago, leisure was a scarcity pos-
sessed by only a few, the rich, and dreamt
about by many. Now, the shorter working
week and the advent of automation into
industry has made leisure the common
possession of a vast majority of Ameri-
cans. We can look forward to less and less
working time, as machines take over more
and more of labor.
WHAT CAN WE DO with this increasing
part of our lives? The problem has as-
sumed vast economic importance as giant
industries have grown up, catering to it.
Advertisements seek to persuade the peo-
ple .to use their leisure to travel, eat, drink
and suggest innumerable other ventures
providing one has the money to pay for
them. Psychiatrists, life insurance com-
panies, and Miami Beach all entreat us
to use our spare time well.
The first function of leisure should be
to afford the individual a chance to look
around and think; to once in a while be
alone, with the world and appreciate to
some degree the wonders and complexi-
ties with which it is filled.
Unfortunately, being alone is often
equated'with lineliness in our society. For
eight hours a day, most Americans are
surrounded by fellow workers and busi-
ness associates, housewives with their
children and neighbors, and students with
teachers and peers.
When leisure finally comes, the tenden-
cy is rarely to be by oneself. In fact, we
often go to inestimable effort and ex-
pense to avoid this condition as swim
clubs, country clubs, and social clubs
monopolize our free time.
MOST PEOPLE look forward to being
alone with something akin to dread.
It is as though they cannot tolerate them-
selves and feel worthless unless surround-
ed. There as safety in numbers, safety
from knowing oneself.
There is nothing more important for
personal growth than this ability to be
alone; to take the opportunity to look at
oneself and the world surrounding us. It
is out of this leisure that thoughts are
born, poems' are dreamt of, stories germi-
nate and philosophies evolve. True, we are
not all Platos but we are all capable of
appreciating to some extent the intrica-
cies of the world.
The second function of leisure should
be to broaden and enrich the lives of peo-
ple whose work will be increasingly in-
tense. The average human being in his
work is being concentrated into narrower
fields, as specialization invades every form
of business, profession, and science.
Leisure time must provide us with men-
tal and physical enrichment. It should
give the mind and body both a chance to
do different things, to read, paint, play
music and participate in different sports.
OO OFTEN we tend to stay away from
activities which are new, in which our
abilities have not yet been tested. The fear
of failure or even appearing ridiculous
are powerful deterrents, and rather than
try, we shrink back into our accustomed
routines.
Achieving these functions of leisure
time requires an output of courage. There
will be no neon lights, painted billboards,
or towering structures to remind you, no
clever cliches or selling slogans to catch
one's attention. The product does not
come in an attractive looking bottle, but
its worth in terms of personal satisfac-
tion and self development is guaranteed.
-RUTH FEUERSTEIN
F OR 40 YEARS or more students
have been complaining about
what they like to call the local
power structure, as manifested in
the sales activities of the Ann
Arbor merchants and, more par-
ticularly, of the local bookstore
owners and operators.
Students have every right to be
incensed, for the economic struc-
ture of Ann Arbor is such that
they are getting hosed, as they al-
ways suspected. Unfortunately be-
tween Parkinson's Law and their
own inability to really get at and
ferret out the realities of the
problem, nothing has ever been
done, 40 years of complaints not-
withstanding.
LOOK FIRST at the inadequa-
cies in the present arguments for
a University bookstore. Students
want textbooks at a discount. The
fact is that texts cannot be sold
at a discount and overhead cover-
ed unless there is some direct or
indirect form of subsidy.
Texts sell on what the book
business calls a "short discount."
Twenty per cent of the selling
price is margin. Most other books
including almost all paperbacks
and a rising number of university
publications are sold at a "long
discount"; 40 per cent of the sale
price is margin.
The 40 per cent margin cannot
be called exhoribitant (it tradi-
tionally is 50-60 per cent for
jewelry stores), particularly when
the costs of high inventory and
slow turnover in a good, well-
stocked bookstore are taken into
consideration.
There are about three privately-
owned discount bookstores in the
country. They offer a 10-15 per
cent discount and stay afloat by
virtue of good management and
a hard-won high turnover rate.
They refuse to touch texts be-
cause of the short discount.
THERE IS, of course, the ex-
perience of Prof. Fred Shure's
Student Book Service. How that
enterprise came out hasn't been
revealed yet (the SDS advertising
bill has not yet been paid to The
Daily, however, which might be
an indication of trouble). But
even if it does end up making a
profit, or breaking even, it has
been able tocapitalize on various
hidden cost advantages.
The customers paid more in the
form of long waiting lines and
limited selection. Faculty and stu-
dents gave various kinds of volun-
tary or inexpensive help that
they have never offered the book-
stores. The store was open only
during the peak selling period,
taking business from the other
stores, yet leaving them to absorb
the high costs of slow turnover
during the rest of the term.
Finally, the store operated on a
favorable short-term rental agree-
ment which might not always be
available.
Be that as it may, the validity
of the general analysis of the
problems of university bookstore
operation is borne out by recent
Michigan MAD
By ROBERT JOHNSTON
investigations by the Office of
Student Affairs. They have found
that any university-owned book-
store offering text discount (and
there are really very few) does so
only with student subsidy.
One point that is in the stu-
dents' favor is University exemp-
tion from the four per cent state
sales tax. This would be a free dis-
count, so to speak, though even
here legislators could justly con--
tend that this would be a state
subsidy of students, and it could
be one they don't want to offer.
SO ARE the students supposed
to roll over and play dead?
Absolutely not. There are real
and very attractive alternatives.
Of these, a University cooperative
modeled on those at Yale and
Harvard would be the best ap-
proach. It would make available
texts at a discount and, in addi-
tion, offer a wide range of other
goods (especially clothing and
school supplies) at fair prices,
which would flush out a lot of
high prices very quickly.
At Yale the cooperative, which
does a several million dollars per
year business (and Harvard's is
several times as big), is owned by
a student-faculty group which
leases space from the university.
It offers a range of quality
goods'similar to what one would
find in a good-sized department
store at competitive retail prices,
including texts which are sold at
publishers' prices. All students and
faculty can join the co-op for $5
per year and receive a 10-13 per
cent rebate at the end of the year
on all their purchases.
IN LOOKING toward imple-
mentation of such a co-op here,
one misconception needs to be
straightened out right away. The
Ann Arbor merchants are not ex-
horbitantly rich profiteers. They
are big fish in a little pond, but
with just a little less water in the
pond a lot of them are going to
be hurt badly. Their stores are
relatively inefficient, a good retail
location costs a fantastic amount,
and the student market is not
really a large one.
This accounts for their incred-
ible resistance to any inroads into
their present retail situation,
whether by a University bookstore,
co-op or whatever. But their in-
eptitude and their defensiveness
was shown last summer as they
dealt with Shure's efforts to set
up a discount bookstore. Their
tactics were more cops and rob-
bers-oriented than rational, well-
planned obstruction.
Aside from local opposition to
the idea itself, there are two im-
mediate problems in setting up a
cooperative-space 'and capital.
There is the swimming pool
space in the Union, long-discussed
for renovation a n d certainly
wasted now. This could be leased
to a fledgling cooperative on a
full costs basis. Of course good
management would have to be
found. A student-faculty board
would be set up separate from the
present Union board, which would
just lease the space, for general
policy-making and direction.
FINALLY, about $300,000 worth
of capital is needed. There are
several feasible sources. First
there are student activities funds
from which a loan could be made
at low interest or bonds floated.
This arrangement was used to
build the North Campus Center,
a Union-type operation.
Or the Union could take on the
whole project itself andrfloat
bonds for it. And third, there is
the student parking fund, $120,000
worth, which is now sitting in in-
vestments and for which no one
has thought up any good use.
Lest anyone think that Univer-
sity loans such as this are out of
the question, there is the exam-
ple of last spring-a $25,000 loan
for WCBN to build new studios
in the Student Activities Bldg.,
arranged and approved by Vice-
President for Business and Fi-
nance Wilbur Pierpont.
THE BOOKSTORE nonsense
has gone on long enough. Students
are justified in demanding posi-
tive action toward some sort of
University co-op.
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MEANINGFUL CAMPUS DEBATE reach-
ed a new low last Thursday; Univer-
sity Young Republicans asked Student
Government Council to investigate the
applicability of federal laws to campus
groups aiding forces opposing American
soldiers abroad.
The proposal, aimed at curbing the ef-
forts of the Committee to Aid the Viet-
namese (i.e., the Viet Cong, whoever they
may be), was adolescent in its presenta-
tion and needlessly confusing in its ef-
fect.
It was adolescent because it adopted the
tone of an expose, when all it did was to
emphasize an obvious fact. Proceeding
along the logical lines of the proposal, one
I's Free
DEMOCRATS in Congress these days are
gleefully passing around a marvelous
little pink card which deserves some men-
tion.
The card says: "This is a free ticket.
It's not good for anything-it's just free.
Compliments of the Great Society."
.--M. R. KILLINGSWORTH
Editorial Staff
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Editor
LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM JEFFREY GOODMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
JUDITH FIELDS .................. Personnel Director
LAUREN BAHR......... Associate Managing Editor
JUDITH WARREN....... Assistant Managing Editor
ROBERT HIPPLER.......Associate Editorial Director
GAIL BLUMBEH~G............... .. Magazine Editor
LLOYD GRAFF ................ Acting Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Susan Collins, John Meredith,
Leonard Pratt, Peter Sarasohn, Bruce Wasserstein.
DAY EDITORS: Robert Carney, Clarence Fanto, Mark
Killingsworth, Robert Moore, Harvey Wasserman,
Dick Wingfield.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Alice Bloch, Mere-
dith Eiker, Merle Jacob, Carole Kaplan, Robert
Klivans, Lynn Metzger, Roger Rapoport, Neil 'Skis-.
ter, Katherine Teich, Joyce Winslow, Charlotte
Wolter.
Business Staff
CY WELLMAN, Business Manager
AL.AN GT.TECKMAN ...... Advertising Manager
must either assume that the committee
poses a very great threat to the U.S.
forces in Viet Nam or that the YR's have
little better to do than to harass the gad-
flies of American policy there. Either as-
sumption should be below an organiza-
tion presenting itself as the student or-
gan of one of America's political parties.
(F COURSE the argument might be
made that it is the duty of such an
organ to attack the policies of its ideolog-
ical opponents no matter how seemingly
ineffective those policies might be in
practice. But this argument assumes that
such an attack will get directly to the
heart of its opponents' issues, not become
muddled in waters of meaningless pro-
cedure.
Yet this is exactly what the YR pro-
posal did. It refused to directly join the
issue of whether or not segments of
America's citizens should aid the Viet
Cong, or indeed any military forces fight-
ing U.S. troops.
Instead of discussing the legitimacy of
such aid, which would have been the only
really reasonable basis for an attack on
such a minor opponent as the committee,
the YR's got wrapped up in the essential-
ly procedural question of what U.S. laws
say on the subject.
The only other defense that might be
Imade for the YR's proposal is to say that
the committee's actions are obviously
wrong and to conclude that the only
course open is to try and end those ac-
*tions by any means possible. But even if
this is the case, the YR's should have real-
ized that theirs is a far from proven case
and that if they do, in fact, wish to show
that the committee should be restrained
in some way, theirs is the burden of proof.
AT ANY RATE, the campus was lucky in
that the proposal was taken seriously
by only a few. The Office of Student Af-
fairs made a quick check with the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and promptly
dismissed the whole affair. SGC passed a
watered-down version of the original YR
To the Editor:
I WISH TO COMMENT upon
Mark Killingsworth's article
entitled, "In Defense of Diversity."
He seems to have come to the
viewpoint that our government is
fighting in Viet Nam to retain a
variety of types of governments in
Southeast Asia. What he neglects
to mention is that the govern-
ments we support are invariably
militantly anti-Communist right-
wing dictatorships.
Since World War II our govern-
ment has supported many dicta-
tors: Diem of South Viet Nam,'
Trujillo of Dominican Republic,
Rhee of South Korea, and Batista
of Cuba. Presently we support
Franco of Spain, Stroessner of
Paraguay, Park of South Korea,
and Duvalier of Haiti. The list
goes on and on. Our support is in
the name of "Freedom," "Democ-
racy," and "the Free World."
THE SE REACTIONARY policies
are doomed to failure. When these
oppressed peoples gain their free-
dom they won't be blowing kisses
to good old Uncle Sam. The John-
son administration's foreign poli-
cies are presently dominated by
military thinkers; they show a
complete lack of historical back-
ground and perspective.,
Perhaps Mr. Killingsworth will
recover from his summer in the
rarefied atmosphere of consensus
Washington and become an in-
dependent thinker once more.
-James K. Sayre, '64E
Stanford, Calif.
'The Collector'
To the Editor:
RE "'The Collector' and Foreign
Policy" by Al Valusek in
Thursday's Daily:
Assuming Mr. Valusek's inten-
tion was a serious one rather than
mere amusement, it appears that
in trying to show analogies be-
tween "The Collector" and United
States foreign policy, he has miss-
ed the main points of the film, its
characters, and possibly history.
The few and limited analogies
which do exist go unmentioned by
Mr. Valusek, and the ones he
offers stretch one's credulity be-
yond the breaking point.
IF MR. VALUSEK will attempt,
in a straightforward manner, to
influence us in the direction of his
views on U.S. foreign policy, I
will listen patiently and perhaps
sympathetically. But please, Mr.
Valusek, don't use a fine, taste-
fully-done film as a vehicle for
peddling your views, especially
when its relevance to your argu-
ment is almost insignificant.
--Steven Nelson, Grad
Administration
To the Editor:
HURRAH FOR Mr. Beal's edi-
torial of September 181 It is
indeed heartening to note that a
student is able to recognize that
students do have limitations.
It is reassuring to know that at
least one segment 'of the Uni-
versity's population understands
the necessity for decisive action by
the administration in instances
such as those surroundingnthe il-
legal posting of the now "in-
famous fishbowlsign."
IT IS WITH REGRET that I ob-
serve (Michigan Daily, September
17) Dr. Cutler taking, his .first
steps down the primrose path
which led another great institution
to nationally publicized upheaval
only one year ago.
-Barbara S. Deutsch,.'61
Cycle Noise
To the Editor:
YOU MAY MEET the nicest
people on a Honda but they
are also the loudest. I support
Councilman John Hathaway's
amendment to the "Scooter Bill"
to limit the noise of cycles and
scooters. I can attest to many
sleepless nights in the Lawyers
Club because of the noise of the
many scooters and cycles on their
way to the UGLI and other points
on campus. If cars are restricted
to travel without excess noise,
cycles and scooters should like-
wise be muffled. Expense to the
rider is no excuse wwhen others are
disturbed.
'I would also include in any reg-
ulation governing cycles and
scooters, the following. First I
would prohibit scooters and cycles
from passing cars while they are
waiting for lights or at stop
streets. It is rather dangerous for
a driver of a car to begin a left
or right turn when traffic is
clear only to look up and find a
scooter in front of him or at his
side. If cars must wait in line
so too must cycles and scooters.
SECOND, I would prohibit the
use of scooters within the city
limits of Ann Arbor during the
winter months. These two wheel
vehicles do not have sufficient
weight to safely maintain their
balance when the pavement is wet.
If they should travel slow enough
to maintain their balance they be-
come an obstruction to the four-
wheeled vehicles behind them.
-Alan May, '66L
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. 'Mw)C S<
"DAtM THE TORPEDOES! FUL. SPEEDA EDMR. IRK5EN:#
What Is Youth Coming To?
"SO WHAT?"
This was part of an interest-
ing remark made by a former
Daily editor last weekend as the
Daily celebrated its 75 years of
editorial freedom. He was refer-
ring to ,a student's recent actions
causing much consternation
among certain factions at the
University. One college student's
mother wondered: what was this
generation coming to anyhow?
What sort of things have been
going on around here? There is a
group collecting money to help
those in Viet Cong controlled
areas. The Young Republicans feel
very upset and Student Govern-
ment Council is checking into the
affair with concern. Perhaps *they
both can interest the Federal
Bureau of Investigation enough to
get it put on a list of subversive
organizations or get all the mem-
bers thrown in jail or have Stan
Nadel disemboweled on the Diag
at high-noon.
The State Theatre is packed
every night for "Help." Parties
are wilder than ever before as
thousands of gallons of beer are
consumed, take effect and are
excreted on a typical weekend.
Thousands of dancers swing,
bump, grind, twist, jerk, monkey,
bounce, shake, slide or shimmy in
overcrowded, undersized rooms
ridding themselves of energy, de-
pression. anxiety. resnonsibilities
So What?
by sarasohn
mend it before it sank completely.
'?hey were beaten with sticks,
iocks, electric cattle prodders and
stepped on by horses until some
heads looks like cracked canta-
iopes. Girls were labeled wnores
and guys were labeled pimps. The
student-supported drive to make
the southern Negro an American
gains speed as more find vacation
time free, the desire, the respon-
sibility. an escape. the cause, the
need, their uarents' image de-
stroyed, a trod or a friend barred
from a urinal, a room, a table or
a university.
There are those that particular-
ly enjoy beards, long hair, bleach-
ed hair, madras, maroon, sandals,
weejuns, no shoes, dirty feet,
powdered faces, lipstick, no lip-
stick, white socks, dark socks,
white bucks, hoop earrings, fake
scars, gold nailpolish, tab collard
buttondowns, no collars or saddle
snoes. Extremes generate excite-
inent, love, hate, nausea, "that
feeling," interest,senvy, sex, jeal-
ousy or happiness.
pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers, coke,
vernors, ice cream, or grilled
sandwiches. Besides these they
consume the three or four regular
meals each day at the quadrangle,
the apartment, the fraternity or,
the co-op.
MUCH THOUGHT is directed at
what will happen after graduation
as one heads for the Peace Corps,
law school, business school, medi-
cal school, the army, Harlem,
Mississippi, daddy's business, the
government or a real job. You feel
happy, scared, relieved or nervous.
Most have philosophies of some
sort. There are advocates of
atheism, Catholicism, Judaism,
Zen, Communism, socialism, Re-
publicanism, free love, objectivism,
numanism, epicurianism, or hed-
onism. You might be a frat-man,
a beatnik, a GDI, a surfer, a
sorority girl, a fink, a grind, a
radical, a conservative, a Daily-
man, a wasp, a kike, a nigger, a
wop, a spic, a mackerel snapper,
northern liberal, a bigot, an anti-
semite, a foreigner, an alcoholic
or a nymph.
Issues on campus center on na-
tional and international problems
as some feel apathetic, concerned,
worried, useless or interested. The
universityat the same time con-
tinues faster than before as a
vehicle for expression of ideas,
Schutze's Corner:
B13aby Talky
"Communications training must
begin in the cradle. New par-
ents should recognize their off-
spring as individual human be-
ings whose thoughts, even
though hazy and primitive,
should be understood - and
listened to."
That maternity ward was awfully
mechanized and impersonal.. You
know what Doctor Badamo says
about assembly lines and bureau-
crats and stuff like that. Maybe
our baby caught the alienations
from a careless nurse or some-
thing.