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February 08, 1966 - Image 1

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The Michigan Daily, 1966-02-08

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MSU AND
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
See Editorial Page

A6P
t g-an

iE~-ait

WARMER
High-43
Low-mid-20's
Rainy drizzle,
mostly cloudy

Seventy-Five Years of Editorial Freedom
VOL. LXXVI, No. 112 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1966 SEVEN CENTS

EIGHT PAGES

Congress

Investigates

Use of

Psychological

Test

By DAVID KNOKE
Applied psychology has become
such an important part of our
society that its methods and va-
lidity in screening personnel for
employment have recently come
under close scrutiny and attack
from various quarters.,%
At the base of Congressional in-
vestigations, right wing picketings
and professional self inquiries are
such fundamental questions as
those raised by Civil Service Com-
mission chairman John Macy dur-
ing his testimony before a House
of Representatives subcommittee
last summer:
"How much power do psycho-
logical tests really claim? How
can it be proved? How should the
employes and employer be pro-
tected from false claims or from
abuse of real powers?"

Congressional interest in airing
the controversy surrounding psy-
chological testing for employment
purposes gathered- steam in the
spring of 1965, after a series of ar-
ticles in The New Republic and
Washington newspapers had at-
tacked the validity and relevancy
of questions used in the tests.
James Ridgeway in The New
Republic (March 13, 1965) charged
that the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (MMPI)
tests used in Peace Corps and De-
fense Department screenings "is
notoriously unreliable and what
it means is anybody's guess .
Psychologists bicker interminably
among themselves about the MM-
PI because the questions are so
vague no one seems to know what
the answers are about."
Sen. Sam Ervin (D-NC) headed

Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
hearings held in June on the use
of psychological personality tests
in government and business.
House hearings were scheduled for
earlier in June by Rep. Cornelius
Gallagher (D-NJ).
At a panel discussion held last
week at the University, Prof.
Lowell Kelley, director of the
bureau of psychological services,
said that the Congressional hear-
ings "indicate that psychologists
have great influence in the affairs
of men. The hearings have forced
the profession to ask questions
that they should have asked be-
fore."
"What kinds of interactions are
proper between the psychologist
and the person on the other end?
Under what conditions and for
what purposes should the data

collected by psychologists
used?"
Central to the issues under
vestigation were the limits
which a test could be used to
vade the individual's right
privacy.

be
in-
to
in-
to

Many of the questions delt with
sex, religion, and other areas of
private concern; Time magazine
ran sample questions from the
MMPI in one of its issues, pre-
sumably picked to show how dif-
ficult it would be for a test taker
to discern which was the correct
answer.
Prof. Jesse Gordon, of the social
psychology department, one of the
panel members, said that indi-
vidual questions are often irrele-
vant. Psychologists are more in-
terested in the total pattern of
answers in determining the per-

sonality and job compatibility of
a person taking the tests.
When Macy testified before the
Congressional subcommittee last
June, he gave the following par-
tial definition of the purposes of
testing in deciding if an applicant
receives the job:
"Typically, these tests cover a
variety of so-called personality
traits, such as the applicant's be-
havior towards other people in
terms of. for example, aggression
or anxiety. They generally yield
scores which seek to show the
degree to which the applicant has
or exhibits such traits."
Prof. Sam Estep of the lawj
school, tackled the judicial prob-
lems aroused by the personality
tests in the panel discussion.
"There is the problem of the
right of privacy which is raised,
here, but it is 'difficult to talk of

defining privacy in the abstract.
This is a new area .of law and
there are very few precedent cases
in the books," he said.
"To what extent will the use and
control of tests remove the chance
of a government job from a man
who has revealed himself detri-
mentally on a test? It is a question
of overlapping interests.
"On the one hand, the govern-
ment has the right to try to weed
out people who would be a detri-
ment to the agencies. On the
other hand, a person may be de-
prived of a job because of the
results of a test, often without
being told why he was precluded.
In other words, it's a question of
whether the government can give
and withhold information as it
sees fit, or whether the right of
a job can be guaranteed?"r
Crucial to the controversy is

the question, "If the hiring agen-
cies have the right to invade thej
applicant's privacy, to ask himI
personal questions, how can the
psychologists who construct, ad-
minister and interpret the exam-
inations be sure that their results
are valid?"
Macy, in 'his testimony before
the Senate subcommittee, vocal-
ized some of the current objec-
tions to the use of tests :
* The tests were developed for
clinics and not designed for job
applications.
* The tests are subject to dis-
tortion, purposefully or other-
,kise.
* Test results can be grossly
misinterpreted or misapplied.
* The nature of many of the
questions asked seriously jeopard-"
izes the individual's right to pri-
vacy.

Gordon mentioned the difficulty
in applying tests to situations for
which they were not specifically
created.
He said that often compensa-
tions are built into the tests for
such things as sex, age, or socio-
economic background, but agencies
often are looking for people, who
correspond to particular back-
grounds which suit them to the
job. Thus the compensations, in
trying to start all testees on equal
footing, end up being unfair to
the employer.
Estep commented on the possible
distortions to which the tests are
subject.
"The vagueness of the questions
asked-the idea that an affirma-
tive answer to the question 'I like
raw carrots' is an indication of
See CONGRESS, Page 2

New Loan

Set-Up Stalls
Federal Aid
Delay Complicated
By Question Over
Future of NEDA

What's New
At 764-1817

Bill.
Sale

Proposed
s Tax from

[o

Remove

Textbook s

i
I

By STEVE WILDSTROM
Normal application procedures
for federally sponsored student
loans "currently are being held
up," the Office of Financial Aids
has announced.
The reason for the application
delay is the establishment of a
new federal loan program and un-
certainty over the status of the
old National Defense Education
Act loans.
The new loan set up is a federal-
state-private cooperative effort
established under the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 signed by
President Johnson in November.
Directly to Students
The new loans are to be granted
by "eligible private lenders" such
as banks, credit unions or savings
and loan associations. The prin-
ciple of the loan is to be fully
guaranteed by a state agency. The
federal government will pay the
interest while the student remains
in school and will subsidize up to
3 per cent of the interest after
the student graduates.
Students with family incomes of
up to $15,000 will be eligible to
participate, but the amount of
government subsidy will vary with
financial need, 3 per cent being
the maximum. Interest on such
loans ranges from 6 to 7 per cent.
Thus students with suffient need
would have to pay only about
half the normal interest rate.
Plan for Implementation
t The Michigan Office of Higher
Education Assistance has filed a
plan for implementation of the
program in the state with the
Federal Office of Education. John
Porter, state director of financial
aids, said that it will be at least
45 days before the plan can be
approved by the Commissioner of
Education and put into effect.
Marian Williams, secretary to
Porter added, however, that all
student loans closed after Nov. 8,
1965, the date the Higher Educa-
ion Act became law, will fall under
the federal program.
President Johnson, in his budget
message Jan. 24 said that he wish-
ed to see the NDEA loan program
switched over to the new program.
As yet, however, there has been
no official change in the status
of the NDEA. Thus, the Office of
Financial Aids knows neither how
much money will be available for
NDEA loans next year nor when
applications for the new loans will
be ready.
No Loyalty Oath
Edward Sanders, director of stu-
dent financial aid in the Office
of Education in Washington said
yesterday that, unlike the NDEA
loans, the Higher Education loans
will require no loyalty oath.
Under the terms of Title IV-B
of the Act, an undergraduate stu-
dent may borrow up to $1000 per
year with a cumulative maximum
of $5000. A graduate student may
borrow up to $1500 a year up to an
aggregate of $7500.
Payment on the principal of the
loans is deferred until the student
completes his education. Payment
on undergraduate loans may be
deferred until completion of grad-
uate school. The loans become

Long Distance
The Daily won honors Sunday for the best coverage of
national and international affairs for a college daily. The award,
made by the Overseas Press Club and the Readers Digest Founda-
tion also honored Daily editorial writer Peter McDonough.
Presentation of the awards was made during a dinner ending
the third day of the annual College Editor's Conference. Guest
speaker was Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY'.
Hotlie
The semifinal winners of the Campbell Competition, a type
of appellate moot court contest, have been announced. The
finalists will be chosen from the following four law students:
Michael Coffield, Kay Felt, Edward Frost, and Peter Truebner.
Karl Prussian, an ultraconservative whose writings and pro-
nouncements have stirred up a fury at Western Michigan
University, has moved a speaking engagement planned for today
at the WMU Student Center to a private site well off campus.
The move was ostensibly due to time restrictions placed on the
speech by the sponsoring Student Association.
A Western University source said, however, that the real
reason for the move seems to be that Prussion wanted to escape
the strong feelings of the student body against him, resulting
from his far right political position. These feelings, originating
at his initial appearance last Dec. 2 and heightened by his
publication last week of a small pamphlet, "Heads Up," were
culminated when the Young Americans for Freedom, originally
strong supporters of Prussion, disassociated themselves from him.
His fall into disfavor with the YAF is due to what they consider
his misrepresentation of facts. The YAF is the group who dis-
tributed "None Dare Call It Treason" on the Michigan campus
last fall.
The Literary College Student Steering Committee will hold
a Student Counseling Seminar tomorrow afternoon. The seminar
will be held in the Union Ballroom. There will be upperclassmen
majoring in each department in the literary college who will
discuss all questions concerning their departments such as which
course sequences will be most beneficial, and which professors
are most interesting.
The meeting is arranged to give preclassifying students the
chance to learn from other students the good and bad points
about departmental courses and professors. The committee hopes
to have three or four students from each department on hand.
They will discuss their departments individually with interested
students. Refreshments will be served free.
Prof. A. Stephan Dunning of the education school is the
author of an article in the February issue of "English Journal,"
a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English. The -
article is entitled "Why Poetry?" The publication is one of five
journals published by the 100,000 member council, the largest

Viet Visitors
Seek Return
Of Passports
Hayden, Lynd Plan-
Legal Action; Claim
War End Major Goal
Thomas Hayden and Staughton
Lynd, two of the three Americans
who returned from an unauthor-
ized trip to North Viet Nam, said
yesterday that they have not yet
decided what specific course of
action to take in response to the
government's revoking their pass-
ports.
The S t a t e Department an-
nounced last Wednesday that it
was requesting the return of Hay-
den's and Lynd's passports.
Hayden, a former Daily editor,
and a founder of Students for a
Democratic Society is director of
the Newark Community Action
Center. He said that he wished to
prevent his case from becoming
primarily a travel ban issue.
"There is nothing in my opinion,"
he added, "that the administration
would like better than to try to
turn the issue from what we have
been saying (about the Viet Nam
war). I did not go to test the travel
ban. I am not interested in chal-
lenging the ban because too many
people are being killed in Viet
Nam."
Lynd, a professor of sociology
at Yale and author of the classic
study "Middletown," said that he
and Hayden would have to consult
their attorneys before taking any
formal legal action. He said, how-
ever, "I am accepting speaking en-
gagements in England and NorwayI
for April in the belief that I will
have my passportaback by then.'
Both Hayden and Lynd said
that the purpose of their trip was
to seek out al for pacein South-

oldstein
rger of
houses. .
3ted. In
only if
presi-
eclared

3 -Daily-Steve Go
IQC DEBATES MERGER PLAN
Shown above is what may be the last meeting of Inter Quadrangle Council. A proposed me
IQC with Assembly Association will be either approved or rejected this Thursday. Presently, 9
have voted in favor of the merger with 5 opposed. Most of the 64 houses have not as yet vo
its meeting last night IQC set the date for the next election of officers, which would occur
the merger is defeated. The election is scheduled for Feb. 21. Some dissident men's house
dents had objected to the absence of an election as called for in the IQC constitution. They d
the office of president of IQC vacant and set a date for an election to fill it for Monday.
AMERICAN COMMUNIST:

Act Aimed
At Cutting
College Cost
Faxon Hearing at 'U'
Leads to Proposed
Series of Legislation
By NEIL SHISTER
A bill designed to reduce the
cost of education by exempting
textbooks and required course ma-
terials from the state sales tax is
being introduced to the House to-
day by Rep. Jack Faxon (D-
Detroit).
Faxon estimates that the pro-
posed bill would cost the state
between $400,000 and $500,000 in
tax revenue, but emphasized that
"this is indeed a small cost for a
measure which would not only
make the tax structure less regres-
sive but also help students who
are presently least able to pay."
This measure is the first of a
series of proposed legislations
emanating out of the House sub-
committee on higher education,
which held hearings at the Uni-
versity last fall, and aimed at less-
ening the cost of a college educa-
tion.
Outgrowth of Hearings
In the hearings conducted last
fall the Faxon sub-committee list-
ened to testimony from adminis-
trators and student leaders con-
cerning costs at the University,
especially those related to hous-
ing and books.
The legislation introduced today
represents the first direct out-
growth of the fall hearings.
Faxon has previously expressed
concern that costs at the Univer-
sity are too high and that admin-
istrators, if not actually negligent,
have not been overly sensitive to
the increasing problems related to
the rising student costs.
Elitist Institution
He is especially worried that the
University, although a public in-
stitution supported by elgislative
funds, may be rapidly becoming an
"elitist" school which only the
rich can afford.
The.textbook tax exemption, as
well as his other anticipated bills,
are designed to combat this situa-
tion and restore "some sense of
economic equity."
A measure allowing for textbook
tax exemptions has been inform-
ally considered for a long time,
according to Faxon, but he said
that he intends to try to push the
bill through this time to its actual
enactment.
Faxon Optimistic
After its introduction, the bill
will go to the House committee on
taxation for further consideration.
Faxon felt confident about the
bill's chance for passage this ses-
sion, saying that all the members
of his sub-committee, both Repub-
lican and Democrats, had already
endorsed the measure

North Carolina Regents
Ban Aptheker Speech

1

subject matter organization in th
IN SPEECH AT E1
Hurn-phre,
STo School
By MARK LEVIN
Vice President Hubert Humphrey
came to Michigan yesterday reaf-
firming the Johnson administra-
tion's deep commitment to solving
the problem of high school drop
outs.
Humphrey, here in his position
as chairman of the President's
Youth Opportunity Task Force,
spoke to a large audience at East-
ern Michigan University's Pease
Auditorium, where he emphasized
the threat of unemployed youth

e world.east Asia. By CLARENCE FANTO Gov. Moore last week issued a SDS was attempting to test the
statement calling on the board to administration's interpretation of
The University of North Caro- refuse permission for Aptheker's the visiting speaker policy, a
ASTERN: lina's board of trustees last night appearance. charge which had been made by
barred Communist party theoreti- "It should be obvious to every- some administration officials at
cian Herbert Aptheker from one that the invitation under con- the campus.
P oses So lution s speaking on the campus. sideration was made in an effort To Speak Here
y P Sl O Aptheker, director of the Amer- to create controversy for the sake Aptheker is scheduled to ap-
ican Institute of Marxist Studies of controversy and not for any pear here on Saturday in a speech
in New York, recently returned legitimate educational purpose," sponsored by Voice political par-
from a 10-day trip to North Viet Moore said. ty, a local affiliate of Students
op - u t P rob lem Nam. He was accompanied by Speech Topic for a Democratic Society. His
Yale Prof. Staughton Lynd and The announced topic of Ap- speech will be presented in the
former Daily editor Thomas Hay- theker's speech was "The Negro Union Ballroom.
Humphrey asserted t h a t if -Schools must create facilities den. Movement - Reform or Revolu- Aptheker has encountered prob-
America is to be "a shield of se- for returning drop-outs, who may North Carolina's Gov. Dan tion?" lems at other universitites recent-
curity for over 1 billion people, we be unable because of age to fit into Moore had called the board of Support for his appearance in- ly. Last summer the Ohio State
need every American operating at a normal classroom situation. trustees into a special session to cluded an editorial in the stu- University administration refused
full performance. If one-fifth of -Vocational education pro- rule on the planned speech by dent newspaper which warned of to allow him to deliver a speech
the nation is on the borderline of grams must be vastly expanded Aptheker on March 9, sponsored a "Free Speech Movement which on the campus.
poverty, this nation is hardly op- and improved. by Students for a Democratic So- would out-Berkeley the Universi-
erating at full capacity." To Receive Appropriations ciety. ty of California" if the trustees Student Opposition
Humphrey stated that the John- "If you say you can't afford it." Support for Speaker were to ban Aptheker from the Vigorous student opposition to
son administration is sincerely Humphrey continued, "think if Widespread student and faculty campus, the administration ruling devel-
concerned about every young per- you'll be able to afford 32 million support in favor of an appearance The trustees met in executive oped, however. The administra-
son being able to receive a good possibly unemployed drop-outs." by Aptheker has developed, an session for more than four hours. tion refused to revise its ruling on
education. "Whatever you may In a press conference held for editor of the Daily Tar Heel, The final decision was an 8 to 3 Aptheker's appearance, but last
think of this administration," high school student leaders follow- j the student newspaper, told The vote against an appearance by Ap- fall it agreed to drop the rule
Humphrey said, "it is dedicated to ing the speech, Humphrey com- Daily last night. j theker. giving the school power to ban

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