Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVERSITY OF MICHIG AN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Advisory Committee: Almost a Farce
erear OpiniosPreFrie.420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ASBOR, Mici-I.
Nrvs P1-ONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This nuts/ >e noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1966
NIGHT EDITOR: CLARENCE FANTO
The City, and the Students:
Common Interests
STUDENT advisory committees
do not necessarily have to be
farces.
The Student Housing Advisory
Board to the Office of Student
Affairs may actually have accom-
plished something.
Two weeks ago the members of
the committee were all set to
throw in the towel. Despite the
administration's claim of working
hand in hand with the students,
it had become apparent to the
students that they were communi-
cating with stone wails.
VICE PRESIDENT for Business
and Finanoe Wilbur K. Pierpont
and Vice President for Student
Affairs Richard Cutler rarely at-
tended the meetings. Rather they
sent lower staff members to com-
municate with the students. But
unfortunately the lower staff
members and the students seemed
unable to work together.
Students from the committee
came to The Daily to issue a state-
ment blasting the administration's
"bad faith." They felt that the ad-
ministrators were not seriously
considering their advice and that
administration policy was not ade-
quately explained to them.
A Daily reporter called Cutler
for his reactions to the charges.
Cutler replied that to the best of
his knowledge the charges were
unsubstantiated. After all Director
of Student Community Relations
William Steude, kept him on top
of the situation by means of
memoranda. The Daily reporter
then asked one of the students on
the committee to get on another
extention of the phone and argue
against Cutler's refutations.
FOR 2' HOURS the student
and the vice-president talked. The
conversation ran from the stu-
dent's, "Oh, we didn't know that,"
to Cutler's, "But didn't Mr. Steude
tell you that."
By the end of the conversation.
it was quite clear that there had
been a communications break-
down. Realizing that the housing
advisory committee was on the
rocks, Cutler decided to spend
more time nuturing it. That week
he showed up at the board's
meeting to explain policy, and.
s o m e h o w the communications
block started to unclog.
Now two weeks after that con-
frontation between Cutler and the
PUBLIC K
OCCURRENCES
By BRUCE WASSERSTEIN
student on the phone, a major
precedent for student participation
is in the offing. The administra-
tion has accepted the student
committee's suggestion that it
finance married student housing
units through a multi-million
dollar loan from the federal gov-
ernment through section 221 D 3
of the Federal Housing Act. Rep-
resentatives of the student com-
mittee and the administration are
expected to talk about the details
of the loan in the near future
with a government representative.
If all the difficulties are ironed
out this will be the first time
college housing has been financed
through this act. A vast source of
revenue for housing financing has
been opened by a student sug-
gestion.
THUS STUDENTS have con-
tributed a major idea which the
administration considers accept-
able. The traditional notion that
students have little to offer the
decision making process has been
proven a fallacy.
But why hasn't this concept
been proven a fallacy before? The
answer is that the students never
had a chance. Whatever student
advisory groups have been set up
have no teeth. Administrators
seem to set up the committees
without ever listening to them
Cutler managed to salvage his
Housing Advisory Committee at
the last moment by showing the
students he did honestly care
about its fate.
But caring philosophically is not
enough; administrators must be
accessible and receptive to the stu-
dents if these groups are to de-
velop their potential. Rather than
being stymied by the University
bureacracy the students should be
helped by the administration in
their task of gathering of per-
tinent information. And policies
must be explained rationally
rather than by merely asserting to
the student, "that's policy."
IT IS EXPECTED that in the
near future several more advisory
committees will be set up in the
other divisions of the Office of
Student Affairs. Hopefully the ad-
ministration has learned its lesson
so that these committees will not
turn out to be shams.
**
REPRESENTATIVE Jack Fax-
on's recent proposal to lighten the
cost of a college education basic-
ally missed the point. First of all,
as a result of Michigan's regressive
fiscal structure such a proposal
in effect subsidizes the well-to-do
university students at the cost of
the poor. The basic problem is,
rather, to interest students from
poor districts in developing their
academic potential.
Faxon might be better off intro-
ducing bills extending such pro-
grams as the University's Oppor-
tunity Awards. The state should
also finance summer programs at
colleges and universities for high
school students with high intelli-
gence but low achievement. Such
programs at Eastern colleges and
preparatory schools have been
highly successful at raising the
achievement level of underprivi-
leged youngsters and making them
college material,
FAXON SHOULD realize that,
unless he can encourage the tal-
ented poor to enter the colleges his
subsidies are worthless.
4
AS CITY CLERK John P. Bentley rege-
istered several University students for
voting this week, the differences in inter-
ests between the students and townspeo-
ple appeared increasingly insignificant.
Common interests gained new meaning,
and the unification of the two groups
appeared as a necessity for the growth of
Ann Arbor.
Here are some examples,
HE CURRENT municipal administra-
tion has been diligent in working for
increased low-cost housing under a phi-
losophy of non-discrimination. At the
same time, city administrators have at-
tempted to check the reckless planning
of high-rise developers and establish a
plan for well-designed expansion.
Students have held an active interest
in such affairs ,attempting to promote
low-cost housing and to decry sub-stand-
ard planning by contractors. In student
government and advisory groups, student
opinion in housing has followed the in-
terests of the community.
The Citizens Association for Area Plan-
ning is a layman organization which met
at the Michigan Union last month. At this
goals conference, the group favored im-
plementing education and transportation
facilities in Ann Arbor, increasing work
opportunities, and conserving the Huron
River Valley, as well as working to- im-
prove housing. Students have long artic-
ulated these goals for the community.
VOTERS IN THE FIFTH WARD chose
the incumbent opponent of the Jef-
fersonian Democrat, a primary candidate
whose political philosophy denied stu-
dents active consideration by councilmen.
However, few students voted in the Fifth
Ward primary. The voters who defeated
the Jeffersonian Democrat were middle-
class professional workers and homeown-
ers.
Though the Jeffersonian Democrat re-
pudiated student interests, Fifth Ward
voters repudiated his policies. This would
indicate that in this area student and
townspeople's interests coincide once
again.
WITH ALL THIS and more in common,
the current student voter registra-
tion drive can be seen as an attempt by
students to assume the responsibility they
rightfully incur by their residence in the
community. It is not an attempt to
r wrest political power from the middle-
aged Ann Arbor conspiracy; no such con-
spiracy exists. Rather, it is likely to be
the most responsible student action seen
in the community in recent years.
The city clerk and city attorney have
recognized the intent of the campaign
and have been most generous in extend-
ing support. They, the League of Women
Voters, and the American Civil Liberties'
Union, have expressed interest in see-
ing that registration attempts responsibly
organized are responsibly received.
'The city officials deserve further cred-
it in that state laws, which are by duty
theirs to interpret, frown on student
voter registration.
THE STATE could be moving towards a
new policy on student voting. Until
then, the actions of city officials in eas-
ing the merge of students into the unified
community are most effective.
-NEAL BRUSS
4
LETTERS T'O THE EDITOR:
In Defense of Stormer's "Treason"
Dormitory System
Meddles in Student's Lives
To the Editor:
THE PURPOSE for this letter is
twofold-first of all to clear
up some of the errors made in Mr.
Killingsworth's editorial of the
22nd, and second to answer some
of his charges.
A 1 t h o u g h Mr. Killingsworth
seemed to have done an admirable
job in checking references to Mr.
Stormer's book, "None Dare Call
It Treason," he seems to have
passed over the opportunity of
checking his own accusations. If
he had, he would have discovered
that Young Americans for Free-
dom did not distribute copies of
"None Dare Call It Treason" on
this campus. And there is a very
good reason why it did not. The
questionwasbrought beforevthe
entire membership and voted
down. They seemed to think, as
does Mr. Killingsworth, that it
was a divisive little paperback that
should rather have been burned.
However, there was a problem.
Ten thousand copies of the book
had already been delivered to one
of my companion's apartments.
They had been sent to us (we did
not ask for them), free of charge,
by Constructive Action, Inc., a
California b a s e d organization
whose address is P.O. Box 4006,
Whittier, California for those of
you who like documentation, and
which also happens to be Richard
Nixon's home town for those of
you who like irony. Nevertheless,
not knowing what else to -do with
10,000 copies of the book, my
friend and I pooled our spare time
over a 3 or 4 week period in order
to prepare the books and distri-
bute them on the Diag.
NOW THAT I have hopefully
cleared the name of Young Ameri-
cans for Freedom from "None
Dare Call It Treason" for the last
time, let me say that I am sick
and tired of answering the ir-
responsible charges and accusa-
tions of little young editors in
oxfords whose only purpose in life
seems to be that they are out to
save the country from the "Birch-
nut conspiracy." Judging from the
general public attitudes towards
the John Birch Society, I would
think your time could be better
spent.
You made a beautiful quotation
from a fine conservative named
Edmund Burke which attacked
those people "wholly unaquainted
with the world in which they are
so fond of meddling." I wonder,
Mr. Killingsworth, if you have
ever attended a meeting of the
John Birch Society or even Young
Americans for Freedom, if you
have ever visited the Society's
bookstore -here in Ann Arbor, if
you have ever seriously studied
the publications of either organi-
zation, or if you have ever serious-
ly talked with a member of either
organization. I think not, or you
would not be able to make the
serious errors that you do in dis-
tinguishing the two groups.
I THINK perhaps before you go
on writing such editorials against
the "Birchnut conspiracy" you
should stop and ask yourself where
you got all your information about
this great conspiracy. Was it from
a serious and concentrated study
of the conservative movement and
the John Birch Society in par-
ticular, or did you merely happen
to pick it up in the drift of con-
versation-a stray log deposited on
your shore by the great sea of
American thought?
You see, in the cleverness of
your attack on Mr. Stormer you
missed the entire point. Nor will
I be drawn into an item by item
defense of every one of his 818
references, not because they are in-
defensible, but because if I did
So I also would be missing the
point. Yours are not the first
attacks against this book, nor are
they even original ones. I will only
say that Mr. Stormer has been
attacked by many different people
in many different ways, and that
he has always managed to weather
most of them. If you want a com-
plete answer I suggest you write
Mr. Stormer in care of the Liberty
Bell Press, P.O. Box 32, Florissant,
Missouri.
The point of "None Dare Call
t Treason" is merely to establish
that our nation has changed in
the past 30 or more years, that its
policies have generally tended
towards more "liberal" or more
"socialistic" attitudes, and that the
influence of communist power has
grown during this same period.
Certainly no educated person can"
deny this. Our job as educated
persons is not to get all excited
because Mr. Stormer hints at
some conspiracy behind this, but
to address ourselves to the, ques-
tion of whether these changes are
indeed the best thing for our
nation and the world. This is a
far more sensible topic and one
much more worthy of your time.
IN CONCLUSION, Mr. Killings-
worth, I would say that the next
times you are looking for an edi-
torial topic that doesn't require
much creativity or original thought
you take a topic other than the
"Birchnut conspiracy," something
like "academic freedom."
-Warren Van Egmond,
Chairman, University of
Michigan Chapter
Young American for
Freedom
Draft a "Plot"
To the Editor:
AS RESPONSIBLE students at
University, we have reason to
be alarmed by the more subtle
implications of the new Selective
Service guidelines for the draft.
We suspect that the new draft
rules are part of a plot to make
male students obsolete, and lower
the standards of education at the
University.
Here's how:
A male student needs approxi-
A TIME-HONORED philosophy now ex-
ists which goes effectively unchalleng-
ed-the University, through the Board
of Governors, interferes directly in the
life of every student living in the resi-
dence halls. The University places strict
regulations on people whom the state of
Michigan considers legally able to gov-
ern themselves and bear responsibility
for their own acts. Students are forced to
adhere to strict and puritanical code of
morals that more properly belongs to the
Eighteenth Century.
The "in loco parentis" philosophy has
been followed through the years with the
excuse that the University actually was
taking the place of the parent. As it is
not, in reality, there is no valid reason
for the continuance of the practices based
on this philosophy. The arguments that
oppose this philosophy get stronger every
year.
LEGALLY, A WOMAN can live outside
the residence halls as a freshman. All
she must do is get married and live with
her husband. Women who are not stu-
dents are able to determine their own
curfews. Why not women who are stu-
dents?
Young people, male and female, are al-
lowed certain freedom of action while
not a student. There is no logical basis
to a philosophy that requires or restricts
them from the same freedom of action,
simply because they are students.
Visiting policies in the men's houses
are determined by some nebulous individ-
ual, hidden within the misty never-never
land of the University bureaucracy. These
policies should be the prerogative of the
students. Women students are required to
live in the residence halls until they are
juniors. State law recognizes the right of
women over 18 to make contracts and to
live apart from their parents.
IT IS AN UNWARRANTED assumption
of power on the part of the University
to thus refute the legal government. It
places them in the position of saying, "We
are the ones who know what is best for
our students." They insist on maintaining
this fallacy when the state has already
decided that the students are the ones
who actually know "what is best" for
themselves.
The time has come to give the students
at least a minimal degree of self-control
and self-determination. Ultimate goals of
students and their representatives should
be to place complete control of house ac-
tivities and social policies in the hands of
the individual houses and their residents.
PRESSURE must be placed on the Uni-
versity. It must not be in the form of
a meek and humble request. It must be
a demand which can be backed up by
student support. Now is the time for the
representatives of the residents, the In-
ter-House Assembly, to ask a lot of hard,
piercing questions. Right now is the time
for new, well-reasoned policies in answer
to them.
-DAVID SMITH
A' Precedent
THE PSYCHOLOGY department's cur-
riculum committee is the only one at
the University that can refer for sugges-
tions to a committee of students desig-
nated specifically to evaluate its program.
This student advisory committee oper-
ates as a means for formulating student
surveys on psychology courses. The eight
students on the committee evaluate the
surveys and then make general sugges-
tions from the gathered data to the de-
partment's curriculum committee.
The progress of the students' advisory
group is being impeded by the shortage
of publicity for its projects. The surveys
it conducts lack the much-needed verbal
contact with students to make the re-
sults more accurate.
Advisory committee surveys cannot
tell a complete story unless supplement-
ed by a substantial number of student
voices. More suggestions from students
would give more weight to the student
committee's recommendations to the cur-
riculum-planners.
ANOTHER WAY for the student advisory
committee's suggestions to gain
strength would be the formation of sim-
ilar committees in other departments of
the University.
More students would be available to
contact about any personal complaints.
This additional contact between students
mately a 2.6 to 2.7 grade point
average to place in the upper half
of the male portion of his class
and to avoid taking the examina-
tion given by the Selective Service
,Board. Assuming that the majority
of the lower half fails to pass the
exam, the U of M could, conceiv-
ably, be without its lower half.
Naturally, if the Selective Serv-
ice takes from any male class its
bottom half, the cass is left with
little in the way of solid founda-
tion material. In order to con-
tinue existing, the class must find
some other foundation and so
makes use of the evil CLASS
CURVE. It reevaluates itself and
creates a new bottom half. In its
turn the new bottom half is in-
ducted.
In three easy steps the SICK-
ENING. CYCLE has been created.
Methodically, the CYCLE reasserts
itself until very few male stu-
dents remain. Those remaining
males, be they conscientious ob-
jectors or physically unfit for
service, are ejected by the Univer-
sity which no longer finds male
dormitories, male gym classes or
other such paraphernalia eco-
nomically feasible. Thus, the male
student becomes outdated and the
University and all similar insti-
tutions become singularly fem-
inine.
The boy-girl ratio would literally
cease to exist. The girls might
mistakenly assess the situation at
other universities as different
from their own. Subsequently, they
would transfer in search of boys
and dates. Without students, the
University would have little jus-
tification for maintaining its pre-
vious standards of education and
would begin to teach at a recog-
nizably lower level.
Sad but true.
-Robert L. Graham, 169
-Jeffrey D. Epton, '69
Senate Hearings
To the Editor:
THE FOLLOWING petition, ad-.
dressed to Sen. J. W. Fulbright,
is at present being passed around
campus:
We, the undersigned, affirm
the following: The current pub-
lic hearings on foreign policy
are in the best interests of the
country. Coming ata crucial
point in our involvement in
Southeast Asia, they represent a
fulfillment of your constitutional
duites to assess the conduct of
foreign affairs.
Moreover, the magnitude of
the present appropriations re-
quest before Congress, and the
grave consequences of the Viet-
namese conflict for the nation
and the world, call for further
attempts on your part to bring
the administration before your
committee to discuss its policies
in full and open public hearings.
WE FEEL that these hearings
are of such importance that they
deserve the fullest possible sup-
port. Copies of the petitions can
be found in the Fishbowl.
-Allan Casebir, Grad
-Bruce Landesman, Grad
--Tony Blair, Grad
-Yataka Yamamoto, Grad
SHA
To the Editor:
YOUR RECENT editorial backing
the efforts by SOC and SHA
to register UM students for voting
in Ann Arbor is to be commended.
Letters to the editor in the past
year show that students have ve-
hement opinions for and against
m o $ o r c y c 'e noise ordinances,
apartment antidiscrimination reg-
ulations, police conduct, bicycle
license rules, and low-rent housing
proposals. All of these matters
are dealt with by the 11-man Ann
Arbor City Council, and the most
recent proposal-'-a one per cent
city income tax--could affect
many working students where they
would feel it most.
A man or woman who spends 4-8
years of his life ri this city is
obviously entitled to some say in
what direction his government
moves. No one can claim "no
regulation without representation"
unless he has been denied the
right to vote. And it is the task
of the SHA to dispell the myth
that only a few students may
register in this city.
THE CRUCIAL REASON for
registering more students is that,
since I have lived here, three city
council men have been elected by
12, 4, and even 2 votes! This is
because only about 50 per cent of
city electors bother to vote and
these voters are divided into five
separate wards, each of which
elects two councilmen. The tiny
margins which often result could
be switched one way or the, other
if even a moderate number of stu-
dents register by the March 7
deadline and then vote on April 4.
-Christopher Cohen, '67L
*1
so
4
I
4
*
4 - 's -
Aunt Clara Speaks-
I
IN A NUTSHELL
By BETSY COHN
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CLUTCHED at my bottle de-
fiantly and glared out of my
crib. Even at the age of seven
months, I realized there would be
great conflict between me and my
elders. Nevertheless, I was a very
obliging young tyke and went
through all the babyhood rituals
of dribbling at the appropriate
times, and emitting cute little gur-
gles at silly relatives who stood
over me shaking rattles in their
teeth. Sometimes I even permitted
my mother to crawl on the floor
with me and sing some of her
childhood tunes.
My father was harder to please;
for him I had to show strength
and virility so I gleefully tore the
legs off my dolls and roasted gold-
I WAS very happy to dispose of
my diapers, toss my bottle aside,
frolic through the howdy-doody
stage and stumble awkwardly
through adolescence; till'I reached
the big-time teen years.
I still viewed adults askance
but chose to ignore them and their
frivolous ways, realizing that as
long as I was an advocate of teddy
bears and plastic bubbles, there
was no chance of me reverting to
the cooing idiocy of adult baby-
viewers.
BOTTLE STAGE number two.
I was a very belligerant coed but
went to a fraternity party in
spite of myself. I followed the
rituals of gaping at my quivering
dance partner who dribbled and
gurgled at the most inappropriate
times and I watched with fascina-
tion my fellow peers who climbed
on shelves and rolled into corners
singing and strumming their fa-
vorite tunes . . . I realized things
A
p