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 w., .. ,. '+A ,S ,,. ,a ' ) f ,, :«+ ,. :. - _ _ ... . 4 ' i: . ' . S y. y.}ash .. , 'a +..._ i , --- ~, F, -- __ " '^ .,. "^"' . :: y ,. - ...,. ..: ._- y :,, 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