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January 09, 1966 - Image 4

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1966-01-09

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Seventy -Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OFt MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATONS

U' Traffic Institute: 771 Be Damned'

-

Where Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST AN APBOR, Mun.
Tnt~lt IttPrevpil 2 ANAnSr. N RONil

Ni-ws 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.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT MOORE
the Daily Leaps
Onto the Bondwagon

AMES BOND has come into his own.
The intrepid double-agent of sex-sad-
ism-snobbery has become as thoroughly
entrenched in the American scene as his
fellow imports from the sceptred isle, the
Beatles.
The movies and books are assured of
multi-million dollar success after care-
fully prepared publicity leaks and pre-
publication fantasia have built an audi-
ence receptively drooling at the box of-
fice, money in fist.
But the movies and novels are the least
aspect of the phenomenon; a prolifera-
tion of toothpaste, T-shirts ,trench coats,
attache cases, toiletries and Lord-knows-
what-next have jumped financially on to
Bond's meteoric ride to mediocrity.
The image is so magnetic-Sean Con-
nery despite himself is in danger of being
trapped forever inside the creation-that
now art, imagination, and finally even
humor have disappeared from the for-
mula. The films succeed in returning five-
fold to the producers because the public
Scrambled
Planning
AS THE SEMESTER begins, students are
again caught in the vise of the scram-
bled bureaucratic effort. Professors, un-
able to enter through the masses filling
up their rooms, mutter to themselves
about the efficiency of pre-registration.
Most students have learned to laugh a
little-and struggle on.
The results of student placement this
year are diverse. The Chemistry 104 lec-
ture room is reminiscent of the Sorborne,
where students sit in the aisles, on rail-
ings, and on the floor. This is the lecture
where students have reserved three rows
for repeaters. Labs and recitations prom-
ise to be a lot of fun.
At the other extreme is a Great Books
195 section with only six students. The
teacher decided that discussion would
flourish in other than a classroom at-
mosphere. Result: the class will meet in
the MUG for the remainder of the semes-
ter.
One of the last of the student-minded
professors politely inquired where his
English 231 students were coming from,
and announced that the class would start
late for the duration to give students a
chance to arrive..
BUT NOT ALL INCIDENTS are as amus-
ingly harmless. The mathematics de-
partment seems to have had trouble
planning for this semester, much to the
detriment of its students. One student
had a class cancelled that was scheduled
to meet four times a week, and had to
take another for which he was not suffi-
cintly prepared.
The new combined Math 315-316 course
has especially bothered many students.
The average section has nearly 200 stu-
dents. The instructor in one section said
that due to the size of the class he could
give no individual help, would not have
any office hours, and the students might
as well not try to talk with him. Few peo-
ple are likely to find this course so simple
that no discourse with the teacher is re-
quired.
The rooms designated for these sections
are overcrowded and not designed as lec-
ture rooms. The demand for the course
apparently caught the department by
surprise, though it is the only way for
non-math majors to fulfill requisites for
higher mathematics. With more science
concentration programs and the school

of engineering requiring the course, plan-
ning should have been a little better.
THENTHERE is the student who took
Math 315 just because he liked math,
not because he needed it. When his green
slip was returned to him at registration
he found that Math 316 had been tacked
onto his schedule giving him 19 credit
hours. He dropped the four hours of math.
The change was made by the math de-
partment halfway through pre-registra-
tion.
MANY OF THESE, conflicts, professors
tell their classes, are due to mix-ups
during nre-registration. They must be

is willing, however tongue-in-cheek it
wishes to deny it, to lap up the spectacle
of gorgeous color, bizarre weaponry, vol-
uptuous starlets, and vapid humor and
still thirst for more.
NOBODY BELIEVES it's real or even
probable, everyone knows who's kid-
ding whom, but nobody wants to object;
everyone loves Bondomania.f
Gimmicks help, but the succeeding
films are increasingly retreads with lush-
er embellishments. "Doctor No" and
"From Russia with Love" were small-
budget affairs, feeling out an untested
market; when "Goldfinger" hit the big
time, the first two films were re-released
to cash in on the rising popularity of
Bond. The latest epic, "Thunderball,"
having little room for improvement over
"Goldfinger" may be slyly parodying it-
self, secretly laughing at a gullible pub-
lic which . responds by forming longer
lines at the marques.
What is the secret of Bond's success?
Playboy and Esquire push him as the
epitome of complet masculinity; wom-
en go flutter over Sean Connery; Kings-
ley Amis casts one fat approving critical
glance upon him, finds him commend-
able for his loyalty, toughness and per-
severance. In an age of serious litera-
ture applauding existentialism of despair
and alienation, Bond stands out in the
popular literature as the latest inheritor
of the great comic book hero tradition.
BOND'S CREATOR Ian Fleming is dead,
leaving a posthumously published
"Man with the Golden Gun," a miserable
rehash of parts of previous works.
Although he consistently denied it,
Bond is probably the extension of Flem-
ing's interesting if unexciting experience
in the British Secret Service during the
Second World War. When Bond wipes
out Le Chiffre's bankroll at baccarat in
"Casino Royale," Fleming is turning vi-
carious tables on the couple of German
spies who did the same thing to him in
Lisbon. "James Bond" was appropriated
from the author of an ornithological work
on West Indian birds because Fleming
wanted his hero to be a blunt, anonymous
instrument of the government even
down to his uncolorful name.
And of course there are always the
Bond women, "never married" as Con-
nery remins us of his alter ego's code
of ethics. Ripe, lush with pillowy flesh
and provocative mouths, they parade and
sport in gorgeous color like a Playboy
gatefold.
BOND SUFFERS from prolonged liter-
ary satyriasis, but he is no Don Juan.
He does things the way he wants and the
women can't help tumbling into bed en-
raptured by the contempt with which he
treats them. (In the last film he slugged
a widow, but she was a disguised man.
Maybe next time it will be the real thing
and Cagney will lose all his fans.)
Yet the perceptive viewer comes to
realize that Bond is really a Puritan. He
treats faithful Miss Moneypenny like a
sister, but with his seductions he is cold-
ly cynical. Although he recognizes-nay,
revels-in the physical luxury of sex, he
views his conquests with the classical
prude's attitude of "vessel of sin." Sex
fills in the boring times of his unintellec-
tual life between bouts with counter-
agents, but beneath the veneer his tom-
cat life is as fleeting as it is superficial;
master of a thousands nights, he is the
possessor of no mornings-after.
FLEMING SPOKE of Bond as being a re-
flection of his time. The most astring-
ent decriers of his cult say he represents
the chauvinism, violence, and cynicism of

the 20th century.
But this is what attracts the adoles-
cents to the movies; merchandisers know
that what sells Bond to the middle-class
white collar worker and the sophisticated
culturati is his savoir faire.
Bond is as calculating and unemotion-
al as the Walther PPK he packs. No sit-
uation ruffles him. Whether ordering cav-
iar and wine, playing banquo, or trading
repartee with a crotchety quartermaster,
he plays a brilliant game of one upsman-
ship. This may be extravagant snobbery,
but with status-conscious Americans, the
identification goes over big.

By MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH
" DON'T KNOW anything spe-
Scifically."
"I'll be damned."
These two comments, one from
Henry Ford II and the other from
a top automobile industry spokes-
man,,typify the long and confus-
ing chain of events surrounding
the $10 million auto industry
grant to the University for a high-
way safety institute-events which
raise more questions than they
answer.
The furor over the grant has its
roots in Senate hearings last
spring in Washington. The auto
industry, called before a subcom-
mittee investigating highway prob-
lems chaired by Abraham Ribi-
coff (D-Conn), came under in-
tense and telling attack from Ribi-
coff and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy
(D-NY) for their failure to devote
anything more than token atten-
tion to the problems of automo-
tive safety.
LATE IN AUGUST Secretary of
State James M. Hare wrote each
of the companies-still smarting
from their ordeal in Washington-
and suggested that they help sub-
sidize research on a much-needed
1966 Michigan traffic safety pro-
gram for the legislature.
Among the questions Hare said
he needed answers to immediately
were the effectiveness of Mich-
igan's 12-point driver license sus-
pension system, the number of
people whose licenses are suspend-
ed or revoked but continue to
drive, and the extent of traffic
ticket-fixing.
The companies sent representa-
tives to a meeting in Hare's office
on Sept. 14, and left with a gen-
eral indication of interest-and
an understanding that they would
let Hare know their response by
the end of the month.
"I thought I was getting acquie-
sence," H'are said later. "Every-
thing seemed to be geared towards
getting something on short order."
But he added, "I was always talk-
ing to a very amorphous group in
which it was hard to know what
was going on."
IN THE MIDDLE of October,
Hare sent the Automobile Manu-
facturers Association (AMA),
which was coordinating the dis-
cussions for the industry, a re-
minder and another request for
an answer and a commitment. He
has not heard from them since.
About this time-late October
and early November - the auto
companies first came to the Uni-
versity with a suggestion that, if
it would submit a plan and a re-
quest for money for a highway
research institute, the industry
would be more than happy to con-
sider the request.
(Although the University's final
announcement said that "Dr.
Hatcher explained" that the Uni-
versity had presented the proposal
and the request to the industry,
and while an auto industry spokes-
man said he "was not aware" that
the reverse had been the case and
that he "couldn't say how things
got started in casual conversa-
tion," the spokesman later slipped
and said, "When we went to the
University, we were impressed by
their very fine plan.")
THE PROPOSED plan went
through several stages. The in-
dustry at first opposed any in-
quiry into automotive design and
its safety features (or lack there-
of), but University officials fin-
ally changed the industry's mind.
The final grant-$6 million from
the AMA for operating expenses
for the first five years, and $4
million for a laboratory building
from 'Ford and General Motors-
was announced on Dec. 17.
Included in the announcement
was glowing praise for the indus-

try from President Hatcher (who
said the grant was "in addition
to the support the industry long
has given to organizations work-
ing in the safety field . . . the
important work which the indus-
try itself has done. ..")
Also in the announcement was
a statement from Secretary of
Commerce John T. Connor. The
statement, issued after a Washing-
ton meeting between Connor,
some aides, President Hatcher and
other University officials and in-
dustry representatives, said, "This
program along with other private
and governmental efforts will go
far toward achieving an integrat-
ed attack upon the programs of
highway safety."
University officials stressed that
the institute was going to "under-
take a broad systems approach"-
meaning simultaneous considera-
tion of factors affecting traffic
safety and relating them to each
other and in order of their signifi-
cance - which was described to
newsmen as "novel" and "the first
in the country."
VICE PRESIDENT for Research
Geoffrey Norman conceded later
that the "systems"approach to.
traffic safety "isn't entirely
novel," but stressed that such a
thorough-going method is "much
more possible" if-as in the Uni-
versity's case - the operating
budget allows the institute to pass
the "critical size" needed for suc-
cess and to acquire the necessary
stability given by the guarantee
of five years of such substantial
financial support.
Among the "possible research
projects" the University mentioned
as institute programs on traffic,
driver, and vehicle characteristics
and interrelationships were "the
structural strength of the human
body, impact tolerance of internal
organs . . . driving behavior of
alcoholics when sober . . . testing
of a mathematical model of traffic
conditions which go with acci-
dents . . . effects on safety of
commercial fleet practices."
The only two studies of auto-
mobile design which the safety in-
stitute might make given in the
announcement w e r e "forward
scanning radar to be mounted in
individual automobiles and de-
velopment of devices for emer-
gency communication with (sic)
drivers."
The auto manufacturers also
consulted Michigan State Univer-
sity's traffic safety center on a
number of specific Michigan prob-
lems, asking for projected studies
and cost estimates, but gave no
commitments-and no cash.
THE DEC. 17 announcement of
the $10 million giant to the Uni-
versity was the first time MSU and
Hare heard of it. An auto indus-
try spokesman said Friday "I
don't think so" when asked if the
industry had any plans to work
with Hare to support research de-
voted towards a 1966 traffic safety
program as he had requested.
Three days later, Hare issued a
statement on the grant attacking
the auto industry for "by-pass-
ing" the MSU center for the
"grant to the University (which)
envisions a $4 million building,
plus recruitment of researchers
and faculty, before it can even
make a beginning."
"As a public relations gesture it
is probably an effective one for
the industry," he said, noting that
"it will allow (them), when they
are called in again to testify before
the Ribicoff Committee, to point
out this grant and others . . . as
their contribution to the safety
picture." But, he added, the grant
"effectively precludes any answers
coming forth in the next 212 to 3
years."
Later, in an interview, Hare
said, "They have every right to
give their grants wherever they

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4

The cost of (lying index rose to a record high last month . ..

want to. But this sets us back. The
number of people in this field is
very limited, and this sets up a
situation where two great schools
are fighting for the few in it."
HIS STATEMENT added that
the projected University research
topics-including the "driving be-
havior of alcoholics when sober"
-"avoids and evades the really,
'gut' questions."
Then, last Wednesday evening,
Henry Ford II, interviewed in
Lansing - in a statement "more
Hare than Hare" said, "I know
that several universities were con..
sidered for the money. But as to
why it was given to the University
over any other school, I don't
know anything specifically."
A top auto industry spokesman,
told of Ford's statement on Fri-
day, said with astonishment, "I'll
be damned."
** *
THE ISSUES in the controversy
take on a new perspective when
viewed in the light of the forego-
ing chronology. The University
was more than eager to accept,
the grant, and it is not difficult
to see why.
The. $55 million sesquicenten-
nial fund drive-$0.5 million short
of its year-end projection without
the $10 million grant-is clearly
commanding increasing attention
from high University officials, in-
cluding President Hatcher. Harry
Chesbrough, a Chrysler Corp. vice-
president, is chairman of the cor-
porate grants part of the Univer-
sity's $55 million fund drive, which
Vice President for Research Geof-
frey Norman said Thursday was
an important factor in the award-
ing of the grant.

No university, moreover, unless
it had an inordinate degree of
selflessness, could conceiveably
turn down such a grant ("the
largest corporate gift ever received
by a university for any purpose,"
the Dec. 17 announcement said),
particularly when it would guar-
antee the "critical size" and "sta-
bility" characteristics which are
important to research.
Finally, University officials are
probably enthusiastic about the
idea of furthering traffic safety-
witness their successful campaign
to put automotive design back in-
to the topics of inquiry of the in-
stitute.
Covering law, engineeing, med-
icine, psychology and other fields,
traffic safety is also significant as
an educational field as well as a
research area and is relevant to
students as well as to researchers.
ON THE OTHER hand, the $55
million campaign; the public-re-
lations advantages (GM President
Roche referred to the grant in a
mid-November speech when it was
still in the planning state), par-
ticularly of Connor's and Hatch-
er's hosannas; its effectiveness as
a shield against inquisitive sen-
ators; and perhaps the three-year
moratorium it gave on research
results all must have been entic-
ing to Detroit.
Thus Hare's appeals for quick
action on traffic problems in the
state where they are based and
the fact that the "systems-ap-
proach" grant could have been put
to work more quickly at a func-
tioning traffic safety center such
as those at MSU, Cornell or MIT
were ignored.
And so, finally, the grant went

to the University. But the problem
Hare spotlighted, the need for
facts to formulate a 1966 legisla-
tive traffice safety program, re-
mains.
Although he has not commented
on the issue since his Dec. 20
statement, friends report that
Hare plans to continue the cam-
paign.
Although he has not attacked
the University and has simply
denounced the industry for ignor-
ing his request, it would appear
that there is little time left for
the University to avoid getting
caught in an embarrassing cross-
fire-particularly since a top auto
spokesman doubts that the indus-
try is going to give Hare an an-
swer on his request for help on
research.
SOME OBSERVERS, however,
see a way for the University to
satisfy Hare, keep its institute and
not only avoid a Hare-industry
tangle but gain some praise for
creativity and constructiveness.
A University spokesmen men-
tioned Wednesday that the Uni-
versity's institute could, even be-
fore it gets a director, get the
grant transferred to the Univer-
sity (which has not yet occurred),
contract with MSU's center for
research and thereby get the an-
swers to the questions Here and
the legislature need immediately.
Hare has kept silent after his
Dec. 20 statement up to this point.
But auto executives are worried
that he's still "emotional" about
the issue, and friends report he
"definitely" intends to, pursue it.
What will happen next-in the
absence of University ac -"
anybody's guess.

ill

I

Presenting the Annual Edgar Awards

By ROGER RAPOPORT

THE HEARTWARMING re-
sponse from universities
throughout the country to last
year's presentation of. awards for
outstanding achievement on the
college level, has convinced a
large segment of The Michigan
Daily staff (me) to make the
awards an annual event.
This year something new has
been added. Every award has a
name, be it Pulitzer, Nobel or
Emmy. After careful deliberation
the college awards have been des-
ignated as "Edgars," in honor of
our nation's FBI director's middle
name. This year's awards are:.
WHAT GETS LEFT OUT OF
THE PERSONALS EDGAR - to
Grocer Ralph Bolhouse of Ralph's
Market. When University student
Allan Axelrod, '67, tried to es-
tablish a Sunday morning bagel
delivery route, Bolhouse, who does
a big Sunday bagel business got
in touch with his Detroit bagelry.
He threatened to cut off his order
if any bagels were sold to Axelrod.
Axelrod lost the route and Bol-
house kept his bagel business.
PUBLISH AND PARISH ED-
GAR-To St. John's, the nation's
lamet rCtholiu ivmitv. which

SMOKE GETS IN MY EYES
EDGAR - To University English
department Chairman Warner G.
Rice who lashed out in his "Mem-
orandum on the Restoration of
Discipline Among Members of the
University" against such signs of
moral decay as "slatternly typists
occupied in smoking cigarets or
in extinguishing them in coffee
cups which adorn their desks" and
"the spectacle of faculty meet-
ings ... where those in attendence
. . . smoke freely and without
reprimand."
WARNER RICE EDGAR-To
Bob Morgan, director of the Alum-
ni Association, and Regent Paul
Goebel for writing recently that
they want to ban protest, beards
and long hair to make room for
true Americans on campus.
AUTOMATION EDGAR - To
Search the program that promised
5 great dates by way of a com-
puter. When the cards were first
run through the computer boys
were given dates with boys- and
girls matched with girls.
COMEBACK OF THE YEAR
EDGAR-To MIT's new President
Howard W. Johnson who had re-
signed from his university post
and was in the process of moving
to Ohio when he was named

printing an editorial criticizing
his planned million-dollar gift for
a threatre. "A million dollars is
more than you'll ever make in a
lifetime," Power told Johnston.
WE INVENTED IT BEFORE
THE RUSSIANS EDGAR - To
Harvard President Nathan M.
Pusey for claiming that the stu-
dent protest movement didn't be-
gin at Berkeley but at Harvard.
In a magazine article he cites
as evidence recent protests led by
such activists as John Quincy
Adams and Henry David Thoreau.
HILLEL EDGAR-To Sherman
Kahn, the Brooklyn rabbinical
student who with six other Jewish
boys looted 18 New York syna-
gogues during the past year.
Among other items the boys stole
the sacred torah (bible on parch-
ment scroll), a typewriter, record
players, public address systems and
tape recorders.
HoU Many
rIlliterates?
WOHUMAN beings, already

J. EDGAR HOOVER, ON THE LEFT (for one of the few times in
his life), has kindly not been asked to lend his middle name to
this year's awards. However, his continuing interest in collegiate
activities (such as the W.E.B. DuBois Club and Students for a
Democratic Society) has made it singularly appropriate that the
award honor this distinguished man of letters (FBI). Professor
Warner Rice of the English department (on the write) is just
one of this year's many outstanding recipients of the award.

A

"

inRy its Stanfor'd c"hanter' for nledg-

caise for requiring our government

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