V. ol 4r mir4ligau Bal-Ig SOUND and FURY Taking a Second Look at Academic Policy Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Lere Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN APBOR, MICH. Trutht Will Prevail NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT KLIVANS Viet Nam Blood Driv'e: Cause for Both Sides. AS TIE WAR in Viet Nam teaches us a hard lesson on the pitfalls of global- ism, some of its domestic manifestations teach us perhaps a gentler but equally valuable lesson.' Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority are spon- soring a blood drive this week. The blood supplies collected during this drive will be sent, through the Defense Department to South Viet Nam, primarily for Ameri- can soldiers, but also, for civilians in- jured in military operations. Those who support, the war will, nat- urally, contribute if they are able. For them, this is a chance to aid an.effort which they consider vital for their coun- try's safety. FOR THE MANY who do not support the war, the decision will be more diffi- cult. They do not wish to further a war that they think is unjust, yet do not wish at the same time to withhold aid from another human being. This editorial, then, is written in the hope that it may help them to solve this dilemma. While it would be better if this blood Campaig-i FOR THE PAST four weeks I have read, edited and submitted for publication letters to the editor written for the SGC campaign. I am sick. "The boldness to advise . . . aerial bal- loon . . . personal favoritism . . . political irrelevance . . . s 1 a n t e d language ... friendship contest . .. personality defects isolationist . . . egalitarian . . . esca- pade." The petty criticism and personal abuse that occurred under the guise of "clarify- ing the issues" was simply ridiculous and could have been avoided with a little thoughtful pressure from the candidates themselves. EVIDENTLY THEY WERE taking them- selves too seriously at the time $o consider such action. As one of those same candidates admitted frankly, "I never thought I'd send a letter like this. I had to get drunk to do it." Many of the letters, of course, were written by members of the opposing "poli- tical" groups and then signed by someone else. Weighed against the divisions this type of tactic has created within SGC, against the image of SGC it must have present- ed to the campus, was it really worth it? A FLIP OF A COIN two weeks ago might have been just as informative and a lot less destructive. -ROBERT CARNEY Acting Associate Editorial Director Acting Editorial Staff MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH. Editor subscription rate:$450 sprnester by carrier 1$5 by inati: $8 yearly by carrier t$9 by maA , Second class pstage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich. were distributed through a relatively impartial organization such as the Inter- national Red Cross, all is not lost if it goes through the Defense Department. First, any medical aid going to Viet Nam, no matter which organization han- dles it, eventually will benefit civilian and military alike. Second, it is true that the armed forces have often used their own doctors, medical supplies and facilities to treat injured civilions. THESE CONSIDERATIONS, encouraging though they may be, do not complete- ly resolve the dilemma of those who are opposed to the war. "What is the prob- lem?" you might ask. "If you are helping people, what difference does it make?" The "difference".lies in the distinction between theory and practice, in the ques- tion that every conscientious objector must answer for himself when he chooses medical work instead of combat duty in the military. His reasoning might run something like this: I am opposed to war and killing in the name of national goals. I have been given several alternatives under the law some of which do not require that I join the military. However, in affirmation of my devotion to humanity, I choose to work where, perhaps, I am needed most. The decision, obviously, remains diffi- cult. The rationale does not answer all questions, yet it suffices if one has faith in the worth of what he is doing. REGISTRATION for appointments to give blood will be conducted today and tomorrow on the Diag, in the Fishbowl and on Main Street. These appointments will be Thursday and Friday, March 31 and April 1 in the Union. Hopefully, there will be many "End the War in Viet Nam" buttons on those who register in the next two days. -CHARLOTTE A. WOLTER Acting Associate Editorial Director Cooing It SEVERAL MEMBERS of the Board of Regents who use the intramural build- ing swimming pool have ordered the physical education department to keep the water in that facility at a temperature which is not conducive to teaching var- ious swimming techniques. An instructor of "drownproofing" told this reporter that several regents use the pool regularly for recreational pur- poses. "In order to make the water stim- ulating, they have ordered that it be kept at a temperature much less conducive to learning swimming techniques than water of higher temperature," the instructor said. "The needs of the students should come first," the source continued. "The depart- ment is definitely too weak if a few men in influential places can use the pool for 20 minutes a week and make it ineffec- tive for the rest of the week," he con- cluded, HOPEFULLY reform will soon be forth- coming.AE --WALLACE IMMEN T HE PRESENT University grad- ing system, the defects of which we pointed out in this space last week, merits close evaluation by the administration. There are some good possibilities for alternative systems which might help provide more intel- lectual meaning to the average student's university experience. Several major universities, in- cluding Princeton and Stanford, have already considered adopting partial pass-fail grading systems on an optional basis. The advan- tage of this system as currently outlined would be to permit stu- dents to elect one course per semester in which they would re- ceive a flat passing or failing grade. Hopefully, such a system would encourage students to take at least. one course per semester outside their basic specialization area. At the present time, many students shy away from these courses be- cause they fear a low grade which would hurt their accumulated averages. BUT UNDER THE partial pass- fail system engineering students could take an art history course and humanities majors could elect a natural science laboratory with- out fearing the consequences. Under the Stanford and Prince- ton plans, courses in a student's major and all distribution courses would be graded through the tra- ditional system. These proposals do not go far enough. A radical reorganization of the garding system is necessary in order to substantially improve the academic atmosphere on this campus. Although the addition of one pass-fail course per semester would definitely help, the basic gradepoint pressures-particularly in the student's field of concen- tration-would remain intense. THE BRITISH grading system is an alternative which should be discussed. As described by visiting Prof. H. C. Allen of the history department recently, most British students take a series of three- hour "papers," or exams, that cover their entire college career, with particular emphasis on the student's field of concentration. It might be argued that these exams would create pressure dur- ing a student's final terms which would be far more serious than the periodic exams which Ameri- can students face every four or five months. But these examinations would offer good preparation for those students planning to take master's degrees, which require similar types of examinations. With an increasing percentage of students bound, for graduate school, a series of penultimate examinations in the student's last term would serve as an education- al experience-the claim which is now falsely made for most semes- ter finals-and would also enable the student to spend time attempt- ing to unify the material he has absorbed during his education. IT MIGHT ALSO be contended that, if a student fails his final examinations, his entire under- graduate education would have ended in failure and he would thus be disqualified from further higher education. In order to avoid this type of disaster, a student should be given an additional study period-perhaps another month or two, and then be given the opportunity to take the exam again. In order that the student might intellectually integrate his under- graduate education, the last term of his senior year should have a light academic load. To this end, the University should grant four hours of credit for most of the courses which are now worth three. Upperclass stu- dents have more assignments per week in most of these courses than in four-credit survey courses. Some departments, notably psychology, are already adjusting credit hours for many of their upper-level three-hour courses. THIS CHANGE should be made in most humanities and social science departments. Some lecture courses which now meet three hours per week could institute a fourth hour of discussion while maintaining the same work load. In this way, most students would take four courses for 16 hours of credit each term. During some terms, theymight take a combination of courses which would grant more credit hours, since some students might be cap- able of taking five courses, some worth four credits, others worth two (such as science labs) for a total of 17-19 credit hours. Thus, the student could amass a total of close to 120 credit hours in seven terms, leaving the final term free for a self-initiated re- view of subject material and an intellectual appraisal of what he has absorbed. OF COURSE, many adjustments would be necessary in this type of academic reorganization. Pro- fessors would undoubtedly still assign term papers, which could be evaluated in a more meaning- ful fashion than by letter grades. Freed of the time-consuming bur- den of recording exam grades and preparing mid-terms and finals, many professors might be able to read their students' papers rather than consigning this function to a teaching assistant. Similarly, the professors might be able to write a critical evalua- tion of each paper, devoid of the letter grade which is usually ra- tionalized as a sufficient appraisal of an academic piece of work. Many students undoubtedly re- member the feeling of having a major examination or paper which has required long hours of effort returned to them with a grade of "A" ora"C" and no explanation of what made the work a solid intel- lectual accomplishment or an ap- parently unworthy endeaver. SOME MAY OBJECT to this idea of comprehensive senior-year exams because they will create a period of intense "cramming"- thus defeating the purpose of the new system. In answer to this, it must be emphasized that these final examinations would not take the form of the traditional, mul- tiple-multiple choice objective tests, but would be in essay form, enabling the student to demon- strate his power of intellectual analysis and perception as applied to the body of knowledge he has acquired during his education. The aim of a university educa- tion should not be limited to the acquisition of a professionally use- ful body of specialized information along with a smattering of ex- posure to pseudo-intellectual gen- eralizations. The primary goal of a liberal education should be the acquisi- tion of intellectual wisdom-the ability to think and reason clearly without irrational bias-rather than a huge mass of information which is useless unless it can be properly applied to complex issues. Certainly the acquisition of wis- dom is a long process which cul- minates only in an individual's intellectual maturity. But unless the process begins during college education, it may never have the chance to take root in the stu- dent's psyche. 4 0 U Leaders' Failure Aids Anti-Semi'tism By MARSHALL LASSAR 'INCE THE END of the war, anti-Semitism in Europe has generally sunk below the surface of events; the pandemic diseace of a millenia is not often seen. Within the past couple of years, however, tthe bitter prejudice has reappeared in many countries, jutting above the surface enough to prove without a doubt that it is far from dead. In Austria, Ger- many, in Poland, in Russia-and in the Roman Catholic Church, a few minor and several major events have proved that the tragic crime of the Nazis is rapidly being forgotten. The most recent of the occur- rences was in Austria, which last week held its seventh national election since the end of the war. Campaigning at a giant rally, a former minister of the interior, Franz Olah, set a crowd roaring with approval when he referred to the alleged Jewish origin of mem- bers of a party he had quit, inject- ing anti-Semitism in Austrian poli- tics for the first time since the war. THIS IS A recent develop- ment-but Austria's failure to prosecute her war criminals is not. In the most recent case, two naturalized Austrians went on trial for having participated in the mass murder of Jews-and were acquitted when the jury, whose foreman had been a Nazi party member, decided all the witnesses had lied. This is one incident in a pat- tern that is responsible for the fact that out of 550,000 Nazis in Austria at the end of the war, three are in jail today for war crimes. But it is Germany where the most dangerous developments' have taken place. Three times in the last year Germany has fallen into diplomatic or political crises over its relationship with Jews. The largest of these was the fight within Germany over the extension of the statute of limita- tions for war criminals, which was scheduled to run out in May of 1965 (twentieth anniversary of the German surrender); the battle almost toppled the Erhard government, and seriously strain- ed relations with the Jews of Ger- many and Israel. WITH WORLD OPINION vigor- ously 4urging extension of the statute the country split on the issue,, ostensibly on its constitu- tionality. Justice Minister Ewald Bucher headed the opposition, claiming that the law would be unconstitutional, that as a result it would weaken respect in Ger- many for the law, and that "we should neither depart to the left nor to the right from existing law." He said in a radio broadcast that it would not be Germany's fault if "some" Nazis escaped pros- ecution because of the statute's expiration. He asked "what are other nations doing to prosecute crimes committed against Ger- mans during the war?"; he threat- ened to resign if the bill was passed. On February 24, 1965, the cab- inet came out in support of legis- lation to extend the statute-but said it would not initiate any bills to this end. A POLL SHOWED that over two-thirds of the German people favored an end to the war crimes trials, giving as their reason that it would hurt Germany's reputa- tion. The outcome of all this was that extension was voted, by almost four to one-but it was the weak- est of the bills proposed that was passed. The statute now extends to January 1, 1970. A crisis of almost equal mag- nitude came when the secret de-, livery of arms to Israel was un- covered. Knuckling under to pres- sure from the Arab states, Bonn ended the shipments. i But the furor that was touched off in Germany was not due to any feeling that aid to Israel was morally required; it was due to the belief that by bowing to Arab demands the country had been humiliated, it had been given a slap to its status as a great nation. RELATIONS with Israel and Jews throughout the world were given another turn for the worse when Germany refused to force the several hundred German scientists and technicians that were working on rockets for Nas- ser to leave Egypt-rockets which will probably be aimed toward Israel, which Nasser has vowed to "annihilate." And as in Austria, a great num- ber of Nazis and war criminals are still at large. Several former Nazis have been found in high govern- ment positions-in one case, a war crimes prosecutor was discovered to be an ex-Nazi-and the govern- ment, with the people's support, is reluctant to push the search too hard. Seventy thousand have been prosecuted, but hundreds of thou- sands remain undisturbed. Thus has Germany shown an amazing lack of concern for the people it almost exterminated. Any guilt that may have existed after the war is now found only among intellectuals and a few members of government; the mass of the people not only couldn't care less, but they, are turning toward the very thing which played a crucial role in the holocaust of the war, unfeeling nationalism. THEY SAY Germany must not suffer loss of honor or its reputa- tion as a great nation, and in saying so they wish to close the book on he most unforgettable tale of horror in human history. It is a chilling story, but aside from scattered acts-of vandalism, little has happened-yet. It is to the east, in Russia and Poland, where anti-Semitism comes closest to the surface. The prejudice is widespread and deep, but the Germans did an "efficient" job and there are few Jews left to hate. Where 2,000,000 Jews lived before the war, 30,000 remain'. Russia, very piou's on the sub- ject of Nazi war crimes and very scrupulous in its official policies toward Jews, is guilty, at least, of harassment of Jewish customs. AND THE ONE institution above all in which anti-Semitism should have long been dead, the Roman Catholic church, still has not cleansed itself of prejudice. With Italian conservative prelates lead- ing the way, the clause exonerating the Jews of the murder of Jesus was deleted from the Ecumenical Council's declaration on religious freedom In fact, Pope Paul has said that the Jews persecuted' Jesus and "they finally killed Him." It has been claimed that this was a test speech, aimed at sounding out church opinion, but if the Pope, were sincerely tolerant it would never have been said. In Germany, in Austria, in Poland, in Russia and in the Church anti-Semitism still re- mains active, and as shown has given signs of increasing strength. It is well below the surface in most places, but forced there not by any feeling of goodwill toward Jews, but by political and diplo- matic necessity and prosperous times. IT IS TRUE that anti-Semitism is lower now that at any point in recent history, and it is quite possible it will never be revived to the pitch of bitterness it has shown in the past. s But as the cataclysm of the Second World War recedes and as Europe comes upon political and or economic hard times, the spec- ter of the Jewish scapegoat may yet be seen again. * LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Israeli's Speech: Nice .But Not Deep ' VMS To the Editor: I WENT TO LISTEN to Israel's ambassador to the United States, Avraham Harman, speak on "Israel, The Next Phase." I managed to pin-point during the question period certain points that should interest the students of politics, the Jewish community, and those who are interested in the understanding of modern poli- tical conflicts. AMBASSADOR Harman's com- ments on Israel's problems and goals were nice but not deep. During his speech, he warned his audience not to expect any "dra- matic experience" with regard to future Arab-Israeli relations, but hoped that both sides would look for a "patient, nerve-racking, un- derstanding of each other, ac- knowledging everybody's person- alities and rights" to achieve a peaceful agreement. "Peace is what we want," he said, "through understanding each other and through peaceful dis- cussion." BUT, he points out, "The other side does not want peace," and "There purpose is to eliminate us." Furthermore, he accused the Arabs of breaking certain armis- tice agreements signed in the Security Council with regard to the nonuse of force. Moreover, the Arabs are trying to "steal" the water of the Jordan river, and the one million Arab refugees are "frozen" in their miserable con- dition because the Arabs refuse to help them to move out and plant years, and I am interested in this problem and want to know more about it. But what I constantly hear is "that the Arabs are hostile to us"; the Arabs vow to "push the Jews in the sea," and "the Arab's purpose is to eliminate us." Yet I have never been exposed at all here to the reasons WHY the Arab's hate the Israelies so much? What is causing the Arab's to continue this hostility for 18 years now?" "You said that you want peace and that you seek it through un- derstanding and mutual respect. Yet you also spoke to this au- dience with no attempt whatso- ever to help us understand this conflict and prepare the grounds for mutual respect by at least out- lining the causes of Arab hostility, but rather you merely restated the emotional effects of the conflict. Why is it that I don't see such a sincere and wise effort to augment the willingness to solve this con- flict by explaining the reasons, the causes, of the conflict and prepare the people and the gov- ednments for peace?" This was my main point. The other point was that "I would think that when people are displaced from their homes and land, they would want to go back to it. The Jews themselves strived for so long to accomplish this and succeeded. Don't you think that the one million Arab refugees might also very much want to return to their homes and land on which they lived only 18 Arab's causes in this conflict. He did, however, refer to the issue of peace. He repeated his appeal for peace and stated that "the ques- tion of the existence of Israel is not in question." The Arabs must accept us as we are and we accept them as they are." I really felt then that I was succeeding in penetrating through the emotional derby and reaching the crux of the matter. I followed the ambassador down to the cof- fee gathering. "MR. AMBASSADOR," I said, "I believe that the Arab's main contention in this conflict is the legal and moral justification for the existence of Israel, and wheth- er the Arab's . rights have been dispersed, That is why, perhaps, they are not ready to "give us peace," as you said, i.e. until the issue is clarified. Yet you say that the' Arabs MUST accept you as you are now and talk about peace and a friendly future. Isn't this perhaps why there is this nonwar and nonpeace? Are you willing to get out of this deadlock and dis- cuss with the Arabs this problem?" The Israeli ambassador em- phatically stated, "I refuse to dis- cuss the question of the existence of Israel." (And I know that the Arabs will refuse to cooperate with the Israelies unless these moral and legal matters are dis- cussed). We were then interrupted by a member of the congregation who pointed out that the ambas- sador should really talk with the Nam. Therefore, both these sides refuse to sit down and negotiate peace, both according to their own askew reasons. In this situation, neither the loud appeal for peace and good intentions nor the use of force are the keys to these deadlocks; but the awareness of the people and the governments to the true causes of' the conflict and the willingness to compromise and be realistic are the keys. Personally, I am encouraged. I have heard a few Americans say, "Since we are in Viet Nam and in trouble, let us win the war now and get out of this mess." But then there are those who took it upon themselves to become aware of the causes, the reality, and the direction of this war and shout other peaceful and wise solutions, taking into account the historical and moral aspect of the conflict. For those who are interested, I am going to elaborate upon and answer the two questions, to which the ambassador did not give me any clear answer, in a speech, "The Other Side of Exodus" next Wednesday noon under the Book Discussion Series sponsored by the Office of Religious Affairs. --Imad Khadduri, Grad Cheerleaders To the Editor: DURING the past weekend my husband and I were at Iowa City cheering for the University cheerleaders, and cannot serve the same purpose cheerleaders would. After asking some people we knew, my husband and I found that it has been the policy not to send Michigan cheerleaders to similar previous basketball tour- naments. We do not understand the reasoning behind this policy. It seems to us that if moderate sections of the band are able to attend these games there should be a way to get at least three or four cheerleaders there also. ALTHOUGH the presence of cheerleaders will not make a third division team a championship rontender, in a close, hard-fought game as was encountered on Sa- turday night against Kentucky, that little bit of extra spirit the cheerleaders would have imparted to the fans might have helped to put that extra bit of oomph into our team, and tip the scales in Michigan's favor. -Susan Samuels, '67N Negotiaton " ONE OF THE MOST surpris- ing and even alarming aspects of the political picture= in Sai- gon is that no one appears to be giving serious thought to the war being brought to an end through negotiation. "The Vietnamese government has made it clear . . that it is not prepared to negotiate with the South Vietnamese Communists. 4.