Seventy-Sixth Year
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1966
NIGHT EDITOR: SHIRLEY ROSICK
Student Housing:
The University's Back Seat
THE COMBINED EFFORTS of an avar-
icious business community, an inert
university administration, and an apa-
thetic city have left Ann Arbor with a
crisis in student housing.
Student apartments in Ann Arbor are
scarce, inadequate, and overpriced.
While the University has increased Ann
Arbor enrollment more than 4500 in the
past eight years they have added only
400 housing units.
Private enterprise has supplied addi-
tional housing, but at a tremendous so-
cial and economic cost. The central cam-
pus area has become glutted with over-
priced schlock (poorly-built apartment)
housing. Rents are zooming upwards,
married housing is scarce and low cost
housing is non-existent.
THE CURRENT QUESTION is who is
going to find a way out of the hous-
ing predicament. Private landlords?
Not a chance. They have repeatedly
demonstrated that they are only interest-
ed in their own bank accounts. Con-
struction of schlocks, with their inade-
quate soundproofing and unlivable design
is moving ahead of a rapid pace. The units
are designed for the typical upper-middle
class university scholar who is ready and
willing to pay.
What about the city of Ann Arbor?
TE CITY has finally come up with a
revised zoning law, but while that leg-
islation was being drawn up, the council
was convinced that the old law should be
waived to allow the construction of a 19-
story superquad with no setback area.
Thanks to some neat post facto negotia-
tions, minimum parking space was se-
cured.
Meanwhile, the antiquated building
code remains.
The building department, which is re-
quired by law to inspect buildings once a
year is not sure it can complete inspec-
tions once every two years.
The Republican-dominated City Coun-
cil serves the Chamber of Commerce by
voting down a modest proposal to apply
for federal low-cost housing funds, while
the city's poor are evicted to make way for
more schlocks.
"STUDENTS ARE the dregs of society,
what are we doing providing low-cost
housing for them for," says one Republi-
can councilman.
What about the University?
The only visible link between the Uni-
versity and the community on the hous-
ing scene is the University's off-campus
housing office.
Mrs. Elizabeth Leslie directs the office
with the same disciplinary approach she
used as assistant to Dean of Women
Deborah Bacon.
ALTHOUGH BACON'S position was abol-
ished six years ago, Mrs. Leslie has
Acting Editorial Staff
MARK R. KTLLINGSWORTH. Editor
BRUCE WASSERSTEIN. Executive Editor
failed to grasp the idea that the days of
university paternalism are over.
About five years ago the University be-
gan discontinuing the practice of threat-
ening students who did not pay their
rents with academic discipline.
But in the past few weeks Mrs. Leslie
has made a concerted effort to get the
University to stop the registration or hold
up the graduation of students who fail to
make their rental payments.
IN ADDITION she has worked carefully
with local landlords in attempts to en-
force non-University leases.
While Mrs. Leslie often attends polite
business meetings with the landlords to
discuss their student problems, she fre-
quently gives students stern lectures.
Meanwhile Mrs. Leslie is worrying
about the prospect of a conflict of inter-
est situation on the part of Norma Kraker,
supervisor of the off-campus housing bu-
reau.
HER MOST SERIOUS charge is that
Mrs. Kraker's membership on the Ann
Arbor Human Relations Commission
might constitute a conflict of interest
with her University job.
Mrs. Leslie's approach to her job sug-
gests that she has more concern for the
welfare of the landlord than the student.
It is difficult for the student body to re-
gard the off-campus housing bureau as an
asset to students as long as Mrs. Leslie
maintains her current position.
The University housing problem goes
far beyond Mrs. Leslie. Vice-President for
Student Affairs Richard Cutler, who finds
plenty of time to thwart the rush plan
revisions of Panhellenic Association,
seems to have made little headway in the
housing situation.
AND. THE UNIVERSITY still has not
acted on the recommendation of Pres-
ident Hatcher's Blue Ribbon Housing re-
port for coordination of housing under
a director of housing. Currently housing
supervision is split between service en-
terprises, the business office, the director
of the residence halls, and the off-cam-
pus housing bureau.
Ideally, when the University does select
its director of housing it will choose some-
one who thinks like the off-campus hous-
ing bureau's Norma Kraker. Of all the
officials in the entrenched housing bu-
reaucracy she is the only one that has
consistently displayed an understanding
of the situation and concern for maxi-
mizing student welfare.
It is only. fair to point out that the
University is beginning to catch up on the
housing deficit accumulated over the past
eight years. Currently the University is
building a 1200 unit residence hall on
north campus-Bursley Hall. In addition
Cedar Bend will provide 1200 student
apartment units.
BUT WHAT ABOUT the 10,000 addition-
al students that will be living in Ann
Arbor in 1975. Will the University provide
substantial low-cost housing for them?
Probably not. At least private devel-
opers don't think so. Presently they are
moving ahead with plans for more
schlocks. One developer explains that lo-
cal business interests are confident that
the University's conservative Board of Re-
gents will put a stop to any large Uni-
versity apartment project.
Vice-President for Business and Fi-
nance Wilbur K. Pierpont indicates he
would be willing to consider low-cost
housing for students.
Because the University could finance
the projects with 3 per cent federal loans
and does not need to make a profit, the
University apartments could rent for a
lower price than the schlock.
BUT THE UNIVERSITY is currently in-
volved in sorts of high priority build-
ing projects like parking ramps, a sports
arena, and a new administration building.
It appears that only student agitation
will be able to get the University mov-
ing toward adding substantial low-cost
housing.
Currently the affluent student body
seems more concerned about grade-points
and P-Bells than the future of the stu-
"Too Far
TOO FAR TO WALK. By John as well
Hersey. Alfred A. Knopf: New through
York. $4.95 Sheldon
By G. B. GOLSON for his
Collegiate Press Service Churm
and da
TOHN HERSEY'S latest novel, laise a
"Too Far To Walk," might well strange
become THE college novel, ac- an "orc
cording to Fred Hechinger of the "faint
New York Times educational sec- cu~ts,"
tion. Hechinger states flatly, "Mr.s. FHw
Hersey . . . has written the college- Festr w
sequel to William Golding's Lord entire v
of the Flies and J. D. Salinger's it all!
Catcher in the Rye." ita
He wonders whether college stu- up a
dents "will embrace it as their events
very own," and writes in conclu- perienc
sion that "the undergraduate re-
action to 'Too Far To Walk' could BREF
become a crucial, educational him. Hi
clue." familiar
This undergraduate's reaction is you ae
one of disappointment. I do not 26-week
think college students will em- end of
brace it as their own. The most tenure.
we can do is admire the spots of 'deliver
masterful craftsmanship and, per- a lifeti
haps, see the novel as an honest
attempt to bridge the gap between experier
generations. blood, t
and the
"TOO FAR TO WALK" is the that h
story of John Fist, a bored, apa- out: "E
thetic student at Sheldon College, Throt
for whom classrooms have become fair wi
too far to walk to. Fist is a latter- through
day Faust decked out in Ivy- fair wi
League tweed, who signs the in- tute, th
evitable pact with his very own t y p i c
blond-haired, crimson-vested devil. through
The setting has something of test den
Yale in it, but with touches of terrifyir
Harvard and, ostensibly, Wesleyan lucinogE
To
walk"
...Disappointing
on
. And John Fist wanders
h this vaguely familiar
n College, searching a cure
aimlessness and doldrums.
n Breed, his fellow student
irk angel, senses Fist's ma-
rnd works on him. He's a
fellow, Chum Breed, with
dor of ozone" about him, a
suggestion of short cir-
And he seems to know what
ants: "Awareness of the
works was what he wanted,
encompass and understand
.. The thing was to build
store of experiences, of
of the senses of very kind
rt . . . he wanted to ex-
e a breakthrough."
ED PROMISES it all to
is "organization is all too
x with he set of desires
cribe," and he offers Fist a
k contract, rereware at t:ie
this period for lifetime
In the end, Fist agrees to
up' his "id" in return for
ime of satisfying sensory
nces. A pledge is signed in
here in Fist's college room,
young man is so overcome
efalls to his knees crying
Kvil, be thou my Good!"
igh a not-quite sexual af-
th a good-hearted townie,
a thoroughly sexual af-
th a good-hearted prosti-
hrough a visit home to his
a 11 y suburban parents,
h a somewhat ludicrous pro-
monstration, and through a
rg experience with a hal-
en, LSD, the novel pro-
gresses. And at last, John Fist
"becomes a man," as the book
jacket proclaims. He realizes that
his experiences were artifically in-
duced: "I've come to see that
there can't be any short cut to
these breakthroughs I yearn for
... I guess you just have to work
like hell for them,, grub for them
with the other grubs, and maybe
you won't have them even then."
If empathetic snorts of approval
are not forthcoming from the
undergraduates who read this
novel, if we are reluctant to em-
brace it, I think the disappoint-
ment stems from two sources:
credibility and originality.
THE NOVEL'S BALANCE of re-
ality versus fantasy wavers, per-
haps on purpose. Very early in the
book we are beckoned into a world
in which Breed is not merely a
student, but "The Spirit of Play-
ing it cool." We nod, okay, we'll
go along with it. But we find that
there is nothing to go along with.
Breed's conversations are about
his organization, about the col-
lege boy's hell, yet nothing more
supernatural than that happens.
Fist's attempts at breakthroughs
all come about in seemingly plaus-
ible ways-no puffs of smoke, no
magical disappearances. In fact,
the only extra-ordinary things we
are presented with are the ozone
odors, and the business like sales
pitches Breed delivers on behalf
of his "Boss."
We then have to ask why there
were touches of the supernatural
at all. If Breed's proposals were
part of Fist's inner arguments,
why finesse a potentially tremen-
dious character like Breed? Why
have Breed give lectures relating
Satan's theories on student ma-
laise, when it might have been
merely another student's evil in-
fluence that first turned Fist's
head?
The rest of the novel, confron-
tations with Breed excepted, pro-
ceeds along plausible paths of
reality. Even the chapters dealing
Fist's hallucinations after taking
LSD, are, after all, supposed to be
dreams.
WHERE, in his previous novel,
"The Child Buyer" Mr. Hersey was
able to draw us into the particular
world of fantasy he had created,
he fails to do so in "Too Far." The
circumstances surrounding Fist's
pace seem too skimpily drawn,
somehow, almost gimicky.
But even assuming that the
teen-age Mephistopheles is a color-
ful, accepatable dramatic force in
the plot, arguing that it is not
necessary to be drawn into these
episodes of macabre fantasy to
appreciate the action, granting
this, I think that much of what
was ostensibly portrayed as r_ -al
lacked credibility.
It seems as if Mr. Hersey has
hurried his character from ex-
perience to experience, as if the
author was in such a rush to move
us from one message-producing
event to the next, that plausibility,
continuity, and just plain realness
were lost along the way.
THE OTHER SOURCE of dissa-
tisfaction with the novel might
be simply that it has been said
before. Today's young adult is
plagued by doubt, by changing
values, by old-fashioned aims and
ideals which no longer apply; his
search for meaning may take hor-
rifying forms: yes, but we know,
we see it, we've read it before.
And Mr. Hersey's solution, Fist's
final redemption, offers only what
we have heard before: it is our
old parish priest, telling us "Just
have faith, my son. Everything
will be all right."
A spate of first novels, works
produced by young graduates an-
xious to say something about col-
lege life, have said the same thing.
Not with Mr. Hersey's polish, of
course, for their are moments, as
when Mona, the prostitute, visits
Fist's parents in a hilarious epi-
sode of masquerade, in which Mr.
Hersey is obviously at his best-
but these college novels have, in-
deed, dealt with the same prob-
lems.
And some solutions arrived at
by these young novelists are in
some ways more real, more pos-
sible-even if more pessimistic
than Mr. Hersey's transformation
of John Fist.
MR. HERSEY WROTE in the
January issue of the Yale Alumni
Magazine: "We have urgent need
for forward-leaping works .
writings that lead into rather than
away from the realities of present
day life."
To my mind, the need has not
been met by "To Far To Walk."
(Golson is a staff writer for
the Yale Daily News.)
Viet Nam and the
White Man's Burden
WHILE THERE IS reason for
supposing that the seriousness
of the Vietnamese troubles was
misjudged in Saigon and in Wash-
ington, the President does seem
to have succeeded in avoiding the
biggest immediate pitfall. He has
not identified himself in the im-
mediate crisis with the fate of
Gen. Nguyen Cao Ky. To have
done that would have been to
stake the Amercan interest in Viet
Nam on a very slender reed in-
deed.
Our position at the present time
is that we are counting upon the
directory of the generals, with or
without Ky, to maintain order and
to proceed to appease the discon-
tent of the Buddhists and others
by framing a constitution which
gives them a share of the power in
Saigon.
If this can be done it should
prevent the outbreak of a civil
war in South Vietnam, a war
which would bring the ghastly
possibility of American troops
shooting the rioters. But even if
this much has been accomplished
we shall, however, be confronted.
soon thereafter with a crucial
choice of policies.
CAN WE or will we permit the
South Vietnamese to work out
their own political destiny behind
an American military shield?
Or will we believe that we our-
selves must take control of South
Viet Nam, occupy and govern it
and pay the price which such an
enlargement of responsibility will
demand?
Neither of these choices is with-
out price or risk. If we opt for
American control of South Viet
Nam we shall have acquired not
Today
Tomorrow
By WALTER LIPPMANN
only the military burden of win-
ning the war, but also the political
burden of governing a country
which is wholly alien to our own
experience and tradition. What
this will cost in men, what this
will cost in reputation, no one can
fully imagine today.
THE OTHER SIDE is to let the
Vietnamese practice self determi-
nation. This means to let them
form a government in Saigon
which the main factions will sup-
port. It may well be that the con-
tending factions will find they
can coalesce only on the objective
of ending the war by negotiating
an arrangement with the Viet'
Cong.
By making a number of little
deals, it may be that this choice
of policies can for a time be post-
poned. But it cannot be postponed
for long. For South Viet Nam is
not the country which Secretary
of State Dean Rusk keeps insisting
it is. That is to say South Viet
Nam is not a nation fighting for
its independence against a foreign
invader.
South Viet Nam is not now and
never has been a separate nation.
The people who are fighting in
South Viet Nam today are all of
them Vietnamese, whether they
are recruited in the South or in-
filtrated from the North. What is
more, if there is any national
South Vietnamese leader his name
is Ho Chi Minh. There is no com-
parable national leader in Saigon.
OUR POLITICAL objective, as
currently described in official
quarters, is to bring forth out of
the medley of factions and tribes
and warlords a new nation. A new
nation is not being brought forth,
and there is no prospect of that
being done while the war goes on.
For that reason our own best
course is to avoid trying to run the
place, to let nature take its course
in South Vietnamese politics and
to refuse to assume the white
man's burden-which all the qther
white men have now learned to
realize is old hat.
(C), 1966, The Washington Post Co.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Another View o f U.S. Fighting Men
To the Editor:
AFTER READING the letter
from "a young Marine in Viet
Nam" in your letters-to-the-editor
column (Tuesday, April 4), I felt
that in the interest of presenting
a balanced perspective to your
readership on the sentiments of
our fighting men in Viet Nam,
the following letter from a young
Naval officer stationed with the
Marines in Viet Nam provides an
illuminating contrast.
In submitting this letter, writ-
ten by a friend of mind some
weeks ago, I by no means intend to
impugn the veracity of the letter
printed on April 4.
I MERELY FEEL it illustrates
that one man's experiences are
not necessarily indicative of those
of all our fighting men.
"From what I have heard and
read of the placard-carrying, pro-
testing Americans in the States,
one might get the impression that
we here are a ruthless, hardened
group of child and women killers
who are hungry to kill a suspected
Viet Cong at the drop of a C-
ration can.
"Having been for a number of
months a Navy Officer attached to
the Marines working with the
Army to protect an Air Force Base,
I feel fortunate enough to have
received more than just an insight
into the task which faces the
average American fighting man in
this small portion of South Viet
Nam.
"Since I work and live with
Marines who inhabit the hills and
lowlands near one of the northern
most Air Bases in South Viet Nam,
it is of them who I write most
accurately.
"WHEN GOING OUT on opera-
tions, defending our hilly com-
mand post or twisting through
rice paddes and elephant grass,
the American Marine is nothing
short of professional. He is sure
of his each move and executes it
will speed and skill. But this is not
his sole mission here. He has
helped to bring smiles to faces
which were once blank, rice to a
market which months previously
did ot exist, medical care to the
sick, and confidence and happiness
to the destitute and insecure.
"I would venture to say that for
every Marine in this rural area
there are five newly smiling chil-
dren's faces. What used to be a
scared, fearful five-year old boy
is now a happy, secure five-and-
a-half year old boy, smiling and
proud of the makeshift toy truck
some Marine Private constructed
for him out of C-ration cans, wire,
and cardboard.
"His mother, who before was
not certain when she would find
food and basic needs for her fam-
ily, now has her own space at a
new village market. Here she can
sell and barter for whatever she
desires alongside many fellow vil-
lagers doing the same. This pri-
vilege has not been known for
years previous.
"The boy's father can turn and
cultivate the soil of his own rice
paddy, without Viet Cong demands
that his crop be used to feed un-
known guerrillas hiding in the
mountains.
"THE MARINE HERE is not so
much a man who is feared by the
villagers nearby, but rather one
who is respected, trusted, and ad-
mired.
"The Marines have been instru-
mental in carrying out many other
humanitarian deeds. I will relate
but a few. A number of children
who have permanent physical de-
formities have been flown to Sai-
gon for medical help not available
in this area. In some cases even
plastic surgery has been perform-
ed. Such basic needs as even soap
have been distributed free of
charge to fulfill hygiene needs.
"Newspapers from Saigon and
leaflets on new and better agri-
cultural techniques now reach the
rural peasants. Building materials
and supplies have been furnished
to help build schools. Numerous
new jobs have been created by our
being here to temporarily help
those without money to enjoy a
source of income.
"In this immediate area are two
newly constructed bridges, de-
stroyed last summer. These help
the local Vietnamese to travel to
other nearby villages. The story
of the Americans helping hand
could go on an on.
"IT IS NOT HARD to detect
that I feel quite enlightened and
proud to be serving in this blood-
torn nation as are thousands of
other American servicemen. We
Power Politics
To the Editor:
I DID NOT HEAR Mr. Organski's
talk, but apparently Mr. Was-,
serstein (April 8) was much im-
pressed by a discussion of power
politics, enough so to think up
some tactics of his own.
Yes, power politics are a reality,
Mr. Wasserstein, but like any
reality, they have more than one
side. Take the example of stu-
dents boycotting a class. Even
with a picket line you are going
to get nowhere near a 100 per
cent boycott for a long enough
time to do any good.
After the first, say, week or so,
the professor need only exercise
his power in return and announce
that anyone with more than five.
absences will fail the course.
YOUR BOYCOTTERS are now
in danger of losing their grade
point average, their admittance to
grad school, possibly even atten-
dance at the University. And the
boycotting will either stop or dras-
tically decrease.
Similarly, when the boycotted
professor swears out a complaint
that the picketers of his home
are disturbing the peace (and
any picket line large enough to
do any good would almost cer-
tainly be doing so) and the stu-
dents involved will have to decide
if the whole thing is worth a
police record.
As for boycotting cardboard
apartment buildings-yes, Mr.
Wasserstein's plan is workable, if
the boycotters succeed in warning
off all prospective renters. Has he
considered the possible response
of these renters-to-be, such as
"Sure, I know it's cardboard and
the rent is exorbitant, but last
year I lived in an apartment in
an old house, and I had rats in
the walls, cockroaches in the kit-
chen and termites eating the
woodwork! I'd rather hear my
neighbor's john flush."
I'M AFRAID there will always
be students living under worse
conditions than the ones being
boycotted, and thereforenunwilling
to follow the boycott. Unless, of
course, Mr. Wasserstein manages
soon have others with less active
principles.
LET ME MAKE it very clear-I
don't mean to say that student
success by power is impossible. It
is just very very expensive, much
more so than Mr. Wasserstein has
considered., The boycott of the
"mis-hired" professor could be
continued for months and months,
and possibly something might
come of it.
But the activists involved might
well have 1) lost their student
status, 2) been arrested, 3) spent
all of their savings and more on
various kinds of legal defense,
4) lost any jobs they might have
had (if not because their em-
ployer didn't approve, then be-
cause of enforced absenteeism due
to jail sentences, etc). All this
whether or no tthey succeeded.
Apartment protestors would not
only be in about the same position,
but might not have any place to
live, to boot. For if students can
boycott, so can landlords, and a
blacklist might very reasonably
come into being.
AFTER ALL, landlords don't
want to rent to anyone who won't
pay the rent. (Sound expensive?
Consider that last year, students
weren't even willing to make the
small sacrifice of doing without
movies for a couple of weeks, to
protest high prices.)
Mr. Wasserstein, raw power
works, all right. I could probably
assassinate the president tomorrow
-as long as I thought it was
worth dying for. You can do an
awful lot with raw power, agreed,
but the other side of the coin is-
you must be willing to pay the
price.
--Stephanie Lee Rosenbaum, '66
Our Mistake
To the Editor:
ARECENT Daily editorial level-
ed criticism at some of the
members of the Board of Regents.
The editorial stated that several
of the Regents, dissatisfied with
the water temperature in the IM
pool, ordered that it be modified
to suit their comfort.
No Regent ordered that the
water temperature be changed.
CLARENCE FANTO
Managing Editor
HARVEY WASSERMAN
Editorial Director
JOHN MEREDITH ........ Associate Managing Editor
LEONARD PRATT ........ Associate Managing Editor
BABETTE COHN .. ......Personnel Director
CHARLOTTE WOLTER .... Associate Editoral Director
ROBERT CARNEY.........Associate Editorial Director
ROBERT MOORE .................... Magazine Editor
CHARLES VETZNER .................... Sports Editor.
JAMES LaSOVAGE.......... Associate Sports Editor
JAMES TINDALL........... Associate Sports Editot
GIL SAMBERG..............Assistant Sports Editor
Acting Business Staff
SUSAN PERLSTADT, Business Manager
JEFFREY LEEDS ........ Associate Business Manager
HARRY BLOCH .............. Advertising Manager
STEVEN LOEWENTHAL........Circulation Manager
ELIZABETH RHEIN............. Personnel Director
VICTOF PTASZNIK ................ Finance Manage?
ASSISTANT MANAGERS: Anne Bachman, Ken Kraus;
Mike Steckelis, Amy Glasser, Gene Farber. Jeif
Brown, Carol Niemira, Beth Linscheid, Judy Blau:
Maryann Vanderwerp, Bill Hunt, Steve Simmons.
3uo Benschop, Cathie Mackin, Rita Jo Rankin, Joan
Vanderwerp, Randy Rissman.
JUNIOR MANAGERS: Erica Keeps, William ,Krauss,
Lissa Matross, Sam Often, Jeanne Rosinski, Ellen
Scheuer, Diane Smaller, Steven Wechsler.
NIGHT EDITORS: Michael Hefter, Merle Jacb, Rob-
ert Klivans, Laurence Medow, Roger Rapoport, Shir-
ley Rosick, Neil Shister.
"I'm A Pious Man Of The Whole Cloth"
PRA
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