Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Wherr Optnlons Are Free 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Thii-h 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. 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 0 '1