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January 25, 1967 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1967-01-25

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t

I

Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIvERsrTY OF MTCHIGA14
UNDER AUTHORiTY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Jan. 25: A Sign of the Educational Times

Where Opinions Are Free,
Truth WiU Prevail

420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.

NEws 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.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1967

NIGHT EDITOR: SUSAN ELAN

i

The Cinema Guild Case.
A 'Question of Autonomy

By LEONARD PRATT
Associate Managing Editor
"IT IS OFTEN SAID that the
modern American university is
in crisis," wrote Clark Kerr for
the Center for the Study of Dem-
ocratic Institutions early this
month, "but I do not believe this
to be true in any general sense.
A segment of the university is in
crisis ... but most of it is not."
It would be interesting to know
which segment Kerr thought was
in crisis after last Friday's Cali-
fornia regents meeting. His ar-
ticle arguedsthat undergraduate
education was in trouble, but his
fate suggests that the problem
centers more on the administra-
tion than on the students or fac-
ulty.'
What this problem is was sug-
gested by John Seeley who wrote,
along with Kerr, that "what is
called administration . . . is actu-
ally governorship-as though the
Communist Party in the Soviet
Union were to make out that it
was merely 'administering' the na-
tional machine in terms of policy
set somehow by a governing pro-
letariat."

Seeley is proably quite correct,
but it's interesting to note what
a comparatively recent develop-
ment this extensive administrative
power is.
HISTORICALLY there's little
precedent for it. It is true that
in many instances a president and
his peers and assistants have exer-
cised extensive control over fac-
ulties and students. Richard Hof-
stadter has written that in the
1800's "The trustees prescribed the
work of the classroom, wrote the
laws of student government, shap-
ed the curriculum, subjected the
private lives of teachers to scruti-
ny and espionage."
Yet, frequently American uni-
versities functioned on the Euro-
pean model of extensivehfaculty
control, a model which encourag-
ed a president of the period to
write that "the purpose of incor-
porating a college was to assemble
a learned faculty, and therefore
to make the faculty subordinate
to the trustees was to exalt the
means above the end and subvert
first principles."
For Thorstien Veblen, faculty

government, or at least extensive
faculty influence, was a very real
thing: ". . . the executive is re-
quired to function as the discre-
tionary employer of his academic
staff . . . the appearance of schol-
arly co-partnery with the staff is
indispensable to that prestige on
which rests the continual exercise
of power."
BUT NO MATTER how the pow-
ers of the president once were lim-
ited, it is clear that today they are
not limited by much but custom,
and by that only in the short run.
Faculty members, faced by larger
more complex universities and
greater professional demands, have
gradually given up their steward-
ship of the institutions to an ad-
ministration and its chief.
Things have gotten to the point
today where a university president
is far more than just the repre-
sentative of his institution. In most
people's minds, he is that insti-
tution.
This is'not surprising. A presi-
dent has many powers of appoin-
ment. Moreover, notes a state edu-
cation official, "A university's

president creates what you could
only call the institution's style,
those intangible subtleties of
judgment, grace and human val-
ues and balances that create an
atmosphere that is felt rather than
known."
THUS the president who is not
an academic figure, and who has
usually not been an academic fig-
ure for years before his presiden-
tial appointment, is equated with
an academic institution. When
Kerr is fired, the University of
California trembles, though he has
not performed any essential aca-
demic functions in years.
This same identification w i t h
an individual administrator was il-
lustrated here by the flurry when
Roger Heyns resigned as vice-
president for academic affairs to
issume the Berkeley chancellor-
ship in 1965.
It means a lot when the mem-
bers of a university begin to see
the f-;ture of their institution as
hinging on the presence of a sin-
gle man, one so divorced from the
educational process at that. This
means that man has more power
in his hands than the men who

were intended to be the focus of
the institution-professors.
Worse, it says that we have be-
gun to identify the quality of a
university's education with the
quality of its administration.
THE DANGER in that is that
we will confuse academic values
with administrative values and
thus begin to destroy in teach-
ers and students what is unique
in their relationship-a respect of
learning for its own sake. The
incredible national concern over
Kerr's dismissal suggests that this
is happening already.
V OTES for the great marijuana-
Christianity race continue to
pour in. Thus far I have received
10, two of which have had to be
disqualified because I could not
understand them.
Of the eight remaining, mari-
juana is leading Christianity 7-1.
Daily Editorial Director Harvey
Wasserman, who predicted that
marijuana would get four votes,
thus wins the copy of "Yellow
Submarine," as sunk by Leslie
Fiedler. Wasserman, by the way,
voted for Christianity.

'4

HE FACULTY ASSEMBLY'S Civil Lib-
erties Board is taking courageous and
comme'ndable action in establishing a
Cinema Guild Defense Fund.
Only a week ago today, Ann Arbor po-
lice seized a Cinema Guild film they claim
is "obscene" and arrested three student
members of the Cinema Guild Board
and a faculty member serving as assist-
ant manager for showing it. The fund
would raise money for Cinema Guild's
fight against these two actions and the
board will make further proposals later.
CIVIL LIBERTIES is cuite clearly an
issue. Obscenity laws have had a long
and notorious record of creating an at-
mosphere of confusion and, at times, re-
pression.
Although court decisions emphasize
that the allegedly obscene matter must
be viewed in its context and judged for
any matter of redeeming social import-
ance, the Ann Arbor police lieutenant
who seized the film only saw the first
several minutes of it, claiming that he
knew on the basis of "past experience"
(whatever that can mean for an Ann
Arbor police lieutenant) that the film was
obscene.
The courts will, of course, now begin to
decide whether the film in question is ob-
scene under present state laws (although
there is a strong argument that any
law banning "obscenity" is inherently so
vague, ill-defined and restrictive of free-
dom of expression that all such laws
should be repealed).
AS THE BOARD indicates, academic
freedom is also an. issue.,'
The University created Cinema Guild,
which reports to Student Government
Council (itself a creature of the Re-
gents); to serve educational functions.
Cinema Guild serves educational func-
tions at the University in much the
same way as the library system does. First,
professors can assign (and do assign) a
particular Cinema Guild movie to their
classes. Indeed, two classes were assigned
to see the "obscene" movie last Wednes-
day, and a third had seen it in its class-
room the same afternoon. Thus, Cinema
Guild's resources can be used (and are
used) as part of the curriculum, much as
the library's resources are.
Second, like the librar', Cinema Guild
is available for educational enrichment
and broadening above and beyond course
requirements, and is available for the

curious as well as the academically ori-
ented.
HENCE CINEMA GUILD, like the library,
very clearly fills two important edu-
ational needs. Academic freedom -
which relates to the freedom of a teach-
er and his students to discuss and inquire
after questions legitimately within the
scope of their studies, as individuals and
as a group--is thus clearly at stake.
Would the University for one moment
allow the Ann Arbor police to seize as
"obscene" an assigned-reading library
book such as "The Catcher in the Rye" or
"Ulysses?" Of course not.
What this amounts to, of course, is sim-
ply this: If something has academic mer-
it and meets educational needs, as judged
by the appropriate faculty or University
unit, the University should fight to pro-
tect the academic freedom to use that
thing-even if its use conflicts with the,
law.
PE UNIVERSITY has always done this
in the past. It is presently fight-
ing a public employe law and refusing to
accept conditions of a building appropria-
tions law precisely because they limit
that freedom or could lead to laws limit-
ing it.
That freedom is at stake in the Cinema
Guild case. Under challenge is the right of
the Regents of the University to estab-
lish, through Student Government Coun-
cil, a Cinema Guild Board which, in the
Regents' judgment, meets educational
needs.
If the University fails to fight the in-
trusion of the state's "obscenity" law in-
to educational functions, and facilities
which the Regents themselves have ap-
proved, it will have sacrificed its educa-
tional autonomy and its academic free-
clom.
The Regents should no more tolerate
intrusion into Cinema Guild than they
should tolerate intrusion into the library
system or in the classroom (what if the
police had seized the film when it was
being shown in a class Wednesday after-
noon?).
THE REGENTS have never feared to op-
pose such intrusions before. They
should not do so now-and the Assem-
bly's Civil Liberties Board should make
that its principal recommendations to
the Regents.
-MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH
Editor

A'

Letters*°4,OO0 Killed as Gym Collapses'

To the Editor:
THE INTRAMURAL program
provided at the University of
Michigan is perhaps one of the
best in the country. It is an espe-
cially effective program in light
of the fact that the facilities in
which it operates are too small for
the student body and in such poor
condition.
The sight of Waterman gym
brings thoughts of the next Daily
headline reading "4,000 KILLED
AS GYM COLLAPSES DURING
REGISTRATION." The gym at
the Intramural Building also
leaves much to be desired. Per-
haps an elimination of the "buck-
et brigade" during rain storms
could prompt enough savings to
patch the roof, not to mention the
safety problems involved in run-
ning through the puddles and
hurdling the buckets.
It would seem that a university
spending nearly one million dol-
lars a week on research expendi-
tures might perhaps reallocate
some funds into new facilities
which would accommodate stu-
dents and faculty in a more ade-
quate manner.
-Tom Keim
Senior-Bus Ad.
Help Musicians!
To the Editor:
SN SATURDAY, January 21st,
we had the privilege of hear-
ing the Andrew Hill Quartet here
on campus. The same afternoon,
we heard that Andrew Hill works
as a janitor' to stay alive. And we
heard Joseph Jarmon say that un-
der no circumstances will he play
in a nightclub.
Such self-sacrificing devotion to
art and to personal integrity could
possibly be a delusion. The proof
is in the art. After hearing Joseph
Jarmon play with his own quartet
at Wayne State University last
June, and after hearing the An-
drew Hill Quartet last night, I am
convinced that these artists repre-
sent an extraordinary break-
through in creative music: the un-
trammelled expression of the
highest human emotions.
The transition from anger to
spiritual unity has become an un-
deniable phenomenon in Afro-
American music. And if music is
prophetic-and I think it is-at
last, there is good news.
CAN'T WE GIVE some support
to these artists? Composers reach
the height of their creative pow-
ers when they are young. How
much of man's greatest treasure
is being wasted while Andrew Hill
pushes a broom? Why not estab-

lish a center for creative jazz here
at the University of Michigan
where musicians can eat, sleep,
play, record, and perform, with no
strings attached?
With all . the research money
that sometimes goes to doubtful
projects, why not support a thor-
oughly humanistic project which
would reflect honor on the Uni-
versity?
I am a very busy lady,twith too
many books to read, and too many
children to take care of, but I'll
make time to help organize sup-
port for creative jazz. Anybody
interested, my phone number is
761-7236.
-Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Jazz
To the Editor:
IN REGARDS to the letter writ-
ten by Ron Evans concerning
the Jack Brokensha - Charles
Moore Jazz Concert Sunday after-
noon, it seems to me that he
missed the point of such a two-
part concert, that of the chance to
compare the two distinct styles of
today's jazz, mainstream versus
agant-garde, and dra wa conclu-
sion of the validity of either.
I wonder why he failed to rec-
ognize the quality of the jazz
played by Brokensha's quartet in
the first half of the concert. As
music, it was beautifully melodic,
the quartet obviously was deeply
immersed in what it was playing.
The length of each solo was not
obtrusive; each musician stopped
when he had no more to say.
I JUST WISH that Evans had
made note of this distinction be-
tween two extremely opposed
forms of music, the actual pur-
pose of the concert, and had
drawn a more valid conclusion
rather than calling the whole
thing a discord.
On the basis of such a compari-
son and conclusion, the concert
was a beautiful success, as suc-
cessful as the jazz played during
at least half of the concert.
-Allan Smith
WCBN-jazz disc jockey
The Movement
To the Editor:
JN CASE anybody doubted that
last term's student movement
was dead the proof is to be found
in the report in the Daily (1/14)
that no student-not a single stu-
dent-used the pass-fail option as
a means of protest.
It would be simplified to blame
students for their lack of Zivil-

courage. Radical faculty members.
in leaving the choice entirely up
to the individual student, did no
better. Consequently, the admin-
istration, by a very limited show of
force, was able to stop what looked
like a very effective means of pro-
test and sabotage.
However, the important thing
now is not what happened last se-
mester, it is what should be done
next.
TO THIS END a proposal.
namely that faculty grade all
"pass" performances A and that
students encourage faculty mem-
bers to institute such a de facto
pass-fail option. The advantages
of this procedure are fairly obvi-
ous :
1. It will tend to make ranking
impossible. The more wide-spread
the use of A as a general "pass"
grade, the less discriminating and
less meaningful the ranking.
2. It is probably legal. The ad-
ministration can hardly force any
instructor to give B's and C's. Al-
though faculty members who par-
ticipate may feel the consequen-
ces sooner or later in their rela-
tionship with the, university, no
immediate retaliation is possible.
3. The students should have no
reason to be unhappy.
TWO POINTS should be made
clear: I am suggesting that facul-
ty members use this revised grad-
ing system whether students ask
for it or not. There is no reason
to regard ranking as a moral
problem for students alone. It is
as serious a problem for profes-
sors.
Any faculty member who grades
an undergraduate must face the
uncomfortable reality that he is
casting a vote as to whether or
not that student shall be drafted,
and ultimately in a decision of life
and death. He cannot evade his
responsibility by leaving the choice
to the student.
Secondly, I am not advocating
secrecy. Faculty members who pro-
pose to institute a de facto pass-
fail system should announce col-
lectively that they intend to do
so. As conscientious objectors to
the ranking system they will have
to resort to civil disobedience since
other alternatives have been
blocked.
FINALLY, a few objections:
1: It is unfair to give some stu-
dents A's when they deserve C's
and would have received C's
where an ordinary grading system
was used. Answer: Yes, but grad-
ing is unfair, as it is currently

practiced. Furthermore, such de
facto pass-fail options already ex-
ist in courses, particularly on the
graduate level, where instructors
either do not bother or do not
feel qualified (e.g. if they are stu-
dents themselves) to pass detailed
judgments on their students.
2: The use of a de facto pass-
fail system on the part of some.
but not all teachers will tend to
bring not only ranking, but grad-
ing itself into disrespect. Answer:
Perhaps, and maybe it's not such
bad idea. However, faculty mem-
bers who do grade on a pass-fail
basis should submit more detailed
evaluations of the students' course-
work-just as some proposed to do
last term.
3: If professors use different
bases for grading students will
flock to "easy" classes. Answer:
Professors use different bases for
grading today. However, some stu-
dents are so old-fashioned they at-
tend classes in order to learn
something!
IT IS MUCH too early to think
in terms of specific proposals. The
movement must work out a philos-
ophy and a sense of direction. An-
swer: It is much too late to be
satisfied with generalities. Re-
forms as well as revolutions are
made by specific actions.
Maybe this specific proposal is
unworkable. If so, let's have some
alternative suggestions.
--Nils Petter Gleditsch
Grad.
Review Reply
To the Editor:
MUSIC REVIEWS seldom draw
letters to the editor, and
therefore I was surprised when
my recent Detroit Symphony re-
view elicited four responses, three
quiet approvals and one rabid dis-
approval. Naturally, since it makes
better copy, the Daily printed the
latter, by one Barrett Kalellis, and
to save my name from Eternal Be-
smirchment, I thus reply:
MY CONTENTION that Brahms'
"main lyric themes were over-
stated in a most unsubtle and sen-
timental fashion" by the Detroit
Symphony is countered by Mr.
Kalellis with a false accusation
that I am unfamiliar with the
score. If Mr. Kalellis can show me
where to find Brahms' instruction
"con multo schmaltz," I shall 're-
tract my criticism, which truly
has nothing to do with score but
only with Sixten Ehrling's lack of
control.
Mr. Kalellis jauntily goes on to

call me a "musical ignoramus and
a phony reviewer" because I of-
fered a "subjective opinion" (sor-
ry-I left my IBM at home) on
Leslie Bassett's "Variations for
Orchestra" having heard it only
once and having not studied the
score. This requires a more
lengthy reply.
THE AUDIENCE was not mailed
copies of the score preceding the
concert; they went to hear and to
think about what they were, hear-
ing in situ. Furthermore, I would
doubt if even G. B. Shaw or B. II.
Haggin could read some of the
scores of, say, Karl Stockhausen.
Besides, which is more impor-
tant: John Cage's written in-
structions to turn on four radios
simultaneously or the listener's re-
action of putting his fingers in his
ears? ("In" answer: neither; what
is important is the ,cultural com-
ment of the whole.)
Stanley Kauffmann pleaded to
be allowed to see rehearsals of
plays before writing his Times re-
views: shewas defeated on the
simple answer that such should
not be necessary to a good critic.
In making judgments at one sit-
ting, a music critic draws upon
his musical knowledge and his
past, rich musical experience.
Hopefully, the many hours of lis-
tening, with and without score,
and the many hours of reading
and of thought have heightened
his sensibility and sensitivity. At
best, he can only present a refined
and knowledgeable subjectivity.
Let me remind Mr. Kalellis that
music is not technology and that
a memorization of both the score
and the complete high school di-
aries of the composer will not pro-
duce objectivity.
MY FINAL COMMENTS on Mr.
Bassett's "having audacity to be a
composer" were not meant deroga-
torily but with a rather ironic ad-
miration. I questioned not his
skills but sought his courage to
compose in this most difficult
scientific age. However, there is
ambiguity in my statement and I
apologize to Mr. Bassett for my
lack of precision.
And, with a final sigh, let me re-
mind Mr. Kalellis that the review-
er of the Paris Gazette Musicale
in 1853 damned "Rigoletto" for
lacking all melody. I hardly think
I harmed Mr. Bassett; he shall
have a Guggenheim whenever he
desires.
--Richard Perry

*9

I

*1

A Nicotinic's Lament

O, REP. JACK FAXON is out to save
"teenagers from the evils of tobacco.
He's introducing legislation which
would raise the cigarette tax, bringing the
price of a pack of cigarettes up to 50
cents, and prohibiting cigarette machines
on state property (including the Uni-
versity), among other things.
His intent is all very fine and good.
Teenagers who haven't acquired -the hab-
it should be discouraged from doing so,
for anyone who starts to smoke is prob-
ably out of his mind. The question is,
what will his legislation, if passed, do
to the rest of the people in the state
of Michigan?
&l;41-g 3iri gul *R tt
The Daily Is a member of the Associated Press and
Collegiate Press Service.,
Subscription rate: $4.50 semester by carrier ($5 by
mail; $8 yearly by carrier ($9 by mail).
Published at 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.,
48104.
Owner-Board in Control of Student Publications,
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104.
Bond or Stockholders-None.
Average press run--8100.
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Editorial Stafff
MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH, Editor
BRUCE WASSERSTEIN, Executive Editor
CLARENCE FANTO HARVEY WASSERMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
LEONARD PRATT ........ Absociate Managing Editor
JOHN MEREDIITH ...... Associate Managing Editor
CHARLOTTE WOLTER ... Associate Editorial Director
ROBERT CARNEY ...... Associate Editorial Director
BABETTE COHN .................. Personnel Director
ROBERT MOORE................. Magazine Editor
CHARLES VETZNR..................Sports Editor

THE SECTIONS of the legislation de-
signed to enforce anti-tobacco educa-
tion in the school districts and promote
a study of teenage smoking habits seem
reasonable. All efforts to encourage non-
smokers to retain this status are com-
mendable. But why penalize the poor
addict?
Aha, a contradiction, you say. You're
thinking that if I think non-smoking
is such a good thing, I'd stop. Faxon's
bill might even force me to, no?
Well, it isn't that simple. I have been
known to go hungry because my last 35
cents went for a pack of cigarettes, and
to walk through deep snow on Christmas
Eve to the store because there wasn't a
cigarette in the house. Making cigarettes
absurdly expensive and unavailable won't
stop any diehard smoker. It'll just make
smoking damned inconvenient.
IT'S OBVIOUS that Faxon doesn't smoke.
No smoker would impose such a mon-
ster on anyone else similarly addicted. My
hope is that smokers constitute the ma-
jority of the Legislature. Then the bill
as it stands won't have a chance.
If by some fluke the bill passes, some-
thing will have to be done. Maybe we'll
have to set up a smuggling ring to im-
port cheaper cigarettes from Toledo. And
can you see the possibilities for a black
market in the dorms, where students
would have to walk miles to the nearest
cigarette machine if they were prohibited
on state property? Ann Arbor police would
go wild. They might even forget about
obscenity and pot.

I

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Lieut. Staudenmeier: Campus

Watchdog

By ROGER RAPOPORT
IVE'RE NO VILLAINS; we're
just thermometers for society,"
says Ann Arbor Police Lt. Eugene
Staudenmeier.
As head of the city's 10-man
detective bureau Staudenmeier
takes his job, of actively pursuing
local panderers, pot and acid heads
dead seriously.
Last week, for example, he
spent five hours overtime putting
Cinema Guild's "Flaming Crea-
tures" out of sight.
"Today's university students are,
tomorrow's leaders," says Stauden-
meier. "I want to do what's nec-
essary to protect them from porn-
ography. Otherwise they'll come
out of school with no backbone."
THE LIEUTENANT has spent
18 years on the force here and is
alarmed about the "increase of
vice on campus."
"I think the increasing use of
drugs, and loose movies on cam-
pus reflects a snowballing rebel-
linn oan.inst authority.

"I'd like to get some of the men
and women on campus in a fight
because I think the women will
win."
STAUDENMEIER is also wor-
ried about the use of marijuana
on campus. "Out of 100 people
maybe 75 per cent will take it and
forget about it. But the other 25
per cent goes to pieces. I've seen
some wonderful kids really get
screwed up with the stuff."
However, he doesn't think LSD
is an acute problem. "There is not
as much LSD use as some people
think. A lot of people are afraid
to take it because they don't
know what's been put in the cap-
sule."
HE SCOFFS at critics who con-
tend that his continuing investi-
gation into campus vice is un-
warranted intrusion. "The police
have the right to go anywhere. I'm
a. taxpayer, and my money helps
pay for the school. I think I should
have a say in what's going on over

ema Guild after he seized the film
last Wednesday. But he is still
actively reviewing films locally.
"I went to cover the Vth Forum
show, 'I, a Woman' Monday," says
Staudenmeier. The film is still
under investigation. Staudenmeier
says he hasn't decided whether or
not to take in Cinema Guild's
second controversial experimental
film showing tonight.
"The problem with this stuff
is that there aren't enough of us
to go around. So we work over-
time."
Staudenmeier doesn't believe it's
necessary to see a film in its en-
tirety to decide if it's pornograph.
ic. He halted "Flaming Creatures"
after seven minutes.
The lieutenant thinks a film
can be pornographic even if it's
only partially obscene. "Otherwise
guys could get away with show-
ing stag movies by just sticking a
couple of Shirley Temple clips on
the end."

'4

4

LOCAL FILM CRITIC EUGENE STAUDENMEIER

I

J

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