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EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
The Case for Cinema Guild
Where Opinions Are Free 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail
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.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1967
NIGHT EDITOR: MARK LEVIN
r
Hatcher's Speech: Defending
Cinema Guild's Freedom
RESIDENT Harlan Hatcher's speech
at yesterday's Regents meeting, while
not a stirring defense of artistic freedom
or a ringing denunciation of censorship,
was a commendable act. From the gen-
eral tone of the Regents' comments fol-
lowing Hatcher's speech, it seems at least
a few members of the board were willing
to censure the Cinema Guild board for
the showing of "Flaming Creatures" last
month.
While decrying what he called a gen-
eral decline in taste in American society,
Hatcher praised Cinema Guild as "a crea-
tive and imaginative group to which the
University is deeply indebted." He denied
that the "Flaming Creatures" incident in-
volved issues of academic freedom, but he
did, indirectly, come to the defense of
the group in the name of artistic free-
dom.
AT TIMES the President seemed obscure
as to whether he supported or con-
demned Cinema Guild. But a more direct
defense of Cinema Guild would probab-
ly have only alienated the Regents. The
hostile mood of the board was best exem-
plified by Regent Paul Goebel who said,
"I spend 75 per cent, of my time explain-
ing to the alumni about these types of
activities. This type of stuff is going to
have to stop!"
Had President Hatcher been too out-
spoken in defense of Cinema Guild, the
Regents would likely have ignored his
plea. In this case the weakest defense
became the strongest.
IT IS EXTREMELY unfortunate that the
Regents must be placated so that the
intellectual freedom vital to an education-
al experience can exist here. It is equally
unfortunate that the University has Re-
gents who are more concerned about
"explaining to the alumni" than they are
about the intellectual development of the
students. President Hatcher should be
commended for standing up to that de-
structive tide.
--STEPHEN WILDSTROM
By PAUL SAWYER
THE CASE for Cinema Guild in
its current conflicts with the
courts rests on its service to the
University community, and the
relevance of this service to aca-
demic freedom. Historically and
functionally Cinema Guild is an
indisputable part of this commu-
nity.
In 1950, the probable starting
date of Cinema Guild, there was
a general cultural explosion on
campus, which among other events
witnessed the births of the Inter-
Arts Union, which later produced
the prize-winning film version of
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis";
and of the old Gothic Film So-
ciety, a graduate group co-spon-
sored by Prof. Marvin Felheim of
the English department. Accord-
ing to Felheim, it was this general
cultural situation that encouraged
a group to seek a monopoly from
SGC on the use of University fa-
cilities for the showing of all
films outside the classroom.
THE PREDECESSOR of this
group, the Gothic Film Society,
was essentially an elite group de-
voted to the "art film," which
operated on the basis of member-
ship and season subscriptions. It
arose from a demand by graduate
students for a treatment of the
film as art, since, according to Fel-
heim, there was marked indiffer-
ence on the part of the graduate
school and the administration to
the idea of a film course such as
the one Felheim was trying to or-
ganize.
Felheim continues to protest this
indifference, which he believes has
not diminished. "We saw the film
society as an extension of the
classroom experience. Our group
grew up with the original class. It
is therefore despairing that sever-
al of my colleagues have main-
tained that academic freedom be-
gins at the door of their class-
rooms. I believe this is plainly
false."
tal film programs at Ann Arbor,
according to Cohen, are comprised
exclusively of films which are con-
sidered classics of the underground
cinema and which similarly are
seldom shown commercially.
To justify their claims to full
status in the University's cultural
community, the officials of Cinema
Guild tend to be very specific
about their conception of the im-
portance of the film as art. Ed
Weber, the co-sponsor and man-
ager of Cinema Guild, says in ref-
erence to the classic American
films that they are "the funda-
mental fact of the popular culture
of young Americans. Unlike tele-
vision, they represent a common
cultural heritage which needs to
be preserved."
AS FOR THE FILM media to-
day, Cohen maintains that it "is
the most pertinent art form of our
times. Many of us do not realize
that it has become the dominant
medium for the young; it expresses
the world they know. Many of the
best young talents are no longer
writing novels or plays but are
going into the films. Movies have
to a great extent become their
form of art."
The Cinema Guild therefore acts
as "a kind of library" where speci-
mens of this young art can be
stored - since, as Weber says,
"films are not like books that can
be procured and re-read at will."
"Those people interested in this
art," says Cohen, "often have no
place to go. Cinema Guild tried
to present in its programs an his-
torical view of the growth of the
art from still photograph to silent
film to sound, and now on to its
various 'new directions'."
It is the function of Cinema
Guild therefore to present to the
academic community as a whole
the varied record of the one art,
the "liveliest art," which belongs
distinctively to the twentieth cen-
tury.
4
I
'4
Presenting view of art form's growth
THE GOTHIC Film Society be-
came defunct in 1960, but not be-
fore Cinema Guild had largely ap-
propriated its function. The Guild
was open to undergraduates, did
not operate on a subscription bas-
is, and showed films four nights a
week. As late as 1958, however, the
Guild was still showing popular
American films. In the past eight
or nine years it has continued to
cater to a relatively large audi-
ence while at the same time show-
ing high quality "art films" which
had previously been the interest of
only a select group of devotees.
This change reflects in an inter-
esting way the growing acceptance
by the educated American public
of the film as an art form, and
corresponds to the sudden rise in
the number of art theatres across
the country at that time.
In recent years Cinema Guild
has attempted to extend its func-
tion beyond that of an independ-
ent film society by diversifying
its program and extending its con-
tacts with other parts of the uni-
versity community. According to
Hubert Cohen, one of the co-spon-
sors, an instructor in the engineer-
ing English department, the group
has in the last three years brought,
or helped to bring to campus, such
speakers as Dwight Macdonald,
Pauline Kael, Andy Warhol and,
in a recent seminar discussion,
Harold Llcyd. It has brought spe-
cial request programs to campus
in cooperation with groups like the
Dramatic Arts Festival, the Ann
Arbor Dance Theatre, the Center
for Southeast Asian Studies, and
with individual professors.
CINEMA GUILD has further at-
tempted to pursue its educational
function by writing program notes
and occasional booklets to accom-
pany its presentations. Many .of
the films shown-most recently
"The Trial" and the films in the
Godard festival-have never been
shown in Ann Arbor before; while
others cannot beseen commercial-
ly any place in the country.
Finally, the vigorous experimen-.
'A
University and Unionization
I
HE REPORT of the Governor's Advis-
ory Committee on Public Employe Re-
lations, released on Friday, adds still an-
other document to the governing body
of evidence against the University's stand
on Public Act 379.
The University has refused to comply
with the provisions of the Public Employes
Relations Act (PA 379) since its enact-
ment in 1965, challenging its constitu-
tionality on the grounds that it infringes
upon University, autonomy. The Univer-
sity has been ordered to comply with the
act by the courts, pending a decision on
the legality of the law.
COMMITTEE, chaired by Prof. Rus-
sell Smith of the Law School, urges the
University to comply with the act re-
gardless of the outcome of the suit. As
the report states, "We believe that there
is no valid reason for any constitution-
ally autonomous agency to refuse to ac-
cept the samep rinciples of employes rela-
tions that are prescribed by law for all
other public employes in the state."
The report also mentions that "the
overwhelming majority of employes, pub-
lic and private, are guaranteed the right
to have a voice in determining the con-
ditions of their employment through col-
lective bargaining." The denial of this
right to a minority of employes, unless
accompanied by circumstances which
sharply distinguish their situation from
that of the majority, is a course which
cannot be validly defended." The report
concludes that no such circumstances
exist in regards to University employes.
The committee has hit at the heart of
the matter-there is no reason why the
University cannot bargain collectively
with 'public employes even if PA 379 is
devlared unconstitutional. The Universi-
ty, in dealing with its non-academic em-
ployes, is no different then any other busi-
ness or corporation on matters of labor
relations.
QNE SUGGESTION the committee makes
which could make collective bargain-
ing more palatable for the University is
to grant "rights of unionization" inde-
pendent of the State Labor Mediation
Board. This would mean granting exclu-
sive recognition and allowing collective
bargaining completely independent of the
SLMB, therefore, eliminating the possi-
bility of board intervention which could
infringe upon University autonomy.
For example, the question of bargain-
ing unit determination, or of compliance
with a good faith bargaining directive
could be appropriately resolved by the
use of private arbitration or by some oth-
er agency jointlyestablished by the em-
ployer and organization of employes.
CONTINUED RESISTANCE to PA 379
places the University in a bad light
before the Legislature, which is in turn
influenced by labor unions and other
sympathetic forces within the state.
However, as long as the University re-
tains its outdated stand that collective
bargaining has no place in a University
atmosphere even for non-academic em-
ployes, as University President Harlan
Hatcher explained last fall, the commit-
tee's suggestions go unheeded. By fol-
lowing the recommendations of this dis-
tinguished panel, the University could ex-
tricate itself from a most unpopular and
politically disadvantageous situation.
-MARK LEVIN
Letters:On Brandeis' Student Discontent
To the Editor:
PERMIT ME to offer a correc-
tion of your article on the
Brandeis student class boycott.
The article states, "Sachar (note
correct spelling of name) made,
similar remarks last June when
graduating seniors walked out on
commencement speaker Arthur J.
Goldberg, protesting U.S. involve-
ment in Viet Nam." What actual-
ly happened was that the vast
majority of seniors, about half the
advanced degree recipients, and a
number of professors in the aca-
demic procession wore white rib-
bons pinned to their robes as a
sign of protest and mourning.'
When Ambassador Goldberg rose
to speak, many, but not all, of
these ribbon-wearers (and some
parents and friends in the audi-
ence) rose and stood silently for
the first 10 minutes of his speech,
and then sat down.
WHAT MAY have been constru-
ed as a walkout was asdecision
made by the senior class, mass-
ed near the amphitheatre ready
to walk in, not to do so until
several people who were distribut-
ing literature explaining our posi-
tion and who had been seized by
the Waltham and campus police
were released and allowed to dis-
tribute their handbills. However,
the demands of the students were
met by the dean of students and
the ceremony proceeded, with the
protest mentioned above.
And now that that's been said,
let me thank you for printing this
article. I regret beinghasmuch
out of touch with the activist
element on my old campus as I
fear I am, and stuff like this is
rarely if ever covered in the Alum-
ni Bulletin or the University in-
formation releases.
-Rima Kittner, Brandeis '66
Permits
To the Editor:
WHEN IS that Mickey Mouse
, student government going to
take a stand on something worth-
while to students, such as the
University's exploitation of stu-
dents via student driving permits?
We students have to pay $4 to
the University to evercise a priv-
ilege which has been granted to
us by the state and for which we
already have paid the state. Fur-
ther, if we fail to buy the permit,
the University fines us an addi-
tional $20. What authority does
the University have for such ac-
tion? Does the University own the
streets? I thought they only own
the unplowed parking lots.
WHAT DOES driving an auto-
mobile have to do with obtaining
an education, particularly when
the student is over 21, votes, and
has all other rights of citizen-
ship? The University is using its
coercive powers over students to
force them to pay tribute.
In any other sphere of life this
would be called a racket and a
shakedown.
-,Caren Knowles, '67
Blunder
To the Editor:
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS is
one of our most cherished
rights. Yet it is a freedom, as
the others are, which cannot and
shouldn ot be misused. An ex-
cellent example of gross misuse
of one of our "great freedoms"
can be found in your Wednesday,
Feb. 15, edition of The Michigan
Daily. I was quite shocked and
angry with the article written by
Gil Samberg.
The article was a personal af-
front to anyone who proudly calls
himself a "black man." What
started out as being a personal
criticism of Muhammed Ali,
though continuously called Cassius
Clay, ended up as a vendetta
against the Negro race as a whole.
I cannot see the reason why
such an article was in the "sports"
section of the paper. If there are
criticisms to be made, why not
make them in the proper place,
the editorial page. Besides being
out of "tune" with the times, the
article was misplaced. But this is
something that can be rectified in
another edition. However, the
opinions stated cannot and will
not be rectified to suit anyone.
GIL SAMBERG made state-
ments, though they will not be re-
peated in this letter, which ob-
viously reflected his adverse opin-
ion of the Negro. I cannot see how
such a liberal, if not ultra-liberal
at times, paper allows such an ar-
ticle to be printed. It is rather
shocking to learn that such an in-
dividual is even allowed to walk
past your office doors. This ar'-
ticle will not be forgotten nor will
this particular person who so cruel-
ly revealed his identity to all.
Mistakes, and blunders are comn-
mon occurrences. We are all sub-
ject to these fates. Yet some mis-
takes are costly. The mistake made
in the Wednesday edition of The
Daily has caused many hardships.
This is one mistake which both
The Daily and Gil Samberg will
regret for quite a while.
-Theodore Guss, '70
(EDITOR'S NOTE: My de-
fense of the heavyweight cham-
pion, lacking the proper labels
to insure absolute clarity, ap-
pears to have been misread. My
apologies for its obscurity.aThere
was no slur involved.
-Gil Samberg
Fraternities
To the Editor:
MIKE DOVER'S report regard-
ing a "Drop in Fraternity
Pledge Totals," in Thursday, Feb.
16, did not reflect the "total" pic-
ture concerning fraternity rush
and pledging statistics. As is the
policy every year, the Interfra-
ternity Council is currently invest-
igating the results of formal rush
and will present a comprehensive
report of its findings.
ALTHOUGH RUSH figures for
the Winter Semester of 1967 re-
flect a decline from totals in the
fall of 1966, a new trend has been
developing whereby fall rush has
and will attract more men than
winter rush. The percentages of
those men pledging, as compared
to those rushing, have increased
from 55 per cent, last winter, to
57 per cent, in this winter's rush.
Conclusions regarding rush sta-
tistics in their relation to student
attitudes, however, are not yet in-
clusive, and can be better ex-
pressed after the rush study.
Other significant. figures regard-
ing the Greek system have been
reported regarding scholarship.
The all-fraternity men's grade
point average for the past year
was 2.66-the highest in Mich-
igan's history. Also important is
the fact that this figure is only
one one-hundredths of a poin~t
from the all-men's grade point
average of 2.67, and not "twelve
one-hundredths of a point" as re-
ported by Mr. Dover.
THE SO-CALLED "credibility
gap," which supposedly exists in
the relation of fraternities to
scholarship, has been critically
narrowed to its closest margin in
ten years. A sharp rise has also
occurred in the all-fraternity
men's grade point average of 2.49,
in 1957 (when the comparisons
were made), as contrasted to the
current average of 2.66.
-Bruce D. Getan, '68
President,
Interfraternity Council
Experimenting
To the Editor:,
T AM A first-year student in the
College of Literature, Science
and the Arts, and last summer I
saw the movie "Flaming Crea-
tures" in its entirety at a theater
in Washington, D.C. I found it to
be interesting, disturbing, and
somewhat repellent, but not at all
"obscene."
First of all, the movie was in-
testing because of the technical
devices it employed (e.g., over-ex-
posure, under-exposure, cross-cut-
ting, etc. as described by Richard
Ayers and Andrew Lugg In the
Jan. 20 issue of The Daily). Being
,an experimental movie, it was not
restricted to the more sedate tech-
niques employed by .the mass-
market companies.
Secondly, and most importantly,
the movie produces absolutely no
erotic excitement in the viewer.
Rather, when it is over, he feels
as though he has undergone an
ordeal, having seen something in-
trinsically beautiful turned into a
horrible travesty.
THIS IS THE moral of this
allegedly immoral film: that sex,
when removed from the context of
normal human love, loses its no-
bility and becomes something at
once degrading and abhorrent.
-Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, '70
Testimony
."AFTER NEARLY two months
in Vietnam I find this the
most hateful war we have ever
fought , . . We find ourselves sup-
pjorting a government of man-
darins with little basis of popular
support, fighting for an army that
has little inclination to do its own
fighting."
--Robert Sherrod in
Life Magazine, Jan. 27, 1967
LETTERS
All letters must be typed,
double-spaced and should be no
longer than 300 words. All let-
ters are subject to editing;
those over 300 words will gen-
erally be shortened.
^
I
I
Anyhing Goes' with Regents
AT FRIDAY'S Regents meeting, Regent
William Cudlip (R-Detroit) said: "I
was looking at the Michigan Daily and
was amazed at the arrogance -in two
(Cinema Guild) advertisements. It is
shocking, almost defiant," he added.
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,
Band or Stockholders-None.
Average press run-10,000.
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104.
Editorial Staff
MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH, Editor
BRUCE WASSERSTEIN, Executive Editor
CLARENCE FANTO HARVEY WASSERMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
JOHN MEREDIITH......Associate Managing Editor
LEONARD PRATT ........ Associate Managing Editor
CHARLOTTE WOLTER ... Associate Editorial Director
ROBERT CARNEY......Associate Editorial Director
BABETTE COHN ................. Personnel Director
ROBERT MOORE.................Magazine Editor
-n .6 yr n~n sTn-7M. b 91nnr .e IA44..
Now many of you who have been fol-
lowing the Cinema Guild ads of late may
be shaking your heads in astonishment,
wondering which ads were being referred
to. Well, it seems a number of Regents
were under the* impression that ads
reading "If you thought we were out of
our minds last time; well this time ANY-
THING GOES!" were sponsored by Cine-
ma Guild to promote "extraordinary" in-
terest in their next presentation. A more
careful investigation, of course, reveals
the ad was sponsored by Musket and pro-
motes the old, famnous Cole Porter musi-
cal "Anything Goes."
Oh well. At least it made good copy
for the Ann Arbor News.
-H.W.
No Comment
Department
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ders of a minister, and commanded
by a general who blindly obeys him,
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