Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Impressions of a Political Convention
Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will PrevWi
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.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1967
NIGHT EDITOR: WALLACE IMMEN
The SGC Elections:
Candidates Are Needed
THE CAMPUS is beginning its search
for new leaders, and things aren't go-
ing too well. With one week left, few peo-
ple have yet petitioned to run for election
to Student Government Council and other
University boards.
The need for vital student government
is greater than ever now, after last se-
mester's "student power" protests. The
widespread participation in the draft ref-
erendum, the teach-ins, and the sit-ins
left even the most skeptical campus ob-
server awed by the depth of student con-
cern.
The momentum of all the activity has
been transferred to the Presidential Com-
mission on Decision-Making and, in the
process, the present SGC may be the los-
er. If no one runs to fill the half-dozen
vacant seats on Council, or, if students
are not offered a choice between candi-
dates of different persuasions, SGC would
quickly lose any effectiveness it present-
ly holds.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, the issues
confronting SGC in the coming year
are extremely significant:
* The decision-making machinery of
the University will probably be restructur-
ed along lines recommended by the pres-
idential commission. The manner in which
SGC proceeds during the following year
can help determine the outcome of the
commission's report. Can SGC cooperate
effectively with Graduate Student Coun-
cil? Can SGC rally student participation
when it is necessary? Can SGC effective-
ly consult alministrators on University
matters concerning finance, academics,
and research? ,
* An effective course evaluation book-
let has been sorely missed at the Univer-
sity for years. SGC has considered plans
for producing one in connection with the
Survey Research Center and perhaps the
faculty. Council will need dedicated, ac-
tive members who will not only give their
own time but will recruit other students
to make the booklet a success. It would
probably be the very best outlet for "stu-
dent power" advocates-the power to de-
termine the quality of your own educa-
tion.
0 SGC has sanctioned a Student Ren-
tal Union, a step in the right direction in
a move against the high prices and inade-
quate conditions of Ann Arbor apart-
ments. If the students are ever to im-
prove housing conditions, they could do it
best through their duly elected represen-
tatives; yet the campus must be sure that
the candidates are concerned and knowl-
edgeable in this area.
0 This semester, the big issue so far
has been academic freedom, and, more
specifically, the autonomy of Cinema
Guild and The Daily.
SGC candidates must not only offer stu-
dents a choice on this important issue,
but they must guide the Council on a
firm and representative course.
OTHER ELECTIONS will also take place
in late March. Delegates will be elect-
ed to the National Student Association;
this could determine the future of the
University's relationship to the NSA,
which has come under a barrage of fire
lately because of its CIA backing.
The Board in Control of Student Pub-
lications will have seats up for election
and here, once again, the very nature of
the board's existence should come under
intensive scrutiny. Should there be a board
at all? What control should it have?
The Board in Control of Intercollegiate
Athletics will likely tackle such knotty
problems as the vitality of the intramural
program and the rising ticket prices for
sporting events.
The elections reflectthe importance of
the issues facing the University, and,
more importantly, the student's obliga-
tion to meet these challenges.
IN THE END, SGC must have the elector-
al race it deserves. It must provide the
students with a choice of candidates and
a variety of issues. But the stack of peti-
tions in the Student Activities Building
is hardly dented, and all petitions must
be in by the Monday after vacation,
March 6. It will be an important year for
decisions, and thus it is most important
that competent students be around to
help make them.
-ROBERT KLIVANS
Acting Editorial Director
By NEIL SHISTER
Acting Magazine Editor
T HE WAY it all sounds in Poli.
Sci. 100 it just ain't in real
life, or at least it wasn't this
weekend at the state GOP conven-
tion.
Mostly a lot of people from the
upper peninsula and Flint and
Jackson and north Detroit and
towns you never heard of even
if you live in-state all year. Most
of the delegates are fat women
who take their shoes off in church
and young used car dealers. Fed
on a diet of straight corn-porn and
35 cent hot dogs that they have
to buy themselves, they listen to
endless speeches from endless peo-
ple:employing endless cliches and
then they applaud. All the time
they are applauding.
"... And now we have somebody
who means something more to the
voters than just a green polka-dot
bowtie." YEAH, YAY, BRAVO,
MORE.
Who has been a superb
lieutenant governor and will con-
tinue to be a superb lieutenant
governor for as long as he is our
superb lieutenant governor." RAH,
RAI, RAHm(quickly now, who
knows his name?)
". . . Who will go down in the
annals of history, in the saga of
time, his name etched in the
marble of men's souls, revered
forever as a great ." An
introduction like this, regardless
of the office, is made at least
twice an hour and usually gets a
standing ovation if the speaker
is worth half his salt.
MOSTLY they were all waiting
for "Rock" Romney and when
he finally showed up they got
bored.
There was an organ to supply
life to the few thousanddelegates
and alternates, and also three high
school kids in mod clothes with
electric guitars so everybody could
see that the Republican party is
in-tune with the new generation.
In the Statler-Hilton Saturday
morning before the convention of-
ficially began "The Rock" and Sen.
Charles Percy of Illinois were hold-
ing a press conference on the 14th
floor, but on the mezzanine there
was a flurry of activity as the
collective districts were hurriedly
caucusing. It seems that the floor
A
'Fed on a diet of straight corn-porn and 35 cent hot dogs'
leadership was trying to orga-
nize a coup, was about to hood-
wink the delegates and move that
the pledge of allegiance be said
collectively instead of by little
Amie Witherby of the 12th ward,
19th congressional district, south-
west Owosso. Clearly a political
ploy, and the delegates weren't
going to take it sitting down.
After three and a half hours of
vigorous debate in which it look-
ed as if the convention leadership
might be toppled and "The Rock's"
position as party leader challeng-
ed, a compromise was arrived at.
It wasdecided that little Amie
Witherby would lead the pledge
and that everybody would follow
her. Excited by their victory, the
forces for good government, virtu-
ous publicrule, responsibility, fis-
cal integrity and little Amie With-
erby took the floor of Cobo Hall
by storm.
DELEGATES worked theirway
to the floor past a long table
strewn with "Win with Romney"
posters, Ronald Reagan buttons
that glow in the dark, bumper
stickers that say "I Still Like Ike"
and a little boy who had become
separated from his father.
There was a definite and rig-
orously enforced hierarchy at the
convention. Only official delegates
could get on the floor, but for
each delegate there were two al-
ternates (mostly their wives or
husbands) who either went up in
the red seats or stood outside near
the hot dog stand and talked
knowingly about what Nixon was
really up to or who was the best
bet for sewer commissioner on a
reform ticket.
Yet it is unfair to dismiss the
convention so irreverently.
"The Rock" made an impassion-
ed plea for tax reform,; vigorously
jabbing his forefinger at his au-
dience saying "I will not approve
any budget requests until I am
certain we have the funds to pay
for them, and presently we will
have to cut almost $143 million
from our requests, services the
state cannot afford to lose, unless
there is tax reform."
But "The Rock" got into a lot
of specifics midway through the
speech and lost most of his list-
eners, who stirred restlessly and
stared off into the far-reaches of
the empty upper two tiers. To
compound matters he was having
trouble with the mike, tried to
shout out without it and finally
said "I don't know who is fool-
ing around with this mike but I
know somebody is!"
A LOT of people there didn't
much want tax reform anyway.
At the end of "The Rock's"
speech the audience sprang to
life, rising to its feet to cheer
him on. He stood there on the
podium for a few moments beam-
ing, then beckoned his wife, also
on the platform, to his side. To-
gether they posed for the cam-
eras with their hands held aloft,
"The Rock" looking as if he had
just declared his wife winner of
the "Pillsbury national bake-off"
in a picture appearing on a back
page of Better Homes and Gar-
den.
After the delegates returned to
their state of normalcy a long-
winded debate took place between
factions favoring the convention's
formal endorsement of tax reform
and those opposing it.
A NATIONAL correspondent for
a Washington paper, there to ob-
serve "The Rock" before his own
people,, commented that this con-
vention wasn't typical at all but
captured pretty well the spirit of
most political gatherings.,
Debate had finally been cut off
on the floor below and itl ooked
like endorsement of tax reform
was going to come. Little Arnie
Witherby, seated on the right
side of the hall, looked glum.
The first visit to Cobo Hall
leaves an antiseptic tAste in the
mouth, and leaving the arena, the
convention still in progress,
thoughts of sterilitynseemed ap-
propriate.
4
A
Letters: The Time Is Ripe for Independence
Not With a Bang, But a Whimper
IE PRESIDENTIAL sit-in ban commis-
sion is a bit of untidy business that
needs tidying up.
The commission was one of three Creat-
ed by President Harlan Hatcher last fall
to deal with problems that had created
the atmosphere of mistrust and misun-
derstanding that sparked the student
movement.
Now that the teach-ins, sit-ins and
general furor of The Movement have died,
down without bringing out any positive
gains in student power, the two other
commissions and a slew of advisory boards
are beginning to bring the student body
into the "decision-making process" of the
University.
The unsettled question remains - what
happens to the sit-in ban study commis-
The Daily is a member or the Associated Press and
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420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104.
Acting Editorial Staff
ROGER RAPOPORT, Editor
MEREDITH BIKER, Managing Editor
MICHAEL HEFFER ROBERT KLIVANS
City Editor Editorial Director
SUSAN ELAN........Associate Managing Editor
LAURENCE MEDOw ...... Associate Managing Editor
STEPHEN FIRSHEIN .. Associate Editorial Director
RONALD KLEMPNER .... Associate Editorial Director
SUSAN SCHNEPP .............. Personnel Director
:NEIL SHISTER......... ..... . .Magazine Editor
CAROLE KAPLAN........Associate Magazine Editor
LISSA MAT'ROSS. .............Arts Editor
sion to which no students, faculty nor ad-
ministrators have been appointed?
THE SIT-IN BAN was promulgated in
the Daily Official Bulletin by Vice-
President for Student Affairs Richard L.
Cutler. He failed to consult Student Gov-
ernment Council, a move which led di-
rectly to SGC's break of formal relations
with the Office of Student Affairs.
The sit-in, suspended by President
Hatcher when he created the commis-
sions, remains suspended. His statement
implied that the ban would not be put
into effect until the commission had de-
cided on the issue. But nobody is sure
that Cutler, with the support of Presi-
dent Hatcher, could not unilaterally place
the ban in effect if he felt the situation
warranted such action.
President Hatcher has apparently de-
cided to leave the matter unsettled by
appointing neither administrators nor
three faculty members nominated by the
Faculty Assembly. SGC has definitely giv-
en a low priority to petitioning for the
student seats, apparently in hopes that
one of the other commissions will get to
the matter first.
SEVERAL COUNCIL members think that
if the commission considers only the
regulations concerning sit-ins, and not
the manner in which Cutler implemented
the original ban, any curtailment of dis-
ruptive sit-ins would appear as a vindi-
cation of Cutler's actions. Thus the Coun-
cil hopes another commission-on the
role of the student in decision-making-
will generate some rules on sit-ins and
"not make a big issue out of a small
one."
The issue is likely to remain big and
potentially explosive as long as the sit-
in commission's status remains unclear.
If neither SGC nor President Hatcher is
To the Editor:
IWt OBVIOUSLY share Peter
Steinberger's (Letters, Feb. 25)
worries about The Daily's free-
dom, and we're not entirely san-
guine about Thursday night's
events either. But the question
is what to do now.
The "proposals" are, in them-
selves, good ideas (and were con-
ceived- as such, not as proposals-
let alone concessions). The jour-
nalistic-critic will be useful and
his comments won't be available
to the board. The added code of
ethics as we read it, contains
more arguments against the usual
criticisms from board members
(etc.)sthan for them. All the
rest are continuations of old, good
Daily practices, some of which
had lapsed.
But now enter the mentality,
so prevalent in crises, that defeat-
ing the enemy ("drawing blood,"
as one board member privately
said) is more important than crea-
tively meeting the real needs of
the situation. It seems that this
is the outlook of some board
members, some staff members and
some of the others involved. Only
in this perspective do the jun-
iors' ideas become "concessions"
which imply that "the quality of
The Daily is a legitimate matter
of board concern."
THE BOARD, as a board, has
no legitimate concern with The
Daily's contents. (No more than
Voice or Steinberger.)
-On ethical grounds, because
the paper was built and is pro-
duced by the energies of the
staff, not of the board. The right
of a publisher therefore accrue to
the staff. (This is not an argu-
ment about "student power"; in
fact, faculty and others who don't
like The Daily should join it and
change it instead of meddling
from outside.)
-On practical grounds, because
restrictive interference from the
outside cannot improve the paper.
At most it produces staff strikes; at
least it moves the staff toward de-
fiance, stupid obedience, and/or
indifferent negligence.
Presenting the list of "propos-
als" may have obscured these
points-even though it shouldn't
have.
What to do now? There is no
way to undo what has happened
without wrecking The Daily; there
is little reason, except spite, to
try. Besides, the time is ripe for
something far better: the estab-
lishment of an independent Daily.
WE DON'T THINK The Daily
would have to be stolen or torn
fromthe board'sclutches. Almost
all of the board members would
be better described as power-weary
than as power-hungry; their job
is frustration, not intoxicating.
They too doubt that the board
has any useful function. ("Why
don't we all go on strike?" quip-
ped one member during the cris-
is. Another replied: "Nobody would
notice.") And some members must
be counted among The Daily's best
friends.
Also, The Daily staff itself
seems ready and willing now to
undertake independence.
Independence will mean facing
directly those pressures from
which men like Prof. Cooperrider
now quietly insulate The Daily.
And independence will mean that
the Regents, the administration
and the Board in control need no
longer feel either the "responsibil-
ity' 'or the temptation to restrict
The Daily's operations and con-
tents.
-Kenneth Winter, Grad
Daily Managing Editor, 196.-65
-Stephen Berkowitz, Grad
Members, Board in Control of
Student Publications
In effective
To the Editor: ,
APUBLICATIONS board is pret-
ty ineffective in the face of the
threat of student non-cooperation.
And it is objectionable because of
its probable misuse of whatever
power it can acquire. What is
really needed is a, faculty-admin-
istrative advisory board to the
senior staff of The Daily. (After
all, that's the administrative and
faculty technique for allowing
student participation in their af-
fairs.)
-Robert Farrell, '63
Reality of Power
To the Editor:
(IN MONDAY, February 20, the
Board in Control of Student
Publications voted 7 to 4 to re-
ject Roger Rapoport as Daily edi-
tor and on Thursday, February
23, the same body voted 7 to 4
to accept him as Daily editor. Al-
though it is disdurbing that seven
members of the board could find
Rapoport unacceptable as Daily
editor, it is, in a way, more dis-
turbing that three members chang-
ed their votes in a period of three
days.
What factual information re-
garding either Rapoport's capabal-
ities as an editor or the func-
tion of a Daily editor could these
men have gotten in this period to
account for their changed votes?
Surely, these board members don't
think that Rapoport's individual
reporting will be altered by the
seven proposals of The Daily staff,
and they must know that major
decisions on the paper are made
by a consensus of the senior staff
members and not by the editor
alone.
THE MORE reasonable expla-
nation for this behavior on the.
part of these three men is that
they appraised the realities of the
power situation differently on
Thursday than on Monday. Per-
haps the rumblings of student dis-
content that threatened to mar
the Sesquicentennial festivities was
an ingredient in their change of
viewpoint as were the Detroit Free
Press editorial in support of Rapo-
port and the unexpected support
of a bipartisan group of 35 state
legislators.
IF THIS interpretation of the
events is basically correct, then
the question arises: what is the
purpose of having such a board
whose members seem so easily
swayed by various types of poli-
tical pressure? If the members of
the board make their decision on
the basis of expedience rather than
principle, then it seems that the
board's function in the University
community could be assumed by
a public opinion poll (off and on
campus) and a survey of the Re-
gents and state legislators.
Given this state of affairs, stu-
dent pressure (power?) must be
exerted to protest freedom of ex-
pression, not only from those who
would unyieldingly oppose it, but
also from those. who would com-
promise it.
-Alexander Pollatsek, Grad.
-Rick Piltz, Grad
Meeting the Issue
To the Editor:
THE MASTHEAD on The Michi-
gan Daily declares "76 Years
of Editorial Freedom." The contro-
versy surrounding the refusal of
the Board in Control to accept
the recommendations of the senior
editors indicates the board has
shown a singular lack of concern
for the cause of freedom. If The
Daily is to function as a free
newspaper and not a tool of eith-
er the board or the University ad-
ministration, then something more
than the vague excuses given for
rejecting Roger Rapoport as sen-
ior editor will have to be made.
A charge that The Daily or that
Rapoport is "irresponsible" is
hardly justification for the board's
action. The virulence of the at-
tack on Rapoport marks the real
intention of the board, which is
to destroy the integrity and inde-
pendence of The Daily. The Uni-
versity community is already de-
luged with official handouts-wit-
ness the insufferable number of
releases from Mr. Radock's office.
Apparently the Board in Control
wishes to mold The Daily into the
image of University public rela-
tions,
IF THE DAILY can be faulted
for anything it is that it suffers
from an excess of amateur exuber-
ance though I find this one of its
most appealing qualities. A free
press in a free society, whether a
student newspaper or a communi-
ty paper, can serve the cause of
freedom only by itself being free.
-Lawrence S. Berlin
University Extension Service
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