Sevent -Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATION'
A Plan for Serving the University
jv
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Ediorials printed in The Mit higan Vail-, efpres the inidiudnal opinions of staff writer
o the edsthrs. Ths must be noted in all reprnts.
ATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: LAURENCE MEDOW
New Left's REP:
Success Demands Hard Work
LAST MAY, when Secretary of
Defense Robert S. McNamara
in his Montreal speech gave the
idea of "universal national serv-
ice" some sort of legitimacy (by
virtue of the fact that the con-
cept was being espoused by a high
official in the federal govern-
ment), he opened a Pandora's Box
of public discussion of an idea
that had before been regarded as a
pipe dream of social martyrs and
altruists.
Suggestions and plans for a
"Year of National Service," or
"Two Years of National Service"
and the like blossomed in every
conceivable form. Almost every
notable social critic or pundit soon
became caught up in the rush of
enthusiasm to send young warm
bodies to the various military or
social fronts (where, we might
conclude, their elders have failed
miserably). Even a usually coher-
ent social scientist like Margaret
Mead could be found advocating-
in Redbgok, of all places-a uni-
versal military draft including
women and men, with no defer-
ments, a place for everyone.
IN SOME WAYS, all this discus-
sion about social commitment and
the responsibility of youth, etc.,
especially from the mouths of
those who never really bothered to
think or do anything about it un-
til it became the vogue, is enough
to disgust any younger person ser-
iously concerned with doing some-
thing about social problems. He
might even decide to forget the
whole thing--out of spite. After all,
it is easy for someone to describe
clearing garbage from Harlem
back yards for a year with all the
appropriate noble superlatives,
when he is not in the least dan-
ger of having that rare experi-
ence.
Never fear, those brave young
people will still gather and re-
move the refuse from centuries of
neglect and cruelty. But, one thing
youth will not do is ease the con-
science of and give publicity to a
guilty generation.
But, setting aside these consid-
erations. let us assume that there
are, indeed, many possibilities for
new (albeit, inexperienced) minds
to succeed where older ones have
failed. Even now, there are exam-
ples that strongly indicate that
this might be true. We are famil-
The Associates
by 'arnlev and wolier
iar with some of them being con-
ducted on a larger scale: the Peace
Corps, VISTA, American Friends
Service Committee. In all these in-
stances, lesser administrative and
creative functions, assigned to
younger persons, have been welded
into effective local programs
against social problems of nation-
al importance.
Now, let us focus the same sort
of plan on a relatively small in-
stitution-nevertheless complex -
which, like American society, has
often found itself unable to solve
recurrent internal problems: the
University.
WHILE IT IS true that the great
debate about "a year of service
to the University" has not yet
begun, this school has the ideal-
istic potential of any budding
Peace Corps. We have seen the es-
tablishment, in the last year, of
student committees to help admin-
istrators solve student housing
problems, a committee to help se-
lect the next University presi-
dent, and now standing commit-
tees to serve as general advisors
to each vice-president, ostensibly
to actually help make administra-
tive decisions.
If the idea of student partici-
pation, as exemplified by these
advisory committees, is carried to
its logical conclusion (great de-
bate or no), one can{ easily see
the possibility of a "Year in Serv-
ice to the University," in which
students either participate in or
completely take over certain ad-
ministrative functions. A student
majoring in economics, for exam-
ple, might bring his fresh prag-
matism into Vice-President Wilbur
K. Pierpont's Office of Business
and Finance. There is no reason
why a budding psychologist could
not work with the Office of Stu-
dent Affairs to help solve the
problems of non-academic coun-
selling. Similarly, the smaller ad-
ministrative units which head the
various schools and departments
within the University, could de-
rive benefit from a direct dialogue
with students working for and
with them.
BUT, EVEN the most elastic al-
trism must eventually demand its
just reward, The over-worked Uni-
versity student, unlike his Peace
Corps or VISTA counterpart, is
not one to take kindly to unremit-
ting exploitation. Even in the serv-
ice of his University, he would
like a small compensation, And a
University is uniquely equipped to
give such reward, in the form of
credit equivalent to a year's
schooling in regular courses. The
credit could be applied toward
graduation either as an addition
to the student's major concentra-
tion, or as an entirely separate
program. P a id compensation
might take the form of scholar-
ships, or straight salary.
Finally, the University adminis-
tration would get more from
"Service to the University" than a
few, ephemeral help-mates. A year
in the program is a year of in-
valuable training. The projected
Year in Service could help to an-
swer the question: "Where do new
administrators come from?" with
something a little more sophisti-
cated than "under cabbage leaves."
NYONE WHO WISHES to instigate a
significant change in the status quo
must first have adequate knowledge of
what the status quo is. He must also be in-
formed as to what courses of action oth-
ers who possess his same goal have taken
before him and are taking now.
This premise is ofle with which very
few can disagree, including Students for
a Democratic Society who this year are'
establishing their own means of distribut-
ing information, the Radical Education
Project. Whether REP's national staff,
located in Ann Arbor, can put its plan
into action is another matter.
AT PRESENT, REP has published a 19
page pamphlet presenting an outline
of its program, a very sketchy outline.
This document is considered a "Five Year
Plan." The project, in addition to pre-
senting a remedy for problems, wants "to
transform the institutions and thinking
which produce and multiply abuses." This
goal is noble, all inclusive and unrealistic,
REP, however, has taken some concrete
action. At present, several members and
interested people are writing papers on
subjects of concern to the organization.
Marxism, the New Left, decision making
and how to research a community power
structure are subjects of study guides to
be completed by October. REP is also cur-
rently working on a book, to be published
by Doubleday-Anchor, entitled Papers
from the New Left. These papers present
the foundation and theory behind the
organization.
The remainder of the plans for the proj-
ect are considerably more indefinite. The
staff hopes to set up two types of work-
ing organizations; study groups and task
forces. Task forces' major functions will
be original scholarly research. The orga-
nization is not sure whether these groups
will be set up nationally or locally. Study
groups, primarily instruments of self edu-
cation on the local level, are functioning
in some areas although not extensively.
PLANS FOR A SPEAKERS bureau have
also een discussed. According to the
tentative plan, experts in various fields
of study will travel from campus to cam-
pus where they will hold lectures and spe-
cial discussion sessions. All this demands
considerable work which, as yet, has not
been unprovided for.
Another plan which is being consid-
ered but is not set up is one of corres-
pondence among individuals interested in
the same area of study but who live in
separate areas of the country.
Finally, there is the immense, long-
range goal of educating people outside
the organization which, however, has not
yet been given a concrete basis.
In its outline, REP also presents topics
of major social concern: values and uto-
pias, myth and reality, strategies of
change and programs toward new con-
stituencies. Under myth and reality the
plan calls for a consideration of Ameri-
can ideology, economy, cultural institu-
tions under tension and mass media.
Thse also show insight, broad insight into
areas which need investigation, yet pre-
sent a highly unrealistic plan of action
to conduct an investigation thoroughly.
ALL THESE PLANS are good and, if or-
ganized properly, could be an effec-
tive means of educating people concerns
of the New Left. But is it realistic to say
that a full-time staff of five to 10 work-
ers and individual SDS chapters usually
consisting of less than 100 members can
accomplish such an immense task?
REP is realistic, in two main areas,
though. They realize that they need addi-
tional workers. "REP is non-exclusionist.
We are open to all those who would feel
comfortable in our company. Our criteria
of judgment in matters of politics and be-
lief will be facts, argument and values."
They also admit they need money and are
realistic enough to realize that nothing
can be done without it.
REP HAS A LONG WAY to go before it
will be in a position to present a good
educational project to the radicals of
America. But it is the only existing outline
for change that shows any promise of
pople behind the abstractions. If a
touch of -realism is added and more peo-
ple are willing to work on it seriously it
may prove significant.
-BETSY TURNER
4
More_ Experiences in Group Living
-a
By DAVID KNOKE
Scond of a Three-Part Series
ANNAPOLIS-The T-group ex-
perience in the U.S. Student
Press Association summer seminar
on higher education, described in
yesterday"s article as a training
device in sensitivity to other peo-
ple, consumed only a small por-
tion of the six weeks. Yet the
experience served as a roadsign
for the seminar's activities, point-
ing the way to certain situations
of a group nature that' the parti-
cipants could share and enjoy.
If one would construct a theory
of education and learning, one
must come to grips with the phe-
nomenon of social interaction-in
a classroom, a field study, a sem-
inar, or a college dormitory-be-
cause it has a fundamental effect
on the ability to absorb and wise-
ly use the content of what is stud-
led.
THE USSPA seminar provided a
laboratory format for observing
how social structures can be built
from scratch, hindering or aiding
the ability to learn, develop and
relate to others in the group.
Because the participants had be-
come deeply acquainted with and
sensitive to each other's needs
and limitations, the daily activi-
ties of the group in any situation
tended to assure that no one was
ignored or left out. Because the
T-group had been "unstructured."
the process of relating to each
other without rigid formal struc-
tures became a natural part of the
day-to-day rhythm. Although
group-oriented activities were
dominant, what was suppressed
in the form of individual expres-
sion was compensated for in feel-
ings of security and identity which
the group generated.
Men and women lived in the
same dorm on the St. John's cam-
pus (different f.loors - lavatory
comnlications, you know), unre-
stricted by adult supervision,-hours
or regulations. A parent's night-
mare? Hardly: I think young peo-
ple often have a greater sense
of equilibrium in their personal
affairs than college administra-
tors and housemothers give them
credit for. Living together in the
same building, we turned the
lounge. used both as a library and
a wee-hour party room nightly, in-
to a socializing area for starting
the day's "spontaneous" group ac-
tivities.
ANARCTIY REIGNED, that is
anarchy when it came to formal-
ized study. The daily schedule, as
conceived by Ken Winter and Rita
Dershowitz. our "junior adminis-
trators," made no required at-
tendance at any function. There
was an optional 11 a.m.' meeting
for announcements or bitching
about the previous , day's disap-
pointments. In the afternoon, a
guest speaker, if one was sched-
uled, would hold forth in informal
sessions on various subjects. In
the evening after dinner, anyone
who wanted to discuss a pet peeve
about education or life at large
might call a "riverside seminar"
on the banks of College Creek.
None of these usual events were
mandatory. The thesis of our co-
leaders was that compulsory at-
tendance, authoritarian rules and
hierarchical classroom-type dis-
cussions were antithetical to sit-
uations in which significant learn-
ing takes place. The operating
ground rule stipulated that any
one should feel free to walk in
and out of a discussion without
creating embarrassment either to
himself or the speaker..
"If you are bored or tired, why
not be honest about it? It's prob-
ably better for both of you in the
long run," one girl explained. At
first it seemed weird, operating
under an artificial social code
-hich conflicted with past atti-
tudes about manners and polite-
,v-ss yet, we came to realize that
if the purpose of our new conven-
tions was fully understood by all
involved, there would be a mini-
mum of friction, and everyone
would move about with easier con-
sciences.
Group cohesiveness did remain
strong over the six weeks. To be
sure, there were the summer ro-
mances, the "deviates" who wan-
dered off to do some serious read-
ing by themselves, and the num-
erous diversionary trips to Wash-
ington, Philadelphia and New York
when the pressures of isolation in
Annapolis grew too burdensome.
Yet attendance at the "non-
compulsory" discussions was high.
We invariably ate our meals at the
same table; a self-contained group
among the hundreds of Peace
Corps trainees in the St.' Johns'
commons. Cliques tended to be a
transitory thing; one-to-one rela-
tionships within the group con-
text were the usual approach. "I
even feel left out when I'm the
one doing the dating," one boy
said concerning the inevitable
questions about discriminating
against non-daters.
Our humor remained rampant.
For three solid days we depleted
our linguistic abilities on "hink-
ety-pinkety." a rhyming pun game,
to the inevitable chorus of groans.
We san La Marseillaise on Bastille
Day in the dining hall, to the
startled looks of the PCT's. We
had a jug band and a swinging
combo called "Dennis and the T-
Groups."
Activities would run in cycles.
One week would see a constant
round of tennis and co-ed volley-
ball. Then a few resolute souls
would attempt a serious critique
of the fallacies of required courses,
and the air would be filled for
days 'with Herzogian "manifestoes
to the public at large." The mani-
festoes served as a vehicle for the
communication ,of ideas in a for-
mat to which verbal discussion did
not lend itself..
TOWARDS the end of the six
weeks, the hypnotic grip of card
playing seized us. Like prisoners,
passing the hours until freedom-
in our case a cross-country Grey-
hound to the USSPA annual Con-
gress in Illinois-we played end-
less games of cards. Bridge, pok-
er for matches, gin, solitaire and
double solitaire, on into the fren-
etic madness of triple solitaire.
To tear oneself aaway from card
games at that time would have
been a sacrelege against group
loyalty.
What I am suggesting, in de-
scribing the social situation at
the seminar, is that a group per-
mitted to structure its own acti-
vities will do so along a median
between high-pressured productiv-
ity and extremely aimless activity.
Considered out of context, the
lack of papers, projects and pro-
posals to come out of the seminar
would seem to attest to the fail-
ure of the seminar to accomplish
the goal of a thorough study of
higher education. But that would
be an unfair assessment.
THE SEMINAR started as an
objective study of education, and
became in the end an experience
in living education. The depth of
learning, the new awareness and
insights into personal relations
cannot be measured, but they are
surely calculated among the great-
est accomplishments of the semi-
nar. If education is to have any
significance and value in our lives,
is not the education of individ-
uals to the needs of each other
the place to begin?
A
LETTER S TO THE EDITOR:
W~ashington:
The Hit and Miss Parade
Dow Chemical Protest Misdirected
THE THEATRICAL SEASON in Wash-
ington this summer conformed closely
to the pattern set elsewhere-small, off-
chamber productions and hearings pro-
duced on a shoestring provided the capi-
tal's main entertainment, while such lav-
ish, full-scale productions as "Pie in the
Sky," a musical comedy in 12 acts about
a President of the United States and some
senators who try to entice each other into
settling an airlines strike, were on the
whole poorly received. Here is a rundown
of some of the livelier shows on the con-
gressional circuit, a few of which will
be reopering after- Labor Day:
CAST THE FIRST STONE. The playwrit-
ing team of Drew Pearson and Jack'
Anderson did the script for this often
moving account of a Connecticut legis-
lator who is tried by a group of his col-
leagues on charges that he indulged in
financial hocus-pocus to the detriment
of their collective image. Under the able
direction of Mississippian John Stennis
("The McNamara Follies, Let My People
Go"), the cast made the most of several
electrifying scenes of recognition and be-
trayal wherein the legislator and his aides
describe the parental, filial, and other re-
lationships they all enjoyed in Room 105
of the Old Senate Office Building before
events overtook them. Excellent casting,
with the exception of the difficult and
improbable role of Major General Julius
Klein (Ret.), played by the general him-
self well beyond the point of credibility.
HUAC: A "HAPPENING." From Texas
comes a new talent, Mr. Joe Pool, who
is widely considered the most exciting
find of the season. Indeed, the HUAC
Players-otherwise known as the Squares
in the Circle-have risen to heights under
his direction unequaled since they took
their show on tour a few years ago, end-
ing up in Berkeley, Calif., where they re-
ceived such a memorable reception. For a
women's clubs and other audiences who
had rented it under the impression that
it was based on the life of Harriet Beech-
er Stowe.
More recently, HUAC has had one flop
after the next, terminating in an anti-
climactic melodrama called "Klavern 69
Doesn't Answer." It took the imagination
of Director Pool to see HUAC's great po-
tential as a stager of "happenings." This
summer's event was complete with un-
predictable on stage/off-stage occurrenc-
es-a nice intermingling of unfathomable
court orders, audience participation, pad-
dy wagons, police brutality, witness hys-
teria, Hitler salutes and gavel banging. In
a neat and brilliant switch on the expect-
ed, the HUAC Players implored the wit-
nesses to take the Fifth Amendment,
while the witnesses refused to cease in-
criminating themselves. A special word
of commendation is due the costume de-
signer. All in all, a treat.
OLD FACES. Washington theatre-goers
are not of one' mind about the effect
on this perennial favorite-also known as
"Block That Bill"-of the forced retire-
ment of old trouper Judge Howard Smith,
who played to packed houses in the Rules
Committee Room. Generally, it is conced-
ed that the judge and Manny-his end-,
man in civil rights numbers-were an in-
comparable combination, and after years
in the part Judge Smith had become com-
plete master of the throwaway line: "Ah
always, heard you people in New Yo'k
were mighty peculiar." William Colmer of
Mississippi, who has understudied Smith's
role in "Old Faces" for many years him-
self, will open in the lead next January.
RATHOLE! The foreign aid saga has
had a longer theatrical run than any-
thing since "Abie's Irish Rose," but in re-
cent years the quality of the perform-
ance had declined owing to the retire-
ment of such stars as Homer Capehart
To the Editor:
T HE RECENT Dow Chemical-
War protest is a good exam-
ple of what the Socialist Labor
Party warns against.
Why Dow? Why napalm? The
protest is mis-directed, short-
sighted, and makes a real solu-
tion more difficult to achieve.
Is a Vietnamese or any other
human being including an Amer-
ican soldier more wrecked or dead
with napalm than with bullets,
bombs, knives, etc.? Is Dow mak-
ing any more bloody profit than
the mnanufactur'rs of troon-need-
ed clothing. drugs, etc.? Is a Dow
official any more responsible than
the nice, little old lady down
the street who receives her quar-
terly dividend from Standard Oil-
the same company that not only
fuels the military vehicles but
that pays the Viet Cong to allow
oil shipments safe passage in parts
o Viet Nam?
Napalm is spectacular and Dow
is convenient, but great harm is
done by promoting the belief that
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something can be accomplished by
these demonstrations.
DOW IS COMPELLED to do
what it and these other corpora-
tions do by the drives of the capi-
talist system. The officials are not
open to persuasion nor subject to
moral pressure. Events, capitalist
economic events, control the men.
Capitalism needs the Asian war to
prevent internal economic col-
lapse. Johnson had to follow the
Goldwater course. If Robert Ken-
nedy were elected, there would be
no change.
There is only one possible target
for social action - the capitalist
system. Eliminate it with the So-
cialist Labor Party program and
most of modern day misery will
disappear.
THE SOCIALIST Labor Party
aims directly at the source of the
problems, provides a blueprint for
a new and sane society, and pro-
vides a source of strength against
reactionary violence.
-Robert V. Gray, '62
lidicial Revi Io
To the Editor:
JUDICIAL REVIEW, though well
eknown throughout the civiliz-
ed world, would appear to be a
stranger to some of our Selective
Service people. Quite plainly in-
deed the Constitution did intend
that there be fair and equal jus-
tice for all our citizens. That jus-
tice was genuinely intended is
made quite plain by such provi-
sions as Article VII (Bill of
Rights) which notes that "in suits
at common law, where the contro-
versy exceeds 20 dollars, the right
of trial by jury shall be preserv-
ed." With such contitutional in-
tent spelled out so -precisely, a
person might possibly wonder if
our Selective Service people had
evaluated the lives of those six
sit-in students, singly or collec-
tively, as of less than 20 dollars
value. Clearly, "IA" is a death sen-
tence for some.
REFERENCE of course being
listing of over 400 jobs since Sep-
tember 1957, with all employment
refused with no exceptions. Even
two University of Michigan place-
ment directors, earlier this year,
said I would have to "forget" a
book I have written on FBI black-
listing before they would consider
helping with regard to employ-
ment. And of course those two di-
rectors were really talking com-
promise with every decent princi-
ple embodied in the Constitution
of the United States.
QUITE PLAINLY unjust was
the punitive action taken by the
Selective Service people acting in
the role of jurors nimbly side-
stepping the due process of law as
guaranteed in the Constitution. In-
deed I am reminded of this dis-
trict's congressman, Weston Viv-
ian, who, after no word for near-
', two years. returned my frilly
documented book with the state-
ment over his signature, "in or-
der that you will not be without
BUT WHAT IF students were to
follow Congressman Vivian's pro-
cedure, and return their draft
cards to their draft boards so the
latter "would not be without
them?" Students everywhere might
well inquire of U.S. Senator Sam
Ervin, chairman of the Constitu-
tional Rights subcommittee, why
he most plainly does not have the
courage to stand up for those con-
stitutional rights for which draft-
ees are expected to be ready to
make the supreme sacrifice.
-T. Wayler Williams
Soldier's Rights
To the Editor:
I THINK that this should be con-
sidered axiomatic: that no mat-
ter what other rights a citizen
may lose when he is drafted, he
should never lose the right of
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This is with reference to the ver-
dict given a GI at Fort Dix, N.J.,
by an Army Court and reported in
the Wednesday newspapers and
radio.
:A
S