Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIvERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Thailand and the Fulbright Hearings
Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, M1ICiH.
Truth Will Prevail
NFWs PHONE: 764-0552
(L/itorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1966
NIGHT EDITOR: MEREDITH EIKER
Academic Advisory Groups:
It's Now or Never
ESTABLISHMENT of departmental stu-
dent academic advisory committees
met with a delay this week when Liter-
ary College Dean William Haber and
Steering Committee member Robert Gold-
en, '67, decided to begin their organiza-
tion in only two or three pilot depart-
ments.
Haber's decision is a sound one.
The committees will be difficult to
implement and should be carefully plan-
ned to avoid wasting valuable student
and faculty time. Problems of commit-
tee size, frequency of meetings, and areas
of student responsibility will not be easy
to resolve. The experience which will
come from the first departmental stu-
dent advisory organizations will be of in-
finite value to the success of the whole
program.
While there is virtually no dispute as
to the merit of the student academic ,ad-
visory committee concept, there is a
question as to the effectiveness of such
groups once they are actually instituted.
ACCORDING to the recently published
Knauss Report, 92 organizations in-
tended to serve in some academic advis-
ory capacity currently exist at the de-
partment or school level within the Uni-
versity. Of these, only 26 are listed with
SGC as being actual student organiza-
tions.
Further, very few of these committees,
when rated by faculty members, were
deemed very effective in their purpose.
Most were admittedly functioning well
on a social level, but not in an academic
advisory capacity.
The Knauss Report did not attempt to
explain why these groups have failed
and there has been no detailed study of
their activities. However, if the new stu-
dent academic advisory committees
which are being set up are going to
successful, students and faculty will have
to be highly realistic and resolute in
their formation.
THESE NEW COMMITTEES will re-
quire full student participation-par-
ticipation by not only those undergradu-
ates and graduates on the group but by
the entire student body as well.
In showing a willingness to become part
of or support such advisory commit-
tees, students are accepting a large re-
sponsibility. Evaluating courses and pro-
fessors, methods and materials, is not an
easy task. Constructive criticism can
come only from analysis and observation,
not from personal prejudices-likes and
dislikes.
While these departmental committees
will bridge much of the gap in student-
faculty communications, they will not
necessarily solve the problem of stu-
dent-student communications. The stu-
dents serving on the groups themselves
can accomplish nothing without the in-
terest and participation of the majority
of the students taking the courses in
question. A few representative student
opinions will not always reflect the think-
ing of the masses. Committee members
must seek out and adhere to general stu-
dent opinion.
THE FACULTY, too, is challenged in
the establishment of academic advis-
ory groups. They must be able to recog-
nize realistic evaluation and be willing
to abide by student suggestions.
The University does not need any more
non-functioning advisory groups. It does,
however, need potent student academic
advisory committees.
-MEREDITH EIKER
IT'S ABOUT Thailand.
Once known as the Gateway to
Southeast Asia, this kingdom of
30 million is now being tagged a
second Viet Nam? (The final ques-
tion may be deleted depending on
Thailand is in the formative stages
your point of view.)
Among those who fear that
of a Viet Nam-type conflict, there
is plenty of disagreement on what
to do about it.
SENATOR J. W. Fulbright, dis-
carded by the White House as a
foreign policy advisor and bitter
about the role Johnson has af-
forded Congress in the formula-
tion of war policy, has set out to
gather information on the situa-
tion in Thailand before it's too
late. For while his hearings on
Viet Nam had informational value,
and stirred up some necessary
commotion, in fact, they resulted
in the polarization of opposing
views on the war.
There will be no more Bay of
Tonkin resolutions for Senator
Fulbright.
UNFORTUNATELY, there won't
be much information from the
White House either. The opening
stages of the hearings have been
one recitation of the obvious after
another, that is, when someone
decided to recite. At the moment,
neither McNamara nor Secretary
of State Dean Rusk have been
able to find an open date to meet
with the senator's committee. The
New York Times tactfully calls it
"an apparent lack of cooperation
on the, part of the administra-
tion."
Fulbright still hopes that, in
time, his committee can get at the
basis for our involvement, not
only in Thailand, but throughout
Southeast Asia. Reportedly ,the
senator disagrees with the White
House rationale for U.S. presence
there: first, that China has inten-
tions of undertaking aggression
in Thailand ,and second, that the
United States has the ability to
bilaterally to promote strong vi-
able governments to eliminate the
possibility of such aggression. Ful-
bright disagrees on both counts
and hopes
eventually
tions.
IT IS DOUBTFUL that the hear-
ings will have this effect. First,
because it is obvious that the
Johnson administration, peace bid
or no, is adamant in its view of
the situation: an end to the war
in Viet Nam will not bring the
complete withdrawal of troops
from Thailand, much less from
Southeast Asia as a whole. After
fighting a war for 10 or 15 years,
the administration is not going to
be in a position to say that it was
all unnecessary, nor will Congress
or the American people admit it
to themselves.
Secondly, the present troop
buildup in Thailand has done
much to solidify our position in
Southeast Asia. The State De-
partment claims that there are
25,000 troops there; Fulbright
thinks it is 35,000; and a high-
ranking Thai official tactitly
agreed that there were 40,000. Fin-
ally. the Fulbright hearings on
Thailand aren't about to get the
publicity nor cause the controver-
sy that the Viet Nam hearings did.
As far as the average American
is concerned, Thailand is much
farther away that Viet Nam.
WHAT QUESTIONS, t h-e n,
should the committee ask?
Primarily, the committee must
force the White House to stop ar-
guing both sides at once: ;while
William Bundy of the State De-
partment has denied that the U.S.
is using Thailand as a safeguard
if U.S. efforts in Viet Nam fail
(implying that the Thai bases are
not permanent), he has argued
that the threat of insurgency in
Northeast Thailand is serious
enough to merit the U.S. pres-
ence there. In short, who and how
many will leave when things cool
down in Viet Nam, assuming
things remain the same in Thai-
land? Or will the White House
even be able to pull those troops
out when things do cool down, in
light of pressure to the contrary
from the Thai government.
Hopefully, the Thai prime min-
that his hearings will
discredit these assump-
The Associates
bcarney andwolter
ister's statement Friday that the
Thais can do without the troops
if necessary is more than rhetoric.
But, two months ago, a high-
ranking Thai representative said
in a private conversation that the
government liked the present U.S.
troop level and would like to keep
it that way.
THE FULBRIGHT committee
will also have to examine the re-
ported Northeast insurgency threat
itself.
For, while there are repeated
reports of the capture and im-
prisonment of Communists by the
Thai government-which is now
getting military aid for its mili-
tary operations in that area -
there has been little, substantia-
tion of those claims.
It is no secret that the Thai
government gets more and more
U.S. funds as reports of "Com-
munist terrorism" increase. Like-
wise ,the lower echelon officials in
the Northeast look much better in
the eyes of their superiors with
every insurgent they pull in.
Coupled with the increase in
banditry, illegal marketing and
other lawlessness which occurs in
a deprived area ,the reports from
Bangkok are open to considerable
question.
Returned volunteers and staff
members of a Thailand Peace
Corps training program, in which
I participated this summer, were
also skeptical of these reports..
It also should be noted that
Thailand is officially under mar-
shal law at the present time, and
that any public meeting of more
than five citizens is forbidden.
HOWEVER, this is not to say
that conditions in the Northeast
are good. The area is geograph-
ically separated from the rest of
Thailand and is the only one of
the four main regions which is not
self-sufficient agriculturally. And.
there are reportedly over 40,000
refugees from North Vietnam in
the area. These immigrants. and
others like them situated along the
Lao-Thai border. lack the loyalty
to Bangkok which characterize
other areas.
But, Thailand is not Viet Nam,
and, hopefully. Fulbright will ask
questions that clarify this.
To conclude that the entire
Northeast is ripe for revolution is
way off base. The Thai people are
politically passive to begin with,
and have tremendous loyalty for
their king. The vast majority of
the people in the Northeast-ex-
cept some villages along the border
mentioned above-are of the same
attitude. Most of them are not
used to participation in govern-
ment and are not about to fight
for it. The exceptions to the rule
are in Jail, or in the national par-
liament, which has about the
same influence.
SECONDLY, although the Thais
are Buddhist. those in Thailand
are not the activists of Viet Nam.
They are the Southern or Thera-
vada Buddhists, in contrast to the
Mahjana or Northern Buddhists
of China and Viet Nam. The
monks in the Buddhist chuch are
highly respected and, if there is
a problem in the Northeast, it is
the lack of temples because of
the lower financial status.
At any rate, the friction along
the border is not about to spread.
But the actions of the Thai and
American governments have clone
little to relieve the situation. The
Thais have attempted to increase
communication and technology in
the area, but they have also sent
in large numbers of police-in
most cases not native to the area--
who have only embittered the pea-
sants there. The U.S. has reacted
similarly, spending six times as
much on military aid as in eco-
nomic. Neither the Thai nor tne
American economic aid has much
more than spotty success in this
border area.
HOPEFULLY, the F u 1 b r i g h t
committee will examine and evalu-
ate the U.S. role in this respect.
But there is another point-made
by a professor of anthropology-
that may be much more signifi-
cant. He argues that, while the
possibility of a grass roots "Com-
munist" movement among the
farmers of the Northeast is slim,
there is a very good possibility of
a different type of revolution
among the growing number of em-
bittered young Thai government
officials.
These lower-echelon officers,
educated in the city or abroad, are
not returning to their villages, but
are impationet to move up the
government scale. They are impa-
tient with a system which values
age, wealth and manners before
youth, education, and Western-
type efficiency.
They are anxious and may be
just anxious enough in five years
or so to overthrow the govern-
ment in Bangkok. This does not
mean a Communist coup. Again.
loyalty to the king and to the
Buddhist church, even among this
group, won't dissolve overnight.
ON THIS SUBECT, the Fulbright
committee can ask some very
pertinent questions, not only of
government officials, but also of
the academic community. For the
Westernization of values within
Thailand-in part because of
American aid and educational op-
portunities-is taking place, not
among the peasants. but within
the government. In this case, the
U.S. government should leave the
problem to the Thai government.
Mr. Fulbright may never be able
to change the twobmajor assump-
tions mentioned above. But, if his
hearings can come up with some
answers to these questions, he may
be able to keep the White House
from equating every disturbance
in Asia with the situation in Viet
Nam.
'WE THINK he will also come up
with a strong rationale for the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Thailand.
U' Can Smooth Unionization Process
The Chaotic Space Race
JAPANESE SCIENTISTS launched their
first satellite this week, rounding out
the Fantastic Four of space conquest. Pre-
viously an exhilirating contest between
two great world powers and later a
sophisticated Napoleonic endeavor for ex-
ploration, the race for space, has as-
sumed a materialistic garb in the minds
of many. -
When the first sputnik went up no one
presumed that this small electronic mi-
croism would nurture a neurotic obsession
in the minds of the world's scientists. Not
to be outdone by the Russians in any-
thing for long, the Americans were the
second to develop symptoms of space
mania.
REACTION to the Japanese launching
of their first satellite has also been
generally unfavorable. Lacking the con-
tinental appeal of the French entry, the
Japanese must now endure the deroga-
tory connotations of the "made-in-Ja-
pan" image, as well as the increased neg-
ative public opinion towards more space
programs in general.
Arthur Goldberg, U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations, reports receiving
hysterical correspondence urging the
formation of a UN Space Traffic Control
Agency. Citing the observation by Gemini
XII astronauts of a Russian satellite,
these writers advocate that an interna-
tional cosmic police force be instigated
before a celestial traffic jam develops.
EVEN THE STERN business world has
expressed concern over the shape of
the skies. After an alleged conference
with auto-safety expert Ralph Nader, of-
ficials of the McDonald Aircraft Corpora-
tion released designs for the 1967 space-
craft, which includes built-in safety fea-
tures.
General Electric and IBM disclosed
plans for a joint effort to produce a com-
puterized traffic light for celestial travel.
Though officials expressed concern over
a possible anti-trust action against the
temporary merger, they vowed a "fight.
to the Supreme Court against any Jus-
tice Department effort to curtail our
noble undertaking. "Our only purpose is
to systemize the chaotic condition of the
cosmos."
Senator Everett Dirksen (R-Ill), the
plumed knight for unpopular causes,
condemned administration policy orf the
entire NASA program, stating it favored
special minority groups.
FACED WITH a perplexing situation, the
muddled minds of the American peo-
ple instinctively turned to the plac9 of
highest authority, only to find 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue just as concerned
as they are.
Dean Rusk is off to his "holy war,"
Robert McNamara is compiling statistics,
Stewart Udall is watching birds, Orville
Freeman is up the Colorado River again,
Nicholas Katzenbach is moving his fur-
niture, Lady Bird is in California beau-
tifying the surfer set, and the President
is uncommitted. Chaos.
-CAROLYN MIEGEL
By ROGER RAPAPORT
IN HIS SPEECH to the Califor-
nia Bar Association this week
President Harlan Hatcher said
that to legalize collective bargain-
ing for university employees," is
to require frustrating rituals by
the wrong agents, at the wrong
time in the wrong place over the
wrong issues."
Not necessarily.
Collective bargaining can be a
disaster as the dozen public em-
ployees strikes in Michigan dur-
ing the past year illustrate. But
for those who prepare for it col-
lective bargaining can ultimately
be a blessing.
MICHIGAN HAS seen more
than its share of bargaining sna-
fus since it legalized collective bar-
gaining for public employees in
uly 1965. uBt the record suggests
that the fault does not lies with
the bargaining process itself. Ra-
ther the breakdowns were promp-
ted by the unwillingness of some
public employer to bargain and
basically inept negotiating on both
sides.
As one Michigan labor lawyer
explains it, "We're in an era like
the industrial union - corporate
struggles that followed passage of
the Wagner Act in 1935.
Consider the three day munici-
pal employees strike in Lansing in
July. The strike deadline was only
a few hours away and the situa-
tion was tense. The local unit of
the American Federation of State
and County and Municipal Em-
ployees, AFL-CIO, had brought in
erry Wurf, the union's national
president, to bolster, its cause.
THE UNION discovered that the
bargaining - conducted in city
council chambers - was being
bugged. "I understand this meet-
ing is being taped," Mr. Wurf
charged. City bargainers sheep-
ishly explained that all proceed-
ings in the city council chambers
were tape recorded, but Lansing
Mayor Max Murningham offered
to turn the machine of f. f
The talks resumed, but during a
recess when the two sides caucus-
ed, Mr. Wurf discovered the tape
recorder was still running, The
confrontation was explosive. Tem-
pers flared, the City's legal con-
sultant said, "If you want the
tape take it." When the Union
President declined the offer, the
lawyer dropped the tapes on Mr.
Wurf's head. The two wheels then
fell to Wurf's shoulder and cas-
caded down to the floor.
THE STRIKE followed shortly
thereafter despite the fact that
the two sides weren't far apart on
economic issues. As workers set
up picket lines, matters got worse.
Mayor Murningham threatened to
fire all the strikers.
The city's personnel chief found
himself in the awkward position
of trying to resume negotiations
while at the same time implemen-
ting the mayor's fire-the-workers
order.I
City policemen moved in on the
pickets, carrying axe handles, shot
guns, ammunition belts and bayo-
nets. While there was no violence,
protests of the police action
brought at least 80 sympathetic
UAW members to the city workers'
picket lines.
THE THREE-DAY strike that
left garbage cans full, zebras un-
attended in the city zoo and nun-
icipal swimming pools closed in 90
degree heat was- finally settled af-
ter the entire state- labor media-
tion board, in a highly unusual
move, entered the picture.
Similar i ntervention by the
state mediation board was neces-
sary to help unravel an equally
fouled-up situation in Ecorse, an
industrial suburb of D e t r o i t.
Teachers there struck for the fin-
al two weeks of school after the
school board refused to bargain.
The board retaliated by firing
all 194 teachers, including some
who hadn't joined the strike. The
board charged the strike violated
Michigan's anti-strike law. The
school board President, who
teaches sixth grade in nearby
Taylor township, "explained that
the board fired the non-strikers so
they wouldn't be called scabs.
THE SCHOOL BOARD ulti-
mately agreed to collective bar-
gaining, the dispute was settled,
the teachers re-hired and school
opened on schedule this year.
The thinking in Michigan now
is that today's shakedown period
will be followed by smoother bar-
gaining later. Lansing Mayor
Murningham suggests for exam-
ple that, "now that we've got es-'
tablished bargaining procedures,
I don't think there will be any
more strikes. Collective bargaining'
is a good thing; we're over the
hump."
Or as the AFSCME's Mr. Wurf
puts it, "Negotiations can be held
on a reasonable rational basis"
under the new collective bargain-
ing laws. But where there is no
collective bargaining "it's going to
be a lot tougher."
This is the thought that escapes
President Hatcher. As the Ecorse
school board discovered, refusing
to negotiate leaves the union with
no other emethod of winning its.
demands than a strike. Hence
Hatcher's stand is ironically in-
viting the strike he wants to avert.
By refusing to negotiate his dire
prophecy of "frustrating rituals
by the wrong agents, at the wrong
time, in the wrongplace, over the
wrong issues," may be self-full-
filling.
To assume that the state's anti-
strike law will prevent strikes is
foolish. "We're not going to let
some pQlitician refuse to nego-
tiate with us because he waves an
anti-strike law at us," says AFS-
CME President Wurth. "We're not
going to spend 20 years develoning
our union-we're going to move
faster than the corporatetunions
have."
PRESIDENT HATCHER is be-
hind the times when he contend
that "The old and weary ttter-
ness of labor-management strife
and warfare shouldnot be carried
into the public service or into a
modern university environment."
The fact is that public employ-
ees are gaining their collective
bargaining rights. For the Dniver-
sity to continue to refuse to ne-
gotiate does not avert labor strife
but merely invites it.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Sororities: Kabbala or Comradery?
*f
MSU Student Press
TUESDAY'S RULING by the Academic
Council of Michigan State Univer-
sity endorsing editorial freedom for the
State News is commendable, but long
overdue.
Thecouncil agreed in principle that
"it is desirable to adopt an organiza-
tional structure which will make it clear
that the State News is a student news-
paper with its tone and content deter-
mined by the student editorial staff."
The report further states that "the fac-
ulty, administration, and students who
are not staff members can provide ad-
vice and criticism but should not exer-
cise any powers of veto or censorship over
the news or editorial comment."
SUCH STATEMENTS show how stifling
and archaic the existing system has
been.
At present, MSU President John Han-
nah appoints an advisor to oversee all
operations of the State News. Currently,
Louis Berman hold this position. The ad-
visor has complete power to cut, censor
or change stories.
Last year an incident involving alleged
censorship caused the resignation of four
senior editors. The resignations came aft-
er the News editor, advised by Berman,
did not print defense statements in the
case of Paul Schiff
To the Ediior'
ALTHOUGH Pat O'Donohue's
heart is in the right place, and
although the sentiments underly-
ing her argument are commend-
able, nevertheless, the argument
itself falls short of elucidating the
real objections to the fraternity/
sorority system.,
The fact that she only touches
on its accidental faults is illus-
trated by the irrelevant responses
the editorial received. That the
young nubiles who replied only
felt called upon to correct certain
"factual' ''errors suggests to me
that The Daily has failed to cut
into the central nerve of the issue.
Tell them the truth, Pat! Don't
treat them with kid gloves. Don't
frighten them with possibilities of
lower grades, loss of individualism,
etc. Don't debase yourself by try-
ing to con them in their own lan-
guage.
SURELY, the essential objection
to sororities and fraternities is an
ethical one. The fraternity/soror-
ity system is evil. It is evil be-
cause it is the Kabbala of the
Pepsi Generation, and the Black
Market for social prestige. This is
what ought to be made clear.
"college kids," and one of the
main institutions responsible for
this horror is the fraternity/sor-
ority system. (The University ad-
ministration is another.)
BUT, THEN AGAIN ,perhaps,
this is the way the Navy and oth-
ers of its ilk want it. After all,
"kids" in a state of mindless eu-
phoria are much less likely to
question their roles as hired mur-
derers than thinking men and
women are. The transition from
Phi Upsilon Chi to FT Gang, F-5
Division, U.S.S. Arcadia (AD-23)
is very slight.
-Carl Murphy, Grad
From Without
To the Editor:
IN ANSWER to the editorial,
"Sororities: A View from With-
in" (Sept. 22), I would like to add
my view from the outside.
I rushed this month as a fresh-.
man and was dropped after third
set. Rush proved to be a valuable
experience to me, however, and I
am glad that I rushed. It is true
that mixers are artificial and stiff
gatherings, but how else can
strangers meet one another?
The System
To the Editor:
IWOULD very much like to ex-
tend my condolences to all
those girls who were unfortunate
in contracting a disease called the
SYSTEM. After going through
more than three weeks of rush,
they have now been injected with
a poison which will produce this
fatal disease, whose first symp-
toms are the appearance of the
pledge pin and lavalier. This dis-
ease will continue, until the ulti-
mate occurs-the death of one's
individualism.
THE SYSTEM is a very old dis-
ease, which attacks college girls
throughout the United States.
Some scientists claim that the
SYSTEM will eventually become
extinct, but, until it does, it will
continue to take a large toll. Per-
haps what makes the SYSTEM so
unique is the way in which it
chooses its victims.
There are severalstypes of ven-
oms which are used, the most
common type being used on the
good-looking or wealthy girls.
These are undoubtedly the most
sought after victims, in that they
possess little or no antibodies with
which +o urar off this fatai tox..
Perhaps the most cronic condi-
tion is seen in those victims who
refuse rehabilitation later in life,
long after the SYSTEM is no
longer present. It is these people
whom we should really feel sorry
for, because the.death of their in-
dividualism is only the beginning.
-Jeffrey R. Kurland, '67
Athletics
To the Editor:
CHUCK VETZNER does not ap-
pear to be more addicted to
"cutesy" journalism than the rest
of The Daily staff, so perhaps he
should not be singled out for
criticism, but "Insights and In-
sults" (Sept. 20) was inexcusably
lacking in the former ingredient.
Physical exercise is of unques-
tionable benefit to those who par-
ticipate in it, and in this sense, I
am sure most will agree that Prof.
Hall's statement is a bit over-
done. Yet, Vetzner realized that
the professor was not opposed to
athletics in general, but rather
was disturbed with the increasing
institutionalization of athletics in
America. Unfortunately, Vetzner's
defense of the professional ath-
lete and the men who own him
was hopelessly insufficient.
FOOTBALL REQUIRES a great
and trained elephant acts. I do
not intend to chastise the athlete,
or even the men who own his
body and soul, but what in the
world is wrong with the American
public?
Big time sports promoters are
entirely within their rights, but
"all the market will bear" is an
irrational slogan that became un-
acceptable to most of us a long
time ago. The American public
finally did something about the
economic and political woes cre-
ated by such a philosophy. When
will it have the understanding to
broaden its own intellectual and
moral horizons?
MR. VETZNER, if you are go-
ing to defend irrationality, do it
rationally. If the football depart-
ment is more organized than the
university administration, perhaps
it is because their job is relatively
simple and theyare relatively well
paid. The freedom to look at the
world purely in terms of black
and white is a fringe benefit of
considerable value.
Mr. Vetzner's article contained
some 'rather nauseous implications,
which I believe are a natural out-
growth of such a "football" philos-
ophy.
If the* only reason a Negro found
'ft
V
V,