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,