tP t.C t ttri Daily

The Proof Is in the Abstention

I

Seventy-Sixth Year

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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1966

NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL HEFFER


The Pass-Fail- System:
Still Too Many Restrictions

By HARVEY WASSERMAN
Editorial Director
WHAT DO you think this sen-
tence means? "It is impera-
tive, considering recent events,
that lines of authority and respon-
sibility for the regulation, not only
of student organizations, but of
individual students be subjected to
thorough scrutiny."
The sentence appears under sec-
tion three of Vice-President for
Student Affairs. Richard Cutler's
letter to Prof. Otto Graf announc-
ing "contemplation of veto" of the
recent Student Government Coun-
cil motion on membership lists of
student organizations. Graf is
vice-chairman of the committee of
referral, to which Cutler sent the
SGC motion for study.
And the sentence means that
the administration has reacted to
the activities of Voice political
party this past week in a manner
that indicates there may be struc-

tural changes proposed to discour-
age such actions in the future.
ON THE ONE hand, the action
has once again made a sham of
the idea of "meaningful student
participation." The decision is, on
this level, exactly parallel to the
OSA's decision last year to post-
pone approval of SGC's actions on
Panhel fall rush.
Overriding the actions of SGC
is paternalistic and stifling of the
best interests of the student body
as a whole. Students must be
allowed to decide for themselves,
make mistakes by themselves, act
for themselves. The OSA has once
again found it expedient to ignore
that principle tenet.
MOREOVER IT has decided to
do it under the most dangerous of
circumstances. The administration
move is a reaction to a specific
action by a campus organization
under a specific set of circum-

stances. The administration has
found those actions irresponsible;
it has decided to react in a man-
ner which could, on first indica-
tion, involve more than the integ-
rity of SGC.
Establishment of regulations for
student organizations is a policy
decision which will have a lasting
impact on the University commun-
ity. The direction of deliberations
on this question must not be de-
termined by the events of last
week. Preservation of free political
discussion and action inevitably
means tolerance of occasional ir-
rational outbursts; judging the ac-
tions of a few activists as being
intemperate will not justify an im-
portant, explicit move to make
student organizations more ac-
countable to the University ad-
ministration.
Such a move would be unwar-
ranted explication of University
control. The vice presidents can-
not permit such occurences to dis-

tort their vision when establishing
long-range policies that affect the
entire student body. If they are
to responsibly execute their duties
to the University community, they
must rise above, not react to. re-
cent events.
A REACTION on the gyrounds
explicated in the Cutler letter is
stifling of SGC, and portends a
dangerous judgment.
UNIVERSITY officials are now
beginning to make the mistake
we, in running a newspaper, are
always told never to make-the
act of ascribing motives to another
group of people. The University
administration is now working
under the assumption that the
psychology of Voice political party
is that of an organization out to
cause trouble with their own, and
not the University's, good times
in mind.
I would not be so hasty-the

issues with which Voice has in-
volved itself are basic questions of
civil liberties. If their tactics have
been distasteful, their issues are
of the utmost significance.
But the administration is not
the only body on campus prone to
doubting Voice's motives. They
have been loud and seemingly im
pulsive, and the very worst exam-
pies have occurred at the places
they had the least right-in the
open meetings on HUAC and Mon-
day on the police issue. In both
instances Voice members showed
varying degrees of disrespect.
IF THE OBJECT is, as I think
it should be, to obtain a well-
established system of meetings be-
tween the vice presidents and the
active student body, then those
who will be the protagonists should
realize it is neither good manners
nor good tactics to give the vice
presidents the very best of rea-
sons for refusing to take part

10'

ON THE SURFACE, the passage of the
pass-fail option by the literary college
faculty appears to be a definite, even
rather bold step toward freeing students
of the pressures and inadequacies of
grades. However, its objective-to give
students an opportunity to take courses
they might not otherwise elect for fear
of a poor grade-will only be partially
achieved.
The severe limitations on just who
can choose the pass-fail option are, in
effect, crippling. The motion, as passed,
does not allow sophomores or freshmen
to elect pass-fail courses. It prohibits all
students from utilizing the option to fill
their distribution requirements. In addi-
tion, students who get a "D" grade in a
course will receive a "fail" instead of a
"pass" grade even though, under pres-
ent University regulations, a student
would receive honor points for the course.
TEE PURPOSE of having distribution
requirements is to give the student a
varied sample of academic disciplines. It
would greatly aid the spirit of this pro-
gram if students could select- courses on
what they wanted to learn; not the eas-
iest means of filling distribution require-
ments.
Today there are a number of courses on
this campus which.are filled with stu-
dents who have elected the courses for
no other reason than that they are an
easy means to fill distribution require-
ments and who have a total lack of in-
terest in the subject.
A prime example is the physical sci-
ences. Humanities and social science ma-
jors consistently choose introductory as-
tronomy instead of the more intellectual-
ly challenging physics or chemistry
courses.

For fear of failing in these difficult
sciences, students skirt the substantive
courses. If that fear is removed, a great
avenue will be opened to tackle these
meaningful, but difficult courses.
BECAUSE FRESHMEN and sophomores
are primarily concerned with meeting
the distribution requirements, they have
been neatly excluded from the pass-fail
advantage.
The equality between a "D" grade and
a failure is a serious departure from the
original objective of the new program.
In effect, it is eliminating the value of
having a "D" grade at all. A "D" grade
allows a student to receive credit for a
course in which he is not particularly
able, but not to the degree that he to-
tally fails the course. A "D" grade indi-
cates that a student is passing, not fail-
ing.
Under the pass-fail option the meaning
of a "D" grade is eliminated. This is
exactly are area in which the pass-fail
option would have attracted greatest re-
sponse. The social science student, who
cannot afford a "D" on his transcript in
an unrelated course such as Math 115, will
skip the course altogether. If he could
receive just the pass grade he would in
all probability give more serious consid-
eration to taking the course.
THE LITERARY COLLEGE faculty must
realize that their new pass-fail option
plan is only the beginning of a swing
away from the emphasis on grading and
toward an emphasis on learning and ap-
preciating knowledge. They should be
commended for this first step, but this is
only a first step. The severe limitations
they have placed on the new plan may
,seriously diminish its total effectiveness.
-MARK LEVIN

Pickaxe Dealer Swings Vote in South

By STEPHEN FIRSHEIN
THIS HAS BEEN a bad year
for for racial moderates in
the South. 1
In Alabama, Lurleen Wallace
stood in for her husband and
trounced nine opponents-most of
them progressives-in the Demo-
cratic gubernatorial primary. Ar-
kansas' Democratic candidate for
Governor is Jim Johnson, a foun-
der of the White Citizens' Coun-
cil. Louisiana's primary saw liber-
al Congressman James H. Mor-
rison toppled by John R. Rarick,
who called his opponent a pawn
of the "black power vote."
In Maryland George P. Maho-
ney, a perennial, unsuccessful
contestant for Governor finally
found rapport with voters and
won the Democratic primary with
the slogan, "Your home is your
castle-protect it."
THEN LAST WEDNESDAY, the
anti-Negro reaction of Southern-
ers found its ultimate irrational
outlet in the nomination of Lester
Garfield Maddox for the Georgia
governorship. In a primary run-
off, he trounced moderate, former
Governor and New Dealer Ellis

Arnall by some 70,000 votes.
Maddox first attracted national
attention in 1964 when he refused
to abide by the Public Accomoda-
tions section of the Civil Rights
Act, and desegregate his thriving
Atlanta restaurant. Thereupon
Negroes made his Pickrick Res-
taurant the target of prolonged
demonstrations and legal efforts.
Brandishing a gun, he once met
a group, of Negroes at the en-
trance and defiantly told them,
"If you lived 100 years, you'd
never get a piece of fried chick-
en." To emphasize his point he
set cases of hickory pick handles
by the Pickrick's door to be used
by sympathetic white segrega-
tionists on trouble-makers.
RATHER THAN follow a bind-
ing federal court order ot dese-
gregate, Maddox shut down his
place and accused the "Commu-
nists" of putting him out of work.
However, the die-hard white
supremacist - characterized by
friends as industrious and deeply
religious-soon found a new .me-
dium for his talent. He went into
the ax-handle business, selling
several thousand with his in-

scribed signature (no doubt an
improvement over Mickey Mantle-
autographed baseball bats).
Maddox is in his early fifties,
smallish, and sincere in his mis-
guided notions. He is not a new-
comer to political life, having run
unsuccessfully for major in At-
lanta, and Lieutenant Governor
since 1957. But in his latest elec-
tioneering he has utilized his fame
as a symbol of resistance to play
up white fears of Negro rioting
and "black power" by calling up
the spirit of bitter-end segrega-
tion. His campaign was not well
organized and, as he put it, God
was his campaign manager.
IN THE FIRST primary Maddox
finished second to Arnall in a field
of several candidates. The forri
Governor lackedda requisite major-
ity, but was expected to win the
up-coming runoff But Atlanta
had exploded in a race riot.
This paragon city of the South,
this model of harmonious black
and white relations had covered
up its racial troubles well, but on
September 6, the Negro ghetto
erupted. And Maddox, always the
opportunist, had an issue.

His subsequent election shocked
and embarrassed liberal South-
erners. In a noble aftermath, Rep-
resentative Charles L. Weltner
from Georgia's Fifth district, de-
cided not to run for re-election
rather than abide by a previously
signed loyalty oath that forces all
Democratic nominees for state of-
fices to support the party's candi-
date for Governor.
WELTNER, who has voted for
three consecutive civil rights bills,
as well as for Medicare and federal
aid to education, refused to com-
promise his principles. He de-
clared, "Today the one man in our
state who exists as the very sym-
bol of violence and oppression is
the Democratic nominee for the
highest office in Georgia. His en-
tire public career is directly con-
trary to my deepest convictions
and beliefs."
Weltner is regarded as a voice
for the "New South" that opposes
the ancient regime policies of
Maddox. The most liberal member
of HUAC, he was instrumental in
bringing about the Ku Klux Klan
investigation-a largely futile ef-
fort to divert the Committee .to
some useful business.

HE HAD SUPPORTED Arnall
from the start, even though in
Georgia public figures rarely back
candidates in the primary. Sen-
ators Richard Russell and Harman
Talmadge chose not to side with
either candidate-a fact they must
sorely regret now. Also, interest-
ingly enough, businessmen failed
to give Arnall the support he need-
ed, even though they had much
to gain from an Arnall victory.
In November Representative
Howard H. Callaway, the Repub-
lican gubernatorial challenger,
may collect votes from disenchant-
ed Democrats. In addition, some
votes may be diverted to write-in
candidates. Maddox, however, is
now rated the favorite.
What may be in the works is a
revival of the Dixiecrat faction of
the Democratic party last reared
its ugly head in 1948. A series of
victories by segregationists could
provide all the fuel George Wal-
lace needs to parley substantial
forces for a Presidential bid in two
years. If such is the case, one of
his right-hand men may well be
Maddox, the new Georgian archi-
tect of hate.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

DearbornVotes on the War

Voice Member Defends Friday Sit-in

PUBLIC OPINION on the Viet Nam war,
once solely the province of pollsters,
is getting a minor chance to speak for it-
self.
Residents of Dearborn will get a chance
to respond to the following question as
a referendum on the November ballot:
"Are you in favor of an immediate cease-
fire and withdrawal of United States
troops so the Vietnamese people can set-
tle their own problems?"
The decision to hold the referendum
was made by the Dearborn City Council.
One councilman in favor of the proposal
said "It will give the people of Dearborn
a right to express themselves." A coun-
cilman opposed to the move said policy
decisions should be left "to our elected
officials in Washington."
THE ARGUMENTS of the councilmen
to the referendum were rather poor,
expressing a lack of faith in those who
voted for them, and the system in which
they work. The councilman who said he
felt "like a beatnik waving a banner"
protesting the war with the referendum
was distorting the meaning of the action.
Providing a referendum is merely pro-
viding the people with a means of com-
municating some of their opinions to the
government. It is a necessary function of

government to determine how the people
feel about issues.
But there is a danger that the referen-
dum will be looked upon either as repre-
sentative of the nation or pushed aside
as an isolated opinion sampling, more in-
accurate than a poll.
THE DEARBORN referendum can only
be a success if it is followed by sim-
ilar referendums across the country, if
not on a nationwide basis.
Most likely, a nationwide vote would
indicate that the American people, con-
fused about the situation, do not want a
withdrawal for it smells of defeat. The
President, probably the last person who
wants to have a referendum, might very
likely be backed up.
As for those opposed to the war, such
a result would serve to spur them on to
educate the American people, while a
pro-withdrawal vote would give their
voices some weight.
WITH NO CANDIDATE running nation-
ally against the war who has a chance
to get any votes, the American people
need a way to express themselves. But
they must be strong enough to accept
the road they decide to follow.
-MICHAEL HEFFER

'p

To the Editor:
THOSE WHO condemn the Voice
sit-in at Vice-President Pier-
pon'ts office perhaps may not
know that it was preceded by six
good faith efforts to discuss the
problem with the vice-presidents.
The first arose in the Voice-
administration meeting following
the HUAC incident. Vice-President
Cutler at that time tentatively
approved Voice requests for free-
dom from police intimidation. A
second meeting with Mr. Cutler
shortly thereafter sustained Voice's
hopes.
THEN, AT A Voice rally early in
the term, plainclothes police were
again seen in the audience. So, a
third meeting was arranged with
Mr. Cutler. He once more expressed
sympathy with Voice's position,
and then invited the conferees to
yet another meeting, a week later,
after he had checked with the
other administrators.
At that meeting, he told Voice
that the other vice-presidents had
not agreed with him, and that, be-
cause Mr. Pierpont had final au-
thority among the vice-presidents
over this question, there was noth-
ing further he (Cutler) could do.
So Voice negotiators, sad because
they had held four meetings with
the wrong man, tried twice to get
an appointment with Nor. Pierpont
to discuss the matter with him at
any time and place convenient to
him. Both requests were categoric-
ally rejected by Mr. Pierpont. In
refusing the second request, Mr.
Pierpont's secretary told Skip
Taube that the vice-president just
would not meet with Voice. Period.
SO THE SIT-IN was held, as a
final attempt to get a discussion
on the police problem with the
man who, it turned out, had the
"final-est" say on it.
Now Voice is told that SGC could
have made a further effort to get
Mr. Pierpont's cooperation. But,
there was no precedent for this
when the sit-in was held. Prof.
Greenbaum told us that we could
meet with Sacua on the question.
But, welcome as that meeting
would be, how could it substitute
for a talk with the policy-makers,
if we wanteda discussion of what
the policy was and what reasorA
lay behind it.
Ed Robinson was wrong to tell
The Daily that his mediation on
Friday won Voice over from in-
transigence to acceptance of a
compromise, i.e., the Monday

realization that we need to sit-in how are we going to get everyone
in order to meet with the admini- else to fall into line?"
strator who actually makes the The answer - cops - is repug-
policy we wish to discuss. However, nant, of course, so they seek to
this incident need not happen forestall such an embarrassing
again if the administration will ac- situation by postulating an inde-
cept a simple proposition: That pendent legal scheme by which the
students are entitled to informa- nasty cops from the corny outside
tion on policies that affect their world will serve as protectors in
lives and the University, and to the real, campus world. I think
information on the reasons behind this is called having your cake and
those policies, eating it too.
Moreover, and more important, The assumption underlying the
such problems would never arise activists' insistence on freedom
if students and faculty were al- from harassment and intimida-
lowed to play a meaningful role in tion - that policemen want to.
making decisions in the first place, spend their time making life mis-
The administration's actions can erable for students - is naive.
only be seen as an effort to pre- Draft-frightened students see only
vent this from happening, the sergeant in a policeman. I
-Gary Rothberger, 67 would guess that fewer civilian
Member, Voice cops than sergeants spend time
PoliticalPary devising ways to wield personal
PoliicalParypower, and that most of them con-
sider this whole conflict unneces-
Police sarily demanding of their time.
To the editor: TELEVISION, the Great Mod-
WHAT'S REALLY at issue in ern Educator, has succeeded in
this "Police Question" is the convincing people under twenty-
presumption of the wonderfully five that policemen are tirelessly
committed activists that the word and sacrificially dedicated to their
"police" and the concept "enemy" duties (walking beats, writing
are univocal. It's obvious to most tickets, apprehending criminals,
of us wishy-washy spectators that harassing innocent victims, etc).
a uniform of any sort would in- A more realistic view, however,
deed appear inimical to those who may be that policemen are as de-
desire to reverse a national situa- dicated to policing as students are
tion which enjoys the fragile sPeter Wudin . FeanGrd
tionof la" "etr W. Ferran, Grad
THE ACTIVISTS, in their latest Teaching Fellows
demands, reveal themselves as un-
easy about the whole, vast con- To the editor:
cept of authority. At the heart of WHEN FIRST considering at-
their certainty concerning their tending this university I fully
rights is a tiny doubt. It doesn't realized that most introductory
say, "Maybe we're wrong;" it says, courses were taught by teaching
"If we prevail (as Right must), fellows and that I would not get

professors for instructors until I
was able to take advanced courses.
Therefore, I was resigned to an
acceptance of poor teaching prac-
tices for my first two years of
college knowing that beginning at
about the Junior level teaching
would improve because of the
greater experience of the instruc-
tors. I have been here six semes-
ters already and found that I was
completely disillusioned in my as-
sumptions.
IT IS A DEPLORABLE situa-
tion that experienced professors
are "bad" teachers. In my college
experience thus far I have had
many teaching fellows andseveral
professors ranging from the rank
of assistant up to full professor,
and, in my considered opinion, the
more experienced these teachers
get, the worse they become.
I can hypothesize several rea-
sons for these occurrences but it
would be for some kind of investi-
gating committee or a socio-psy-
chological study group to find the
actual reasons for bad teaching.
Some excuses may be outside in-
terests, growing senility, lack of
interest in the elementary or in-
termediate subject matters that
they must teach, or the forcing of
sixteen weeks of material into
fourteen.
IN ANY CASE, it appears that
the older, and more experienced
teachers get, the more they get
set in their ways and the more
they are concerned with lecturing
the required material rather than
with presenting the material so
that the class understands what is
happening. After all, this is the
goal of teaching, and at this uni-
versity it is not being met by our
knowledgeable and experienced
professors.
Neil Carron '67
Binding Referendum
To the Editor:
N VIEW of the widespread news
reports that the Ann Arbor
Friends meeting attempted Sattir-
day, Oct. 1, to send packages to
North Viet Nam and to the Na-
tional Liberation Front, the Ann
Arbor Friends Peace and Interna-
tional Affairs Committee wishes
to clarify their position.
First, no demonstration, public
collection of money, or attempt-
ed shipment of packages took place
nor were scheduled to take place
on Oct. 1 in Ann Arbor.

The stories further omitted any
mention of the humanitarian pur-
poses of this relief, which is based
on the traditional Christian con-
cern of alleviating human suffer-
ing, whatever its cause.
AMERICAN FRIENDS are al-
ready working in civilian relief
projects in South Viet Nam. While
the Ann Arbor Friends meeting
has not yet taken any official ac-
tion, they are actively discussing
how humanitarian relief can be
extended to all who suffer in Viet
Nam regardless of political affili-
ation.
-Joan Lind, Chairman
Peace and International Af-
fairs Committee,
Ann Arbor Society of Friends
Dear Jahn
To the Editor:
FOR SEVERAL years, I have en-
dured the insensitive, superfi-
cial, and essentially second-rate
reviews published in The Daily.
Ross Miller's review of "Dear
John" is one of The Daily's cut-
est examples of witless criticism.
I can only ask Mr. Miller wheth-
er hesaw the movie, or merely
read the Classics Comic Book. In
any case, Mr. Miller should have
left his "popcorn and bonbons"
at home and brought his sensitiv-
ity instead.
.If he had, he might have noticed,
the fresh use of flashback, the
carefully constructed sequence of
scenes, the sensitive photography,
the eloquently simple dialogue, the
convincing portrayal of charac-
ters, the significance of the theme
and the intensely introspective ap-
proach, that make this, film a
superb imitation of human exper-
ience.
UNFORTUNATELY, Mr. Miller
overlooked these qualities in his
misdirected search for a statement
of universal truth. When will The
Daily learn to criticize the sub-
stance of work instead of sum-
marizing, taking quotations out of
context, and passing judgment on
the author's world view?
-Carl M. Ahistrom
Democracy
ALL human institutions, we
are told, have their ideal forms
laid away in heaven, and we do
not need to be told that the ac-
tual institutions conform but in-

The Greeks and the Draft

NOW THAT FRATERNITY and sorority
rush are over, the Greek system has
before it a project of great significance
and vast potential: the Student Govern-
ment Council draft referendum.
SGC's referendum is divided into two
parts: first, whether the University should
provide to the Selective Service System
information on students' grades and class
standings; and second, what (if any) re-
forms should be undertaken in the draft
law itself. Each part should be of great
concern to the fraternity-sorority system.
Why? As Marg Asman, '68, pointed out
at an SGC meeting last month, the use
of grades and class standings to deter-
mine draft status will have a profound
effect on academic life at the University.
Grade-grubbing-and grubbing to find
"gut" courses-has always been part of
the University scene, but these and other
undesirable practices will undoubtedly be
intensified as a result of the Selective
ca..ai.a r, + w %14, nl eA c,. nntfi

NOT ONLY should the Greeks give care-
ful attention to the use of grades and
class rank for the draft; they should
also take an active role in consideration
of possible reforms of the draft law.
Burke Marshall, the chairman of the
President's Advisory Commission on Se-
lective Service, has worked closely with
SGC President Ed Robinson, '67, in hopes
that the referendum will give Washing-
ton an indication of student attitudes
towards possible changes in the Selective
Service System. Washington is listening
closely-President Johnson has specific-
ally instructed Marshall to go over care-
fully any student suggestions on the draft
-and the Greeks, as a major part of the
University student body, ought to speak
clearly.
For the fraternity-sorority system is
the largest single group of students on
this campus, and as such it enjoys a tre-
mendous opportunity to help decide a key
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