c ~ 1r Mie1tiiwuDail
Seventy-Fifth Year
EDrrED AND MANAGED BY SUDENTS OF TH IUNVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHOQITY OP BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
OUT OF THE SPOTLIGHT:
Solution to Flint Feud May Be Near
Wlxere Opinions Are Free,420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2,1965 NIGHT EDITOR: MIPHAEL BADAMO
A New Grading System
Must Be Instituted
IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY, a great em-
phasis is placed on attaining the su-
perficial attributes of success. People
are constantly striving to improve them-
selves but not for the personal satisfac-
tion which is derived from self-improve-
ment.
This tendency to undervalue the worth
of an activity unless positive, tangible re-
wards stem from it is so prevalent among
adults that it has inevitably been com-
municated to our youth. It can be most
clearly recognized in our secondary
schools and universities.
Educators agree that motivation is nec-
essary for learning. However, when the
sole source of motivation is the desire to
re.ceive a high grade, the information is
quickly forgotten.
Too many teachers are guilty of sheer
laziness. It is much easier for them to
use the threat of a poor grade to push
their students, then to create the proper
classroom atmosphere which is conducive
to learning for interest's sake. Only a
dedicated teacher who truly loves his
Byrne Re ort
M~ °
May Affect OSA
ALTHOUGH THE REGENTS of the Uni-
versity of California dismissed the im-
portance of the liberal Byrne report on
the causes of the student demonstra-
tions at Berkeley last fall, the University
administration is apparently taking it
quite seriously.
The study, which was commissioned by
the University of California Regents rec-
ommends the decentralization of Clark
Kerr's empire, the weakening of the pow-
er of the regents, a more permissive at-
titude toward student activism, and other
administrative reforms.
Richard Cutler is now in the midst of
restructuring and reorienting the Office
of Student Affairs to fit his liberal frame
of mind. Meanwhile, the Byrne report is
being mimeographed in the OSA at the
same time: The prospect of permeation of
the ideas of the Byrne report into the new
OSA looms ominously.
--BRUCE WASSERSTEIN
work and communicates this enthusiasm
to the class can banish the overwhelming
attention paid to grades.
THE ATTITUDE of the teacher is not
the only factor which can have detri-
mental effects on the learning process.
The grading system which assigns either
letters or numbers to levels of achieve-
ment has, as its primary effect, the crea-
tion of unnecessary pressure and tension
which could be alleviated if another sys-
tem were put into effect.
It is necessary for college and gradu-
ate schools to have some means of eval-
uating prospective students, but the in-
tense competitive attitude which arises
from a grading system which ranges from
A to E, or from 100 to 0 may be condu-
cive to the Olympic Games, but not to
the learning situation.
Instead of inspiring such statements
as, "I want to read this book because it
interests me" the more popular remark
becomes, "If I do not read this book, I
won't do well on the exam and will lose
my B average."
IT WOULD BE BETTER to install a grad-
ing system which would minimize un-
due competition and pressure and yet
still answer the needs of colleges and
universities.
By assigning to the student either
"high pass," "pass," or "failure," the mo-
tivation for learning would still remain,
but much of the pressure would be de-
creased as he would no longer worry
about the differentiation between a B
plus and C, an 80 or 90.
With the many extra tests that stu-
dents are required to take such as Schol-
astic Aptitude Tests and Graduate Rec-
ords, there is no reason why colleges could
not choose their students from the three
categories which separate the superior,
average, and below average students.
INSTALLLING SUCH SYSTEM coupled
with interested and dynamic teachers
a better learning situation would be cre-
ated. Much competition and pressure
would disappear as students dedicated
themselves to learning in a more intel-
lectually stimulating and healthier at-
mosphere.
-RUTH FEUERSTEIN
By JOHN MEREDITH
AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS of
heated debate, the controversy
over expansion of the Univer-
sity's Flint branch has quieted
down, at least on the surface. The
calm may enable the opposing
factors to work out ahsolution to
avoid an open power struggle be-
tween Lansing and 'the individual
state universities.
Underlying the Flint problem,
of course, is the larger issue of
state college autopomy. The State
Board of Education's Flint deci-
sion was the first major "ad-
visory opinion" issued by this new
authority, and, as such, offers an
important indication of how much
cooperation the board can expect
from the Legislature and state'
schools in the future.'
The present position of the
board is in many ways ideal. As
a democratically elected arm of
the state government, it can eas-
ily command the public respect
that tends to flow toward official
organizations.
Yet, it cannot enforce its rulings
on individual institutions except
by appealing to the Legislature-
and the Legislature's power to act
in the internal affairs of state
universities is quite limited.
THUS, the board is compara-
tively free from the temptations of
excessive involvement in matters
not really of statewide concern,
but it must act carefully and
respectfully if it is to maintain
the respect that naturally ad-
heres to it.
The board'saFlint ruling is un-
questionably a carefully thought
out, responsible decision. While
its conclusions are debatable, they
are supported by a substantial
body of evidence. There is, more-
over, no doubt whatsoever that
branch expansion has statewide
implications which can properly
be dealt with by the board.
Hence, the board deserves the
cooperation of the Legislature, the
University and the citizens of
Flint in their attempt to imple-
ment this ruling.
If supporters of the Univer-
sity's Flint venture refuse to go
along with the board, they will
open the door for a needless poli-
tical feud over the form of ex-
pansion in Flint. which would
considerably delay the badly need-
ed expansion itself.
MORE IMPORTANT, stubborn
resistance to the board's Flint
stand would invite the imposition
of stricter state controls on high-
er education.
Earlier this year, several prom-
inent legislators supported a pro-
posed constitutional amendment
which would have made the state
board's decisions binding on de-
gree-granting state schools and
would have given it the authority
to intervene more directly in the
internal business of individual in-
stitutions-precisely the kind of
arbitrary authority that many
contend has created serious prob-
lems in such states as California
where similar arrangements exist.
Theamendment was eventually
withdrawn, mainly because many
people-including board President
Thomas Brennan-wanted to give
the new board a chance to prove
itself under the present system.
However, the supporters of the
amendment clearly implied that
they will be interested in backing.
more centralized control of state
education if expected cooperation
with the board is not forthcoming.
Thus, it is imperative that the
University act in accordance with
the board's Flint recommendation.
Brennan, in submitting a com-
plete explanation of the Flint rul-
ing to the Regents °a week and
half ago, has given the University
an opportunity to do this grace-
fully.
THE UNIVERSITY'S BRANCH at Flint has been the object of much controversy between the State
Board of Education, the Legislature and University administrators. However, the issue of the Flint
expansion seems to have been recently pushed out of the limelight of publicity. It is hoped that perhaps
this new quiet can induce a solution
WHILE REITERRATING the
board's position that the Univer-
sity can admit freshmen at its
previous two-year senior branch
this fall only and must soon allow
the branch to be replaced by an
autonomous state college, Bren-
nan's statement clearly embodies
an element of flexibility.
This is most noticeable in the
conclusion of the document, which
states in part: "This recommenda-
tion contemplates that the Uni-
versity will continue to operate its
branch in Flint for at least four
years. It is hoped that at that
time the new autonomous univer-
sity has reached fruition.'
"In the implementation of its
decision, the board desires to
avoid any gaps in the educational
process of the community and to
this end would consider possible
adjustments consistent with its
recommendations."
In short, the statement invites
the University to participate in
Flint's orderly transition from
branch college to independent
school, while removing from the
board's recommendation the aura
of rigidity that many feared might
create "gaps" in Flint's higher
education.
The University accepted the
document quietly and sent an un-
published acknowledgement to
Brennan.
THE UNIVERSITY is not as
committed to its long-range ex-
pansion of the Flint branch as it
was to admitting freshmen this
fall. With the issue removed, for
the moment, from the political
spotlight, there is real hope that
an agreement with the board can
be reached.
MATTER OF FACT:
Impressions of Viet Nam--The Men, The War
Trouble in Livingston County
By JOSEPH ALSOP
PLEIKU, Viet Nam - It may
seem odd that a superficially
incoherent experience can leave
an exceedingly vivid impression.
But consider these notes on a day's
helicopter trip to the end of the
line, here in Viet Nam's high
plateau, to see a few score brave,
quite possibly doomed men.
9 A.M.-The American advisors'
quarters at Pleiku, target of the
famous attack last February, has
now been repainted a charming
faded pink. The senior sector ad-
visor, Col. Theodore Metaxas, is
an intelligent, tough man of Greek
stock, and like all Greeks of good
family, his tribal memory extends
further than most-the family
founder, it appears escaped from
Constantinople in an Italian gal-
ley when the city fell to the Turks.
Reflecting on these improbabili-
ties, with one's ear all but over-
powered by the helipcopter's stone-
crusher racket, it is a bit hard to
keep one's mind on the colonel's
bellowed summary of the situa-
tion hereabouts.
To the right are the jungle-clad
mountains of the Annamite chain
-solid Viet Cong country.
To the left are the jungles of
Laos. The trough of the high pla-
teau lies between. The colonel is
pointing straight down and shout-
ing emphatically, "The VC can
cut that road whenever and pretty
nearly wherever they want to!"
That is the sort of remark to
make a wandering mind concen-
trate. For "that road" is highway
14, the only artery running north
through the populated plateau
trough, with its little rice fields,
its patches of jungle scarred by
slash-and-burn planting, and its
kindly primitive mountain tribes.
If the VC have this capability, it
will be bad for the people at the
end of the line.
11 A.M. -After a couple of
meaningless stops, here we are
just short of the end of the line,
which we cannot reach because
"the VC weather is beginning al-
ready," as Col. Nguyen Vinh of
the Vietnamese 22nd Division
rather somberly puts it.
This is Dak Sut, the last dis-
trict post before highway 14 tails
off into elephant country. The
plateau country, is hilly this far
north, and the little mud fort lies
on a knob above a saddle, with
an ideal Chinese bamboo-stream
landscape spread out below.
The stocky .little district chief,
Capt. Phoc Viet Bang, leads us
into the fort and gives one of the
curious imitations of the standard
U.S. Army briefing. The fort has
been much harassed.
"We think there will be a big
attack soon," he says in a grim
tone that the interpreter almost
manages to reproduce. "But we will
hang on as long as we live!"
4 P.M.-Plei Mrong is a special
forces camp-another isolated fort,
also very remote and lonely. The
C.O., Capt. John Sanaker, has
just been dropped near the Laos
border with a company of Hiu
irregular troops recuited among
the mountain people, six days
march from his camp. Lt. Alfred
Wilhelm tells us that "Radia con-
tact has not yet been established."
"But don't worry, the captain
will be all right, for he sure knows
his business," Wilhelm adds.
Col. Metaxas looks more doubt-
ful but observes, "Well, if they
run into bad trouble, we'll know
where the VC are holed up."
7 P.M.-There is a little cele-
bration in the Pleiku mess tonight,
in honor of Ranger Lt. Alanson
Bartholomew and his army chap-
lain-father, who has flown here at
his own expense to visit his son.
The Vietnamese Ranger Bat-
talion which Bartholomew advises
recently ran into a VC regimental
headquarters in the jungle toward
the Laos border. The ensuing fight
lasted two days. The Vietnamese
Rangers kept it up until they had
no more food or ammunition or
water. And still resisted retreat.
because they could not carry out
their dead-23 of theirs against
82 counter dead VC.
Bartholomew, three other Amer-
ican officers who had gone along
to see the show and a helicopter
crew downed on a supply mission,
became separated from the Viet-
namese during the night retreat
because they were slowed by a
badly wounded man.
Bartholomew then led them all
out through jungle so thick that
it took an hour to crawl a hun-
dred yards and close to two days
to reach safe ground. He is a
stocky fellow, aggressively crewcut
and not very loquacious. Asked
about his feat, he answers, "Hell,
I just remembered Ranger train-
ing and followed the book."
But when one of the Pleiku
staff condifes to the chaplain-
father that his sot has been rec-
ommended for the Silver Star, the
old man rather unexpectedy re-
plies: "You know, I've always
worried because he isn't a good
churchgoer, but now I won't worry
any more."
BUT WHAT impression does all
this add up to, it may well be
asked. Perhaps the answer is that
Vietnamese seem different away
from Saigon and Americans seem
ever more different this far from
the voices of the twaddle mer-
chants.
04
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
U' Must Take Public Stand on Apartheid
4
LAST THURSDAY the hot, bitter law-
suit between the two factions of near-
by Livingston County's Democratic party
was settled. Hold a new convention, the
judge ruled, since the last convention
was broken up by a he-hit-me-first riot
,and later conventions were illegal.
But Judge Lea Bebau's fair and legal-
a little more fair than legal-decision
does not solve, or even really admit, the
question that lies implicit in the testi-
mony of person after person-what is
wrong in Livingston County's Democratic
party? Or is there anything wrong at all?
It is hard for an outsider to be cer-
tain. There was testimony alleging
threats of financial "ruin" at political
conventions; physical brutality (".. .then
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor. Mich.
Published dailyTuesday through Saturday morning.
I was kicked in the groin and dragged
. .."); blatantly illegal delegate certifi-
cations by a county clerk. But most was
irrelevant to the basic suit; it was ruled
out, and little counter-testimony was pre-
sented.
THE WASHTENAW COUNTY Democrat-
ic party must take action.
It should find out for sure whether
there is a Martin Lavan money-and-in-
fluence machine that hinders the Demo-
cratic party in that county-as some ob-
servers, including someon the State Cen-
tral Committee, believe-and, if there is,
the Washtenaw Democrats should spend
money, time and manpower in remedying
whatever may lie in the peaceful towns
about 50 miles outside of Ann Arbor.
-ROBERT MOORE
To the Editor:
ALTHOUGH The Daily editorial
of May 27 places the role of
United States investments in the
proper perspective: i.e. the sup-
port which these investments give
apartheid, it falls short of offer-
ing specific means for changing
conditions in that country.
The $10 million (a relatively
minor portion of its total invest-
ment fund) which the University
has invested in companies which
have subsidiaries in South Africa
is a good target for student action
and raises fundamental questions
as to where the decision-making
power should lie in a university
The University administration
has been exhorted to take a pub-
lic stand and to urge that the
companies with which it has in-
vestments equalize the differential
between black and white in their
South African subsidiaries or face
the loss of University investments.
While there is widespread ac-
ceptability among administrators
that apartheid is wrong, the ma-
jority of themp are reluctant for
the University to assume a leading
role in social issues.
IN THE PAST the University
has failed to lobby for a local
fair housing ordinance and is
presently too fearful of exciting
extramural interests to act as an
agent for social change in South
Africa.
It is abhorrent to me that the
traditional goals of the Univer-
sity, historically a storehouse of
knowledge and source of values,
have been subordinated to the
goals of administration and con-
sensual management.
The pursuit of truth in a uni-
versity should not be 'divorced
from involvement in the com-
munity. The use of University in-
vestments as a means of attempt-
ing to bring about a change in
the wage differential in South
Africa would set a valuable pre-
cedent in the academic community
and aid in the effort to end a long
standing injustice.
-David Wallace
Education Library Staff
Teach-In
To the Editor:
IN THE LATEST of his generally
excellent series 'of articles on
ficial connection between our-
selves and Young Republicans, of
which there was none.
SINCE THIS is one of three
times our club has been briefly
mentioned in ten articles on stu-
dent activism (an oversight which
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rect this immediately.
We hardly want to go down in
history hand-in-hand with those
fascist war-mongering Young
Republicans.
-Michael Grondin, '66
President
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LOVE THE ITALIAN WAY:
Confusing, Overdone
But Humorous
At the Campus Theatre
FLOATING ON the glamour of high Roman society and a luxurious
Mediterranean cruise, "Love The Italian Way" exploits the some-
what overdone theme of Italian adultery and debuachery in a fairly
humoxous story of love, hate, and stolen chicken dinners.
It all starts when someone gets tired of his wife-does this sound
familiar?? ?-and stars an affair with an attractive magazine editor
who is apparently better in bed than in the office, After financing her
business for some undisclosed period, he decides to ditch the wife (a
famous opera star who spends ninety per cent of her time cursing the
critics) and marry his sweetheart.
The man she picks to take his place just happens to be the former
husband of his present lover-the magazine editor, that is.
Next, a cruise, intended to provide a setting for some fashion
photographs, is planned; among the guests are the aforementioned
interrelated lovers, spouses, etc. (Are you following all this?)
Papa invites a curvacious model along in the hopes of lighting
a spark of passion in his son's sound -but unfeeling heart. Finishing
off the company is a girl-hungry photographer who gladly comes along
to shake a clinging girlfriend who apparently is cramping his style
ashore.
The fireworks start when the beguiling magazine editor realizes
that the man her lover has picked to solve all their problems is in fact
the same man who has evidently caused her many already-namely
her former husband.
The athletic son ignores the seductive model and starts out to
*
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