"1Not That I Really Approve Of It,
IL
Seventy-First Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT Pmu c.Amox BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, Mici. * Phone NO 2-3241
"When Opinions Are Pree
Truth Will Prevail"
DICKENS' LETTERS:
CorrespondenceProvides
Impressive Portrait
THE SELECTED LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS. Edited with an
introduction by F. W. Dupee. 293 pp. New York: Farrar, Strauss and
Cudahy. $4.75.
IN many ways the most satisfying reading of autobiography is the
reading of collected letters. More candid, more intimate, often more
accurate than a formal autobiography by its very nature can hope to
be, a collection of letters reveals the author in juxtaposition with both
the trivial and the momentous events of his life-all of them meaning-
ful events by virtue of his having recorded them.
Letters, with their spontaneity, their immediacy, their lack of any
prearranged order, are like the pieces of a massive puzzle, a puzzle
whose pieces are never all present and for which there is no one correct
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
T
DAY; OCTOBER 11, 1960.
NIGHT EDITOR: PHILIP SHERMAN
--
Hot Issue Erupts
Over Homecoming Displays-
"YOUcan't tell the titles without a pro-
gram" will be the cry at this year's home-
coming. Despite the Homecoming Committee's
determination to avoid duplication of displays
or signs of favoritism, there is a recurrence of
homecoming titles. Allen-Rumsey and Couzens
Hall both have displays entitled "Veni, Vidi,
Vici" with three other housing units boasting
various English translations. Five houses have
come to bury gophers. How many times and
in how many ways can one gopher be buried?
However, the co-chairman of displays be-
lieves that the campus is not big enough for
two volcanos. One volcano, whose action re-
sembles a jack-in-the-box, erupts a banner
proclaiming "Ve-See-Ve-Us Vinning," while the
other volcano has its lava crush Minnesota
Gopherville located at its base. The co-chair-
man presumes that the Judges will look solely
upon the volcano and, overwhelmed by the clev-
erness with which Freud was worked into the
total display and the homecoming theme, will
simply compare volcanos, lessening the chances
for the competitors.
IT IS ALSO interesting to note that the sole
survivor volcano will be built by the sorority
of the female co-chairman of displays.
Contrary to previous years when a clever
title, a unique interpretation of the common
object, and neatness in workmanship counted
towards the prizes, the co-chairman is im-
posing upon the judges his own personal bias;
that if there are two displays both having giant
volcanos or whatever you please, these are
duplication, while a large Nero with a small
fiddle and a small Nero with a large fiddle are
not duplicate ideas.
-HARRY PERLSTADT
i
AS OTHERS SEE IT:
Free Speech at Berkeley
FREE SPEECH in the United States - what's
left of it - is under attack from all sides.
It is time to do something in its defense.
The pressures toward conformity to an of-
ficial "line" in thought and expression are
obvious on every side.
They are manifest in the actions of govern-
mental agencies, officials and investigating
committees.
They are exerted through the instruments of
the courts and by the actions 1f intolerant
and over-zealous public officials.
They are brought to bear through the media
of mass entertainment and the press.
RECENTLY, it was exposed that Kenneth
Tynan, noted British drama critic, was
interrogated by the Senate Internal Security
Sub-committee in regard to an ad in the New
York Times, which urged fair reporting of
the Cuban revolution and to which he had
signed his name.
Tynan's admission that he felt so justified
was followed by the discovery that his visa
had "expired" and his was forced to leave the
country.
HERE AT home, a zealous defender of the
public faith, District Attorney Coakley, has
opened a crusade against "obscene" literature
on the newsstands.
Professional educators in California have
claimed their right to almost exclusive judg-
ment of public educational policy on the
grounds of "expert" status.'
Recent incidents also include the HUAC
film and the expulsion from the country of
Christopher Bacon and Mary MacIntosh.
LITLE incidents everywhere - secrecy in
government, prominent scientists hauled
before investigating committees to explain thier
opposition to nuclear testing -- evidence a
major decline in the status of free expression
of ideas. More important there is evidence of
a deterioration in thedevotion and under-
standing of the American public in regard to
our basic freedoms.
We are dismayed because there has been in-
sufficient public outcry over these incidents
and over the trend they indicate.
We are especially dismayed at the apathy
of this student community, which should be in
the forefront of the fight for civil liberties.
FREEDOM of thought is the major pre-
requisite to the activities of scholars and
students. Such an attack on this freedom any-
where must be viewed as a direct threat to
the primary interest of this intellectual com-
munity, and met as such.
The fight for our constitutional freedoms
is not the property of a so-called "liberal"
element in the community, nor of any in-
dividual group. It is everyone's business.
It is unrelated to the political or social
opinions of the citizen. It is basic to his free
expression of those opinions whatever they may
be.
AMERICANS-least of all American students
- cannot afford to continue to ignore what
is happening.
We urge our readers to support and initiate
immediate action to preserve freedom of speech
and counter the powerful forces at work today
to repress it.
-THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Questions Ethics of Note Service
solution. The editor is usually pres-
ent to f"illin the major gaps where
he can, but for the most part each
reader is alone to discover for him-
self as much as he can of the
author's life and character.
In a collection of letters edited
with scholarly care and pretend-
ing to completeness, like the six-
volume Yale edition of Swinburne's
letters now in midst of publication,
the reader can go very far indeed
toward discovering an author's
life and character, perhaps even
to the reader's embarrassment.
AN EDITION OF selected let-
ters will necessarily limit the read-
er's discoveries, but if assembled
with care it can point and sug-
gest more subtly than any biog-
raphy. So it is with "The Selected
Letters of Charles Dickens," elev-
enth volume in the "Great Letter
Series."
F. W. Dupee has made the selec-
tion, dividing the letters into six
periods of Dickens's life, beginning
each period with a biographical
resume to fill in for the reader
what the letters fail to tell, and
starting off with a short introduc-
tion and guide to the correspond-
ents that resembles a list of char-
acters from the front of one of
Dickens's own novels.
Three of the time divisions of
the book cover periods of nine
years and more in Dickens's life,
and it is in these pages that the
reader is most acutely aware of
the "selected" quality of the book.
Here the autobiographed ex-
cerpts seem to race by, the read-
er wanting to cry out for a slack-
Iening of speed, for more letters
on the one subjectbefore rushing
on to the next.
a * * *
CONSEQUENTLY, "The Select-
ed Letters of Charles Dickens" is
most interesting when a larger
number of letters are concentrat-
ed on one period or topic. Thus
the thirty-odd pages of corres-
pondence from Dickens's first
American tour in 1842 make some
of the most fascinating reading in
the book-especially for the Amer-
ican reader, ever anxious to dis-
cover what others have to say
about him and his country.
Dickens' interest in the many
uses the Americans find for the
word "fix," in the obliging char-
acter of the passerby who not only
gives one directions but walks
along to show the way, and in
the great size of the crowds that
turned out to see him wherever he
went, his interest is hardly match-
ed by the reader's own inquisi-
tiveness.
Brief as the selection is, the
Dickens letters give a fleeting but
impressive portrait, an intimate
portrait, of the character of an
important writer. In the short
introduction to the book, the edi-
tor attempts to tell briefly the
sort of person he finds in Dick-
ens' correspondence, and, like
many introductions, it is best read
following the book. .
-Vernon Nahrgang
AT THE STATE:
Pizza
Stale
SOME OF THE most spectacular
and eye-filling views of the
dazzling Mediterranean country-
side recently captured on film are
present in plentiful abundance in
the new technicolor confection
called "It Started in Naples."
Photographer Robert Surtees has
turned his skillful hand to fix his
lens upon some of the more opu-
lent aspects of the breathtaking
Italian landscape and the result is
one of the most photographically
stunning films to come along in
some time.
Besides the delightful camera
work of Mr. Surtees "It Started
in Naples" also has on- the plus
side of its ledger a most substan-
tial sampling of Italian pastry
called Sophia Loren. Miss Loren
is an expert at making affairs
more lively by kicking off some
of her excess clothing and undu-
lating about quite unabashedly
revealing her most generously en-
dowed torso.
AND IF THE technicolor and
Miss Loren aren't sufficient to
keep the eye bemused, "It Started
in Naples" introduces American
audiences to a genuinely charming
and refreshingly natural Italian
moppet who is billed as Marietto.
If the young lad is able to steal
scenes from such veterans as Clark
Gable, it is certainly not because
he wades about in precocious sen.
timentality. Not this boy certainly
for Marietto has a genuine twen-
ty-four-carat-gold talent.
But despite all the individual
contributions to this new Jack
Rose-Melville Shavelson produc-
tion, "It Started in Naples"-wbe
is me-is one of the most tiresome
and totally uninteresting of the
current films.
I
I
MAX LERNER ,:.:r4',i '
Siool Is In
EVERY YEAR, in the opening weeks of the
learning season, the parents in effect go
back to school again, and are caught up in the
excitement of school nedings and beginnings,
new friendships and teachers strange courses,
and all the fears and hopes, agonies and de-
spairs of their young,
There is an incomparable glow about the last
college year, and Joany is now experiencing it
at Sarah Lawrence. I had some qualms about
what effect last year's stay in India with us
would have on Joan's school career when she
came home again. As usually happens when the
sequence is broken, the effect was maturing.
Joany knows clearly now where her strong in-
terests lie and what she wants to do with the
coming years.
The last college year is harvest time. You
look back at the false starts and are aghast
that the end is so imminent. But the dreams
and yearnings of the early years, the romantic
fantasies of all the high and impossible things
you will do, have to give way to the reality of
what job you will go looking for, and where
Editorial Staff
THOMAS HAYDEN, Editor
NAN MARKEL JEAN SPENCER
City Editor Editorial Director
JUDITH DONER ................ Personnel Director
THOMAS KABAKER ........Magazine Editor
THOMAS wITECKI..............Sports Editor
KENNETH McELDOWNEY.... Associate City Editor
KATHLEEN MOORE ..... Associate Editorial Director
HAROLD APPLEBAUM.......Associate Sports Editor
MICHAEL GILLMAN ..... Associate Sports Editor
you will find a little fourth-floor walkup that
you can fix up as an apartment, and how you
will manage on your take-home pay.
MICHAEL, iii his last year at Exeter, is hav-
ing an ending too. When I was at college, I
heeled the Yale News as a freshman and was
dropped in a few weeks as a wretched failure.
I suspect that Michael has tried to make it up
for me by serving his apprentice years on the
Exonian, whose editorial board he now heads.
I bow to him as the better newspaperman, and
I read his campaign editorials and his column
with a sneaking envy.
Stephen spent last year in an Indian school,
the only American among 1,200 Indian students.
It grew him up fast, and prepared him for the
adventures of his first year at Andover. I vis-
ited him the other day, wondering how a 14-
year-old might be taking his first few weeks
alone, but we ended by his giving me advice on
how to bear it, instead of my giving him the
advice.
NOT QUITE four, Adam too has started to
school, the latest in an unbroken succession
of children at Dalton. His brothers and sisters
had told him of the wonders awaiting him, and
all primed for school he set off on a drizzly day
in a red slicker and a red rainhat to match,
ready for the promised delights. They are in
fact delights, but at Adam's age school is a bit
overwhelming too. When the madding crowd
gets too much for him he seeks solitude on the
sidelines, thoughtfully watching, and when he
returns to the familiar kitchen at home he is
full of the day's alarums and adventures.
A family like ours, coming in all sizes and
ages, is a cross-section of youth, but it is also a
way of life. It used to be Connie and Pam and
.7v a arri k nf; nfm be intn ignoannt of
To the Editor:
N REGARD to the forthcoming
note-taking enterprise mention-
ed in an article in your paper (6
Oct., 1960; page 1, even though it
has legal sanction I question the
ethical aspects. I wonder if the
project was in fact presented to
the various instructors without
slanting the proposal heavily to-
wards its favorable aspects.
On the basis of a conversation
I had with one of the representa-
tives of the enterprise and the
information contained in the ar-
tice mentioned above, I would
like to point out some of the as-
pects which appear to me to be
ethically undersirable. I think that
they are significant enough to
merit calling your attention to
them.
1) ONE purported advantage of
the service is that it provides a
subscriber with a verbatim record
of each and every lecture. But
these verbatim notations are to be
edited by honors students who are
currently enrolled in the particular
course, and by persons who have
previously enrolled in (and we
assume have passed) the course.
This suggests that the notes there-
fore are not verbatim at all;
rather, persons who lack ex-
periential and considerable schol-
astic background in the particular
field will decide, at the expense
of the instructor, what should be
deleted, added, and/or corrected.
Even editing for grammatical im-
provement can result - albeit un-
knowingly - in a set of notes
which provide the reader with a
different attitude toward the in-
formation, thus stressing aspects
of the particular topic which the
instructor did not intend to stress.
2) Supposedly the notes will
allow a student to enjoy the lec-
ture without the bother of taking
personal notes. From my own
standpoint, the notes I take on a
lecture are of the greatest value
to me since they incorporate my
personal impressions and style. A
set of prepared lecture notes
avoids the necessity of training
oneself to comprehend a lecture
and at the same time record per-
tinent information, or at least
partially hurdles this "obstacle".
3) THE NOTE-TAKING service
has the dubious advantage of al-
lowing a subscriber to miss a lec-
ture in order to work on more
pressing course assignments, tests,
etc. I have been under the impres-
sion that part of undergraduate
training involves efficient organ-
ization of one's time, in addition
to assimiliating verbal data into
a coherent record for future re-
ference. Thinking about this some
more, I received a mental image
of an instructor lecturing to a.
classroom occupied by only a
stenographer or a tape-recorder;
this is somewhat insulting, because
the instructor has to spend time
preparing the lecture and has to
be there to give it, and his au-
dience is at home asleep, drinking
coffee, or working on other things
- they can't be bothered with
him.
4) I have been informed that
the note-taking service allows one
do, that, then there is no sense
in enrolling in the course in the
first place.
* * *
5) THE NOTE-taking service is
a business enterprise. The people
who are managing it will make
roughly $4,000 gross from Anthro-
pology 31 alone. The instructor
who teaches that course - as well
as all other instructors who will
be similarly explointed - will re-
ceive none of this amount. The in-
structor prepares his class lectures
from information which he gleans
from diverse scientific jounrals,
from his personal research and
experience, and from an intensive
education in his field. In a sense,
he cannot publish his lecture
notes in book or pamphlet
form and sell them unless
he obtains the permission of
the managers of this business
venture.
6) The note-taking service has
a strong hidden persuader. If one
student buys a set, then everyone
else in that course has to buy a
set since the grades are meted
out according to proficiency in a
competitive situation, and the per-
son without a set is at a decided
disadvantage. Not to mention the
fact that conceivably, the under-
graduate book expenses could go
up ten, twenty, or thirty dollars
a semester.
7) IT IS TRUE that this system
has been operating in the School
of Medicine. May I point out that
there is a considerable difference
between the graduate school
courses (particularly those in
Medicine) and the undergraduate
introductory survey courses.
8) This same type of service was
offered at a Midwestern univer-
sity as an aid to a reading course
for which there was no class at-
tendance, only a final. The service
evolved to notes on all of the
readings and an intensive 4-hour-
nightly, one week cram-course.
Interestingly enough the Univer-
sity decided that the service was
illegal.
9) have heard of one professor
in the Medical School here, who
was taken to task because he had
marked incorrect some answers
that the instructor had presented
material in his lectures which ver-
ified the student's answers. The
student produced his set of pre-
pared notes as proof of his claims,
and the instructor pointed out that
the individuals manufacturing the
notes had not taken into account
the fact that the notes were four
or five years old, and had been
taken from another instructor's
lectures. No doubt this cut over-
head costs, but in this particular
instance the notes backfired.
I COMMEND the persons who
are organizing this business ser-
vice for their industriousness, al-
though why they wish to remain
unidentified is puzzling. Perhaps
they are not as sure of themselves
as they would lead one to expect.
Such enterprises are certainly in
keeping with The American Way,
but in this particular instance I
am inclined to believe that Men-
cken, Wylie, Waugh, and others'
attacks on the American Way have
some mer it
sions of the great Abelard. This
was very near the beginnings of
the university itself, but con-
tinuously since that time, the lec-
ture has occupied a central and
vital role in university life. The
lecturer and his students - this
was the university at first.
It appears - that now, at this
university, there is a group of
students who see no basis for this
centuries-long tradition. On the
other hand, they seem to view the
lecture as an inconvenient sub-
stitute for published or written
material. I am referring, of course,
to the recently formed group of
students (? who advertise them-
selves as professional note- takers
and purveyors of "canned" notes.'
* * *
THIS APPROACH, I think, runs
counter to basic values and ex-
pectations of a large number of
university students, graduate and
undergraduate. These values de-
rive from the appreciation of the
profound importance of the lec-
ture in stimulating us to indepen-
dent thought and in showing us
by example how trained and ex-
perienced minds achieve coherence,
insight and exactitude in various
fields of knowledge.
Often at this university, we are
privileged to listen to men who
themselves have made original and
important contributions to the
subjects with which they deal. And
these same individuals often com-
municate their findings to profes-
sional colleagues in lectures. Pro-
spective purchasers of these pre-
pared notes might well be lead by
the conviction of many of us -
teachers and students - that the
lecture is a most valued privilege.
You buy the notes and forget
the lecture, or you are relieved
of paying any real attention to it.
This is the real price, the hidden
penalty, of your purchase.
-Thomas G. Harding, Grad.
Graff iti.. ..
To the Editor:
Tired with college, for a lu-
crative out I cry, -
As, to behold Education so
much corn,
And drug-weak students stag-
gering weary by,
And Slumber sweet unhappily
forsworn,
And cribbed Term Papers oc-
casionally discovered,
And leering bearded Profs
with fiendish laughs,
And would-be Scholars glee-
fully uncovered,
And S.G.C. collecting auto-
graphs,
And Anthropologists out
damning Psych,
And Philosophers eyeing
Chem with hate,
And the unknown Hermes
who's borrowed my Bike,
And Wolverines who lose to
Michigan State:
Tired with all, I'd quit this
life abhorred,
Save that, too soon, I paid
my fees and board.
-Penny Schott, '63
Bitter Rise..
Tn tho Fd ..nr
MOST OF THE trouble quite
obviously lies in the completely
inept scenario, dashed off in what
must have been record time by
Mr. Shavelson. His outing has ab-
solutely no element of anticipation
or surprise inherent in its frame-
work. After the first half hour or
so "It Started in Naples" goes un-
mercifully chugging on to its
totally obvious fadeout with nary
a disastrous moment present ever
to smudge the path of true love.
Considering that "It Started in
Naples" is so well endowed with
the pleasing performances, it
is quite disappointing that the
film couldn't have been blessed
with even a passable story to show
all its Italian scenery off to better
advantage. "It Started in Naples"
might have been spicy Italian
pizza. Unfortunately it came out
tasting more like last week's ravi-
oli.
-Marc Alan Zagaran
A-
INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
SEATO Pessimistic
On Laos Factionalism
r
By TONY ESCODA
By The Associated Press
THERE is not much optimiscm
in this SEATO headquarters
capital for a solid settlement be-
tween the warring neutralist and
rightwing factions in Laos,
Qualified -diplomatic observers
say the gap separating the two
sides appears too wide to permit
any great hope for political peace.
And so long as there is unrest in
Laos, there is potential danger to
the area the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization is pledged to defend.
"Laos is like a dagger pointed at
us," said one Southeast Asian dip-
lomat. He was referring to the
geographical shape, driving blade-
like from the borders with Com-
munist China and North Viet Nam
down between the western allies
of Thailand and South Viet Nam.
* * *
THE FEELING in some quarters
here is that even if Vietiane's neu-
tralist Premier Souvanna Phouma
and rebel Gen. Phoumi Nosavan
arrange a compromise, there is no
assurance it will last long enough
to permit eradication of the mili-
tant threat posed by the pro-com-
munist Pathet Lao Guerrilla move-
ment.
This pessimism is based on Sou-
the incentive for the latest Pathet
Lao offensive.
Though relegated to the back-
ground by the Souvanna and
Phoumi political maneuverings,
Kong Le' and his troops were
credited with the setback suf-
fered by Phoumi forces in the
central Paksane area and later
Kong Le boasted his men helped
bring about the fall of the north-
eastern stronghold of Sam Neua,
which had been defended against
Pathet Loa attackers by units
loyal to Phoumi.
* * *
What is puzzling is how Sou-
vanna and Phoumi are going to
deal with Kong Le if they reach
an agreement.
Phoumi, who once said the
normal fate for Kong Le should
be a court-martial, is not likely
to agree to any compromise that
does not include the removal in
some way or the other of Kong
Le and his men. But Souvanna
owes much of his strength to Kong
Le's military backing.
Meantime, menace continues to
loom. Some here speculate the
latest Red offensive is aimed at a
permanent north-south division
of Laos similar to Viet Nam's and
Korea.