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Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
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Flint College reaches critical point
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THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A HIRSCHMAN
Melvin Laird
and his unanswer to war
FEW STATESMEN can rival Melvin
Laird's insensitivity to the chronic so-
cial needs of the American people a n d
their hope for an -early peace in Vietnam.
Laird vaunted his insensitivity, thinly,
veiled as genuine concern f o r' national
security, ip his warning Friday that peace
in Vietnam will not significantly decrease
military spending.
There has been an almost ten to one
disparity since World War IIbetween fed-
eral military expenditures and federal ex-
penditures for educatiori, welfare, health
and housing.
If and when the Vietnam War e n d s,
Laird will undoubtedly do his best to en-
sure that much of the approximately $30
billion per annum now spent there will be
refunneled into spending for the Safe-
guard anti-ballistic missile system.
ONE STEP IN Laird's campaign to in-
duce insecurity in the American public
and thereby win support for Safeguard
has been his criticism of the Polaris sub-
marine fleet.
JN THESE DAYS of conservative atti-
tudes one dare not suggest our govern-
ment do anything unplanned, spontan-
eous or interesting. But we will anyway.
Because basically, o U r government is
not so much conservative as it is general-
ly dumb. Also highly defensive and en-
fatuated with surprise and set on making
sure every good thing that happens hap-
pens in the U.S.A.
Several Apollo 10 astronauts are sch-
eduled to descend within nine miles of the
moon's surface today. Now w h y spend
$350 million just to go within nine miles
of completing a quarter million-mile
journey? We have no idea, and seriously
doubt that our government could figure
out one either. Therefore, it is predicted
that we will land on the moon today to
everyone's surprise but our own.
MAYNARD et al
NIGHT EDITORS: Joel Block, Nadine Cohodas, Harold
Rosenthal,, Judy Sarasohn.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Lorna Cherot, Erika
Hoff, Scott Mixer, Sharon Weiner,
Laird "seriously questions" whether Po-
laris will provide an adequate deterrent
in three years.
However, Rear Admiral Levering Smith,
director of the navy's strategic systems
projects, has removed a sizable c h i n k
from Safeguard's armor, so meticulously
welded together from Laird's rationaliza-
tions.
Levering says he is "quite positive" the
polaris system will remain relatively in-
vulnerable f o r another forty years. He
He knows of no new Soviet anti-subma-
rine warfare methods.
TRUE TO FORM, Laird is also doing his
utmost to impede military de-escala-
tion in Vietnam, in defiance of the wishes
of most of the American public.
Laird refuses to endorse a withdrawal
of 50,000 American troops unless there is
a significant improvement in the fighting
ability of the South Vietnamese army, un-
less the North Vietnamese make a recip-
rocal withdrawal, or unless they limit in
some way their military operations in the
South.
A Harris survey shows that by 49 to 34
percent, Americans favor immediate with-
drawal of 50,000 troops without any of
Laird's preconditions.
(N THE PAST defense secretaries 1 i k e
Clark Clifford and Robert McNamara
proved a slight counterbalance to t h e
militancy of the chiefs of staff. Clifford
was influential in Johnson's decision to
limit the bombing of the N o r t h which
initiated the Paris peace talks. Secretary
Laird, however, may well be more mili
taristic than the military. r
If Laird has his way with defense ex-
penditures, those who perhaps too naive-
ly presumed the Vietnam War prevented
greater government involvement in social
problems, will accuse the administration
of bad faith.
Laird will then have done more to pol-
arize the American community than any
other statesman in r e c e n t memory by
pandering to the security paranoia of the
conservative middle class while alienat-
ing students, blacks, intellectuals and the
poor.
-TOBE LEV
By TORE LEV
Last of two parts
THE PROBLEMS of the Univer-
sity's Flint campus are more
than just budgetary and racial.
Housing is and will become even
more of a problem as enrollment
f r o m areas outside of Flint in-
creases. Currently 90 per cent of
all students commute. Non-com-
muting freshmen must live in Uni-
versity housing and many others
who don't commute live in Uni-
versity housing because they can't
lease apartments off-campus.
The university has m a d e no
special effort to encourage local
realtors to lease apartments to
non-freshmen, says Flint college
Dean David French,
University housing comprises
two apartment houses occupied by
students under an agreement be-
tween the administrators and Pi-
per Realty Company.
STUDENTS frequently c o m-
plain about the crowding of five
or six students into three bedroom
apartments which are extremely
cramped. Thin walls between bed-
rooms a n d between different
apartments make studying hard.
No one is extremely happy about
living conditions. But French says
the apartments are as good or bet-
ter than any that could be found
close to campus.
The University must either con-
struct dormitories or make further
arrangements with realtors to
house incoming blacks from De-
troit and more incoming students
from outside Flint.
THE HOUSING situation has
helped make Flint unattractive to
non - Flint students. A rumor is
constantly repeated that enroll-
ment is down this year because
students have heard about condi-
tions in apartments.
Many students and townspeople
have expressed fear the University
is planning high rise apartments
economically unfeasible to house
incoming blacks on land present-
ly belonging to an urban renewal
project.
French insists these fears are
completely unfounded. "As our
population grows we are interest-
ed in examining the possibilities of
other private housing develop-
ments but there has been no talk
of dorms or high rises with cen-
tral facilities."
French admits t h e housing
problem is urgent but says no de-
cision has yet been made on what
and where to build or whether to
make arrangements with local
realtors for existing apartments.
There are indications the Uni-
versity has d~slgns on the urban
renewal area, and will make no
mention of its plans for fear of
provoking a public outcry.
BLACKS HAVE arranged to
house incoming Detroiters in an
off-campus apartment. J a in e s
Robertson, director of student ser-
vices, says the University will ac-
cept this housing arrangement
pending the furnishing of the
prospective apartments-
Many students have urged ex-
panded services, including gym-
nasiums, professional counseling
for psychological problems, a full-
time nurse and a doctor on call on
campus, and more cultural facili-
ties and coffee houses.
Robertson agrees with m a n y
students that the 1 a c k of com-
munal areas and student activities
inhibits any sense of college com-
munity among students.
The town itself offers few en-
tertainment spots for students
-p
perhaps t h e largest outstanding
share of General Motors stock in
the country. As the town's major
political force, he o w n s several
major private and public build-
ings in town, including the college
classroom building and the library.
According to the white and black
radicals, the influence of Mott is
pervasive in the school and in
nearly every institutiob in town as
the bulwark behind Flint conser-
vatism.
"Any person who is trying to
rise up the political ladder in
THE ADMINISTRATION and
faculty feel the school is relatively
new, that big strides have been
made and that remaining problems;
will be dealt with in good order.
The administration seems to
have moved too slowly in the areas
of .student housing and student
services. It does not seem to be
acting decisively and energetically
enough to obtain land and money
for construction of a student ac-
tivities building, cultural and ath-
letic facilities, and new dorms or
apartments for incoming fresh-
men.
THE PROBLEM of inadequate
student services has existed since
the school's inception as a two-
year junior college in 1956. The
problem of housing is of imme-
diate concern in the next two
years. Enrollment next year alone
will show an increase of 250. Even
high schools have their own gym-
nasiums.
The Students for Black Action
(SBA) have caught the University
by surprise in their demands for
increased black eInrollment. No
one at the school had ever con-
sidered recruiting blacks in De-
troit as the SBA did itself this
year.
The administration's passive at-
titude toward influencing policy in
local high schools and indeed at-
titudes of its own student govern-
ment council betrays in part a.
lack of sentivity to the problems
of blacks.
The college has been equally
passive in dealings with the many
local realtors who refuse to lease
to students under 21.
The Flint administrators are.far
from racist, inhuman ogres. How-
ever, they lack a sense of urgency
in dealing with certain problems
and seem to have a certain in-
sentivity to the frustrations of
their students, the blacks in par-
ticular.
MORE DISHEARTENING the
faculty and administration is no
more conservative than the major-
ity of students at Flint, or at least
ho more apathetic.
Students are extremely job-
oriented at Flint to the exclusion
of any social concerns, such as the
problems of the poor or the black
ghettoes in the city.
"We are in a factory town, says
Perlan, "and if you notice most
of your demonstrators and pro-
testers don't come from a working
class environment."
"My first impression of walking
on the Flint campus," says Wilgus.
"is having been thrown back to
1956. It is pretty hard to relate to
people on the other side of the
coffee shop,
"It is pretty hard to get students
to move out of sure things like
bridge games and Saturday night
parties."
"I appreciate the efforts of the
blacks and the progressive club,"
says Perlman, "and wish more stu-
dents would get involved in cam-
pus issues."
ACCORDING TO FRENCH, the
liberals and radicals have not
availed themselves of the oppor-
tunity of discussing campus issues
with him. According to the liberals
and radicals French is insincere
and his whole manner and style
puts them off.
Presently the radicals mistrust
much of what French says. French
has proclaimed more than once
the University had no intention of
building on urban renewal area.
His proclamations have not con-
vinced the radicals.
The administration had better
make a final concerted effort to,
look at and deal with crucial prob-
lems before the polarization of ad-
ministration and conservative stu-
dents on the one hand and the
radicals and libeals on the other
critically worsens.
op
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4.-
records
Grumiaux for summer nostalgia
By R. A. PERRY
F , YOU ARE like most music addicts,
summer probably finds you spending
less time in front of the speakers and less-
money on new albums. Recording com-
panies know your disloyal perversities well
and so they hoard their newly-taped treas-
ures for the Fall Rush; nevertheless, they
do dribble out enough new discs over the
summer months to satisfy rainy day and,
balmy night needs. Of the many recordings
that have recently appeared, I would like
to recommend the following.
Any recital by violinist Arthur Grumiaux
can be recommended, for Grumlaux pos-
sesses a musical sensibility that appears to
prevent any perfunctory gesture, and his
playing finds' expression in the smallest
detail, and meaning without exaggeration
in large musical statements. His posture
generally is cool and aristocratic, rather
like Szeryng's, but he can adapt his tone
and bowing to meet any virtuoso or sen-
timental need.
Recently Grumiaux teamed up with
violist Georges Janzer (founder of the Vegh
Quartet) and cellist Eva Czako, wife of
Janzer and professor at-the Hanover Hoch-
sehule fur Music. The resulting "Grumiaux
Trio" has begun to make recordings for
Philips and one can only hope that they
continue to do so for many years, if no
other reason, to correct the excesses of the
Stern/Rose/Istomin approach.
THE GRUMIAUX Trio have already re-
corded Mozart's sublime K. 563, and this
month Philips released the Trio's perform-
ance of Beethoven's Opus 9, Nos 1 and 3.
Both works are masterpieces by the "early
Beethoven" and both a'e harmonically
rich (especially considering the limitations
of the trio form) and contemplative works
that both muse and sing. The C-minor trio
might be considered more compelling for
the strange insistent .return to the four
notes, descending the minor scale in unison,
which open the work.
These two trios perch between Classical
antecedents and later Romantic prero-
gatives; they honor balance and form and
a certain defined architectonic enclosure,
but at the same time the tendency to
break through that enclosure and tackle
more dynamic and freely poetic emotions
can easily be heard. The Grumiaux Trio
stress the former inclinations in a beauti- '
fully polished and tightly coordinated
ensemble; they achieve a certain thickness
of sound, still graceful and flexible, that
C is not inappropriate to the works. Thatf
Janzer and Czako seem reticent under
Grumiaux's lead also indicates the Trio's
more Classical approach. Philips has pro-
vided examplary sound and for once, silent
surfaces.
To hear the second more Romantic ap-
proach, energetic and individualized, you
could "do no better than pick up the old
Artia recording of these Beethoven trios
with Kogan, Barshal, and Rostropovich.
IF THE PAINTERLY category "Impres-
sionism" belongs to any composer, it should
be applied no to Debussy but to Frederick
Delius. Delius the loner, who died in 1934,
detested "cacophonies" of Stravinsky, Pro-
kovief, and other moderns; to them, he
said, "a beautiful face is no longer as in-
that his larger works-choral pieces and
the six operas-will only sell in England,
where indeed much more Delius material
is available. Angel's new release (S-36588,
'featuring Sir John Barbirolli conducting
the Halle Orchestra, once again retreads
familiar ground and offers only a few
previously unavailable views. "In a Sum-
mer Garden," "Summer Night on the
River," and "On Hearing the First Cuckoo
in, Spring" are all familiar, but other short
pieces such as "Late Swallows," and the
Intermezzo and Serernade from "Hassan,"
with a misty vocalise sung by Robert Tear,
will please the Delius fan and waft anyone
to sleep on a muggy summer night.'
IF ADMIRERERS of the music of Henry
Purcell are not yet sated by all the recent
Purcell releases (doesn't Alfred Deller ever
sleep?), they will want to know that two
never-before-recorded works have just been
released by Vanguard (VCS-10053), and
that they are truly worthy of notice. For
"Celestial Music" (Ode for Mr. Louis Maid-
well's School), a commissioned work to
which Purcell was obliged to attend, he
provided some wonderful tableaus, especial-
ly the final trio for. alto, tenor, and bass,
where the tenor has the main melody
and the alto and bass weave around him.
Similar invigorating solo arias and chor-
uses are spotted throughout the Ode for
Queen Mary's Birthday, set to dull prose
by Dryden's cur Shadwell.
The soloists are English and sound it;
that is, they are splendid unitl you get to
the boomy, nasal bass. The Chorus and
Orchestra of the Accademia Montever-
diana are led with verve and pungency
by C olu m b i a musicologist/conductor/
writer/promoter Denis Stevens.
FINALLY, THERE'S a new Julian Bream
record out. Bream, who hasi already rec-
orded most of the major works written
or adapted for the guitar, here applies his
redoubtable technique and sensitivity to
other than drive-ins, bowling al-
leys and bars for those over 21.
Entertainment is consequently
confined mostly to private homes.
ROBERSON SAYS the Univer -
sity does not own any land to build
on. Besides, he explains, the state
legislature will not provide funds
for a student activities building.
Currently the college provides
no medical facilities for students
on the grounds that most are com-
muters and should get treatment
for themselves at home. There is a
nurse on call at t h e University
apartments. Presumably the same
explanation applies for psycholo-
gical services.
"One problem I see is the bore-
dom around here," says Carl Port'
president of the W h i t e Liberal
Progressive Club. "There is no
challenge and nothing for a kid
to do between 17 and 21 except go
to the movies or a dance.
"Flint has one of the largest per-
centages of messed up kids of any
school of comparable size in the
country," he adds.
Many are contemptuous of the
school for preserving the. status
quo in town. French alludes to this
possibility, explaining that ap-
proximately 20 per cent ,of each
graduating class works for t h e
town's General Motors Company.
THE MAJORITY enter teaching
in town, where they promote the
"Mott philosophy."
Charles Steward Mott, 91, is a
multimillionaire and holder of
If
E c
-r6
town is controlled by GM or the
Mott foundation. Either he works
at GM or teaches at a Mott-run
school," says Jerry Wilgus, the
town's only SDS member.
One story suggests Flint- was
created by a Mott financial deal.
Mott wanted a college in Flint, so
the story goes, to impress South-
ern immigrants recruited into the
General Motors system with the
cultural advantages in town.
Mott put three or four times the
amount that went into the Flint
college into buildings in Ann Ar-
bor. Finally Ann Arbor consented
to lend its name to the present
structure in Flint.
SCHOOL CONSERVATISM is
the outgrowth of town conserv-
atism and perhaps an outgrowth
of town pressure and control in
the guise of Mott, General Motors
and other large firms.
"This is an exaggeration about
Mr. Mott. Nothing comes from
local sources for paying faculty
and operating expenses of the Uni-
versity," says French.
'The Mott foundation gets
blamed and credited far more than,
it deserves or earns," says Flint
sociology Professor Ellis Perlman.
"They are not conservative so
much as cautious. In my dealings
with them for funds their reaction
has not so much been an outright
resistance to change but an un-
certainty about what kinds of
changes are needed for what kinds
of purposes."
Letters to the Editor should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Let-
ters should be typed, double-
spaced and normally should not
exceed 250 words, The Editorial
Directors reservesthe right to
edit all.,letters submitted.
,t
Letters to the, Editor
To the Editor-
THE LETTER of May U
seen as the scapego
tains the nightmare qt
arguments where eachi
sumes the other has the sE
values and assumptions,
is completely confused v
other doesn't come to t
conclusions.
One side sees the mili
solution to already existi
lems. The other sees the
*as the problem.
We see violence per se a
lem, war per se as a prob
impossible for us to con.
as a solution in light of
torical definition of ever!
its people .as just, holy,e
for some noble cause. T'
never been an aggressivec
war being defined as def
When we seer the eco
many nations resting 'x
factured military situatio
we see conflicts like
which are obviously not
fense but only for kee
military industrial , com
cupied, we can only conc
the military itself Jis a
The military does not
violence and war-it is
and war. This is hardly a
to the role of a bicycle l
your lock steal other
bicycles?
WE ARE NOT ASSUMI
solute love, truth, hones
grity and human unders
exist, thus making the
ROTC get down in the dirt and grapple
wjith it. It takes courage' and un-
~lrstanding. Make. sure that man
6, "ROTChas passed all his courses with at
at," con- least a 3.0046 average befofe he
uiality of begins on your daughter. 'Don't
party as- you think he might be more re-
ame basic sponsible and more reasonable to
and then deal with?"
when the What does Dr. Hess think all the
the same discontent with current curricula
stems from? Does he really think'
,we agree with him that present
tary as a college curricula are humanizing?
ng prob- The depth of this misunderstand-
military ing is astounding. I did not realize
it would be necessary to explain,
"No, we -do not believe a bac-
ks a prob- calaureate degree confers any
lem. It is humanitarianism, in fact, just the
sider war opposite." Universities are largely
the his- training grounds for accepting the
y war by cenventions and anti-life rituals of
herenhs, society. 'I'm afraid it means very
war, eahchlittle to me whether those op-
war, each erating the gas chambers have,
Lensive. their degrees or not.
nomy of The prime motive in the anti-
0 manu- ROTC movement is to remove its
ns, when image as a normal respectable pro-
Vietnam fession. This image is what the
for de- average citizen sees, and he goes
ping the into the military as he would into
plex oc- architecture or hotel management
lu e that -just another prestigious position
problem. in society.
prevent
violence MUCH OF SOCIETY, including
analogous the military, is aimed at patterns
)ck. Does which are useless and harmful,
people's and this re'ality must be faced and
evaluated, not accepted as a career
like any other. What perpetuates
ING "ab- violence is not so much valid ideo-
ty, inte- logical confrontation, or even
tanding" cruelty and callousness. It is more
military the acceptance of societv's con-
,
r
.
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