Seventy-Third Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Truth Will Preval"> Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in al, reprints. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: H. NEIL BERKSON CITYSCOPE: Consolidated Election Would Improve Polities. f{v A FACE IN THE CRUD. { SGC :.: . Insults Students By Ronald Wilton, Editor "Let's Not Get Panieky, Fellows -This Could Have Some Pretty Amusing Aspects" .r )h I ANN ARBOR VOTERS should approve the proposed charter amendment which will appear on the April 6 ballot calling for the elimination of city spring elections. Much has been said and much will be said on both sides of the issue. The issue of discontinuing spring elections, made possible by a provision in the new state constitution, will not doubt be a major issue in the spring election. Already public officials and other knowledgeable citizens, including Univer- sity faculty, have voiced their opinions on the matter. With all but a few of the pos- sible arguments accounted for, the advan- tages of "consolidating" the local with the state and national elections seem to outweigh the advantages of holding sep- arate city elections in the spring. T LOOK at the situation from the lofty heights of American political ideal- ism, perhaps this "one, big election" idea will benefit immeasurably the party sys- tem. Ann Arbor could, as a result of having an issue-filled, politically stim- ulating campaign aimed at the voters from all levels of government, be the site of a model political community, where the democratic-popular theory of gov- ernment thrives. Councilman John Laird has visions of such results when he speaks of the po- tential 80-90 per cent turnout at the polls in the fall elections. He deplored the ar- gument advanced by some that the vot- ers would be confused with all the issues and candidates they must know at elec- tion time. "It's degrading the voters to say that they can't know all the issues. It's about time we threw out the 'coffee hours" and discussion groups connected with the present spring elections, which only attract on the average 30-40 per cent of the voting population," Laird charged. COUNCILMAN TED BANDEMER offers more convincing proof of the voters' capabilities to handle large issues and at the same time local issues. "Look at last year's election when the new state con- stitution was the major issue. Ann Ar- bor voters turned out in record numbers and gave the largest vote ever in a spring election for council candidates," Bande- mer reported. Thus, a large number of issues does not confuse and befuddle the voter, but rath- er draws the voter out to the polls and at the same time registers his votes on all levels of government, including local. PERHAPS the consolidation of elections would also induce more party respon- sibility. Partisan candidates and issues on the national, state and local levels can be viewed and compared by the voting population. Inconsistencies in the party at the various levels would very possibly be remedied. This is especially applicable to today's political scene where there are Innumerable inconsistencies at national and regional levels of party organization. BANDEMER also pointed out several benefits peculiar to Ann Arbor: The long, nine-month lame duck ses- sion of the Municipal Judge elected in the spring, but who doesn't take office until the following January, would be reduced to only two months. Also, newly elected Council members would not be immediately thrown into such big decisions as the city budget if the spring elections were eliminated. At present, newly elected council members have only about one month to review the budget to make a decision. Arguments presentedshere arenot ex- haustive. However, these are the major considerations which should be carefully weighed by voters before April 6. The main argument, that of improving the political scene through more citizen par- ticipation and activity, must not be cloud- ed by or sacrificed to the lesser objections to the election consolidation. -RAYMOND HOLTON j STUDENT Government Council has finally hit the rock bottom of moral and democratic destitu- tion. The time it has taken was longer than might be expected. Nevertheless, the event was inevit- able. By now it should be apparent to everybody. Last Wednesday's meeting was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Until then, SGC was always open to charges that it was a do-nothing or go-slow body, but those charges could at least be countered by reciting the structur- al and constitutional limitation on the body. But at its last meeting, Council rose up and struck the student body in the face, insulting it to the point where student calls for Council's abolition are justifieds THERE WERE two issues in- volved, both of them simple. One was to elimninate the election rule stating that candidates for Council are required to obtain 250 student signatures on a petition before they can run. The second was to have the deadline for platform state- ments moved up to a week be- fore election day. In debating the two motions, Council members displayed a com- plete lack of respect for the intel- ligence of their constituency. The idea behind the first motion was twofold. It was supposed to make it easier for more people to run for Council since it was alleged that the "Mickey Mouse" of making candidates gather the signatures deterred good people from run- ning. The second aim was to give candidates more time to relax and to think up issues and positions on issues. The concern for the health and welfare of potential candidates was profuse; the con- cern for the student body and the betterment of Council was con- spicuous by its absence. WHAT this motion will do is make it possible for anybody to run for Council. Somebody out for a lark can fill out the regis- tration materials and be placed on the ballot. If he gets elected, fine; he's a campus personality. If he fails, no time or effort were wasted. Proponents of the motion argued that Council is currently suffering from a lack of interested and qualified candidates, and anything which could alleviate this situation would be justified. Yet, when a good Council would require much time and effort from its members, does it make sense to throw the candidacy around to someone who would not have taken the small ef- fort (and it was admitted that the effort was not great) to collect the required signatures? All this does is allow irresponsi- ble people to make a mockery out of the Council election. What it further says is that the student body is so lacking in political so- phistication and intelligence that it does not deserve any attempt to separate out concerned people. It also says that Council is so unim- portant that someone is qualified to run just by signing a sheet of paper. This is reinforced when de- bate on the second motion is con- sidered. THE SUNDAY before every election The Daily prepares and prints an election supplement paid for by Council. This supple- ment contains pictures of the candidates and their platform statements. I don't think I am blowing The Daily's horn when I say that most voters depend on this supplement for an indi- cation of a candidate's position on issues and also as a means of idenitfying his concerns. Visits by candidates to residence halls and affiliate housing are often poorly attended and mimeo- graphed platform statements do not get around campus very much. Supporters of the motion to push up the platform submission deadline asserted that this was necessary because most issues come up during the campaign and candidates need time to think up their positions on these and in- clude them in their platforms. In other words, there are not enough issues lying around on which SGC can act, so when a candidate thinks of one during the campaign, all the others borrow it and formu- late their own stands. This desper- ate grasping for issues on a cam- pus virtually suffocating with problems demanding attention points up the sterility of thinking prevalent among most Council members. I also pointed out at the meet- ing that pushing the deadline up to a week before the elections would make it impossible for The daily to put out the supplement. Technical considerations dictate that a supplement coming out Sunday has to be ready to be printed by Thursday. In order for our staff members to do a compe- tent job and still be able to carry out their day to day tasks, they need at least a week to prepare the supplement. This would push the deadline back to two weeks before the electiorf. ONCE AGAIN solicitude for the health and welfare of the /candidate won out. Supporters of the motion argued that the platforms did not have to go in The Daily but could be printed in the SGC Newsletter. It was agreed that- the readership of theaNewsletter was not very great. Sherry Miller, the champion of the compromise any time, any- where moved to make the dead- line 10 days before the election. Again, I pointed out that we could not prepare the supplement in this time. But as I looked around the table I could see that members just did not care whether students saw the platforms or not. The attitude seemed to be, "so students wouldn't be able to see the platforms, so what, they could still put numbers on the ballots. The student body doesn't matter, what does matter is our getting elected, and if it has to be on personality factors instead of issues, so what. We, SGC, knows what's best for the student body." The motion passed 11 to 6. THIS example of petty elit- ism revealed the true colors of most Council members. They are not interested in advancing the interests of the student body. All they want is to be campus- personalities and be able to put down on their application for grad school or business that they were on the student government. They look at studentsyas a means to an end, and they ex- ploit that means for all it is worth. Once elected the student body is forgotten. Some faculty members still re- spect the concept of student re- sponsibility. None that I know of respects SGC. Council's actions are having a destructive effect on fac- ulty opinion of the student body. Students, in their own self inter- ests, seriously consider whether they want a body which fosters such petty elitism and disregard for their intelligence to continue in operation. The structure and operation of Council doom it to be always an ineffectual body. The actions of its members only serve to hold it up for contempt. TONIGHT, members of the Faculty Senate's Student Rela- tions Committee are scheduled to visit Council to talk about a broadening of SGC's responsibil- ity. I hope they will not be tak- en in by the pious platitudes ut- tered by Council members. SGC is not a responsible body, it is a very irresponsible one. It is not concerned about the student. As a matter of fact its actions prove that it holds him some- what in contempt. Members are only concerned with maintain- ing their supposedly elite status and in admitting to that status only those people they desire to favor. They sit on Council as individuals and not as student representatives. Council's powers should not be broadened; if any- thing they should be lessened or abolished. EDUCATION SCHOOL: Report Fails To Meet Issues (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of a three-part series on the education school. The proposals made in the school's recent five- year appraisal report andstheir im- plementation will be considered. Also, a comparison will be made between the program of the educa- tion school and other programs at institutions with comparable bud- gets.) By MARILYN KORAL THE DEAN of the Education school describes an experiment to enlarge the size of lectures, (de- creasing the numbers in recitation groups), as a new program in his school. Later it is discovered that the "new program" ended as an experiment over two years ago. Just a minor oversight? A proposal that "All depart- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Reader Protests Arb Closing Scranton Offers Leadership IT MAY VERY WELL BE that when the GOP presidential convention picks its nominee in August, the man to represent the party will be Pennsylvania Governor William Warren Scranton. Scranton at 45 is the most dynamic man the Republicans have. He has serv- ed as a congressmen for one term from 1960 to 1962 and then, as an unknown, was nominated and elected governor of one of the largest industrial states. Scran- ton defeated a man who had celaned up the city of Philadelphia, starting a large-scale slum clearance program. Mayor Richardson Dillworth was certain- ly the man everyone thought would be Pennsylvania's governor. His party held a Interested GOV. GEORGE ROMNEY has said that he would accept a draft for Republican presidential nomination on the grounds that doing so would be his "responsibility as a citizen and a Republican to accept such -a draft." He is of the opinion that anyone would have to accept similar drafts for politi- cal office in order to keep a clear con- science as a citizen. IN THIS CONTEXT, it is interesting that the governor flatly refused recently to run for the United States Senate from Michigan. Apparently he only applies his principles as a "good citizen and Repub- lican" when he would like to hold the office anyway. Romney's saying that running for the Senate is "out of the question," may serve to clarify his views on a draft in his favor at the Republican convention this summer. In any case, Romney seems to be not as interested in being a "good citi- zen and Republican" as he says, and a little more interested in the Republican presidential nomination than he would have people believe. majority registration in the state and he *represented Philadelphia which is one of the largest Democratic areas in the na- tion. Philadelphia was the area that gave the late President Kennedy the plurality that gave him all of Pennsylvania's elec- toral votes in 1960. BUT SCRANTON, known by few people before April of 1962, is now governor of Pennsylvania and doing a good job. He has changed the industrial atmosphere of Pennsylvania so that few companies are leaving the state and there has been an influx of industry. But Gov. Scranton is more than just a good governor elected in the face of a supposedly hostile majority; he is a man capable of winning votes because of his personality. His record in Pennsylvania shows that he can win votes. Holding only a razor- thin edge in the state senate and house, he has already gotten a large majority of his program passed. It is no wonder with these facts in mind that the Republicans are looking to this man to carry them to victory. They need a dynamic man, like Scranton, who can win. THERE IS, HOWEVER, one fault which Scranton must overcome; he is rela- tively unknown nationally. Scranton, al- though often, mentioned, has not been in the national spotlight long enough to be known and considered by all. Those who are close to him in the state and who know him well do think he is the man likely to be nominated. If, however, Gov. Scranton is to be nominated for the presidency he must act now and do his part in securing the nomination. He must overcome his lack of prominence on the national level. It may be that he cannot launch a full scale campaign now, but at least he must announce he is a candidate for a draft and is seriously considering announcing To the Editor: AS'A resident of Ann Arbor, I want to protest the closing of the Arboretum to the public and to dissent from the editorial opin- ion expressed in The Daily last week that this move was reason- able and proper. The Arboretum is the only spot in or anywhere near Ann Arbor that provides any natural beauty on a scale large enough to make the onlooker breathe deeply. It is the only place where one can sit and think and not feel crowded. As such it is an irreplaceable good that the University provides for the public as well as for its own students and staff. THE REASONS given for de- priving us all of the use of the Arboretum seem inadequate. The vandalism cited is overwhelmingly due to the misuse of vehicles. Closing the Arboretum to vehicu- lar traffic should take care of these abuses and would seem to be a reasonable move. The relatively small damage occasionally done by pedestrians is a small price that the University might well pay in the interest of all concerned. A few signs explaining the purpose of the Arboretum and asking the public to cooperate in preserving the plants and their identifying labels might go far toward elicit- ing more careful behavior on the part of users of the Arboretum. Certainly such a course seems worthy of a trial before the arbi- trary explusion of all nature lovers is resorted to. -Mrs. Alisa Weinreich Ban d... To the Editor: A STUDENT out for a varsity sport is exempted from the two semester requirement of physical education. This does not apply to marching band members, and seems to me an unfair policy. Most bandsmen march for four years yet receive only one semes- ter's physical education credit. The marching band's widely known excellence comes from a great deal of work - namely, six rehearsals and a game per week, totaling approximately 101/2 hours of hard, physical work. Rehearsals start in the last week of August. These range from one to three hours in length: I dare say that by the end of the marching sea- son (September through- Novem- ber), the average bandsman is in quite excellent physical shape. THE POINT I want to make is that, in terms of physical work, marching band corresponds to a sport. If freshman-team members are given two semester's credit, why not freshman band members? Four seasons with the marching band are equal to far more than four semesters of physical educa- tion. Why can't credit be given for two? I hope the physical educa- tion department will consider' a revision of its policy relating to band members. ments be requested to review the s. present status and needs for re- search training of graduate stu- dents in their respective areas" is approved in principle by the fac-, ulty. To begin this review and pro- jection of research needs the pro- posal must be implemented by the Dean and Executive Committee. A year goes by after the faculty ap proves the proposal. No adminis- trative action has yet been taken, UNFORTUNATELY, assessing the education school in the light of its recent "five-year evaluation report," and in relation to the progress of other education schools with comparable budgets, reveals serious administrative stagnation as well as a painful vacuum where faculty concern could press for better programs. More than a few minor over- sights appear when one considers the content and manner of imple- mentation of the five-year report. The committee 'that wrote the traditional five-year report was elected by the faculty. It pursued. its "appraisal" by soliciting faculty opinion, -particularly chairmen of the standing committees, and in- terviews with University adminis- trators, the latter "to gain insight into the image of the school as seer by these officials," the re- port stated. Those interviewed were University President Harlan -- Hatcher, Vice-President for Aca- demic Affairs Roger Heyns, Exec- utive Vice-President Marvin Nie- huss, Vice-President for Student Affairs James A. Lewis and Dean of State-Wide Education Harold Dors. The committee then wrote are. port with recommendations for the school to be considered by the fac- ulty and appropriately implement- ed by Dean Willard C. Olson and the executive committee. The report did not come to grips with the real problems. One of the major reasons was a con- cept underlying the operation of the appraisal report: that curricu- lum problems were not to be ap- praised by the committee nor were recommendations on the direct improvement of curriculum to be made. This is because, theoretical- ly, all new ideas on curriculum come through the undergraduate and graduate committees, THE FACT that the committee did not directly concern itself with a critical approach to curriculum was an important source of the watered-down content which ap- peared in the report. Instead of meeting squarely the area most important for an evaluation to consider, the committee dealt in peripheral issues, going all around the problem but never hitting at the center. Another reason which likely ac- counts for a lack of imagination was the committee policy stated in the preface to the report: If "the committee did not agree with a suggestion or did not feel it should take action" it omitted it from its list of new ideas. Thus rather than sampling, organizing and commenting upon, but at least presenting, views of the faculty and administration, the group ex- ercised a private little system of censorship according to its own preferences. THE VERY concept of a group of five professors making "recom- mendations," for all phases of the education school is not fruitful. Rather than acting as a sieve, straining out the presently un- workable, radical or otherwise un- acceptable ideas the groupshould have organized and published all of the views on major issues it eikenvarari Althrmgh % nrnnnRAI J s... r.R.r : yy ..i z". uIVY PiF C, t : ie rill 5 z r$ a 4 7 r 7 % z . w. s ,q:.4,? lva'. '1iri ia3t b a a ° " ' i , r < A1.1 i' M k l., S '' ', h i' F 9 , T v " " .°. $ ; ' xS t+ ,.. < . °, .. .:F°lr r,.£. .!.-.:t.>x :,' '"",'CA a 'O°' z y o..s x: n°.t a, w, CS tt n y! " ..S/r,,;,:F " YYy,' ^t . t+ KL'%'s°2 'r':!i'L9 4 SS. w. .. t r.R J" ..fir N° _{' ."b%"". :. 7; ..i..?..5: ;t'.4'.e:ab :: " ..^..Yo .B.' ° + Y'"r ex.. .i s b .: .;'e.3: .ri',''ti..-: °i" ' wy. r~qa . ° " .a,, r ! . . . a. J. r " :~'tp:" ° ,., o °. ' dY '.i P,®"44 ° P "Yrd St 9y, ,.5 > !., ^ \ " yet 5 ' rt