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Truth WnillPrevail'
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in a reprints.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: MARILYN KORAL
An Alternative in Viet Nam:
uniting North and South
OVER THE PAST MONTHS, as United If the United States allows Khanh to
States operations in Viet Nam have pursue such policies, with their already
met with continual failure, our allies enumerated effects, all it can do is sit on
have become increasingly dissatisfied its haunches and hope for still another
with our policy there. shift in power so the harmful prohibitive
The South is not winning the war, and restrictions will be again lifted. If the
is not even being governed democratical- United States does nothing, or if nothing
ly. It has become increasingly apparent happens, the undercurrent will again gain
that if the United States continues to strength, and the present cycle of failure
follow present policy, it will continue to will continue.
pour its men and money down a giant
rat-hole AN ALTERNATIVE to this frustrating
The solution to the Viet Nam question cycle is the neutralization of both
is neutralization. There are two main rea- North and South Viet Nam, as proposed
sons for this: first, our present policy is by Gen. Charles de Gaulle
doomed to a cycle of failure; second, We must face reality. All of North Viet
there is a successful historical precedent Nam and half of South Viet Nam are to-
for neutralization. day under Communist control. The small
sector controlled by the West is not dem-
FIRST LET US TAKE a look at the his- ocratically governed.
tory of present United States policy. In addition, the United States is fight-
There was one basic reason why the gov- ing an expensive, distracting, wasteful
ernment of Ngo Dinh Diem was over- war with no end in sight. And the Khanh
thrown four months ago-it had put government will probably become more
senseless restrictions on freedom of opin- unpopular as time goes on. Eventually,
ion as well as on the recreational and in my opinion, it will face general rebel-
social privileges of the citizenry. The net hil-.
result of these restrictions was the crea- If we unite Viet Nam under a neutral-
tion of an undercurrent of bitterness in ist government, this government ideally
the population, should be democratic. But this probably
is not possible. If we cannot establish
To this undercurrent gravitated any democracy in the small part of Viet Nam
and all opposition to the Diem govern- democ nthe ,mhll arthopetoNam
ment. Buddhists, impatient because of we now control, how can we hope to do it
token government infringements on top for the whole country?
of eneral restrictions rallied to the un What we must aim for is that the gov-
of geerre s lme'tits, ralietothepu ernment, democratic or not, have the con-
dercurrent. Communists, seeing the pos- fidence and support of the people. If this
sibilities involved, backed the Buddhists o.eceaisurlzed .a. e.le.se il
in addition to stirring up their usual in- objective is reazed, a large step will
ternl crses.have been taken to restore unity to the
temnal crises. uny.
More and more people-those who country.
thought the government was not strictTHERE IS HISTORICAL precedent for
enough, those who personally disliked the -t eseHIStriCa precedentafr
Vietnamese neutralization. As Walter
Diems, those who were just looking for Lippmann has pointed out, both Finland
something to do-began to rally to this and Yugoslavia at the end of World War
common undercurrent. The situation was II were in serious danger of outside Com-
in the process of snowballing geometrical- munist domination. The West then back-
ly when a military coup-led by Gen. ed independent, nonaligned governments
Duong Van Minh-saved the situation. in both countries. There are few observ-
The coup was not the result of the ers who doubt that both Finland and
thundering undercurrent of opposition, Yugoslavia are today substantially inde-
but an effort to eliminate it. It prevented pendent in determining their own domes-
what probably would have shortly occur- tic and foreign policy.
red-a general rebellion. This rebellion, There is another parallel between Fin-
though it would have drawn its main land, Yugoslavia and Viet Nam. All three
strength from the undercurrent, would countries have seaports that put them in
have shoved power directly into the hands vital contact with the mainstream of
of the Communists because they were the world trade. They need not depend on
most organized and purposeful of the the Communists for their subsistence.
andercurrent forces.
Then, a month ago, a shake-up occur- NEUTRALIZATION, c o n s i d e r i n g the
red in the junta governing the country. prospects of our present policy and the
A new strong man, Maj. Gen. Nguyen successful history of similar moves, and,
Khanh, emerged. He vowed to outlaw and it must be added, a most courageous move
persecute not only the Communists but in that direction by Gen. de Gaulle, seems
also the "traitors who advocate neutral- a good alternative to our current frus-
ism." From all that is known at this trating methods. More likely than ever,
point, it seems that Khanh's policies are it is an answer to the dilemma we face in
geing to bear a horrible resemblance to Viet Nam.
the Diems'. ROBERT HIPPLER
TODAY AND TOMORROW:
{APolitical Soluton?
by Walter Lippmann
DROP POWER PRETENSIONS:
Rebuilding the Foundations of SGC
By PHILIP SUTIN
National Concerns Editor
STUDENT Government Council's
drift has come to an end. The
lack of ideas and action that has
typified SGC in recent months,
rotting Council's last facade of re-
spectability, has shaken the or-
ganization's foundations.
For the last two years, Council
has been a single-issue body -
membership selection; now that
this issue has been settled for the
moment, it is finding difficulties
generating new ones. Further, the
liberal renaissance is over and the
intelligent, intense students that
once stirred SGC are devoting
themselves to other pursuits.
Council is faced with other
problems. The trimester and aca-
demic pressures are driving stu-
dents, at least temporarily, away
from all student activities and re-
cent elections have resulted in the
seating of unqualified candidates
on Council. Lastly, the Office of
Student Affairs has hedged SGC
action every time it attempts any-
thing controversial.
THE EVENTS of the past two
weeks have broughtathese dilem-
mas to the point at which the
need for reform is apparent. Re-
lations between SGC and The
Daily have reached a low point, so
that The Daily editor has all but
renounced his Council seat. Also,
Council has rescinded the peti-
tioning rule, requiring all candi-
dates to obtain 250 signatures on
a petition. This has sparked, the
formation of an "anarchist" party,
plotting to abolish SGC.
Both of these developments are
well deserved. In its petition ac-
tion, Council took a disdainful
view of the electorate in which
The Daily editor did not wish to
participate. Consequently, SGC
has lost its most powerful poten-
tial friend and whatever favorable
bias The Daily editor has had to-
ward SGC as an institution has
been lost. Moreover, Daily editor-
ial writers have defended SGC as
an institution long after the aver-
age student has written it off as a
waste of time.
The "anarchist" party is an-
other symptom of SGC's low sta-
tus. Its leadership is composed of
some of the most intelligent and
capable students on campus who,
furthermore, have a record of in-
volvement in student activities. If
anything, Council sorely needs
these students as supporters, not
as opposition.
Clearly, time has run out on
one of the most stable student
governments in the country. SGC
has operated under essentially the
same plan since 1954-nearly 10
years, a remarkable record for a
student political organization. It
evolved out of 30 years of insta-
bility and is the most comprehen-
sive student government ever on
campus.
* * *
BUT SGC has not lived up to
its promise. While it has Regental
recognition-a prestige no other
council ever had-it does not have
power. Under its Plan, SGC, "in
accordance with Regental policy,"
has three clear powers:
-Calendaring;
-Control over student organi-
zation, including recognition, rules
of eligibility beyond University
regulations, review of constitu-
tions and co-ordination of various
groups;
-Student opinion, Council be-
ing recognized as the "official
liaison" between students and
University policy makers.
For various reasons, SGC has
never effectively sed these three
powers. Calendaring is basically a
mechanical function which isbe-
ing transferred to the Central Cal-
endaring Committee-essentially
a secretary in the OSA.
But Council has always been
at its worst when trying to adjudi-
cate calendaring disputes. It
would spend hours of silly and
pointless debate on an event, usu-
ally to the detriment of the cam-
pus cultural groups and in favor
of the powerful affiliate system.
SGC has less control over stu-
dent organizations than the clear
language of its Plan indicates. The
administration has continually
stymied SGC attempts to exercise
its power in enforcing anti-dis-
crimmnatory membership selection
policies. SGC's unwillingness to
take strong, decisive action itself
has compounded the situation.
Now membership regulation is
largely out of student hands and
in a legalistic mire.
TIMIDITY and disinterest have
also weakened SGC's control over
its third power. SGC gave up its
chance to influence the vital Reed
Report on reforming the OSA
when it defeated, two years ago,
the Glick-Roberts motion which
boldly outlined reforms in stu-
dent rules and regulations. Later
it passed many of that motion's
points in its comments after the
Reed Report had been issued.
Now, it seeks to obtain the rule-
making powers implicit in the
stronger and better thought-out
Glick-Roberts motion.
Council has taken no definitive
stand on the vitally important tri-
mester calendar and is only now
moving into student lobbying in
Lansing.
Because of its lack of power
over students' non-academic lives,
Student Government Council is a
misnomer. Its current sterility
merely emphasizes the gap be-
tween myth and reality. This gap
is now too large to be ignored.
Council must be reformed to fit
current realities.
As long as the Regents retain
ultimaie responsibility over non-
academic affairs, student govern-
ment cannot effectively rule over
it. Because of the natural parti-
sanship in elected bodies such as
the Regents and SGC, it is impos-
sible to delegate power meaning-
fully from one elected body to an-
other, especially with different
constituencies. Delegation would
mean abrogation of power; it is
difficult to fix responsibility and
to get decisive action. Cities with
recreation and similar commis-
sions have long known this
maxim.
Since calendaring and control
over students' non-academic lives
are out of its grasp, SGC is left
with the student opinion function.
The seating of students on eight
Senate Advisory Committees for
University Affairs has provided an
opportunity for effective student
action here. Students have moved
closer to University decision-mak-
ing in many areas and can use
these committees as devices to
make student opinion felt.
Even if students are not direct-
ly seated on the committees, they
can present papers and make their
position known to the committees.
The continued, close contact, es-
pecially when undertaken by sen-
sitive, intelligent students, can
build considerable influence.
These parallel committees can
form the basis of a new student
government. This new council
could be composed of the 16 mem-
bers on the eight current parallel
committees and a chairman who
hopefully would sit on SACUA.
One of the two students on each
SACUA committee would be elect-
ed in the spring, the other in the
fall. Candidates would run for
specific committee seats, thus fo-
cusing issues and raising the level
of the campaign above generali-
ties.
The chairman would be elected
in the spring for a year term. His
position both as chairman and as
a SACUA committee member
could make him the most import-
ant and influential student leader
on campus.
THIS council would meet once
a week to consider the progress of
its members' work on the SACUA
groups, plan lobbying programs in
other areas and to develop policy
statements.
The new student council would
retain appointive control over
SGC's present related boards, but
would largely abandon Council's
elaborate committee system. Ad
hoc committees could be formed
whenever research or staff work
is needed.
A separate interviewing and
nominating committee or a special
council committee would screen
for related board and regulatory
committee appointments. This
would be the only council respon-
sibility to these organizations.
Also, the council would maintain
its power to appoint students to
University-run committees.
The University would accrue a
minor benefit from this new struc-
ture as the 50 cent tuition subsidy
to SGC could be halved and the
$5,000 savings used to finance
some visiting lecturers or scholar-
ships each year.
* * *
BECAUSE of its less elaborate
and more realistic organization,
the new council could draw inter-
ested and concerned students. A
campaign would be focused on the
important University issues con-,
cerning students which these
SACUA committees consider. Its
lobbying role could be extended
to areas beyond the committees
themselves.
This sort of council would not
be "Mickey Mouse." Its members
would face the important issues of
concern to students-student af-
fairs, trimester, educational qual-
ity and research.
*t* * e
AT THE last Regents meeting,
Vice-President for Student Af-
fairs James A. Lewis indicated the
possibility of a study comnmission
to review SGC's nine-year exist-
ence. The events since that meet-
ing clearly indicate the need for
one.
If the commission is to do a
thorough and objective study it
should reflect opinions of the en-
tire campus community, not just
Council and the OSA. SGC should
take steps now to establish such
a group, consisting of three under-
graduate and two graduate stu-
dents, elected in the comhing all-
campus election, the chairman of
the SACUA student relations com-
mittee and a representative from
the USA. The committee could re-
port next September.
This group would be representa-
tive of the University community,
keeping special status quo inter-
ests to a minimum. The campaign
for these positions, moreover,
would stimulate campus thinking
on the nature and performance of
student government and help to
revitalize this now-moribund in-
stitution.
SGC is clearly in a state of de-
cline. A thorough-going study
committee is only the first step to
reform, for a radical change is
needed.
(
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Negro History Week
Sidesteps Issue,
-f
A
WHAT KIND OF WORLD?:
'Practical Men' Fail
On Education
To the Editor:
T HE University once again is
bringing out its decaying skele-
tons of civil rights to wave in the
faces of the slave-mentality Ne-
groes and their good white friends.
Negro puppets are being strung to
dance to the dehumanizing tunes
that Ol' Massa lets them hear for
one week out of every year-Ne-
gro History Week.
The first tune on the agenda
was "How Far the Promised
Land." We are not taken in by
this legal beat; we are not look-
ing for the promised land that
gave its justice to Emmett Till
and Medgar Evers or to four little
girls who went to church to pray
and never came back. Another of-
fering is the movie "The High
Wall." While the Ann Arbor Ne-
gro is kept behind the high walls
of this ghettoed town, the Univer-
sity and itq representatives watch
on film what they don't dare to
see existing all around them on
the campus. What is the meaning
of this?
* * *
IF NEGRO history were pre-
sented accurately In the class-
rooms of the University, if the
southern-style University Senate
would institute an interdepart-
mental program designed to pro-
mote an understanding of the na-
tion's major problem, there would
be no need to haul out the house
Negroes and the Aunt Beulahs
to celebrate the non-existent lib-
erality of the "good white power
structure."
In reality, talking to the Unk-
versity about civil rights is like
talking integration to a lynch
mob. Like the March on Washing-
ton, Negro History Week is con-
trolled 'by people who know little
about what it really means to be
black in America.
This is an obvious attempt to
make the Negro think that "free-
dom" c3n be obtained by begging
By ROBERT HUTCHINS
WHEN THE Americans landed
in Italy, Mussolini exclaimed,
"History has seized us by the
throat."
Actually, of course, he had
seized the Italians by the throat,
for his own folly had led to the
events of which he was complain-
ing.
A dictator has no excuse for
blaming large, impersonal forces
for the disasters that overtake
him.
But how about the people of a
big, democratic nation, with many
complicated problems, foreign and
domestic? Can they blame his-
tory? Can they avoid responsibil-
ity for their own fate? I believe
not. If they have failed to think
or to try to understand what is
going to happen, they deserve
whatever befalls them.
IN THE United States we have
been rich and powerful because of
our great natural resources and
our isolation. We have tended to
suppose that our riches and power
would continue, simply because
we have always had them. We
have imagined that we didn't need
to think. "Practical" men would
solve any practical problems that
arose.
It has been observed many times
that "practical" men are those
who practice the errorsrof their
forefathers.
People who live their lives with-
out theory may be good mechanics
or technicians. They are poor
guides. The reason is simple: they
don't understand what they are
doing.
* * *
THE "practical" men have
brought us to a bad pass in edu-
cation. A rich, powerful, ignorant
nation is a danger to itself and a
menace to the world.
Yet we have been content to re-
gard education as thehresponsibil-
ity of 50 states, which have dele-
gated their duties to 40,000 local
school boards. The result is that
we are the only country in the
West without an educational sys-
tem. We have a lot of schools, but
no national policy, or national
plan, or national thought in re-
gard to them.
When President Johnson con-
gratulated Congress on its noble
support of education, it should
have blushed with embarrassment.
The only basis of congratulation
was that the 88th Congress had
done more for education than
most of its 'predecessors: they had
were not in school. In 1960 more
than eight per cent of the popu-
lation 25 years of age or older had
not gone beyond the fifth grade.
Forty per cent had not gone be-
yond the eighth grade. Only half
had finished high school.
This is the heart of the educa-
tional problem. Primary and sec-
ondary education is where the
numbers are. It is where the prep-
aration for higher education goes
on.
We have not solved the problem
of supplying the quantity of edu-
cation we require. We have not
even faced the problem of quality.
We cannot blame history for
what happens to us so long as we
ignore the most obvious, elemen-
tary requirement of self-preser-
vation; the development of the
thinking power of the nation.
Copyright, 1964, Los Angeles Times
and compromising with 01' Massa.
"You shut your eyes, your ears,
your mouth; you kill your spirit.
You have drunk the potion of love
thy oppressor and have forsaken
All people."
-Charles Thomas, Jr.
Dick Sleet
SGC...
To the Editor:
THE WAY things are shaping up
now it looks as though the
main issue in this coming spring
Student Government Council elec-
tion is going to be SGC itself.
Nothing could be more welcoming
to crass demagoguery. Although
SGC's role on campus, its respon-
sibility and structure, all definite-
ly need renovating, none of this
will be accomplished by rehashing
the need for it.
Such changes will only folow
from constiuctive proposals in the
areas SGC ought to be concerned
with as the advocate of the sta-
dent's interests, areas in which the
administradikn and the faculty
have already been probing and
planning
Revamping the SGC Plan or
electing responsible members
means nothing as long as candi-
dates for SGC have to "think up"
issues.
-Sarah Mahler, '67
CINEMA GUILD:-
Outdated
'Secrets'
KNVES, wives and fertility god-
desses go wild in Pabst's "Se-
crets of a Soul," at the Cinema
Guild tonight and tomorrow.
The 45 minute silent film is an
unsophisticated portrayal of a
man with a knife phobia. The
movie might have been a startling
revelation of man's unconscious
when Freud was just coming into
his own. But now that Sigmund
is a permanent campus fixture, it
proves to be only an incomplete
and uncomprehensive picture of a
sick man afraid of knives.
The movie was handicapped by
undeveloped film techniques.
Many silent movies seem to last
forever, unhampered by lack of
sound. "Secrets of a Soul" isn't
one of these. It deals with a dif-
ficult and complex subject which
cannot be successfully and com-
pletely communicated without
sound.
EVENTS in the movie happen
much too quickly and the element
of time is not well handled. The
film shoots by at such an acceler-
ated rate that the audience never
has a chance to digest and savor
what has happened.
"I am afraid I cannot touch a
knife," says our complex hero. And
in mental distress Martin runs out
of the house and his "mind turns
to his mother" Well, there you
have it. It's an Oedipal Complex
and Martin wants to go back to
the womb.
But it's not his mother after
all, as we are directly and
straight-forwardly told five min-
utes later. It's his cousin Ehric.
AS WE are familiar with the
Freudian point of view and used
to modern film techniques, it is
difficult to analyze this movie
fairly today. When I place myself
back in the first audience that
must have seen "Secrets of a
Soul," however, I can see myself
LAST WEEK, in an article about South-
east Asia, I referred to Finland, and
in two sloppily-written sentences I seem-
ed to be describing Finland as a country
which was a Communist satellite.
I did not mean to say that. For I know
perfectly well that Finland is a liberal
democratic society, neutral in its foreign
relations and autonomous in its internal
affairs.
THE POINT of bringing Finland into a
discussion of Southeast Asia was to
point out that a country on the border of
a big Communist state need not inevitably
lose its national independence. I was talk-
ing about what might possibly happen
in North Viet Nam which is, as Finland
is to Russia, the next-door neighbor of
Red China.
The independence of Finland is not ab-
solute: Finland, for example, may not
join NATO. Finland, nonetheless, is dem-
ocratically governed and maintains the
civil liberties of a free society. I think it
important not to close our minds to the
idea that North Viet Nam might be in-
duced to adopt a position of neutrality
which was accepted by Peking as Finland's
similar contact exists in Southeast Asia
because Hanoi, the capital of North Viet
Nam, is a seaport. This possibility is rein-
forced by the historic Vietnamese fears
of China.
There are, I submit, compelling rea-
sons why we must open our minds to the
possibilities of a political solution in
Southeast Asia. The civil war in South
Viet Nam is going badly for our side-
more badly than the American public has
been allowed to know, more badly than
Secretary Rusk's recent remarks would
lead one to think. I was, I must admit,
startled the other day at being told in
official quarters that if we fail in the at-
tempt to win the war, as we might, we
would be defeated and would have to
withdraw our troops.
The current policy of the United States
-in which the alternatives are military
victory or military defeat-is catastroph-
ic. I consider this a policy which com-
bines a reckless gamble with defeatism.
I do not think that we should consider
withdrawing our troops until a tolerable
solution has been worked out for South-
east Asia.
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