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February 15, 1964 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1964-02-15

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Seewy-Third Year
EDTED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF M1CmAX
- _- UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
"Where opinions Are STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MCH. PHONE NO 2-3241
Truth Will Prevail">
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in al reprints.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: STEVEN HALLER
The University Needs a New Form
For Student Government

EUROPEAN COMMENTARY:
Facing the Reality of China

'A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS':
Scraping the Surface
Of Thomas More

By DEBORAH BEATTIE
PARIS-The most regrettable
aspect of the official French
recognition of Communist China
is that it may soon force the Unit-
ed States to remove its ineffectual
blinders and make the same move.
When that time comes, American
recognition will seem to be a de-
feat rather than an essential, in-
dependent advance in the realm of
world politics.
Time is running out for the
United States to make intelligent
use of the old Chinese custom of
saving face. Before a United Na-
tions vote forces us to acknowl-
edge officially Communist China
as the tremendous political power
that it is, the United States must
have the foresight to establish the
relationship independently.
TWO WORLD wars finally con-
vinced the United States that the
upheavals of world politics in-
volve this country whether we
wish to participate or not. This
lesson learned, now we must re-

alize that even though our gov-
ernment tries to preserve an anti-
quated status quo, there will be
revolutions and changes as long as
there are people in the world who
are dissatisfied and want to try
out new ideas.
A leader that constantly drags
his heels is bound to be surprised
and surpassed by those pustied on
by hope of change and progress
even if he stumbles occasionally.
If a policy of non-recognition
was wise fifteen years ago when
there was hope of containing the
Communists and re-establishing
the Nationalists, the progress and
current strength of Mao Tse-
Tung's regime have made it quite
clear that this policy is ineffective.
We may not like the Peking meth-
od, but we can't ignore the results.
It is time for a new strategy.
* * *
WHILE there is no guarantee
that oncee athave established cdp-
lomatic relations with Commun-
ist China we will be able to exert
an effective pressure on its politi-

IDEALLY, student government at the
University should serve three func-
tions: it should be a body which formally
crystallizes and presents student opinion
to faculty and administration; it should
take note of student problems and issues,
and attempt to legislate solutions for
them after collecting data and opinions
on the issues; it should implement its ac-
tions with necessary service programs and
coordinate and supervise student activi-
ties which would fall under no other or-
ganization.
Student Government Council is the
present form of student government at
the University, but it fails to carry out
all but the third of the above require-
ments, and, that one it does poorly. There-
fore, SGC should be abolished.
IN THE NEARLY 10 YEARS SGC has been
in existence, it has never been repre-
sentative of the student body, and there
is no indication that it will ever become
so. It is actually more of a "campus lead-
ers' club" than a body which represents
the students, and its elected members
show very little concern for the inter-
ests of the students. In making decisions
on campus issues, SGC must keep in mind
its responsibility to the entire student
body, not just one segnent of it, which
is its common practice.
A student government is needed. Since
SGC does not fill the students' needs in
this area, it should be removed and re-

placed by a system of student government
which will do so. A few simple changes
in SGC cannot possibly bring it up to the
level of competence needed.
A new form of government would re-
quire new Regental consideration and ap-
proval, and during the process, the Re-
gents might delegate more power to the
student body. Additional power is needed
by any new form of student government
on campus in order that it have a strong-
er voice in making or influencing the
making of policy relating to students'
non-academic needs.
A study committee composed of stu-
dents familiar with campus politics, ad-
ministrators who deal directly with stu-
dent affairs and faculty members should
be organized to study the issue of stu-
dent government at the University.
Through collection of data on past forms
of student government here and forms
at other, comparable campuses, this study
committee could come up with a plan that
would fulfill the requirements of a good
governing body that would be able to
carry out its functions well.
ALTHOUGH such a committee has been
suggested by SGC, the abolition of
SGC, or at least a moratorium on SGC
meetings would add to the urgency of the
situation during the time the committee
is studying the student government situa-
tion.

CINEMA GUILD:
'Steps' Illustrates
The Young Hitchcock

-THOMAS C

OPI

TODAY AND TOMORROW:
The Way of the world
>..{by Wafter. Lippmaun

-1

IT IS POSSIBLE to draw up a fairly long
list of situations in the world where
things are not going as we would like
them to go. Our foreign policy is running'
into great difficulties, and these failures
and frustrations provide plenty of mater-
ial to complain about.
Thus, we are not persuading others to
follow up in boycotting Red China and
Cuba, nor in the partial boycott on com-
mercial credits to the Soviet Union. We
are not being followed in our NATO pol-
icy, be it in the build-up of conventional
forces, the abandonment of national nu-
clear forces or the substitution of multi-
lateral nuclear forces.
The policy of insisting that the Chinese
government in Formosa is the government
of all China is very near to collapse, and'
there looms ahead the prospect of the
recognition by the United Nations of Red
China as "China." More than that, there
is now the distinct possibility that Japan,
as well as Germany, will be drawn into
much closer contact with Red China.
We are compelled to engage ourselves
reluctantly in the problems which result
from the final liquidation of the British
Empire in Cyprus, in East Africa and in
the South Seas. But though we are engag-
ed, our influence in all these trouble
spots is far from being decisive. Our en-
tanglement in Southeast Asia is such that
we are faced increasingly with what Pres-
ident Eisenhower once called the choice
between the unattainable victory and the
unacceptable peace.
Nor are our prospects very bright in
Latin America . . the list of our troubles
could be extended.
CONFRONTED with so many frustrations
and failures, the automatic reaction is
to exaggerate their significance-"We are
being defeated all over and are on the
road to war"-and then to look for the
devil who is conspiring to destroy us. May-
be, for example, it is General de Gaulle?
But the sensible way is to recognize the
truth, which is that the orneriness of the
world in which we now live is both natural
and normal in human experience. It is un-
natural and abnormal to suppose that the
Editorial Staff
RONALD WILTON, Editor
DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH
Editorial Director City Editor
BARBARA LAZARUS .............. Personnel Director
PHILIP SUTIN ............ National Concerns Editor
GAIL EVANS .................... Associate City Editor

whole world will conform to what we
would like it to be.
It is a good sign that President John-
son is not in a state of anxiety bordering
on panic because we are being opposed
in so many places. For the truth is that
we are being forced by the evolution of
world conditions to grow up faster than
is convenient and comfortable.
I WOULD NOT TAKE this view of the
troubled surface of affairs if it were not
the fact that in the depths, where the ul-
timate power is, there is a much greater
calm.
The crucial threat of thermonuclear
war has been neutralized and has sub-
sided. Barring a wildly-irrational turn in
the government of the Soviet Union or
the United States, say toward unilateral
disarmament or toward jingo recklessness,
the threat of nuclear war is not likely to
be resumed until the time-which is still
distant-when Red China has become a
nuclear power with its own weapons and a
delivery system.
THE BASIC TROUBLE with our foreogn
policy today as I see it, is, that the
State Department is grinding out so many
policies on unexamined premises. Take,
for example, the boycott policies against
China, Cuba and the Soviet Union. These
policies are breaking down because our
best and closest allies just will not fall in
with them. They run counter to their in-
terests and their ways of looking at the
world.
My own view, for what it is worth, is
that the State Department is stifling any
searching re-examination of its assump-
tions upon which these boycott policies
rest. In part it is, I think, still brainwash-
ed from the McCarthy terror; in part it is
intimidated by what might be said in
Congress; in part it is convinced by years
of repetition.
Yet the boycotts do not work because
they rest on false premises-chief among
them that the United States is still, as it
was in the postwar period from 1945 to
1955, the possessor of a monopoly of the
military and disposable financial power
of the whole globe.
THE JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION has
inherited a collection of policies about
Europe, Asia and Latin America which
rest on premises that have not been re-
examined since the postwar period came
to an end in the last years of the Eisen-
hower administration.
It is not easy, to be sure, as a matter of

"THE 39 STEPS," at Cinema
Guild tonight and tomorrow,
is the first and in a sense the
archetype of the successful Hitch-
cock thrillers.
Made in 1935, it already em-
bodies most of the techniques and
gimmicks which later made their
originator famous: the light com-
edy dialogue, the penchant for a
Beautiful blonde as heroine (here
it is the ravishing Madeleine Car-
roll; in later films it was Eva
Marie Saint, Grace Kelly, Janet
Leigh), the recurrent sinister leit-
motif-here a hand with a missing
finger -- or the brilliant visual
shock.
"The 39 Steps" contains perhaps
the most famous of all Hitchcock's
surprises: the landlady whose
scream suddenly becomes the
shriek of a train emerging from
a tunnel.
* * *
BUCHAN'S original novel was a
happy vehicle for Hitchcock. It
permits him to indulge in doom-
laden London or Scottish land-
scapes and to submit his heroine
to. the type of awful ordeal whose
sexual overtones were more fully
realized in "Psycho" or "The
Birds."
Not that Hitchcock follows the
novel very closely. It is easy to
see how fully he has adapted the
story to the film medium, and how
far this has led him to depart
from the original. The missing fin-
ger motif, for instance, plays a
crucial part in the Hitchcock sce-
nario; there is no reference to it in
Buchan.
But the movie presents certain
difficulties for a contemporary
audience. Hitchcock's cutting and
timing had not in 1935 reached
the fine art it later became. The
story moves uncertainly at first
and there are many uncomfort-
able changes of mood and scene
throughout the film. The copy at
Cinema Guild is not a good one;
the sound is poor, and some un-
expected jump-cuts suggest that
bits of the film have been lopped
off here and there.
YET THERE is every reason for
the liveliest enjoyment. The act-
ing, especially of Robert Donat,
is light and endearing, and there
is an exquisite cameo by Peggy
Ashcroft as the crofter's wife
which already suggests the great-
ness she has since achieved on the
English stage.
We could have done with more
of the Mata Hari figure who
opened the film, though, and
whose idiosyncracies provided in-
Jokes for that recent long-runner
"Charade": i.e. a habit of sneezing
when frightened and a firm as-
sertion that "I am not a spy
I prefer the word agent."
* * *
ONE FINAL note: the second
feature in the Cinema Guild pro-

LETTERS
to the
EDITOR

V

To the Editor:
THE LETTER published in The
Daily dated Feb. 13 which was
signed Charles Thomas Jr. and
Dick Sleet was appalling in re-
spect to the general ignorance it
revealed on the part of its writers.
As a member of one of the sor-
orities which co-sponsored the Na-
tional Negro History Week observ-
ances taking place this week, I not
only maintain that Mr. Sleet and
Mr. Thomas don't know the mini-
mum amount concerning what
they're criticizing, but that in be-
ing "champions" for what they
believe is the "Negrorcause," they
have failed completely in evaluat-
ing what makes up "the Negro."
THE idea of a campus-wide ob-
servance of National Negro His-
tory Week was originally con-
ceived of and perpetuated by Al-
pha Phi Alpha fraternity, a Negro
Greek organization. The Univer-
sity is only concerned with the
observances in that it owns the
rooms in which the discussions
and programs have been held.
The Steering Committee which
has worked most diligently and
sincerely on National Negro His-
tory Week, planned activities
which would portray the Negro as
the Negro-not as the sweet-
tempered sufferer of social-work-
er-minded people, or as the irra-
tional separatist of the so-called
militants. Certainly, the civil
rights problem is the major con-
cern of the Negro today, but is
this Negro identity, is this "the
Negro"? The activities of this
week have done a magnificent job
of portraying many facets of Ne-
gro thought and activity in our
society-as an observance of this
nature should.
-Nadine Phillips, '66

gram is a brilliantly edited mon-
tage of George Grosz's satirical
drawings of Germany between the
wars. He points up witheacidulous
perception the imbalance of
wealth and consequent mass star-
vation and misery which is the re-
sult of capitalism gone rampant.
As a leading American magazine
states that whilst this country can
boast droves of million and bil-
lionaires "35 million persons are
viing at a bare subsistance level
and countless millions more are
not much better off." But this is
the United States in 1964, not
Gerymany under Hitler.
-Robin Duval

04

cal maneuvers, there is always
hope that a degree of understand-
ing may be obtained. Any at-
tempts to settle the situation of
the small Asian countries must
essentially include and concern
China.
The Asian problems can be dis-
cussed endlessly in the United Na-
tions or at other conferences, but
no solution can be effective with-
out the backing of Communist
China. Obviously the Chinese will
be well aware of our hopes and
policies concerning Asia-certain-
ly they will be better informed of
our plans than we will be of
theirs-but there is no reason for
them to consider our indirect pres-
sure as long as the United States
maintains its policy of official ig-
norance.
Communist China doesn't even
have to bother with saying no"
as long as therUnited States can-
not make a direct proposal.
The increasing dissension be-
tween the USSR and the Peking
government makes it particularly
important that we attempt to es-
tablish official communication
with Communist China. We can
no longer channel our negotiations
with the Communist world solely
through the USSR.'
THE ADVANTAGES of econom-
ic recognition, long ago realized
by several other countries, notably
Britain and France, ought to be
taken into consideration by the
United States as well. America's
surpluses are needed by the Com-
munist Chinese, and the United
States may need marketsbadly as
the Common Market promises to
become increasingly effective and
complete.
The blow of trading with Com-
munist China would be softened
by the knowledge that the returns
are needed to keep our capitalist
society healthy. Hopefully the
economic channels could be used
to open up diplomatic channels
and provide a means for political
pressure.
* * *
HOWEVER, should the United
States extend official recognition
only because of overwhelming
pressure by other countries, the
benefiicial effects of the move
would be greatly reduced.
If the recognition is given soon,
relatively independently and with
apparent intentions on our part
to seek cooperation, the Peking
government may be somewhat
willing to respond. If the recogni-
tion is forced by the UN we may
find that once Communist China
is on equal footing the means for
exerting pressure for cooperation
will be as nonexistent as it has
been in the past. Attempts to co-
operate may be complicated by
the desire for revenge as well as
vast political differences.
It is important that plans for
recognition are formulated now or
the United States will find itself
trapped in a new poltical situa-
tion unprepared and equally un-
popular. If we give our support
independently, the act remains a
victory; if not, a bitter defeat.
CAMPUS:
Cruel
Success
"THE EASY Life" is obviously
more comic than tragic, and it
is disturbing to feel that one has
seen a kind of medieval morality
play after all the fun.
The narrative is strikingly sim-
ilar to that of "The Cousins", in
which a French law student finds
failure and death among the fast
crowd of Paris because he could
not adapt and lacked the will
power to escape his frantic en-
vironment. 'The Easy Life", how-
ever, builds up to its sad ending
with a series of rapid and hilari-
ous situations.
9 M #

BRUNO, a carefree sponge with
an irresistable masculine charm,
stumbles into the life of Roberto,
a serious law student preparing
for ezams, and drags him along
on his unconventional road to suc-
cess. Roberto, a practiced intro-
vert, tries to resist the magnetic
influence of Bruno, but his ra-
tionalistic interior monologues fail
to reassure him.
A visit with Roberto's Uncle is
a small masterpiece of revelation
about the two men. Bruno takes
over while Robert is mooning
about his lost childhood. Bruno
points out intimate details about
Roberto's family that Roberto had
never noticed,
If this had been an American
movie, like "Hud", in which an-
other playboy dazzles a neophite,
Roberto would have given up the
temptation (envy) before it was
too late for redemption. Brandon
de Wilde, who survived the temp-
tations of Paul Newman in "Hud,"
would have walked out on Bruno
with impunity; but Roberto ac-
cepts the challenge.
* * *
SEYMOUR Krim's "Views of a
Nearsighted Cannoneer", has an
essay called "Making It!", in
which he denounces the worship
of egotistic hedonism: "The one
unforgivable sin in city life today
is not to make it. Even though the

S THE credits run off an empty
union hall begins to fill. On
the soundtrack we hear music-.
Very blue. Members of a musi-
cian's union enter, crowd together
and talk while into their midst
comes a young musician.
He moves through the hall
greeting friends until he comes
face to face with a girl. He re-
members her face vaguely but--
can't recall her until she blurts
out: "I'm going to have a baby."
The musician's face reads utter
surprise. "I didn't think you'd
care," she says. "I shouldn't have
come."
* * *
IN THIS WAY Alan J. Pakula's
"Love with the Proper Stranger"
starts off with a bang. This new
film at the Michigan is completely
engrossing and sparks of the kind
of reality not seen since "Marty"
and "On the Waterfront."
Throughout the rest of the Pic-
ture Steve McQueen as the musi-
cian and Natalie Wood as a
Macy's salesgirl go about renew-
ing their past casual friendship
enough to fall in love. But this
isn't accomplished without much
pathos as well as a great deal of
subtle and really funny humor.
* * *
THE interesting thing about all
this is that Arnold Shulman's
script is credible. The girl really
doesn't want the guy, for instance.
All she wants is his help in getting
her an abortion.
She would really rather. settle
down with a man who can promise
her a future regardless of the fact:
that he is all thumbs and no man.
Tom Bosley plays this part to per-
fection.
Shulman hasn't gone to any
major source for his material. His
writing is entirely original.

SIR THOMAS MORE was one of
the few saints of English his-
tory, executed in 1535 for his re-
fusal to support Henry VIII's
evasion of the Roman Church
and its rules.
His letters and major works
suggest a man of great intellectual
complexity. He was indeed the
dedicatee of Erasmus' "In Praise
of Folly" and the correspondent
of most of the leading scholars
in contemporary Europe. But Rob-
ert Bolt's play provides us with
a much less awesome figure. Per-
haps out of fear of running over
ground alread occupied by T. S.
Eliot, (he is not in fact able fully
to avoid the trap of repeating the
arguments of "Murder in the Ca-
thedral." presenting his hero also
with the temptation of greeting
matyrdom as a means to eternal
glory) Bolt's character is relatively
straightforward.,
Shallow thoughts do not exist
in this man's mind. And thatis
one distinction between the com-
plex greatness of Eliot's play and
the intelligent simplicity of Bolt's.
* * * *
THIS IS a play of symbols.
"The sixteenth century is the cen-
tury of the common man-like
all the other centuries." The
scenes are suggested by neo-
Brechtian devices-a paddle in-
dicates a boat. There are Ibsen-
esque references to falcons and
herrons; the falcon stoops from
the cloud but the herron is too
clever for him.
More is a clever man so he is
given witty lines to deliver. Latin
is "not a holy language your ex-

cellency, just old."; "I'll play with
my grandchildren when son Roper
has done his duty." But these no
more than scrape the surface of
More's intellectualality, and like
all the rest, suggest rather than
represent.
* *' *
ROBERT HARRIS makes as
much as he can of this role. He
is gentle towards his family and
effectively leavens his respectful-
ness with "a discreet note of im-
pudence." His encounters with
growing danger tread a convinc-
ing tightrope between respect and
opposition. He is not always sup-
ported by comparable characteri-
zd tlons.
Richard Branda's Henry VIII is
a whimsical irrelevance. His cru-
cial dialogue with More should
have been a subtle and forceful
event to win him to his cause.
Not a trellis of pointing fingers
and spontaneous pique. But at
least it was not the standard con-
ception of a king.
The direction did its best to
point up the play's network of
confused human relationships:
Norfolk, whose friendship with
More puts both of them in such
danger that the latter is inspired
to break the friendship with a
calculated insult. Or More's wife,
changed by her husband's priva-
tions from "the lion. I married"
to a squalling cat.
EVERYTHING is perfectly re-
hearsed, well lit (although with
an overuse of follow spots) and
vocally adequately projected.
-Robin Duval

(

MICHIGAN:
'Love' Combines
Humor, Credibility,

In regard to performance, Steve
McQueen will probably be nom-
inated for an Academy Award for
his and Natalie Wood gets better
with every film she makes. Edie
Adams as a stripper friend of
McQueen's puts in her usual good
performance.
DIRECTOR Robert Mulligan
has kept the film short and to
the point. While the abortion see
quences tend to become melodra-
matic, Mulligan brings out a
credibility in them which is ac-
ceptable.
Scenes are authentically shot in
New York at places like Times
Square and the Queens tunnel,
All this serves to make the script
real and inviting.
-James Peterson
Subvers ive
THE COMMUNIST Party's ef-
fort to secure a place on the
election ballot in Arizona, the
home of Cadillac cowboys and
other variants of the Southwest's
nouveau riche, has been rejected,
the Assistant Attorney General of
Arizona having said that a 1961
law "flatly prohibits official rep-
resentation" for the Communists.
The letter of rejection sent to the
party sets forth a new basis for
the determination of subversive
tendencies so simple of application
that, if generally adopted, it might
endanger the vested interests of
the House Committee on Un-
American Activities. "The subver-
sive nature of your organization,"
reads a passage of the letter, 'is
even more clearly designated by
the fact that you do not even in-
clude your zip code on your
letter."
-The Nation

I

PRO MUSICA
Intimate and Charming

"just An Experiment, Senator - At This
Point, Anything's Worth A Try'"1

THE NEW YORK Pro Musica
presented an intimate and
charming concert last night to
open the University Musical So-
ciety's Annual Chamber Music
Festival.
The performance emphasized
the chamber character of the mu-
sic. The setting proved to be most
appropriate, for Rackham Lecture
Hall, with its newly rebuilt stage,
brings the music very close to the
audience in spite of the large
capacity of the auditorium.
The concert was devoted to Eliz-
abethan music in honor, as the
program explained, of the 400th
birthday of William Shakespeare.
Madrigals and ballets by Thomas
Morley began and ended the pro-
gram (the encore was a Morley
ballet) and a song of his was
heard in the middle. These were
sung now with instruments, now
without. While the blend of in-
struments and voices was remark-
ably smooth, the instruments gave
a pleasing definition to the voices,
like pencil lines in a watercolor.
A group of instrumental pieces,
two by William Byrd, one by An-
thony Holborne, and one by an
unknown composer. formed the

The instrumental ensemble then
played a five-part fancy by Wil-
liam Byrd. Here there were some
mishaps, which, however, were
very gracefully recovered.
* **
THE HIGH point of the concert
was a performance by voices alone
of a few verses from Robert
White's setting of the 'Lamenta-
tions of Jeremiah," music most
appropriate to Lent. The Pro Mu-
sica singers, under Noah Green-
berg's subtle and sensitive direc-
tion, formed the contrasting
phrases and sonorities in White's
setting with remarkable clarity
and beauty. Here as throughout
the entire evening, the brisk yet
leisurely tempo carried the music
forward with never a moment of
tedium.
The actual rate of motion was
quite often very high, yet the
tempo was as unforced and easy
as the tone production. Here is
one of the chief causes of the Pro
Musica's great success.
The second half of the concert
consisted of songs and duets for
each of the singers, accompanied

.1

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