Sem"ty-Third TI a
EDrED AND MANAGED BYSTUENT F E UNIvERY OF MICHIGAN
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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.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: H. NEIL BERKSON
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Speaker Misrepresents Israeli Actions
Committee Acts Unfairly
Toward SGRU Candidates
IT IS BECOMING increasingly obvious
that the members of Student Govern-
ment Council and those who work for it
are doing everything possible to prevent
the Student Government Reform Union
from having an equal chance in the forth-
coming SGC elections.
When the SGC committee on student
activities checked the membership list
submitted by SGRU when it applied for
recognition as a student organization, the
committee members didn't merely ask
those named on the list if they were in-
deed members. They questioned several
of the members for . some time as to
whether they really knew what SGRU's
purpose was and whether they really
wanted to be associated with such an "ir-
responsible" organization.
Logic
I DIDN'T KNOW whether to laugh or cry
at the assortment of state legislators
who came here Monday.
Eighteen of them descended on Ann Ar-
bor, primarily to discuss the University's
prospective budget for the fiscal year
1964-65 with University officials.' They
displayed more interest in their own hu -
mor, which was pretty sad, than in any-
thing the University had to say.
THE MOST INCREDIBLE performance of
this circus came from Rep. William
Copeland (D-Wyandotte). Vice-President
for Academic Affairs Roger W. Heyns was
describing the University's serious salary
situation, attributable to seven years of
legislative under - appropriation, when
Copeland interrupted him in mid-sen-
tence to present his own analysis of the
University's problems.
"You don't have any loyalty in your.
people," he began. Why? Because his
daughter had tried to get in here and
didn't make it. Copeland laboriously ex-
plained how he called everyone from Uni-
versity President Harlan Hatcher on down.
"I couldn't get anything done." This, he
added with a flourish, is why the Univer-
sity is losing faculty.
INTERESTING POLITICS behind a Uni-
versity budget appropriation, n'est-ce
pas?
-H. NEIL BERKSON
OUCH UNETHICAL PROCEDURE made
me, as a candidate, and the other lead-
ers of SGRU wary of further attempts by
SGC to "stack things against them," but
even this wariness seems not to have pro-
tected them.
The rules of SGC elections state that
each candidate for SGC must submit a
platform statement of no more than 300
words no later than 10 days before the
election. Richard Keller Simon, co-chair-
man of SGRU, asked Charles Cooper, SGC
elections director, if special consideration
could be given SGRU since all the SGRU
candidates were running on the same
platform. What Simon was referring to
was the length of the statement: since
all the SGRU candidates were submitting
only one statement, could it be longer
than 300 words, as long as it remained un-
der 1800 words, which would be the com-
bined total if each candidate were to
submit a separate 300 word statement?
Simon says that he understood that
SGRU would be allowed to do this, al-
though Cooper says that such a decision
was never definite.
Therefore, when Simon turned in the
SGRU platform statement before the
deadline on Sunday, it came to about 450
words, or well within what Simon had
understood was the limit.
However, Cooper and SGC Executive
Vice-President Thomas Smithson decided
on Sunday that the SGRU statement
would also have to be less than 300 words,
but failed to tell Simon of this decision.
When Cooper discovered on Monday
that the SGRU statement was long, he de-
cided that it was up to him to remedy the
situation, so he edited out over 30 per
cent of the statement, leaving just over
300 words. He didn't even consider asking
Simon if he would care to do the cutting,
on the grounds that Simon understood
what the length of the statement was to
be. It is inconceivable to me that Cooper
would think that Simon understood that
he was to write less than 300 words and
still write well over 400.
This seems to be just another example
of how little SGC cares for the students,
in that it doesn't even give them the
chance to read SGRU's entire platform,
and also to what lengths they will go to
keep SGRU from having an equal oppor-
tunity to present its case before the elec-
tions.
-THOMAS COPI
To the Editor:
LAST THURSDAY The Daily
gave front page prominence to
the hate-Israel speech presented
to the Arab Club by Mr. Thashim
Bashir, a representative of the
United Arab Republic. The Uni-
versity's Arabic and non-Arabic
communities are entitled to a de-
tailed rebuttal of Mr. Bashir's
statements.
1) Arabs in Israel have not been
persecuted. With the exception of
certain restrictions relating to na-
tional security questions, they en-
joy full rights of citizenship. In
contrast, Jewish minorities in the
Arab lands have been denied the
fundamental rights of citizenship.
Under threats of violence and acts
of violence, Jews in numbers com-
parable to the total number of
Arab refugees who voluntarily left
Israel in 1948 have fled the Arab
lands. While these refugees have
settled in Israel with full rights of
citizenship, the Arab refugees of
1948 have not been integrated by
their Arabic host countries.
Jordan to be sure has given
them citizenship, but not employ-
ment; Syria denies them citizen-
ship while it conscripts them for
military service; Lebanon confines
them to their camps. The mass of
the Arab refugees remain second-
class citizens in the very countries
which invited their flight, and
which now so loudly proclaim
Arab "unity."
2) THE economic status of the
Arabs in Israel is better than it
was before partition, and signifi-
cantly better than the economic
status of the average Arab in sur-
rounding Arab countries. Certain-
ly their standard of living has
risen; if their per capita income
has indeed fallen as Mr. Bashir
claims it probablyareflects the fact
that the wealthy Palestinian Arabs
fled Israel en masse, taking their
portable wealth with them.
The land Mr. Bashir described
as "lost" by the Israeli Arabs since
partition has in fact been volun-
tarily sold at attractive prices to
the Israeli government or to pri-
vate Israeli corporations. Only in
a few instances has the govern-
ment been forced to seize Arab
lands by eminent domain, and
and only for the furtherance of
vital irrigation projects. Rather
than subjecting the Arab minority
to economic discrimination Israel
has bent every effort toward mak-
ing them a productive component
of her national economy.
* * *
3) IN NO other area has the
Arab propaganda been more cyni-
cal than on the question of the
600,000 refugees of 1948. From the
vast amount of comment on this
question, the following short pas-
sage from the World Council of
Churches Adviser on Refugees (Dr.
E. Rees) contains the judgement
of most neutral observers:
The United Nations General
Assembly voted a sum of $200
million to provide "homes and
Jobs" for the Arab refugees.
That money remains unspent,
not because these tragic peo-
ple are strangers in a strange
land, because they are not;
not because there is no room
for them to be established,
because there is; but simply
for political reasons... I dare
to suggest that there is also a
debt owed to the refugees by
the Arab states themselves.
The debt, that men of the
same language, the same
faith, the same social organi-
zations should at any time in
history feel due from them
to their fellows in distress,
the debt which in simple
terms would involve regard-
ing these people as human be-
ings and not as political foot-
balls ...
4) In his comment that Arab
unity is thwarted by the "artifi-
cial states" set up by Britain and
France after World War II, Mr.
Bashir is expressing Nasser's
avowed desire for hegemony over
his neighbors. It is unfortunate
that hatred for Israel has proven
the only consistently useful argu-
ment in his pleas for Arab unity.
The negative nature of such a
basis for union can never con-
tribute to the social and economic
progress the Arab world so des-
perately craves. Indeed, the econ-
ornic drain of the arms race it has
provoked has already strained the
economy of the UAR. While the
United States maintains the UAR
by supplying one third of Egypt's
food Nasser is expending millions
on planes and rockets Egypt does
not need, to attack a country
which fervently desires peace.
5) IN THE technical agreement
among Israeli and Arab engineers
negotiated by the late Eric John-
ston, Israel made substantial con-
cessions concerningrthe distribu-
tion of Jordan-Yarmuk water.
Jordan was to receive all the
water she could use, Israel got
what was left (39 per cent). It
was mutually recognized that
Arab-Israeli cooperation was vital
for the efficient use of the Jordan-
Yarmuk basin.
However, Arab politicians re-
jected the plan. With United
States aid 'Jordan in 1962 "unilat-
erally" (and perforce inefficient-
ly) diverted the waters of the
Yarmuk. Israel is now "unilater-
ally" (and perforce inefficiently)
developing her part of the Jordan
River Project. At enormous extra
expense she has placed her canals
and tunnels out of reach of Syrian
guns While water resources in the
three Arabic countries involved
(Syria, Lebanon and Jordan) are
more than abundant for their
needs, Israel desperately needs
water for industrial and agricul-
tural development. However, Is-
rael's Jordan River Project will
consume less than two per cent of
the 30 billion cubic meters per
annum available to the four coun-
tries.
The "dispute" boils down to
whether or not Israel can develop
unhindered her own water re-
sources.
6) THE "restrictions of freedom
of movement" suffered by Arabs in
Israel apply only in the tense bor-
der regions under military control.
In these regions attack by infil-
trators pose a serious threat. Resi-
dents of such areas require the
permission of the military com-
mand for travel out of them.
The areas involved and the re-
strictions themselves have been
relaxed in recent years, but would
be fully restored in event of fresh
attacks. The "inequities under ap-
plication of the military law" to
which Mr. Bashir refers is pre-
sumably the not too surprising or
unbearable legislation which bars
Arabs from service in the Israeli
Armed Forces.
The fact of the matter is that
the Israeli government has bent
over backwards to ensure civil
rights to the Arab minority. Un-
fortunately, there are few signs of
appreciation on their part, nor
even recognition of these efforts in
the Arab world, as Mr. Bashir's
remarks illustrate.
IN ADDITION to representation
in the Israeli parliament, the
Knesset, the Arab minority enjoys
freedom of worship, speech and
press; free education in their own
schools from ages 5 to 14; health,
accident, unemployment and old
age insurance; right to work, or-
ganize and strike; free practice of
any legal profession, trade or busi-
ness.
The Arabic language is official-
ly recognized in the Knesset, the
courts and in the government sup-
ported Arabic schools. The Minis-
try of Religious Affairs assists the
Moslem minority (as well as
Christians and Druzes) in the up-
keep of mosques, holy places and
cemeteries. Kol Israel, the govern-
ment radio, broadcasts Moslem
prayers and Koran readings. Arabs
in Israel enjoy all these benefits
in addition to economic prosperity
relative to their brethren in the
surrounding Arabic countries.
* * *
CONSIDERING the susceptibil-
ity of this Arab minority to propa-
ganda from outside Israel, and
the numerous incidents of their
collaboration with infiltrators,
their treatment at the hands of
the Israeli's has been unbelievably
fair. We Americans can recall with
shameour own response in a sim-
ilar situation: our Japanese-
Americans were unswervingly loyal
to the United States, yet with our
World War II concentration camp
policy we took more severe mea-
sures against them than Israel has
taken against a more numerous
and menacing minority group.
If Mr. Bashir wishes to study
persecution in the Near East he
might better examine the treat-
ment of the (vanishing) Jewish
minorities in the Arabic countries.
The indescribable bestiality shown
by the Arabic governments toward
Israelis kidnapped in border raids
might provide him with further
perspective on the term "persecu-
tion". The latest shocking revela-
tion came only one month ago
when 11 Israeli prisoners were ex-
changed with the Syrians under
UN auspices.
* * *
7) CONCERNING UN resolu-
tions: The UN on Nov. 29, 1947 by
a two-thirds majority established
the State of Israel. Arab adher-
ence to this UN action was mili-
tary invasion of Israel. To this
day the Arab countries refuse to
recognize the existence of Israel
nor to negotiate with her on any
issue. They actively boast of their
intended invasion of Israel, they
have initiated an arms race with
Soviet and now American aid, they
wage an international economic
boycott against her, they provoke
border incidents, they refuse her
access to the Suez Canal, and now
they wish to deprive her of her
own water resources!
Indeed, I agree wholeheartedly
that the "way to overcome injus-
tice is to acquire peace." Unfor-
tunately Mr. Bashir's government
has consistently pursued a quite
different path. In view of the dis-
tortions he presented in Ann Arbor
on Wednesday night he could not
have intended to lead his listeners
to seek the path of peace.
-Joseph Eigner
Department of
Biological Chemistry
Candidacy..,.
To the Editor:
FEW STUDENTS are aware that
The Daily - as well as several
campus periodicals-is placed un-
der the governance of the Board
in Control of Student Publications.
Still fewer know that The Daily
staff is required to adhere to a
Code of Ethics which defines its
obligations to the newspaper.
To remove those restrictions in
the Code of Ethics injurious to the
quality and freedom of The Daily,
I am seeking election as a write-
in candidate to the Board in Con-
trol of Student Publications.
* * *
THE FIRST limitation on The
Daily which I oppose is harmful
not only to freedom of the press
but also to every student on cam-
pus. The Daily is prohibited from
publishing editorials which either
favor or oppose the election of a
Regental candidate.
No single group of writers knows
so much about the Regents as
those who write for The Daily.
Not only do they attend every
meeting of the Board of Regents,
but they frequently discuss Uni-
versity matters with them in the
course of writing their daily ar-
ticles and editorials.
And what is their reward for
such knowledge? They are the
posters near the dining rooms of
West Quad and this gave me the
impression that the scheduled lec-
tures had been cancelled.
Furthermore, when on Feb. 8
about 9:00 p.m., going to a danc-
ing party organized by Negro stu-
dents, I walked through the MUG,
I noticed that the poster previous-
ly there had also been taken down.
I was then convinced that the lec-
tures had been cancelled.
* * *
WHEN I got to the party, I
asked the Negroes I met there why
they had cancelled the lectures.
They found it hard to believe that
the lectures had been cancelled,
and didn't have the slightest idea
of who was taking the posters
down. Two days later, on Feb. 10,
they put new posters on the same
boards. But again somebody took
them down or at least they dis-
appeared. On February 12, though
Negro week was to last until Feb.
16.
Confronted with a war on Negro
posters, shall I conclude that,
while Student committees are
a
"Don't Think I'm Resisting-I Just Want To
Get Away And Think Things Over A Couple
Of Years"
a 7
*5 .
4v
A Continuing Conference
FOR ABOUT SIX HOURS last weekend,
students, faculty members and admin-
istrators made an admirable effort to talk
to-rather than at or about-one anoth-t
er.
The Conference on the University aim-
ed at increasing communication on cam-
pus; for a few hours, it succeeded. Ad-
ministrators perhaps held to the old par-
ty-line; faculty might have been too con-
servative; students were somewhat ideal-
istic and visionary. But the air was partly
cleared, some contact was made and opin-
ions, instead of remaining bottled up,
were given free flow.
But what will be done now, after the
soul-searching speech by Carey McWil-
liams and the honest although less spec-
tacular attempts by workshop chairmen
are over?'
For one, co-chairman of the conference,
Richard Keller Simon, notes that sum-
maries of the Conference workshops will
be compiled in a booklet for campus-wide
distribution. Hopefully, someone will read
it and-maybe-seriously consider some
of the concepts and concrete proposals
discussed last weekend. Is a booklet
enough, though?
ONE FAIRLY SURE WAY of perpetrat-
ing the atmosphere of concern, enthu-
siasm and free and open discussion gen-
erated by the Conference on the Univer-
sity is a Continuing Conference. A small
group of different students, faculty mem-
bers and administrators could gather each
month to discuss a specific problem cen-
tering on the University and higher edu-
cation in general. The Continuing Confer-
ence could be organized by the present
steering committee of the Conference on
the University.
Eventually, even those faculty members
of touch or unconcerned with the prob-
lems of the University-those people who
did not want to attend last weekend's
Conference-might become involved in
one of these discussions.
But the ultimate benefit from a Con-
tinuing Conference would go beyond those
participating; it would spread to the en-
tire campus community, creating a live-
lier and more concerned atmosphere and,
perhaps, a closer bond between the vari-
ous groups of the University.,
-MARJORIE BRAHMS
Associate Editorial Director
The Boss?
WHOEVER SAID the power of the pen
was mighty had never heard of the
power of the American union and its
chief weapon-the strike.
Waterfront unions ,after refusing to
load American ships bound with wheat
for Russia, ended their strike yesterday.
Their agreement was reached with Presi-
dent Johnson in return for a government
pledge that future grain deals with Rus-
sia would have the cargoes carried in
American vessels.
The unions charged that the 50-50
shipping split negotiated by the late Pres-
ident John F. Kennedy had been violated
and that only about 38 per cent of the
wheat was being shipped in United States
vessels. To back up their demands, the
unions went on strike.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN more effective if
the unions had attempted further dis-
cussion before beginning their strike. It
also appears that self interest motivated
their action much more than patriotism
only ones in the state of Michigan
specifically prohibited from taking
sides in elections for the Board of
Regents.
The Regents run the University.
Yet the University's student news-
paper cannot even comment on
their quality to do so at election
time.
. The Regents affect the daily life
of every student. Cannot even
some students seek to affect those
who affect them so greatly?
* * *
THE SECOND restriction on
The Daily which I oppose seems
only slightly unjust in compari-
son with the first, but is unjust
just the same, and therefore ought
to be removed.
Before publishing an editorial
discussing state appropriations to
the University, the editor must
first consult the Chairman of the
Board in Control of Student Pub-
lications.
That state appropriations is a
sensitive matter no one will deny.
But that students themselves can-
not judge the appropriateness of
their editorials on this matter
must be denied. If The Daily's
writers have enough sense to judge
the effects of their writing
throughout the year, why will they
lose it when the state Legislature
prepares to make University ap-
propriations.?
Obviously, this restriction ex-
ists not because students become
less responsible at certain times,
but because at certain times the
Board in Control loses its taste for
freedom of the press. Removal of
this limitation will restore the
Board's respect for that freedom
to a full-time basis.
* * *
THE THIRD limitation on The
Daily which ought to be with-
drawn forbids every writer to ex-
press racial or religious bias in his
editorials. Although I believe ra-
cial and religious bias to be wrong,
I also believe that no opinion, no
matter how perverse, ought to be
suppressed.
I invite anyone who thinks the
above restrictions ought to re-
main in the Code of Ethics to pre-
sent his reasons in these columns.
And I invite all those who seek
a better newspaper and a more
informed public opinion to write
my name on the ballot in the com-
ing election for the Board in Con-
trol of Student Publications. If
enough students do so, I am sure
that the regulations I have named
will be removed.
-Richard Kraut, '65
Freedom...
To the Editor:
working very hard to improve hu-
man relations, there are, on the
other hand, committees possibly
unknown, who counter the already
slow progress.
Of course in no way am I chal-
lenging the right of such supposed
committees to do so, because I
know that the magic word people
love to use in this country to solve
any problem is what they call ..
freedom!
* * *
IT'S THE Negro's right to want
integration, but it's also the white
man's to keep segregation. Each
has his right. Doesn't he?
-Gonzales Sotondi, Grad.
The University .. .
To the Editor:
YOUR SUNDAY Conference on
the University articles on the
state of education at the Univer-
sity might be disastrous. The fu-
ture seems gloomy. Yet I am sure
that overcrowding is being en-
couraged on purpose here, for
most seem to be satisfied that in
many clasrooms, 90 per cent of the
students never have to say a word
all semester. This is only possible
when clasess are large. And it's so
nice never to have to think about
what the teacher is saying: you
can knit, or read a good novel, or
take notes mechanically while the
teacher is talking and no one ever
says a word because it's under-
stood here that students are to
play the passive role. If the class-
rooms were smaller, students
might get individual attention and
be more stimulated. Can you
imagine what might happen with
a thinking, concerned, reacting
student body?
Furthermore, as the better
teachers leave (what professor
wants, day after day, to look out
over row upon row of inert bodies)
the work is easier and less chal-
lenging.
* * *
ALSO, THERE is more time for
extracurricular activities s i n c e
time is not wasted talking to
teachers. You see, teachers are so
rushed now, so aware of status, so
burdened with outside pressures
that students do not feel the per-
sonal touch which might spark a
provocative discusison or make
some sort of contact meaningful.
The best advantage of such a
monstrously huge institution is
that no one has to take responsi-
bility for the ever-increasing en-
rollment and the decline in qual-
ity.
The child will say: "OOooo, look
at all those buildings, and all the
windows. I wonder who's inside?"
The adult will say: "Be quiet!
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