Sty-Trd Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNvERSTY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD I CONTROL OF STODENT PUSLICATIONS
'Where Opinions A re STUDENT PUBMICATFONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MIcR., PHONE NO 2-3241
Truth Wi11 Prevali",
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in ale reprints.
SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: STEVEN HALLER
A FACE IN THE CROWD:
Viet Nam: Neutralization
By Ronald Wilton, Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Berger 'Inconsistent'
On Russell Issue
'U' Must Overhaul System
Of Academic.Counseling
[T'S THAT TIME OF YEAR again-time
to spend two or three nerve-wracking
hours in the academic counseling office.
There the student pits his intelligence and
stamina against half of his peers and the
counselor himself.
For the majority of students the ex-
perience is something like this:
1) The student impatiently waits in
line for a handful of classification ma-
terials which could easily have been sent
to him in the very letter prompting him
to make an appointment with his coun-
selor.
2) He then struggles for an hour or so
with a crowd, of his peers for copies of
time schedules and course description
booklets and catalogues so that he can
mnake a tentative list of courses for next
semester.
3) Usually about a half-hour after the
student's designated appointment time,
% feeble voice floats out of a two-by-
two cubicle, "Is Mr. X here?"
NOW THE FUN BEGINS. The student
steps into the cubicle and finds an old
worn-out machine who mechanically
looks over the student's previous rec-
ards, flips through a catalogue list of
requirements and stamps its approval.
Dr the student may be faced with an ar-
gumentative prune who won't let the stu-
lent take the courses he wants or won't
suggest courses for the student who
doesn't know what he wants.
It's a rare day in March when the stu-
lent is confronted with a counselor that
Is actually interested in students and
their educational objectives: one that is
willing to talk to the student about his
'Must'
THE UNIVERSITY-and specifically the
Office of Academic Affairs-has man-
aged to turn a worthwhile effort into an
insult to the student body.
The OAA has mailed out a question-
naire in order to determine how many
students would attend the third semester,
tentatively scheduled for 1965.
But the OAA never does anything half-
way. Not content with merely sampling
student opinion, it has decreed that stu-
dents "must complete and include" the
4uestionnaire with their registration ma-
terials.
-HE WORD "MUST" has to imply a
a sanction. "What will happen if I
don't?" is the first question which arises.
The only answer is that a student who
doesn't fill out the questionnaire won't
be allowed to register.
The student body should get just as
petty as the administration and reject
the questionnaire en masse. Then the
University will have to stop worrying
about the third semester and start worry-
ing about the first and second.
-H. N. BERKSON
past performance and his future plans,
rather than simply to process each class
schedule as quickly as possible.
The reason for the deplorable state of
academic counseling is that counseling is
::onsidered the lowest of the low of de-
partmental obligations. Counseling as-
signments sometimes go to faculty mem-
aers who rank too low in the seniority
scale to qualify for more prestigeous du-
ties. Departments also push some of their
weakest teachers into counseling to get
them out of the classroom.
THE UNIVERSITY must take some dras-
tic action to improve the academic
counseling system. Members of the Con-
ference on the University committee on
student counseling came out strongly in
favor of several excellent proposals to
implement the needed improvement.
There is no question that the import-
ance of academic counseling must receive
institutional recognition. Departments
must urge their best teachers to accept
assignments as academic counselors. They
must look for faculty members interested
in the job no matter what seniority they
have. The offer should be sweetened with
substantial salary incentives. And, most
importantly, performance as a counselor
should be an additional basis for faculty
promotion.
These suggestions would not only help
to remove the stigma presently attached
to academic counseling but also would
help attract the faculty best able to help
students-those who are interested in
teaching and people.
ONCE THE COUNSELORS have been as-
signed, there should be a counseling
session for them. Non-academic counsel-
rs should help their academic counter-
parts to understand the pressures which
students undergo. They could guide them
in the techniques of non-directive guid-
ance.
These experts could tell the academic
specialist how to help a student who
can't settle on a major or who seems to
fall into the category of an underachiever.
They could remind the academic coun-
selor that he might be the only real fac-
ulty contact most students have; that if
the academic counselor doesn't take an
active interest in the student's academic
goals, only the student's peers will.
The academic counselor ought to help
;uide the student through the morass of
regulations and requirements and not
:reate more of them or make the stu-
lent feel that he is trapped by the rule
book.
Hopefully, in the future students won't
have the feeling that they have gotten
through the University inspite of their
academic counselors. If changes are made
perhaps students will emerge from the
.ounseling office feeling satisfied rather
than appalled by the help received from
their faculty advisers.
-GAIL EVANS
Associate City Editor
IS VIET NAM America's Algeria?
Will it become another Korea?
These questions have been ask-
ed before but they have acquired
a particular relevance in the past
few weeks. About two weeks ago
President Johnson made the
statement that the Communists
were playing a "dangerous" game
in Viet Nam. Immediately reports
arose that the United States was
considering an extension of the
war there.
This extension would include
any and/or all of the following
possibilities: S o u t h Vietnamese
and American guerrilla forces
operating in North Viet Nam;
American air patrols over the
supply routes into South Viet
Nam with orders to strafe and
bomb where necessary; an Ameri-
can air and naval blockade of
China; finally, an American in-
vasion of North Viet Nam.
Reinforcing the above reports
are several recent events. The
Viet Cong has stepped up its
attacks on Americans stationed
in Saigon. Recently, it has been
using regular infantry as oppos-
ed to guerrilla tactics in its
fight against the South Viet-
namese army; this indicates a
buildup in both Viet Cong
strength and confidence. Finally,
Defense Secretary Robert Mc-
Namara has made another trip
to that troubled area.
Advocates of stepped up Ameri-
can intervention and invasion of
the- North argue that this is our
only choice. They claim that our
present commitment, $1 million
a day and around 13,000 American
"advisors," is only good for main-
taining the present situation and
might possibly not even be enough
for that. Since they see support
from North Viet Nam and Com-
munist China as the main prop
'THE BAD':
For Mass
Markets
At the Campus Theatre
"THE BAD Sleep Well" is, ac-
cording to its director Akira
Kurosawa, about bribery and cor-
ruption in high places. And so, to
a degree, it is.
Set in present-day Japan, it
concerns an industrial combine
which wins government contracts
by a judicious lining of high-
ranking pockets-all, it seems, to
the loss of the common taxpayer.
Since this is probably as prevalent
a capitalist device in Japan as it
is here, Kurosawa is at pains to
stress its venality.
But economic niceties do not
make a suspense thriller, which is
what this film sets out to be. So
they are quickly subordinated to
the classic plot of the avenging
son (played by a slightly aged
Toshiro Mifune) working secretly
to destroy his father's murderers
from within their organization.
IN THE FIRST REEL, a clutch
of reporters (pace "La Dolce Vita")
introduces us to the business
milieu. The socio-moral thesis is
stated, and then diluted with a
number of concessions to the purer
fantasy of thrillerdom.
Mifune has cynically married the
arch-villain's crippled daughter to
further his aims; her brother
threatens to kill him should he
betray her love. The villain's or-
ganization possesses some hyp-
notic power (derived no doubt
from the Japanese horror of dis-
honor) to send its enemies tot-
tering over the bubbling summit
of Fujiyama, leaping from 7th
floor windows, or-at a word-to
a quick crunch under the nearest
vehicle.
The film ends in a peon of re-
crimination and hysteria, with
the evil father disowned by his
children, and jobless, friendless,
everything, it seems, but yenless;
for evil takes rather a spiritual
toll than a 'material one.
KUROSAWA, is a great film-
maker, and it would be churlish
to emphasize any further the
weaknesses of a film that was
evidently made for the mass mar-
ket. The plot is outrageous, cer-
tainly. Yet it is never less than
fascinating, suspenseful, shocking.
And all the time, Kurosawa's
camera surveys it with exquisite
appraisal, framing each shot with
the unanticipated insight that is
the mark of his genius.
He seems often to be playing
little intellectual jokes with him-
self, with the archvillain made up
to look like the notorious Dr.
Caligari in the 1919 original and
the formal wedding at the start
of the film photographed like a
ranked and rigid Greek chorus.
There is a running theme of three-
person frame composition which he
carries to such lengths that even
irrelevant characters are brought
in to make up the number. This
is a particularly difficult, but ef-
fective, dramatic form, and it is
supporting the Viet Cong, elim-
instion of this prop becomes the
only answer.
Let's assume for a moment that
their main contention is correct.
How successful would their pro-
posed remedies be?
The main objective of American
and South Vietnamese guerrillas
operating in the North would be
to disrupt supply lines to the
South and weaken the general
stability of the North to the point
at which all resources would be
needed at home. Such an aim
would necessarily involve a large
and well-coordinated campaign.
Given this as the optimum start-
ing point, the chances of success
are ,slim.
The Communists are masters
at guerrilla warfare and several
of their doctrinal works are
available in the West. One of the
chief requirements they have
found for waging a successful
campaign is the establishment
of rural bases of operation.
Before the Communist operation
in China, guerrilla warfare had
been imagined as a roving type of
fighting with the insurgents never
settling down in one spot. The
Chinese however, established sta-
tionary bases behind enemy lines
which served as supply centers
and rallying points. From these
bases the guerrillas would move
out to harass and attack.
A strong long-range American
guerrilla operation in the North
would require such bases; they
would necessarily have to be or-
ganized around villages. Yet
Americans, who have been vilified
in the North since 1954, would
have an almost impossible task
trying to obtain the peasants'
trust. The - racial factor alone
would make this difficult; the
Communists would have a heyday
attacking the white man for try-
ing to come back and take over
an independent Asian country.
The initial work in establish-
ing bases would have to be done
by South Vietnamese. The
strong Communist control over
the North, which extends into
every village and hamlet, would
make it impossible for such an
effort to go long undetected.
Mao Tse-tung has pointed out
that the guerrilla can only swim
in friendly waters. Insurgents
operating in rural areas are de-
pendent on the aid and support
of the peasants. Without such
support, guerrilla bands would die
off from attrition or eventually be
hunted down by regular troops.
We need the peasants' suppo-t
yet what do we have to offer him
for it? We are working to over-
throw the Communist regime op-
pressing him but what can we
offer in its place?
For ten years he has been told
that .the Americans and their
lackeys in the South are respon-
sible for all his hardships at home.
Will his assumed hatred of Com-
munism be strong enough to over-
come this conditioning and his
fear of the existing regime? I
doubt it strongly, especially since
our chief offering, "democracy,'
would have little meaning to him.
The next two suggestions can
be ruled out fairly easily. A
naval blockade of the North
would not do much good since
the supply lines from China and
North Viet Nam to the South
run overland. Air patrols over
these routes would only be
slightly more effective since
much of the route is covered by
jungle which makes spotting
difficult.
An American invasion of North
Viet Nam could be worse than
Korea. The factdthat we would be
the clear aggressor would leave us
with no international support. The
only Allies who have indicated
some support for this move are
Britain and Italy, and the strength
of the British commitment is open
to question given the possibility
of a Labor victory later this year.
An invasion of North Viet Nam
would pit us against the strongest
army in Southeast Asia. Writing
in "Communist Strategies in Asia"
Bernard B. Fall supports this con-
tention with estimates of 350,000
regular troops plus 2 million train-
ed reserves available to the North
Vietnamese.
This force has a tradition of
victory behind it (it was pri-
marily responsible for kicking the
French out of Indochina) and
would be fighting for its home-
land. The jungle terrain would
also be in its favor.
The probability is overwhem-
ing that, if an invasion should
occur, this force would be aug-
mented by the Chinese and pos-
sibily by equipment from Russia.
The North Vietnamese regime is
in the middle of the split be-
tween the two Communist giants
and both protagonists would be
loath to lose the country, either
to the Americans or to the other.
Korea has shown that we can-
not hope to win a conventional
war against massive Chinese troop
intervention. Thus the chances are
good that this time we would be
forced to use at least tactical nu-
clear weapons in the field and
possibly strategic weapons against
the Chinese mainland.
What General Omar Bradley
said during the Korean War in
explaining why intervention
against China was wrong still
holds. It would involve us in the
wrong war against the wrong
enemy at the wrong time and in
the wrong place.
Aside from the fact that they
probably would not achieve our
aims, there is a further difficulty
with these suggestions. That is
the assumption mentioned before
that removing support from the
North would crush the Viet Cong
in the South. There is little re-
leased evidence to support this;
what evidence there is supports
the view that it is a civil war
which is being fought in the South
with Southerner fighting South-
erner.
If supplies from the. North
were to stop, the Viet Cong
would undoubtedly be hurt. But
it would continue to survive,
aided by the Southern peasants
who have not been given any
good reasons to cast their al-
legiance to the American-backed
regime in Saigon.
This is the main problem. We
are supporting a regime which
does not have the backing of
its people, of which at least a sig-
nificant number tacitly support
the Viet Cong.
The only way out of the Viet
Nam dilemma is neutralization of
the whole Indochinese peninsula.
This hasbeen proposed by French
President de Gaulle, backed by
Senate Majority Leader Mike
Mansfield and dismissed by the
State Departmentras another way
of handing the area over to the
Communists. This latter argu-
ment hides the State Department's
real worry: neutralization would
only work if Communist China
were involved in the discussion
and this would be tantamount to
recognizing it. It would be a basic
defeat for American policy.
Yet what else can we do? If we
withdraw our troops and support
now, the whole area goes Com-
munist. If we maintain our pres-
ent level of support we are just
sinking men and money down a
bottomless well-if the French
could not hold the area with
200,000 troops, we cannot hold it
with 20,000.
The third alternative, extend-
ing the war to the North, would
only work if we started an all-
out invasion and did not have to
fight against the Chinese and
Russians. Such a possibility
seems extremely remote.
Neutralization would stabilize
the area, at least for the moment.
The United States would remain
in the area by virtue of its bases
in Thailand and Japan. The chief
advantage it would give us is a
breathing spell during which we
could consider ways of changing
our policy from negative anti-
Communism to support of the
area's inhabitants to end the
fighting and build a better life.
Admittedly there would be an
element of risk involved; it is still
our only alternative.
To the Editor:
WITH REGARD to the recent
campaign prior to the election
for the Board in Control of Inter-
collegiate Athletics, we feel that
The Daily's writers took unfair
advantage of their editorial free-
dom in their overly enthusiastic
support of Tom Weinberg at the
expense of Cazzie Russell. While
it is, of course, the right of Daily
writers to support whomever they
please, a good campaign should not
consist of half-truths (which us-
ually imply untruths) but rather
an honest evaluation of the can-
didates' qualifications.
We noted with particular in-
terest the blatant inconsistencies
in Mr. Berger's two articles, one
March 3 (before the election) and
the other March 6 (after).
In Mr. Berger's first piece, "We
Love You Cazzie, But . . .," Mr.
Russell is presented as an athlete,
first, last and" always, who, be-
cause of his athletic ability is
necessarily as incapable to serve
on the Board as were his some-
times disinterested athletic pre-
decessors.
As Lewis Cogen, in his March 5
letter, so aptly stated: "That he
(Mr. Russell) is probably the best
basketball player in the country
does not preclude intelligence any
more than writing for The Daily
sports page presupposes it."
This attitude, not of Mr. Ber-
ger alone, but of other Daily
writers also, implying that pseudo-
intellectual notion of the athlete
as only a few steps higher than
the illiterate, is a sophomoric
generalization, and it is grossly
unfair to label Mr. Russell on the
basis of this generalization.
SPECIFICALLY, Mr. Berger's
understanding of the qualifications
of Mr. Russell, beyond those con-
cerning his athletic prowess, had
improved sufficiently by March 6
so that he wrote, "The tragedy
was that the athletic candidate
had genuine interest." Contradict-
ing Mr. Berkson, who claimed in
another editorial that "Cazzie
came here for one reason-to play
basketball," said, "Cazzie Russell
didn't come to Michigan just to
play basketball."
It is indeed unfortunate that
Mr. Berger did not reach this state
of enlightenment before, rather
than conveniently after, the elec-
tion.
It is also unfortunate that the
campaign for Mr. Weinberg was
conducted not so much on the
basis of his qualifications for the
Board, as on the fact that he is
not an athlete. But why should
Mr. Russell's athletic ability be a
hindrance to him in his represen
tation of the students? After all,
Mr. Russell is himself a student,
although The Daily writers seemed
intent on separating Mr. Russell
the athlete from Mr. Russell the
student, which is absurd.
In view of the above, we would
suggest that in the future, the
Daily writers make a serious at-
tempt to obtain and digest all
the facts of an issue before un-
necessarily submitting individuals,
such as Cazzie Russell, to the in-
justices of a one-sided campaign.
In such an unbiased presentation,
The Daily will enable the students
of the University to make, for
themselves, a rational judgment.
-Ellen K. Ramie, '64
Sandra H. Smiggen, '65
r''
;, r
'SEVEN DAYS IN MAY':
Serling's DAR Script
Mars Exciting Film
4
At the State Theatre
IN RECENT MONTHS there
seems to be hints of a major
awakening in American cinema.
Films are being released which
take stands and present unortho-
lox viewpoints. No longer pro-
ducing only the easy entertain-
ment picture, Hollywood has tak-
en a cue from the foreign infil-
tration. "Seven Days in May" gives
such hints.
The President of the United
States in 1970 is a congenial Mid-
westerner. With the approval of
the Senate he. has signed a treaty
with the U.S.S.R. banning all fu-
ture nuclear weapons and disman-
tling those now existing. In op-
position to him stands the head
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General James Matoon Scott.
Public opinion has swayed to
Scott's view, idealizing him as a
patriot. Scott, however, refuses
to depend on the strength of pub-
lic opinion and with three others
of the Joint Chiefs he plans an
elaborate military coup. Their ob-
jective: the overthrow of the gov-
ernment of the United States of
America.
However, a colonel on his staff
discovers the plan and reveals it
to the President. The result: sev-
en days to attempt to quietly
thwart the attempt.
* * *
THE MAJOR FLAW of "Seven
Days in May" is attributable to
scriptwriter Rod Serling. Serling's
long tenure with that other me-
dium seems to have left its in-
delible mark. Time and again the
heavy hand of the censor is avoid
ed as Serling inserts D.A.R. Good
Citizenship Award acceptance
speeches into an otherwise exciting
political intrigue. Too much of the
dialogue is pure TV and becomes
sorely recognizable as such. Over
and over the characters mouth di-
alogue foreign to their character.
John Frankenheimer, however,
directs his camera and cast with
an intensity and creativity that
quickens and vitalizes the life of
the entire film. The opening riot
scene is all too believable, and
familiar. The great Military Com-
plex is shown in all its immen-
sity and intricacy. Each of the
characters is molded into force-
ful, credible stature.
* * *
STANLEY KAUFMANN makes
a point in his review which bears
mentioning, that of the brilliant
directorial touch offered the film
by the use of television within
the plot. After the recent sad
events this fall, the ever-present
television set creates-an Imme-
diacy and reality in "Seven Days"
that strikes home.
Another point may be made re-
garding the film's honesty in deal-
ing with the bureaucratic structure
of both the political and military
machinery in the United States.
In spite of Serling's messy moraliz-
ing regarding "the Nuclear Age,"
the real enemy encountered and re-
vealed in "Seven Days in May" is
the sprawling, uncentralized com-
plex that describes and inscribes
our national power structure.
THE PERFORMANCES are all
competent. Burt Lancaster is a
finely steeled machine as the fa-
natical Gen. Scott; Kirk Douglas,
an intelligent, well-trained colonel
unfortunately involved and torn
between two duties; Ava Gard-
ner is dull but effective as the re-
jected mistress of Gen. Scott.
Worth special mention are Fred-
erick March as the president and
Edmund O'Brien as Sen. Clay of
Georgia. March deftly handles the
delicate job of creating a character
very reminiscent of Woodrow Wil-
son (strong of will but peaceful
and mild). O'Brien swallows and
sweats as the alcoholic yet de-
termined senator with equally fine
results.
Thus, "Seven Days" is definite-
ly limited by the embarrassing
chauvinism of the script and oc-
casional qualms about offending
outright an apathetic audience.
But the film is graced with co-
hesiveness of action, often in-
tense and realistic direction and, a
taut, fast-paced plot.
"Seven Days in May" provides
only hints of greatness but a
great deal of exciting, worthwhile
entertainment.
-Hugh Holland
4
One Solution:
LSA Student Counselors
STUDENTS who are currently complet-
ing their pre-registration forms will
have an opportunity for some extra coun-
seling help tomorrow at the Michigan
Union. The literary college steering com-
mittee has asked a number of seniors
with various majors to respond to the
luestions of younger students who want
Information on professors and course ma-
terial, or who may be shopping around for
a major.
The committee hopes that students
will have already seen their academic
Editorial Staff
RONALD WILTON, Editor
DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCHI
Editorial Director City Editor
BARBARA LAZARUS............Personnel Director
PHILIP SUTIN ........... National Concerns Editor
GAIL EVANS ..............Associate City Editor
MARJORIE BRAHMS .... Associate Editorial Director
GLORIA BOWLES ...............Magazine Editor
MALINDA BERRY ............. Contributing Editor
counselors or at least perused the time
schedule before they come to their "aca-
demic big brother."
The steering committee hopes, also,
that the plan will help fight the Univer-
sity's greatest problem, lack of communi-
cation. New students are too often misled
by the glorified course descriptions in
the college catalogue or they may make
mistakes in course selection because of a
simple lack of information about subject
natter or professors. These mistakes
,ould be avoided if the student would look
a little harder before he leaps.
]HE COMMITTEE has gathered together
a group of students who are particular-
ty knowledgeable about their department
and the University.
Who are the good professors? What are
the exciting courses? What does it mean
to be in English or sociology or mathe-
matics? The literary college counseling
office cannot always provide answers. An
experienced, and sometimes opinionated,
"We're Agreed Then., That Viet-Nam As A
Political Issues Must Not Be Neutralized"
HAWKINS CONCERT:
Motion in Pure Form
,
i
---
._ ""
.' .
l ' h < '-'
'/
"ART in its first function uses
the aesthetic materials to
convey the materials themselves
for their own sake. Art, in its
second function, uses these aesthe-
tic materials analogically to con-
vey some theoretically conceived
factor in the nature of things
... ," F. S. C. Northrop wrote in
"The Meeting of East and West."
A trend to utilize art in its
first function arose with the
evolution of the modern arts. Thus,
it is movement in and for itself,
a pure sensual development of
form which shapes the theory
behind "Here and Now with
Watchers," choreographed and
danced by Erick Hawkins, assisted
which culminated in motionless-
ness. Yet, this very lack of move-
ment contained action.
The music and dance were in-
dependent creations, each working
in relation to one another. There
were moments when the dance
went on in silence.
* * *
THE MUSIC was of the variety
featured in the recently concluded
Once Festival. Lucia Dlugoszewski,
the pianist-composer, for the most
part had her left hand on the
keyboard while her right, contain-
ing a variety of mallets, drinking
glasses, and what not, pounded
and scraped the strings.
This music, pointalistic in style,
a
, t -:
...
I