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