C 4e mr0 a Batty
Seventy-Second Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
There Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG.e ANN ARBOR, MICH. * 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 all reprints.
t, FEBRUARY 18, 1962
NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL OLINICK
sorority Rush as Education:
,0Q 0
Con...
,rning
ice so
e why
J THIS MONTH a great number of
rsity women are going through a new
experience called Woman's Rush.
many coeds are rushing, questions
rush, and why pledge become im-
The typical rushee is subjected to endless
ses, traditionally bad weather and cold feet.
he waits anxiously for bids and reacts emo-
tonally when they come-or don't come. All
uring this time homework mounts. Why then,
re so many women going through rush? What
an be worth the work and worry?
HE MAJOR PART of college is devoted to
learning. Besides the usual textbook routine,
ducation is to be gained through interaction
Ath people. The very nature of rush provides
chance for growth-mentally, emotionally
nd socially.
A casual remark can spark mutual interest:
e it in any area from drama to the applied
sychology of life. From these conversations
th parties benefit and broaden their pers-
ectives.
The rushee is able to become acquainted
'ith a very large group which she might other-
ise not have the opportunity to know. The
alm of Hill and Washtenaw is suddenly an
nportant place, and the mystery of what
ps below The Hill is dissolved.
The. rushee understands that - rush does
ot always end with pledging; it is a worth-
hile experience in itself whether or not a pin
acquired. Socially, the rushee realizes the
pportunity for enjoyment of even brief con-
ersations. Meeting so many new people is a
roadening experience in itself. Suddenly,
miliar faces seem to appear all around cam-
us; one does not have to be a sorority sister
a-be a friend. Yet, rush is basically fun, with
tinge of a challenge-that of acceptance.
RUSHEE has gained from rush, but the
question of pledging is a serious decision.
s Panhel President Susan Stillerman says:
,lthough srorty life is gay, light and won-
erful, it aso entails a very serious respon-
bility. As an affiliate the rushee will be an
idividual, but she will become part of a
coup that functions because individuals work
>gether."
When pledging a sorority, the coed selects
sr. close friends for three years to come.
That makes her want to pledge?
The immediate answer to this question could
e a desire to escape from the dorm for
W rushee, and eagerness to fill their quota
>r the sorority. Although a woman might
ink that she is escaping from the numerous
>rm restrictions, she will soon realize that
rorities demand equal responsibilitIes.
Besides other campus activities, in her house
ie may discover many extra-curricular ac-
vities. Just as rush is not designed to provide
refuge for dorm fugitives, neither does it
ist to miraculously fill sorority quotas.
What is important is the discovery of similar
terests and attitudes between affiliates and
ishees; perhaps in the process both the
igitives and the quotas will be satisfied, but
Lat is not the primary reason for pledging.
S A RUSHEE reflects upon living in a par-
ticular sorority house, many physical ad-
intages immediately appear. First, the house
very attractive. The atmosphere is like a
me; the lawns are well kept, and delicious
ors come from behind kitchen doors. No
anger will there be endless halls of closed
>ors on the dark corridor; the rooms are
at painfully identical; and the immensity
the University seems to have diminished.
he number of girls is smaller, and the group
closer because of their very special bond.
his life offers a home, not just room and
>ard.
But more inviting than the physical comforts
'e the social advantages. The opportunity of
eeting people in rush continues as an active,
id the meetings are longer lasting than
rridor calls. As part of a close group, women
nd security and support. The sorority girl
as not just thrust into a corridor; her sisters
me special friends, for they mutually selected
cch other. Because of their complimentary
terests and tastes, these people are much
ore akin than the closest next door dorm
ighbor.
These ties need not be severed at graduation,
.r as a lifetime alumna tese college contacts
ay be furthered. Perhaps throughout her life
e woman will remain active in her sorority.
it if she is no longer engaged in affiliate
tivites past her four year, the time spent
a~s well worth it. For besides receiving a
gree in scholastic activities, she has grad-
%ted emotionally and socially as well.
As Miss Stillerman concluded, "We think
e have a lot of pretty wonderful things to
fer." Agreeing with her, many rushees will
loose to pledge.
-KAY HOLMES
(TI 181 +#i te t+ Me t1
DESPITE SUSAN STILLERMAN'S brilliant
arguments defending not only women's
rush but the sorority system as a whole, there
remain some unconvinced individuals (and even
some unconvinced affiliates) who feel that
"rush is hell and sororities are worthless."
Perhaps the most frequently used arguement
in favor of women's rush is that it is, in itself,
a fine experience and worth the time and
energy of freshmen and sophomore women.
Rush enables rushees to meet hundreds of
new friends, to be exposed to a part of the
University they wouldn't ordinarily have the
chance to see, and provides the opportunity to
see 22 homey sorority houses. Rush is a part
of the learning process which, after all, is the
reason why one comes to college. It is there-
fore a pfart of the total education of the
women and not merely a social event.
AS ANYONE who has ever talked to a rushee
can tell you, this argument is, at best,
absurd. The primary reason for rush is to
allow afiliates to look over the crop of rushees
and try to sort out the acceptable ones.
Secondarily, it provides independents with a
chance to inspect the sorority women and
houses, and to seek out the one (or two or
three or four) where they think they will
fit in.
One of the chief objections to the system
is that it is incredibly superficial. As one
woman said, "The worst thing about it are
those 65 smiling faces which greet you at
each house. You know they don't mean it,
and you know that you don't have anything
particular to smile at, but if you .do not
attemit to be-pleasant, you risk being
dropped.
After the first set, which allows women 20
minutes at each of the 22 houses, approxi-
mately one-half of the total number of rushees
who visited any given house are dropped. This
judgment is made after 20 minutes of extremely
light talk, the content of which could not
possibly reveal what a woman is really like.
The rushee might have spoken only to one
member of a sorority, who might have forgot-
ten her completely, or did not like some
unimportant characteristic.
"AS, YOU ENTER a house, you meet the
president or some other officer who intro-
duces you to a member of the sorority. You
speak to her and she asks you what year
you're in, what your major is, how you
like school. Iccasionally you get to meet more
than one girl. It's the same questions, though.
And by the time you get to the 21st or 22nd
house, you just don't care.
"In my group, we put our shoes on the
wrong feet, exchanged namecards, and said
the most stupid things we could at the last
house," one rushee said when asked about
how her education during rush impressed her.
During the various sets, if an affiliate does
not know the rushee from home or from
school, she can only judge them on the basis
of their conversation and on the appearance
of the rushee. If the woman is tired or if
her hair is not terribly well combed, she will
most likely be dropped. If her conversation
happens to lag, she will probably not be in-
vited back. If her views on religion or politics
(and surprisingly, these topics sometimes sneak
into the conversation during rush) do not
conform to the opinions which the sorority
member feels they should, she may not be
invited to the next set.
IT WOULD APPEAR that the system of rush,
rather than being an educational experience,
is a test of stamina, of poise, of the ability to
make a public showing of your social standing,
connections and material possessions. It is
not an examination of moral or spiritual
values.
Miss Stillerman has described sorority life
as being a "gay, light and wonderful" part of
college life. For the women capable of standing
nearly a month of constant pressure, super-
ficial talk, and who are able to pass the
inspection and come out graded "acceptable,"
this wonderful world of objectivity and freedom
from the restrictions of the dormitory exists.
For the others, those who for some reason
are unacceptable to the "pretty wonderful
things" which sororities offer and demand,
there is always the consolation of kniowing
they have had a truly liberal education.
--DENISE WACKER
"Fine --You Can Start Helping To Clear The Road"
t-
IAi
a -
9: 7 Q
w r _
TODAY AND TOMORROW:
Soviet-'Ame can R elatitons
OVERTIME:
Reed Report Needs
Student Appratial
By SUSAN FARRELL recent University policy fo
Personnel Director 'Mon.
TOMORROW the Reed com-
mittee report will be made pub-
lic.
The report, product of several
months of work by six faculty
members, four Student Govern-
ment Council member and Vice-
President Lewis, advances a phi-
losophy of student affairs, recom-
mends reorganizdtion of the Of-
fice of Student Affairs in accord
with this philosophy, and suggests
one possible administrative struc-
ture.
Students most directly concern-
ed with the unprecedented events
shaking the Office of Student Af-
fairs in the last year have waited
for the report with eagerness and
some fear. Their eagerness arises
from an immense faith that a
radical change in the University's
philosophy and administration of
student affairs can profoundly
deepen the educational process.
Their fear, from repeated disil-
lusion with products of the ad-
ministrative gristmill, from some
knowledge of the great pressures
being exerted by alumni, the pub-
lic and the Legislature, and from
over-abundant hope.
* * * I
NEITHER extreme of hope or
fear is likely to be 'realized. The
proposed structure cannot help
but be an improvement over the
present one. Yet the report is not
at all likely to recommend every-
thing that might reasonably be
done.
The substance of the report has
already been "warmly received" by
the Regents. (They met informally
with the Reed committee Thurs-
day night.) But final recommen-
dations have not yet been made
to the Regents by Vice-President
Lewis. They will not, be made un-
til Student Government Council,
the University Senate'Student Re-
lations Committee,; the Alumni
Association and other groups have
discussed and commented on the
Reed committee report.
Such prior consultation is
another unprecented step in
WHETHER BECAUSE they are
genuinely interested in engaging
in creative dialogue with members
of the University community or
because it is politically advisable
to appear to do so, Lewis and
the Regents have asked for stu-
dent response. to proposals in the
Reed report before the final de-
cision is made. And we must not
fail to answer.
It has been said dozens of times
before, yet must now be said
again: The proposed re-structur-
ing of the Office of Student Af-
fairs is far more than a simple
shuffling of administrative, func-
tions. It is a thorough-going over-
haul of the administrative unit
that has the greatest direct -im-
pact on University students.
Alumni, the Legislature and the
general public will react vocifer-
ously to the proposed changes.
Several months ago the Reed com-
mittee study became somehow
tangled with women in the quads.
In many minds, the two have not
yet been untangled. But, because
of the nature of the University's
political situation, their opinions
will be powerful and respected.
* * *
THE UNIVERSITY'S DECISION
cannot be allowed to depend solely
on such response.
The philosophy and structure
proposed by the Reed report must
be discussed and evaluated by the
Interfraternity Council and Pan-
hpllenic, by the Interquadrangle
Council and Assembly, by the
Union and League. It should be
analyzed in house council meetings
and discussed later in entire liv-
ing units. Consideration given to
the report must !be serious and
thorough. And the evaluation,
criticism or praise, and suggested
alternative plans must be com-
municated to Lewis and the com-
mittee by letter or personal con-
tact.
If we don't care to exert this
much effort, we deserve what we
get.
ormula-
By WALTER LIPPMANN
MR. KHRUSHCHEV'S proposal
for a Geneva meeting of 18
heads of state for at least the
opening round of the disarmament
conference was embarrassing.
It was embarrassing because
there were compelling reasons
why it could not, be accepted and
equally compelling reasons, why
the refusalcould not be built
up into a rebuff. For the West had
a strong interest that Mr. Khrush-
chev should not lose face in his
struggle within the Communist
world.
THE OBJECTION to a summit
meeting of 18 heads of state was
that it compounds the difficulties
which attend any summit meeting,
even one where there are only
two heads of state. Mr. Khrush-
chev likes summitry because he
has the power to settle questions
directly. No Western statesman
has such personal power, and none
can agree without the approval
of allies and the consent of in-
terested groups at home. We have
learned to be exteremly reluctant
and careful about summitry. In
the first place, we are afraid of
personal agreements which have
not been sufficiently prepared,
and may turn out to be unen-
forceable. In the second place,
we know that summitry arouses
popular expectations which it is
dangerous to disappoint.
There is, however, a construc-
tive point which was raisedby
Mr. Khrushchev's proposal. While
it is true that 18 heads of state
would be a confusing crowd, so too
would 18 Foreign Ministers be a
confusing crowd. Moreover, the
Foreign Ministers will be dealing
with a subject, disarmament,
which has been chewed over for
forty years and there is not much
juice or taste left in it.
The question is what can Mr.
Khrushchev and Mr. Kennedy do
to give life and zip and meaning
to what promises to be a tedious
performance. Going to Geneva for
'ELOQUENT':
Harrison's 'Profession'
Literature in Life
(EDITOR'S NOTE-This review of
a new book by Prof. G. B. Harrison
of the English Department appear-
ed in Thursday's New York Times.)
EDUCATION often seems to be
far too important a matter to
be left in the hands of profes-
sional educators. Half the world
is always wanting to teach some-
thing to the other half. Even un-
dergraduates selflessly leave the
halls of ivy to go and tell their
governments how to run national
and international affairs.
Why should they not? After all,
their governments--not to men-
tion countless other power sets--
constantly fret about what under-
graduates are taught. Or not
taught. Or not taught properly.
One faction wants far more em-
phasis on science. An opposing
faction howls over the terrible
neglect of the humanities.
Islanded in the clamor we some-
times find excellent advocates of
a single vital branch of learning.
Save the branch, they argue, and
you may save the whole great tree
of knowledge. One such advocate
is G. B. Harrison, whose new book,
"Profession of English,"* is an elo-
quent statement of literature's
place in the life of civilized man.
* * *'
NOW this is not a book for ab-
solutely everyone. It's only a book
for all ;parents, all scholars, all
persons who are interested in
reading and writing and play-act-
ing and playgoing and all that.
Many beginners, many fulfill-
ments are in the word. The word
as used by Shakespeare and Casey
Stengel to produce their severally
desired effects. The word as used
by immortal poets and novelists
and essayists and composers of
graceful bread-and-butter letters
for sleepless weekends in the glor-
ious countryside.
story with vigor, conciseness and
clarity.
* * *
MR. HARRISON will enjoy that
exercise, since his book shows that
he is alert to ways to expand the
life of learning. He reminds us,
for example, that England's great-
est writers can best be understood
by exploring their country, from
London and Stratford to such
places as "York, with its medie-
val houses in the Shambles."
Mr. Harrison now teaches Eng-
lish at the University of Michigan.
He is a Sussex man and a gradu-
ate of Cambridge. Internal text-
ual evidence discloses (ah there,
Ph.D.'s!) that he has hammered
the splendors of English litera-
ture into occasionally dense or
reluctant human material in Can-
ada, the University of London
and, while serving with the British
Army (mentioned in dispatches),
in the two large modern wars.
He is the author of several books
about the early Elizabethans and
at least one on the last of the
Eminent Victorians-George Ber-
nard Shaw.
* * *
HIS OWN STYLE is wonderful-
ly varied, from the didactic to
the intentionally humorous. Hear
him:
"A good biography is a por-
trait, not a passport photograph."
"As he [the humanist] lies
awake at the Devil's hour of 3 in
the morning, he is haunted by the
thought that the most dogma-
bound Communist is less threaten-
ing to personal liberty than some
of his colleagues who pursue their
studies on the floor above."
"Our failures are shown by the
student who gives us back [in
examination papers] just what we
have given him, and our success
by the student who dares to dif-
a few days will not do that. Per-
haps nothing will do it except the
publication of some agreement,
which has been negotiated secretly,
which would amount to a break-
through in this trodden field.
It goes without saying that no
one thinks there is a breakthrough
in the exchange of the two spies,
in the release of Frederic Pryor,
the Yale graduate student, or in
an exchange of visits between Mr.
Salinger and his opposite number,
or in the proposed exchange of
television broadcasts. But all these
things and many others are signs
that there is a change of weather.
IF WE ASK ourselves what it
means, I think we may say that
in Soviet-American relations the
crisis which has raged on and
offrsince 1958 is dissolving into
a process in which both countries
are adjusting their minds, to the
balance of nuclear terror between
them.
Thus, in Berlin for example,
Moscow and Washington have
both come to realize that they
cannot solve the problem of Ber-
lin by going to war. Yet for Mr.
Khrushchev, Berlin was a serious
problem. West Berlin was under-
mining Herr Ulbricht's East Ge-
man Communist state. Because it
was an escape hatch, it was drain-.
ing off indispensable professional
and skilled labor. Because it was
a show window to the East Ger-
mans, it provoked an intolerable
comparison.
Mr. Khrushchev solved the
greater part of his Berlin worries,
not by blockading West Berlin, as
Stalin had tried to do in 1948,
but by sealing off East Berlin and
East Germany. Since Aug. 13
there has been a deflation of the
Berlin crisis.
* * *
THE EVOLUTIONARY process
which is now under way may be
said to have begun in 1953 with
the death of Satlin. As I see it,
the Soviet society and the Soviet
government are perforce modern-
izing themselves, and Khrushchev
is identified with, has staked bis
career and his position on the
necessity of modernization. What
lies behind this necessity? It is,
as-I suggested above, the recog-
nition that we are well into the
nuclear age, that war, except
perhaps as indirect nibbling with
guerrillas, is obsolete. This has
profound consequences which none
of us realizes fully as yet.
But there is more to the mod-
ernization than that. It is chang-
ing the character of the Soviet
state-changing it from a Byzan-
tine despotism into which might
be described as a Western state
in the very early phases of its
development.
The Soviet economy and the
Soviet soiety are becoming highly
complex, much too complex to be
run successfully by a centralized
dictatorship. The same practical
circumstances which brought the
West its liberty-centuries after
the ideas of liberty had been de-
fined and propounded-are pres-
ent in the Soviet Union. A com-
plex society cannot be made to
wnV- w ithout 1Ala .menr Af
-y
'ONCE' FESTIVAL:
DorTian Quintet Excels
ANN ARBOR CONCERTGOERS were privileged last night to hear the
Dorian Woodwind Quintet in as fine a display of ensemble playing
as it likely to be encountered anywhere. Led by flutist John Parras,
with William Brown, French horn, David Perkett, oboe, Jane Taylor,
bassoon, and Arthur Bloom, clarinet, the Dorians displayed amazing
technical control and unfailing musicality -in presenting a program of
new and enormously difficult music.
The program -opened with Wolfgang Fortner's "Five Bagatelles"
(1960). Concise and sharply differing .in character, the Bagatelles im-
mediately revealed the Quintet's remarkable ability to negotiate passages
of utmost delicacy with the greatest authority. Gunther Schuller's "Wind
Quintet" (1958) followed. Particularly impressive here was the precision
with which the Dorians handled Schuller's many improvisatory flurries.
The program's longest work, Elliott Carter's "Eight Etudes and a
Fantasy for Woodwind Quartet (1948), was, for many, the musical
highlight of the evening. Each of the Etudes, or "studies," deals with
a specific compositional problem: one is a study on a two-note motive;
another employs a single chord; a third, a single note. In the Fantasy
which concludes the work Carter -employs a fugue, apparently based
on a new theme, to which he adds material from each of the eight
Etudes. The rather jaunty character of the fugue theme gives to the
Fantasy an air of good humor; clearly audible returns of material from
the Etudes serve to make the Fantasy a true culmination, both in size
and in its function as a summary.
* * * *
TWO PIECES for unaccompanied flute followed the intermission.
John Parras displayed truly incredible technique in negotiating Roberto
Gerhard's Capriccio for Solo Flute (1949) and particularly Luciano
Berio's Sequenza. Particularly noteworthy in Mr. Parras' playing is the
immense spectrum of sound he commands. Only in the hands of such
a performer could the Berio have made so weighty an impression.
John Cage's Music for Wind Instruments, a works written in 1938,
received its first performance last night. Economy of material charac-
terized this early effort of Cage, which seemed to bear little resemblance
to the composer's present efforts. The concert concluded with Bo
Nilsson's "Zwanzig Gruppen (1959) for piccolo, oboe, and clarinet, and
Ralph'Shapey's violent and impressive "Movements for Woodwind Quin-
tet" (1960). As an encore, the Quintet played a movement from the
nineteenth-century composer Franz Danzi's "Quintet in G minor."
-Richard Crawford
AT THE MICHIGAN:
'Roman Sprtng'Scores
"THE ROMAN SPRING of Mrs. Stone," is a film adaptation of Ten-
nesee Williams' sole (1950) novel. It tells the story of a middle-
aged, rich, American actress named Karen Stone who runs off to
Rome with her husband after a debacle trying to play the Rosalind
in "As You Like It."
To add to her misery, her husband has a heart attack aboard
the plane, and dies. She is left, alone, in Rome. She falls under the
influence of the Countess, a Polly Adler-like character who introduces
her to Paolo, a handsome young gigold. She takes up with Paolo,
who subtly plays on her feelings. "No one should be alone" he tells
her, and in her condition she will not disbelieve what he says.
The Countess is being insistent, however. Mrs. Stone must make
presents to Paolo, so he can give her her customary cut. Paolo soon
tires of her somewhat still proud attitude, and at the end of the
film, he leaves her for Clare, a beautiful and rather witless young
actress. Karen meanwhile is thrown into despair and apparent shame
for having thrown herself at Paolo, but not enough shame to prevent
her from throwing her apartment keys to another handsome young
man in the last scene. She is old now, truly old, and not the young
thing she tied to be with Paolo.
THE VIRTUES of this picture are many, the greatest of all being ,
the articulate direction given by Jose Quintero, a former off-Broadway
director making his first venture into films here. It is a typical
Williams story, showing the dregs of human life preying on susceptible
.- h.-.i. s 4* i-t,., 1, j ,,m, +n..r,11r, P tihn1c Vv7ntinL it from
Precedent
IN REVOKING its ban on Communists and
a right-wing speaker, the City University
of New York has set a fine precedent.
By revoking its ban, NYCU has recognized
the right of controversial persons to advocate
their positions; it has also recognized the right
of an audience to listen to these men speak,
and the ability of a college audience to in-
telligently judge what it hears.
The.end of the ban also illustrates the ef-'