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-'