Seventy-Second Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
'Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * 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.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1961 NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL HARRAH
INTEGRATION IN THE SOUTH:
The Battle of Law with Law
The Exceptional Student:
Exueriment in Learning~
MOST HONORS STUDENTS aren't much dif-
ferent from average undergraduates. They
get slightly higher grades, but they flock to
lecture courses, just like everybody else, prefer
multiple choice exams to thought-provoking
essays, and would probably rather listen than
read.
BUT THERE ARE significant exceptions.
There are, in . every honors group (and
sometimes outside of it), a few students who
want to work on their own-creative, enthus-
iastic young scholars who are only annoyed by
the strictures of classes and the structure of
credit hours.
Frequently, these students do not do well.
They get poor grades, refuse to attend classes,
vent their excess energies in all kinds of extra-
curricular activities, getting what education
they can on their own initiative.
These students need a special education-
tailored to their individual needs and great in-
dividual potential. It is up to the honors pro-
gram to provide this education.
It would not be very difficult. It would re-,
quire considerable daring and imagination on
the part of the administrators of the honors
program.
BUT IT IS TIME for the honors program to
try a daring experience. Next year, Prof.
OttoGraf, as head of the program, should pick
ten students out of the freshman honors group.
They would be chosen not necessarily according
to grades or test scores, but for a proven capa-
city for independent work shown in high school
and a set of at least semi-definite goals.
Each of,these students would be assigned to
a permanent adviser-a man in his proposed
.major field who would help him plan out his
four years of school. The student would be
given free rein to develop his personal inter-
ests, under the guidance of his tutor.
The studentIwould have only one required
class each week-an hour-long tutorial. He
could use the extra time as he likes-auditing
courses, working in the library, attending lec-
tures, writing essays and reports.
He would hand in his essays at the weekly
tutorial, where the tutor would go over them
in great detail-suggesting additional reading
where necessary and pointing out related sub-
jects of interest.
The tutor could also steer the student into
reading and auditing courses in fields other
than his own-working out a coherent program
of study in related subjects, rather than the
slap-dash choice of courses which now passes
for a "liberal education" among so many un-
dergraduates.
If the student wants to do extensive work in
other fields, the tutor can arrange to trade,
students for awhile with a man in another
field, or the honors program itself can arrange
for other professors to act ,as short term tu-
tors.
AT THE END of four years in this program,
the student would take a battery of com-
prehensive examinations, conducted not by his
tutor, but by an inter-departmental commit-
tee. There would be examinations in his major
field of study, in two or three related fields,
and in language, if the student was not exempt
from the requirement.
He would also take the Graduate Record
Examination, which would establish his credit
with the graduate schools.
At graduation, the student who had passed
this course would be given a letter, certifying
that he has graduated in good standing from
an experimental program at the University,
worth at least 120 hours of credit. If some
grading system must be employed, his degree
could be classed according to the results of the
comprehensive and his tutor's recommendation.
The graduate schools should be delighted to,
have such students-trained in scholarship at
the undergraduate level, able to work inde-
pendently and creatively, with a wide back-
ground in a special field and a certain liberal-
ity of education.
THERE ARE A NUMBER of problems with
this program. The high schoolpreparation
of the University freshman varies greatly--
few students would have sufficient background
for independent work.
But there are extraordinary high schools
(Bronx High School of Science and Winnetka's
New Trier, for example) which send a good
many students here, and even in the weaker
high school system, there are extraordinary
students who have determinedly educated them-
selves far beyond the high school level. And it
is these students, more than any others, who
could benefit from a program like this one.
ANOTHER PROBLEM is cost. Obviously, a
professor with 15 hours of tutorials a week
teaches far fewer people than a lecturer who
teaches 300 students per week. But there is no
reason to expect that any one man would have
to teach 15 tutorial students at any time.'
Every professor with a minimal interest in
education, or even in recruiting intelligent
scholars for his field, should be willing to take
two or three hours a week to guide a really
interested undergraduate. And if fifty teachers
in the literary college take on students for
this program, it could be eventually expanded
to around 150 students.
THE PROGRAM probably shouldn't be much
bigger than this. It is not intended to ever
apply to all of the students in the literary
college, or even most of the students in the
honors program.
But it could make all the difference in the
world to the brilliant freshman who came eager
and intense to the University which was to
mean Higher Education-only to be disillusion-
ed, disheartened and disgusted by elementary
courses, an over-abundance of class hours, and
professors who pace their lectures to the slower
student.
These brilliant freshmen are important far
beyond the indication of their numbers, for they
are the geniuses of the next generation. They
deserve the most ingenious education the hon-
ors program can devise for them.
--FAITH WEINSTEIN
Editorial Director
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the
last of three articles on the federal
government's power to speed inte-
gration in the South.)
By PHILIP SUTIN -
SOUTHERN STATES have re-
sorted to both legal and violent
means in their battle to prevent,
or delay, integration. These have
included closing schools, modify-
ing state attendence and trespass
laws, legal harrassment of inte-
gration organizations and officially
sanctioned violent intimidation of
these groups.
Most of the states' attention has
been focused on the schools. All
Southern state legislatures have
protested the Supreme Court's
1954 decision and have enacted
laws designed to thwart it.
Dodges, ranging from legislation
closing public schools in case of
integration to the modification of
school attendence laws.
PERHAPS the most popular de-
vice is the pupil placement law.
Under these laws the school boards
are required to place students in
schools on the basis of educational
criteria. Because of the vagueness
of these laws, assignment by race
can be hidden by other factors.
No one has tested the segregating
aspect of their application to date.
Another popular provision, ac-
cording to a 1957 survey run by
the Southern School News, is
abolition or modification of com-
pulsory attendence laws. Missis-
sippi and South Carolina have re-
pealed them. Every other Southern
state except Florida, Tennessee
and Texas has modified them to
prevent citizens from being forced
to attend integrated schools.
Some states provide for the
elimination of school districts or
schools if they are ordered to
integrate. Alabama, Mississippi
and Virginia permit local option on
the dissolving of districts while
in South Carolina the legislature
may abolish them. Mississippi has
both provisions. Georgia had the
latter system, but repealed the
laws when a federal court in that
state indicated they were uncon-
stitutional.
VIRGINIA'S Prince Edward
County, one of the five original
defendants in the school integra-
tion suits, closed its public schools
rather than integrate them. The
white children go to private
schools an dthe Negroes are left
without any educational facilities.
In the litigation with the Prince
Edward County school board, the
courts destroyed a number of de-
laying measures. It barred all
state aid and leasing of facilities
to private, segregated schools.
Similar decisions have invalidated
laws in Alabama, Georgia and
North Carolina. They have also
nullified laws providing other aid
to such institutions.
LOUISIANA'S ATTEMPTS to
prevent the integration of New
Orleans schools resulted in the
invalidation of other evasive
measures. Laws limiting state
funds to segregated schools in
Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina
and Virginia were erased by courts
last year. Further, Louisiana could
no longer legally withhold funds
from integrated schools.
Events in Little Rock and New
Orleans discredited the use of
special powers by the governor to
prevent integration. Georgia, Flor-
ida, South Carolina and Virginia
had such laws on their books.
* * *
STATE PROTESTS and nulli-
fication declarations are popular
and harmless approaches to delay-
ing integration. After the 1954
decision, all the Southern state
legislatures registered protest. A
number of them passed nullifica-
tion declarations seeking to uni-
laterally declare the Supreme
Court decision unconstitutional.
These statements rest on three
assertions:
1) The Constitution is a com-
pact between sovereign states
which may be modified unilater-
ally by the states;'
2) the federal government is an
agent of the states, using powers
delegated by the Constitution; and
3) the states have the right to
interpose their will when the fed-
eral government oversteps its
authority.
THE NULLIFICATION doctrine
was first proposed in 1798 in the
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions
against the Alien and Sedition
Acts. Northerners used it during
the War of 1812 and Southerners,
held by South Carolina Sen. John
C. Calhoun, made the doctrine
famous during the tariff debates
of 1832.
However, nullification doctrines
have never been accepted by the
courts or by the bulk of the
American people and have had no
effect on integration decisions.
In a number of border state
cities, passive resistance to in-
tegration has developed. When the
schools were desegregated, the
whites moved from the neighbor-
hoods of an integrated school,
leaving a segregated Negro in-
stitution in its wake.
This Northern trend is reflected
in the all-time high of 80 per cent
Negro students in the Washing-
ton D.C. school system. Baltimore
schools have experienced a ten-
year loss of 175,552 whites and
the gain of 40,754 Negroes.
* * *
THE STATES have resorted to
other legal means to stem integra-
tion. A favorite is the harrass-
ment of the NAACP, and other
integrationist groups. Lousiana,
Mississippi and Virginia have laws
requiring the registration of NA-
ACP membership lists. In addition,
South Carolina bars government
employees, including teachers,
from joining the organization.
The NAACP is fighting these
laws in the courts, but no final
action has been taken on them.
* -* *
MISSISSIPPI has a unique in-
stitution for fighting integration
-the State Soverignty Commis-
sion. It is composed of the gov-
ernor, lieutenant governor, the
attorney general, the speaker of
the house, five legislators and
three private citizens.
According to Mississippi law, it
is charged with "prohibiting by
every lawful, peaceful and con-
stitutional means the, implemen-
tation of or the compliance with
integration decisions "
The Commission is the chief
propagandist for segregation. It
has sent speakers to all parts of
the nation (including Michigan
last summer)(and has grandiose
Blast?
FROM A RECENT news release:
"The Pearl Harbor Survivors
Association will hold their reunion
at the Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim,
,California."
See if they can survive that!
-F.L.W.
schemes for buying national net-
work television time to defend
segregation.
Aside from this propaganda
function, the commission watches
over Mississippi to see that there
is no wavering from diehard seg-
regation.
* *
POLICE HARRASSMENT and
other forms of non-legal intimida-
tion are viciously used to prevent
integration. Police dogs are train-
ed to attackdemonstrators for
integration. Negroes registering to
vote have been attacked on city
hall steps in Mississippi. Integra-
tion leaders have been beaten,
shot and even killed for activities.
Former Daily Editor Thomas Hay-
den, '61, recently cited the case
of a leader in the Mississippi
NAACP who was murdered by a
state legislator during the recent
campaign to register Negro voters.
Since such acts of violence and
terror are condoned by local of-
ficials and courts, this intimida-
tion is quite effective.
But without recourse to a legal
defense, integrationists are suc-
,cessfully meeting this violence.
WHILE STATE DEFENSES have
been mainly enocerned with edu-
cation, the sit-ins and the tree-
dom riders have presented the
South with another challenge to
segregation.
Mississippi and Louisiana have
passed stronger anti-trespass laws
to thwart the integrationists. The
Mississippi statute penalizes any
person who "with intent to pro-
voke a breach of the peace, or
under circumstances such that
a breach may be occassioned
thereby . . . crowds or congregates
with others" in any number of
public or private places which are
mainly sites of sit-in or freedom
ride demonstrations.
This sort of law has been viewed
by state and federal judges as
being unrelated to segregation.
However, it was clearly not the
intent of the legislature that pass-
ed it.
When Rep. Joe Wroten, of
Washington County, Miss., ob-
jected that a proposed trespass
law may violate the right of peace-
ful assembly, one of the bill's
sponsors, Wroten reported, told
him:
"You know what the bill's for.
There is no need to talk about it."
The Jackson Clarion Ledger
summed up this and four similar
bills in the headline, "Segregation
Bills Get Okay in House."
The Mississippi Senate rushed
the bill to the governor in case it
would have been needed to quell a
wade-in at the Biloxi beaches the
weekend after it was considered.
However, the Supreme Court
has already indicated the law is
unconstitutional by reversing a
trespass conviction in Boynton vs.
Virginia last December. This year,
it will consider the first of th
sit-in cases. If it follows form, it
will sweep away this evasion to
integration.
THUS, ONE DODGE and eva-
sion after another is being struck
down by the courts. Soon segrega-
tion will have no legal defense,
leaving the South with non-
violent, or more likely violent, re-
sistance tactics left.
Time will tell whether it is in
the Southern temperament to re-
sist integration only through pas-
sive means. The South faces a
choice as all the legal evasions
are being closed-compliance or
illegal and possibly violent re-
sistance.
--Daily-Larry Vanice
Even Columbus
Would Enjoy MUSKET
HISTORY WAS REWRITTEN last night on the stage of the Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre, and a most pleasant retelling it was.
LAND HO!, a new musical comedy by Jack O'Brien, Grad, opened
a lively run of five performances as this year's MUSKET production.
Christopher Columbus himself might not agree with this version of his
famous sea voyage, but even he would have enjoyed himself in the
company of zany sailors and highly improbable 'sea maidens, zestfully
directed by Clarence Stephenson.
O'Brien, not satisfied with a most palatable book for the show,
added sprightly lyrics (some of them downright inventive!) and a
bright music score, and then to make it a complete victory for the
Irish, threw in a 'marvelously hilarious performance in the title role
for good measure. Surely no one in the most enthusiastic audience
(and they were enthusiastic) would disagree that this was O'Brien's
night all the way.
Fortunately, he did have some creative help. Conductor Bob James
ran a taut ship, as he whipped through all the complexities in a well-
disciplined orchestra and a well-rehearsed chorus of gobs and gals.
His orchestrations revealed his grasp of tonal shades, syncopated
rhythms, whimsical humor, and an occasional touch of sheer musical
madness: all the ingredients that make for a good musical comedy.
* * * *
ALL THE COLORS of the rainbow were used in the costumes and
decor: from Columbus' dandy pink boudoir below deck, to the pastel
shades in the broom handles, and naturally, the fresh hues in the girls'
low-cut sea-suits.
Susan Breckenridge (Catherine) sang "Come Away" with a touch
of the tipsy;'Mike Robbins (Pinzon) was a balanced foil for Columbus;
Lavetta Loyd sang a lovely Marie in "Love Will Come" and "Other
Nights, Other Dreams" (would that her acting matched her vocal ten-
derness, but so goes it with musical comedy heroines); David Smalley
(Morgan) added a pleasant voice as the Welshman.
ON THE DEBIT SIDE, it must be noted that three hours is much
too long a running time, not only for LAND HO!, but for just about
any musical. Judicious cutting of both dialogue and musical numbers
would leave the audience with the feeling that they want more, not
that they finally had enough.
While the collective volume of sailors and maidens was a joy to
hear, the space limitations of the set added to the modest Lydia Men-
delssohn working area, would suggest cutting down the overall number
of singers, actors and dancers; this would ease manipulations from
one part of the set to another, as well as giving the audience an oc-
casional glimpse of space fore and aft.
But, the above qualifications notwithstanding, LAND HOI Is a
voyage well worth taking.
-Jerry Sandler
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
English 123 Valuable,
R eadings 'Gold Mines'
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Shale-up at State
By WAL.TE R LIPMaNNi
"Wait A Minute, Now - One At A Time"
IN MANNER AND SUBSTANCE, the shake-up
in the State Department is heartening evi-
dence of the President's uncommon ability to
learn from experience. It has been evident from
the beginning of his term, dramatically evident
after the Cuban affair, that the relations be-
tween the White House and the State Depart-
nent were unsatisfactory. The President's per-
sonal advisers did not have the professional
knowledge and diplomatic facilities which are
in the State Department. Speaking broadly,
the State Department did not have the full
confidence of the White House, where policy
is ultimately decided.
As the consequences of this separation of
responsibility from authority showed themselves
during the spring, the first reaction within
the Administration was to look for a scapegoat.
He was to be Chester Bowles, and the ac-
tivists in this venture talked and acted as if
the removal of Chester Bowles would solve the
problem of the relationship between the White
House and the Department of State. Fortunate-
ly, the ouster of Bowles was blocked.
WITHIN the executive branch of the gov-
ernment (which of course did not include
Sen. Fulbright) Mr. Bowles had been the most
conspicuous opponent of the Cuban adventure.
It would have been scandalous to remove an
opponent of the mistake when none of the
proponents had been removed. Yet it was evi-
dent then, as it is now, that Bowles, despite
his exceptional abilities, was miscast as Under-
secretary of State. It was not true, however,
that the trouble centered in him.
about the reorganization is that it is not built,
as have been so many reorganizations in the
past, on the summoning to Washington of a
new personage to set things right.
This reorganization consists entirely of a
change of offices and not of persons. Al the key
posts will be filled by men who have had nine
months' experience in the Kennedy administra-
tion. That is a good thing, when the men them-
selves are good, in that even the very best
new man needs many months to become broken
in.
AS I READ the terms of the reorganization,
they mean that the State Department has
grown so much stronger that the original ar-
rangement, when so much power was centered
in the White House staff, may come to be
thought of in the future as a stop-gap arrange-
ment to compensate for the initial weakness of
the State Department.
As the State Department has grown in com-
petence, there has ceased to be good reason for
the existence of a kind of duplicate State De-
partment inside the White House.
It is good that Mr. Rostow is going to
the State Department as head of the Policy
Planning Staff. This is the post which the
President originally wanted him to fill. For
Mr. Rostow's gifts, which are first rate, are, I
venture to think, primarily those of the analyst
and planner.
THIS WILL NOT BE, we may be sure, the last
or the only reorganization within the Ad-
ministration. The key departments in modern
times are State, Defense, Treasury, and Central
.'...+ i+. ;
." ra
''
-J,,
To the Editor:
AS a newly-appointed teaching
fellow, I sharply disagree with
Harry Perlstadt's negative criti-
cism of freshman English courses.
That the curriculum is open to
criticism is evidenced by the in-
ability, long after their freshman
year, of many college students to
string together a decent sentence
in a recognizable language. But
this concerns the effects, not the
methods, of 123 which Perlstadt
questions. Anyone who remembers
his own public high school train-
ing, and who has an opportunity
to observe contemporary products
of such, will recognize the neces-
sity for the discipline of exposi-
tory writing. Anyone who attempts
to write creatively himself, as I
do, will recognize the precedence
in point of time of straight prose.
Perlstadt's blanket statement
that English 123 is a waste of
tiime is patently false. The read-
ings, far from being indifferent,
are of intrinsic value for their in-
formation and ideas. Their pres-
entation is made on the selective
basic of their rhetorical elements
(some of the essays being perfect
gold mines of these) which
the student is expected to master
in his own writing. The discussion
of student essays is designed to
give the class an objective view-
point on what they had previous-
ly thought beyond reproach., since
it is difficult to acknowledge the
ugliness of one's own baby. The
superficialiality of these approach-
es is measured by the teacher's.
ability and the students' inter-
ests, not by the contents of the
course.
* * *
FURTHER, I doubt if the crea-
tive instincts of potential artists
are being stifled by English 123.
For the most part, these instincts
simply are not there; but those
people who do have them will, ac-
cording to the resistant nature of
the artist, unlearn rules meant to
guide their less gifted brothers,
manage to sneak in an emotion or
Freshmen . .
To the Editor:
MISS OPPENHEIM (Daily Mag-
azine,nNov. 19) is guilty of
following in the footsteps of many
writers; the tearing down for dra-
matic effect but offering nothing
constructive. John Crosby, Drew
Pearson and Robert Ruark em-
ploy this device and garner huge
audiences. Miss Oppenheim is on
her way to becoming the saviour-
of the current freshman class.
If a student has beatnik learn-
ings is it not because of some
psychological shortcoming? A
needless affectation? Were not the
unshaven face, the dirty levis, the
unkempt hair'a cry for attention?
Imagine the relief at colleg . Con-
formity with basic good mrnners.
And what of the many students
who have never been away from
their families? Do they not need
some discipline before they learn
the 'ropes'?
As with every other facet of
endeavor, one gets as much, out,
of something as he wants to. At-
tending the mass-attended lecture
opens up a new vista, a challenge,
and should provoke a desire to
learn more. With the advent of
thousands of students to campuses
all over the world, would Miss Op-
penheim have 20-pupil seminars?
There would be neither space nor
personnel to pursue such a pro-
gram. But the newly graduated
high schooler must seek and probe
and fashion an acceptance of re-
buttal based on this lecture.
* * *
IF WE, ASSUME this adulthood
in our frosh, does it not follow
that exposure to English 123 can
be a gratifying, zestful enlighten-
ment through personal corridors
of achievement?
No, Miss Oppenheim, your ob-
vious ploy is ill-concealed. As a
parent of one of your disillusion-
ed freshmen I find subtle changes
for the better in my daughter.
She complains about the food in
her dorm, but must drink skim-
-