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 Michiga Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1962
NIGHT EDITOR: HARRY PERLSTADT
The Union's New Look:
progressive, But Unclear
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THE MICHIGAN UNION, often reviled for
extreme stattts quo-ism and lack of vision,
has at last responded to the campus grumbling
with a laudable and somewhat daring blue-
print for future operation.
The recently-approved report of the Facilities
Committee recommends many improvements
and revisions in the physical facilities of the
Union, and also puts forth a long overdue
shift in basic philosophy: from a "private
men's club" into a "University facility."
Before students can feel inspired to un-
mitigated joy, however, at least three basic
questions regarding the report and the Union's
new role will have to be clarified.
THE FIRST OBJECTION, as was clearly
brought out at last Thursday's Union Board
of Directors meeting, is that nowhere in the
report was the Union's past, present, or future
philosophy clearly stated. The Union officers
say that the "drastic change" in philosophy
is a change in emphasis, as the "University
facility" function supersedes but does not
eliminate the "men's club" role. Unfortunately,
the very important line where Union stops
being a men's club and starts to operate as
a University facility is never defined or even
hinted at in the report.
In addition, it was never made clear just
what motivated the request for a change in
Union philosophy. The report mentions only an
economic reason: the Union at present is
barely breaking even financially due to disuse
of facilities and increasing private competition.
Hence, facilities must be improved and the
Union must serve a greater area-that is, the
University community rather than just its
male segment-to attract more business.
If economic considerations were the domi-
nating reason for the change in Union outlook,
then there is no reason to term it a "drastic
change in philosophy." Philosophical changes
are inspired by philosophy; the economic ser-
vices are then fitted into the philosophy. In
the case of the Union, for example, if there
were no immediate fiscal danger, would the
report still have urged a "drastic change in
philosophy?" The answer is not yet clear.
THE SECOND OBJECTION was that the
report never specified the Union's new
constituency beyond the hazy statement that
it now "furnishes services to the University
community." During the debate, one of the
proponents of the report hastily attempted to
come up with a definition of the University.
It was voted down. One board member pointed
out that the definition omitted the Regents
from the University community.
THE THIRD MAIN QUESTION left untouch-
ed by the report involves the legality of
any of the changes in relation to Regental
policy. The Union officers plan to ask revision
of the relevant statutes.
This is certainly necessary, because not only
the proposed changes but also many current
Union functions appear to conflict with Regen-
'tal policy.
For instance, Regents Bylaw 30.11, setting
up the building as a private men's club, also
states that the Union "shall provide a meeting
place for students, former students, alumni
and faculty." Such a meeting place would
obviously be the MUG and cafeteria in the
lower floor of the building. However, a Re-
gental policy statement drafted in 1959 says:
the Regents shall not "encourage or approve
the establishment of cooperative merchantile
organizations . . . under circumstances that
will give such enterprises special advantages
in the way of lower rents, freedom from taxa-
tion or other cooperation on the part of the
University."
Union services such as the sale of food and
school supplies, on which no sales tax is
charged, definitely appear to contradict the
Regents' policy. In light of the Union's in-
sistance that the proposed changes represent
a major 'shift in philosophy, there certainly
should be some authority established in the
Regental policy to make the operations legal.
T HESE THREE OBJECTIONS to the report
were brought up in the Union board debate.
The Union officers-Paul Carder, Todd Fay
and Michael Balgley, correctly pointed out that
none of the changes suggested in the report
are final. In fact, the board itself can com-
pletely reject the philosophical change, al-
though the suggestions for specific physical
improvements are "99 per cent binding," ac-
cording to Carder, because the mandate of
the committee was to consider long-range use
of the facilities rather than the Union's guid-
ing philosophy. Also, the Regents would veto
any of the proposals if they felt the changes
were unjustified.
This explanation, however, ignored the fact
AM*W
Editorial Staff
JOHN ROBERTS, Editor
that if the board adopted (accepted and ap-
proved) the report, some of the "99 per cent"
binding suggestions would involve a basic com-
mitment to policy which the Union has no
authority to institute. For instance, the pro-
posal to convert the swimming pool into a
game room or bag-lunch room with vending
machines would indeed mean a change from
a service only to men to a service to the
community.
But in spite of the fact that they were
committing themselves to a course of action
which remained unclear in three important
areas, the board members adopted the report
after three hours of unclear discussion by a
9-1-2 margin. Eight of the affirmative votes
came from members who also had been on the
committee that formulated the report.
THE HOURS of debate were almost ex-
clusively devoted to the issue of philosophy
and "University community." Unfortunately,
the specific proposals of the report were left
untouched. Undoubtedly the most controversial
of these concerns the recommendations on the
MUG. The report states: "it is hoped that the
MUG will not be a dining room or study hall,
but rather a place where students may meet
friends over a quick snack or coffee-in short,
a campus gathering place for all students."
This statement is first of all a contradiction
in terms. Usually, when people "gather," they
wish to remain with one another for a some-
what long period of time, much longer than
"a quick snack."
Of the much more important connotation,
however, is the Union leaders' conception of the
MUG and cafeteria facilities as an area pri-
marily for eating. This is a function which
dozens of private restaurants in Ann Arbor can
perform just as well, if not better. On the
other hand, the Union dining facilities can
provide a service which no other establishment
(excepting the League) can give; as a place
where people can meet and talk and study,-
with the food merely abetting these actions.
Although President Carder afterwards said that
the middle of the three cafeteria rooms would
remain open to studying, there was no mention
of this in the report. Also unmentioned in the
report was any statement concerning "un-
desirables," certainly a major factor in stu-
dents' use of the MUG and cafeteria. A com-
mittee examining long-range use of Union
facilities should have taken this factor in ac-
count and clarified or revised policy on it.
Aside from the views on the lower floor din-
ing operations, however, the specific proposals
in the report are excellent. The Union plans
first of all to set up a committee to make
final preparations for implementation of the
recommendations on specific physical changes.
The areas slated for improvement include the
hotel rooms and services, cafeteria and MUG
facilities (such as more booths and use of
wood in the MUG, a more formal decor in the
cafeterias), recreational facilities (including
a revamping of the much-shunned swimming
pool) and personnel (encouraging more friend-
liness).
After these improvements and revisions are
maderin the existing facilities, the Union plans
to expand, primarily with a new, multi-million
dollar Conference Center. This idea borders
on greatness, as the campus desperately needs
a.building to house and serve participants in
the many conferences this University hosts, as
well as provide the assembly rooms. Not only
would the Conference Center provide a needed
financial windfall for the Union, but it would
also attract more conferences, with the cor-
responding academic benefit for the University.
NOW THAT THE UNION has shown its
desire to serve the campus as a whole, in-
stead of just its male segment, certain steps
must be taken. First of all, the officers should
(as promised) ask the Regents to amend the
relevant bylaw and policy statement so that
the Union can legally act in its new role.
Second, it must make clear to the campus
just what its philosophy will be. In what areas
is it a private men's club and when is it
acting as a University facility? Just what
constitutes the "University community" it will
serve? Exactly what is the policy regarding
student and non-student use of the MUG and
cafeteria? If there are illegal or questionable
activities going on down there, the Union
must deal with them openly rather than fur-
tively, making known just what its standards
for a "desirable" atmosphere are.
Third, the Union must realize that as it
becomes a "University facility," it assumes a
responsibility to that University. The Union
can no longer justify its position as a "private
club," if in fact it ever could. Nowhere in the
Regents Bylaw is the word "private" used in
relation to the Union. The Union is a corpora-
tion only by grace of the Regents. Its policy
is set by a board of directors consisting of ad-
ministrators, alumni, Regents and elected stu-
dents (who hold 11 of the 20 seats). By Re-
gental decision, every male University student
is forcibly a member of the Union. And now
that it proposes to serve the entire University
communitv. the Union has a greater respon-
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INDONESIA AND NEW GUINEA:
The Lightweight Championship
By JAMES NICHOLS
Daily Staff Writer
IN THE LIGHTWEIGHT struggle
for the western half of the is-
land of New Guinea, the Dutch
have taken round one with very
little trouble.
In preliminary sparring, small
bands of Indonesians have se-
cretly landed in the swamps, hop-
ing to stir up unrest among the
natives. The Dutch view this tactic
as a failure because the infiltra-
tors, who could not live in the
snake-ridden jungle, have sought
refuge in native villages, and have
in most cases been reported by
the people to the Dutch authori-
ties.
Undaunted, President Sukarno
sounded the bell to begin the fight
in earnest. Within hours after de-
claring that his earlier "week or
ten days" moratorium no longer
applied, he launched an invasion
flotilla across the 600 miles of
sea toward the long-time Dutch
colony.
* * *
THE INVASION FLEET was
promptly detected by radar and
put to rout by Dutch naval de-
fenders.
But the fight is not yet over.
Sukarno has worked hard in re-
cent weeks to lay the foundation
for an all-out invasion of Dutch
New Guinea. Indonesia has claim-
ed the territory, which Sukarno
calls the Indonesian province of
West Irian, since the island chain
became an independent nation
twelve years ago.
During the week before Christ-
mas--the week when three tiny
Portuguese colonies fell to Indian
forces of "liberation"- Sukarno
ordered total mobilization of his
inflation-ridden land hoping to
frighten or force the Dutch to
withdraw from New Guinea. Both
sides expressed willingness to ne-
gotiate, and Sukarno hinted
through intermediaries that UN
Acting Secretary-General U Thant
would be an acceptable reeree.
* * *
BUT SUKARNO viewed nego-
tiation as a means of settling de-
tails of the transfer of West Irian
to his country. He was only willing
to negotiate if the Dutch agreed
beforehand to leave the Island.
Indonesia was to have sovereignty
over West Irian, and this was not
to have been a point for discus-
sion.
To this the Dutch replied that
they could only negotiate fruit-
fully if it was understood before-
hand that their obligations to the
700,000 natives of the colony had
to be fulfilled. They demanded
that Sukarno permit a vote of
self-determination by the people,
and stand or fall by the outcome.
The Dutch later dropped this
demand, and asked instead that
no conditions be set before ne-
gotiations began. Sukarno even-
tually agreed to replace his de-
mand for sovereignty over the dis-
puted territory with a demand for
administrative control leading, his
spokesman said, to a plebescite
sometime in the hazy future.
This, Sukarno said, was a eon-
cession to the U. S. and Australia,
and was "the most liberal stand"
he could take.
Australia is vitally interested in
keeping the western half of New
Guinea out of Indonesian hands,
since the eastern half of that is-
land is administered by Australia.
The Australians fear that if Su-
karno is able to take "West Irian,"
he will shortly begin preparations
to "liberate" the eastern part of
the jungle island.
* * *
SUKARNO, who recently de-
scribed himself to President Ken-
nedy as "the best bulwark in In-
donesia against Communism,"
thinks of himself as a socialist.
He often praises the methods
blind PrTess
IT IS AN ANOMALY that infor-
mation, the one thing most.
necessary to our survival as choos-
ers of our own way, should be a
commodity subject to the same
merchandising rules as chewing
gum, while armament, a secondary
instrument of liberty, is a Govern-
ment concern. A man is not free
if he cannot see where he is going,
even if he has a gun to help him
get there.
-A. J. Liebling in "The Press"
of the Communist nations, and
stocks his arsenal with weapons
from the iron curtain lands. He
has never risked his power in a
popular election, and feels that
Western-style democracy would
not work in Indonesia.
* * *
THE LONG-THREATENED in-
vasion will be a difficult opera-
tion for the Indonesians. It will
be a sea-borne attack against a
jungle coast with no fresh water.
The Indonesian fleet will have to
fight off attacks by sea-such as
the one" that routed the token.
force yesterday-and by Dutch jet
fighters.
If the Indonesians land, and the
Dutch decide to continue the fight,
the invaders will be faced with
159,000 square miles of mountains,
jungles and swamps. There are
still no indications that Sukarno's
attempts to enlist the support of
the backward Papuans, the re-
gion's inhabitants, have been suc-
cessful.
* * *
IF THE PROMISED INVASION
materializes, the United Nations
will probably try to take action to
stop it. Russia has voiced support
for Sukarno, and will probably
use its veto if the Dutch appeal
to the UN for aid. Russia's 99th
veto stopped United, Nations ac-
tion against India when Nehru's
forces attacked Goa.
Another struggle in which a
western power was attacked while
Russia tied the UN's hands would
help to defeat President Kennedy's
appeal to Congress for money to
save the world organization.
If Sukarno persists in his "liber-
ation" of the Dutch colony, he will
force the United States into a
stand that will look like pro-
imperialism to the Afro-Asian
bloc, and Russia will once more
take the role of champion of the
emerging, ex-colonial nations.
However much the U. S. may
want to remain neutral, they will
have to support an appeal from
their NATO ally, the Netherlands.
The complications introduced by
the possibility of UN action make
the disputed territory a danger
spot, and the governments of the
world are awaiting the outcome
with vital interest.
("The Wolgamot Interstice," edited
by D. C. Hope. Ann Arbor, Burning
Deck Publishers, 1961. 55 pages,
$1.25.)
AT THE INSISTENCE of a num-
ber of my students, I purchased
one copy of a book appearing
apparently under the aegis of a
university organization. "The Wol-
gamot Interstice," as it is styled,
is appealing from a distance, be-
fore one approaches close enough
to see that the cover is decorated
by what looks like typewriter ex-
ercises.
The book is foul.
Those of us brought up on the
gentler tradition of the Brownings
surely must have serious doubts
whether this is the sort of writing
that should go out over the nation
to represent our school. Now that
the head of the English depart-
ment at Purdue has taken to pub-
lishing with the beats and with
freshman English at this univer-
sity ,on its last legs-thisnis too
much.
OF THE POETS in this vol-
ume, Mr. John Heath-Stubbs is a
figure of whom, since he is closer
LETERS
to the ~
EDITOR
NSA...
To the Editor:
M R. ALTENBERG SAID in Sa-
turday's Daily that "NSA is
unrepresentative and with liberal
officers, it will be hard for NSA
even to accurately reflect the views
of a conservative majority."
Granted the officers are liberal
but since the organization is run
by democratic procedures the of-
ficers were elected by a majority.
If there is a "conservative major-
ity" as Mr. Altenberg claims why
did it elect liberal officers?
I'm in full agreement that NSA
delegates should be elected, but
Mr. Altenberg noted that "if this
doesn't work, it may become neces-
sary to form a new national
group." If what doesn't work? If
YAF can't get a conservative
majority elected delegates it will
form their own national group.
Since NSA represents us in the
ISC (International Student Con-
gress) will YAF's group represent
us in the IUS (International
Union of Students, predominantly
communist)? And yet one more
question, just how representative
will this new group be?
-Jeannie Pann'62
Exec. Comm., Mich.
Region USNSA
Poll ...
To the Editor:
QUESTIONNAIRES were recent-
ly distributed to some fresh-
man students with the purpose of
detecting student prejudice be-
tween racial and ethnic groups.
Instructions indicated that stu-
dents were to rate according to
desirability ten specific groups.
This type of survey breeds dis-
crimination by proposing that stu-
dents make group distinctions.
Moreover, it is unfair to request
students to label an entire people
of one race or of one religion on
the basis of their obvious insuffi-
cient contact with these people.
-Marian Neiman, '65
Floor Meetings ...
To the Editor:
WHY SHOULD floor counselors
be able to force quadrangle
residents to attend insipid floor
meetings and participate in the
other wonderful and wholesome
manifestations of quadrangle to-
getherness?
The resident and his fellows
live on the same floor; to pretend
that their relationship is that of
a "happy family" is a silly and
often irritating misconception. The
tiring forced togetherness which
results wastes the time of those
who do not need such a "family"
and could hardly fulfill the need
of the few who might.
-John Holm, '65
to the older tradition, one might
have expected better of this younge
man. Brought up in the English
public schools and therefore, pre-
sumably, on Arnold; himself a
specialist in the literature of the
nineteenth century; even so, he
certainly suffers from what one of
my younger colleagues has termed
"dissociation of sensibility."
Granted that there are phases
of Greek life open to reproach,
why does Mr. Stubbs leap upon
the very summit of Greek art-in
his "Not Being Oedipus"-for his
debunking? And as for "American
Folklore," this is not even being
polite to the country that lately
sheltered him. Would the Brown-
ings ever have been so off-color?
AND IF I am disappointed at
John Heath-Stubbs, I 'am just a
bit chagrined at the behavior of
Donald Hall. He was one for
whom I had high hopes. His early
poetry - much of it provoking
thoughts about the middle class-
was like a breath of fresh air after
so much sordid and so-called
"modern" poetry. But to be mod
ern does one have to write of In-
side plumbing?
The fact that Donald all, in
writing a poem about a man's lav-
atory, has definitely joined this
group is enough to give one pause.
Just what poetry wll do after this
I have no idea. It cannot come
away unsoiled.
* * *
THE OTHER poets deserve less
attention. X. J. Kennedy's rhyth--
mic "In a Prominent Bar in Se-
caucus One Day" is marred at its
highest moral pitch by the stanza:
"For when time takes you out
for a spin in his car
"You'll be hard-pressed to stop
him from going too far
And be left by the roadside,
for all your good deeds,
Two toadstools for tits and
a face full of weeds."
In both D. C. Hope and Dallas
Wiebe, as in Kennedy, we are
struck by sordid locales. Bernard
Keith's morbid jottings seem to
be colored by religious prejudices.
Even after his admirably sym-
pathetic "Old Man's Prayer to a
Fading Star," which I read with
delight some years ago in the
"Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Re-
view," James Camp writes about
old men with diseased noses. W.
D. Snodgrass (an obvious pseudo-
nym) in "ilhe Examination"
seems to deny the merit of analyt-
ic method, and in the last poem
of the book sends us back Ito the
men's room.
THERE IS a preface too, of
which, frankly, I did not under-
stand the humor.
All these poets are strug 1ing
for a mode of expression. They
have all, unfortunately, taken as
their models only the coarser tra-
dition; they have left the path of
the Brownings to strike a darker
note.
Given their recurrent themes of
alcohol and men's rooms, one is
made to wonder if the rise of the
Wolgamot Society within the uni-
versity has not in some sense been
abetted by the repeal of the liquor
prohibition in Ann Arbor.
The total effect of the book is
simply spots before one's eyes.
-Perry Bathouse, '09
DAILY OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
(Continued from Page 2)
nent Recognition; Committee for Im-
proved Cuban-American Relations, Ex-
tension of Temporary Recognition.
Ad Hoc Committees and Related'
Boards.
special Business.
Old Business: Amendment to Student
Government Council Plan.
New Business.
Constituents' and Members' Time.
Adjournment.
The approval for the following stu-
dent-sponsored activities becomes ef-
fective 24 hours after the publication
of this notice. All publicity for - these
events must be withheld until the ap-
proval has become effective.
Mar. 23-American Pharmaceutical
Association, Apothecary Ball, League
Ballroom, 9-12 p.m.
Feb. 16-Challenge, Keynote Speaker
Tarold Taylor, Union Ballroom, 8 p.m.
(Continued on Page 5)
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