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Seventy-Third Year
a w 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 mst by noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: GAIL EVANS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Terms Hatcher's Inaction Regrettable
Abolishing the Box-Top Plan:
Credit Without Class Hours
THE VERY EXISTENCE of such a thing as First, students would not have to be bur-
a "degree" implies that, at least in the dened with the busy-work of some classes.
literary college, a student achieves his pedigree Upperclassmen might have to take only four
courses per semester instead of the usual cum-
by turning in 120 box tops, usually called credit bersome five.
hours, and receiving in exchange a sheepskin, Second, students majoring in some fields
a testimonial to his having sat through at would not have to be overloaded with three or
least 1800 hours in class. And this is generally more courses in one department during a .se-
the case: credit hours are awarded for courses mester. Especially in mathematics, to receive
taken. Instead, they should be awarded for an adequate background, a student must cover
learning a subject. so many areas that the amount of hours in
The engineering college has taken the lead courses taken from the math department rises
in this interpretation of an education. Recent- above the 40 hour limit on credit in any one
ly, the Regents approved a change in the department. Given a credit examination sys-
wording of the undergraduate degree require- tem, a good student could cover a larger num-
ments. The level of attainment of the student ber of mathematical topics in less time.
is the new criterion for granting a degree, Third, peripheral knowledge in cognate fields
rather than a set number of credit hours. Un- could be picked up without going too deeply
der special circumstances, a student may be into a field.
excused from taking a course needed in a
fundamental field of study, such as engineer- FOR INSTANCE, if a student were majoring,
ing graphics, or in a particular program, such in Spanish literature, he might want to get
as mechanical engineering. He is not required a general picture of some basic area of French
to take the course, and he does not make up literature without becoming absorbed with
the credit in other courses. However, students too many names and dates. To this end, he
exempted from these courses are rare. So the could attempt to pass a credit exam in a course
change in wording affects only a few en- in French literature.
gineers. Also, a student may want to start taking
higher level courses in a subject without first
A WORKABLE SYSTEM that regularly gives spending a lot of time taking prerequisites. A
credit to students for subjects they have credit examination system would Allow him to
learned outside of school is in operation at the start taking more difficult courses in tess
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After time.
receiving permission from the department in Finally, the University could escape the cnm-
which the subject is taught, a student registers plaints from those students who claim they
to take a credit examination, usually just a can spend their class time better by learning
final exam in the course. If his performance things.
is acceptable, he is given a grade and credit Not all students can learn subjects outside
for the equivalent course. One advisable modi- of class. And not all subjects ran be learned
fication to this educational method is to give without some assistance. But +he University
reduced credit instead of full credit for courses should stop wasting capable students' tirre in
taken by way of credit exams. courses which they can learn without going to
Such a system would correct many ills at class.
the University. -MICHAEL SATTINGER
Comparative Grading
WHAT DO grades in college really mean?
The Detroit News, in a recent article,
surveyed the situation of the meaning of
grades in college as seen by various educators
in the state.
One of them, Michigan State University.
President John A. Hannah, said that although
76 per cent of last year's MSU freshmen came
from the top 24 per cent of their high school
classes, 40 per -cent were below a C average
at the end of the year, and 24 per cent were
not doing any better as sophomores. Comment-
ing on this, Hannah said, "Certainly, we are
getting better students now, on the average,
than those of five or 10 years ago. Presumedly
we are doing a better job of teaching and in-
spiring them.
"it seems illogical that we see not reflection
of either change in the academic grades we
record."
To decide this dilemma, some reflection on
the intrinsic value of grades is necessary.
GRADE signifies a student's standing
compared to other students in his class. It is
not meant to show how well he does as com-
pared with students of 10 years ago; it does
not show how much more he has learned than
his$ classmates who did not go on to college
after high school.
When an employer, for instance, looks at
a student's academic record from college, he
is not interested in seeing a flock of A's and
B's that indicate only that this student had
to be better qualified and work harder than
college students used to. He already knows
that. He is interested in picking out the ap-
plicant whom he considers to he best qualified
for the job he wants to fill. And if grades ere
one of his criteria, he wants them to show the
relation of the applicants to each other.
There is no such thing as a completely ob-
jective standard in academics. If we are not
to base standards on a comparison of students
-even if over a long period of time rather than
individually, in each class--on what are we to
base them?
WHAT WOULD it mean to have a 3.5 average
or to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa if
everyone who graduated were to receive these
honors? Honors mean just that-those whose
accomplishments in a certain field exceed
their classmates'.
In addition, there is the question of how
generally-raised grades would affect perform-
ance. An increase in A's and B's and fewer
D's and E's would result in lowered standards;
the same proportion of students would be
satisfied with enough grade points to keep
them in school, and the scale would return to
the same proportion of C's, but with less work
required to get C's. Some students would still
fail through acute lack of study.
No one will deny that at times it seems that
grades don't mean anything at all. Everyone
at the University knows some people with very
good grades who are not as smart or even as
knowledgeable as some careless intellectual
with mediocre grades; and everyone also knows
people whose accomplishments in their fields
after they leave college could not have been
predicted by their grades.
But to put grading on any basis but relative
accomplishment is to take away any meaning
at all that grades might have.
-RUTH HETMANSKI
To the Editor:
ON THURSDAY at 3:45 p.m., I
passed a picket line at the
residence of President Harlan
Hatcher. The picketing was in pro-
test to President Hatcher's unwill-
ingness to declare himself in sup-
port of a city ordinance against
discrimination in housing.
Earlier in the day I had read
Fred Russell Kramer's brilliant
editorial in The Daily calling upon
President Hatcher to publicly state
his support of legislation designed
to aleviate discriminatory condi-
tions which his own Board of Re-
gents has acknowledged to exist.
President Hatcher's failure to re-
spond affirmatively to repeated
appeals to state his position on
the proposed legislation is regret-
table, to say the least.
A half hour later, at 4:15, I
listened to Prof. Viktor Frankl, of
the department of neurology and
psychiatry at the medical school,
University of Vienna, and a for-
mer inmate of Auschwitz concen-
tration camp. He showed slides of
the camp as it exists today: its
wire fences, barracks, gas cham-
bers and crematoria. Over six mil-
lion Jews died in this and other
concentration camps.
Then my thoughts went back to
the picket line I observed only
thirty minutes earlier. When there
is prejudice and discrimination be-
cause of race and color, can one
afford the luxury of silence?
-Rev. Erwin A. Gaede
The First Unitarian Church
Policy,.--
To the Editor:
EITHER the Regents of the Uni-
versity have a policy concern-
ing fair housing or they do not.
President Hatcher says, "The poli-
cy of the University on fair hous-
ing has always been clear and defi-
nitivesand Ihfind it difficult to
understand how it could be mis-
interpreted," but he won't reveal
its content.
I cannot understand how it is
possible to have a policy in re-
gard to a matter that involves an
entire city, and at the same time
keep it a deep dark secret. If it
is not a secret, as President Hatch-
er has implied, what objection can
he have to revealing it.
As chief officer of this Univer-
sity it is his responsibility to see
that the policies set forth by the
Regents are carried out. Clearly, if
the Regents have a policy, Presi-
dent Hatcher has not carried out
his responsibilities.
-Robert L Rhodes, '63
Responsible.. ..
To the Editor:
IN REGARD to Miss Bowles's in-
terpretation of the recent activ-
ities of the Human Relations
Board, I wish to take issue with
her apparent acceptance of "some
administrators and Regents" des-
ignation of direct action as "ir-
responsible."
The students who demonstrated
feel and felt that direct action was
the only possible way to try to get
a statement on fair housing from
President Harlan Hatcher. He
mentioned bylaw 2.14, thereby en-
dorsed at at Friday's Regents
meeting.
The HRB was seeking a public
statement on the bylaw on fair
housing, specifically from Presi-
dent Hatcher, who is the spokes-
man for the University.
THE PRESIDENT was content
not to make any statement, we
were not. If we differ with the
President, it seems reasonable to
use the legal means in our power
to attempt to get what we want.
If we are to be limited by what
"some administrators and Re-
gents" think are appropriate
means, why should we also not
be limited by what they think are
appropriate goals?
As our goals differ so perhaps
must our definition of appropriate
means of achieving them. Thus, as
long as our actions remain legal,
we should not be prevented from
pursuing them. Our willingness to
support our stand seems to me to
be responsible, realistic and even
effective, not the reverse.
Have we jeopardized progress in
other areas of student affairs? The
administration may call us irre-
sponsible and thereby find a ra-
tonale for slowing down change
in other areas. They may feel that
by our willingness to support what
we believe in we gave evidence of
more maturity than average. Thus
there is no logical necessity for
the statement that we have hind-
ered progress.
-Sylvia J. Berliner, '63
Indictment . . .
To the Editor:
THOMAS HAYDEN'S review of
"Spectrum Left" is another of
his brilliant expositions of the lib-
eral viewpoint. For example, there.
is his irrefutable indictment of de-
bate over basic goals: "With many
nations operating welfare
economies, we fight about wheth-
er our society has any obligation
to care for ... people."
Certainly it is clear that only the
most evil (i.e., conservative) of
men would dare to question the
sacred principle of the welfare
am sure Mr. Hayden will agree.
This would be an application of
the great liberal ideal: The ma-
jority is always right-except
when they disagree with us.
-Carl Miller, '64
Low-Simmer . .
To the Editor:
USUALLY in debates on sex the
partisans of the crude, animal-
istic approach speak with the
louder voice and receive the more
publicity. We say animalistic ap-
proach for theirs indeed is one at
the level of monkeys rather than
at that of human beings. The
vacuity and deceitfulness of this
approach will never be too force-
fully exposed.
Basically the crude, animalistic
creed is easy tounderstand and
to act upon, as one need only let
oneself go. Given a boy-girl rela-
tionship, its object is none other
than the calculated search for
passion and the satisfaction of
raw desire. The simplicity and di-
rectness of thisblueprint, tying
in with otherwise normal drives,
are made to order of those who
lack in sensibilities and higher
human feeling. When approval of
"Maybe I Should Try To Cut Down"
-
-
~~
TODAY AND TOMORROW: *
On NotFidge;t~ingoverFrance.
this crude approach is voiced, it
is more often than not by males.
For its partisans, love and the per-
son are secondary.
Press them a little and they will
tell you that woman is little or
nothing more than an instrument
of pleasure as may suit their tem-
porary fancy. They are impatient
with such notions as honest, car-
ing sentiment and the respect due
to the dignity of every human
being. Crass, narrow, exploitative,
close to the ground like our an-
thropoid ancestors is the animal-
istic approach.
* - *
HOW DIFFERENT is the sweet,
tender, low-simmer affection ap-
proach! By its teiims many con-
ditions have to be met before pas-
sion can become a reasonable and
meaningful act, making for hap-
piness in depth. Passion must fit
into a context of security,' of per-
manence, or belongingness, an1
then too, of the urge to share one's
happiness through acknowledge-
ment of the greatness of the hu-
man powers of procreation. Such
a context is preceded in time, how -
ever, and always sustained by the
attuning of two people to each
other, by a communion of hearts,
minds and emotions.
Not achieved by the furtive,
rough and tumble pursuit of the
satisfaction of raw sexuality, this
communion is born instead of that
wonderful thing called affection,
which may of course take many
forms, but which in all cases is
marked by the demonstration of
care, and the partaking of that
warm, yet quiet kind of happiness
which the intimate company of a
sweet girl can so well provide.
It is affection-that exchane
of the whispers of the heart -
which makes the company of a
girl so enjoyable and enriching,
so different and worthwhile in its
own right. Affection stands as an
end unto itself on all occasions
where fondness for the other per-
son is genuinely felt, whether it
be in the case of a few isolated
dates in passing, or, and even more
so, in the case of many such dates
building up to a permanent and
secure union.
* * *
THE PARTISANS of the crude,
animalistic approach think of a
boy-girl relationship as necessar-
ily centering on one or the other
of two poles, the cold and platon-
ic, or the passionate. In between,
however, lies affection, the whole
realm of romance par excellence;
affection is like the placid lake,
the breathtaking mountain range,
the setting sun, the warm and
starry night. The animulistic ap-
proach thereby short-circuits the
deepest, most fundamental and
permanently satisfying element in
a male-female relationship.
Of course affection and passion
are on the same continuum. For
lack of prudence, lacy of control
of sense urges generally, the pass-
age from affection co passion is
very quickly made. Indulgence in
"drool-style" kissing, isolation in
the Arboretum or in a parked car
on a dark road are admittedly be-
yond the pale of the sweet, ten-
der, low-simmer affection ap-
proach.
Some may claim that commun-
ion of hearts, minds and emotions
can be attained and rt present suf-
ficient justification for indulgence
in passion irrespective of a con-
text of permanent union. The po-
tentialities for self-deception, for
haste, regret and demoralization
here, where responsibilities are not
engaged, arcconsiderable. No-
where, basically, does this path,
lead. I hold that the element of
security is fundamental as a con-
text for passion in furtherance of
human happiness in depth. In any
case, it would almost seem indeed
to be a law of boy-girl relation-
ships that involvement in a great-
er or lesser degree of passion out-
side of a context of permanence
actually gets in the way of the
growth of a communion of hearts,
minds and emotions.
Such involvement concentrates
the mind in a way detrimental to
full appreciation and knowledge of
the other person. In this manner
many couples may find themselves
in a sort of rut in that they engage
in various degrees of "heavy stuff"
on the promptings of empty, yet
compelling habit-without really
too much enthusiasm-and so fail
to experience the soft, fulfilling
joys that come from lower-sin-
mered demonstrations of care and
attachment. Passion at the wrong
time-however noble and enrich-
ing otherwise-spells the death of
love.
TO BE SURE, one could hardly
be so naive as to fail to recognze
that girls are not entirely free of
the animal themselves! However,
we like to think that in a majority
of cases they would most happily
settle for sweet, tender, low-sim-
mer affection as the core of ary
boy-girl relationship. If things go
crude and animalistic, it is more
often the male's fault, who without
let-up insists, drives, pushes -
stupidly, pawingly.
Sexual urges are like any of the
other urges within us. They too
must be civilized, organized. No
more than our other urges can
they be used raw. True, aphrodisiac
films and pocket-books and "peep-
ing-tom" magazines do make tis
organization a good deal more dif-
ficult.
There are then two approaches
to sex - one identifiable with
crawling, the other with soaring.
We have made our choice!
-Paul A. Hudon, Grad
Nadir
To the Editor:
AN EDITORIAL by Andrew Or-
lin in Saturday's issue attrib-
utes the failure of an organization
called the Students for Cudlip and
White for Board of Regents Com-
mittee (sic) to find a faculty ad-
visor to facultynmeekness
cowardice.
May I suggest alternative hy-
potheses? Perhaps no faculty
member approached cares to sup-
port Cudlip and White for Board
of Regents? Or perhaps no facul-
ty member gives a damn for the
Committee's object? But appar-
ently Mr. Orlin is not interested
in a faculty advisor's opinion any-
way since he states that the orga-
nization asks for one "merely to
sign membership lists and other
documents of red tape." We can
agree when Mr. Orlin complains
that "things have reached their
nadir" if things are editorials.
-Prof. Leo F. McNamara
Count .,.
To the Editor:
THE DAILY for Thursday car-
ried an editorial entitled "Non-
Implementation." The editorial
stated, among other things, "Stu-
dent Government Council will ex-
tend invitations to the four candi-
dates (for Regents) to come be-
fore one of its Wednesday night
meetings."
One should rea onably expect
that persons enrolled in the Uni-
versity would either be able to
count or should make certain of
the facts before making state-
ments.
If the writer of the editorial
and the Student Government
Council had bothered to check
with the County Clerk or with the
Michigan Director of Elections, it
would have been learned that
there are six candidates for the
Board of Regents on the Michigan
election ballot for the April 1, 1963
spring election.
-Ralph W. Muncy
Prove It ,..,
I
. .
'4
Fresh Air in Grand Rapids
WELL, ANOTHER YEAR has passed for the
Michigan Federation of College Young Re-
publicans; they have indulged in their annual
ritual and sacred rites; they did it at the
Grand Rapids convention last weekend. It is
the only thing they do all year.
There was a small change in this year's
script--a conservative was elected chairman
instead of a liberal-but the end result was the
same. The control of= the Federation simply
shifted from the Stockmeyer-McPherson ma-
chine to the YAF machine.
On the surface, it would seem that the
Federation is destined for more of the same
inept, self-seeking leadership which has plagu-
ed it since inception. But on the horizon
looms a glimmer of hope.
LAST WEEKEND, amid the lavish flood of
campaign materials and goodies edible, one
could glimpse a rare phenomenon. A maverick
candidate for chairman emerged, destined for
failure but symbolizing the clean politics for
which the Republican Party once stood.
Denne Osgood of Calvin College did not
tions, or make a lot of promises he wouldn't
have known how to go about keeping.
PERHAPS this is why he lost. His campaign
was not geared to a convention committed
to having one continuous party and leaving the
politicking to a handful of self-styled, but
halfbaked little puppeteers. He campaigned
on a platform of education and political action,
which would have returned the Federation to
its original goals-goals long ignored.
Moreover, he campaigned for a clean con-
vention-a convention based upon free decision
by each and every delegate. Needless to say, he
didn't get that either.
But what is most important is that faced
with certain defeat, he refused to foresake his
course. His name was placed in nomination,
and some 40 delegates had the courage to stand
up and be counted in his behalf.
In the past, the Federation has experienced
11 months of relative lethargy between the
one month each year when each faction
noisily prepares for the convention. Probably,
the coming year will not be any different.
By WALTER LIPPMANN
WASHINGTON, which is stun-
ned and dazed by General de
Gaulle's actions, is still reacting
instinctively rather than deliber-
ately. In excluding Britain and
in seeking to expel America from
Europe, the general has struck a
blow at the foundations of Ameri-
can post-war policy.
The first reaction to this radical
strike against ideas and policies
which had come to be regarded as
past of the nature of things was
to deny that General de Gaulle
had changed anything-or to avow
that he could not change anything
because history and destiny were
working for our ideas and our poli-
cies-or to try to improvise in a
hurry some project which would
tempt and seduce the wayward
general or, failing that, would cir-
cumvent him.
* * *
NOTHING MUCH is likely, it
seems to me, to come of these
instinctive reactions. There is 'o
be sure some truth in each of them.
Thus in the long run the Atlantic
Community, which has been a
controlling fact for three centur-
ies, will reassert its influence on
national purposes. The geography
and the history which unites the
peoples on the two sides of the At-'
lantic will prevail over all other
considerations in the long run.
There is also truth in the feeling
that, since Europe and America
cannot go their separate ways, they
will eventually divide, because they
thing." There is no positive action,
I venture to think, that our gov-
ernment can take just now which
goes anywhere near the heart of
the situation.
The heart of the situation is that
Western Europe has outgrown the
dependence upon America which
began with the First World War.
Western Europe will not, therefore,
accept any longer American lead-
ership and dominance in European
affairs. This is the new reality
upon which General de Gaulle is
acting, and it is to this new reality
that we must perforce adjust our
foreign policy.
* * *
THE NEW REALITY has been
in the making for about 10 years.
Into it have gone the great chang-
es in the military balance of pow-
er between.the United States and
Russia... the brilliant recovery of
Western Europe . . . the depletion
of the United States' gold reserves
and the decline of the United
States from its financial pre-emi-
nence.. . the failure of the United
States under two Presidents to
cope successfully with a chronic
sluggishness which contrasts so
vividly with the exuberant expan-
sion of Western Europe . . . the
recognition in Moscow that the
balance of military power is so fav-
orable to the West that the cold
war cannot be waged aggressively
in Europe.
The net sum of these contribut-
ing factors is that in relation not
only to the protecting power of
have to turn upon whether he or
we can draw the right conclusions
from the new reality.
The best way, indeed the onb'
way, for us to test the question is
to relax and to let it become the
problem of our European friends
to decide the basic question. The
basic question is where, in the de-
scent from American paramountcy
into American isolation from Eu-
rope, they wish to stabilize our
relations. This is the question pi s-
ed in many forms and most spe-
cifically by the French decision for
an "independent" nuclear force.
Our best line is to say that if
France means literally to have an
independent right to start a nu-
clear war, she will have to leave
us with the independent right not
to participate in it. If, however,
France in fact does not want that
kind of independence, then in fact
she wants some kind of partner-
ship. If so we shall have to face
the issue of whose finger is to be
on the trigger of the nuclear forces
of the partnership.
THESE ARE difficult questions.
It may be that they are theoret-
ically insoluble questions. But
there is no pressing need to solve
them, because, for quite other rea-
sons, there is for the time being
no serious danger of thermonu-
clear war. It is not tidy to do noth-
ing to settle the questions. But it
is, I think, wiser to do nothing
than to spend a lot of energy on
gimmicks-such as a NATO nu-
clear force-which seek to bypass