' . e ir i gttn tt 1 Seventy-Third Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSrrY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Where Opifnions Ar . STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Truth Will Prevail": ditorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This muse b. noted in all reprints. ~440 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Honors Housing Unit Would Set Precedent MARCH 8, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: RONALD WILTON Machine Politics Harm State Young Republicans .. ' IS TIME for a re-examination of the goals and purposes of the Michigan College Fed- tion of Young Republicans. Machine politics ve too long been in power, as evidenced by e recent College YR convention in Grand pids, and their methods have corrupted the ity and honesty of the organization. Machine politics succeeded in duping over D people and confusing any real issues that ivention might have been able to consider. Init rule voting was employed to the benefit the machines, and those same machines ivented effective action against unit rule. e rules committee sent .to the floor of the ivention a weak, watered-down resolution icerning the unit rule because committee mbers had somehow lost the courage to say blicly what they had said privately the ht before. ,orruption also manifested itself in more icrete forms. A CANDIDATE was told by a delegation chairman, reportedly in league with one of the "leaders," that if he (the candidate) wanted to address his delegation, he could "fork over" $50. A drunk delegate was railroaded into sign- ing _a damaging statement against the opposi- tion by one of the most influential YRs at the convention. Later his statement was re- pudiated and it is still unclear what the situation really was. But the gravest ramification of machine politicking was that it obscured any serious evaluation of the chairman's role in the fed- eration, a consideration long overdue. IN THE PAST, College Young Republican state chairmen have used the office for purely political ends. Unfortunately, statewide recognition has been their primary objective. And as products of machine politics; they place concern for perpetuating those machines above working in the interests of the federation. Campaign platforms must be oriented toward strengthening the federation with definitive programs calling for greater membership par- ticipation in state GOP politics. Areas that have not yet been touched afford opportunities for federation growth. Closer cooperation with the Legislature is one such area. Many Young Republicans in Michigan are not even aware of the most vital issues facing legislative action this year. IN ANOTHER AREA, more Young Republicans could share in the experiences of working actively for GOP candidates either through actual participation in campaigns or through an extensive educational program conducted by those members who have worked with can- didates. Reform is an admirable goal, but Young Republicans must realize that a prerequisite for reform is removing any vestiges of corruption. Before the federation can improve, political machines must be broken. -WILLIAM BENOIT Ai 4 TUIA5REL RACE Funny t- tice ,G, Sur Tiw.os RICE UNIVERSITY in Houston, Texas was founded in 1891 when William Marsh Rice died, leaving in his will 'a large sum of money to build an educational institution "formthe instruction and the improvement of white in- habitants." Last week Rice's trustees asked a federal court to authorize the removal of this racial clause from the university's charter. Their resolution states that such changes are neces- sary to "the basic purposes for which this university was founded." The news comes at almost the same time as the news from Laflore County, Mississippi re- porting that a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee field secretary has been shot in the back by three white segregationists. A funny place the South. -J. TENANDER VOICE CAMPAIGN PLATFORM: Not Liberal Enough Cram Session. -IHREE WEEKS before every campus election on SGC. These civic-minded students who wish room 3540 of the Student Activities Building to aid the campus in the upward struggle attend meetings to learn exactly what the' comes a sea for a number of campus lem- nature of the struggle is. They wish to obtain, ngs. Student Government Council conducts a grasp of the issues currently before Council. weekly oratorical exercises in this room Through these Wednesday night cram sessions ery Wednesday night. During two periods of candidates can bone up on all the present e school year, this room has a strange and student issues. Upon obtaining this necessary most unnatural attraction. Before each elec- information they can declare their political in, this room obtains a power which compels a views on the issues more clearly. With the in- unber of students to sit through the four formation gathered from these three sessions ur talkathons on Wednesday nights. of SGC, candidates can speak with assurance Throughout the school year, relatively few and force, basing opinions on their vast udents bother to attend these meetings. Stu- amounts of knowledge. nts who do attend usually fall into one or The attendance of the candidates and their o categories. One group represents organiza- desire to improve their knowledge on student ins which are seeking recognition from Coun- issues is most commendable. . In the other category are the students who However, the question still remains: Where e in some way directly involved in upcoming were these interested students on all the other ,islation before Council. In fact, on occasion Wednesday nights during the year? Many of uncil members do not ever bother to attend the candidates have long lists of qualifications e meetings, as was the case with one member and participation in student activities. Perhaps no recently resigned. they felt their other activities were more im- portant than SGC. If Council meetings were EFORE COUNCIL ELECTIONS each spring not important enough to attend during the and fall, however, SGC meetings invariably semester, why are the candidates wasting their aw a third class of students--the ones who time there now? lieve themselves capable of holding a seat -ANDREW ORLIN Rocky Road in New York By ROBERT SELWA HE VOICE platform as a whole isa good one; it is compre- hensive and penetrating, and the five students running on it- Howard Abrams, Mary Beth Nor- ton, Henry Wallace, Kenneth Mil- ler and Edwin Sasaki-have sub- stantive framework for their cam- paign philosophies. But even though the platform is generally thorough, it is too conservative in the area of civil liberties. The major failure in this area involves the Michigan Union Re- ports. The Union plans to run signed editorials by its staff mem- bers in its Reports. The Voice platform condemns this "gross violation of ethics for the Union to use student monies to propo- gate the political views of the Union staff" in the Reports "since the entire male student population has no choice in whether or not to support the Union" * * * VOICE IS devoted to increasing the political dialogue both inside and outside the University. The platform condemns the House Un- American Activities Committee be- cause HUAC emphasizes "an at- mosphere hostile to dissent and controversy within our University." The platform urges that the Uni- versity become "a community ded- icated to the encouragement of free and creative inquiry and to the maintenance of substantive dialogue among the members of the community." Editorializing in the Union Re- ports would encourage "free and creative inquiry" and "substantive dialogue" in the University com- munity. If the editorials are really good, they will cause "controversy within our University," and at least from the viewpoint of Voice they will be "dissent." For these' reasons Voice should be encouraging the Union staff to write editorials in the Reports- and without the limitation to one- quarter of all the space in a Reports issue. Voice should battle all limita- tions on free and open discussion, and this cannot exclude the views with which Voice disagrees. The propagation of one view will inspire the propagation of con- trary views, and the assertion of opinion contrary to one's own will cause one to think out his own opinions more. As John Stuart Mill pointed out, "the peculiar evil of silencing the expression cf and opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are de- prived of the opportunity of ex- changing error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."~ It is for this stimulation of thought that at least one Voice candidate is advocating the for- mation of a conservative political party. And just as the polarity of political parties would make for a more vigorous clash of ideas, editorializing the Union Reports would result in what Mill cited as "the clearer percetion and livelier witnesses in their behalf, and to have free choice of counsel. All other student procedural due pro- cess rights are left to the vague statement that a student "should have all other possible safe- guards." The danger in this vagueness lies in permitting rights to be unspecified. The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution is careful to specify, and the fifth and sixth amendments cite all the following rights: a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of peers, confrontation with wit- nesses against, information about the nature and cause of an ac- cusation, compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in favor, as- sistance of counsel for the defense, protection from double jeopardy, and protection from being com- pelled to be a witness against oneself. The Voice platform mentions only one aspect of substantive due process: the careful and clear co- dification of all rules. There Is Much more to procedural and substantive due process than the Voice platform mentions, and at least one Voice candidate, Mary \ Beth Norton, knows this. * * * MISS NORTON was a co-author of what was probably the most significant piece of legislation at this past summer's National Stu- dent Congress: the Basic Policy Declaration on procedural and substantive due process. Part I of this BPD provides almost all of the rights in the fifth and sixth amendments. Part II pro- vides that no contractual agree- ment with a university should abrogate a student's right to due process and its stresses that the substance of university law should not infringe on the freedom to participate in groups on or off campus, the freedom of expression and criticism and the freedom to pursue knowledge through free and open inquiry. Especially since the co-author of these BPD provisions participated in the drawing up of the Voice platform, the platform should have been more complete. On speaker policy, the Voice platform simply states opposition, to "any and all University regula- tions which limit freedom of ex- pression beyond the 'limits im- posed by state and national laws." This ignores the point that the University as the home of the search for knowledge should be the most free institution in society. The university should be as free' as Congress, which has absolute freedom of speech. If there is to be hope any where for the libera- tion of the minds of men, it is in the university. For these reasons a university should have no speak- er policy, or at most a speaker policy that says that the Univer- sity shall impose no limitation on the freedom of expression. Unfortunately this is not what the Voice platform provides; the platform opposes only limitations beyond state and national laws. If a law abridges freedom of speech, a good place to test its justice would be at a university. Voice should encourage the testing and, challenging of all laws and regula- tions that limit free expression. The Voice platform should include resistance to the present speaker policy of the University, a speaker policy that bans the advocacy of violent overthrow and civil dis- obedience. The failures of the Voice plat- form can be made up by the Voice candidates who when elected can work for Council action to better, insure civil liberties on this cam- pus. The Voice platform should be, not a limit, but a starting point, for Abrams, Wallace, Miller, Sasaki' and Miss Norton. It is a good starting point, but it is only a starting point. To the Editor: AVID MARCUS' recent editor- ial is a fairly objective discus- sion on the proposal concerning the housing of honors students together next year. He says that "the basic discontent motivating the planning for an honors hous- ing unit cannot be ignored." Fine and good. He also says that honors housing is undemocratic which is also true. It seems, though, that there are certain relevant points which he does not raise and that others which he discusses do not seem to ring true. The academic atmosphere in the residence halls needs improvement, to say the least, and It is true that the entire system needs reorgani- zation. However, because the sys- tem may not be reorganized im- mediately (though it is not im- possible that it could be done quite soon) there seems to be no reason why an effort should not be made, if it has chances of quick realization, to fulfill the needs of a portion of the student body. Mr. Marcus says that housing 'honors students together "is an unpleasant and to some extent a false concept." It is true in that it would apparently mean an ar- tificial separation of the better students-at least as measured by grades (imperfect judges as they may be)-from the greater part of the undergraduate student body. * * * MR. MARCUS thinks that hon- ors students should be diffused among the rest of the student body. It is a democratic idea, but even democracy has its limits and can be pushed too far. He says that the proposed honors housing would create a "rarified academic atmosphere" for honors students. It seems like a large exaggeration 'and surely honors students. are not plants as "rarified" might well imply. They can think and certainly seem to do so more than most fraternity and sorority people. Honors stu- dents come from different reli- gious, cultural, and racial back- grounds and it seems doubtful that honors housing would result in the shaping of a group of people who would resemble each other so closely, that one could not tell them apart from each. other, except for differences in their outward physical appearance. Although they might segregate themselves from the rest of the campus, it is doubtful as to wheth- er they would wither and die for lack of fresh air. * * *r IF, AS Mr. Marcus says, the honors students are the most "in- tellectually aware" students on campus it seems they may need special housing more than others. It seems that the dormitories, which theoretically are a good experience for honors students, in that they associate with all varie- ties of people, are a rather un- pleasant place for them to live in practice. They are scarcely re- spected for their intellectualism, and in place of having it rub off on some of their dormitory mates they are often looked upon with indifference or contempt. The assertion is also made that the "University goes to great lengths to provide special oppor- CAMPUS: Long Run, Good Show ANYONE going the distance alone must be prepared for the long, lonely grind. He must be certain that his inner resources will last, or else he'll be defeated even more surely than those who decide to go along with the crowd.- "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" tells the story of a young, lower class English tough who is faced with that de- cision. He can play along with the reform school warden and get out early, and perhaps even progress to athletic fame. Or he can stick to his guns and class and tell the world that he despises to go to Hell. Despite the social class implica- tions involved in his decision-he refused to be a common laborer but hates the higher classes-the decision is a matter of personal integrity. His fellow inmates re- sent his "success" in the reform school, but at the same time, want him to gain the school athletic fame. Home is no help. His mother is shabby. His father dies a dismal death after leading a dismal work- ing class life. His girl, while she's entirely on his side, would have him begin a life similar to his father's. SO THERE'S NO ONE to turn to for help. His decision must come from within, even though he only dimly understands his pre- dicament. And not being especial- ly intelligent, his only inner re- source is his ability to detect what is phony and what is genuine. Tony Richardson has discovered another ugly duckling. Tom Cour- tenay, who's face is homely and tunities for honors students." It depends by what is meant by great lengths. The honors students are privileged to have certain depart- ments' top people teaching some of their introductory courses. They are fortunate in having that much. "It should not be forgotten" that in many good schools-because of size and research projects, it seems impossible here-all courses are taught by professors, and teaching fellows do not even exist. The as- sertion that the honors students are greatly privileged seems ques- tionable, more specifically, on closer examination. Many of the honors courses consist of more work than other courses, often on a relatively higher level than the regular courses. However, the hon- ors program often seems to work on the idea that "you're a better student so you get better teachers and more work." It seems ques- tionable as to whether they really do creative work in and derive as much benefit from honors courses, as they might get from tutorials or independent work. * * * THE HONOR students are lucky enough to have some attention paid to their needs and that honors housing is being suggested may perhaps point to how much more could be done for them. It is no secret, as Judith Oppenheim mentioned in her recent editorial, that many brilliant and creative people drop out of the honors pro- gram, or do not or cannot even enter it, because of its relative constrictiveness. The idea of honors housing, may be undemocratic, but state uni- versity or no, honors students should still have the right to de- cide as to whether they wish to live with each other. They will choose to do so on a voluntary basis certainly andnot a compul- sory one. Honors housing may well remove the better students from the dormitorie's, but it also seems feasible that creative people not in honors may have the oppor- tunity to live with people they would prefer living with. It seems doubtful that people would express a desire to live with honors stu- dents unless they had a genuine wish to do so and it is question- able as to whether the honors housing would be completely filled by honor students. * * * IN ANY CASE, it seems that most of the best students on cam- pus in the literary college are honors students. It may be that honors housing would very well exclude some of the more intel- lectually aware people on campus, but at least a large proportion of the better students would have a chance to improve ' their living situations. The dress regulations in the dormitories smack of the Victorian Age and the system of resident advisers and staff coun- selors reminds one of- a camp situation with the counselorcon- stantly on hand to make sure his campers don't get too far away. The idea of having Junior faculty members living in with the honors students, if effected, would cer- tainly be an improvement over the present faculty adviser system. The present system seems so su- perficial, that for all it is worth, it almost need not exist. It seems the exception if the residence hall faculty adviser (usually one for a house of a hundred or more stu- dents) is at the hall for more than several meals during a semester, much less his even being onthe premises otherwise. Any change that can be effect- ed to improve the living situation in the residence halls seems to be in great demand and need and long overdue. If honors housing does go into effect, it will certainly set a precedent that it is hoped will be quickly followed by the entire residence hall system. At least, something concrete will have been done and will perhaps serve to accelerate a reorganization of the entire housing system. The slowness of actually doing any- thing constructive and c.oncrete about the residence hall system; no matter how long it may have been in the process of discussion, is certainly notorious. -Martin Rivlin, '67 -Bil Walker, 166 Cataclysm IT IS STARTLING to think how destructive in a civilization like ours wouldsbe such fierce conflicts as fill the history of the past. The wars of highly ivilized countries, since the opening of the era of steam and machinery, have been duels of armies rather than con- flicts of peoples and classes. Our only glimpse of what might hap- pen, were passion fully aroused, was in the struggle of the Paris Commune. And, since 1870, to knowledge of petroleum has been added that of even more des- tructive agents. The explosion of a little nitro- glycerin under a few water mains would make a great city unin- habitable; the blowing up of a few railroad bridges and tunnels would bring famine quicker than the wall of circumvallation that Titus drew around Jerusalem; the A " E V YORK'S esteemed governor Nelson A. Rockefeller is finding himself in a great eal of difficulty these days. It seems he has aused loud squeals of discontent to issue forth rom the already-parched throats of the Empire htate's citizens. The Republican-dominated state legislature s rebelling against the governor's proposal to .ike liquor and automobile registration "fees." )ne might question the significance of such a roposed raise. Taxes are going up every day. [ow important could a single increase be? VERY IMPORTANT indeed, if your name is Rockefeller. One of the major planks in he governor's re-election platform last Novem- er was that he promised not to raise taxes. 'he people of New York went for it, but not uite hook, line and sinker as Albany Repub- cans expected. The people of the state, and specially New York City, were not greatly im- ressed with the Rockefeller administration f 1958-1962. But the boy got in with his romises of no tax increase. Now, with the announcement of the proposed ax hike, the people of New York State are i the greatest uproar since the exposure of oss Tweed. Syracuse motorists are displaying Don't Tread on Me" bumper stickers and Rusnes'qaff restaurants and bars all over the state have added a new drink to the menu: "Rockefeller cocktail-same old ingredients, just add 15 per cent to the price." Rockefeller lieutenants have become doubtful of the governor's ability to carry his own state in a 1964 presidential election. "Right now, I doubt he could be re- elected governor," one GOP spokesman lament- ed. Add this new development to the governor's divorce problem, plus a grand jury investigation of the State Liquor Authority, and the road to the Presidency seems a' bit rocky. -ROBERT GRODY Personal ONE DAY THIS WEEK the residents of Stockwell Hall were offered a single entree consisting of fried ham sandwiches. The dormitories explicitly state that they cannot fulfill the requirements of individual diets, yet there has been a tacit agreement to comply with religious observances. For example, meatless menus are provided every Friday and on days of abstenence for Catholic girls; spe- cial foods are available during Passover and pork derivatives are not served at sit down meals in deference to those of the Jewish faith. HIS WEEK'S INCIDENT then, would seem RACE RELATIONS IN DC: Sensitive Situation By ELLEN SILVERMAN ALTHOUGH the physical vio- lence of last Thanksgiving's race riots in the nation's capital have died down, the race tension is merely smoldering. Last November, riots broke out in D. C. Stadium when the city high school football champion- ship game was being played. Ne- groes and whites mattled each other viciously in an attack that rivaled the rough and tumble on the field. Since then,1 the city has been very sensitive about the race re- lations. Many of the schools have begun "citizenship" programs, several of them sponsored by the, Daughters of the American Revo- lution. * * * BUT THE RACE relations in Washington are far from perfect. On the streets it is rare that one can see a Negro and white walk- ing together in the downtown area. The schools are almost to- tally segregated as the whites move out to the Maryland or Virginia areas. he was driving near the D. C. city limits. "Sure it's crowded. Them niggers got their welfare checks tonight and have to spend them on booze. Washington is a welfare town, didn't you know that? We run on welfare," he said. OTHER EVIDENCES of the ten- sions between races could be seen on the buses, the only means of public transportation through the city and from the city to the suburban areas. On one bus, whites were standing and no one offered them a seat. When a Negro wo- man entered the bus, however, a Negro man stood up to give her his seat. Things are not all bad in the city. At a United States National Student Association conference held there last week, whites and Negroes mingled easily. The news- papers often carry pictures of members of both races acting to-. gether, working toward a common goal. But Washington has not quickly forgotten the incidents of last