Seventy-Third Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER' AUTHOR=T OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS here Opinions Are eS TUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBoR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Truth Will Previl" ditorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. LATIN AMERICAN AID: U.S. Backs Status Quo In Revolutionary Milieu IV LY, APRIL 16, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID MARCUS Tbe Girls' Honoraries: Not-So-High Ideals THE SPRING when everything thaws, niversity honors begin to flow with ever- reasing volume. Those who don't make it to Honors Convocation usually receive some t of award in their housing units. Those ose talents do not lie primarily in academic as get appointed to committees or honored their service to the community. lonorary organizations march across the npus at all hours of the night waking dormi- y residents with their various anthems, and ig their victims out -of bed to give them joyous news that they are among the elect. [he whole business usually reaches a climax the morning of the Honors Convocation en a "tribe" of half-naked junior and dor boys romp around Tappan Oak throwing ck dust on each other and talking "Indian ISGUSTING as their rituals are, the boys' honoraries are not as unfair as the girls'. Druids and Michigamua members are select- almost entirely on the basis of their posi- ns in certain University activities. Only in -e instances are the persons holding these sitons not fortunate enough to be dragged o the street and stripped in acknowledge- nt of their great service to the campus. [i the girls' honoraries, however, no, such sible system is used. Members are supposed conform to a vaguely stated set of criteria, : voting is a hit or miss proposition. The noraries usually send out lists to heads of using units and student organizations asking the names of outstanding women. Wyvern : Mortarboard, junior and senior women's roraries respectively, then check to see ether those whose names are sent in meet grade point requirement. Those who do are sidered; those who do not are sent on to other honoraries which do not have a Lolastic criterion. Then the remaining can- Lates are discussed and voted on. HIS SITUATION is slipshod to begin with, since it is always possible that an individual using unit or student activity has been over- Iked in the preliminary solicitation, or that e house mother or president has forgotten send in recommendations. When this hap- as, it is simply a matter of luck if other iMbers of the organizations come up with e nominations which have been overlooked. men comes the process of discussion pre- ling the voting, according to the practice the groups. As a resigned member of Mortar- ird, I am familiar with that group's prac- es. The national regulations of Mortarboard, de from minimum grade point, demand that mbers contribute outstanding service and ,dership to the University. No one ever proposes to define the term itstanding" before discussion begins. Every ting member merely applies it mentally fore making her decision on the individual minees. The voting system is known as unanimous nsent. Only "yes" votes are permitted. An stention counts as a "no" vote. This is' rported to be one of the great assets of the ganization, as it is supposed to make mem- rs compromise and cooperate with one an- her. It is in fact a one-man blackball. This means in practice that one senior can ep a prospective member out of the organ- tion because she does not feel that the minee is "outstanding." All she has to do sit there without raising her hand while eryone else votes in affirmation. The junior out. 'HE DEBATE on prospective members of girls' honoraries usually disintegrates into n-party evaluation. Only a few of the out- ing seniors know personally any given one the junior nominees. They read the list activities, listen to the testimony of the ember who knows the girl and on this basis ake up their minds. Defines Mat 'HE UNIVERSITY began a successful ex- periment this year-apartment permission r senior women. Contrary to some pessimistic ophecies, senior dormitories have not been anding empty due to a mass exodus, and, om all indications, immorality has not been nning rampant. What has happened is simple; senior women ho felt cramped and closed in in University >using have moved out and those who enjoy oup living have stayed. And there are many both kinds of women. However, now that the University has as- rtained that there are some women who, for any reasons, dislike living in dorms and me of them are able to move out, it is time at it allows junior and sophomore women do the same. 'HE SAME ARGUMENTS which were aired at this time last year when senior women The lists of activities generally include such services as presidency of a sorority or rush chairmanship of a house. Many of the nominees are past or present members of League com- mittees or central committees for the annual all-campus frolics. There are also usually a few Daily night editors. Suppose a nominee's name is presented. She has been president of her house. She was' cen- tral committee of some campus event during her freshman or sophomore year. Someone who knows her says, "this is really an out- standing girl. She did tremendous things for her house. She has a wonderful personality. She brings great zest and dedication to every pro- ject she dndertakes. She deserves to be a member of this organization." T HIS IS FINE in so far as it goes. Mortar- board, for example, is permitted to take up to 25 members and it would be fairly easy to fill that complement with the nominated juniors. But it sometimes happens that members of the outgoing chapter decide membership in the organization is being handed out too lightly. They conclude that there probably are not 25 really "outstanding" girls on campus and that it would be a mistake to take some who are merely "very good" just to fill the allotted quota. It then becomes a question of drawing the fine line between "very good" and "really out- standing," a difficult task since nobody has ever defined "outstanding. In the end, then, it comes down to one or two specific girls who keep out by the blackball one or two other specific girls. They may not even know the girls they are vetoing; they simply feel that they have a great moral responsibility to the organization to uphold its standards of excellence. THEIR ARGUMENTS GO, "Is this a charity institution? Are we taking girls because they ought to be outstanding or because they are outstanding?" and they sit on their hands, thus blackballing prospective members in order to uphold that chapter's values. Those who oppose the blackball may not know the individuals in question either. Their argument is that if it is impossible to deter- mine objectively whether a girl is "really outstanding" or "just very good," the thing to do is take her. Their position is that it is im- possible to sit in judgment on a girl they do not know when the crucial decision is based on such a tenuous distinction. They maintain further that the current members of the chapter, themselves included, are not so "out- standing" that they have any right to make such pronouncements about others. And as a final argument, they maintain that even if the proposed "tapee" is indeed "just very good" and not "really outstanding" it is better to take her than make her unhappy. The quality of the organization is not so high to begin with that acceptance of a few girls who are not "really outstanding" would harm it in the least. There is nothing "outstanding" about the campus honoraries. They generally do nothing except consider whether they ought to "do something" (which they rarely do) and then accomplish the business of perpetuating them- selves. It means very little to become a mem- ber of Mortarboard, Wyvern, Senior Society, Scroll or any other of the honoraries on cam- pus. They have prestige only because they keep some people out, thus making them jealous of the people who are accepted, thus placing value on membership in the organization. Members of the honoraries look very im- pressive when they walk solemnly down the halls of the dormitories in their various uni- forms singing about the high ideals they up- hold. It is a great pity that in a university of the calibre of this one, "high ideals" does not mean something much higher than what the honoraries stand for. -JUDITH OPPENHEIM Editorial Director urity Arbitrarily women find themselves. But for some reason, senior women are "more mature" than their lower class sisters and because of this, under- classmen endure many unhappy dorm years. But age in itself is no criterion 'of maturity. The maturation which comes through learn- ing cannot be measured. In one year at the University the freshman is exposed to many - new experiences. During this year he learns to budget his time and his money, to keep up in a competitive academic situation and to make decisions. That he is merely the same age as all of the other freshmen does not make the new student equal to his classmates in maturity. Each 18 year old is different and the level of maturity which he has attained is likewise different. THE UNIVERSITY should recognize that a woman who- has been admitted is of the highest calibre; she is intelligent and respon- sible. She is capable of running an apartment dw& . ' NY '%yu TRY A 50oMLE I KE AND A (\OLD S4OWE.R? TODAY AND TOMORROW: Gamble on Foreign Aid By ELLEN SILVERMAN' PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S recent trip to Central America was a new effort to strengthen relations between hemispheric neighbors and aid the money-starved Latin American states. By combining personal diplomacy with a pro- gram of foreign aid, the admin- istration is hoping to achieve something'which historically has been one of the hardest things for the hemisphere ,to achieve; a strongly democratic, highly in- dustrialized Latin America. This trip is significant in that it is one of a series of efforts made by American diplomats to strengthen the "little brothers of the South." Beginning with James G. Blaine's first call for a Pan- American meeting, the United Stateshas been interested in South and Central American and concerned with their well being. Since Blaine's time, American presidents have attempted to give support to Latin America in her struggle with European colonial- ism. Although this had often had the opposite effect of imposing upon Latin Americans the burden of throwing off American domina- tion and interference, the United States has attempted to strength- en the countries in order to in- sure a strongly loyal southern hemisphere with a fairly strong economic base. * * * EACH PRESIDENT has had his own method of doing this: Theo- dore Roosevelt used the "Roose- velt Corollary" to the Monroe Doc- trine in order to curb European interference in the hemisphere. At the same time, however, he laid the United States open to charges of imperialism with ac- tions in Cuba, Panama and Vene- zuela. His idea of "carrying a big stick" kept Europeans from acting rashly but it did not aid the Latin Americans who were being sub- jected to American interference in internal affairs and, in Cuba, American domination. President Taft's economic im- perialism, which is mostly asso- ciated with the Far East also seep- ed down to the Latin American nations. Here again, the American influence was a force in stimulat- ing a country's economy, however, the stimulus did not come from the individual states. President Wilson's use of troops in relation to Mexico also resulted in little concrete progress by the Latin Americans themselves and for the most paft aided only in producing bad feeling toward the United States. Both of these resulted in inter- ference in the internal workings of By WALTER LIPPMANN THE FOREIGN AID program, which began with the Marshall Plan in 1948, has always been a gamble, has never been a sure thing. In Europe, it has been a brilliant success. But 15 years ago, nobody could know that it would be. In fact, such were the poverty and paralysis of France, Italy and Germany that there was a serious possibility of a general collapse into Communism. The Marshall Plan was expensive. But because it worked, all would agree today that it was cheap at the price. Now we are concerned with for- eign aid in this hemisphere. The problem is not what it was in post- war Europe. There thedpurpose of aid was to enable advanced and highly-developedrcountries to re- cover from the world war. Our pur- pose in this hemisphere is more complicated and difficult. Broadly speaking, it is to help our neighbors achieve peaceably, and with liberty if not with de- mocracy, a revolution'out of their semi-feudal past. Our hope is that they will in fact achieve by pro- gressive government what, failing that, their people will attempt to achieve by revolutionary Commu- nism. **.* OUR POLICY is not only diffi- cult to carry out, but also it is difficult to explain. It is rather like attempting ,to explain why, in order to protect children from polio, we inoculate them with the polio virus. Our Latin-American policy would be easier to explain if we forgot about peaceable rev- olution and concentrated on the simple task of giving unlimited military support to any govern- ment, indeed to any dictator, who was unqualifiedly anti-Communist. Such a policy would earn much applause in certain quarters. The trouble is that it wouldn't last very long. For this is an age when the mass of men will no longer put up with their ancient poverty and servitude. Knowing this, we are looking to the progressive governments, as in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil, to carry out the progressive revolutions which are the alternative to the Castro- ite kind of revolution. It is, of course, a gamble, and nothing is easier than to think up the many reasons why it may be lost. * * * THE BIGGEST GAMBLE in all our foreign aid in this hemisphere is in Brazil. If the progressive revolution fails in Brazil and the country descends into revolutionary viol- ence, the whole continent is cer- tain to become involved. On the other hand, the prospects of success in Brazil are bright and alluring. For while Brazil has its desperately poor masses, it is not a primitive and undeveloped coun- try. It has a certain resemblance to Italy before its brilliant recov- ery when there was desperate pov- erty and backwardness in the south and high technical progress in the north. What is more, Brazil has good political habits in that it has learned how to change its gov- ernment without violence. In this century, one Brazilian president has committed suicide and one has resigned. There has been none of, the shooting and exiling and im- prisonment which has taken place in other countries. In Brazil, there is corruption, there is some infil- tration, there are special privileges and all that. But Brazil is blessed with the habit of domestic peace and of respect and obedience to the constituted authorities. * * * IF WE STUDY the agreement just worked out in Washington be- tween Brazilian Finance Minister Dantas and Mr. Bell, who now manages foreign aid, we are bound to marvel at the political courage of the Goulart government. To end the inflation and to re-estab- lish its international credit-wor- thiness, the Brazilian government has adopted a program which only a very strong government, strong in its hold on popular support, would dare to undertake. The Goulart government is go- ing to raise tax collections by 25 per cent. It has eliminated the subsidy of wheat, which has dou- bled the price of bread. It has eliminated the subsidy of petro- leum products, which raised the' price of gasoline 80 per cent. It has increased commuter railroad fares five times. It is cutting down the expansion of bank credit to a third of what it has been. It is freezing government employment and is trying to freeze government pay. It is an astonishing program. Yet it is said that the Goulart gov- ernment, which is left of center, is strong enough to carry out the program. We must hope that it will be, and surely the administration has been right in deciding to help it. For it would be hard to name any item in our whole global for- eign aid program which, if it suc-, ceeds, will do so much good. (c) 1963, The Washington Post Co. the Latin American countries and where this could not be accom- plished, in at least a strong at- tempt. PRESIDENT Franklin D. Roose- velt's Good Neighbor Program be- gan to rebuild the broken ties between the two hemispheres. But the World War II intervened and the program was cut off. Under President Truman, the aid programs which worked well in Europe were applied in a limited way to Latin America. With the Republican administration under President Eisenhower full blown aid to South America emerged. And then Vice-President Richard Nixon's intended trip indicated that this program was to be im- plemented with a personal contact policy. Americans suddenly began to read of Spanish-sounding names who were regular visitors at the White House. And then the White House went to visit Central and South America. But the result, again, was not a panacea. Nixon was stoned in the streets of Cara- cas and the instability of the Latin American nations continued. * * * KENNEDY'S Alliance for Pro- gress Program is an extention of the massive aid program now available to South American na- tions. Yet this too is not proving its worth. Like the programs which preceded it, it is plagued by the realities of South American poli- tics; realities which Americans seem to blithely ignore when plan- ning aid programs. In the first place, the United States often finds itself having to support dictatorships in order to keep foreign influence out and provide aid. When revolutions oc- cur, and they are not infrequent in Latin America, the new govern- ment is often hostile to the United States for aiding its predecessor. Or the new regime is opposed to the efforts of the deposed govern- ment and quickly acts to negate ' many steps taken during the first term. , Therefore the United States is often placed in the position of supporting the status quo in a hemisphere where the status quo is not ideal. Social revolution in Latin America is moving along quickly and the aid programs which the United States sets up are not applicable to nations which are in the throes of revolution. * * *. IN SHORT, the United States is caught in a trap. She wants to aid the Latin American nations. yet she is unable to set up aid programs which are in the tra- dition of the social revolution which is going on within each country. She is all too often put in the position of supporting a government which does not hive the support of the people or which is firmly entrenched due to non- democratic politics. There exists an enigma for the Latin American policy makers- should the United States support anyone in spite of the factthat the changes wrought by social revolution are so great they often nullify the plans of the aid pro- gram or should she allow the social change to occur without giving any aid and stand the chance of letting the Castro- ,Communists infiltrate the entire hemisphere and pose a threat to the internal security of the nation? OF COURSE, there are no clear- cut answers to the problem. But today United States foreign policy planners seem to be treading a fine line between the two ex- tremes. And the success of the programs which they have put into force is negligible. The Al- liance for Progress is not suited for Latin America; it has not lived up to the expectations of the Americans who formed it The facts of Latin American society and the rapid change which is occuring there must be considered by the planners before any usable program can be formu- lated which will aid the Latin Americans. But the facts must be taken into account as soon as possible if the ideals are ever to be achieved. f >,," ._ SPECTACLE: Long Day'. Lingers On "THE LONGEST DAY," Darryl F. Zanuck's panoramic view of D-Day, has ' been described in varying terms: "brilliant;" "spec- tacular;" "stupendous;" "over- done;" "overlong." The latter two adjectives are mine. It is overdone because Mr. Zan- uck has been fit to do a Mike Todd and load as many name actors and actresses into the film as pos- sible, without regard to their act- ing ability; thus, we have such a pastiche as Tommy Sands and Fabian and Richard Beymer and Henry Fonda and Curt Jurgens. * * * IN OTHER WORDS, the gamut is run. These "cameo perform- ances," as Todd would have called them, serve little purpose other than to draw audiences by sheer volume of lettering on the mar- quee. As a matter of fact, they tend to detract from the quality of this film by fragmenting it and not really focusing on any one set of characters. This is gen- erally one of the problems of a spectacular film. Especially when one adds too many stars with per- sonalities that cannot be sub- merged in a plot. There were some good perform- ances - Curt Jurgens, Richard Burton, and a few others. There were some fair ones - Edmund O'Brien, Eddie Albeit. There were many bad ones -- John Wayne, who is the very definition of the word typecast, Peter Lawford run- ning around the beach with a turtle-neck sweater, etc. The dialogue was not very great -"Well, Ike, what do you think?" "I don't know, Monty." Or this prize piece directed to Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt- "You're the son of a President. Your father went up San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders." * *s * BUT DIALOGUE and characters are not the essential thing in such a film, or so Mr. Zanuck seems to think. It is the spectacle that counts, and this is done well. The stereophonic sound will blast your ears if you happen to sit near a speaker; the camera shots are of course magnificent. And as far as I can tell, the film is for the most part histor- ically accurate. The mass .scenes, with thousands of Twentieth Cen- tury Fox's finest storming the beaches, are overwhelming. It seems to me, however, that after a little while, the spectacle begins to wear down. I felt that after the second hour, even that part of the film was getting tire- some. Diminishing returns on gun- fire? --M. Steven Hendel FEIFFER 6U6S5 ORAK706 0Ur I 50'. t MORE To 'A%, 15 TEIL? ITUT ALSEO. 6ur W6e TOHe i ('2 WASA TXf6MOST PERFCr UPR iwl~ OF 144 GiF6. ' +W tAST WILL RWMA1I) WONI MF ri~ rO~Yi (4~ AWqHoR6EIV Apt 4TH106J&IF IT 1oR zrw r (V EIV 5 MJ./ ffS7RUTW6I 8LU I WAIJ To1. I WAMT 66 r &X8-0"