Seventy-Thrd Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNiVERSITY OF MICHIGAN z - UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Where Oplrllon Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 TrautbWinl Prevan- ' Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. AY, MAY 19, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: ELLEN SILVERMAN The 'U' and Holden: Just Giant Phonies AFTER FOUR YEARS of study at the Uni- versity of Michigan, I cherish the Philos- ophy 263 quiz which was returned with the comment, "You have taken something totally irrelevant and cleverly made it half relevant- C"; a Political Science 402 term paper which displayed "gross conceit, prejudice and ig- norance of the subject matter-E"; and a Geography 101 final examination which I flunked and was told, "We do not like seniors taking examinations cold in a course for Clarification? STUDENT GOVERNMENT Council's power to enforce sorority and fraternity compliance with the University's policy of non-discrimina- tion is now clear. The area of confusion has not been whether SGC has the power to enforce student organizations to comply but whether this power may be applied to the fraternities and sororities. The five part statement adopted by the Re- gents Friday, intended to outline the manner in which SGC can go about implementing its authority does not really outline the manner very clearly.- SOC has nominally had the power to enforce University regulations on discrimination since 1959 when The Regents granted it the authori- ty by approving .the revised Council Plan. There has been some uncertainty, however, as to whether SG actually did have the authori- ty. The affiliate system contended that member groups were notstudent organizations and that SGC consequently had no legal jurisdiction over their membership selection practices. The Regents' statement makes clear that fraternities and sororities are considered stu- dent organizations and that SGC does have every right to enforce University policy in re- gard to their membership selection procedures. E FIRST section of the statement declares that all action taken by SGC in this area is subject to the veto of the vice-president for student affairs. SOC has been given the right to initiate action but not the ultimate right to demand that its decision be enforced. Thus, it has not been given any additional power over its past authority. The vice president's veto should not be a handicap, however, since it would be very dif- ficult for the Office of Student Affairs to jus- tify vetoing an SGC request to withdraw recog- nition from a house clearly in violation of By- law 2.14. The tone of The Regents statement is positive and giving the ultimate power to the vice president is certainly not unexpected. I T IS THE third section of The Regents state- ment which is the innovation and makes possible the hope that SGC will actually suc- ceed in seeing its legislation effected. This section "Specifically includes sororities and fraternities within the term 'student or- ganization'." Thus, the major contention the affiliate system has used in the past to argue against SGC regulation of its activities has been swept aside. In response to a question asking if legal advice had prompted the decision to include fraternities and sororities in the term 'stu- dent organization', University President Harlan Hatcher indicated that he was not aware any controversy had existed over the term. He said if such controversy were to develop, legal coun- sel would have to be sought. This is not par- ticularly reassuring. F THE FRATERNITIES and sororities are to be considered student organizations on the basis of nothing more than a recognition that it would be easier for SGC to deal with them that way, tlie whole question has certainly not been solved. President Hatcher's indication that he was not even aware of the controversy is a sad comment on the probable results of the effectiveness of the renewed strength SGC has been given. T HE FIFTH SECTION declares, in rather nteresting language, that "the implemen- tation of the policy of non-discrimination shall be carried out as far as possible to preserve the confidentiality of secrets of recognized student organizations, the freedom of association, and to guarantee fair notice and hearing to affected organizations." . Presumably the "as far as possible" is up toi e-SGC-in each separate case; there is no written formula setting down the limitations beyond - which SGC must not tread. It is not a particu- larly clear statement. How does SGC deter- mine just how much information is necessary to make a decision in any given case? Neither is the term "freedom of association" clear. Does It mean the sororities and fraternities are, free to associate with any group of people they may wish to as long as this does not involve discriminatory membership regulations? Ob- viously it does. But it seems that it could easily be distorted into meaning that this freedom of association cannot be trespassed under any circumstances. Section five appears to have been included ias more of a sop to the affliiate system than as a meaningful guide. Rpor arm e l.-a - a,. s ir s~tp he.ata which they neither registered nor attended classes." I cherish them because they represent an irrational rebellion against the academic world. The academic world is, perhaps, the most stodgy, conservative and self-perpetuating group in the universe. WHERE ARE the professors who strike out after new dimensions and attempt to bring this quest back from the research cubbyhole to their undergraduates? Where are the pro- fessors who see through student facades? Where are the professors who are willing to discuss academic freedom at an open meeting and not behind the closed doors of the Uni- versity Senate and the AAUP? Where is the faculty which makes distribu- tion changes because the changes conform bet- ter to the idea of a liberal education and not because the mathematics department is operat- ing beyond capacity and the removal of math- ematics as a distribution requirement would lessen the load? Where are the brilliant behavioralists who should be in undergraduate classrooms or on PhD committees and not stuffed away in Mental Health Research Institute, there to practice their "heresy" far from the impres- sionable eyes? Where is the faculty which is willing to stand up for its academic rights and freedoms? Not at the University of Michigan. WHERE ARE the students who are here for knowledge alone? Where are the students who do not quest after grades for grades' sake, who take courses which will really challenge them, who do not. brown-nose? Where is the student who does not live in the library, buried in his books, too busy to indulge in the world about him, a world which will swallow him shortly? Where is the student, who in a term paper, has said all he really could say in five pages and left it at that instead of padding for another fifteen or twenty? Where is the stu- dent who is willing to challenge openly his professor in the classroom or in a term paper? Where is the student who has an original idea or original slant on a topic and has not borrowed it from another student, taken it from his professor or simply rewritten it from the four "research books?" Not at the University of Michigan, WHERE ARE the administrators and Regents who can honestly permit anyone to speak on campus on any topic? Where are the ad- ministrators and Regents who inform and con- sut the general student body, and for that matter the whole faculty, on significant changes during the planning stage and not present them as fait accompli? Where are the administrators who supervise an honors pro- gram which stresses academic experiment and creativity and then integrate successful pro- grams into the general curricula and do not take successful general programs and restrict them to the isolated elite? Where are the administrators and Regents who are concerned with doing something about the housing conditions of their students and who have more important matters to deal with than dress regulations? Where are the admin- istrators and Regents who do not prostrate themselves in the dust before Imperial Lansing? Not at the University of Michigan. WHERE ARE the alumni who attempt to make a university self-supporting, who are more interested in academics than in football? Where are the alumni who are more progressive than to impose Victorian morals upon students or to recreate '23 Skidoo with its "rah-rah," hazing and savagery? Where are the alumni who will permit fraternity and sorority stu- dents to decide for themselves on questions of pledging, bias clauses and ritual? Not at the University of Michigan. WHERE IS the ideal university, dedicated to educating and not to regimenting students, to Renaissance Man and not the Specialist. Where is the ideal university which obtains the best professors at respectable salaries and obtains the most qualified students regardless of city of origin. Where is the ideal university which has an open forum and which attempts to lead society to a greater intellectual aware- ness? Not the University of Michigan. ON THE EIGHTH of June,I receive my sheepskin and ribbon, shake hands with a silver haired gentleman who once showed me how to tie a bow tie, and set sail upon the sea of life. I have attempted to live up to an ideal held by our society-the ideal of a liberal education and the intellectual man. But I too have failed. I am not liberally edu- cated-I know next to nothing about El Greco or Picasso, Sam Johnson or Hemingway, Haydn or Stravinski, Plato or Russell, Newton or Einstein, Darwin or Marx. "You Know What? A Lot Of People Down Here Are Just Plain Prejudiced Against Us" A II t -- m f T?*E A~'W6T' ?ST A FACE IN THE CROWD By RONALD WSILT ON, Acting Editor By EDWARD HERSTEIN A LARGE part of the wheat farmer's future is wrapped up in Tuesday's national wheat ref- erendum. A Kennedy Administra- tion proposal calling for strict crop limitations and high price sup- ports will be instituted if there is a favorable vote of two-thirds of the nation's wheat farmers. Critics of the program base their objections on an argument that the less government inter- vention the better. They say that the government has made the farm problem the mess that it is and that the time is long past when government should get out of the farmer's problems. These critics are wrong. They err on two distinct points and in doing so show a fundamental mis- conception of the status and his- tory of American agriculture. * * * THE FIRST point these critics miss is that farming cannot be compared to other industries in evaluating the merits of govern- ment intervention and control. The nation's farms are not giant corporations capable of setting prices at any level they arbitrarily desire. Individually, each contrib- utes such a small share to the market, that the actions of any one farmer can hardly affect the market price of wheat at all. For this reason the government has intervened in farming for en- tirely different motives than it intervenes in steel or electricity. The basis of government interven- tion in farming rests on the fact that for the last several decades population growth has not kept pace with productivity increases in agriculture. Supply has increased at a far more rapid rate than de- mand, and, as a result, the price of farm products has been drop- ping. This has, in turn, resulted in a drop in farm income which has caused a mass exodus from rural to urban areas. However, this emi- gration has been considerably less than that necessary to keep farm prices high without government intervention. * * * DURING THE 1930's, farm prices dropped about twice as far as that for industrial products. Farm aid, started under Hoover in 1929, was greatly expanded, lead- ing to the vast aid and surplus of products today. But was there really any choice? With one- fourth of the country unemployed, there was nowhere left for farm- ers to find work. The government could do little else. Since that time, a variety of methods has been aimed at reduc- ing both the number of farmers and the aid given to them..Aside from direct aid to needy farmers, two principle methods have been employed. The first is to "restrict the pro- duction of crops by acreage allot- ments or crop quotas. With acre- age allotments, however, farmers set aside their worst acreage and. more intensively cultivate their best. As a result, long run reduc- tions in crop output are seldom effected. Furthermore, even when this method is successful - and it is when crop limitations rather than acreage allotments are applied - there are a number of very severe drawbacks. The program raises the price of farm products to the consumer. In the past it has only applied to large acreage farms which then collect monetarynpay- ments from the government for keeping their land out of produ- UNDERSCORE: wheat Referendum: Best Alternative tion; meanwhile, the farmer with little land continues to produce as much as he can in his less efficient way while still wallowing in squal. or. The Kennedy Administration realizes this and, in addition to using the superior crop limitation plan, its program contains several other features which are not in- cluded in the referendum. pro- posal. * . * THE SECOND major method has been price supports. These have either taken the form of the government buying all crops that cannot be sold at the support price or selling all crops at the free market price with the government paying the farmer the difference from what he would have earned had he sold at the support price. This program contains even more flaws than the acreage restriction plan. With farmers getting a good price for their crops, they have no reason to restrict their production. The government buys, or pays for, whatever is not sold at a price needlessly high to the consumer. The taxpayer is hurt at both ends -paying taxes to support prices which make farm products cost him more. Little wonder critics complain. This plan was tried ex- tensively by former Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson un- der the Eisenhower Administra- tion. Of course, some surplus crops are valuable. The government sends great quantities of surplus wheat to needy nations overseas as part of our Food for Peace pro- gram. In fact, were it not for many practical difficulties, there would be no surplus of crops at all, for many countries are des- perate for food. However, many problems prevent us from sending all of our surpluses abroad; until these are resolved, there is a cry- ing need to cut down on the amount of surplus food which costs over a million dollars a day to store and is rotting away in government bins.' * * * . P R E S I D EN T Kennedy's at- tempted solution to the biggest part of the farm problem, surplus kheat, in addition to imposing strict crop limitations, guarantees wheat a support price of around two dollars per bushel. The second fundamental error which critics of the Administra- tion's proposal make is the com- plaint that each new limitation or support deprives the farmer of his freedom. But since proposed crop restrictions must be approved by two-thirds of the farmers, the argument should go the other way. Farmers, with the sanction of a government concerned for the welfare of all, have the right to restrict their output so that they can make a ,reasonable living. Other aspects of the Kennedy program (notincluded in the ref- erendum) are the conversion of farmland to recreation area and attempts to improve the economic well-being of the farmers. Federal aid to education, scholarships and retraining programs all fit in this. category. Even attempts to in- prove the overall economy and. consequently increase job oppor- tunities enter this realm. In the short run, the supports, the allotments, the conversion of farmland to other uses, the schol- arships, the aids, the full-employ- ment economy all taken together will not solve the farm problem. But until a better method is found, the Kennedy program is the best alterntive available. For the good of the farmers, the ref- erendum Tuesday had best pass.! THE VIOLENT confrontation between black and white in Birmingham has lessened over the past few days. Both sides have decided to rely on negotiations to achieve their aims. Yet the con- ditions that set off the demon- strations still exist, in New York, Detroit and the rest of the country as well as Birmingham. Prospects for future violence are almost certain, both in the North and South. When the violence comes the Negro will find himself without much outside support. If the dem- onstrations revealed one thing they brought into the open the political sterility of the Northern American "liberal" establishment -particularly the type of liberal- ism practiced by the Kennedy ad- ministration which is not really liberal.+ The hedging, half-hearted sup- port these people gave the demon- strations, is typified by Attorney General Robert Kennedy's remark that Negroes should make their case "in meetings, in good faith negotiations and not in the street." This proved to many Negroes that when the going gets serious the only ones they could depend on in the desegregation struggle were LETTERS to the EDITOR To the Editor: ELLEN SILVERMAN'S declama- tory editorial concerning the normal credit load of 15 hours deserves serious attention. She suggests that every student be re- quired to take at least 18 hours per semester. (She is presently taking eighteen hours.) I suggest Miss Silverman suffer alone. Scholarship is praiseworthy. The question is one of quantity or quality. Miss Silverman finds no justification for liberal arts stu- dents beyond the first semester to take a light load (15 hours). Perhaps Miss Silverman is com- pletely devoted to scholarship, in which case I congratulate her in- nocence. However, her criticism (Miss Silverman is not only a Contributing Editor to The Daily but also a movie critic) which appeared almost next to her edi- torial was even worse than the movie it attempted to cut to jour- nalistic ribbons. *,* * LIBERAL ARTS students are required to write a considerable number of papers. If a student expects to learn and develop in- tellectually, it is of maximum im- portance that he take his studies seriously. The writing of a good paper requires concentration and time. They are not to be turned in with journalistic efficiency, but with care and planning. If a stu- dent can learn to express himself well in his papers, then he should themselves-something which the Black Muslims have been pro- claiming for years. * * * THERE ARE times when the stand of these so-called "liberals" amuses as well as disheartens me. Of course they say the right things against the Southern whites. Everybody agrees that the pictures of police dogs tearing at Negroes was "shocking" and that the use of fire hoses was "deplorable." Yet at the same time they criti- cize the Negroes for resorting to large scale demonstrations, the use of children and finally vio- lence. Actually I suppose I shoudn't be surprised. The Northern liberal is a funny person. Intellectually he agrees that discrimination is wrong, yet he prefers to castigate the South rather than clean up his own front yard. Anyone who has ever walked through Harlem or the South Side "black belt" of Chicago will agree that this clean- ing up is necessary. The federal government as well as some Northern local govern- ments have made some feeble at- tempts to correct local conditions but these are few and far between. At the same time this liberal wants the Negro, particularly the Southern Negro, to play by the rules while fighting for first-class citizenship. The rules include court actions, moderation, boycotts and non-violence. When the Ne- gro departs from these rules, as he did in Birmingham, the liberal self-righteously admonishes him that this is not right., He does this as a self-proclaimed friend, anxious to help the black man, a friendship sometimes mo- tivated by guilt feelings of being white and of being the bearer of a heritage laden with white su- premacy and exploitation of the darker races. THE TROUBLE with the North- ern white "liberal" is that he is not able to put himself in the Negroes' shoes. His view of the situation is distorted by the fact that he lives in a society which lets him play by the rules. He is a first-class citizen which enables him to achieve his political, eco- Aomic and social aims through the normal established channels of. society. He tends to feel that the whole country more or less agrees with him: segregation is bad, there is consensus on the fact that legit- iment channels provide the only answer. But Southern whites do not play by the rules where racial issues are concerned. Court decisions are ignored; a double standard of jus- tice exists for whites and Negroes; Negro homes and churches are bombed; every now and then a Negro is lynched and the perpe- trators are never caught. The Ne- gro cannot use the channels avail- able in the North because those institutions in the South-the state governments, local govern- ments and police-are structured and staffed to keep the status quo as stable and as segregated as possible. Even the effectiveness of they are impeded in their organ- ization by the white economic elite and where they do exist they are often segregated. The farmers in the "black belt" are dependent on white landlords, suppliers and buyers for their existence. The white upper classes often foster race hatred to prevent lower class whites and Negroes from banding 'together and concentrating on im- proving their class position. The Negro is left with no re- sources but his own manpower. Also on his side is the indisput- able fact that he is a second-class citizen in a land which boasts of freedom and equality. He has been kicked, beaten, intimidated and terrorized since the Emancipation Proclamation freed him a hundred years ago. Hie is a human being whose human dignity has been stripped from him. At this point he is revolting against his situation. He is through appealing to the conscience of the white; those who have one by and large don't produce results and those who don't have one just laugh. His patience is exhausted; the wonderous thing is that it en- dured for so long. * * * IN THIS LIGHT I say the pro- testations of the "liberal" white against the Birmingham demon- strations are ludicrous. The Ne- gro held mass demonstrations be- cause the economic injury to the local region and the political dam- age to the United States will force the whites to take action. He lets his children go to jail because having them grow up fighting for their rights is better than having them grow up servile. He throws bricks at cops because there is just so much a man can take when his homes and churches have been bombed and he has been attacked by police dogs. He revolts against the rules because they were made for the white man and not for him and the Southern white man does not fol- low them. It is true that demonstrations may not change the attitudes of the Southern whites and it is here that the ultimate change must take place if we are to have true equality for all. Yet minds are never changed when people are segregated from each other and one group is dominant. The Negro first has to get first class citizenship and equal treat- ment at the hands of society. After this is achieved, he can start working on a personal level to change people's minds. But above all he must have his dignity as a human being. The Negro is seeking what is rightfully his and in this he is forcing our hand. The whites in this country can 'react in several ways. They can give up all the trite phrases about the equality of man and advocate white suprem- acy, a policy which would lead to a national race war. They can fumble the issue as they are do- ing now and take an international beating. Or they can decide that they really believe in human dig- nity and the rights of man and GLEE CLUB CONCERT: Christopher Highlights Varied Pro'gram LAST NIGHT'S performance of the Michigan Men's Glee Club was varied and relaxing. Appearing in its one hundred and fourth annual spring concert, the Club sang with complete confidence, discipline and ability. The program ranged from the prologue to Pagliacci by Leoncavallo to the songs of Jerome Kern to traditional Michigan "songs." Probably the best feature of the concert, however, was the soloists. Russell Christopher, former Glee Club member and winner of this year's Metropolitan Opera auditions, performed the prologue to Pag- liacci, the piece with which he gained first place. He also sang the well known "It ain't necessarily so." Christopher is not only a powerful and expert baritone, but also a smooth and accomplished showman who can control the reactions of the audience with ease. * * * * ANOTHER HIGH point of the evening was Ronald Jeffers' per- formance of the spiritual, "There Is a Balm in Gilead." The Glee Club also showed that it could provide an effective background to soloists. Other soloists were Leonard Riccinto, tenor; and Norman Brody, baritone; both performed in "Is My Team Plowing" from A. E. Hous- man's "Shropshire Lad," set to music by Butterworth. Riccinto's smooth and clear voice and Brody's unusually rich tone made this song one of the most beautiful in the concert. Steven Jones, another tenor soloist, gave a quite animated per- formance of Torme's folksy "Country Fair." Jones is a good example of the kind of voice the Glee Club tends to attract and develop. The tone is perfectly clear and the words surprisingly distinct-a combina- tion that would please the most Cartesian listener. . 1* * * * /