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Conference
on
the,
Universi
v-il
gESDAY, MARCH 8, 1961
NIGHT EDITOR: SUSAN FARRELL
..............
Operation Abolition;
ud the Right To Question
['DENT GOVERNMENT COUNCIL'S de-
cision on "Operation Abolition" tonight is
Lecision that involves far more than judging
ilm.
lather, the film is merely a take-off point
ich gives the Council the opportunity to
press itself on such vital issues as academic
edom, the validity of the Bill of Rights, and
need to -cease regarding the question of
mmunism in America as a sacred, unde-
table issue.
'hese issues are supposedly not the main
icerns of the film--supposedly the concern
the film is to establish a casual link between
ident demonstrations aggainst the House
-American Activities Committee in San
ancisco last May and Communist Party in-
;ration of the San Francisco area. The film
gins with a photograph of one of the articles
James Roosevelt (D-Calf) which attacks
e committee. The remainder of the film,
Ich concentrates on emphasizing the role
Communists in the San Francisco demon-
ations, attempts to discredit all criticism of
e committee by creating the impression that
ch criticism is Communist dominated, Com-
mist-led, Communist-supported, and that
e organizations and people who participate in
i criticism have been infiltrated and in-
enced by Communists.
PEdIFIC PORTIONS OF the film will doubt-
less be discussed ad infinitum tonight and
s article does not intend to go into these
,idents in detail. Perhaps two examples,
wever, will be instructive as illustrations of
e viscuous implications and slanted informa-
n that are rampant throughout the film.
There is a photograph of Vincent E. Hallenan
tside the hearing room' Accompanying the
wing of Hallenan are these remarks: "This
Vincent E. Hallenan, who ran for President
the Progressive Party ticket in 1952. He has
ced served a prison term and is lawyer for
reral Communist witnesses."
Let us examine the possible interpretations
at could be derived from this statement.
st, ran for the Progressive Party-meaning
ran for an obscure party that has a name-
rogressive"-which could easily be construed
left-wing, and perhaps a Communist front.
cond, served a prison term-the film is
out Communism so maybe he served a prison
*m for an infraction relating to Communism,
t the film doesn't say. The remark does,
wever, serve to discredit Hallenan further.
nally, we hear the piece de =resistance-a
vyer for several Communist witnesses. Aha,
e may reason, look at the kind of lawyers
mmunists get-men who run for obscure po-
ical parties and serve prison terms. Futher-
>re, he's a lawyer for several Communist wit-
sses. Clearly, Hallenan has a marked Red
nt about him which further proves that there
n be no question of lawyers honestly trying
protect a Communist's constitutional rights
ce these lawyers are themselves closely
gned with Communism.
'HE SECOND EXAMPLE of the distorted
content of the film comes extremely close
an outright lie. The film portrays the stu-
nts in the police station after their demon-
ations had been violently crushed. "Organ-
d resistance changes into confusion at the
lice station," the film tells us as it portrays
o physically exhausted students. The nar-
or continues by saying that part of the
idents confusion stemmed from their realiza-
in that they had been "unwitting dupes" of
a Communist Party and "had performed lihe
ppets,"
The film neglects the fact that the students
Laotian Dragon
'IE PEOPLE OF confused Laos like other
would-be free and rightly governed peoples
come more a part of the world of modern
litical civilization with every test to their
ternal government-that is, when they're not
rding off dragons.
Last week panic swept over Vientiane, the
pital of this civil war-torn Asiatic country
iere as many as four "kings" have claimed
premacy. Residents, recalling the living
rror of war that they have known so well,
d the city screaming as the crack of machine
ns and mortars split the night air.
'HEX RETURNED LATER - relieved and
otherwise - when they found that all the
nfire was simply a part of a big celebration
er the moon eclipse that night. An eclipse,
cording to Laotian legend, is caused because
e moon is being eaten by a dragon. So, true
Laotian tradition, the militry turned out,
ot the dragon down, and saved the moon.
Now, since the civilization on our side of the
earl is unhappily without such custom, we
obably cannot understand the full signifi-
ace of the situation. But what happens when
like the fellow on radio says-the' Laotians
at the station unanimously signed a statement
that they were not ashamed of their actions
and would be willing to repeat them.
This type of McCarthyite tactic and pre-
sentation is seen throughout the film.,
fH E ENTIRE FILM, for instance, leaves the
impression that one's ideas on a specific
issue are discredited if they are shared by
Communists. It is obvious that Communists
would be against this committee: the com-
mittee's purpose is to eliminate Communists
individually and en masse from America. It
is also natural, however, that non-Communist
and anti-Communist civil libertarians should
be against the committee. It is natural that
civil libertarians would oppose the use of Con-
gressional investigatory power to harass and
endanger men for their political beliefs-even
when those political beliefs may have been
discarded twenty or thirty years ago. It is
natural that civil libertarians would oppose a
committee that operates on the assumption
that membership in a political party implies
total acceptance of the most obnoxious
methods, theories and 'policies of that party.
It is this attempt to establish guilt by asso-
ciation that can be seen in J. Edgar Hoover's
fear that the Southern sit-in movement is
Communist-inspired since 'Communists ad-
vocate civil rights.-
Associated with the film's viscuous use of
guilt by association is the implied limitations
the film's supporters would place upon political
activity and the right to criticize. Since the
film concerns college students, this also be-
comes an issue of academic freedom.
ONE OF THE worst residual habits of Ameri-
can thought left by the McCarthy era has
been the tendency to regard American Com-
munism as an issue of absolutes-either one
believes it is justifiable to employ a method-
ology that makes a mockery of democracy in
attacking Communism or one is either a Com-
munist himself, a fellow-traveler, tool or dupe.
This thinking naturally extends itself to dis-
cussion of the House and Senate committees
concerned with Communism.
A recent example of such thinking was
HUAC chairman Francis Walter's (D-Pa)
statement that "there are no two sides to the
question of Communism being evil and un-
American." This is fine, indeed. But the
validity of this statement does not free the
committee from criticism; does not free the
committee from its obligations as part of a
democratic system of government to conduct
itself in a responsible and objective way. And
whether or not a committee is dealing with
an issue of great emotive force, such as Com-
munism, this does not mean it is beyond
logical criticism. One need not be a labor
racketeer to criticize hearings on labor rack-
eteering nor need one be a Communist to
oppose the methods of hearings on Commun-
ism.
F SUCH THINKING 'is accepted, then the
Bill of Rights becomes, like many other
things in modern America, a document of all
relatives and no absolutes. Americans do not
have constitutional rights-only non-Commun-
ist Americans are entitled to such rights. It
is merely a logical extension of this thinking
that enables Arkansas to pass a law prohibiting
NAACP members from holding state jobs and
Mississippi to require applicants for state jobs
to list all organizations they have belonged
to for the past five- years. Such laws are very
much in keeping with the thinking of the
committee. The NAACP, which advocates
changes that would revolutionize and over-
throw the existing political and social order
of the South, is indeed subversive in Arkansas
and Mississippi. Thus the only difference be-
tween extending rights to non-Communist
Americans only and, in the South, to whites
only is one of degree.
To date, objection to condemnation of the
film has not seemed to crystallize at SGC. The
most irrelevant objection to consideration of
the film -- namely, that students were dis-
orderly in their demonstrations - has already
beep included in the motion.
ANOTHER OBJECTION HAS been that the
film does not attempt to establish as fact
the Communist-inspired nature of the demon-
strations but only as impression. This does
not deny the fact that the "impression" is sup-
ported by the same distorted and inaccurate
film as would be the "fact."
What underlies such petty objections to
the motion is more likely the climate of fear
and timidity which the committee has man-
aged to create.
Unless those Council members who oppose
this motion declare themselves with greater
articulation, they will give the appearance of
having their thinking governed and influenced
by fear and timidity.
If such a climate of fear is to change-if
we are to revert to the proper right of citizens
in a democracy to freely descuss all issues-
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following
jointly-prepared article is the eighth
in The Daily's series on "The Uni-
versity's Greatest Needs." Power is
currently a special student, and was
Daily Editorial Director in 1959-60.)
By THOMAS HAYDEN
Editor
and PHILIP POWER
SHARPLY RISING enrollment
pressures, inadequate operat-
ing budget, a disastrous morator-
ium on University and state con-
struction, competition from other
universities and colleges for key
faculty members and choice re-
search grants, spiralling size and
administrative complexity, the ex-
citing frontiers of new knowledge,
the challenges of the sixties for
state universitiesbn h
All these problems facing the
University are crucial and long-
standing, and their Very repeti-
tious ring suggests that on of the
University's greatest needs surely
is to sit itself down and face the
issues squarely and collectively.
Wise consideration of our com-
mon issues must involve not just
administrative decision - makers,
but a broader range of individuals
from the whole community who,
since they are substantially af-
fected by the issues, have a legiti-
mate interest in their eventual
resolution.
*s "
WE SUGGEST a Conference on
the University as a step towards
such resolution. Spanning a two-
day period, the conference would
bring together persons from many
areas of the University who would
address themselves, in an inform-
ed, frank, and imaginative way, to
specific issues and also to the
larger problem of maintaining,
improving and even defining a
qualityuniversity.
The concept "quality universi-
ty" is necessarily ambiguous; but
as far as this particular University
is concerned, we suggest that
striving toward and achievement
of "quality" demands an accept-
ance of two basic beliefs:
1) That a university is a com-
munity characterized by a certain
mutuality of purpose, arising from
the common dedication of its
members to education and schol-
arship and maintained by con-
stant and effective communication
throughout. To the extent that
this University is without lucid
intercommunication, it approaches
stasis and stagnancy and contra-
dicts the meaning of community.
S * 4 4
2) THAT THE University must
work relentlessly at being a face-
to-face, rather than a mass, so-
ciety. Though necessarily bureau-
cratic, the University should at-
tempt always to prevent bureau-
c'rtic interference in the personal
confrontation between individuals
which is essential to education.
Perhaps ironically, we are pro-
posing that a little more bureauc-
racy-the conference itself-can
be an effective instrument in pro-
moting the personal mode of as-
sociation crucial to the Univer-
sity's proper functioning.
Keeping these considerations
centrally in mind, we foresee the
following series of worthwhile ob-
jectives for a Conference on the
University:
* * *
1) INCREASED Communica-
tion: The need for communication
within the University is acute, yet
at present there exists no con-
scious, organized, general effort
designed to draw all elements of
the University into mutual dia-
logue. Committees of various
sorts which might do the job are
usually limited in scope and mem-
bership, or limited to individual
schools and colleges.
Communication is not only a
good in itself. It has a broader
utility and many far-reaching ef-
fects. If any student group, for
example, would take the time and
effort to thoroughly communicate
its position vis a vis certain is-
sues to other similarly-concerned
groups in the University, rumor,
allegations, and consequent fric-
tion might well be reduced.
* * *
THE CONFERENCE would be
designed to facilitate such com-
munication. In bringing University
people face to face, interpreting
their thoughts and needs to each
other, and in providing informa-
tion about specific problems, it
would offer the prerequisites for
serious gropu inquiry.
* * *
2) INTROSPECTION: Any large
organization must from time to
time focus concern on itself-its
organization and inner workings,
its present state and future plans,
it spurposes and underlying as-
sumptions. This is because or-
ganizations, if not purposefully
directed, tend to grow and move
in sometimes undesirable and un-
expected directions. When this
happens, there is a further ten-
dency for the "decision-makers"
to rationalize the change as being
acceptable: ("Perhaps the speak-
ers' policy is not entirely tenable,
but everything considered, things
work out all right as they are").
If the University has certain
specific goals it wishes to attain,
it cannot trust to chance that it
will somehow reach them without
Outline of Proposal
Proposal for a Conference on the University:
Objectives:
1) Increased Communication
2) Introspection
3) Democratization of Decision-Making
4) Improvement of University Planning
5) Challenge to Sterotyped Thought
6) Utilization of Imagination
Date: A weekend late in April
Participants: 50 students, 50 administrators, 100 faculty
members, plus the Board of Regents
Possible Discussion Topics: (Listed by Committee and
Subcommittee)
1) The University and the Public
a) Fund-Raising
b) Relations with Alumni
c) Constitutional Responsibilities
d) Relations with the Legislature
e) Admissions Policy,
2) University Planning (physical institution)
a) North Campus
b) Housing
c) Areas of Expansion
3) The University as an Educational Institution
ernment Council as it is of some
departmental chairmen.
The conference would confront
decision-makers with different as-
sumptions and ways of thinking,
even with different sets of relevant
information. Hitherto protected
ideas and assumptions would be
opened to essential public scru-
tiny and challenge. Forced to
grapple with new ideas and meth-
ods, decision-makers might re-
think their ow nassumptions in
light of present-day realities and
alternative solutions.
6) UTILIZATION of Imagina-
tion: Imagination is too rarely an
element in the development and
enactment of University policy.
Unfortunately, creative persons
not directly involved in decision-
making often have no access to
information that governs policy-
formation or hesitate to waste
their time or energy taking an
idea through bothersome and un-
familiar, channels. Thus their
fresh and potentially valuable vi-
sion has little effect at the some-
times stale administrative level of
University policy-making.
The conference would provide
an opportunity for confrontation
between the original and the con-
ventional, the unorganized and-
the bureaucratic, the visionary and
the pragmatic.
* * *
THE NEED for such a confron-
tation is demonstrated each time
a University decision is made on a
basis of expediency or habit, or
each time a creative professor or
student expresses a feeling that he
is impotent to influence the course
of the University.
Concern for lack of imagina-
tion in decision-making has been
publicly formulated, for example,
by Prof. C. E. Lehmann of, the
education school in a recent essay
in The Daily suggesting the need
for a stimulated, imaginative fac-
ulty leadership, but a leadership
requiring minimal involvement in
unnecessary administrative detail,
Other' faculty members have
often advocated a program of
"visiting committees" which would
a)
b)
d)
e)
Calendar
Maintenance of Faculty Quality
Intercollegiate Athletics
Research at the University
f) The Graduate
Student
School and the Graduate
or should it strive to preserve ex-
cellence at all costs, including
ceilings on enrollment? If enroll-
ment is increased, should it be on
the undergraduate or graduate-
professional levels?
Such decisions, and the policies
based on them, must be conscious-
ly made by the University; they
must not be the product of the
passage of events.
By providing a structured op-
portunity for careful, far-ranging
group and individual introspection
into the nature and goals of the
University, the Conference would
meet needs often felt but less often
met.
* S
3) DEMOCRATIZATION of De-
cision-Making: In formation of
general policies, the relationship
between students, faculty, and ad-
ministration should be more one
of harmonious interaction rather
than one of rigid separation.
We do not mean to suggest that
ALL parts of the University should
take part in ALL decisions made,
What we do mean is that it is
both fair and practical that those
segments of the University directly
affected by certain policies should
'participate at some state in their
formulation.
In addition to its fairness, the
practicality of such a process
should be evident. The faculty,
for example, knows by direct ex-
perience much about the problem
of maintaining , faculty quality;
therefore decisions in this area are
likely to be better made when the
faculty point of view is consid-
ered. Similarly, administrators can
bring practical experience to bear
on the question of legislative re-
lations. Students are equipped to
comment on teaching quality.
* * *
BUT THERE PRESENTLY ap-
pears to be some tendency for the
administration to make decisions
of general importance after what
may be hasty and uninformative
discussloit with the students
and/or faculty involved.
By the character of their jobs,
administrators do so much deci-
sion-making that unless a con-
scious and continued effort is de-
voted toward involving other seg-
ments of the University in mak-
ing plans and decisions, a practice
of exclusively administrative deci-
sion-making may arise by default.
If decisions are the sole work of
an isolated few and rather than
of a participating many, aliena-
tion from the University complex
will emerge, because the Univer-
sity will be just that: a complex,
not a community.
* * *
THE HISTORY of the Student
Activities Building and the recent
decision to build an addition for
it illustrate the value of represen-
tative decision-making. Construc-
tion of the SAB was started only
after prolonged and intensive talks
between students (who in fact
first conceived the idea) and ad-
ministrators; as a result the
building was not only effectively
planned, but advance considera-
tion of all views ironed out dis-
putes before it was too late. The
newly-built wing, however, was in-
itiated and planned by the ad-
ministration without any signifi-
cant student involvement; as a
result, construction started amid
protest that the addition was not
really necessary, that much-need-
ed money (obtained from student
fees) was being poorly used. Seri-
ous and perhaps unnecessary con-
flict over alleged administrative
dictation arose.
The Conference would provide
a presently-lacking opportunity
for members of all segments of
the University to discuss upcom-
i-- doni -n-c fv n~"a .o v .a
4) IMPROVE University Plan-
ning: Setting the' University's
goals for the future, as we have
said, is a matter in which the en-
tire community ought to partici-
pate to some degree. But effective
planning involves much more.
Plans, and the goals they pro-
ject, ought to be clearly and con-
sciously set in advance, so as to
act as a framework around which
specific policies and programs can
be developed. And there must be
a clear awareness of the precise
way in which plans, perhaps su-
perficially unrelated, affect each
other to help or hinder the Uni-
versity reach its goals.
Whenever University planning
treats a problem as immediate and
isolated, rather than within a
long-range context, two dangers
result: The particularproblem at
hand may not be fully resolved
and, further, an individual deci-
sion of necessity receives broad
and continuing institutional sup-
port. A decision, once made, may
even commit the University to
other policies in its support-
* * *
FOR EXAMPLE, the University
built South Quadrangle and Mary
Markley in response to the im-
mediate need for large quantities
of inexpensive dormitory space
necessitated by the decision to in-
crease errollment. Yet, due to the
rush and the pressures of finances
many important elements in con-
sidering of housing at a Univer-
sity-privacy and quiet, for in,
stance-were sacrificed. The dor-
mitories were built, have proved
to be inadequate in many impor-
tant respects, are 'disliked by
many students living in them, and
have committed the University to
a long-term policy of support
largely because they are there.
The conference would bring all
elements of the University togeth-
er with the purpose, of thinking
about the University's expressed
and potential goals and long-range
plans in their own right, not as
last-minute hindrances to policies
which are largely directed toward
immediate needs.
The conference would also make
people aware of the vast network
of interrelationships which exists
between all areas of University
policy. In any organization, de-
cision-makers tend to make deci-
sions on a basis of their own im-
mediate concerns and responsibili-
ties; thus plans are made in a
vacuum, with too little awareness
of their wider implications within
and without the University.
« « «
THE CONCEPT of academic
freedom offers a perfect illustra-
tion of this process of segregating
problem from problem, group
from group. Obviously academic
freedom is the concern of us all,
yet this year, without broadly-in-
tegrated consideration, 1) Presi-
dent Hatcher sent short notes to
Wayne State supporting them in
the Communist speaker episode,
2) faculty members, many know-
ing nothing of President Hatcher's
notes, became upset with the im-
plications of the Wayne situation
and set up a faculty group to study
academic freedom and responsibil-
ity, 3) Student Government Coun-
cil spent weeks considering the
establishment of the Student
Rights and Academic Freedom
Committee, which has been tabled
since 1959, and finally rejected the
idea by a one-vote margin.
The conference might help cur-
tail such useless separateness.
* * *
5) CHALLENGE Stereotyped
Thought: In the University, as in
any large concern, people who
have made many decisions in a
-n.-rin ,.lr a.o. nv o a nn no,--
SUBCOMMITTEES would meet
first, then would bring their
thinking to committee meetings,
where wider implications and re-
lationships could be explored and
- hopefully some conclusions could
be reached.
Obviously, there must be some
selection of problems to be con-
sidered, for no conference could
adequately discuss the entire range
of concerns to the University
community. Such a selection
should take into account both
short-run problems, for which so-
lutions must be found In the im-
mediate future, and also the long-
run problems involving the Uni-
versity's ultimate assumptions and '
goals, solutions for which must
evolve over long periods of care-
ful .consideration. ,Short-range
problems should be discussed be-
fore decisions are' made about
them, and need not be reconsid-
ered at later sessions. Considera-
tion of basic, recurrent problems
should take place every few years,
so that re-evaluations and modi-
fications can take place in policy
as circumstances and opinions
change.
There are ertain more general-
points about the conference that
need to be stressed:
FRANKNESS and Honesty: The
basic premise of the conference is
that people from all levels of the
University can come together with
only the best interests of the Uni-
versity in mind, and talk freely,
frankly and honestly, dealing with
the issues as they are, avoiding
rationalizations or defensive Jus-
tifications of policy. Withotit fear
of reprisals, an administrator must
be able to tell an SGC member
that if the Council wants to be a
real part of the University, it must
be more than a partisan gripe ses-
sion; a teaching fellow must' be
able to tell the President that he
doesn't like the University's seem-
ingtemphasis on quantity; a stu-
dent must be able to tell an ad-
ministrator that the new wing of
the SAB was a waste of money.
Attendance: Except for the
plenary session, attendance would
have to be on a basis of invitation,
both to insure an adequate level
of information and to keep the
size of subcommittees and com-
mittes within reason.
WORKING PAPERS: Useful
discussion cannot take place with-
out adequate information. There-
fore it is absloutely necessary that
thorough, factually accurate and
objective working papers be pro-
vided for each committee-and sub-
committee discussion. The commit-
tee papers would be aimed at wide
perspectives a n d implications,
while the subcommittee papers
would be concise, specific, aimed
at providing a factual base' for a
limited, intensive discussion.
Working papers would be writ-
ten by people presently working in
the specific areas to be discussed,
who would have immediate access
to relevant information and be in
a position to authoritatively ex-
plain the problems facing the
University in that particular area.
Follow-Through: The confer-
ence cannot take place every day
of the academic year. But for it
to have any value at all ,those who
attend must keep fully in mind
its lessons even after it is long
over. An SOC President who at-
tends, finds that some of his poli-
cies were justly criticized, and who
then forgets the whole thing and
continues to operate precisely as
he did before he was wasting his
time at the conference.
* * *
RECURRENT EVENT: To max-
imize this follow-through, we feel,
the conference should be a yearly
event. This would not only rein-
force its impact on "repeat" par-
ticipants and keep the conclusions
of the conference before the Uni-
versity, but would also over sev-
eral years enable a considerable
percentage of the University com-
munity to participate,
Recording: We feel that the
main points of committee and
subcommittee discussions, as well
as their conclusions, should be re-
corded both to give some degree
of exactitude to the discussions
and for future reference. We hope
arrangements can be made to have
such records made in cooperation
with the chairman of each group.
Publication: We hope that all
addresses, working papers, sum-
maries of discussions and conclu-
sions from each conference can be
published. This would help great-
ly in obtaining the kind of follow-
through discussed above. Informa-
tion, insights, disagreements and
confrontations could be referred
to in the d a i1 y determina-
tion of policy at the University,
and over the years there could be
built up an unparalleled. record of
the University's self - analysis,
growth and progress.
We feel that the conference on
the University is one of its great-
est needs and could be of vast
benefit to the entire community.
We invite your criticism, discus-
sion, ideas and assistance.
I DAILY I
make objective and imaginative
surveys of University conditions.
Again, this suggests the practical
value of freshness as an element
in planning and decision-making.
* * *
TO HELP ATTAIN these objec-
tives, we have evolved some ten-
tative proposals for the organiza-
tion of the conference on the Uni-
versity.
To be held on a weekend, per-
haps in late April, the conference
would involve about 200 partici-
pants, selected from all elements
of the University community. We
would expect around 50 students,
50 administrators, 100 faculty
members, plus those of the Board
of Regents who could attend.
The conference would have
three phases: plenary session, sub-
committee meetings,. committee
meetings.
The plenary session, open to the
e n t i r e University community
would begin the conference. There,
a general address on the present
and future state of the University
could be given by a University of-
ficial, and the purpose and or-
ganization of the conference could
be fully explained to the partici-
pants.
The conference would then be
broken down into subcommittee
and cnmmittee meetino nmmit.