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May 10, 1961 - Image 4

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1961-05-10

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A'

"Let's See, Now-"
How's This Supposed To Work?"

C 0 frmtall Bahl
Seventy-First Year
"hrEDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS Of THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Where Opinions Are Free UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Truth Will Prevail" STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1961 NIGHT EDITOR: JUDITH OPPENHEIM

'-4

INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
The Complexities
Of Civil Rights
By J. M. ROBERTS
Associated Press News Analyst
THERE'S A GREAT DEAL more involved in the new civil rights pro-
gram than a mere technical extension of the Constitution of the
United States, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, to millions of
Americans.
It is more than a domestic issue.
There has been considerable comment on the Administration's de-
lay regarding measures which the President once suggested should be
among the first to go to Congress after his inauguration, and on his
failure to send a message to Congress about them.
Some have attributed this to a desire to avoid' a fight which
would interfere with action on numerous other matters and perhaps

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Legislature Is Unqualified
To Run a University

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HE NATURE of state legislatures renders
them unfit as policy makers and managers
of a large and excellent university.
Basically, there are three requisites that
educational administrators need and which leg-
islators do not have-singleness of purpose, ex-
perience in education and freedom from petty
politics. Not that these are sufficient abilities
to guide a university to greatness, but they
are certainly necessary.
The state lawmakers do not have time and,
in most cases, interest to devote themselves
only to a study of higher education, its prob-
lems and ramifications upon it by outside so-
cial changes.
The representative or senator has a wide
scope of responsibility: he is assumed to be
familiar enough with mental health, public
safety, highway construction and license plate
regulations to write or adopt significant pro-
posals to meet the crises in these areas. His
knowledge is broad. It can't be expected to be
deep.
MANY REPRESENTATIVES in Lansing need
second occupations to finance their politi-
cal career because their governmental posts pay
so little. The extra work minimizes the time
available for even legislative worries, yet alone
the nearly overwhelming problem of education.
Elections are another peculiar part of a leg-
islator's life; he's got to run in them and win
if he wants to serve in the capital. The Ameri-
can political scene, however, frowns upon the
"lunatic fringe" minority party and nonpar-
tisanship in members of the legislative or
executive branches.
Therefore, the budding legislator must an-
nex himself to one of two political parties and
expound a philosophy that agrees, in the main,
with his party's goals.
Politics is also a day-to-day affair. Since the
state House and Senate are completely re-
elected every other year, an incumbent must
continually keep himself in his constituent's
mind. He must also be able to "ride" the diurnal
shiftings of public opinion. He has to develop
a reputation for getting things down for the
people back home.
SHOW RESULTS many times means ex-
pedience: adopting the measure which
promises short rewards, but, only temporary
relief from the basic problems underlying minor
chafings.
The University and every other college in
the state faces a crushing problem in the next
decade; a problem that needs a long-range
soluion, not one that will seem to solve fiscal
problems from one appropriations battle to
the next.
Our governmental representatives are not
elected on criteria immediately relevant to Uni-
versity policy; their training has seldom been
in the field of educational philosophy. Many
have never been to college.
Legislators also must conduct daily scrim-
mages with their colleagues on respective gov-
ernment floors. Their clashes are resolved by
vote trading and favor currying, not by prin-
ciples of idealism.
[N THE YEARS just ahead, the number of
students turning college age will rise about
ten per cent each twelfth month. Clearly then,
the pressure on the University to increase its
size will be equally high. State revenues, how-
ever, rise at a rate of only three to 'four per
cent each year,
It is clear to the University and clear to the
officials in Lansing that the problem rates a
well thought-out resolution. Changing Univer-
sity policy to meet the demands and with a
limited budget is the concern of the Regents.
Knocking the fetters of that budget is the
Legislature's.
But the Legislature has displayed again and

again its unwillingness (perhaps inability) to
deal with even this problem in long range
terms. What Lansing has been (and should be)
mainly concerned with is revenues: finding new
ways to increase the money coming in. They
have found no solution. Serious talk about it
is, kept at soothing nadir.
While daily problems also arise at the Uni-
versity, they are not the main concern of the
Regents. The administration focuses on these.
The Regents are elected for long terms (eight
years) and can thus learn much about the
University and its problems before leaving of-
fice. They may formulate solutions, maintain
them and see them bear fruit all in one term.
Moreover, they need not perpetually eye the
calendar for the November trials just ahead.
REGENTAL SEATS are filled on a staggered
basis, with only two positions open at each
biennial election. This provides for a continuity
of thought and action which is decidedly miss-
ing in the Legislature. This year, for example,
the Regents have members elected in 195
while others will serve until 1967, a span of 14
years. Few men in Lansing are able to consult
first hand with colleagues who know intimate-
ly what happened a decade and a half ago.
It is true that Regental nominations often
go to men who have served the party through
yeoman duties and monetary contributions and
are thus regarded as political plums.
Fortunately, however, the parties have at-
tempted to select men with some backing in
the field of education to run for the posts (and
specific alumni experience with the institution
involved). Constitutionally, each elected Re-
gent is a graduate of the University and thus, in
some way at least, is aware of its problems and
uniqueness.
It would certainly be better, however, if the
Regental elections could be made nonpartisan
so that the nominees could both campaign
and serve without regard to party allegiance,
but devoted only to the ends of education.
Perhaps, the representatives to the constitu-
tional convention will see the desirability of
sucha move and write it into our new legal
instrument.
The election process, regardlessof its degree
of party intrusion, guarantees that the Uni-
versity still is a public one and that its direc-
tors are responsible directly to the people.
SOME PEOPLE argue that the state Legisla-
ture ought to appoint a trustee board for
the University to insure that nonpolitical and
qualified men hold Regental posts. This plan
has been found unfeasible, since legislatures
doing it in the past have chosen people along
party lines, without giving them real power,
and keeping the terms of office too 'short to
accomplish much good.
Moreover, such a move does not give the
public a direct hold over what happens ,at its
universities. The men who run them are not
responsible to the people directly, but to an
intermediate agent, the legislature.
The last point that may be made is a prag-
matic one. States in which the legislature con-
trols the universities are known for mediocre
institutions of higher learning. Michigan, with
a long tradition of an independent and con-
stitutionally defined University, has an inter-
national reputation for academic excellence.
The University is here for learning. Students
and faculty members need to be free to explore
their curiosities, to develop new ideas and ad-
vocate them. A university which is politically
controlled cannot foster free and open discus-
sion and criticism.
Stifling of thought and opinion, no matter
what their worth, is abhorrent to the very
purposes for which a university is established.
Such smothering action is the inevitable re-
sult when the hypocrisy, ingratiation and ex-
pedience that are inherently linked with prac-
tical politics dominate the academic campus.
--MICHAEL OLINICK

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
The Daily and the Nation

solidify nonconformist elements
in Congress which so far have
fallen only a little short in their
attempts to block the Kennedy
program.
There have also been suggestions
that a good deal of civil rights
progress can be made under ad-
ministrative procedure without
such a fight at this time and that
the President would like to see
how that works.
BUT KENNEDY did refer to
civil rights at his last newscon-
ference as one of the things the
people should promote for the sake
of their country,
Attorney General Robert Ken-
nedy's department is seeking to
join in an antisegregation suit in
Virginia as plaintiff, and the
President's brother recently chose
the heart of the South as his plat-
form for a new plea for govern-
ment by law instead of by preju-
dice.
The campaign has not exactly
been lagging, but the President
himself, for the moment at least,
seems to be leaving the congres-
sional fight to chosen lieutenants.
In the background, however, is
realization that the face which
this nation presents to an impres-
sionable two-thirds of the world
is vitally involved with the treat-
ment which Congress will give
these measures.
Members of the new diplomatic
corps and State Department offi-
cers who have been visiting the
colored nations report being ques-
tioned consistently about what the
United States is doing with her
own racial problem.
* * *
IT IS quite possible that Little
Rock, in the aggregate, has done
more to blemish the face of Amer-
ica before the world than did
Cuba.
For years it has appeared that
Communist propaganda on this
point has been more readily ac-
cepted than or! any other except,
perhaps, the American alliance
with so many of the former colon-
ial powers.
The only answers to both points
have lain and still lie in what
the United States can demonstrate
she is trying to do about admitted
blemishes on her own counte-
nance.
In this respect, what counts is
not only what Congress does, rand
what the Administration does, with
regard to immediate measures, but
also the manner in which they.
are approached.

TRIO:
Brilliant
Recital
IT IS INDEED a wonderful ex-
perience for the music lover
to attend a concert that combines
masterful programming with ex-
quisite execution. Last night at
Rackham Lecture Hall, the North-
western University Trio, comprised
of Angel Reyes-violin, Dudley
Powers-violincello, and Gui Nom-
baerts-piano, enchanted an audi-
ence, altogether too small, with
just such a fusion.
The absolute adherence to the
musical score was perhaps the
outstanding quality of the Trio's
performance.
THERE WAS NOTHING at all
heavy-handed about the playing
of the Hozart Trio in E Major.
It was subtletly applied to sim-
plicity at its very best. Light and
bubbly, the group demonstrated a
thorough knowledge of gallant re-
straint nad "proved" to the Mich-
igan audience that, "Yes, Virgin-
ia, there is such a thing as a true
mezzo-piano."
Most groups consider the Ravel
Trio to be a virtuoso showpiece.
Granted, its difficulties are al-
most insurmountable; yet, this is
chamber music, and the score's
brilliance and flamboyance must
always be treated with less empha-
sis upon pure flash and more
emphasis upon the incredible
handling of the basic musical
elements.
After all, it is in chamber mu-
sic, because of its limited medium,
that the composer's technique may
best be observed. The Trio, last
night, interpreted this piece cor-
rectly. Let it suffice that the end
of the.first movement was over-
whelming in their treatment,
bathing the breathless audience in
an aura of magnificent intimacy.
The Brahms B Major was a fit-
ting close. The players showed
their ability to cope with the tre-
mendous architectural problems of
the first movement and to clear-
ly elucidate the piece's thick con-
trapuntal textures. The massive
harmonies and noble themes pro-
vided a fitting close to a concert
that came close to musical perfec-
tion.
-Irwin Gage

To the Editor:
DURING the last year I've be-
come a one man Gideon So-
ciety for the Michigan Daily
which seems to me one of the
most alert, outspoken, and alto-
gether interesting student dailies
published anywhere in this coun-
try. Its coverage both of educa-
tional issues and of the world
scene appear to me admirable-a
model which I wish other stu-
dent papers, more devoted to the
trivial, the fraternal and the gos-
sipy, might emulate. Further-
more, when my colleagues, at pri-
vate institutions such as. Harvard
aver that freedom to learn as well
as to teach is difficult if not im-
possible at a state institution, I
am apt to point to the Michigan
Daily as an illustration that their
view is mistaken. Any effort to
censure the Daily should, in my
entirely biased opinion, take ac-
count of your paper's national as
well as its parochial audience-
and consider the esteem that the
Daily, confers on the University
that can attract such able and
fearless students.
-David Riesman
Department of Social Relations
Harvard University
Congratulations...
To the Editor:
I WOULD LIKE to extend my
whole-hearted congratulations
to the members of Student Gov-
ernment Council for their long
over due motion expressing grave
concern over the Daily's editorial
practices and news reporting in
the past few months.
--. Rehard Pinnell,'64
Analysis .. .
To the Editor:
READING THE FRONT PAGE
editorial in The Daily on May
5, I felt almost like I was reading
the New York Times of the na-
tion's college newspaper. I began
to look for bigger and better news
reporting. The Daily says, " .. .
it strives to report the news as
honestly, as fairly and as com-
pletely as it knows how It in-
terprets that news with as much
intelligence and sensitivity as it
possesses."
I waited hopefully for the May
6 issue to read the news analyzed
intelligently with sensitivity. Per-
haps it would report the news
"beneath the surface" about the
astronauts? It did as shown in
the following quote. "Astronauts
Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard
are no heroes ... What was done
DAILY
OFFICIAL
BULLETIN
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of The Univer-
sity of Michigan for which The
Michigan Daily assumes no editorial
responsibility. Notices should be
sent in TYPEWRITTEN form to

by Shepard has already been done
better by a monkey."
With such astute analysis of
scientific achievements, perhaps
Mr. H. Molotch should offer his
services to the Associated Press.
-Dwight B. Crane, Grad
Logic.. .
To the Editor:
NOT ONLY does Gerald Storch's
"Conservative Manifesto"
point out that Mr. Storch is not a
conservative, but it demonstrates
that he is not a very able logician
either. In fact, by contradicting
his own distorted philosophy, Mr.
Storch succeeds in propounding
some sound liberal ideals.
Contraditction number one:
"'Survival of the fittest' is the
basis for the existence of man .."
writes Mr. Storch. Two paragraphs
below this, however, we find out
that it is the duty of the govern-
ment to see that "every person
would be fit to survive." Sounds
strikingly liberal, Mr. Storch.
Contradiction number two: The
"Manifesto" goes on to state that
the "good of the individual" must
not be subordinated to the "wel-
fare of the many." Only one
parapraph below this ((we are
improving), we find out that the
national interest depends on the
strength of every individual ("each
one of the 175,000,000 inhabitants
of the United States") and that
the two are inextricably inter-
twined. This, too, has a liberal
ring.
But the most happy, happy news
for the liberals is not as much in
the above mockery of logic as
it is in Mr. Storch's indictment
against HUAC and the YAP ("a
hoax and a fraud"). Perhaps Mr.
Storch had better fit his specific
beliefs into a new ideological
framework. He'd produce much
better syllogisms and might even
accomplish something constructive
in the process.
-Marilyn Goldberg, '62
Out of State .. .
To the Editor:
THE MOVE to diminish the
number of out-of-state stu-
dents would be a bad mistake. One
of the things the University of
Michigan prides itself on having
is a "cosmopolitan" atmosphere.
With two-thirds of the students
from Michigan, the cosmopolitan-
ism is already quite limited, and
if most of the students are from
Michigan, there will be almost
none. Students will not have the
opportunity to meet others of dif-
ferent backgrounds or ideas. The
University will just become a me-
diocre institution for the benefit
of Michigan students, and its qual-
ity will be identical to that of
graduating high school seniors of
a given year.
* *.
IT IS WELL KNOWN that the
out-of-state students have to meet
stiffer requirements to get admit-
ted, and that once in the Univer-
sity they perform better on the

Unfair. ..
To the Editor:
IN REGARD to the two recent
letters to the editor criticizing
John Christie's criticism of the
University Choral Union, perhaps
the writers themselves may be
considered unfair. Mr. Christie has
quite an extensive musical back-
ground in education, playing and
teaching; and as a member of the
Musical Society Orchestra he had
quite ample opportunity to "draw
your conclusions before you hear
the performance" at rehearsals.
The Choral Union, of which Miss
Annette Way is a member, is in
the opinion of many local musi-
cians an oversize, undertrained
group which repeatedly fails to
produce any semblance of a finish-
ed performance. How much better
it would be to replace quantity with
quality, or else have the members
sing works in unison such as that
last occasion when the children's
chorus sang so beautifully under
the direction of Marguerite Hood.
-Vincent Schneider

CAMPUS HUMOR:
New Magazine in the Offing

By RISA AXELROD
Daiiy Staff Writer
CAMPUS humor magazines have
long been an absorbing enter-
prise for creative writers, a brief
interlude of enjoyment for read-
ers and a source of constant ir-
ritation for administrators.
With the recent loss of this
University's only humor publica-
tion, "Gargoyle," much controver-
sy has been aroused about the
need for and place of a campus
magazine.
A humor magazine does have a
definite niche on a campus such
as this. It not only provides an
outlet for creative energies, it also
satisfies the natural desire of all

people, and especially students, to
read something funny once in a
while about something they have
to take serious every day of every
week of every month.
** ,
WHETHER the Gargoyle will
be re-established is still a matter
of speculation-it may return next
year, it may not, depending on
many unpredictable factors and
many unpredictable people.
But, while students and facul-
ty of this University remain un-
decided, students, elsewhere have
been moving.
Bruce Johnson, student at the
University of Illinois, has taken
over the direction of Chaff, a
campus humor and feature maga-

REPREHENSIBLE:
'Operation A bolition'

SOUTHERN STYLE:
The Republic Falls
In Texas

zine which has been in operation
at Illinois since 1957.
In his plans for expansion,
Johnson is attempting to secure
editorial directors at the other
Big Ten universities to help him
establish Chaff as a national pub-
lication.
The idea is to regionalize the
commercial periodical. The mag-
azine would carry a certain per-
centage of general college news,
features and satires, but would
include aspecial section about
each university at which it is dis-
tributed.,
JOHNSON is now seeking a Uni-
versity student with some edi-
torial or advertising experience,
whether on a high school, college
or commercial publication. This
student, working on a percentage
basis, would supervise the news
and advertising, lay-out and dis-
tributing activities in Ann Arbor.
Chaff puts out seven issues a
semester. Special issues in the of-
fing include a parody issue, "such
as the 'Gargoyle' did on Readers
Digest," and a travel issue just
before spring vacation.
* * *
CHAFF, because it combines the
feature articles of commercial col-
lege magazines plus individualized
satirical pieces for each campus,
appears to offer an excellent op-
portunity for humor writers, as
well as the very type of humor
magazine which students seem to
want and enjoy.
The possible advent of this new
magazine at the University raises
a question of importance to for-
mer Gargoyle admirers and future
Gargoyle editors: Will there still
be a place for Gargoyle on this
campus, if and when its publica-
tion is approved?
Should Chaff become a popular

THE FILM entitled "Operation Abolition" is
an official production of the House Un-
American Activities Committee dealing with the
demonstrations against it during hearings in
San Francisco last May. It gives a misleading
impression that the demonstrators were organ-
ized and directed by Communists as part of a
campaign to abolish the committee-with the
implication that all who oppose the committee
are Communist-inspired. Defense Department
purchases of prints for its libraries, and a great
increase of its sales and public showings, make
essential a full understanding of the film's ac-
curacy and origin.
The pictures in the film feature almost ex-
clusively the disorders that occurred. They give
special prominence to the inexcusable disrup-
tions at the hearing by a few Communists and
others charged by the committee with being

tors were almost entirely students who were
peacefully, though noisily, protesting what they
believed to have been the committee's unfair
and unconstitutional conduct and its refusal to
admit them to the hearing room packed with
friends of the committee.
The only violence shown in the film is that of
the police in ejecting many of the protesters
from the City Hall. But every one of the sixty-
four who were arrested by the police has since
been found innocent of wrongdoing by the
courts. Neither the picture nor the commentary
gives any firm evidence of Communist direction
or control of the bulk of demonstrators, as is
charged by members of the committee who ap-
pear on the film.
Not only is the film itself reprehensible, but
so also is the way it was made and is distribut-
.ad Tf.is cn ,r~,,of r' .itivy..choen w'n~ihouit

A SUBURBAN housewife said
Monday a book containing the
writings of Plato her son found
in a school library may be "one
of the reasons we have so many
sex maniacs walking around."
D iagnos is
Suppose, for the sake of argu-
ment, this John Birch movement
signalizes the drawing together of
all those poison-generating organ-
isms into one huge carbuncle. The
situation would still be serious,
Heaven knows.
Such an affliction on Uncle
Sam's neck might well cause him

Mrs. Pay Seale, 35, of Channel-
view, Texas, said she would go
before the Channelview school
board at its next meeting to pro-
test against "living biographies of
great philosophers" being in the
junior high school library.
The book is a study of the lives
and thoughts of 21 philosophers
from Plato to Santayana. Plato, a
greek philosopher, lived in the
third century, B.C.
Mrs. Seale said she objected to
an account of Plato's proposals
for communal mating, free love,
and mixed gymnastics classes for
boys and girls clad only in their
virtue.
"I can't help but believe this is
a-nP aC6Y WP ,v naln have sm no ,cpy

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