Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS .. mlwNlv.R44 r."44.u ' %e 4'. 4 :v. .. i" ... '.:'. ...4, ... 4 ..rr. svrfi. .*.r . r..4. . ' I < {r.. 4 . C44.:: . niv v n POWER * and Guatemala:* Trying To.Re buIldDmcacy { POETRY by MARK R. K ILL INGSWORT H ,r.rv. "..:'": .41."}":{:::::....hv.."."rY.". . .vr .". :. . 4 W444Ya " :w444.444 . ...........:. . .. . fi w ... . . . n . . YCN. r ...,. ........4... ..a 4.4 4. .... *..* r;.:r.' rnY:"vN:Nq :....."...Nv X" :r . '. vf4 .v.. .. 4..4..w. . .::".. ... . .. . ....... n .. ..........%4 ,.. ,.....40~4.4& ....n ....%l . ...,.f..... . ....,.." . .. .. ........... ...r, ....... .4 ,.. ,.rr.. . .. }:. r.r ~ . n r . .rr .,... . ...... . . ... ....... ...... . ... .., . .4. . . . . . . .. h. .r34.4 . ....'X 14 ...r.1v ..,. . ......A. r.l..... . ,n........-.n... . r, r .,... .. .,..: , . i r :_ : where Opinions Are Free. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MIcm. Truth Will Prevail NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR: SHIRLEY ROSICK The Ecorse Teacher Strike: why Not the Pupils? OLD FACTS OF LIFE are falling daily in the labor relations field, the only area harder to keep up to date with than space exploration. The latest development in the discovery that school teachers, once thought to be the last group to learn the tricks of sur- vival are actually miles ahead of, of all people, their employers. This was illus- trated this week with the firing of 194 teachers by the school board at Ecorse. The Ecorse school board, as aware as anyone else that they could never dig up a sufficient number of replacements of any quality, imagined they could scare their teachers into returning, and stop- ping their strike. With a rare display of cunning they set the date of firings for the day after school ended, hoping to get the teachers to return before. Ecorse teachers seemed not to notice, and discovered some freedom now and then is not a bad thing. Rallying around the flag and singing "Solidarity Forever," they asserted "we're going to fight this thing all the way." THERE IS A LAW that covers this mess, and it originally said public employe strikes are illegal and bring about auto- matic suspension. That law has been amended to eliminate the automatic part of the suspension. However, no one is quite sure what effect the amendments will have if the case is taken to court. Employes under the law can appeal their suspensions to the court. The school board says it wants to go to court. A union negotiators says he'd rather not. But then the board has no choice. If it uses its one traditional strategy of wait- ing until fall when school resumes before really bargaining, it is likely to find that its teachers-called one of the best groups in the country by the board superintend- ent-will have vanished. So the board is stuck-they have to do something. Taking their action of firing the teachers through the courts is about all they see left to do. The only ones who stand a chance to gain are the gen- eral public, legislators and labor relations experts, all of whom will discover even- tually what the law means. It will be a test case. WHATEVER HAPPENS the board has made itself look silly by firing the teachers, an action which does not seem to have brought the situation any closer Editorial Staff CLARENCE FANTO ....................... Co-Editor CHARLOTTE WOLTER................. Co-Editor BUDl WILKINSON.. ............. .. Sports Editor ETSY COHN.. ..... Supplement Manager NIGHT EDITORS: Meredith Eker, Michael Heffer, Shirley Rosick, Susan Schnepp, Martha Wolfgang. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich. Published daily Tuesday through Saturday morning. to a solution. Then again the teachers have also made spectacles of themselves, parading around and saying "Sorry, but we have to do it this way to make up for all that we've suffered all these years.,, Speaking about suffering, it could be that the children, now without anything to do, are really not suffering at all. After all, there is no instruction like watching one's superiors make fools of themselves. And with a little initiative (or help), the students may realize that they are the ones who have been left farthest behind in the labor relations field. Without bargaining rights, forced by law to be in school, they might find a way to bargain anyhow. A sitdown or no- learning day or slowdown day might bring into the open whatever grievances they might have. The affair at Northern is a perfect example. JN TODAY'S WORLD, anyone can strike. It's part of-the freedom of a democra- cy. And it makes labor relations a fast- moving field, -MICHAEL HEFFER Saving Face ONE OF THE MOST persistent argu- ments for continued U.S. pressure in Viet Nam has been that of thehuge amount of prestige and aid that has been pledged to take a stand .against Communist aggression in Asia. It is ar- gued that face and security would be lost if we waivered from full support of the current South Viet Nam government. OTHERS FEEL that the U.S. in fact en- dangers her prestige and security by continuing the current Viet Nam pro- gram. It is believed that commitments to SEATO and ephemeral juntas are myths. Some feel that continued bomb- ing and avoidance of potential negotia- tions has been costing us friends and al- lies each day. Some feel that we are passing the point of no return with the strongest power in Asia. Some people feel that if China was now dropping bombs on the U.S. main- land she could do no more danger than our present policy has done, a policy that has revealed and accentuated fundamen- tal flaws in a supposed democratic sys- tem. Many people feel that it would be a magnanimous and fruitful gesture if the U.S. would work for peace instead of against it. FACE WOULD BE LOST, however, by the policy makers who have been try- ing so hard to cover up the truth, a truth which shows that these people have made mistakes yet do not have the courage nor the responsibility to admit them. -MIKE DITKOWSKY (EDITOR'S NOTE: Last Tues- day the author outlined the stormy political history of Gua- temala for the past decade and some of the problems that will face its president-elect when he takes office. Today he discusses the steps Mendez intends to take toward solving those problems.) G UATEMALA CITY-Oversha- dowing everything else, how,- ever, is the country's shaky poli- tical situation-and if Mendez is unable to change it his admini- stration ,is doomed. The past record is not very en- couraging. Col. Carlos Castillo Armas used a private army and the Central Intelligence Agency's support in 1954 to overthrow Col. Jacobo Arbenz, whose government was increasingly dominated by communists. Then a member of his own palace guard shot Armas and, af- ter a period of confusion and in- trigue, Gen. Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes eventually took over in 1957. But things deterioratedreven further. IN ADDITION to the increasing political unrest and worsening economic conditions (Guatemala's economic "growth" rate per capita from 1958-1963 was actually nega- tive) during his rule, Ydigoras was noted for corruption so blatant that, in the words of one com- mentator, "even the Guatemalans had to laugh." According to one story, Ydigoras bought U.S. machine guns, sold them and then bought much less expensive Czech models--pocket- ing the difference. Local legend also has it that he and his cronies bought PT boats so decrepit most of them sank before they reached Guatemala. In 1963 the armed forces inter- vened again, toppling Ydigoras and putting Col. Enrique Peralta Azurdia in his place. Peralta put a stop to some of the corruption and embarked on an austerity pro- gram, but his most important ac- complishment is the election of a constituent assembly, which wrote a new constitution and provided for presidential elections in March. "I'll say this for Peralta," says one American observer. "He ac- tually let the elections take place, freely and openly." After prod- ding from the U.S. and the arrival of scores of newsmen-whose pres- ence was encouraged by our Em- bassy here-Peralta decided it would be unwise to impose his own presidential candidate. AND SO the elections took place, and, as Mendez told The Daily in an interview several weeks ago, "Even with the pressures the pres- ent government exerted - and there were some-the people were able to make their choice them- selves this time." U.S. insistence on free elections, he added, "helped insure they were indeed free." Though he failed to gain an absolute majority in the three- way race in March, Mendez was finally elected in May by the Na- tional Congress, where his Revolu- tionary Party (PR) has 30 of the 55 seats. Mendez had served in the gov- ernment in 1949 but became disen- chanted and returned to the Uni- versity of San Carlos to teach law! IHe was later named dean of the university's law school and was a leading contender for election as its new rector when his brother Mario, then the PR's leader, com- mitted suicide, apparently for per- sonal reasons. While Mendez was clearly ap- prehensive at first over the dan- gers and incertitudes of Guate- malan politics, he took up the mantle of his fallen brother, ral- lied the PR, and went on to win the presidency. AND NOW in the house on the 16th Calle Mendez' program is taking shape. He has already termed the payments gap Guate- mala's most urgent problem and indicated he will seek to cut im- ports. New taxes, while they may be unpopular, are also necessary, par- ticularly on agriculture and idle land. A major administrative shakeup with an all-out attack on waste would also prove fruitful, though equally unpopular and probably more difficult. And then come a host of un- fulfilled needs, from education to Indian affairs (Guatemala's "mi- nority problem" is actually a majority problem), health to housing, credit unions to labor unions. BUT POLITICS will make the road to progress on these fronts a slippery one. The armed forces, though Peralta stopped some of its factions in the spring from pre- venting Mendez' assumption of power, will be lurking in the wings along with the conservative es- tablishment, nursing their griev- ances, jealous of their prerogatives and power (there are over 800 colonels in the Guatemalan army alone)-and resented and distrust- ed by Guatemala's liberals. The Communists and the ex- treme left are much smaller in numbers than the right-but make up for it in organization. "Several kidnappings and 500 or so anonymous phone calls from the communists last year and this country nearly went out of its mind," one experienced student of the political scene said recently. The present state of siege tends to confirm this position. AND WHILE the Communists have won some sympathy from the Indians for their opposition to the present government, they were apparently counting on Peralta to nullify or prevent Mendez' elec- tion, wait until the PR went into the streets, move in and then seize power in 'a lightening-fast golpe, or coup. Hence Mendez' political path is ,a tightrope, one between Army and democrat, liberal and conser- vative, bureaucracy and innova- tion, caution and reform, disap- pointment and hope. And ironcially, as the figures on Guatemala's aid "drawdown" suggest, there is relatively little that U.S. aid alone can do to help in the long run: Mendez must lead his country himself. ALTHOUGH HE IS receptive to aid, he has rightly emphasized that "we will start by working with public opinion in our own country to solve our own prob- lems." He thus seems to be em- phasizing the important difference between doing something for a country and doing something with the country. Is is a distinction rarely made, but it is often the difference be- tween welfare colonialism and de- velopment. It does not seem likely that dollars alone can solve the social prejudice Guatemala's In- dians suffer or the inertia and inefficiency of the government bureaucracy. It is indeed true that the U.S. should continue to help provide tools for development and support for democracy here, as throughout Latin America-but it may be that the U.S. effort for free presi- dential elections in March is the last major contribution we can make by ourselves. IT IS, IN SHORT, up to Mendez to steer the difficult course through the maze of Guatemalan politics, build democracy and de- velop the economy. It is an impos- ing task-but it is one for which Mendez seems prepared. For the outlook is not as dreary as it seems at first glance, just as 16 Calle 6-17 is not the villa it seems to be. Most economists are confident Guatemala, which has a favorable position in the fast- developing Central American Com- mon Market, could easily shoulder more long-term debt. The economy is now growing at a rate above 5 per cent each year. Moreover, Mendez' Revolution- ary Party is, more than any other political group, based on a pro- gram rather than solely on a per- sonality. Mendez himself, despite his early doubts about his new- found political career, exhibits persistence, self assurance and even relaxed informality-all of which he will need when he as- sumes office in July. AND SOME STUDENTS of the political scene here suggest much of Guatemala's current difficul- ties are due not to mistaken gov- ernment policies-but no govern- ment policy. "The absence of any planned, coordinated, intelligent leadership is the :problem, not some excess of action," one com- ments. "We don't think all our prob- lems will be solved in four years," Mendez said to this correspondent here last month. "But we hope to work on them so that in four years the next president will be able to continue what we started." It sounds like a modest goal- but it will be a milestone in Men- dez' country's history if he can reach it. k 4 i What Helps Make a University Good? By PAUL BURKA Collegiate Press Service THE HARRY Elkins Widener Li- brary dominates the campus, virtually deserted on a Sunday morning. The noise of the outside world filters occasionally through the ancient buildings as cars pass the square, while behind the gates John Harvard surveys three cen- turies of greatness from his cement-and-bronze pedestal in The Yard. The scene is reminiscent of a hundred universities-the build- ings, the bricks, the books, the almost-even row of trees-but somehow it is different. You'd know where you were by instinct even if you didn't know by name: this is Harvard; this is the best there is. * * * WHAT MAKES a university great? What separates first class from mass? The elusive quality of greatness is difficult to define in the material world, but the task of definition borders on impos- sibility in the realm of ideas. We are told that great libraries make great universities. But books are for reading, not collecting. Statistics citing the relative size of libraries are readily available. But where are the figures deline- ating how often the books are actually used? We are told that a university produces Presidents, or corpora- tion executives, or poets. But again we are offered only a quantitative analysis. A President is not great simply because he holds office. WE ARE TOLD that a univer- sity boasts a student body with X-number of Phi Beta Kappas, or Y-number of National Merit Scholars. We are cited Z-number of honor graduates. Can any of these have any real meaning when we are attempting to meas- ure quality, not amount? The greatness of an institution devoted to learning can never be measured by devices adapted from a materialistic syndrome. Harvard produces Presidents because it is great; it is not great because it produces Presidents. A university can only be guaged by measurements which are con- sistent with its nature and pur- pose. Money, victory, prestige are only incidental to the educational concept of success. A UNIVERSITY,- in short, is a spirit. It is a spirit which recognizes that any contribution to knowl- edge has some value, irrespective of its conformity with any popu- lar norm. It is a spirit which preserves everything and destroys nothing except ignorance. It is a spirit of self criticism, self generating and self perpetuat- ing, a spirit which neither reads nor believes its own press clip- pings. It is a spirit of independence, proud and protective of the right to dissent. It is a spirit of de- pendence, relying on the principles by which it exists. * - * SALARIES AT HARVARD are the highest in the nation; even taking into account differences in the standard of living the U of Texas can not compare. Nor is there any comparison in the num- ber of well-known professors. Or in facilities: the law school li- brary building at Harvard is as large as the entire Texas law school. But these are only the effects, not the causes. You can capture the difference between Harvard and the University of Texas in one word: spirit. Harvard is great because the spirit exists there; the University of Texas is not because the spirit is missing. Comparisons are, of course, superficially unfair. Harvard is able to orient itself toward ex- cellence; the University is inevit- ably limited by its commitment to mass education. YET, INSTEAD of contenting ourselves with the knowledge that the comparison is, after all, apples-and-oranges, we should ask instead whether our commitment is really valid? Does the State of Texas owe the same obligation to every high school graduate? If so, what is the nature of that obliga- tion? The state must provide the su- perior student with the same edu- cational opportunity on his level that it provides the mediocre stu- dent. To design an educational system for the benefit of the mediocre is unjust, unwise, and intellectually suicidal. This state is largely dependent upon the talents of the graduates of its educational system, for those who attend other universities rarely return. Sooner or later the state must realize that its future de- pends on its best people, and not upon an ever-broadening medio- crity. THIS, THEN, is the lesson of Harvard: greatness is measured by ideals and feelings, and not by numbers. Success is measured in terms of people, not by things, whether they be books or dollars. In practical terms, is means the affirmation of excellence by those who guide the destiny of educa- tion in Texas. It means not only a ceiling on enrollment at the University, but increased selec- tivity as well. It means the ulti- mate development of an institu- tion which caters to the above- average student, an institution which demands a commitment to educational principles. It means an opportunity to share in the spirit that is Harvard, the spirit that is education, the spirit that is greatness. (Burka is a staff member of the Daily Texan) r r NATO and the Problem of Proliferati~on 1 " ) '+ { r7 . r , 4 : dr s 7'+ r ryI r4 f 4 f '(' ." l , lye t' fJ "t 1 " r l l 1 ( } ty By DAVID KNOKE THE RECENT hang-up over the future of the NATO political branch is indicative of the prob- lems caused by the new wind of nationalism blowing in Europe. Along with the chinks in the American and Russian monolith- ic domination of Europe which France has wedged, is the at- tendant problem of nuclear pro- liferation. TheNATO alliance was devel- oped as the military counterpart of the Marshall Plan to shore up a war-exhausted Western Europe against Soviet encroachments. The keystone of the military alliance was Article 5, the concept that an attack against one member would be considered an attack against all. FAILURE of the United States and Great Britain to integrate the top command structure of the 15-member alliance, coupled with growing nationalism and econom- ic independence, made both the French and West Germans sus- picious of the intentions of the U.S. to allow them equal status in NATO. French development of atomic weapons led to a French military strategy of increasing independ- ence within the NATO structure. De Gaulle's decision of last Sep- tember to pull out of the military alliance will force a restructuring of the entire defense-of-Europe strategy. FRANCE CURRENTLY has 23,- nn+nt oai n nn wn- r--- t , r_ treaty, insisted Couve de Murville, emergencies were not the same as armed attacks. Rusk's agreement to delete the words "in an emer- gency," thereby recognizing the sovereignty of a state to troop commitment over automation com- mitment, appears to have opened the way for negotiations to re- sume in the near future. WHILE THE FUTURE of French status in the political organiza- tion of NATO remains uncertain, West Germany will continue to agitate for a share of the 6000 nuclear weapons at NATO's com- mand. West Germany's contin- ued support of the military alli- ance stems from its hopes that the United States will soften its stand against granting control of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear powers. Bonn is obviously look- ing with admiration to the de Gaulle force de frappe which gives France a degree of autonomy not felt under the old NATO agree- ments. While France's stockpile is min- iscule and its delivery system non- missile, freedom of use now gives France a lever to twist the arms of Washington and Moscow. Back in 1962, the U.S. State Depart- ment launched its campaign to convince the then 14 other Eu- ropean powers to build up con- ventional ground and air forces under the U.S. and British nuclear umbrellas. THE FORCE DE FRAPPE - lines of possible aggression and nuclear technology, is anxious to wary of East Germany's growing become promoted from a supple- mentary role in the NATO stra- tegy. French withdrawal, splitting the airspace and subsequently the alliance into North and South sectors, may give Bonn a good argument in favor of increased proliferation of weapons. Proliferation of nuclear weap- ons theoretically leads to increased possibility of their use on slight provocation, the so-called "nth power" theory. Giving in to West German demands would not halt the arms race in Europe; Switzer- land and Sweden, with capable technology, may decide that a nu- clear deterrent is the best protec- tion of their classic neutralism. THERE IS only one course to prevent proliferation, short of the type of physical destruction of resources some would have us take against Communist China. A Big Power treaty to reduce the produc- tion, stockpiling and testing of nuclear devices could go a long way to convince small powers that expensive development of their own nuclear deterrents is self damaging. Such a strategy cannot be uni- lateral; it must be by common agreement between the Soviet Union, U.S. and other, potential, nuclear powers. However, a pro- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Participation or Co liferation-proof Europe would mean taking the Soviets into summit-type discussions about the military balance of power which has been a bilateral split since Yalta. Rusk, leading the foreign ministers in Brussels last week in ruling out negotiations, follows the Dulles school of thought: never negotiate from weakness and if you're strong enough; you needn't negotiate. DE GAULLE obviously doesn't subscribe to that policy. His forth- coming visit to Moscow may not come up with any startling re- visions, but it is a step towards facing the new realities of the post-post-World War Europe. optation visory committees in their best form-as parallel committees to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs and its sub- committees-proved to be an utter f a i l u r e. Student Government Council duly filled the structure, but the appointees either did nothing or were not recognized by their parallel SACUA units. After one semester, nothing was heard of the scheme except for occasional laments about its failure in the Daily. The University is a past master To the Editor: IN PROMOTING student advis- ory committees, the University has hit upon a beautiful co- optation device. The committees can bring student critics harm- lessly into the power structure, reducing their leverage for criti- cism. They can overwhelm the students with a large quantity of boring, routine material. And in the final analysis, they need not be listened to by administrators who have given up virtually no power or authority. fln +h a nn n-linr.. nrA. ,a m rrPC The advisory board movement thus puts students, not just the activists, in a quandry. Should they take the opportunity to par- ticipate in the councils of the University? Or should they reject the University's warm embrace and let the activists fight for re- form from the outside. BUT THE HISTORY of student advisory committees at the Uni- versity is bleak. And, as any so- ciology student will readily tell you, cooptation has drained the '. s,,o fm ,r. than, nnPnv.pa ii w' 1