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EIMrrEz AND MANAGED BY "Si ME 11 OF THE UNIVE srrY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITYX OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STrUDENT~ PUBLICAMnNS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
The Way To End Academic Isolationism
mooh-WA-;. - - MR
pinions Are P 420 MAYNARD Sr., ANN AiS, Muw.
e wiliPrap
NEws PoNE: 764-0552
itorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This 'must be noted in all reprints.
Y, 28 JANUARY 1965'
NIGHT EDITOR: LAUREN BAHR
It's Time To Curtail
U.S. Aidto Egypt
DURING RECENT congressional debates
on aid legislation many harsh things.
were said about the United Arab Re-
public and its president. The January
issue of "Foreign Affairs" reported one
senator saying that "Col. Abdel Nasser...
has been responsible more than any othera
single individual for keeping the politi-
cal cauldron boiling in the strife-torn
Middle East.. . pouring oil on whatever
brush fire breaks out."
Indeed, during the past two years there
have been five instances of UAR meddling
which particularly disturbed Americans.
There was Egypt's support of Yemen, Al-
geria and then Cyprus. Then came per-
haps the most serious instance in Febru-
ary, 1964 when Nasser called for the
ending of British and American base
rights in Libya. He aroused a public,
furor in Libya that directly challenged
an important American interest. Finally,
there is the current Egyptian campaign
against the South Arabian Federation and
its British sponsors-an area remote from
the UAR and without visible impact on its
security.
THIS CONTINUOUS "keeping the pot
boiling" by Egypt causes serious prob-
lems for the United States. Not only does
it have a number of specific interests in
the countries involved, but its policy has
been to promote tranquility among Middle
Eastern states.
Directly opposed to this policy is the
UAR's continued hostility to Israel, the
only democratic nation in the Middle
East. Herein lies the keystone of the Arab
attitude which refuses to consider even
a remote possibility of peace discussions.
In so far as the Arab-Israeli dispute is a
constant source of tension and conflict,
its lack of solution is a constant threat
to tranquility, progress and stability in.
the Middle East.
The August issue of "Atlantic Monthly"
reported that Nasser intends to build 'be-
tween 800 and 1000 rockets.for an as-
sault on Israel, and that he is experi-
menting with the production of weapons
of genocide of both nuclear and sub-nu-
clear type. Such developments may sound
like science fiction, but "there is noth-
ing fanciful about this intention," ac-
cording to the report.
COMPLIMENTARY to this intention is
Nasser's desire to build a firm alliance
with the Soviet Union, a desire which was
plainly advertised during Khrushchev's
visit to Cairo in May. The Soviet Union
can be of immense use to Nasser in the
'economic and military fields. But of
much more importance is the future dip-
lomatic role of the Soviet Union in the
Middle East, which will be designed to
counter and finally to eradicate West-
ern influence in the area. Russia can now
set to work to turn the Middle East into
a bastion against Western "imperialism,"
to outflank the Central Treaty Organiza-
tion, to open the road to penetration of
India and Africa.
The United States which provides one-
third of the foodstuffs Egyptians con-
sume, continues to bolster President Nas-
ser's regime despite his recent boast of
aiding Congolese rebels with arms; de-
spite his permitting such diplomatic in-
dignities as the malicious sacking of the
U.S. embassy and the burning of the John
F. Kennedy Library; despite his failure to
apologize with diplomatic repore; despite
his assertion we could go "jump in the
lake" and take our foreign aid along if we
objected to his efforts.
APPARENTLY we don't care how much
he disturbs the'peace or to what ex-
tent he opposes U.S. policy. The U.S. has
given Nasser close to a billion dollars in
the past eight years in line with its "Food
for Peace" program. But the use to which
this valuable money is put in the UAR
goes far from furthering any program for
peace. We continue to provide Nasser the
means necessary to provide his people,
with a subsistence diet so that he can
develop weapons against Israel and aid
the Communist bloc in furthering chaos
in the Congo.
With the largest and most modernly
equipped Arab army, the most powerful
and sophisticated propaganda system, and
wide appeal among the Arab masses, Pres-
ident Nasser poses a threat which cannot
be ignored by any nation having interest
in the Middle East. The United States
can help avert such danger if she will
stop supplying declared enemies of the
U.S. with the means to oppose American
policy.
It is difficult to make a case for the
continuance of American economic as-
sistance unless the Egyptian developmen-
tal process .is tightened and foreign ad-
ventures curtailed in the interest of in-
ternal development.
-PHYLLIS KOCH
To the Editor:
ROBERT JOHNSTON, w h o
wants to scrap the literary
college, seems to be involved in a
contradiction. On the one hand,
he deplores "departmental isola-
tionism" and on the other hand
he wants to structure things so
that similar disciplines will work
together, physical sciences, social
sciences, and humanities, which
seem to be even more isolated
than now.
I should think that the alter-
native to disciplinary isolation is
interdisciplinary study, namely
courses which will relate ideas
belonging to social science to
those of physical science or art,
for example. Fortunately, such
courses already exist, neatly
grouped together in the College
Honors program.
In these courses, Prof. Wyatt,
psychology, will give you the
Freudian perspective on liter-
ature; Prof. Seager, English, will
tell you what he thinks it means
to be an American and will offer
additional anecdotes and opin-
ions covering several centuries;
Prof. Hall, English, will guide
you on a sophisticated romp
through representative examples
of all the fine arts of the mod-
ern period. There is, or was, a
course in physical sciences relat-
ed to the perspectives of the
humanities. I have heard that
Prof. Boulding's "General Sys-
tems" offer a similar interdisci-
plinary approach.
* * *
IT SAYS in the catalogue that
these courses are open only to
students in the honors program,
but, luckily, that is not strictly
so. Sometimes you need a per-
mission slip from the professor in
charge of the course you wish to
take, and if you can demon-
strate a certain amount of in-
telligence and a larger amount
of genuine interest, the permis-
sion slip isn't too hard to get.
There are two main advantages
to such courses; first, you can
develop an overview, some theory
of your own which will grandly
unify the entire state of things;
an occupation, by the way, not
to be sneezed at. Secondly, very
often the professors involved
have undertaken to teach these
courses because the subject mat-
ter corresponds to a particular
intellectual bug of their own.
Thus, you will get an energetic
and highly opinionated approach
-nearly always the best kind. If
you want to argue you will have
to be equally energetic and have
a viewpoint of equally highade-
velopment.
* * *
I HAVE very little faith in
this mystical thing "structure" I
am inclined to believe that if
"structure" exists it is probably
a result of 'the way things are'
rather than a cause. Disciplin-
ary isolationism exists because
most students want it that way.
The Daily has published the re-
suits of a number of surveys
showing that m o s t students
merely want to develop highly
specialized skills in one field that
will land them a good job later.
OK. Interdisciplinary p e o p l e
should face the fact that they
are in a distinct minority, and
simply concentrate on seeing that
their minority' interests are pre-
served somewhere. In fact, they
are so preserved.
Possibly the.College Honors
and similar courses should be
opened to more students, but it
is not clear that there is any
great clamor for this. These
courses are, in my opinion, the
best in the University, but, if we
believe the surveys, few would
think so. In any case, no giant
restructuring is needed for this
particular reason. The opportun-
ity is there, available without too
much effort. Those who want
the interdisciplinary approach
should be willing to make that
effort.
-Martha MacNeal, '64
71
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fir;st-run features at our local
cinemas, even at next year's price
of $1.50, but they are first-run
problems to the student body, and
whether that body lives or dies
depends more on education than
whether Mary Poppins is really
worth $1.50.
The type of learning implied in
Prof. Loescher's prospectus is dif-
ficult. It takes far more time and
mental energy than a "take it in
and spit it back" form of educa-
tion. The question facing us be-
comes "To repeat or not to repeat
but interpret instead." As evi-
denced by the reaction to History
of Art 102, the typical University
student is content with the for-
mer and vehemently rejects the
latter, mostly because it is
"harder."
And yet the majority of people
at the University will rise or fall
as post-graduates according to
their ability to interpret. They will
be presented a body of facts and
requested to produce a concise,
meaningful and original conclu-
sion or answer consistent with the
precedent data.
* * *
IF SUCH are the demands of
the outside world, why should
University students, supposedly in
preparation to live in and cope
with that world, demand any less
of themselves? Just to make it
"easier" now? Fine. But what of
the "tomorrow" which must come.
We are reminded of our "psy-
cho-social moratorium," 'w h e r e
the house-and-car-buying, insur-
ance-paying, child-raising prob-
lems 'become, to most of us,
"otherpeople's 'problems," the
other people" being, in the most
immediate case, our parents.
Lucky for us that we will never
leave this moratorium and become
parents ourselves.
What I would like to know is:
must this moratorium also include
creativity and mental expansion?
To many students the answer is
an unqualified yes.
THE ANSWER may not appear
in capitalized form when it is
given. Yet its emphatic exposition
iat words. is well-deserved, for it is these
ae," and very students who complain of the
r to what downfall of education, yet balk at
all attempts to reverse the down-
. Skinner ward trend.
in which The status of a University edu-
bertarians cation will begin to rise only when
the party the students come to accept the
oderates" basic postulate that advances are
party, it made only with new interpreta-
e greatest tions of new creations, that rote
since the memorization', which does have its
own small place in any academic
scheme, is not the cure-all which
ad, 166E many are deluding themselves into
believing it to be.
'Where Until .that time, we can only
hope that we are not mutilating
too' badly that gift of reason
,, which Nature saw fit to present to
** o*B.y Man alone, and accepting, what
ed to Baby should be rejected while we reject
fraid of all that might benefit,
x
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Sidewalks
To the Editor:
IF YOU were one of the people
on the Diag, Monday, Jan-
uary 26th, you are probably won-
dering who was responsible for
the terrible shape the sidewalks
were in. It was sort of funny to
watch students on the way to
their eight o'clocks for they re-
sembled circus clowns asthey
slid and fell on their way to
class. But by four o'clock that
afternoon much of the humor
was gone and the ice was still
there.
On behalf of the blind stu-
dents, students who use wheel-
chairs and elderly professors who
use the diag daily, I think that
who ever is responsible for main-
taining the sidewalks should next,
time see to it that something
more substantial is done than
spreading on a thin layer of
sand. There is no excuse for the'
ice still being on the sidewalks
by four o'clock that afternoon.
Will the University have to
face a substantial law suit before
it is prepared for these unusual
conditions? I hope this will never
happen again.
-William F. Penz, '65
Republicans
To the Editor:
CAL SKINNER has done it again.
In The' Daily, Jan. 23, he had
an editorial in which he did con-
siderable injustice to the liber-1
tarian elements in the Republican
party..
He starts by asking: "How
vital is the two-party system . .?"
Maybe he should also ask the
question: "How vital is the two-
party system when one party is
the spitting image of the other?"
He is worried about the dear old
GOP, but what good is the GOP
if it consistently imitates the op-
position party? This time the
people had a choice, and just
because 60 per cent of them chose
wrong is no reason to go back to
the, old me-too nonsense.
In the thirdparagraph he says:
". while the conservatives are
willing to accept Bliss . . they
are not willing to unify behind
him." Why is it only the liber-
tarian element in the party that
is blamed for the disunity? In
this last election, the disunity was
caused by the other side.
"PEACE MAY exist on the sur-
face, but the battles will continue."
You bet they will. As long as there
is an element in the Republican
party that believes in individual
freedom and another element that
goes along with the other party,
there will be a fight. Maybe the
statist element should join the
other party and stop trying to
sabotage ours.
Mr. Skinner then goes on to
predict all the horrible conse-
quences of a third party. Need-
less to say, the fault is entirely
with the libertarians since they
are not willing to swallow their
beliefs in free enterprise and lim-
ited government and join the
crowd onthe left. There is noth-
ing sacred about having only two
major parties on the' scene, and
when a sufficient number of lib-
ertarians come to feel that both
parties are controlled by groups
with ideas of planned democracy
and gradual socialism, then we
will form a third party.-
He predicts a "drastic change
from what Americans are familiar
with." Of course it's all our fault.
Did he have to forget that 'there
are now "drastic changes" tak-
ing place in our system of gov-
ernment, but he probably would
not consider them so drastic. I
forgot for a second th
like "drastic," "extren
"unreasonable" only refe
our side might do.
I am sure that if Mr
wrote another editorial
he assumed that the lit
took firmer control of1
and that the so-called "n7
were to form a third
would be considered the
blessing for America
end of the Indian wars.
-Walter W. Bro
To the Editor:
"WHERE Has"Educati
"Whatever Happene
Michigan?" "Who's A
Prof. Loescher?"
No, such topics will
never be
-David A. Rives, '65
'A NIGHT AT THE OPERA':
Marx Bros. Film Fails
To Exploit the Medium
Aftermath of the Rights Act
WHEN ALL OTHER recourses failed him,
the segregationist used to resist the
federal enforcement of civil rights with
the indestructible argument: "You can't
legislate integration."
However, six months after the passage
of .the most far-reaching 1 civil rights
guarantee ever underwritten' by a Con-
gress, the validity of this argument is
clearly shaken.
Despite resistance to the civil rights
act in a number of rural areas, and de-
spite the inefficiency of federal agen-
cies in ferreting out the discriminatory
pockets, the overall pattern of south-
ern compliance indicates integration can
be legislated.
THE FOCUS of congressional dissension
over the bill was Title II, which for-
bade discrimination in public accommo-
dations, and Title VI, which threatened
to cut off all federal aid programs to
discriminatory recipients.
But the dire consequences which the
filibusters predicted have not materializ-
ed. One recent canvass of southern atti-
tudes on Title II indicated general com-
pliance in large cities and rural areas
along major highways.,
Even more significant was the dis-
covery that cities with active civil rights
movements were spurred to more rapid
acceptance than locales where citizen ini-
tiative was left unprodded. In such places
as Albany, Ga., and Birmingham, Ala.,
sites of violence and massive arrests in
past years, compliance came more swift-
ly in areas which had taken token steps
toward integration through moderate ci-
tizens councils.
The civil rights act was expected to
THE ACT HAS, of course, fallen short
of the unlimited effectiveness its back-
ers envisioned last summer. But the bill's
defects seem to be primarily a function
of bureaucracy.
The recent splurge of civil rights activ-
ity has prompted a massive propagation
of civil rights enforcement agencies. Un-
fortunately, the growth has been very
uneven and poorly coordinated, so that
the big corporation is overwhelmed with
overlapping bureaucrats while the small
business is practically ignored.
As -one magazine put, the racial em-
ployment practices of a single business
could involve a host of agencies from the
President's equal employment committee
to the National Labor Relations Board.
Another problem in enforcing civil
rights is urging the Negroes to stop being
submissive from habit. The civil rights
legislation could not forbid Negroes from
sitting in the backs of buses. The bill
only gave them physical desegregation;
it could not mentally integrate them. In-
deed, the southerner has been much fast-
er to yield the Negro his rights than the
latter has been to press for them.
FOR ALL THESE weaknesses, the civil
rights act remains a tribute to the
power that law has in this country. This
seems to be the keystone of its success,
As one southerner commented, "The
South has as many law-abiding people
as any other region."
While the filibuster raged last sum-
mer, many people wondered whether the
South was willing to face its reality or
whether it was an anachronism which
modern legal weapons could not elevate
to the present.
At the Cinema Guild
ALTHOUGH equipped with sev-
eral good laughs, the Marx
brothers' "A Night at the Opera"
is an uneven production which
fails to take full advantage of
the film medium.
Many of the jokes rely upon
Groucho's masterful style and
delivery. He has been hired by a
wealthy widow to introduce her.
into high society. "All you've done
since I hired you," comments the
wealthy widow, "is draw a big
salary." "That's more than most
men can do these days," Groucho
replies.
GOOD CHEKHOV WELL DONE:
'U' Players Succeed with 'Uncle Van ya'
At 'other times, slapstick situa-
tions provide the comedy,as when
dozens of people find themselves
crowded into Groucho's tiny
steamship suite. But there seems
to be too many lengthy exchanges
of dialogue,; too many slowly con-
structed slapstick scenes, in short,
too many static situations for a
movie. Often the presentation
seems to be nothing more than
filmed vaudeville.
* * *
AN ALMOST immobile camera
reflects the lack of movement
through much of the film. Rather
than turning his camera to follow
the action, the director usually
switches to a new, stationary
camera.
The central plot concerns a
conceited male opera star, the
female opera star whom he pur-
sues, and the aspiring young tenor
whom she really loves.. Groucho,
Harpo and Chico befriend the
young tenor and become involved
in his efforts to win the girl and
a starring role in the opera.
The humor in the film suffers
from the separation of the comic
figures and the central plot fig-
ures. As a result of this separa-
tion, all of the figures lack deep
character development. Hence the
audience r e m a i n s unconcerned
with their problems and unin-
volved; with their lives, The
comedy of the film is thus sim-
ple and largely superficial-slap-
stick or wit.
THE LAST sequence in the film
-the actual night at the opera-
provides enough excitement and
humor to atone for many of the
faults seen earlier. The director
seems suddenly aware of the po-
tentialities of the film medium. He
expands his scene and injects
plenty of life-giving action. Har-
po, whose delightful facial expres-
sinns make him one of the more
THE UNIVERSITY Players' first attempt at the production of a
complete Anton Chekhov play is very successful. "Uncle Vanya,"
running through Saturday at Lydia Mendelssohn, is good theatre.
Working with the material of a playwright whose genius lies in
the exploration of human processes and problems at the expense of
solutions is no easy task. But the Players are offering a fast moving,
understandable, technically smooth production.
Under the direction of Richard Burgwin, the actors displayed an
aura of professionalism. The naturalness with which the actors car-
ried themselves, the stage business and the tonal variety in
the voices combine to give the production an easiness not always as-
sociated with students.
THE DELICATE nature of Chekhov and his subtleties as some-
times lost, however. The play was interpreted more as the interaction
among individuals than as a critique of society as a whole. There was
verbal reiteration of the theme that society needed to be remolded, but
the intense action on stage focused the audience on the individual
discontent.
Chekhov blames a sterile intelligentsia, "stupid, boring" country
li i-P nSanduse lesnesfnor- the frustrations of his characters.