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EmrrED AND MANAGEDE X STUDENTS OF THE UNVErSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUThORiTY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUILICATIONS
"Forget That You're Not Supposed to Forget!"
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TODAY AND TOMORROW:
Unstable Governments'
Block European Unity
LOpinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOIL, Mi-H.
suth Will Prevail
NEWS PxoNE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, 8 JANUARY 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: DEBORAH BEATTIE
Americans in Vi et Nar:
Policy of Contradictions
FOR A NATION which supposedly de-
termines its public policy on a rational
basis, America has an amazing facility
for ignoring glaring contradictions.
We have been involved in Viet Nam for
a decade now. In that time we and a
series of South Vietnamese "leaders" have
cooperated in denying the South Vietna-
mese people popular government, in im-
posing martial law on them, in herding
them into "strategic hamlets" and in al-
lowing thousands of them to be killed. -
And all along we have asserted that we
are acting in their behalf, to protect them
from being being conquered and enslaved
by an essentially alien force: the Viet
Cong. But the truth has been too glaring
and persistent for even the cooperative
American press to hide. The most docile
American newspaper and the most ferv-
ently anti-Communist South Vietnamese
now calmly report it: the Viet Cong,
though it gets tremendous aid and com-
fort from North Viet Nam and probably
Communist China, is made up of South
Vietnamese. And most of the people of
South Viet Nam, especially in the poor
rural areas, support it.
SUCH EVIDENCE, one would think,
would provoke at least a reconsidera-
tion of our involvement there. But listen
to the President's State of the Union ad-
dress:
Why are we there?
We are there, first, because a
friendly nation has asked us for help
against Communist aggression. Ten
years ago we pledged to defend it.
Three Presidents have supported that
pledge. We will not break it.
Both the Vietnamese attitude and the
U.S. government line now are calmly re-
ported in the American press, but neither
the press nor the people seem to have
set the two side by side. Even the grow-
ing circle of critics of U.S. involvement
close their eyes to this cruel contradiction.
The currently respectable argument is
that we should pull out because we are
losing the war-not because we shouldn't
Coordination
THE NEW State Board of Education de-
sires to present a coordinated educa-
tion budget request to the Legislature.
Such a program clearly entails an exten-
sive, well-considered plan. But it also re-
quires much more than this: The board
must realize that the way in which the
coordination plan is presented to the
state's colleges will have effects beyond
the immediate results of the plan itself.
For the board is dealing with far more
than simple organizations. Michigan's
colleges and universities have been bred
In a long tradition of independence from
any port of governmental controls. Grant-
ed, they have accepted, the principle of
coordination; but the approved coordina-
tion was voluntary, not required, and it
was accepted in principle, not in fact.
Despite efforts of the Michigan Coordi-
nating Council for Public Higher Educa-
tion to sumbit a joint budget request next
year, itis not at all clear that state col-
leges are prepared to sacrifice part of
their valued autonomy. Moreover, the
schools will probably react even more pro-
tectively toward a board which may pos-
sess the power to actually set their budget
requests.
THE BOARD must not necessarily move
slowly, but administrative pride is a
delicate thing and delicate things require
careful handling. College administrators
must be made to realize that coordination
offers advantages which outweigh the
small amdunt of independence that might
be surrendered in its attainment.
Although the board may have the pow-
er to coordinate budget requests, it must
not alienate itself from the state's col-
leges in doing so. Such alienation would
classify the board as ,simply another
branch of the government out to give
the colleges trouble instead of a group to
which the state colleges can turn for aid.
And if the board becomes more a restric-
tive government agency than an educa-
tional assistant, it will have made a major
mistake.
be fighting it in the first place.
Why are we there?
BECAUSE, the argument runs, the South
Vietnamese don't really want the Viet
Cong to win. The poor, ignorant peasants
have simply been duped and/or terrorized
into thinking that the Viet Cong is the
best alternative. If we pull out, they will
be herded into communes and subjugated
to a monstrous military machine. Too
late, they will regret having chosen Com-
munism.
Will they? One of the few Western writ-
ers to visit Red China, Jorgen Bisch, gave
a picture of what life is like under Asian
Communism. In an article for National
Geographic magazine which made the
most of Red China's faults, particularly
its leaders' oppressive secrecy and dogma-
tism, the following passage was tucked
inconspicuously near the end:
Life in a commune is hard and
drab. Holidays are few, and food,
sometimes served in huge community
dining rooms, is only adequate. But
most of the Chinese I saw tilling the
fields seemed to have a sense of se-
curity. Tonight they would sleep be-
neath a roof; tomorrow they would
eat, no matter how little.
If the part of China I was allowed
to visit was a fair sample, the Com-
munists have at least raised the poor
from their timeless misery. Nowhere
did I see starvation; nowhere did I
see a beggar. And, while I saw numer-
ous men and women with fascinating
patterns of patches on their blue
working trousers, I saw none in rags.
Cities boast hundreds of new
schools. The number of universities
has multiplied. Even the humblest
villages have hospitals and clinics.
Machinery is still scarce, and most
heavy earthmoving depends upon
thousands of workers lugging buckets
of stones, sand and clay. Yet I saw
dams rising throughout China at an
impressive pace.
This hardly constitutes a definitive
statement on the general merits of Com-
munism as a social system. But it does
indicate that in Asia in 1965 it may well be
the best alternative. Raising some 800
million people from starvation is the
most important goal that could be achiev-
ed in that part of the world today. The
future the South Vietnamese would find
under Communism seems brighter than
anything they have known-and certainly
brighter than what they know today.
Why are we there?
LYNDON JOHNSON mentioned another
reason:
Second, our security is tied to the
peace of Asia. Twice in one genera-
tion we have had to fight against ag-
gression in the Far East. To ignore
aggression would only increase the
danger of a larger war.
Our goal is peace in Southeast
Asia. That will come only when ag-
gressors leave their neighbors in
peace.
If one ignores the inadvertent irony in
Johnson's use ,of the word "aggressors,
this argument has some substance. If the
Asian Communists continue to be the in-
satiable expansionists they are claimed
to be, they won't be satisfied with the na-
tions in which their presence will be wel-
come and possibly beneficial.
BUT OUR EXPERIENCE with Russia
seems to indicate that the way to paci-
fy a militant Communist is to fill his
stomach with food rather than with a
bayonet. The assumption that Red China
intends eternally to be an aggressor is
hardly an unassailable one either. Al-
ready some conciliatory words have be-
gun to dilute the tough talk emanating
from Peking, and the tough talk itself is
hardly surprising since half the world
has done everything it can to isolate and
strangle Red China.
And, all this aside, from a standpoint
of cold military strategy, we seem ill-
equipped to draw the line in the guerrilla-
filled'forests of Viet Nam.
In short, the "we must contain them
now at all costs" argument is plausible,
but it is far from self-evident. What is
self-evident is that hundreds of people
are dying in Viet Nam every week, and
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IT HAS been said of Giuseppe
Saragat, the new president of
Italy, that he is in the exact cen-
ter of the spectrum of Italian par-
ties and factions. Any government
of the left which did not include
Saragat would be too far to the
left and almost the captive of the
Communitsts; any government of
the conservatives which did not
include Saragat would probably be
the captive of the extreme right
and of the neo-Fascists.
In this sense, the agreement on
Saragat after the prolonged ballot-
ing may be taken as signifying a
general agreement against all ex-
tremists and a desire to keep Italy
on a moderately progressive and
democratic course.
There is no overlooking the
fact, however, that Saragat did
not have the support of the whole
Christian Democratic Party. This
is the largest party in the govern-
ing coalition. In order to achieve
a majority he had, therefore, to
ask for theuvotes of the Com-
munists, though he is himself a
hard anti-Communist.
The significant thing about the
manner of Saragat's election is
that the center-left coalition,
which now governs Italy with Al-
do Moro as premier, was unable
to unite on a candidate for presi-
dent. The governing coalition,
therefore, is not very solid and
may not hold together long enough
to assure a stable government.
* * *
A FEW WEEKS before the elec-
tion, I heard one of the party
leaders in Rome say that it was
immensely difficult to govern
through a coalition wedged be-
tween two ruthless groups to the
right and the left of it.
'The Italian Communist Party is
not only very large in numbers,
but it is much mere than a poli-
tical party in our sense of the
words. Through its control of trade
unions, of cooperatives, of all
kinds of recreationand sport
facilities for the working class,
through its political control of
scores of city and village govern-
ments, the Italian Communist
Party is a kind of state within the
state. It exercises great power to
reward and to punish individuals.
At the other end are the
various conservative and reaction-
ary parties and factions. Though
they are not so large in numbers
as are the Communists, they have
large financial resources and very
large influence over the press.
The governing center-left coali-
tion is between the upper and the
nether millstones and is in dan-
ger of being ground to pieces be-
tween the two extremes.
NOBODY, therefore, can say
with much certitude that there is
a clear future for the democratic
parliamentary system of parties.
It did not work in postwar
France. It is threatened in Italy.
And no one can be quite confident
that the system will prove to be
workable in postwar, post-Ade-
nauer Germany.
On the western part of the
European continent we shall see,
one may suppose, some years of
political turmoil before really
stable governments are ro'. ned.
Even in France, which now bas a
very strong government, there is
the overhanging question wtietlu r
under Charles de Gaulle's succes-
sor the government will st4ll be
strong, enlightened and f r e e.
About Germany there is much
greater uncertainty. Indeed, it is
hard to conceive of a stable gov-
ernment in Germany as long as
the German nation is divided and
not in possession of its own capi-
tal.
Until stable governments are
achieved in Europe, larger pro-
jects for European unity will
move slowly.
(C)1964, The WashingtonPast Co.
Genera lize
TRADITONALLY in our culture
the bachelor's degree marks
both the end of supervised general
education and an opportunity to
change one's major field. After
this comes professional training.
The college curriculum is the stu-
dent's last chance to be taught
anything outside his professional
field, and his last chance to learn
how to choose his professional
field. It is therefore a waste of
time and a disservice to the stu-
dent to teach in college the tech-
nical skills of any single profes-
sion.
--Martin Brilliant in a
letter to Science Magazine
T'
T'Itc WA i j r-,:>r4 sr
Who Are
Job less
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
A Call for a Less Tense 'U'
To the Editor:
WELL, we're back. The ones of
us that are coming back, that
is. But what about the sacrifices
to the god of academic attrition
-the flunkees, the drop-outs, and
especially the suicides? Why
couldn't this institution be hu-
manistic enough, inspired and in-
spiring enough to reverse the
practice of human sacrifice and
keep these students as integral
parts of its society? But no, it
has to maintain statistical con-
formity and stay in the top of
the averages.
And these cases are not the
only ones in which the University
has failed to provide a stable emo-
tional background toethe educa-
tional experience. Let's face it:
few and far between are the stu-
dents who love the place without
reserve, and theiranks ofuthe
frightened and tense or disgusted
are swollen by each new onslaught
of innocent freshmen. I feel
strongly that I am not just croak-
ing from the depth of my own
gloom when I observe that, won-
derful though she is in many ways,
sometimes there is an awful in-
humanity about our alma mater.
Certainly there will be few Oedipal
complexes about her when we
fare forth to graduate schools or
into the working world.
WHY the feeling of estrange-
ment from human reality in Ann
Arbor? What is at the bottom of
this failure of our university? Is
it the knowledge of being caught
up in a vast impersonal machinery
that we get from not being able
to find seats at the libraries? Is
it the fatal second sense that
comes to seasoned Michigan stu-
dents which tells them that if
they want to attend a movie, a
concert, a morning lecture, or a
record sale at Follett's, of course
the place will be jammed? Is it
the feeling that professors regard
the average student as something
loathsome which causes the aver-
age student to loathe himself and
in this way stifles his initiative?
It seems that several of the
problems involved here have to do
directly with size, and we all know
that only catastrophe or the Leg-
islature can do anything about
that. Big families are often the
happiest ones, and it seems to me
that the problem in this one is
the old lack of communication
and of mutual love among the
members. Just because our campus
somewhat resembles a factory at
times and our time schedules look
like instruction booklets for run-
ning a mass-productioncomplex.
we don't necessarily have to act
like time-clock workers who, un-
nerved by automation, break their
necks to achieve quotas and never
exchange a lazy, friendly word.
* * *
WHY CAN'T WE relax a bit and
enjoy our college years? They can
still be productive years intel-
lectually, in spite of a reduction
in tension. Why not indeed? We
have all the facilities at hand to
create a community of scholars
living together without trauma in
an atmosphere of earnest study--
if we will only use them. But we
can cheerfully accept our enforced
largeness only with the creation
of some sort of general esprit de
corps.
Can't we let down a few of the
unnatural barriers we have erect-
ed between ourselves and our fel-
low-labourers and love every min-
ute of what we are doing here?
Let us smile at our comrades and
remember that self education need
not be an exclusively selfish pro-
cess. Anything which keeps one
student from taking his life dur-
ing finals week or from failing or
dropping out for emotional rea-
sons increases the stability and
worth of the society of which
each of us is a part.
And if you reading this are a
professor at this factory of in-
formed minds, please pay par-
ticular attention to the tools with
which you equip the average stu-
dent, for he may never have an-
other employer.
m -Megan Biesele, '67
GETTING PEOPLE off relief and
unemployment rolls and onto
payrolls is a worthy objective,
which these days is getting the
attention of all levels of govern-
ment and many private organiza-
tions.
The suspicion is beginning to
dawn that the forcedcreation, of
jobs is in many cases merely the
creation of job vacancies. There
are many jobs that remain open
for weeks or longer in the ab-
sence of even vaguely qualified
applicants.
Louis P. Kurtis, Westchester
County,, New York, welfare com-
missioner, has added some in-
formation that helps explain the
paradox of people who can't find
jobs and employers who can't find
people.
He has announced the resultof
a survey that shows that 75 per
cent of those on relief in his
county-and the survey covered
.5600 - are- emotionally unfit to
earn a living. This includes a
large number of alcoholics, men-
tally ill, retarded, addicted and
even persons with criminal rec-
ords, who can be helped neither
by the mere creation of jobs nor
by the "retraining" approach.
WHATEVER the federal govern-
ment does or fails to do will affect
these people little in the foresee-
able future, but their cases are
far from hopeless in many in-
stances.
What is needed in such situa-
tions-and we can be sure that
similar conditions exist nearly
everywhere-is individual atten-
tion to individual problems. This
is the kind of help that only other
individuals and community groups
can provide.
Alcoholics, the mentally ill and
addicts all can be, and many have
been, rehabilitated. The retarded
can occupy many kinds of jobs,
but they seldom have the initia-
tive to prepare for them or hunt
them. There are organizations
which specialize in getting a break
for the freed criminal.
We can be sure there will still
be unemployment, no matter what
Washington does, unless private
efforts are enlarged.
-National Association of
Manufacturers
t.
'MARRIAGE':
How To Make Money,
Italian Style
GREAT CAST:
They Were All There
In the HUAC Comedy
BOY THAT MOVIE, "The House Un-American Activities Commit-
tee," shown yesterday by VOICE political party was one of the
funniest in a long time.
They were all there.
-Martin Dies (his temporary committee evolved into HUAC)
claiming that, "all strikers are Communists";
-J. Parnell Thomas, former chairman of the committee (who
later spent several years in jail for income tax evasion), asserting
"The New Dealers are planning their programs hand in hand with
the Communists";
-Francis Walter declaring "30 of the 95 National Council of
Churches Clergymen who wrote a revised version of the Bible recently
were Communists";
SOME OF THE SCENES were hysterical. Bucking stiff com-
petition, Fulton Lewis Jr. easily came out with top honors. In his
narration of "Operation Abolition" (HUAC's movie of students who
picketed a San Francisco hearing which has been seen by 18 million
Americans), Lewis says; "And a student jumps over a barricade,
grabs a policeman's nightstick and begins beating him over the head."
The scene with this narration shows about 200 students standing
passively while fire hoses pour water on them. No barricade or
nightstick is even shown.
The student they were talking about went to court over those
charges and was aquitted.
S4 4
YES, a real comedy.
One almost has to laugh at this preposterous committee that
At the Campus Theatre
"MARRIAGE, Italian Style" was
made with money, obviously.
It was also made for money. And
the best way to increase one's
pecuniary reserves through the
cinema is to borrow-money, ac-
tors, names and situations and
the Italian empathy for the pa-
thetic sob and smile. This is what
Vittorio de Sica (director), Carlo
Ponti (producer), Sophia Loren
(actress), and Marcello Mastroi-
anni (actor) have done.
Money, obviously, was lavished
-on the color film, shot on loca-
tion in Naples; on the director, de
Sica, of the old neo-realistic
school, now only a bundle of ad-
mired film in the archives; on
Sophia Loren, the world's num-
ber one exponent of the premise
that life, for all of its disappoint-
ments, is to be enjoyed, enjoyed;
on Marcello Mastroianni, the
world's number one exponent of
the premise that life, for all of
its disappointments, is usually dis-
appointing; on Eduardo DeFilippo,
who wrote the play, "Filumena
Marturano" many years qgo,
eventually made a film by the
same name, and has now obviously
decided that it is time for him to
really cash in.
FILOMENA Marturano was a
prostitute during the war, when
she met Domenico (Mimi) Sori-
ano, a well-to-do Neopolitan busi-
nessman. He enjoyed her, she
loved him and was ultimately
given everything she could ask
for in the way of security except
the honor and respectability of
becoming Mimi's wife.
Now, he is dallying around with
enough to be a fine film, but de
Sica only has a half-ripened idea of
how to film a script that is better
left as a play. Sophia Loren can-
not be resisted when she smiles,
she is too easily resisted when she
emotes and-well, she can't be put
into a smiley picture for everyone
to enjoy because that would be
such a waste of her limited cine-
matic charm and talents.
MASTROIANNI knows how to
put on the drole face with effect-
iveness only when the script is up
to his kind of talent. "The Or-
ganizer" best revealed this. "Mar-
riage, Italian Style" never gives
him a chance.
-Michael Juliar
'RASHOMON':
Kurosawa's Directing
.Makes Excellent Film
At the cinema Guild
BRILLIANT DIRECTING by Akira Kurosawa makes "Rashomon" a
cinema masterpiece. He relies upon the excellent acting of Toshiro
Mifune and Machiko Kyo to present his stimulating inquiry into the
nature of truth.
Kurosawa's use of an exciting, violent story creates a high level of
audience interest. A bandit seduces a woman, and her husband is
murdered. Four people describe the incident, leaving the audience to
determine the "truth." Audience eagerness matches that of the nian
listening to the four accounts, as it tries to reconstruct an apparently
simple situation. But increasing confusion, increasing complexity is the
result of each additional account.
Hence Kurosawa leads from a straightforward story with clearly
outlined characters to a confusing story of complex humans.
The use of symbol further demonstrates Kurosawa's ability as a