c 4r mlorigatt Balig
Sevewty-Fifth Year
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AY, 27 FEBRUARY 1965
NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT HIPPLER
Th e Ostrich Approach
To That Cow College
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THE UNOFFICIAL attitudes of the Uni-
versity towards Michigan State is not
totally unlike the ancient Chinese view
of China as "the Middle Kingdom" around
which the rest of the (barbarian) world
revolved. There was strong basis in the
past for the University's belief, as, indeed,
there once was for China's. But it ap-
pears at the moment that the University
is in the perplexing and uncomfortable
position of the Chinese when the West
gave them opium to smoke and then over-
ran them completely. And the University
has yet to devise an adequate response to
the challenge.,
It would be tiresome to recount the
perversities of history which have given
rise to MSU's eminence. On the other
hand, inasmuch as the University is, or at
least gives every appearance of being,
completely nisinformed (or, rather, delib-
erately ignorant) about the subject, per-
haps it is worth the effort.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY was, as
various administrators, professors and
students in Ann Arbor delight in saying,
a cow college in the early 1940's. But when
John A. Hannah became its president in;
1941, the pace of the "udder ~school" in
Michigan changed. Gradually it achieved
pre-eminence- in numerous fields.
MSU professors have been involved in
technical assistance programs from the
Ryukyus to Pakistanto South America. At
the same time President Hannah has
overseen a vast building expanision pro-
gram in East Lansing. Neither the sun nor
the cement ever sets on Hannah's em-
pire.
This development should be welcomed
by all reasonable men as proof of the
theory of evolution. But the University's
reaption to this phenomenal progress has
been nothing short of horror. MSU pro-
fessors tell of attending parties in Ann
Arbor at which University professors re-
fused to speak to them; and University
administration and faculty continue to
suggest to the student body-which seems
no less eager to accept the idea than they
are-that the cow college, while it no
longer possesses its former debased and
depraved mentality, is still irretrievably
incomparable to the University. MSU, to
the Uniiversity, is simply an outstanding
inferior school.
HOWEVER, it might be useful to exam-
ine one department in the University,
economics perhaps, and see how valid this
view is. One finds to his dismay that
three eminent professors din this depart-
ment-one of them the dean of the liter-
Suns eling
STUDENT GOVERNMENT COUNCIL re-
cently passed a motion advising the
counseling office of the literary college
to'- abolish compulsory counseling for.
juniors and seniors. Dean Robertson has
expressed his approval of the motion.
While this proposal is a logical reac-
tion to the immediate problems of the
counseling service-its superficiality and
consequent uselessness-it overlooks the
real issue: What- is the purpose of the
counseling servicp and how can it ful-
fill its obligation to the students?
Especially at the junior and senior lev-
el,. adequate counseling is very much
needed. Students are involved in choos-
ing fields and must have counselors in
these fields to discuss graduate schools,
courses, and occupational opportunities.
While these aspects are not quite as
crucial to the freshmen and sophomores,
these students require preliminary advice
in choosing courses that will eventually
lead to a field of concentration and the
problems met at the junior-senior level.
SGC President Douglas Brook proposed
this motion with the hope that the money
now wasted on many, poor counselors
could be channeled into fewer, more ef-
fective counselors. However, it is more.
likely that the counseling service will be
pushed lower on the budget priorities and
will degenerate even further.
THEREFORE, if the motion is an at-
tempt to solve the counseling problem,
it only hides the basic issue. If, however,
it is taken instead as an expression of.
student protest at the quality of the
counseling service in general, the motion
ary college--originally came from that
stable of agriculture and ignorance, Mich-
igan State University.
A further view makes the situation
seem even more alarming. Recent lec-
turers on the campus have included Allen
Whiting, a former MSU professor who is
now chief of the Far East research sec-
tion in the State Department, and who is
regarded as the most knowledgeable man
on China in the United States. One of the
future lecturers in the University Activi-
ties Center's symposium on American
poverty is Russell Kirk, a former MSU
professor who now writes for the Nation-
al Review; another MSU professor re-
cently expounded the liberal viewpoint
at the symposium.
On the other hand, this same sympos-
ium -could only discover one former pro-
fessor from the University,: Wilber J.
Cohen, as a speaker. Perhaps MSU is not
only catching up, but moving ahead.
Indeed the foregoing, far from sub-
stantiating the University's outdated
nyth about MSU, only reflects current
realities. And this is why the University's
reaction has been what it has been. For it
refuses to admit that MSU is steadily ap-
proaching excellence, or that MSU is a
definite threat to its previously undis-
puted prestige. Instead, it frenetically re-
peats the same' old conundrums about
MSU's inferiority, not so much in an at-
tempt to describe reality as in a vain hope
to change it.
A CLASSIC EXAMPLE of the contrast
between the myth which the Univer-
sity attempts to perpetuate and the real-
ity which MSU has made clear is the cur-
rent controversy over the Honors program
of each school. MSU, in a concerted ef-
fdrt to recruit excellence, has begun a
substantial, well-endowed scholarship
campaign and has given a large contri-
bution to the National Merit Scholarship
Corporation for students who decide to
attend college there. As a result, MSU
last year accepted over 260 Merit scholars;
the University, employing its relaxed ap-
proach to excellence, took in less than 40.
The confused and angry trumpetings
from Ann Arbor after the news was an-
nounced last year made the Great Crash
sound like an autopsy. Vague references
to "academic pitchmanship" reportedly
emanated from high University sources.
Official brows knotted, official brains
whirled and official mouths voiced the
blistering comeback: MSU was "buying"
Merit sholars by - contributing to the
NMSC fund and stipulating that only
those who attended MSU could receive
its money. In other words, MSU's scholar
statistics were supposedly stacked.
It may assuage those troubled con-
sciences to know that NMSC President
John Stalnaker - called the University's
reaction "mostly sour grapes"; or that
in the number of semifinalists, determin-
ed solely by academic promise, MSU was
still far ahead of any other school in the
country, which apparently includes the
University. In short, MSU bettered the
University.
ALTHOUGH OBVIOUSLY jolted by the
defeat, the University was neither pre-
.pared to admit it nor, as succeeding
events have shown, to do anything about
it. It might be said that there are two un-
official points of view at the University
towards MSU's vast improvement: one
doesn't know about it, the other does and
doesn't like it.
"We're really in a competition with
MSU," one student close to the inner
workings of the Honors Council declares,
"but we don't want to admit it." Or, as
one of the inner workers of the council
itself has put it, the University makes a
"conscious effort to inform, but not re-
cruit."
However, the MSU recruiting drive has
been not only successful but annoying-
ly successful. It is far superior, in con-
cept and in execution, than anything the
University has seriously considered, let
alone actually tried. It is a noble at-
tempt at achieving excellence which has
challenged the University's own "vital
margin of excellence."
But in response to the MSU challenge,
the University has not recommended its
pursuit of excellence. It has sought a
refuge of arrogance.
THE UNIVERSITY has been stung, but
it seems ready to subside into its
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SOCIETY VERSUS ITS YOUTH:
The Student: Do or Be Done
By ROGER EBERT,
Collegiate Press Service
IF I WERE asked to diagnose the
fundamental ill of this college
generation. I would answer that
We present a rather simnle cast:
we do not know what is bein"
done with our lives, and we -o.
not demand the condition, of lire
necessary if we are to grow un as
sane and creative human beings.
Somehow, when we weren't look-
ing, our society hit us w'th the
notion that it's our resnonsibility
to maintain its standard of living.
Somehow we were brainwashed in-'
to believing that a growth curve
represents morality, and anythin
that's bigger has got to be better.
The cold war with Russia turned
into a battle of gross national
products and it was patriotic to
consume. Good Old Ike went on
TV to tell us We Auto Buy Now.
James Conant, the wise old
man of the materialistic ethic,
studied our high schools and de-
cided they weren't doing their
part in the race to manufacture
more Things. If we're going to
keep the factories humming and
wuin the Space Race, he told Con-
gress, we've just got to have more
scientists.
We didn't fully realize a; the
time what a basic shift this was]
in the whole idea of knowledge.
Young people once became scien-
tists because they, as individuals,
needed to be scientists. But now
young people were to be "recrurt-
ed" for science because we, nott
they, saw the need. The choice of
a vocation became a matter for
high school, when only a few dec-
ades ago it was a decision to be
made during or even after college.1
But that was okay, because by
now a vocation was only a meansi
of buying a ticket into the i
suburbs, not a way of life any-
more.
* * *
REMEMBER what happened
then? Good Old Ike, who was
kept briefed on the golf course
by walkie-talk e and who was all
in favor of knowledge, heaven
knows. sinned the National De-
fense Education Act into law. At
last a way had been found to get
Congress to spend money on edu-
cation: you explained that it was
really for defense.
The developments since then
have -been rapid and depressing.
It was only a matter of time until
the English teachers fv'ired out
that THEIR field was vital to de-
fense, too, because people need to
be able to read orders and under-
stand the commercials. Eventually
every field of knowledge will be
defined as vital to our National
Security, which is how it was to
begin with, if you only stop to
think for a moment.
The trouble is that somewhere
along the way we lost two impor-
tant concepts. First, we forgot
that knowledge itself, just plain,
pure knowledge and intellectual
discipline, is man's most noble
possession. Second, we forgot the
wisdom which Emerson gave us at
Dartmouth: when a young man
chooses his vocation, he writes
his autobiography at the same
time, Work, not leisure, is the
fundamental condition of a pro-
ductive life and always will be.
It does not matter how long the
American Weekend grows; the rest
of the week will still determine
our greatness or littleness.
We have forgotten that young
people must become what they
need to be, not what society needs
them to be. Societies, even during
the cold war, are the servants of
man and not his masters. We must
insist that what society really
needs is what we really need,
nothing more or less, and that a
society that removes us from this
understading is immoral and self-
serving.
* * *
THERE IS, after all, no intrinsic
reason for preserving institutions
which prevent us from the reaiza-
tion of life in its ideal forms. A
society which supports itself at
great cost to human initiative,
spontaneity and freedom perpetu-
ates an immoral and inhuman way
of life.
But these are not attitudes con-
sistent with the university system
we are asked to accept and com-
pete within. The universities,
which at their birth in the middle
ages vigorously defended their
right to -pursue truth in 'ndif-
ference to society, now fawn to
official needs and government
programs to a degree which rep-
resents a betrayal of their stu-
dents and teachers.
In providing the manpower for
this public service, we sacrifice a
priceless -private right: the rigit
to exist as scholars within a free
world of ideas. If we are to fulfill
our potential of nobility and es-
tablish in our lives the conditions
for human greatness, we must seek
it wherever it might be found.
- Most of us do not have the
imagination to conceive of our-
selves in these terms. Nor do we
fully understand how we are being
exploited by a university system
which has entered into an immoral
contract with society to produce,
at the lowest possible per-unit
cost, trained automatons to keep
the economic, defense and indus-
trial establishments rolling.
* * *
IF WE WANTED to take the
time, we could produce engineers
with a liberal education, and
English professors with an under-
standing of the sciences. But we
do not want to take the time, be-
cause society needs limited in-
dividuals, with limited skills, NOW.
And so we run vast technical
schools and call them universities.
Still society is not satisfied;
society never is. And so univer-
sities examine the possibility of
"trimester" programs, and quarter
programs, and they explain that
they want to "make a fuller use
of our facilities." We, - in our
naivete, think the "facilities" re-
ferred to are physical. But that
is only partly correct. The "fa-
cilities" are human as well, and
consist of the professors. and stu-
dents without which the greatest
university would be nothing but
a physical plant.
They want to make fuller use
of us. But do we want to be made
fuller use of? Do we agree to be
exploited in this way? Is this the
nature of the contract we made
with the official source of knowl-
edge in our society? Can we agree
to this contract and retain our
identity as independent human
beings? Or must we sell out?
This college generation is being
manipulated and exploited on a
scale undreamed of two decades
ago. When the Army needs me-
chanics, it trains mechanics by
making men into mechanics. But
To the Editor:
THE STORY and accompanying
headline in the Feb. 23 Daily.
regarding the discussion in Ann
Arbor City Council working ses-
- sion of city-University relations is
a serious misrepresentation of the
news.
The quotes are inaccurate and
out of context. The headline, in-
stead of saying "Larcom Hits Uni-
versity Policies" should have said
"Larcom Supports University Pol-
icies." This was the tenor of the
discussion as any councilmanor
member of the audience at the
meeting will testify. As a matter
of fact, the Ann Arbor News
headline for the same meeting was
"Close Cooperation of City, U-M
Cited."
During a long, four-hour counc l
working committee meeting deal-
ing with many subjects, about 15-
20 minutes were devoted to ques-
tions raised by councilmen re-
garding the role of the city-Uni-
versitytrelations committee, a
committee, composed of three
councilmen and various Univer-
sity officials.
* * *
COUNCILMEN expressed con-
cern as to whether they were re-
ceiving complete information via
the committee regarding UVniver-
sity policies affecting the city's
interests. The city administrator
explained at length the highly
cooperative relationship existing
between the city and the Univer-
sity, and several times stated that
if council wanted more informa-
tion, he was sure that the Uni-
versity would be interested in
furnishing it.
Councilmen raised the question
of the possibility of meeting more
often with the :Regents. Cuncil-
men inquiredhas to what Univer-
sity officials met with the joint
committee. Councilmen comment-
ed that evidently a very fine re-
lationship existed between Uni-
versity and city officials at the
administration level. The city ad-
ministrator suggested the possibil-
ity of Council-as-a-whole meeting
with representatives of the Uni-
versity, rather than through a
committee, if this would better
serve council's purpose.
The statements' by the city ad-
mnistrator, regardinghUniversity
policy on the release of informa-
tion were made in explanation of
the University's position as com-
pared to the city's and not as a
criticism.
.-Guy C. Larcom, Jr.
City Administrator
EDITOR'S NOTE: The bDaiy ac-
knowledges and regrets the error,
and apologizes to Mr. Larcom for
the misrepresentations in its ac-
count.
--K.W.
Tradition
To the Editor:
THINK the idea of having
women cheerleaders at the Uni-
versity is the stupidest thing I
ever heard of.
It is indeed possible that "the
girls would probably get more
response from the crowd . . just
because they are girls." If it is
response that we want, then let's
hire the Kilgore College .Ranger-
ettes or the Radio City Rockettes.
As for me, I'll stick to the tra-
dition and cheer for the men.
-Barbara S. Deutsch, '61
Population
To the Editor:
CHRISTINE LINDER'S survey
(Feb. 21) on the future world's
population and hunger problems
wasedisturbing. It noted the
causes of these problems, it noted
predictions for the future and it
offered solutions, but it didn't
mention any large-scale work be-
ing done on these problems. Work
is being done, but not nearly
enough to overcome the problems
the world will face in the near
future.
I have recently become ac-
quainted with one large-scale pro-
gram working on the problem of
world hunger. It is called the
Freedom from Hunger Foundation,
Its activities include setting up
programs to train natives to teach
proper agricultural techniques to
their people; finding the solutions
to various food, agricultural and
health problems in various parts
of the world; and finding sponsors
(institutions, .businesses, group&'
to finance each of these projects.
Anyone desiring more information
about this organization may call
me at 761-1043.
-Christopher Croom, '65E
Internationalism
To the Editor:
W ALTER BROAD'S REPLY to"4
my letter impels me to tres-
pass a little further on the cour-
tesy of your columns, but I will
make my remarks as brief as I
can. On a number of. points we
agree. For example, we are both
free traders, though unlike him, I
consider slavery an even greater
offense to "libertarians" than
tariffst(Irefert to- his remarks
about. the ,Civil War).
Like him,' I think the g eat
depression was a major cause of
Hitler's coming into power; I do
not think that anything short of
a strong military stand by both
Western Europe and the United
States would have stopped Hitler
once he got' into power,"however .-
I cannot agree with him that
the League of Nations did' no
good; at the very least it stopped
half a dozen minor international
quarrels that might have grown
into wars. That thedLea gue was
less successful in dealing Mjrawisin b h th
major aggressions by the three
Axis nations was due partly to
narrow nationalism in Britain and
France, which took the form of
appeasement (remember Cham-
berlain's remarks about Czecho-
slovakia "a distant country with
which we. have little concern?")
and a narrow nationalism in
America, which took the form of
isolationism.
The United Nations, supported
by the United States, has for that
very reason accomplished much
more than did the League. We
have had two world wars on the
basis of selfish nationalism, and
our chance of avoiding a third
depends precisely on the amount
of international cooperation which
can be developed in time to pre-
vent, it.
Preston Slossoa
Professor Emeritus of HistoryY,
Self-defense
To the Editor:
WITH THE RECENT assaults on
Uiversity women, I find that
I suddenly have a morbid desire
to learn the art of self defense.
But aside from my own personal
cravings, I really feel that j do
classes for women would help to:
meet the rising problems of at-
tempted violence to University
women.
It seems to me that the Un--
versity would welcome any chance
to thus implement its responsibil-
ity for the safety and innocence
of its women. University men are
offered "Self Defense" in their
physical education curriculum, but
how many men have been attacked
lately? Why should judo be re-
stricted to men alone, when it's
clearly apparent that women, not
men, would benefit more with a
knowledge of how to protect them-
selves?
I jam not a physical education
major, but I would welcome any
chance to become acquainted with
the are of self defense.
-Joan Stubleski, '67
I "I
DANCE CONCERT:
Variety, Humor And.
A Serious Side T0
VARIETY AND uninhibited humor make the Concert Dance Organi-
zation's annual spring ,dance concert worth going to. "By Chance,"
choreographed to sound effects by Quin Adamson, highlights the pro-
gram. Six girls answer to calls for lavender, white, black, brown, scarlet
and so forth by moving in and out of formation; beige goes into a
corner pretending to be a 'butterfly; purple has facial contortions;
no one seemed to answer to the call for Puce.
"Jazz Piece" and "Conversations," performed by students from
the Interlochen Arts Academy, lilt and laugh. These dances are
sensitively marked by details such as winks and eye expressions, and
the choreography of the hands for "Gossip Talk."
The coordination and balanced choreography of these numbers
is matched in "Zarbia." Calisthenic shadows on the red backdrop, red
striped tunic-costumes and gods' head drums enhance the tribesmens'
athletics. A jazz-dance oriented trio, "Phizz Phlip," displays many
original movements, but is short and disjointed.
ON THE MORE serious side of the program is the lyric."Madrigal"
which opens the program. Its well-paced tempo and interesting com-
binations of a core of movements closely parallel the development of
deLassus' song. "Tendril"-the classic fight of the bud with the weed-
also has a pleasantly lyrical whimsical quality.
"Halcyon" and "More Haiku." chnrno-ranhed tn original music1
"1 WISH To A-;sOfE
THAAT MISSISSIPPI
WILL CO14Fr1,LIE
Tro BE TF iFMOST
A-AKM(N~'G STATE
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