c 4r mlorigatt Balig Sevewty-Fifth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIvERSrrY OF MICHGA74 UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Eminent Paid Propagandists Testify That This Is Better For You Than Real Health Care" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Larcorm Clarifies City- University Relations s Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBVa. MIcn. Prevail NEws PHONE: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. .. .. x . ,. _ ~ . .. : '. : __ ' .;. AY, 27 FEBRUARY 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT HIPPLER Th e Ostrich Approach To That Cow College 1. * Y 1. ,4t any , AMA t4 $y 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 I ' yy x K _ i a ,, f K l ,: a w ti a - 4 .. 1 .; s . I-,,. 1': a.,? . J x , L r~ ft*--o2 s ote- JI -s 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 - CX014 AI d cOh, onal 4"_ J) -0c 7