J Sevety-Fiftb Year EDMD AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS SIZE HAS BENEFITS... Ensuring Excellence as r' Expands, Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBoR, MIcH. Truth Will Prevall 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. TUESDAY, 16 MARCH 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN BRYANT The Protest Against U.S. Folicy: Tactics and Purpose Misdirected REGARDLESS of one's opinion of the issues at stake in Viet Nam, the pro- posed faculty protest strike makes no sense. The methods involved are ill- conceived if not completely irrelevant. In addition, the protest is unimaginative and involves little if any real sacrifice on the part of the protestors. In the first place, it makes no sense to disrupt the University rather than the post office or the local draft board of- fice. At least a local office of the fed- eral government has a closer relation- ship to that government than does a semi-autonomous state institution. In the second place, the attempt to arouse public opinion against President Johnson's escalation of the war in Viet Nam would in all likelihood backfire. Mr. Average American would probably dis- miss the protest out of hand as "the work of those leftist university profes- sors." Those who think more deeply about the protest would question the desirabil- ity of depriving students of part of their education and needlessly disrupting the University. IHIRD, A PROTEST of any kind is ir-. relevant because only on one domes- tic issue (civil rights) have demonstra- tions had a noticeable effect on national policy. As Walter Lippmann pointed out in a recent column, American public opinion has very little effect on the reali- ties of foreign relations. The lack of innovation in the protest is self-evident. It is as close a copy of the action taken in Berkeley as is possi- ble under the circumstances. Repetitious activity has a diminishing capacity for making news. BESIDES THESE arguments, a teaching strike and the student boycott of classes that would inevitably follow would prove little because little sacri- fice would be made by either participat- ing group. In fact, the only real sacri- fice will be made by those students who do attend classes and find their profes- sors on.an unauthorized "vacation." Sacrifice is necessary to make protest meaningful. Compare Ann Arbor's pious parade down Huron Street with the at- tempted march from Selma to Birming- ham. Why was the protest in Alabama more effective? Because those marchers were willing to give up more than their lunch. Examine the elements of the proposed Viet Nam protest. Professors won't teach classes. Since they will be breaking the routine of the professorial life on their own volition, it can be cogently argued that they will be on a vacation-a stim- ulating change from routine-for the day regardless of what occupies their time. The very willingness of these faculty members to foresake a day's teaching and research argues against the significance of their "sacrifice." It has been suggested that partici- pating professors will risk denial of ad- vancement in their profession or depart- ment because of their protest. Only if the professor has a prejudicial depart- ment head, however, would this be likely. LACK OF SACRIFICE would be even more obvious on the part of the stu- dents who would decide to boycott class- es. In the first place, many, if not most, students' consider actual time spent in the classroom to be a minor part of their educational experience. In addition, at this time in the semester students are actively searching for an excuse-any excuse-to stay home and work on pa- pers. Thus, a student boycott would not be persuasive evidence that students not attending classes agree with the motives of the protestors. Both faculty and students who are moved to protest against American ac- tion against the Viet Cong should re- consider their rather silly proposals. This projected protest has almost no relev- ance to the formulation of American foreign policy and involves no signifi- cant degree of sacrifice. THESE DEFECTS must be corrected if the protest is to have even minimal Commendable THE STUDENTS and faculty of the Uni- versity should vigorously support the scheduled one-day cancellation of classes planned for next Wednesday to protest United States policy in Viet Nam. Reasons for the protest are as varied as reasons for objecting to the Viet Nam war. Pacifism and objections to the way in which the war is being conducted motivate the 20 professors who have ini- tiated the movement by planning to can- cel their classes the 24th. But there is another much more im- portant reason why the protest should be supported, more important because, while the other reasons concern them- selves with the conduct of our society, this one is basic to the society itself. THE MOST OUTSTANDING fact about the war in Viet Nam is that the public has not heard accurate reports on the war from any source-government or non-government. The government has managed to maintain a policy of almost complete news control over the area. What news reports have been released to the press have been spotty and often self-contradictory. "Managed news" has always been a controversial issue; it. has usually been defended on the grounds that just so the news was not "too managed," no harm would be done. And yet news policy in the case of Viet Nam illustrates clearly how very easy it is for government to misuse a potentially destructive power. What the government has done by this means is to close the normal channels between the American people and their governmental representatives. By elimi- nating the possibility that the people will know anything other than that which Washington wishes them to know, for whatever reason, the nation's leaders have effectively sealed themselves off from any critical feedback from the na- tion at large. AND (HAVE WE forgotten?) this feed- back has always been at the heart of the democratic process. The fact that this feedback is no longer possible makes it necessary that protest be carried out more actively than in the traditional manner of letters to one's congressman; at the moment, such letters would be so ill-informed as to be laughable. Obviously the only way the war can be protested is by just such means as the 20 University professors propose, means outside the traditional protest system which has been invalidated by the gov- ernment's actions. The protest is therefore not only a valid one; it is also expressive of the only way in which the government can presently be contacted. This new approach to the question of the legitimacy of the protest puts a new light on the question of which stu- dents and faculty should reasonably par- ticipate in the protest. THE PROPOSED BOYCOTT is more than just a protest of war policy, more even than a protest of the exist, ence of the war itself. It is a protest of the way the government has regarded the American people, a protest of the extremes to which it has gone in the pur- suit of "security." Thus participation in the protest is more than reasonable for interested stu- dents; it is a necessity dictated by con- science, a conscience revolted by Amer- ica's committing her armed forces to ac- tion without allowing Americans to re- view the wisdom of that decision. And let no one make the mistake of underestimating the influence such a series of protests might have on public interest and sentiment. Just the possi- bility of such a protest rated front-page treatment in the Detroit News yesterday; a large-scale backing of such a boycott would certainly receive large-scale cov- erage. Certainly the administration's mind is not going to be changed by one protest at one university. Yet should this knowl- -anrP, .v,+ afthP . ers dets I COUNT myself among those who contend that the University is too large and most emphatically among those who favor a limit on enrollment somewhere near the present figure. The remarks below assume, however, that the enroll- ment is not likely to 'decrease, and therefore that we should capital- ize on the potential that size offers. Some of the most important potential advantages of size de- rive from increased opportunities for deep specialization and cross- fertilization by students and staff in any of a large number of branches of learning. The poten- tial benefits reach every level of education: 1) The undergraduate curricu- lum can relect depth over a wider range of related disciplines, 2) The expanded spectrum of specialization can extend the op- portunities for effective guidance and instruction, as well as for significant research, over a wider field of knowledge, 3) Instruction and research in fields that draw on a number of disciplines (C o m m u n i c a t i o n Sciences, Conflict Resolution, Nat- ural Resource, Economics, Bio- Engineering, to name a few) are facilitated, as are coordinated seminar programs and post-grad- uate institutes aimed at either cross-fertilization among several fields or at greater depth in a single field. THE GREAT challenge facing the large university is that of finding ways of realizing the po- tential advantages with minimum sacrifice in the flexibility and opportunities for expression that characterize the small institution. Based on my limited experience and on conversations here and outside, I judge that this Univer- sity has maintained a flexibility that is remarkable, if not unique, among large universities. This fea- ture is evidenced by the number of interdisciplinary teaching and research programs and institutes that have been established. The Rackham Foundation through the Graduate School plays an indis- pensible role in encouraging and in supporting many of the inter- disciplinary educational programs ever, while the factors and the problems that have developed in recent years are perhaps accentu- ated in these fields, they are un-' questionably not unique to them. Every part of the University is groping for ways to deal with two superimposed explosions: in popu- lation and in knowledge. From the standpoint of the engineer- ing and science faculties, consider the fact that 90 per cent of all of the engineers and scientists that ever lived are alive today. Each of us feels at times that a disproportionate percentage of them is engaged in his own field PROF. ARNOLD M. KUETHE of the aero- nautical and astronautical engineering department joined the University faculty in 1941. He has been a consultant for many government and industrial labora- tories, is active on contract research for the Defense Department, has co-authored one book and contributed many articles on aerodynamics to various publications in aeronautics and physics. ...IF USED WELL considerable amount of the mate- its non-academic functions. Such rial must be read and digested if a weighting is sometimes justi- courses are to be kept up-to-date. fiable, but the point is that its Furthermore, the necessity for exercise moves academic decisions frequent revision becomes more further from the faculty. urgent as the body of knowledge The situation could be balanced increases, by a greater reliance on executive The emphasis on large scale re- committees for some aspects of search in engineering and the the operation. There are so many sciences is linked with the knowl- intangibles involved in academic edge explosion. Laboratories ade- matters at the teaching, service quate for this research are neces- and research levels that judgment sary if outstanding faculty and from a distance can often only students are to be attracted, but stress superficialities and can in many of the fields their cost have a serious leveling influence is far beyond a university budget. on the whole operation. The only alternative is to seek the Therefore, implementation of a support of the federal government, decision to stress teaching excel- even though the system, the ne- lence will, I believe, require that gotiations and the reporting can the use of and reliance upon ex- be quite cumbersome and generally ecutive committees become great- consume a great deal of faculty er and greater as times goes on. time. Indeed, such committees have alit Thus, the faculty activities re- ready been established in the lated to the teaching function schools, colleges and some of the have increased enormously since departments as a means of direct- the war, and it is difficult to see ing policies dealing with general how the trend can be checked, staff excellence. much less reversed. It would, of course, be easy to establish executive committees and THE UNIVERSITY has become then to ignore them or give them such a large and complex or- no more than lip service; I be- ganization that effective adminis- lieve, however, it is true that these tration is a career in itself. De- committees are as successful as partment chairmanships are still the respective faculties insist that term appointments, but there is a they be. Potentially, they provide tendency to reappoint over and that necessary link between fac- over again. ulty and administration, without It is important to realize that which a university eventually be- the faculty - administration gap comes little more than a degree- tends to widen whenever the qual- granting corporation. ifications for an academic, admin- -PROF. ARNOLD KUETHE istrative position are weighted un- duly towards its administrative or NEXT WEEK: Prof. Oliver Edel during their formative years. Thus, the evolution of the or- ganizational structure of the Uni- versity to meet the changing needs of society can be an almost con- tinuous process of bridging the existing disciplines and maintain- ing flexible boundaries among them. MY DISCUSSION of the teach- ing function as it is influ- enced by various factors reflects, of course, my own background in engineering and science. How- and that each one has a research contract calling for quarterly re- ports and frequent publications. The sheer weight of published in- formation requires almost con- tinuous exercise of the choise: "I can read it, I can file it, or I can throw it away." I KNOW, however, that if I file it, the probability is not high that I can find it if I want to read it, or that my filing system is good enough to even indicate that I have it. A certain not in- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: The Faculty Strike on Viet Nam: Is It Justified? To the Editor: WE WOULD like to endorse the University professors' propo- sal for cancelling classes March 24 in protest against United States action in Viet Nam. The plan is an effective means of focusing attention on the con- cern and discontent of many peo- ple who, as individuals, have no way of influencing government policy on single issues. Further- more, it allows this group to ex- press their views in their capacity as university professors. This campus is an appropriate place for such a demonstration, sincethe University is a recipient of state and federal funds. Calling off classes cannot fail to be noticed both by the state's con- gressional representatives and by the federal government itself. WE WOULD further suggest that those students in sympathy with the protest show their sup- port by not attending their other classes scheduled for that day. -Alice Fialkin. '67 -Miriam Olshansky, '66 To the Editor: THE IRRESPONSIBLE 20 fac- ulty members' proposed work- stoppage to protest U.S. policy in Viet Nam merits the University's closest attention and possibly the state legislature's most prompt ac- tion. No group, however curious- ly composed of sociologists, psy- chologists, scientists, philosophers and artists, has a right to violate its primary duty to conduct classes and to pursue research for the sole purpose of dramatizing their personal opinions, especially when theirspecialized training and knowledge equips them with no expertise with which to analyze the issues involved. The 20's motivation may be one of laziness; that is, the academi- cians' belief that a protest may provide a good excuse for a paid vacation. Such protest would only substantiate the general disre- spect and distaste the faculty has for the undergraduate body. University P r e s i d e n t Harlan Hatcher's labelling of the propos- ed action as unacceptable lacks conviction. Regardless of political ideologies or inclinations, the an- ticipated walk-out must be met by assurances of punitive action from both the University and the legislature. Any faculty member found organizing or participating in a protest which entails any sus- pension of professorial responsi- bility in teaching, counselling, ad- ministration or research should suffer an arbitrary diminution of his compensation -- for instance, the greater of the equivalent of one week's salary or $100-without reference to the number of class- room or research hours of work actually interrupted. The state and its supported in- stitutions have no right to sub- sidize any expression of political opinion by any group. Any demon- stration might better be scheduled on a Sunday, when the 20 could leave their homes and families to entertain passers-by and others of their ilk who wish to express their convictions by genuinely de- priving themselves of some per- sonal comfort. IF THEIR political convictions supercede professorial responsibil- ity, the members should vountar- ily depart. If not, and a week-day demonstration takes place, let them be unpaid. -C. William Garratt, '65 To the Editor: A UNIQUE and creative form of individual involvement in world crises is emerging on the University campus as a con- science-stricken group of our fac- ulty has announced a special pro- test against American policies in Viet Nam. Viewing moral com- mitment to their ideas and the implementation of those ideas as the fulfillment of intellectual study, they have decided to call off their classes and research and instead provide special educa- tional programs to express their disgust and transmit their con- cern. But our administrative leaders see this noble gesture only as a disruption of the concept of the well-run, socially viable University and miss its significance as the inevitable and desirable conse- quence of the fusion of learning with the humanistic impulse. The heart of the University has been revealed, but some people still see only the body. It is dangerous to criticize so generally on the basis of a head- line, a few sentences and one quo- tation, yet what matters in this situation is not so much the in- dividual words or sentences spoken but the general attitudes com- municated. It is the defensive at- titudes of the men who -should be strong, creative leaders that are so appalling. THESE FACULTY have posed a challenge, not only to American policy in Viet Nam but also to the University as an institution and to the students as individuals. To the students, they ask, can you make use of the gift of time- both free time from the cancella- tion of classes and the time given by faculty to prepare a special program? This is no diversion from the educational process but a necessary part of it, all too long lacking. It is the political world's chal- lenge to each person to make real that which he has been absorbing in classes,the challenge to express one's ideas and to defend them, now, when people of all persua- sions are alert. Challenge is not extraneous to education; it is the consummation of it. TO THE University, these pro- testors ask, how strong is aca- demic freedom? Does it include an organized group of opinion as well as the lone dissenter or the con- troversial lecturer? One possible view of what will be happening here becomes fright- eningly obvious. Here are a group of "Communists" who take ad- vantage of their public immunity under university protection and cease to do what they have been hired to do-teach and research- in order to preach subversion to the youth under their guidance. If this attitude should challenge the University, whether in the overt threat of investigation and legal action or in the subtle shift- ing of public opinion against the powers and the costs of universi- ties, how shall this University stand? NO GROUP, no institution likes its foundations and values laid so opposition with a tactical prob- lem. It confronts the student with the question of commitment. It confronts the rest of the faculty with an examination of their con- sciences and their. attitudes to.. ward their professional responsi- bilities. Most of all, it confronts the University in general and its lead- ers in particular with the future of the University-shall we be a servant of society or a critic of "t or some combination? This is the crucial issue in the development of the institution called the "multiversity." ** K YES, THIS protest is something to fear, for we may all be con- fused by this confrontation and none may ever know what is fail- ure and what success in this en- deavor. But this protest is also a thing of beauty, a day of truth in which to ask "why education" and "where shall it lead?" Let this not end in petty in fighting be- tween administration and faculty, with students revelling in a free holiday. Let us all, no matter what our political views on the policy in question, recognize our common desires to speak as we feel and to be heard as we speak. Let us face this challenge together. --Sarah Mahler, '67 Film Festival To the Editor: HAVE resigned from the third Ann Arbor Film Festival as jurist and guest speaker. I find its direction hardly of an inter- national scope as advertised by Mr. Manupelli. I am further horrified that a sense of censorship should prevail during such an event, an event which is for the students and not to insure the showing of local films out of competition.,-It is to be hoped that a true festival of the film will take place under the auspices of more inspired man- agement. I have, since Sunday, been wag- ing a battle for the public showing of "Jerovi" by Jose Rodriguez Soltero. Sunday afternoon the jury overcame the discontent of the preselection committee, and film has been entered into the festival. * ** I TAKE leave of your campus with a very interesting image which I beheld the other day near the Michigan Union: A young man talking to a tree. -Gregory J. Markopoulos Raising a Question To the Editor: ACCORDING TO what I have' heard and read, the baseball team has spent the last week in, Arizona and the tennis team has been in Florida until recently. I can't recall in my 30 years at the University any other time when a team was permitted to be away from the campus for a whole week while other students pre- pared their reading assignments, began preparing for forthcoming bluebooks and papers, took part in class recitations, listened to lec- tures and carried on laboratory work. Do all of us sanction this policy of slighting the academic for the sake of the athletic? Or am I old- fashioned to raise the question at all? --Wilfred MW. Senseman Professor of English Engineering College LAST FESTIVAL SHOW: .Beautiful Beginning, D.sappointing End At the Cinema Guild THE LAST SCREENING of the Ann Arbor Film Festival began Sun- day night with four beautiful films, but ended with disappointing fare. Last year's Grand Prize winner, "Mass" by Bruce Baillie; was the best film of the evening, though it was not entered in the compe- tition this year. Baillie unifies his penetrating, pictorial criticism of American culture with a simple plot-line involving the murder of a man on a city street. Most of the scenes in Baillie's film are blurred or misty. The focus becomes sharp only when sharp focus is needed. For example, a quo- tation from a Dakota Indian chief appears: "Behold, a good nation walking in a sacred manner in a good land." Immediately the camera focuses upon row after row of look-alike houses in a low-income housing development. DIANE ROCHLIN'S two films display a beautiful, lyric portrayal of human experiences. In "The Tamarit," Miss Rochlin uses visual images to match the movement of a Lorca poem being read on the sound track. In "In the Last Town," she successfully employs the technique of intermittently freezing the action so that one is viewing a still photograph. Avoiding dialogue, Miss Rochlin nicely portrays the emotions of two lovers caught within the confining walls of the town. . "Bert" by New York University is a neatly-executed character sketch of a New York cabbie. Well-chosen scenes of Bert on the job _l~ in___nrcs wth hacr fh wfeA~n aghteS FILM FESTIVAL: A udience Reactions Lend Most Interest At the Cinema Guild ONE OF THE most interesting aspects of attending this year's Ann . Arbor Film Festival was the opportunity to observe the audience reactions to each of the showings. The frequency and variation in comment were due partially to the nature of the films themselves, partially to the spontaneity of the.college audience, and partially to, the fact that not one viewer in ten was able to understand all of what was happening on the screen. As a result, reaction ranged all of the way from venemous hissing to polite clapping and thunderous applause. Of course, some disagree- ment was to be expected in an audience containing such a wide variety of backgrounds and motivations. There were those who came hoping to be recognized for their "artiness," and those who came and worked hard not to be recognized at all. There were also those who, quite obviously, came to see dirty movies and were disappointed. MARKOPOULOS' ATTEMPT to describe the art film movement to' his audience may be looked upon as representative of the festival as a whole. The entire festival was an attempt at communication be- tween the filmmakers and the audience, an attempt that failed more often than it succeeded. Happily for those who attended the nine o'clock showing last Saturday night, the attempts which did succeed' were both meaningful and highly entertaining. "That's Where I'm At" was a semidocumentary film which captured perfectly the atmos- phere of a Negro slum neighborhood. "Cause Without A Rebel" and "That's What Tittle Girls/Bov Are Made Of" were delightful snoofs.