I
Seventy-FifthYear
EDrrID AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVERSTT OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHOtITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
VIET NAM:
The U.S. Needs Firm Policies
- p.mm - ae
6 Optain1s Ae P~e, 420 MAYNARD Sr., ANN ARBoR, Mrcm.
m2tI wUi revai
Ntvs 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.
WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: LEONARD PRATT
Teach-In: An nOpportunity
ALL STUDENTS and faculty should THIS DOES NOT MEAN those who at-
attend as many portions of to- tend any of the programs tonight
night's Viet Nam "teach-in" as they need support the views which will be
can. expressed. It does mean, however, they
Examples of conspicuous, organized owe it to themselves and their country
faculty and student action on pressing to go, to listen, to question, to evalu-
national issues are rare on this cam- ate-and, if they then become inclined,
pus. They indicate, if nothing else, to act. No one can ask more, but then
a concern for greater popular partici- no one should do less.
pation in policy-making that is un-
doubtedly healthy for a democratic -JEFFREY GOODMAN
society. If such efforts are not to be Acting Editorial Director
continually shrugged off as ineffec-
tual, if citizens-whatever their occu- -ROBERT HIPPLER
pation-are not to continue to be apa- Acting Associate Editorial Director
thetic about important issues, then
these efforts must at least be taken -GAIL BLUMBERG
seriously. Acting Magazine Editor
Grading,Language Policies:
Time for Reevaluation
T HE RECENT recommendations of the
literary college steering committee
give evidence to the insight that can be
gained through the cooperative efforts
of student and faculty representatives.
Two aspects of the report in particular
merit attention - the language require-
ment and the grading system. The pros-
pects they present are innumerable.
In recent years the language require-
ment has been alternately attacked and
defended with equal vigor and vehe-
mence. Although heated discussion often
tends to obscure real issues, the mere
fact that such controversy exists indi-
cates that there are some difficulties
with the present system.
According to the committee report, the
language requirement should exist in the
hope that "every graduate will be bilin-
gual." It suggests supplementing the four
semesters of language with non-compul-
sory reading lists, conversation groups,
and other extracurricular exercises. Al-
though these new methods seem attrac-
tive, in practice the majority of stu-
dents would probably not wish to par-
ticipate in a non-compulsory program
of this nature; the small attendance at
the present Le Cercle Francais-weekly
coffee-hour meetings of French students
-is indicative of the response other ex-
tracurricular activities would receive. The
result would be that most students would
take only the present, minimal four se-
mester requirement.
IF A BILINGUIST is defined as one who
is able to communicate fully and free-
ly in another language, bilinguists are
usually not produced in four-semester
programs. Since students would not par-
ticipate in the suggested extracurricular
programs, the committee's proposal would
deteriorate to what the University has
now. If the University truly wished to
graduate bilinguists, it would have to
make spme or all of the above extracur-
ricular activities compulsory, or even
include a compulsory junior year abroad
in the requirement.
However, it is unlikely that the Uni-
versity would implement these methods.
A more practical solution would be to
continue to require a basic two-year pro-
ficiency in one language alone. In this
case the University could require such
training prior to admission, enabling stu-
dents to devote more time to the field
of their choice.
College prep curriculums in high schools
are continually improving; many are of-
fering three and four year language pro-
grams. If enrolled in such a curriculum,
a student could dispense with the lan-
guage distribution prior to admission
and would be a happier student once ad-
mitted.
This would not discount the advanced
courses which some students would
choose to elect, and perhaps through im-
plementation of the committee's sugges-
tions these curriculums could be made
more attractive.
IN SUGGESTING that letter grades be
replaced with essay evaluations, for
sophomores and above, the report raised
an interesting issue. For if a grade is to
be the degree of knowledge and under-
standing pertaining to a certain area of
study which a student has accomplished,
the present assignment of letter grades
The actual degree to which letter
grades indicate the student's "knowledge
and understanding" is debatable. Within
the usually large "c" range many abili-
ties and academic attitudes may fall.
And because the letter grade is deriv-
ed from performance on tests, the nature
of the examination itself has a good deal
of bearing upon the performance of the
student. A student with an ability for
memorization can excel in an objective
examination, with one night of cram-
ming; on the other hand, one who stud-
ies consistently through the semester and
learns to understand the material but
who lacks this ability for memorization
might get a substantially lower mark. In
this case, the knowledge of the two stu-
dents, that is, the understanding that
lasts longer than a day or two, is not
adequately represented in a rigid letter
grade given for one test.
A strong argument can be made that
letter grading obscures the .real goals ofE
the learning process. The student works
to achieve a certain grade point, rather
than seeking to attain a certain degree or
depth of understanding of the course ma-
terial. A good deal of academic pressure
is involved in the race for grades. The
unfortunate factor is that this pressure is
directed to pursue a letter grade, not a
particular level of excellence in the course
material. The grade thus becomes a short
range reward, subverting a long term goal
by drawing attention to itself.
AN UNCONVENTIONAL method - re-
placing the present grading system
with written essay evaluations - could
eliminate many of these inconsistencies.
By eliminating the grading categories, a
much fairer and clearer picture of the
student's individual academic attain-
ment would be presented-fairer to the
student because it would not depend so
heavily upon the competitive pressure of
a letter grade and would not subvert long-
range goals, and clearer because it would
be related directly to the individual's
work, and unobscured by the vague mid-
dle range of the letter-marking curve.
Admittedly, this new method of evalu-
ation would require more time on the
part of the instructor and more matur-
ity on the part of the student. In writ-
ing a descriptive critical essay on the stu-
dent and his work, the instructor would
have to devote more time to his analysis
than merely recording a letter grade.
However, if this instructor were a good
.one, the process of arriving at a written
evaluation of the student's work should
not demand any more time and thought
than he contributes to the grading proc-
ess now.
Under the new system, the student
would have an opportunity and an obli-
gation to assume a more mature atti-
tude toward learning. He would no longer
be prodded by the black and white re-
ward or punishment of a letter grade.
Learning could become an individual
matter, no longer reinforced by clearly
defined levels of comparison. As such it
would be a personal achievement or
failure, which would be of much more
value to the individual's academic prog-
ress.
ALTHOUGH the Literary College Steer-1
ing Committee Report is still in the
recommendation stage, the problems it
By PHYLLIS KOCH
NO ONE WANTS war-particu-
larly the leaders of this coun-
try. Yet, in the words of Henry
Steele Commager: "There comes
a point where each generation
must vindicate its freedom anew.'
Such a vindication involves a
duty to preserve values at the
expense of foregoing much that
Is desired and pleasant, includine
-if need be-one's fortunes or
one's life.
Thus, the waging of peace in-
volves a willingness to risk war.
In the balancing of the power
vacuums of the world, that has
always been the case. To obtain
peace, we risked war in Berlin
in Greece, in Korea, in Cuba. The
same calculated risk must bc
taken now in Viet Nam. Risks
are unavoidable in any foreign
policy worthy of its name. The
question is not whether there will
be risks, but the degree of risk.
America must know that its
standards and stakes are. Belat-
edly, but nevertheless clearly, the
U.S. has become aware of the real
situation and threat. U.S. com-
mitments to Saigon began in the
Eisenhower administration and
were enormously amplified dur-
ing the Kennedy administration.
Today, the U.S. is committed, says
Hanson Baldwin, New York Times
military writer, "by the words of
Presidents and cabinet members.
by the actions of the government,
by the deep involvement of Unit-
ed States military forces."
To ignore this commitment
would be a setback;, for United
States global prestige and power
are intimately bound up with the
outcome of the Vietnamese strug-
gle.
UNITED STATES withdrawal
from Viet Nam, as the foreign
minister of Thailand poited out,
would be disastrous in much of
Asia. Thailand is the next tar-
get of the Chinese Communists-
according to Radio Peking.
Already the assassination of
village leaders has begun in the
outlying areas near the Laotian
border just as they began 8-10
years ago in Viet Nam and are
beginning again in the Philip-
pines. Soon the large scale intimi-
dation of the rural communities
will begin just as in Viet Nam.
All of these acts are well perpe-
trated and supported by the Asia
Communists.
After Thailand would undoubt-
edly go the other half of Laos.
Then Malaysia would be sur-
rounded by a sea of Communism.
Where will the U.S. satnd firm?
Does the U.S. have to wait until
the assassinations, intimidations
and sabotage begin on a large
scale in Africa, South America or
Central America? By then it will
be too late to stem the tide.
Strategically, South Viet Nam
has further importance. North
Viet Nam badly needs the rice of
the South. Moretimportant, th
area is the traditional rice bow]
of the continent. Geographically
Viet Nam is in a position pointing
toward the rich archipelago of
Indonesia and abutting strategic
sea passages. Whoever dominate,
it will eventually control most
of the Indonesian archipelago.
N SHORT, the U.S. must re-
main in Southeast Asia for it
own security. South Viet Nam is
n itself not so "vital" that the
U.S. could not live without it.
But to surrender this area to
Communist domination would
completely unbalance the politi-
cal forces in that part of the
world. Forfeiting Southeast Asia
would be sufficient to alter the
balance of power in Asia and the
world against our national inter-
est. And history shows that a
world whose great powers exer
unbalanced influence soon finds
itself at war-a war of vast di-
mensions.
If the U.S. is to keep peace in
the world, American policy must
clearly direct itself toward these
sobering threats. As Presiden'
Johnson and many other Presi-
dents before him have said, the
U.S. purpose and objective "is to
Join in the defense and protection
of freedom of a brave people who
are under attack that is controlled
and that is directed from outside
their country."
TO THOSE VOICES which sav
that the U.S. has "no moral
right" to be in Viet Nam, it can
be said: neither do the Viet Con .
Nor does North Viet Nam have
the right to support the Viet
Cong in the South. U.S. involve-
ment is a response to Commu-
nist aggression. The administra -
tion's "white paper" gives evi-
dence that the aggression against
South Viet Nam is significant]"
inspired, commanded, controlled
and supplied by the Communist
regime in Hanoi.
From 1959 to 1964. the renor+
states. Hanoi sent 19,000 militar'
personnel across the border to
wage war against South Viet Nam
This figure comes from cross-
checked reports from prisoners.
defectors, and secret documents
The report also gives substantia'
information that 15.000 addition-
al infiltrators entered South Vit
Nam during this period. Wrk
growing numbers of North Viet
namese are cantured.
These facts about the stuati r
in Viet Nam. acording t- Am-
bassador Adlai Stevenson. "make
nonsense of the evnical a1egatior
that this is simnly an indaenons
insurrection." Stevenson's conc -
sion is further suonorted by C.
L. Sulzberger (New York Time'
foreign corresoondent) writn-
from Hue, South Viet Nam. "Tr
achieve this advanced stage of it
war effort.". Suzberger renorh
"the Viet Cong has had to sacri-
fice all pretense of indiaeno,,c
insuiration. Its mitarv biah con.
mand is under Hanoi's redouiit
able General Giap. Eighty per cent
of its manpower rPlacements ar
North Vietnamese sent dowr
through Laos ...
How should the U.S. annroach
this situation? Above all. It must
stand .firm and be natient. As to
basic policy, the alternatives to
present courses might be, on the
one hand. to withdraw or to
negotiate on some basis such a
what is called "neutralization."
or. on the other hand. for the
Vietnamese andrthe US. to en
large the war. bringing proP11n-
to nersuade Hanoi it is fighting
a losing battle.
QO LONG as South Viet Nam
' continues to carry on the fiht.
withdrawal is unthinkable. A ne-
gotiation which produced a return
to the essentials of the 1954 ac-
cords and thus an indenenent
and secure South Viet Nam wnu1'
of course be an answer, the idA1
answer. But negotiation woulr
hardiv be promising which exos-
ed South Viet Nam and other
countries of the area to renewe'
Communist agression at will.
In presenting his report to the
Security Council, Stevenson em-
phasized that "peace can be re-
stored quickly to Viet Nam by s
prompt and assured cessation of
aggression by Hanoi against thc
Republic of Viet Nam. In that
event, my government would b
happy to withdraw its military
forces."
Thus, it is not a matter of
failing to negotiate, but one of
negotiating meaningfully.
As for enlarging U.S. actions
one cannot speak surely about the
future-for the Communists them-
selves share the responsibility for
such eventualities. The U.S. ha
shown that it can act. But in the
words of W. P. Bundy, assistant
secretary of state for Far East-
ern Affairs, "we seek no wider
war, and we do not suppose that
there are quick or easy answers in
this direction."
THE ROOT of the problem, as
repeatedly and wisely suggest-
ed by Sen. McGee of Wyoming, is
in South Viet Nam. The U.S.
should announce that the cessa-
tion of the act of infiltratiov
across the Viet Nam border by the
forces of North Viet Nam ,and
that the cessation of active, log-
istical support for the Communist
forces in South Viet Nam, is a
prerequisite for any negotiation.
And it should persist in such r
policy, reinforced if necessary with
continued efforts in Viet Nam.
One cannot help but be aware
of the risks of such a policy. But
they are as nothing compared to
'he risk inherent in inaction. For
history shows only too clearly
that an aggressor's appetite is not
satisfied by peace offerings of the
territory he is seeking.
The situation in Viet Nam has
many of the qualities of the sit-
uation that existed in Czechoslo-
vakia some 25 years ago. The
same situation was present Ir
Berlin on another occasion. This
is "the common denominator,"
Sen. McGee asserts, that makes
the U.S. position in South Viet
Nam synonymous with the posi-
tion that the West was confronted
with in Munich and many other
areas and which led to the rise
of Hitler and Mussolini in the
1930's. Because of Woodrow Wil-
son's idealism, no adequate pre-
cautions were taken.
This is no time to indulgecin
wishful thinking about peace
What is required now is realistic
thinking about the hard politi -
cal factors in balancing the world.
Certainly there are big risks in-
volved, but they are risks that
will some day have to be faced
somewhere.dTo postpone them I,
only to increase their potentia'
for world destruction.
The U.S. must also accept that
it cannot expect a perfect solu-
tion to these conflicts, that a
workable solution may leave a
nation divided for the immediate
future. These divisions now exist
in Berlin, in Korea, and coule
soon exist in Viet Nam. For the
moment, they are a comromis
that the U.S. can live with in the
hope that the future will provide
a more rational means of set-
tling these differences.
THE U.S. will negotiate - cer-
tainly, at some time it must
negotiate-but that time is not
now. At the present moment the
task must be to make clear to
those who threaten the peace of
free men, that the U.S. accepts
the challenge, that it stands firm
that it will take the risk Involv-
ed. The U.S. can accept this risk
now in the hope and expectation
that it will enable it to accept the
equally great risk of establishing
peace through the rule of reasor
and understanding rather than
through terror and the force of
arms.
amraemaasuWHY NOT?
.~~w.
Academic Autonomy:
The Neglected Front
By Jeffrey Goodman
.%W.. " SLi+.
ALMOST EVERYONE in Ann Arbor and Lansing was pleased last
week. A majority of the Viet Nam protestors had decided it was
bad tactics to risk defeat on a high-priority front by also fighting on
a second, lower-priority front.
We are concerned with our right to decide how to educate our
students, they said, but for now we are too disgusted with American
policy in Viet Nam to fight for academic freedom as well. The legis-
lators and administrators nodded: Public debate and even protest
are fine, they reiterated-as long as social responsibilities are met.
Certainly there is cause for disgust, and for this the protestors'
short-run retreat is wholly justifiable. One only hopes, however, they
feel sufficiently moved by their brief encounter to return to the
academic freedom front in the near future. Unfortunately, it seems
few of them were moved, so let this piece be a challenge.
The enemy on the second front is nothing less than society's
insistence that universities and their faculty are ultimately its servants,
and that professors are bought by legislators who contract for a
service they should then control. Now this is sound business practice,
and to argue otherwise one must use phrases which are incomprehen-
sible to a market-oriented public .Still, the argument should be made:
WHAT IS increasingly wrong with education is that it is becoming
first of all useful to current, avowed social interests and only sec-
ondarily useful to the concepts of social and individual truth which
good teachers and students will advance. Leaving the why aside, this
condition makes education just a cog in the great perpetual motion
machine, continually rotating in a fixed cycle.
Yet education fails in its basic function-which is to breed per-
ceptive and courageous men-precisely when it becomes integrated
into society. If it is to fulfill its function, it should be left to those
who would learn and those who would teach. It should not have
to bow to the interests of parents, governments, special publics and
administrators.
For education's peculiar vested interests are transmitting inclina-
tion and capacity for skepticism about past, present and possible
states of affairs and for the pursuit of personally significant activities.
Here some kind of truth and some kind of freedom are the goals:
maintaining harmony in society in reaching these goals may be
considered desirable, but it is by no means necessary.
(This may not be wholly true in fact, but despite the way edu-
cation is now conducted, it attracts and breeds many more perceptive
and courageous men than any other social institution.)
Go beyond the walls of the scholarly community and the vested
interests are minimizing skepticism and dictating, however subtly,
what activity is significant. Here harmony is the goal, and truth and
freedom are little more than means.
Ideally, society should be a facsimile of its educational system,
a living embodiment of good educational principles, and we should
not have to separate education from scoiety to ensure the improve-
ment of society.
IF THIS IDENTITY is ever to materialize, the movement will
have to begin in the educational system, where groundwork has
already been laid and where at least some individuals are independent
enough of current ways of thought to think and talk skeptically,
to act on their ideals and to stimulate action in their students. If
education is really to move society in new and better directions, it
will have to guard and extend its separateness until the utopia has
arrived.
(Practically, this means universities should seek constitutional
authority to levy their own taxes-i.e., to write a blank check on the
public. It is intolerable but true that Lansing has publicly-if not
legally-legitimated authority to reduce the University budget because
a planned moratorium on classes goes against its sense of current
propriety. In the shorter run, it means university presidents should
defend the right of faculty to teach as they judge best. When he
added his own condemnation of the protestors to Lansing's last week,
President Hatcher became the most unfortunate actor in the whole
unfortunate drama.)
Quite independent of whether moratoria on classes are good
or bad, the point is that if those who would innovate must be re-
sponsible to those who by and large are unable to innovate, there
can never be real innovation.
One implication here, of course, is that the protestors should
have consulted their students before calling the moratorium, for
education is meaningless without the student. Always-with innova-
tions like new curricula as much as with innovations like strikes-
the faculty member should explain (e.g., how the student might
benefit from participating for a day in an act of citizenly. protest
over policies about which he should be concerned and in whose
formation he should have a say) and a vote should be taken. No
more justification should be required.
KNOWING SOME of them, I think the protestors are the kind
who are concerned with principles like these, and perhaps more now
than 12 days ago. For in announcing their moratorium, they opened
a Pandora's box full of gremlins, and the gremlins which force a
man to compromise his self-respect are always the ugliest and the
most unforgettable.
;
i
IS SUES OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
The Pros and Cons of Branches, Independence
EDITOR'S NOTE: This Is the
first in a series of articles evalu-
ating the issues treated h Ithe
report of Gov. Georee Uomn~ev's
"blue ribbon" Citizens' Committee
on Higher Education.
By ROBERT LEDERER
THE CONTROVERSY concern-
ina the merits of university
branches as opposed to the at-
tributes extended autonomous in-
stitutions is still unsettled. As
Michigan enters the next decade
faced. w'th the task of educating
an additional 82.000 undergrad-
uates by 1975, the problem be-
comes intensified to such a degree
that decisions have to be made.
and made quickly.
What is to be preferred, the
prestige gained from the branch-
parent relationship or the oppor-
tunity the autonomous institution
receives to achieve such prestige
on its own? Administrative "know
how" or independent growth of
new and distinctive programs? Im-
mediate accreditation or a sense
of venturesomeness to. achieve ac-
creditation?
The matter wasn't settled in
1956. Citizeins of the Saginaw-
Bay City-Midland area pronounc-
ed the need for a four-year, de-
gree-granting college in the
Thumb area. When a bill was
finally introduced in the Legis-
tablished. he would begin shopping
around for prospective branches;
it seemed that a dog-eat-dog race
to see whose tentacles stretched
farthest was imminent. The Uni-
versity finally gave way to public
and informal sentiments, and Del-
ta became a junior college with
a private senior college attached
in a modified "piggy back" ar-
rangement. An invaluable prece-
dent which could have been set
was avoided as the Legislature
failed to take a definitive stand
on educational expansion.
And the opportunity was pres-
ent. The John Dale Russell Report
on Higher Education in Michigan
released in 1958 recommended that
"in a case in which the need for
a degree-granting program is
clearly manifest, the State should
establish a new college under state
control, rather than allow or en-
courage one of the existing in-
stitutions to establish a branch."
It appears that the Legislature
didn't grasp the urgency of the
issue, and there was no strong
State Board of Education as under
the present state constitution.
The matter still isn't settled in
1965. The University plans to ex-
pand its Flint branch with or
without the budget recommenda-
tions or the Governor. Although
each state university has the au-
regarding branches and autono-
mous institutions or else become
a battleground for the larger
state universities, each eager to
gobble up the state's educational
resources, each substituting waste
for excellence, mediocrity for in-
novation.
THAT THE controversy is a
tcklish one is evidenced by the
advantages each side affords. The
branch assumes an aura of pres-
tige immediately: it is endowed
with the name of the parent in-
stitution. which is affixed to the
new diplomas. a policy instrumen-
tal in attracting students looking
for a name and reputation.
Administrative and instructional
experience ease the strain of get-
ting the new school on its feet
and prove to be valuable advisors
in determining programs and poli-
cies for the branch. Immediate or
near-immediate accreditation is
secured from the regional associa-
tion thereby eliminating one of
the pitfalls a new institution en-
counters.
In addition, the branch avoids
a chunk of the cost for the main-
tenance of major central services
such as administrative organiza-
tion which is financed at the par-
ent institution. The faculty is
strengthened because the parent
functions and programs rather
than accepting those delivered
from the parent.
A board of trustees and admin-
istrative leaders are able to give
undivided attention to the auton-
omous institution, and they can
create policies which need not be
acceptable to another institution.
The institution can grow naturally
and can side-step the predicament
of having to be evaluated and re-
evaluated annually. Finally, the
faculty and administrators have
no "landlord" to be accountable
to and can pay full attention to
local problems.
While the disadvantages of the
autonomous institution are merely
the advantages of the branch, the
latter is plagued by a number of
factors. The establishment of a
branch by the parent university
arouses the fears of the other
institutions who think theraction
is motivated by an interest in
empire-building or by a disinterest
for the total needs of the state.
The development of community
colleges is undermined as the in-
discriminate opening of other
branches by other institutions is
sparked. The opposition to the
branch is often vehement in the
Legislature, thereby inducing bud-
get conflicts and assorted stand-
stills. The branch may receive
the branch. In many cases, the
branch becomes a depository for
rejected instructors of the parent.
If the two diplomas are to be
equal, the branch must approach
its parent in quality and depth in
certain areas. This, however,
would necessitate a more stringent
admissions policy on the part of
the branch, a policy which can't
be enacted since it would defeat
the entire purpose of branch es-
tablishments, which is to give an
education to interested students
who have been refused admission
to the other schools.
The Davis Report to the Michi-
gan Coordinating Council for Pub-
lic Higher Education released in
1964 advocates that "in a highly
developed and sophisticated state
such as Michigan, autonomy is
desirable from the beginning."
The more recent report of Gov.
George Romney's "blue ribbon"
Citizens' Committee on Higher
Education, released last Friday,
outlined the steps along which
such autonomy should proceed. It
recommended that great emphasis
and decision-making power be
accorded the State Board of Edu-
cation because the situation
'makes overall planning and co-
ordination absolutely necessary."
TF THE advisory committees are