Seventy-Fifth Year EDrrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Michigan MAD GSC and Bluestone By Robert Johnston here opinions Are Free 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MicH. Truth Will 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. THURSDAY, 1 APRIL 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: W. REXFORD BENOIT Suggestions for Improving The Next Convocation THE SECOND STUDENT convocation did not succeedin its primary purposes, to afford President Harlan Hatcher op- portunity to present his opinions and po- sitions to the students and to afford all participants the opportunity to discuss the, topic of the convocation-participa- tion and responsibility with respect to to- day's university students. The faults and shortcomings of the convocation can, for sake of discussion, be divided into two maj or areas. If the students and the president wish to hold another convocation (presumably next fall) they should explore thoroughly the idea of trying to remedy faults in each of these areas through structural changes in the format of the convocation. The first major shortcoming of the convocation was that it tried to cover too much ground. Discussion was "limited" to the areas of "participation and respon- sibility." But in fact discussion was not limited at all. The concepts of participation and responsibility can be interpreted as ap- plying to many areas. At the second convocation, student unions, faculty mor- atoria, demonstrations at Berkeley and the university's responsibility to present a relevant curriculum to its students were all squeezed in. QUESTIONS and conversation ranged over all these topics and many others -and accomplished very little. Less than 10 questions were asked after the presi- dent's opening remarks. These were far too few to begin to do' justice to the gargantuan topic chosen for the con- vocation.; At the next convocation, the students and the president should attempt to con- centrate on a more limited area of in- terest in the University community. There are many such areas, each of which could take up 'n- entire convocation if given a just treatment. In the fall, one area will be very per- tinent-student housing in Ann Arbor, including the mutual responsibilities and privileges of the University and the stu- dent. The University's dormitories will be overcrowded by about 700 students, and the apartment building on South Univer- sity may well not have opened on time to accommodate the students depending on it. A complete exposition of the Univer- sity's position and discussion of the hous- ing situation in Ann Arbor will. defi- nitely be called for. If the president con- fines his discussion to student housing, he will be sure of having enough to talk about and enough people-most of them with a close, vested interest in his topic -to listen to him and discuss the prob- lem. WHILE NARROWING down the topic of the convocation, the students and the president should attempt to change the structure of the discussion to permit max- imum communication and as little mis- understanding,, dissatisfaction and frus- tration as possible. At the second con- vocation, students asked some poorly- phrased and some irrelevant questions. The president on occasion gave incom- plete answers to the questions, sometimes missing central points altogether. Those pl.anning the convocation could? help alleviate this problem by splitting the questions and answers section into two parts. In the first, the president could answer questions on the convocation's topic, questions chosen (for clarity and relevance) from a group submitted two days in advance. The president or his staff would have time to gather a reason- able amount of material relevant to the question and thus provide a more com- plete answer. It proves absolutely noth- ing for the president to field a question and then be unable to completely answer it because of inadequate information at hand or awkwardness in the phrasing or emphasis of the question. In the second question period, the president could, as he has before, field questions not submitted in advance. These kinds of questions have a certain useful- ness, mainly because they make abso- lutely certain the students attending the convocation have a definite role in de- termining the direction of the discussion. They also negate the complaint of those who say that, in selecting and answering only queries submitted in advance, the president or those planning the convoca- tion could stifle the discussion of em- barrassing topics. THE PRESIDENT should try to cover the entire topic of the convocation as best as possible in his prepared answers. The second question period should be used to discuss problems after the president's basic positions have been made clear in the first question period and the speech. Reforms along these lines seem to be imperative if the next convocation is to have any significant degree of success. They would involve increased efforts on the part of both the students and the president. But the effort Would be well worthwhile if the convocation promoted the true communication and understand- ing too often lacking in the past between the students of the University and their president. -ROBERT HIPPLER Acting Associate Editorial Director TWO INDICATIONS of life among discontented students emerged this week. One came from Graduate Student Council. which recommended abolishing the "E" sticker for student automobiles. The second was a demand from Barry Bluestone and the Uni- very ty Student Employes Union, both becoming campus fixtures, for an administration "white paper" on "student economic wel- fare." The two proposals are a study in contrast, one making a relative- ly small but eminently sensible recommendation, the other call- ing for a full-fledged statement of a University philosophy that does not even exist as yet (if. indeed. the University has ever had any philosophy). The "white paper" is supposed to give the administration's "ex- act" position on 'the "University's role as an economic entity in Ann Arbor." The first problem here is that "the administration" referred to actually consists of a good- sized number of people who could not agree on the "University's role as an economic entity" even if they were able to define the terms. The second problem once some meaning is found for the interesting phraseology, is that one must first explain what -the University's economic role is now, then go on to discuss what it could be-given the many restric- tions that must necessarily hedge around any role the University might want to assume-and then finally try to reach some sort of consensus about what the role should be ideally. ALL THIS CALLS for a lot of homework and a lot of discussion and weighing of problems, re- sources and alternatives by both students and administrators. Blue- stone and the UMSEU haven't gotten around to doing this yet. Instead they voice a series of supposed grievances, some of which deserve either a decent burial or a complete presentation on the students' part-at least something more than constant whipping to no purpose. Contrast the work of GSC. Their recommendation to abolish the $7 "E" sticker is based on sound, logical arguments and backed up withrall$the relevantefacts and figures. $28,000 per year is being collected for no good use, though quite a bit goes for the hWgh costs of red tape, GSC says. They therefore claim the "E'" sticker is an unnecessary financial burden on graduate students, and they present a pretty good case. How about it, Prof. Cutler? UNFORTUNATELY, the GSC people end up in the same trap as Bluestone and UMSEU. Their second recommendation is for "The adoption of definite policies to prevent the catastrophic traffic problems that will result if the present trend towards a larger student body continues towards its ultimate goal." What policies are to be adopted to stave off this presumed disas- ter when the student body reaches this "ultimate goal"? (If there is, in fact, such an ultimate goal -short of mutual annihilation- a lot of people would be very in- terested in knowing what it is and whose it is.) Parking lots, besides being ugly and taking up a lot of space needed for a well-integrated cen- tral campus, cost a lot of money. And, it need hardly be said, there isn't any. It is, furthermore, rather dfficult to persuade Mr. Donor - to - the - $55-million-fund- drive that a fume-filled parking structure will be a fitting testi- ment to his memory. The Fuller Parkway Alignment Study released recently has a lot of eminently intelligent things to say about traffic in, near and to the Un'versity campuses. There are a lot of eminently intelligent proposals on cleaning up the prob- lems. But the price tag is $3 9 million. and money is never "no object." THE POSSIBILITY of public transportation eomes up. Again, millions t$$), though there are plans in the works. In any case, somebody better do some fast thinking-and acting-on how a thousand or so students at a time are going to get to central cam- pus from the North Campus hous- ing now being built. GSC speaks of preventing "de- generation of parking into a chaotic situation which will be beyond remedy by simple planning and reasonable expenditure." Alas, the planning is not simple, as they should know, nor the expenditure reasonable. Chaos, in fact, is al ready pretty much the rule. This leavesthe Bluestone fac- tion, which must somehow be kept out of trouble to keep members from insulting administrators, as they are wont to do. They might well be concerned with the 18- story apartment building going up on South University. Where are 800 gullible students going to sleep when it isn't done by Sep- tember 1? It's a fair bet they will come screaming to the University for help, screaming like they would have screamed if that same uni- versity had told them they couldn't sign up for apartments there. Screaming to administrators who have repeatedly cited statements by experts that the building can- not possibly be finished in time. ON TUITION and room and board hikes: Does Bluestone have any suggestions on how to get a few million restored to the Uni- versity's budget up in Lansing? Or advice on paying off heavy resi- dence hall mortgages? Or how to raise student wages and not raise the rest of the service wages structure, greatly in- flating costs? Plenty of problems, and an- swers aren't found on picket signs. BUT AN ATTEMPT, at least, has been made to tackle what should be the most overriding concern in all student, faculty, and administrator minds, the curricu- lum--or multiplicity of them or lack of them-which forms the hardened educational ground on which the University supposedly rests. The course evaluation booklet, published Sunday by The Daily, covered only 53 courses. If one assumes all of the University's 3000 academic appointees teach at least one course, it is easy to see the surface has barely been scratched. But it has been scratch- ed-and maybe some blood has been drawn. The booklet is overly cautious at times and never strays far from a normative sort of descrip- tion. But, read carefully, it can provide a great deal of valuable information-unspectacularly pre- sented but accurate. It's about time somebody took an open, honest and fair interest in what is being taught here and how well. The faculty are too busy elsewhere, it always seems, or there aren't enough of them, so the undergraduates once again must bear the brunt. COMPOSER CARTER The World of Sound: Infinite Possibilities At Hill Auditorium "MY LIFE has been an intent to explore new methods of sound" Elliott Carter said last night at the third concert of the Con- temporary Music Festival. The distinguished American composer was honored by the School of Music in a concert of three of Mr. Carter's own works. After intermission, Carter gave a brief talk outlining the current state of music and his own orientation towards composing. "I don't understand what the composer should learn and what rules he should obey," he said, contrasting the position of the composer today with his role in times past. "Suddenly . . . during my lifetime . .. the world of sound has expanded to infinite possibilities," he continued. "It is as if we had combined all the languages of the world together at once; we don't know the grammar." THE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER outlined his own position in trying to establish a "continuous stream of sense." He sees his attempt as analogous to Brahms' ideal of "sober use of materials." Carter emphasized he has an interest directed more toward design and continuity than towards sounds themselves. His use of meter is the innovative side of his music one thinks of first. He affirmed his concern for organization of time and cited Proust and Rilke as important influences on his thinking. The works performed last night were the "Piano Sonata" of 1946, the "Sonata for Violoncello and Piano," 1948 and the "Variations for Orchestra," 1955. Guest pianist Lucien Stark presented the first work, faculty members Oliver Edel and Barbara Holmquest the second and the entire University Orchestra under Josef Blatt the third work. PERHAPS the most impressive performance was the orchestra's able presentation of the "Variations." In its complexity and careful delineation of color, the "Variations" was also the most impressive composition of the evening. -MARK SLOBIN 'YEOMEN OF THE GUARD': G&S Exhibit True Sparkle At Lydia Mendessoln Theatre TP TO CURTAIN TIME for the first performance of "Yeomen of the Guard," Sullivan complained to Gilbert that the first act was too "serious," that the action was cumbersome. Last evening, the G & S Society struggled with this inherent weakness and triumphed in short time. The rest was a breezy romp, brought to a dead halt at the final curtain in an effectively-portrayed and directed aura of jubilation tinged with pathos. The show began to move at the fii'st appearance of Nicholas Batch, who overplayed the typical Gilbert hero in a fashion that all Gilbert heroes should be overplayed. His eyes bugged in frozen double takes, his voice halted, rose, dipped as he described daring deeds done and undone. But then he sang, and suddenly this incongruous combination of clown and hero produced a tenor voice of surprising clarity and force. From then on, every one of his tricks was an unanticipated delight. SUSAN MORRIS as Phoebe and William Moore as Shadbolt provided the high and low comedy, combining canny timing with slapstick shenanigans in true G & S style. Miss Morris was more effective in ensemble than solo but was always ample to her tasks. Moore's lugubrious baritone was given small opportunity for musical display, but it oiled his comic monologues and gave them the requisite sheen of professionalism. Another excellent baritone was John Henkel in the role of Sgt. Meryll. With intonations reminiscent of "The Great Guilder- sleeve," he joined Kathleen Kimmel as Dame Carruthers to carry the second act to its comic peak. Kimmel was the very embodiment of the brooding, bloodthirsty Tower of London-until faced with the prospect of marriage, at which point she displayed a feminine cunning at once hilarious and engaging. Dolores Martin and H. Stephen Straight were well cast, almost naturally evincing the contrast between a melancholy cloaked in the guise of a fool and the vivacity of a young maid. Each was consistently able to infuse the songs of Elsie and Point with their respective leit-motifs. THE CHORUS proved responsive, if a trifle clumsy. The largeness of the group gave amplitude and depth of sound, but its actions were analagous to a small-scale cattle-herd. Aside from that minor blemish, direction in all spheres- dramatic, musical and choreographic-created a consistently top-notch produc- tion with an occasional twist of staging to highlight the action. Especially impressive were the two finales and the love triangle- become-rectangle of "When a Wooer goes a-Wooing." In a self-criticism, Arthur Sullivan best summarized his creation: "Pretty story, no topsy-turveydom, very human and funny also." -GLENN LITTON NEARLY SOPHISTICATED: The Inevitable Garg Getting There LIKE DEATH and taxes, the Gargoyle is inevitable. But the latest 36-page compendium of satire, humor and cartoons shows the magazine is coming alive. Through what must have been an editorial oversight, the magazine is funny at times. The layouts, pictures and drawings approach sophistication and the MUG fold-in is clever, if not hilarious. Perhaps the cleverest piece in this, the best Gargoyle of the year, was "Real Winners," which gave prizes like the Mathematics Award to people like Director of Housing Eugene Haun. PERHAPS A FEW CO-EDS were squeamish reading that 18-story University Towers won the Phallic Symbol Award, but it was just in jest. After all, Gargoyle Editor John Ward will be living in Uni- versity Towers next fall Ron Weil cleverly ridicules literary analysis. In his examination of the symbolic implications posed by the story, "Jerry Buys Deodorant," he asks, "Is the Empire State Building really the symbol of a castrated worm. Ann Aborte gives the inside story why the Michigan State ZBT house burned down-a short circuit in Christmas tree lights. The Garg also scores with its Poppyfield Ad and Car game. UNFORTUNATELY, some of the Garg writers are still struggling with impossible satires. For example, satirizing James Bond is dif- ficult, since Bond himself is a satire. The Garg tries, and fails. t I a A LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Engineers and Specializatioi A Fascist-Baiting-the Newest Fad IF YOU FIND YOURSELF getting bored at the next all-night teach-in, try the new game that is sweeping the country- "Fascist-Baiting." Fascist-baiting is the modern sequel to the McCarthy-era witch-hunting game of Red-baiting. It's so easy to play the whole family can be indoctrinated so they, too, can join in the fun. All you need is someone who disagrees with you on a contemporary issue. For instance, find a person who tries to analyze the Alabama situation without great emotion and malice; then harangue him about the atrocities, stormtroopers and evil people in Alabama. When he says the deprivation of the right to vote is un- constitutional and segregation immoral but that hating Southerners, Governor Wallace and state police will not solve the problem, call him a Fascist-Racist. Soon the people around will recoil in hor- ror from him. You have honestly and fair- ly baited your first fascist. ANOTHER FINE AREA in which to try a little baiting is a discussion of Viet Nam. You decry the two schools destroyed by government aircraft and the violations of the 1954 Geneva Accord on Indo- China by the U.S. and South Viet Nam (neither of whom were signatories to it). When your opponent says the first viola- vi l - in + th e A nrvr l m a hu N rnrth i t Another easy place to fascist-bait is in a discussion of local police. You pro- claim the brutality of all police, decry the strong-arm tactics they use on mi- norities in large cities and urge the end to all organized police protection. When the opponent says he thinks there is cer- tainly room for improvement in police methods but basically they are doing a fairly good job in keeping law and order, call him a Fascist Brute. DISCUSSING THE EXTREME right will also hook a few good fascists. You just assert that the John Birch Society, The Minutemen, the American Nazi Party and other far-right groups are the most dangerous groups in America today and that such war-mongering, capitalist, ra- cist organizations should be outlawed. When the opponent says the far left is just as great a danger and that outlaw- ing any group because of their ideas-so long as they do not advocate overthrow' of the government-is probably unconsti- tutional, call him a Fascist Extremist. After you've mastered these basic sug- gestions, you and your friends will be able to have even more fun thinking of other ways to bait fascists. Also, you will find fascist-baiting useful in every- day discussions. When you cannot find an effective argument to counter your op- To the Editor: HANK YOU for your annual slamon the engineering college and the engineering profession (Robert Johnston's editorial, Hu- manistic Engineering, March 28). I am happy to take part in this year's annual response. First, I would like to join John- ston in criticizing the lack of non- technical electives in the engineer- ing curriculum. Those of us in- terested in forming a broad, liberal base for our technical careersrfeel painfully the curriculum's pres- sure on us to "forget those lit- college courses and get down to some hard work." The all too-prevalent opinion among the engineering faculty is that political science, literature, history of art and similar sub- jectscan be studiedsafter grad- uation, without need of direction from the experts. Many of us de- plore this philosophy. We find it the result of an un- fortunate misinterpretation of the value of early attainment of tech- nical prowess-the need to "hurry up and get your degree"-both on the part of the faculty and the students. We also find it the re- sult of a shortage of classrooms and teachers, which in part neces- sitates the fast pace of present- day engineering education. THIS IS NOT to say the en- gineering college's program in English is ineffective. On the con- trary, the program is definitely commendable. As was noted with some accur- acy, the program is "geared . . . to teaching students how to write and speak . . ." In their fresh- man year, engineering students are required to take two courses in basic composition and one' in public speaking. The literary col- lege's present requirement is one course in basic composition. In this the engineering college is taking the more realistic point of view, I believe. Whether stu- dents should have learned how to write in high school or not is un- important at this level. The fact is that incoming college students in both the literary col- lege and the engineering college .I.. -n+ L -,xv h izto vri.Q Tn in the engineering college aim at interpretation and analysis just as they do in the literary college. Finally, and most important, I wish to take issue with John- ston's analysis of the engineer as a member of his society. Obvious- ly, the ideal engineer should be able to apply his special abilities to social, political and economic problems as well as engineering problems. Many will agree that a broad early education and con- tinuing study in non-technical areas will help in attaining this goal. Per'haps many will disagree, however, on the effects of speciali- zation on the attainment of this goal. I believe specialization, in and of itself, does not at all im- pair the engineer's abilitytto apply engineering techniques to all kinds of problems. In fact, specialization allows the engineer to understand most fully the application of scientific principles to specific phenomena. As a specialist, thetengineer- or the humanist, for that matter -deals with events on the "atom- ic" and "sub-atomic" levels, where things really happen. The person who remains unspecialized can note only the gross effects of the phenomena surrounding him. He lacks real understanding and with it, perhaps, the ability to be truly useful to his society in any capa- city. FOR ME, then, Johnston's phrase, "shattering example of specialization and self-centered- ness gone to extremes," has no meaning. It is.a pretty phrase, but an empty one. The valid criticism of the Uni- versity's engineering curriculum rests on the lack of opportunity for non-technical study. As long as the University requires-allows is better, perhaps-only 15 per cent of student time to be spent in non-technical courses, and as long as Cal Tech requires 42 per cent of student time to be spent in non-technical courses, then Cal Tech will consistently turn out a better engineer. The valid criticism of the en- gineer as a member of his society rests on his inability to apply in the humanities. The lack of humanities, he continues, inade- quately prepares the student for his full role in life. What Johnston does not realize is that his own overspecialization has led him into a trap. He does not under'stand his own type of education or appreciate that of others. What he is doing is making a category mistake, using the cri- teria of a good liberal arts edu- cation and applying them to a good engineering education, an education based on a different set of criteria. The conclusion Johnston draws is like claiming that a cow makes a lousy race horse. True, they are both quadripeds, but one keeps a cow for the milk it provides. One keeps a race horse for sport, ex- citement and prestige. SIMILARLY, the basis for an engineering education is torpro- vide a modern society with the people it needs to harness man's physical environment. A liberal arts education pro- vides society with people to an- alyse and understand the intri- cacies of man's relationship with his neighbor and himself . Tonjudge an engineering edu- cation by the latter criteria is ridiculous. Indeed, it would be ridiculous for me to claim that Johnston is overspecialized be- cause he has not taken 30 hours of credit in engineering subjects. PRECISELY because these two systems of education are striving for different goals, it is wrong to judge one in terms of the other. Both systems are needed. As long as each is aware of its limitations and recognizes the existence and goals of the other, neither sys- tem's students are overspecialized or narrow minded. -Dean L. Smith, '66E Donor Retaliates To the Editor: WE HAVE just torn up our an- nual donation check to the University Alumni fund. We will not allow our money to support any such irresponsible "freedom" i f I