Seventy-Fifth Year
EDrrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICMUGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
LAST GLANCES
the Most Dangerous Animal
r**********WHY NOT?
Humanisl
Educatio
By Jeffrey Goodin
~in
e Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MiCH.
ruth 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.
FRIDAY, 16 APRIL 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: W. REXFORD BENOIT
Rewriting History Won't
Improve the Honors Program
"AFTER EIGHT YEARS of full fledged
operation, the Honors Program, the
University's attempt to challenge its gift-
ed students, can be judged a success."
Or so the Honors Council seems to think.
Since editorials have appeared in these
columns challenging this view, the Coun-
cil could at least try using a little better
propaganda if it doesn't want to try ini-
tiating a somewhat better program.
For example, responding to charges
that its selection standards give rela-
tively little weight to such intangible
factors as creativity, personality and the
capability not only to absorb but to use
knowledge, an Honors Council official
recently told The Daily, "Admission is
based on many factors, among which are
the College Board SAT score and the
high school record."
The Honors program booklet, on the
other hand, issued before the editorials,
says flatly, "About 10 to 15 per cent of
the entering LS&A freshmen are select-
ed for the Honors Program on the basis
if high school performance and (SAT)
test scores.".
In other words, in responding to its cri-
tics, the Honors Council is operating on
the theory that when history is not on
your side, you should rewrite it.
AN EQUALLY outstanding example of
the divergence between history and
the way the Honors Council attempts to
record it is that, according to one of its
administrators, it has been a "success" at
"molding a community of scholars"
through Honors housing.
Perplexingly enough, Honors housing
residents, and even many Honors Coun-
cil officials admit readily that the only
advantage students have found in Hon-
ors housing is its relative quiet com-
pared to the residence halls.
One might conclude that the proper
appellation for such a program would be
a "community of silence," but the Honors
Program, never loathe to use its imag-
inative and wholly original approach to
the writing of history, has decided on its
own creative and wholly ingenious name
for it instead.
Before history succumbs entirely to the
caresses of the Honors Council, let it be
recorded that the "community of schol-
ars" which the Honors Council feels it
has had such success in creating is such
a "community" that the Council has
abandoned the usual elections for seats
on the Honors Student Steering Commit-
tee and replaced this procedure with peti-
tioning, because, as one member said,
"Nobody knows anybody else, really."
INDEED, those who chose the new steer-
ing committee members were those
who were already on the committee. Evi-
dently - one is reluctant to suggest the
obvious interpretation of their action-
they knew so few others in their bur-
geoning "community of scholars" that
they could only pick each other first and
then fill whatever seats remained with
the few applicants who managed to meet
their-own placid views.
It is indeed true that the literary col-
lege steering committee is selected by pe-
t1r, rflgal Dily( R
Acting Editorial Staff
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Editor
LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM JEFFREY GOOnMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director
JUDITH WARREN............. Personnel Director
THOMAS WEINBERG.............Sports Editor
LAUREN BAHR:........ Assnotate Managing Editor
SCOTT BLECH ............ Assistant Managing Editor
ROBERT HIPPLER.......Associate Editorial Director
GAIL BLUMBERG............... Magazine Editor
LLOYD GRAFF ..... .....Associate Sports Editor
JAMES KESON.. .......... Chief Photographer
NIGHT EDITORS: W. Rexford Bennit, David Block,
John Bryant, Michael Juliar, Leonard Pratt.
SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Robert Carney, James
LaSovage, Gilbert Samberg, James Tindall, Charles
Vetzner,. Bud Wilkinson.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Bruce Bigelow, Sue
Collins, Michael Dean, John Meredith. Peter Sara-
sol'n, Barbara Seyfried, Bruce Wasserstein.
Acting Business Staff
CY WELLMAN, Business Manager
ALAN GLrIE0KMAN.............Advertising Manager
JOYCE FEIN BERG............... Finance Manager
JUDITH FIELD S............Personnel Manager
SUSAN CRAWFORD.......Associate Business Manager
JUNIOR MANAGERS: Ann Jean Berger, Harry Bloch,
Madeline Gonsky, Jeffrey Leeds, Gail Levin, Susan
Perlstadt, vic Ptasnik, Jean Rothb asn, Jill Tozer.
titioning. Perhaps, the Honors apologia
might run, the Honors program is no
different in this respect than the literary
college. Ironically ,this seems equally true
of the entire program.
The Honors Council calls its program.
"the largest and most comprehensive in
the country."
It arrives at this remarkable conclu-
sion because.it has a large number of spe-
cial College Honors courses (owing to dis-
tribution requirements, most honors stu-
dents cannot take them) and honors sec-
tions (which most students find are as
overcrowded as other sections and are
so little different in nature or scope that
they are, indeed, at times indistinguish-
able from them).
And it follows that the program still
maintains that it need not attract good
students through serious recruiting be-
cause it can develop them in its pro-
gram, "the largest and most comprehen-
sive in the country." Although some dif-
fer with this modest view and although
some vague first steps are now being
taken to change it such steps are, alas,
only vague first steps.
RECRUITMENT, a comprehensive pro-
gram, and purposeful selection stand-
ards are the essentials of an honors pro-
gram-and they are a totality, a three-
legged stool. Without recruitment, one
cannot expect good students; without
good students, one cannot expect a good
program; without a good program one
cannot develop good students; and so it
goes. The above makes clear that the
University's program, ignoring such a
three-leggec1 stool, is sitting on the ground
-with its head in the sand.
To whom should the award for this
outstandingly abysmal record be given?
The Honors Council, it should be point-
ed out, hardly bears the full responsibil-
ity for the program's difficulties. The
Honors Council official is in general a
discontented and hard-working man,
aware of his students' problems, though
he is often defensive about or blind to
the program's defects.
University departments, on the other
hand, have actively thwarted improve-
ments in teaching personnel in Honors
courses through a policy of massive re-
sistance and intransigent refusal. In
keeping with its usual complacent men-
tality and, indeed, with its very nature,
the University has not provided much in
the way of scholarship or recruiting
funds.
The record suggests, however, that
when the proper stimulus is applied, theG
Honors Council, and perhaps the otherr
areas in the University which are ob-
structing its advances, will at least at-
tempt something, even if it be only the
rewriting of history. The task, then, is to
see if these groups can be encouraged not
to rewrite history, but to attempt to al-
ter its present miserable course.
AS A FIRST STEP (and-it should be
stressed-other steps can be taken
later if this first step produces nothing)
anyone interested in the fate of the
Honors Program should do the following:
" Write a note including your Honors
or non-Honors status, year ,and field of
concentration (or, if faculty, your depart-
ment). Explain your feelings on the pro-
gram's selection standards, its nature and
scope, and its recruitment practices. En-
close a copy of this editorial if you wish.
* Send it - NOW - to
Prof. Otto G. Graf, Chairman
Honors Council, The University of
Michigan
1223 Angell Hall
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104t
In sending such letters, the writers
should remember that Prof. Graf not only
bears some measure of responsibility for
the program, but also that he will cer-
tainly not be reluctant to show the let-
ters to others who share this responsibil-I
ity.
.The letters should provide a stimulus
to the program for necessary internal re-
forms and a valuable bargaining point for
By STEVEN HALLER
Contributing Editor, 1964-65
THERE COMES a time in every
Daily senior editor's career
when he is ousted from his posi-
tion to make way for someone
new, leaving behind him only that
which he has been able to set
forth in writing during his stay
on the paper. Last of these con-
tributions is the "Last Glance"
editorial, so-called because in it
(theoretically) the writer takes
one last glance at the environ-
ment about him and comes up
with some special words of wis-
dom or concern which he has
been saving for years for just
such an opportunity.
Since most Daily people have
become pretty University-oriented
by this time, their contributions
are in this vein: how to get more
out of one's stay here, what it all
means, and so on. Quite often
these profundities take the form of
some manner of discussion of
"man's inhumanity to man," in-
cluding administrators, faculty,
and innocent bystanders alike.
And yet "man's inhumanity to
man" is too well-known. The
newspapers are full of trouble-
spots, murder, and so on; and
while there is merit for discussion
of these subjects by those more
concerned with homo sapiens
than any other species, I prefer
to spend some time discussing
what is of greater importance to
me: man's inhumanity to the
other species with which he shares
his environment.
FOR ME, a "last glance" around
this troubled world reveals that as
bad as Homo sapiens may make
it for his fellow man, there are
countless other species whose
existence is being imperiled by
man to a far more devastating de-
gree. 1000 less Vietnamese soldiers
(preferably Viet Cong, if you in-
sist on getting political about it)
is still only 1000 less Homo sapiens,
a dominant species then; but only
25 less Arabian oryxes leaves
exactly none-a vanished species,
never to be seen again.
If this seems like a calloused
attitude, remember that it is man
who is mainly responsible for the
gradual eradication of the oryx
(as he was of the passenger
pigeon, the dodo and many
others); by hunting them down in
high-powered jeeps against which
even the fleetness of the antelope
is not enough, the saving of the
remaining oryxes becomes of para-
mount importance to naturalists
of every country-on both sides of
the Iron Curtain.
As it now stands, many species
we take for granted are on the
way out, due primarily in each
case to the efforts of man's callous
attitude toward other species than
himself. Doomed to extinction un-
less something can be done are
the kiwi, the whooping crane, the
nene goose (symbol of Hawaii),
the Komodo dragon lizard (the
world's largest lizard), the leopard,
the orangutan, the polar bear, the
cheetah, the koala, the walrus,
the giant panda and the bald
eagle.
OF THESE (and the list is by
no means- complete), the bald
eagle, our nation's symbol, is
worthy of being singled out for
special mention. This noble bird
is vanishing because its ability to
reproduce has become endangered
by pesticides in its diet. In fact,
pesticides have been used with
such reckless disregard for friend
and foe alike (even man has suc-
cumbed upon occasion), that in
many areas certain species have
been wiped out or almost totally
eradicated, with the survivors ex-
posed to mutagenic and sterilizing
effects that make authorized gas
usage in Viet Nam jungles seem
of somewhat less than world-
shaking importance by compari-
son.
In this state, senseless slaughter
of wildlife is sanctioned by the
Legislature, which has allowed the
bounty laws to go unchecked for
ages. Under these laws, foxes, bob-
cats and coyotes provide a total
income of $250,000 from the State,
most of which goes to Upper
Peninsula bounty hunters. Despite
seemingly increasing support for
repeal of the laws-which con-
servation officials contend are too
ineffective to have any useful pur-
pose (except butchery, apparently
a favorite hobby of many folks up
North), the laws continue to re-
main as a blot upon the record
for Michigan.
On all fronts-in Africa, where
poaching is cutting down the num-
ber of aesthetically and economic-
ally important species alike; in
Michigan, where outmoded bounty
laws prevail; in the nation as a
whole, where misuse of pesticides
is reducing field and forest land
to scarred, ugly patches of brown
-it is all too apparent that many
species are as good as extinct
right now. In fact, Homo sapiens
(along withrassorted parasites of
his) is rather unique in his stead-
ily increasing number.
There is a special exhibit at the
great ape house of the Bronx Zoo
which never fails to arouse in-
terest-and, perhaps, feelings of
guilt. Those who come, drawn by
a sign referring to "the most
dangerous animal in the world"
are shocked to find not a wild
beast but a mirror, under which
is the legend: "You are looking at
the most dangerous animal in the
world. It alone, of all the animals
that ever lived, can exterminate
(and has) entire species of ani-
mals." It is especially sobering to
realize that this one species alone
now has the capacity to wipe out
every form of life on earth, him-
self included.
NOW IS the time for everyone
to stop and take one "last glance"
around him at the numerous spe-
cies of animals represented in his
zoos, in circuses, on his trophy-
MOST FACULTY, I think, have a great deal of trouble understanding
just why students complain about the education they're getting
here-about the lack of unifying, externally relevant concepts and
theories. Faculty perceive rightly that what they are teaching is
quite sufficient for getting a job and getting ahead in society.
The student, on the other hand, can't really verbalize his per-
ception that this will not quite do; by and large he is just unconvinc-
ingly unhappy. He is also vaguely afraid of leaving, which is perhaps
why he makes such a show of being anxious to leave: he knows some-
how there should have been something more to getting educated than
he found (college is made out to be The Opportunity, The Place where
questions are answered and identities solidified), yet the possibility
that he was even partially responsible for missing all that is too
discomforting. He must therefore remove himself from this reminder
of his inadequacy; he must criticize the institution-but basically
he is apprehensive.
If one views the situation deterministically, however, the student
need not blame himself. Indeed, he is being prepared adequately for
his career, and indeed, it is precisely this that makes his education
so inadequate for what he must be as a person.
CONCEPTS AND THEORIES about society and the individual, a
sense of where one fits, especially a feeling for how one would like
to fit or not fit and for what the availability of opportunities to be
this way means about the system-these are essentially luxuries for the
graduate.
Instead, the requirements are that one have a skill, that he be
able to perform well and not annoy others; he must be open-minded
(i.e., aware that, since there are many different interests to be
accommodated, he should not have principles and ideals which rule
out any of the compromises men have already made); his personal
needs must be sufficiently underdeveloped that the competent per-
formance of his task-whatever it may be-makes him feel secure.
This is all that is necessary, and it is pretty much all education
gives. There is little distinction in this from department to department.
First, what is taught by and large does not go beyond the scope of
the discipline or the course; material is fragmented, internally
relevant and consistent but with little relevance to other disciplines
and approaches, other phenomena and concerns.
This makes for better skill at handling topics in isolation, but,
since there are no syntheses, it does not make for a sense of what
men and societies are about.
an
1
room walls, and in the wild
man's callous attitude for th
other species remains unchan
it may be the last glance yo
ever see of many of them.
PRIVATE RIGHTS:
The Case for Discrimination
By MERLE JACOB
THE TRAGEDY of Trigon is not
that a fraternity has openly
and honestly tried to uphold its
convictions and been defeated but
that 21 fraternity presidents do
not understand the distinction be-
tween discrimination by public
and private organizations.
Webster's International Dic-
tionary defines the word "dis-
crimination" as a "mark of dis-
tinction, the faculty of nicely dis-
tinguishing, the perception of a
difference." Everyone discrimi-
nates in every phase of his life,
or, to put it in nicer words, people
distinguish between things, ob-
jects, ideals and people-and then
act accordingly. The person who
claims he never discrimninates is
either the biggest fool in the
world or the biggest liar.
The Executive Committee of
Interfraternity Council claims that
Trigon, in its attempt to integrate
religion with a social fraternity,
White
Paper,
THE MOST disingenuous part
of the White Paper (on Viet
Nam) is that in which it dis-
cusses the origins of the present
war. It pictures the war as an
attack frqm the North, launched
in desperation because the "eco-
nomic miracle" in the South un-
der Diem had destroyed Commu-
nist hopes of a peaceful takeover
from within.
Even the strategic hamlets are
described as "designed to improve
the peasant's livelihood' 'and we
are asked to believe that for the
first time in history a guerrilla
war spread not because the people
were discontented but because
their lot was improving!
The true story is a story of
lost opportunities. The Commu-
nist countries acquiesced in the
failure to hold elections. Diem
had a chance to make his part of
the country a democratic show-
case. The year 1956 was a bad
one in the North.
But Diem on the other side of
the 17th Parallel was busy erect-
ing a dictatorship of his own.
In 1956 he abolished elections even
for the village councils. In 1957
his mobs smashed the press of the
one legal opposition party, the
Democratic Bloc, when it dared
criticize the government. That was
the beginning of a campaign to
wipe out every form of opposi-
tion.
IT WAS THIS campaign and
has violated IFC's Article X on
nondiscrimination. However, Tri-
gon was founded as-and still is
-not a social group but a religious
organization with social aspects.
Its entire purpose is to develop
men along religious and ethical
lines within the fraternal frame-
work, .and it makes religion an
integral, part of its regular ac-
tivities. It holds Vesper services
in the house, conducts regular
church services at area churches
and sponsors community work
projects to help organizations like
the Salvation Army and UNICEF.
TRIGON'S VIOLATION is of
the Regents Bylaw which states
that the University "shall not dis-
criminate againstyany person be-
cause of race, religion, color,
creed, national origin or ancestry"
and that the University will "work
for" the elimination of discrimi-
nation "in University-recognized
organizations." Both President
Hatcher and his predecessor at
one time spoke against applica-
tion of this kind of ruling to fra-
ternities-according to President
Alexander Ruthven, "No individ-
ual has an inherent right to
membership in any particular or-
ganization"-but it has neverthe-
less become the basis of judicial
procedures established by both
IFC and SGC.
But does Trigon discriminate?
Twenty-one fraternities thought
so, but 20 did not. Clearly the is-
sues are not cut and dried.
Trigon has a clause in its con-
stitution which requires members
to take a religious oath. This
clause involves only members. In
choosing members, Trigon has
never eliminated a prospective
member because of religion or
creed. As a matter of record, it
has several members who are not
of the Christian faith. Men going
through rush know of Trigon's
religious basis, and they them-
selves choose whether or not they
want to become members.
Some eliminate Trigon immedi-
ately because its oath would go
against their religious beliefs,
while others eliminate Trigon, as
they might any other house, be-
cause they don't like the men, the
house or its activities. Thus Tri-
gon's oath can act as a barrier
for some men.
HOWEVER, both the rushees
and Trigon recognize that their
mutual discrimination is both
right and proper. As private in-
dividuals and as a private club,
both have the Constitutional right
to discriminate in their private
affairs. Both realize that the fra-
ternity system is based on dis-
crimination, or the act of distin-
guishing differences in people and
choosing those people who are
most like you to be your friends.
Institutions such as the Uni
sity, Howard Johnson's M
Lodge, the A&P, department st+
and other commercial stores,
the other hand, are impersonal
tites whose main purpose is
mutual friendship but public s
ice or profit-making. As iml
sonal institutions open to the p
lic, they have no right to
criminate against people for
reason. The University cannot
criminate against any prospec
student because of race or relig
neither can a restaurant refus
serve any person just because
is Negro or Oriental.
IN TRYING to ensure so
equality and justice, civil ri
zealots run the danger of
fringing upon the private right
the individual. Recently, com.
sions investigating discrimina
have attacked fraternities
other private clubs and have t
to get them to abolish their
clusive nature. Ann Arbor,
many other cities, has tried to
through a law which would re
late all sales and rentals of hov
These investigations and1
have definitely invaded the
vate rights of the individual.'
federal government has recogn
the distinction between public
private discrimination and
made the Civil Rights Bill a
only to institutions which si
the public, not to fraternities o
Mrs. Murphy's boarding hous
to small businesses in which
workers come into intimatec
tact with a singletor family ow
The important distinction
whether the unit exists prima
to serve the public or primaril
carry out activities cente
around personal friendship.
In July, 1964, Congress pa
an amendment to the Civil Ri
Act which in effect guaran
private clubs such as fraterni
sororities and the Elks, the r
to discriminate in- their mem
ship. The act further proh
any civil rights commission f
investigating the practices of t
clubs. The government rea
the individual has a right to ch
his own friends and that no
dividual has an inherent righ
membership in any private
ganization.
BY FORCING Trigon to cth
its constitution. IFC is impin
on the rights of the privatec
which is regarded as an indivi
before the law. If IFC has
right to make Trigon accept
one and everyone, then IFC
the University would have
right to make students live
anyone, no matter what the
dent wanted, in apartments,
mitory rooms and all fratern
and sororities. Ann Arbor w
then have the right to tell
private owners who they can
I. If MORE IMPORTANT, even if the material of education does
hese sometimes address itself to a wider view of the academic and even
ged, if it sometimes relates the academic to the existing order of things,
ou'll it is too much merely a reinforcement of that order-without Tegard
to the value of the order and without a probing of its personal and
social meaning.
If education is ever to do more than perpetuate the given o der.
it must explore all possibilities. This is the only way the student
will ever begin to formulate those basic ideas about his desires and
his environment upon which his whole individuality depends.
(There is a minority within the faculty who are still students
themselves-searching for a way and a reason to live, defensive and
self-assertive because whatever they have found so far only creates
tension between them and what is around them.- Nevertheless- they -
ver- are more satisfied than -the majority, largely because they know
ores much better what satisfaction means. And the correlation between
on their being a bit socially unrespectable and their being the most
en- valuable to students is by no means accidental.)
not
erv- FOR THE STUDENT, these conditions mean that the educational
per- experience defines the basic parameters of his future for him. One
pub- can choose his peculiar career,abut the current ethic, besides having
dis- told him he, must prepare for a specified role in the first. place;. has
any already narrowed the range of respectable choices and defined what
dis- are respectable ways of behaving in those roles. One's education will
iove give him, preparation for that role and help him define himself in
e to terms of that role, but it. does precious little to help him define
he himself as himself, prior to the other limitations.
So there are almost no important decisions left. The student
sees himself stepping into the all-too-eager arms of the outside world
)cial one day, well-versed in its ways, well-prepared to do its tasks. Yet
ghts in the course of 18 years of schooling, the weight of predigested
in- answers has intimidated his natural need even to ask, much less to
s of answer, basic questions about himself. He atrophies, he loses his
mis- capacity to dream; indeed, he no longer has to.
an Some have been fortunate enough to avoid the transformation,
ied and luckily there is still room in society for a few to be just them-
ex- selves-if they are brave. They are not the tragedies, however; they
like are the hope. What is tragic is that for the many who have been
put transformed and reduced, there is never complete peace. Even doing
egu- one's job well is not perfectly satisfying if occasionally one chances to
uses. think there might be better jobs. The uneasiness gnaws, yet one does
laws not know what to do about it.
pri-
The
ized
and
has
ppiy
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r to
e or
the
con-
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is
arily
y to
ring
ssed
ghts
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ties,
ight
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hese
lizes
oose
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ange
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the
any-
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with
stu-
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ities
ould
all
and
ALL OF THIS assumes, of course, that the kinds of roles which
the majority of graduates will fill are not inherently or generally oi
completely fulfilling. This is at best an extremely difficult assumption
to support; one can ask people if they are happy, but one can never
know if the answer given would have been the same had the process
of growing up and deciding on a life's work been different. Ultimately
it is a matter of faith, an ideological observation, a rather ethnocentric
kind of speculation. Nevertheless, I believe it is true.
SUPPORTING CAST:
Sup.erb Per formances
Help SavPora
At the Campus Theatre
"ZORBA THE GREEK," which opened last night, is -worth seeing
inspite of its incoherent theme and awkward dialogue. Through
superb acting by the supporting cast and with the help of excellent
photography, the movie reintroduces us to some essential human
qualities which come into play in a remote village on Crete, and which.
tend to be obscured in a more civilized environment.
The film is about a lustry old man with a healthy appetite for
life's pleasure and an equal courage to accept its horrors. Anthony
Quinn is Zorba. His appearance and mannerism do indeed convey
power, passion and vitality, but at many important points he de-
livers his lines clumsily. Alan Bates, as his friend, has moments of
expressive acting but seems otherwise uncertain whether the role
he has is comic or serious.
The most remarkable character in "Zorba" is Lila Kedrova as the
aging courtesan who clings to delusion about the present and the
future in order to salvage the glory of her past. Graceful and gratesque
simultaneously, she brings credibility to all her appearances. The other
forceful moments are the scenes of death and cruelty in the village
with the brutality magnified by the rapid return of everyone to their
normal chores. The fact that sorrow is projected best in a film about
a man with great capacity for joy, points to the failure of Quinn to
substantiate the role of Zorba.
;4
a