Residence Hall Crisis MODERN FILM: Serious and Whimsical, A 'Breathless' Classic "I've Generously Decided To Stick With You" THE SITUATION in University residence halls is serious and apparently deteriorat- ing. Students moving in this semester first found themselves subject to increased room and board rates-increases which were ef- fected after contracts had been sent out. Next, the unexpected enrollment bulge placed near- ly 500 students in temporary housing. Final- ly, these students are being accommodated by converting singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Thursday night's intolerable bombing inci- dent may or may not have originated in the tensions of the housing problem. If, however, it signals a general breakdown of order, if it signals a series of random acts of violence, the situation will become unbearable. POOR LIVING CONDITIONS, made worse by the necessities of study, justify protest. But protest means nothing in and of itself; it is worthless unless it leads to solu- tions. Dormitory residents and the University must open channels of communication imme- diately. Whatever agents are used-whether the Office of Student Affairs or the business office, whether IQC and Assembly or the dorm and quad councils-students and ad- ministrators must together find ways of al- leviating pressures now. Students who want to move into apartments can be released from their contracts. Dorm rates can be low- ered by more than $70-an inadequate com- pensation for the conditions students will have to endure. Perhaps the University can purchase apartments or make use of any empty space in fraternity or sorority houses. PROMPT ACTION is essential. The prob- lem cannot wait until next September. -THE SENIOR EDITORS Sevwy'Fiftb Year Elrrxn Axv MAxAc4 s-S!'u2srs oT TH Unmn RsiTorY wICHGAN LuNDEm- AUTmORrfT or BOA" M CowmoL. OF STDENT PUDICATNONs Where Opinions Are rx 420 MATwAvD Sr, ANN -Awxom, MIctL NEWS Pxoxn: 764-0552 Truth WMU Prevai Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN KENNY Congress Delays HEW Bill; Education Funds Come Late At Cinema Guild RICH AND subtly varied in theme, boldly experimental in technique, pulsatingly fresh in tempo, "Breathless" stands today as a modern film classic. It is a classic because it sets a new standard for the cinema; and that standard is a passionate love of the movies as an art and en- tertainment form. "Breathless" exudes director Jean-Luc Godard's love of the movies and is a scin- tillating visual experience and great entertainment. The most striking aspect of this movie is the apparent technical crudity. Filmed in the streets of Paris, curious pedestrians peer in- to the wobbling, hand-held cam- era. The editing appears to be abominable. Someone behind me said in disgust: "It's all chopped up." Indeed it is, and deliberately so. THE ACTION is skittish and frantic. Whole sequences are omit- ted; some are caught only in part. What we have is an oblique, im- pressionistic view of the story and the effect is startling and in- vigorating. Even the most prosaic activity bcomes a visual adven- ture for the audience. This is all a part of the film's integrity. A movie should excite and entertain; hence, dull and unnecessary footage is left on the cutting room floor. And so it is with those curious pedestrians. This film was not made in a studio where the walk-ons resemble ani- mated mannequins. It was made in the streets and those are real people you see out there. Just as the editing appears art- less, but is carefully contrived, so the story is not what it appears to be on the surface. "Breathless" is a subtle mixture of cynicism and sentimentality. CONSIDER THE characters. Jean-Paul Belmondo is super- ficially the tough, amoral hood- lum, killing and stealing as easily as he lights a cigarette. Jean Se- berg, the quintessential American Girl in Paris, meanwhile, is his sentimental opposite, mooning over Renoir and Mozart and fret- ting over love affairs. But in the resolution of the story, their characters are revers- ed. Belmondo, throwing his life away for a silly romantic attach- ment, is the genuine sentimental- ist, while Seberg, betraying him to the police, is the one without conscience. Dying on the street, he can still manage the facial ex- pressions that are his sign of love, but she can return only a cold, blank star. On a still larger scale "Breath- less" is the same ambiguous mix- ture of cynical and sentimental elements. On one level it is an amoral celebration of murder, theft, sex and betrayal. But on another it is a sentimental love song to the Humphrey Bogart and American ganster flicks. IS "BREATHLESS" a serious treatise on morals, or is it just The Boys having fun with the camera? Imitating Bogart, is Belmondo re- creating a genuine social type, or is he just putting us on? The answer is that "Breathless" is both serious and whimsical; it is art and entertainment mag- nificently united. To separate these constituent elements is to violate the film's integrity. -Sam Walker ,{ ...:.. "1 -"x.". ! r { Y { 4 i$ .. C14,s.5 ' f YY'', /{. '' s z l 3 ti f + '' 7 x. f r y. ;. x ' I NEARLY EVERYONE believes in the im- portance of education. It helps pre- pare a labor force to keep pace with tech- nology. It removes the strains of preju- dice carried by uneducated minds. It develops a responsible citizenry. But precisely because it is a benefit so widely acknowledged, education is kept waiting for federal assistance. Even its most avid proponents know that passage of education bills makes dramatic news in election years-and the closer to elec- tion day the better. In Congress, where it has become a target of stalling tactics, education is suffering again this year because of its popularity. The Health, Education and Welfare De- partment appropriation bill is still pend- ing before Congress. In the bill are funds to implement programs which would pro- vide student loans, foster vocational edu- cation and build higher educational fa- cilities. Passage of the bill should have come in June. THE PROGRAMS themselves were au- thorized last December. Congressional procedures require, however, that the spe- cific appropriation for a program be passed in a second measure. The multibillion dollar HEW bill was introduced in March but has played sec- ond fiddle to everything from the civil rights bill to medicare. Some election- minded congressmen have been stalling passage until just as close as possible to November. Others, like Sen. Philip Hart (D-Mich) and Rep. George Meader (R- Ann Arbor) have fought for more vigor- ous action. But the bill has moved slow- ly through committee and floor action in both houses. When finally passed, the different House and Senate versions required con- ference settlement. A settlement reached, the bill now awaits quick acceptance in Congress and the President's signature. These actions are formalities; thus passage appears imminent. But that is not the whole point. By allowing the bill to remain unpassed until now, Congress has placed a strain on any institution ex- pecting or needing funds. HE STRAIN is quite evident at the University. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich. The jam-up left the University without $350,000 in student loan funds which it expected and which should come through shortly. Another $350,000 will be provided second semester if the University gets its anticipated $700,000 share of the bill's appropriations. The Office of Education did provide a tie-over sum of more than $250,000, but this was clearly inadequate. The result was that University Direc- tor of Financial Aids Walter Rea and his assistant Karl Streiff were left in an un- tenable situation. They were forced to resort to emergency funds to meet loan commitments made during the spring and summer. (Ironically, when Congress approves the appropriation, the Univer- sity will probably receive more than the projected $700,000 for the year, so Rea is still interviewing loan applicants.) But what Congress may pass in three months could go to help needy students right now. ABOUT A BLOCK from the financial aids office, the evidence of congres- sional neglect is even more disturbing. Angell Hall and adjacent science facili- ties attest to a severe classroom short- age which Dean William Haber calls the most crucial problem faced by the literary college. To alleviate space shortages all over the country, Congress passed its $1.2 bil- lion Higher Education Facilities Act last year for construction of graduate and undergraduate buildings. The act spread this program over a three-year period starting in the 1963-64 fiscal year, which runs July through June. But Congress, by not passing the neces- sary appropriations, pushed the bill back a year. A certain delay is to be expected be- fore bureaucratic wheels start to turn. But when Congress, fully cognizant of the urgency of these funds, extends these delays for political purposes, the situa- tion becomes dangerous. CONGRESS should make sure that the HEW appropriation passes immediate- ly, releasing the loan and building funds. For the future, it is imperative that the need for education aid be met with the same urgency provoked by other na- tional crises. -LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED: Candidates' Views Evolve Under Political Pressure 4 By HAROLD WOLMAN DESPITE HEATED denials by both Republicans and Demo- crats, civil rights and the white backlash are already part of the 1964 campaign. In the popular mind, President Johnson and his running mate jhubert Humphrey, who was a mov- ing force in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, represent approval of the Negro effort to gain equality. Senator Goldwater, on the other hand, is seen as an opponent of the accelerated Negro drive for civil rights. Any verbal efforts to dispel this image in the popular mind are not likely to suc- ceed. For the remainder of this campaign, in simple terms, John- son will attract supporters of the Report has recently compared Johnson's and Goldwater's voting on civil rights issues. A study of these voting records and accom- panying statements by the can- didates presents a fascinating pic- ture of the evolution of thought forced by the pressure of politics. Johnson entered the House in 1937 and from that time until 1956, he performed the role of a Southern congressman. Through- out these years, on matters which the Congressional Quarterly con- siders related to civil rights, John- son agreed with the Southern posi- tion 100 per cent of the time. During this period Johnson's speeches, as reported by the Con- gress'ional Quarterly, reflected his voting behaviour. On May 22, 1948, in Austin, Texas, he said, "This civil rights program, about which you have heard so much is a farce and a sham-an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to this program. I fought it in Congress. It is the province of the state to run its own elections . . . I am against the Fair Employment Practices Commission because if a man can tell you whom you must hire, he can tell you whom you cannot employ." LATER, IN 1949, Johnson ex- plained his opposition to FEPC. "This to me is the least meritor- ious proposal of the whole civil rights program . . . Such a law would necessitate a system of fed- eral police officers such as we havernever before seen. It would require the policing of every busi- ness institution, every transaction made between an employer and employe, and virtually every hour of an employer's and employe's association while at work. We in the Senate should learn the facts of life. We cannot legislate love." It is interesting to note, and detractors of Johnson are certain to do so, that this statement is strikingly similar to those Gold- water made in a Senate speech before the passage of this year's Civil Rights Act. Referring to the FEPC and public accommodations sections, Goldwater said, "To give genuine effect to the prohibitions Gone West .. . of this bill will require the crea- tion of a federal police force of mammouth proportions. It also bids fair to result in the develop- ment of an informer psychology in great areas of our national life ... These, the federal police force and an informer psychology are the hallmarks of a police state and landmarks in the destruction of a free society. I believe that though the problem is fundamen- tally one of the heart, some law can help-but not a law that em- bodies features like these pro- visions which fly in the face of the Constitution and which require for the effective execution, the creation of a police state." FROM 1956 to 1960, however, Johnson's desire for national of- fice impelled him to shift from his strong identification with the Southern bloc. He attempted to identify more with the West than with the South, voting in the Senate, as the Congressional Quar- terly notes, 49 per cent of the time with Westerners and 40 per cent with Southerners. He took no stand the remainder of the time. In this role, the then Texas MAN: Wisp in The Wind AMONG THE f o r cees which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civili- zation is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason. On the tiger no responsibility rests. We see him aligned by na- ture with the forces of life-he is born into their keeping and without thought he is protected. We see man far removed from the lairs of the jungles, his innate instincts dulled by too nearan approach to free-will, his free-' will not sufficiently developed to replace his instincts and afford him perfect guidance. He is be- coming too wise to hearken al- ways to instincts and desires; he is still too weak to always pre- vail against them. * * * AS A BEAST, the forces of life aligned him with them; as a man, he has not yet wholly learned to align himself with the forces. In this intermediate stage he wavers -neither drawn in harmony with nature by his instincts nor yet wisely putting himself into har- mony by his own free-will. He is even as a wisp in the wind, moved by every breath of passion, acting now by his will and now by his instincts, erring with one, only to retrieve by the other, falling by one, only to rise by the other- a creature of incalculable vari- ability. We have the consolation of knowing that evolution is ever in action. that the ideal is a senator was instrumental in the passage of both the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and of 1960. He vot- ed for both, but at the same time he voted several times for amend- ments which weakened these bills., As Vice-President, Johnson fur- ther shed his Southern identifica- tion and become more closely as- sociated with the cause of civil rights. As chairman of President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, he be- came known in Washington as one of the most effective workers for the civil rights cause. Yet Johnsoi came under fire from civil rights leaders for his refusal to rule from the chair of the Senate that it was in effect unconstitu- tional to filibuster an attempt to change the Senate rules at the outset of a congressional session. Paralyzed by this ruling, Senate liberals were unable to revise the cloture rule in what they con- sidered a meaningful way. When he assumed the presi- dency, however, Johnson became a truly national figure. He accept- ed completely the Kennedy civil rights program and even was able to strengthen it when it passed through Congress. * . * ., UNLIKE JOHNSON, Barry Gold- water was known in his earlier political career as a strong sup- porter of civil rights. According to the Congressional Quarterly, he helped to desegregate the Arizona National Guard, Phoenix public schools and businesses, and his own family's business. He once gave $500 to the NAACP, and in 1950 he joined the Urban League, of which he is still a member. Early in 1953, Goldwater was a co-sponsor of a bill advocated by the NAACP which would have made discrimination by an em- ployer or labor organization against a worker because of race an unfair practice under the Taft- Hartly Act. Under the bill, the federal government would have had full power to stop such dis- criminatory practices. This is di- rectly opposed to the Arizona sen- ator's stand on the FEPC portion. of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. GOLDWATER voted for both the 1957 and 1960 civil rights bills; in fact, the Congressional Quarterly notes that from 1957- 1960 the voting records of John- son and Goldwater on civil rights issues were strikingly similar. It is also interesting to note that during the entire period when they served together in the Sen- ate the two candidates took the same stand on 42 of the 52 civil rights votes which occurred and differed on 5 others. However, Goldwater's refusal to vote for cloture as a matter of principle (since Arizona's admis- sion to the union, no senator from that state has ever voted for cloture), his strong ideological be- A 4 4 4 4 ..Gone South I I civil rights drive, Goldwater its opponents. Yet there is good reason to be- lieve that the public image of both candidates in the field of civil rights is oversimplified and in some cases plainly incorrect. Certainly Lyndon Johnson has not always been the champion of Ne- gro civil rights that he is today, nor is Barry Goldwater close, in his personal views, to being a segregationist. IN AN EFFORT to clarify the positions of the candidates, the Congressional Quarterly Weekly lief in state's rights, and the in- creased identification of his poli- tical fortunes with the Southern states caused him to react pro- gressively less favorably to civil rights measures and this year he voted against the Civil Rights Act in the Senate. It is perhaps ironic that the former Southerner, Johnson, is now a national leader because he cast his fortune with the West, while the former Westerner, Gold- water, finds that his aspirations of becoming a national leader de- pend to a great extent on becom- ing identified with the South. I I I FEIFFER W A1' OUR PPoeLEM PROFE55OR,157 YOUR TH4AT WE ALL.OW' OUR OHNNY( PROR . TO,1.0STAY OP -THROU~H 9P 0V PF 5F~5OR? (4vAN. ZToHNNYS FRIENp mw!r4 I5 ALOW/ED TO STAY UP THF W4X t oSNA.A:Wa--415f'IS4MAKN& 14KO5TW SITUATION l5 PCEWPINC3. MMKNOW LETS ROLL.-PLAY VWELL F': WHOSE 'I AM SMAL.L-CP AND PART YOUNGEL? THAN JOHNN4Y SHAI~t- I FEEL TAT '3ONANZA' kEAY 6 MY ONLY EFFFCCTIVC FI5T? WEAPON AC-AINc'T HM-150 MM.M K&HTT RX -IF WE CONCEVC W 0ET THEN bj14'B0NANZA'"AS A Tro MAKE MINOR VCMONSTRA'ION OF C5O$NS OUR G60WL FAITH, IT* MM IF I WARE' OINNYTP ID AVf t'O SVERAL- OPTIO9NS, I CAN Hlr TO W(L 1- Cj I CAN REBEL .AGA t'J6 bo MY PAR '-(REFtsE TO EAT NY- OOR 6OMeTfNfN.4)-OR .S CAN &UIETL-Y WTPRAW AT THEf ING FAC. r 041 t " ' c J Dirksen Rider I ,.Mop-mv-l AV,-."qw &ZA tqo ANP COUR OF'flONe~ARE L4MIT 13 YOUR THE RCALWIES OF THE' 5f1VA77CN4. RUCTHOI.AHfWE VK T i fUNWIE A A ._ .TO USH FMEWOM BEFORC AN THAW ,X(1PRO- -64. AP 10,0 MOST STIMULAT- NOW VJPOSC INC WAR- 6AMFI TURN I5' IT Al U U1~IWA"l~1