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Seventy-Fifth Year
EnrrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNivERSIrY OF MCa,,@t a
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLCATm
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Bicycle License Woes
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where O~inlof Are ree,420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. NEws PHoNE: 764-0552
Truth wm P revail
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily ex press the individual opinions of staf f writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1964 NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT RIPPLER
Dormitories: the Too Tight
System Has Sprung a Leak
WHEN A CONTAINER becomes so full
that it starts to overflow, two things
can be done with the contents. The lid
can be clamped down to prevent the
contents from escaping, or some of the
contents can be allowed to get out and
find a new container.
When the container happens to be the
dormitory system at the University and
the contents are students, clamping
down the lid and allowing things to sim-
mer is the expedient policy. This policy
has advantages for the University's fi-
nances and public relations, but few for
the students.
THE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION to the
overcrowded housing situation-allow-
ing some of the contents to find new
containers-also has merits, especially
for the students. Working with this alter-
native leads to a surprisingly simple solu-
tion. Sophomore and junior women should
be given apartment permission. This is
the only group, besides freshman men
and women, large enough so that its de-
parture would cause a substantial de-
crease in the number of people occupying
the dormitories.
This solution is simple, however, only
in the sense that it would probably solve
the problems of over-crowding in the dor-
mitories. It is complicated because the
housing system might lose some of its
revenue. It is further complicated because
it brings up the issue of the University's
hypocritical attitude toward restrictions
on women students.
AN ANALYSIS of the financial situa-
tion of the dormitories for this year
has not been reported, but one can only
conclude that the situation should be
good. More people are living in the same
amount of space. The only new expenses
are their food, the new furniture that
was not already in storage and clean linen
once a week. Meanwhile all of this extra
revenue is being taken in.
Of course, dormitory fees not only pay
for the inmediate expenses of operation,
but also new dormitories which are built
periodically. If a potentially large num-
ber of students could leave, the dormi-
tories might not be completely filled,
some may fear. Financial disaster? Prob-
ably not. Remember, new dormitories
would not have to be built. Moreover, all
of the people who are permitted to leave
will not leave-probably just enough to
make it comfortable for those who stay.
If a mass exodus really occurred, one or
more buildings could be closed down or
used for another purpose.
If the financial problem can be over-
come fairly easily, the problem of wom-
en's regulations cannot. The former is
merely economic; the' latter involves po-
tentially more explosive components -
public relations, sex, and hypocrisy.
OMEN ARE KEPT in dormitories be-
cause it is claimed that their activi-
ties thus can be controlled. They are ex-
pected to be in at a certain time-and
mainly, they are expected to be in. The
reality is that all a woman has to do is
walk out the door without signing out
and her departure will not be known.
The staff is well aware of this. It goes
through the motions of signing in and
out those who wish to do so and assign-
ing late minutes to those who decided to
come in late rather than not signing out
and not coming in at all. The dormitory
staff makes little pretense of controlling
the lives of University women.
A candid statement recently illustrated
this. Some women in one of the dormi-
tories had been leaving by the back doors
which are locked after 8 p.m. to prevent
prowlers from entering the building. Of
course, they could have left by the front
doors, but these are locked after closing
and watched by a lady who stays there
all night leaving the back doors as tempt-
ing exits. After the back doors had been
opened 12 times after midnight in one
night, the women were warned of the
danger of opening back doors and threat-
ened with severe penalties if they were
caught.
THE PROPOSED SOLUTION, as stated
by the dormitory staff: "If you have
to spend the night with a guy, no one is
going to tell you that you can't. But
please go out the front door and leave
before closing." .
Just what is accomplished by eepng
women in the dormitory? Obviously it is
not controlling the personal lives of the
students-an objective that the Univer-
sity has at last given up. What it is doing
is giving the impression that such con-
trol exists. Are taxpayers in Michigan
satisfied that University women, with the
exception of .seniors who have no hours
or may live in apartments, are leading
moral lives? Good! More money for the
University. Are parents secure in the mis-
taken belief that their daughters will
have to spend the night in the dormitory
under the eye of the housemother? Nice!
Now they can sleep nights.
If the University really fears reaction
from these quarters, a frank statement
that it intends to limit its interference
in the personal lives of the students would
probably be more effective in the long
run than hiding the fact that little ef-
fective control exists.
0THER REASONS which are proposed
for keeping women in the dormitories
are that they can study better and will
eat better than in an apartment. They
are said not to be mature enough to be
completely on their own. Why, then, are
men students given apartment permission
after their freshman year? Twenty-year-
old men are probably not as good cooks
as women the same age .Are men students
more mature? The panty raids and other
allegedly delinquent activity that goes on
in the quads does not suggest that they
are. Obviously, the differential treatment
of men and women cannot logically be
based on these grounds.I
The time is coming-inevitably-when
women students at the University will be
treated in the same way as men students.
Why wait five years, when taking decisive
action now will solve another problem-
the problem of where to put the contents
that won't fit the container?
-CHRISTINE LINDER
To the Editor:
LE'S PLAY a game: see if you
can choose the correct alter-
natives in the following story.
One day, shorily after the first
of October, in (the waterfront.
area of Chicago; front of Angell
Hall) a hulking, dull-expressioned
man dressed like a (gangster;
police officer) is "explaining" a
new ("insurance policy"; bicycle
license) to an (intimidated shop
owner; student) .
He says, "This is a generous
policy of the big boys to protect
you. Here's how it works: you pay
a premium of only 5flc and if
your (merchandise is hijacked;
bike is stolen) we'll try to return
what's left for a modest additional
charge of $3.50."
"What does this clause mean?"
says the (intimidated shop owner;
student), pointing.
* *
"WELL," said the (gangster;
police officer), "That just equal-
izes losses. It means that if you
don't have a (policy; license) the
big boys won't take any respon-
sibility for your property-just
between you and me, they'll come
and (hi-jack your merchandise;
steal your bike) themselves and
charge you $3.50 to .get it back..
You didn't think they got rich
selling honest insurance, did you?
That's why its so necessary to buy
one of these."
"I don't think I want one," said
the (shop owner; student) if I'm
paying 5fc to avoid being robbed
of $3.50 whether legally or il-
legally.That's not insurance,
that's blackmail."
"But you have to buy it," said
the (gangster, police officer),
twisting his victim's arm and mut-
tering between clenched teeth,
"It's the law of the (jungle; Uni-
versity).
* - «
WASN'T THAT FUN? If you
WORt> SE RIE S
ELECTION ANALYSIS:
New York Race Becomes Juggling Act
want to play some more in that
vein, leave your licensed bike
around unlocked and see what
happens. Of course, it will be
stolen. Now try and get .what's
left of it back. After all, you did
buy a license, didn't you! But .
what for?
-Fred L Pierce, '65
Emotion
To the Editor:
JEFFREY GOODMAN, in his
editorial of October 7, stated
that the appeal to emotion is out
of place in dealing with the ques-
tion of University reform; that the
administration of a university of
29,000 students and a budget of
$150,000,000 a year poses problems
far too vast for the mere student
to be familiar with.
However, Mr. Goodman does not
discount the validity of an emo-
tional appeal regarding the ques-
tion of civil rights. He fails to
note that the budget and admin-
istration of the State of Missis-
sippi are far more vast than that
of the University.
The size and the complexity of
the problem is not what makes it
inappropriate for students to use
an emotional appeal in an attempt
to mobilize support for Universiyt
reform. Rather, the fact that they
are students in some way seems to
imply that they must behave dis-
passionately, that somehow stu-
dents should not allow themselves
to be excited by an emotional
appeal to their sense of right and
wrong. Mr Goodman would not
even allow the issue of the sug-
gested reform to be stated in
terms of right and wrong. These
"black and white" characteriza-
tions of problems do not betray a
sense of rationality which is in
some way supposed to characterize
the university student.
I WOULD LIKE to take issue
with Mr. Goodman's position. In
a very real sense the position of
the student at the University is
one of powerlessness. Decisions
are made about matters which in
a significant way shape his daily
life, over which he has no control.
Time and again the University
has presented the austere visage
of all knowing and all (too)
powerful guardian of stability. If
students are lucky their proposals
are listened to, but no matter how
well thought out or rationally pre-
sented, they are promptly dis-
missed. University policy is ar-
bitrary in the extreme In that
there is no effective student In-
fluence on important issues like
"how when and where" the vast
financial resources of the Univer-
sity are to be directed.
THE STUDENT must be given
reason to feel that he is more
than a person who is merely re-
sponsible to the University; he
must feel that the University is
responsible to him. Only then will
he have a sense of rights wh ich
will balance his sense of duty to
the University and allow him to
participate as an active member
of the community, for the Uni-
versity is in a very real sense a
community-the bulk of whose
population is the student body If
that commnunity is to function in
all of its potential richness, then
the student must be in a position,
to demand that he be attended to.
The student does not control
effective means for the implemen-
tation of University reform. Thus,
the student is not in the position
to present a complete plan of
reform. Such a presentation will
necessarily lead to frustration be-
cause, no matter how well thought
out it is, students will not be given
the power to implement it.
In this position of powerlessness
the only recourse is an appeal to
the studentcbody to show its dis-
satisfaction. Dissatisfaction is an
emotion. An appeal to dissatis-
faction is an emotional appeal. To
condemn an emotional appeal is to
condemn protest. It is to condemn
the right of an individual or a
group of individuals to act in con-
cert to voice their sense of right
and wrong. If this is done then
students will -be less than power-
less. They will be voiceless.
-Roger Manela, Grad
By CAL SKINNER JR.
and HAROLD WOLMAN
THE NEW YORK senatorial race
between Robert Kennedy and
incumbent Republican Kenneth
Keating provides an excellent
example of the problems facing
the American politician who must
juggle groups so that he is able
to maximize support from his
opponent's traditional following
and from independent voters, at
the same time, minimizing de-
fections from within his own
party and faithful following.
Kenneth Keating's problem will
be one of balancing both ideo-
logical ends against the middle.
He first must keep conservative
Republicans inside the party.
This group, at odds with him
over his refusal to endorse Sen.
Goldwater, has threatened to bolt
to the New York State Conserva-
tive Party which is also running a
candidate for the Senate. Thus,
Keating, a maverick, must appeal
to party regularity. He is forced
to be a maverick for identifica-
tion with Goldwater would mean
a significant loss in the inde-
pendent and Democratic vote,
which Keating must garner if he
is to win.
*. :
THE REPUBLICAN incumbent
won in 1958 with strong support
from Negroes, Jews and labor
unions, which he has carefully
cultivated while in the Senate.
This year, however, Sen. Gold-
water's candidacy is likely to cut
into Keating's vote in the Negro
sector. ,Ticket splitting is a tricky
business and requires a fair de-
gree of political sophistication.
Many Negroes otherwise not un-
favorably disposed to Keating will
undoubtedly vote a straight Demo-
cratic ticket in reaction to Sen.
Goldwater's vote on the Civil
Rights Act. Kennedy's role as
Attorney General in framing the
rights bill will also mean that
Keating, despite an excellent rec-
ord of his own in the field of civil
rights, can expect little electoral
help from this segment of the
population.
However, Keating is likely to
pick up votes in the labor unions,
a traditional center of Democratic
strength. Over the past few years,.
Keating has gained the reputation
of a friend of labor despite a
dubious beginning in 1959, when
he voted for the Landrum-Grif fin
Bill, generally considered an anti-
labor measure.
Kennedy, on the other hand, is
not too popular with labor people,
because of his role in the Mc-
Clellan labor racket hearings sev-
eral years ago. His bouts with
Teamster President James Hoffa
have not endeared him to the
teamsters and the dockworkers-
two large and powerful factors in
New York politics.
Keating stands to pick up sup-
port fpom these sources as well as
from several smaller unions which
have already pledged themselves
to him
Not a Mythical Monster
HJE DOESN'T HAVE green hair. He
doesn't breathe fire and smoke. He
didn't wear a swastika on his arm. He
doesn't want to gas everybody. He has
good table manners.
George Lincoln Rockwell is not some
mythical monster who is a murderer and
a threat to civilization that ought to be
done away with. He's just a demagogue,
in the best sense of the word, who seems
to be having a very good time being in
the public eye and being half-listened
to.
In his speech Tuesday' night, he was
the thinker, the man with new ideas to
make the intellectual audience sit back
and think. To a large measure, he was
successful.
Weaving a few of the traditional con-
servative maxims such as "moral decay"
and "Christian civilization" into his
speech in tandem with the popular lib-
eral idea that a Goldwater administra-
tion will be utter disaster for America,
_ ...., ...a .,. , ,,,. h~ia 1S- . - -.1 ~rtrl
in terms of race and hate. Traces of this
were evident Tuesday night in phrases
like "Martin Luther Coon" but basically
he avoided the lower class approach.
To a certain extent Rockwell has had
to reconcile the two approaches, but he
admits that he tries to keep them as
separate as possible.
MORE INTERESTING is Rockwell's
well-planned road to power. This
scheme involves getting the party's name
in the public eye, getting the public to
understand its principles, organizing a
base of support, being voted into power
and finally altering the Constitution to
facilitate "authoritarian" government.
The existence of this plan and the two
contrasting "audience approaches" under-
score Rockwell's basic orientation toward
the means of his movement rather than
the ends.
Listening to Rockwell recount past ex-
periences, one can see that he is thor-
....,.,t . . ; ,- u; -.. na v w hatrn l rl a .
'THE BEST MAN':
. "
T'imrely Political Satire.
HE ANN ARBOR Civic Theater opened its thirty-fifth season
Twith Gore Vidal's "The Best Man." This sharp political satire is
a timely moving play, which more or less insures a memorable evening.
The play concerns the fictional Presidential convention of a
fictional party in 1960-fictional in the sense that it could be either
of the major political parties in the country. The convention choices
are an unknown, an "egghead," and a "political manipulator."
VIDAL SHOWS the callousness of politics. He tries to show that
the successful politician is often, "the master of half-truth and
insinuation"; while, at the same time, he shows the inadequacy and
"out-of-placeness" of the intellectual who tries to bring morality
into the political picture. He wrestles with the problem of the ends
justifying the means and comes out with a negative answer.
The egghead, William Russell, shows only a momentary weakness
as he almost gives in to pressure to join the smear campaign and
"fight fire with fire." The lines are quick and witty. The end is
strong when we see not only that the "best man" does not always
win, but that this has very little to do with political success.
* * * *
THE CIVIC THEATER players generally give adequate perform-
ances. The different deliveries of the lines and the differences in
degrees of acting ability balance each other well. When one character
is weak, someone else overshadows him enough so that it is not
jarring. The performances are those of amateurs and sometimes become
a bit wooden. A few lines were muffed here and there. However, the
effects are generally good, and the play comes across fairly well.
Alfred Sullivan as ex-President Arthur Hockstader, "the last of
the glorious hicks," gives a most enjoyable interpretation. He creates
a lovable, if not wholly admirable, character. He seems to have a
good time doing it too. Kingsbury Marzolf and Barbara Linden also
create convincing roles.
BEING A RATHER CONFIRMED movie goer, this reviewer found
it quite hard to get used to watching the prop girls run out to change
IT IS AMONG the Jewish popu-
lation of New York (1.5 million)
that Keating expects to make sig-
nificant gains. Throughout his
years in the Senate, Keating has.
become known as a friend of the
Jewish people by showing up at
bar mitzvahs and Jewish con-
gresses, and by supporting "pro-
Israel" legislation in the Senate.
Jews also constitute a preponder-
ant number of the Reform Demo-
crats, who are wary of Kennedy's
entry into New York politics.
This latter group is likely to be
more issue-oriented than most
parts of the electorate, and this
too should accrue to the benefit of
Keating who is stressing his record
in Congress. Kennedy, on the
other hand, has hardly mentioned
issues at all, and has refused thus
far to mention Keating's record,
other than to say that it is a
good one. For these reasons, lead-
ers of the Jewish community are
predicting large defections to
Keating of the ordinarily Demo-
cratic Jewish vote.
KENNEDY'S PROBLEM will be
to keep these groups inside the
Democratic column where they
have traditionally been. To do
this, Kennedy will have to con-
vince many of these people that
he is neither a carpetbagger in
New York politics nor power
hungry.
Kennedy has fought the carpet-
bagger charge by observing that
New York is a large metropolitan
area and that the plexus of met-
ropolitan problems in Boston and
Washington are the same as those
of New York .City. Therefore, he
says, he is acquainted with New
York problems and qualified to
deal with them despite the fact
that he has never lived in :the
state prior to this August. Kennedy
also stresses that his entry into
New York politics is completely
legal and Constitutional, noting
that the Constitution simply stipu-
lates that a Senator must reside
in the state he represents at the
time of his election.
However, there, is no doubt that
many New Yorkers still believe
their state is being used by the
former Attorney General as the
most convenient stepping stone to
the Presidency.
IN ATTEMPTING to dispel
these fears, Kennedy has thus far
attempted to focus his campaign
on the attractiveness of his per-
sonality. His appearances have at-
tracted huge crowds of worship-
pers who give him the sort of
greeting usually reserved for popu-
lar, teenage idols. At the same
time, Kennedy has not hesitated
to invoke his late brother's mem-
ory (although not untastefully)
in an attempt to associate himself
with the widespread bipartisan
sympathy which followed the
President's assassination.
However, recent polls have
shown that Kennedy does not have
the lead he expected at this time,
and a change in campaign strategy
has been noted. From now on,
Kennedy. who until recently re-
Keating, on the other hand, has
vigorously attacked Kennedy's
public record.
* * #
OFFSETTING the vote which
the late President brother is likely
to get as a result of the growing
"Kennedy legend" is that Keating
stands to gain from the public's
propensity to favor underdogs.
Despite the fact that polls show
Keating is not at all an under-
dog, he is still seen as the old pro,
fighting gamely for his political
life in the face of overwhelming
odds.
American voters usually do not
cast their votes because of ideo-
logical predilections, and New
Yorkers, certainly, should not be
exceptions. The result of the elec-
tion- may well .depend on Robert
Kennedy's success in dispelling the
idea that he is a brash, power
hungry politician and the suc-
cess of Kenneth Keating in foster-
ing an image of the old, dependable
pro, set upon by a power-hungry
politician.
Insane
OUR MUDDLED response to the
present challenge in Southeast
Asia has made guerrilla warfare
the Communist's forte. Mao Tse-
tung's book, Guerrilla Warfare,
has become the military bible for
Communist puppets the world.
over.
The reaction of the McNamara
regime has been incredible. Dis-
carding our advanced military
technology, the "whiz kids" have
made counter-insurgency the fo-
cal point of our military activity,
and the chief export item of our
military aid.
It is like arguing that the best
way to protect yourself from. a
savage is to throw away your pis-
tol and pick up a club-because
that's what he uses. Yet, as in-
sane as it sounds, that is what we
are now doing.
--Earl Lively, Jr.
American Opinion
The Melancholy Days Are Come ---