Seventy-Third Year EDrrED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Where Opinions Are Free STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MIcH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Truth Will Prevail", Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1962 NIGHT EDITOR: ELLEN SILVERMAN "You Forgot Something!" LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Regents' Bylaw Claim False, Panty Raids Con... Pro.. HERE WE GO AGAIN! A certain madness seizes upon the quads, and then-"We want pants!" And puritans, young and old, curl up in horror. Are panty raids primitive, irresponsible, childish, absurd, anti-intellectual, and un- worthy of the dignity of a great University? Of course they are! And that is precisely why they are so wonderful. Along about half-past midnight in the dorms on the Hill some girls are sleeping, some are still studying, some are talking in little groups in the halls or rooms. From far away behind Markley comes a low, dull, constant roar that begins to distinguish itself into individual shouts as the first vanguard of the raiders leaps over the low wall into Alice Lloyd courtyard. Immediately, delighted shrieks of pleased protest arouse the sleepers and the studious, and all the girls rush to the nearest windows and join in the spirit of a modern bacchanale. The boys pour over the wall in endless dozens a d mill about for a while, and then, as if by a secret signal, the chant begins: "We want pants!" IT IS ALL DELICIOUSLY UNLAWFUL. Some girls even remove their screens and toss out a few sumptuous treasures to the howling mob. Then, some of the more heroic and daring boys scale the entranceway roof and run about like dark, swift shadows in front of the third floor windows. Usually, the third-floor curtains are drawn. Sometimes they are not. There are shouts and squeals, sneers of derision from those boys who have gotten nothing for their pains, and then everyone gradually disperses. But in the dorm, life seems to have been invigorated; the girls, even those who were sleeping or studying run around laughing and chattering for another hour or more. 'ES, IT IS PRIMITIVE. But any one who has read the works of Laurens VanDer Post can- not forget that dark, primintive brother in the soul of which he speaks so eloquently. Yes, it is undignified and anti-intellectual. But we have spent a dismayingly large portion of our waking hours in scholarly pursuits, and an hour or so of abandon is not to be denied. It is certainly no more dangerous than football. Yes, panty raids are immature and irrespon- sible. But we are young, and there are times and places in which we may exercise our ir- responsibility-just because it is fun. There is something hideous in the fact that teenagers these days have to worry about the bomb. There is something faintly tragic in the kind of world that is rapidly destroying forever the carefree quality of youth. We spend most of our lives, as college students, in learning about the deepest and most serious ideas that human minds have developed through the ages. W E DO NOT REFUSE that responsibility. Most of us welcome it and live by it to the best of our ability. All we ask is a few oppor- tunities to remember that we are young. We will be mature and completely weighed down with responsibility for a long, long time. Do not even those administrators who deplore our panty raids occasionally reminisce about their own youth, their own lost moments of abandon? We are young, and we are alive. After college, we will never have another chance for a panty raid. We have willingly given up much of our youthful irresponsibility in the pursuit of adult goals. Soon enough, we too will be gray-flannel nine-to-fivers. But now, we treasure a few moments of respite from the world of adult cares, and no one has the right to take them away from us. -MARTHA MacNEAL PANTY RAIDS are not larks, but riots, dangerous and damaging to both students and the University. They may lead to injury, property damage, and a bad name for stu- dents and this institution. They accomplish nothing. Fortunatey, no one has, as yet, been injured in panty raids. However, the possibility is always present. A charge to or from a wo- men's dorm could trample an unwary raider who happened to be going in the wrong direction. The acrobatics on Alice Lloyd's or Markley's ledges could lead to injurous falls. This year raiders have had the good sense not to attempt to break into women's resi- dence halls in their quest of panties. However, this is always a possibility and students may be injured in a melee and the dorms damaged. OF EQUAL importance is the damage these useless larks do to the reputations of stu- dents and the University. These raids are extremely unfortunate for the raiders' actions undermine all attempts to gain more student rights which demand student responsibility. "The student must be considered a partici- pating member of a community of scholars with responsibilities and opportunities com- mensurate with his capabilities, last spring's Reed Report urged Vice-President Lewis. He should be expected to participate fully in deci- sions affecting his welfare. He should help to formulate, uphold and enforce the rules by which he is to live in the University." Student Government Council's comments on the report went further: "The Council believes that students generally have fully adequate abilities to participate in the making of Uni- versity decisions. College students are capable of at least the following responsibilities: full participation in decisions affecting their wel- fare; participating in formulating, upholding and enforcing the rules by which they are to live in the University community; (and) as- sumption of responsibility for their conduct." WHAT SORT of responsibility does a panty raid show? Only the empty-headed follow- ing of a mob, a cheer, and a few firecrackers. This gives the University a legitimate- sounding rationale for not granting students basic citizenship rights. As Regent Carl Brablec observed at the Regents dinner with SGC, students' desire to be treated as adults, which the Regents assume, includes responsibility for their actions. But panty raids, he said indicate that perhaps students are not to be always treated like adults. Thus the students who would benefit from these reforms ironically preclude their establishment. Panty raid publicity in the metropolitan newspapers puts a great deal of pressure on the University for a more paternalistic student affairs policy. Added to the vocal criticism that accompanies any University consideration of new OSA policy, the bad publicity created by the raids makes the University's position more difficult and the administration more hesitant to act. Last summer the OSA took a few halting steps toward recognizing the maturity of stu- dents. The functional structure somewhat miti- gates the paternalism of the OSA and the new advisory structure at least recognizes that stu- dents have some voice in the conduct of that vital office. AS LONG as students regard panty raids as innocent, harmless larks, neither an end to panty raids nor a whole-hearted adminis- tration acceptance of the student capacity to be responsible will be forthcoming. Panty raids only delay the implementation of the rights of students. --PHILIP SUTIN HELSINKI FESTIVAL: Boycott Limits Expression (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sec- ond of two articles analyzing the Helsinki Youth Festival.) By MICHAEL ZWEIG HERE ARE several reasons which bring people to a World Youth Festival. Some come to make friends; many come for the intellectual stimulation of discus- sing knotty world questions and ideological differences with a hope of furthering their own under- standing and clarity of mind. Others come to accomplish the practical work of coordinating ef- forts and movements on an inter- national level; almost all come to enjoy themselves. The value of the Festival must, at least in part, be decided in terms of the possibilities and at- mosphere afforded there for ac- tual achievement of these aims, for no satisfactory argument can be made in objection to the aims themselves. The Festival brought together more than 12,000 young people from all over the world. The motto was "Peace and Friendship," and at least many did come and par- ticipate in friendship, or perhaps more accurately tolerance. In any gathering of 12,000 gregarious stu- dents, it is not difficult to de- velop at least embryonic friend- ship, later developed by mail and further contact. .*. \ AN OFT asked question in Hel- sinki was "What are you doing in your country to exert stu- dent pressure?" From the re- sponses to that question, it was sometimes possible to see cooper- ative, parallel courses of action on common problems, either directly political or concerned with the education process itself. While the organized seminars offered disappointingly littlein- formation on the practical work of young people, there were many other times and places to find out, and nothing prevented a speaker, from describing events along these lines at the seminars. Every meeting of delegates, every discussion at the Interna- tional Students' Center, every inter-delegation meeting even- tually centered around political and ideological issues. In fact, there was so much stimulation and exposure to Soviet policy (each one at the same time eliciting an ex- pression of Western policy), that some nations preferred toboycott the Festival entirely rather than expose themselves to sharp face- to-face disagreement. * * * I PERSONALLY managed with no difficulty to achieve those four aims and can cite atsleast one example in each case. Others whom I know also succeeded. This is of no small significance, not only personally, but also (at least to some degree) interna- tionally when these experiences of 12,000 participants are compound- ed into a single effect of the Fes- tival. There is one other important aim which a participant might seek-propagandizing, prdselytiz- ing, and conversion of people to a particular ideology or political viewpoint. It is in the light of these "big stakes" especially that so many Americans oppose and mistrust the Festival. The objection centers around the belief that the Festival is a tool of Soviet policy designed to inculcate Communism into the To the extent that non-Com- munists took part in the Festival, to the extent that they spoke in public sessions and made use of the vast opportunity for personal contact, to the extent that they were capable of explaining and defending Western politics, non- Communist views were also pros- elytized and spread. It is not enough to point. to the instances of repressed free speech and conclude that non-Commun- ists could find no opportunity to express their views. This narrow conclusion blots out the context in which the discrimination took place, neglecting the many pro- Western speeches which were in fact given and the wide opportun- ity to meet people and discuss serious political questions freely outside of any organized political session. * * * JUST AS the instances of re- pression of free speech in some seminars cannot honestly be used to justify condemnation of the Festival as a whole (or even cast serious doubts on its actual over- all freedom), the opportunities for real contact and exchange -annot serve to gloss over the deliberate discrimination against some speak- ers. They must be condemned, but kept in perspective at the same time. It is patently absurd to claim that the Festival was unfair in not "including" delegates from all nations. To say that the majority of Finnish student opinion was not expressed within the Festival is true, but it is so because the SYL, the Finnish youth organiza- tion representing 90 per cent of Finnish students, boycotted the Festival completely. The same is true for USNSA and students from South Korea, South Vietnam and some other Western allies. If these people re- fuse to participate in the Festival, they have no right to complain that .their views were not ade- quately represented. THE BASIS for the boycott has been the large number of Com- munists attending the . Festival and the feeling that anti-Soviet, Western interpretation cannot be voiced at the Festival in the face of a Communist dominated IPC. The effect the neutrals of meeting skilled Communists and unskilled, often naive, Westerners is difficult to assess,,but Commun- ism must have seemed clearer and more forceful than Western poli- cies after all was said. The' Festival offered quite ade- quate grounds to meet the Soviet position with the Western one in a free exchange. If that oppor- tunity was in fact not fully real- ized, it was because many West- erners boycotted the Festival, and many of those who went were informationally incapable of offer- ing counter-arguments. The Festival is the only inter- national, multi - political event which is offered to the youth of the world. We must support it and attend it prepared to take ad- vantage of whatever facet appeals to us, be it the cultural participa- tion or the serious ideological dif- ferences which are discussed there. To the editor: IT IS OBVIOUS that we, as stu- dents interested in obtaining as complete an education as possible, must protest the action taken by the Regents in regard to Bylaw 8.11. The Bylaw as it now stands is bad enough, but the proposed revision is even worse. The claim is made that precen- sorship of speakers will no longer occur. This claim is false, for why else has a new committee been formed to review the application of each student group sponsored speaker. If no precensorship is to exist then this committee will have no function to perform and will not exist at all. Calendaring could and should be handled in the regular fashion by SGC and not through a lecture committee of any sort. Also; holding a student organi- zation responsible for what a speaker says is unconstitutional. If a speaker says something 'illegal or immoral' he and only he should be held responsible for whatever he says. THIRD, the very wording of the proposed Bylaw 8.11 indicates that anyone who is the least bit off center (left or right) and might be inclined to urge changes in any laws cannot speak on this campus. It has been pointed out that even National Panhel or IFC officers cannot advocate protestation of SGC's action in the membership statements because this is speak- ing against a "University" rule. I also ask, "When will they trust us"? When will the leaders of the "University" realize that our minds will not be "poisoned" by a single speech; and that our minds are inquisitive? We want to learn. This is why we are here. -Stan Lubin, '64 Implications... To the Editor: THE RECENT action of George Romney in questioning the loy- alty of Neil Staebler seems to me so reprehensible, such a perfectly gratuitous act of political savag- ery, that I urge all those who are thinking of voting for him to in- vestigate seriously his qualifica- tions for the governorship of the state of Michigan. Neil Staebler is one of the most respected citizens of this state, a man who has done more than any other man in the history of Michigan to put polities on a de- cent plane, and one who is known and liked personally by thousands of men and women, Democrats and Republicans alike. To see him smeared with the McCarthy brush by the very man who entered this campaign preaching idealism, po- litical morality and bi-partisan- ship is a bitter irony and a sad disappointment, even to those who oppose him. LET US look for a moment at the implications of his remark, in the event that he should be elect- ed governor. Would he call every- one who opposed him disloyal? Would he cast slurs on the Ameri- canism of Democrats generally? Would he eliminate the partisan- ship which he professes to find so damaging to the state of Michi- gan? The Democratic party, whether he is elected or not, will remain the majority party of the state and it is hardly likely that its members will forget and forgive that one of their most valued lead- ers has been called disloyal and has been personally damaged in favor of a man who himself was one of Sen. McCarthy's staunch- est supporters. The partisan battle, far from ending under a Romney regime, might conceivably become even more inflamed than it is now and the whole state would surely suffer from such a long guerrilla war. Even assuming that the remark was made in an unguarded mo- ment, it betrays such a cold lack of ordinary human consideration and decency that it casts much doubt on Romney's temperamen- tal qualifications for the post he seeks. He is suffering from a deep boss-complex, so deep that he ap- parently thinks he is justified in using whatever weapons he wishes in his struggle for election. But he simply cannot go on working both sides of the street as he has been doing, with the prayerbook in one hand and the tar brush in the oth- er; that will not do any more: he must be one thing or the other, an idealist campaigning on issues or an unscrupulous politician cam- paigning on personalities. It is up to him to make the choice. -Prof. Robert J. Niess 'E' Sticker... To the Editor: I WENT over to the Student Ac- tivities Building yesterday, and paid $7 for an "E" sticker. I have tried to discover what I purchased, what I received, and I have de- cided that someone has an aw- fully good thing going for them and that same someone made a fool out of me. There are a lot of things to be said for the University ban on automobiles: automobiles do not sticker is the mechanical means of administrating this, but my $7 says it is also a revenue raising mea- sure. If the University recognizes that it, has no right to regulate after age 21, it certainly has no right to tax. Like the girl of high virtue who changes her mind for $7, the University is not consistent in maintaining the right to regulate, unless it is bought off. Can't we get rid of the $7 fee for those who meet the requirements for an E sticker? -John M. Rickel, '63L Truth? To the Editor: AS MUCH as I dislike to com- ment on Daily editorials, I feel that I am obligated to carry out The Daily's own policy of let- ting its readers know that "Truth Will Prevail." Thus, I am writing this letter in answer to Messieurs Marcus and Harrah's editorial con- cerning George Romney. An edi- torial which contained distortions and untruths, as well as erroneous and false quotations. Marcus and Harrah say that Romney was repudiated when Richard Durant was elected to a position of leadership. The fact is that Durant was never elected to anything.He was soundly defeat- ed by the Republicans in his own district when he attempted to be- come a precinct delegate. At the 14th District convention he was able, through cheap poli- tical trickery and duplication, to put two of his stooges into posi- tions of leadership. In fact almost all of the precinct delegates who voted for his stooges did not know that these people were supporters of Durant. THE EDITORIAL further claims that at the State Republican Con- vention Romney was "audibly booed by many delegates" when he attacked the extremist organiza- tions. The truth is that only about five individuals voiced their dis- approval. "Disapproval" which was drowned out by the rest of the delegates who stood and cheered Romney's attack on the extremists for more than ten minutes. Messrs. Marcus and Harrah tell us that the Republicans were re- lugtant to go on record as repud- iating the John Birch Society. Such is not the case. The delegates vot- ed unanimously to place in their platform a clause which repudiates the views and goals of that so- ciety, and condemns their attempt to influence any members of the party. The editorial's obvious distor- tions were made for a specific pur- pose. They are misrepresentations calculated to discredit a man whose'ethics are above question. A man who represents to the peo- ple of Michigan a chance for a citizens government rather than a special interest government. This is something which neither David Marcus nor Michael Harrah can understand. -Barry Litvin, '64, Chairman, Students For Romney DETROIT: Crack' Cracks MONDAY NIGHT, understudy Pauline Flanagan had a fabl- ed show-business break when she took over Nancy's Kelly's role in the Broadway-bound drama,"Step on a Crack," now at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit. Miss Kelly bowed out of the cast when the show was trying out in Cleveland because she "didn't feel right in the part." She had pre- viously filled the gap when Rita Hayworth left the show during re- hearsals due to "illness." Although Miss Hayworth's excuse sounded doubtful, it is completely believ- able after seeing the play-"Step on a Crack" would make anyone ill. IT IS A JUVENILE attempt at pyschological and aesthetic thea- trical sophistication. The uneven script attempts unsuccessfully to combine a teenage comic-relief plot reminiscent of a bad week on "Dobie Gillis," a poetic prose style which neatly catalogues all the Victorian metaphors about ships at sea and treesin the sun- light, melodrama in the toolshed when the mad son with the Oedi- pus complex, who also thinks chairs talk, tries to burn his father's secretary (predictably the father, Gary Merrill, arrives in the nick of time), and occasional clever quips about the Fourth of July, homosexuality, and doctors -all of which have no relation to the plot. * * * THE DIRECTOR did nothing to clarify the rambling script. In- stead of choosing one of the play's seemingly endless moods as the central focus, Director Herbert Swope, Jr., plays each scene for its full impact-whether it be slap- stick comedy, a stylized soliloquy, nr, hnthth hpi.~,.y e&Iriina fn Pm.,- BERGMANN SEMINAR: A Glimpse of the Future SGC Elections Need Change IN A LITTLE more than a month a slate of candidates to fill seven Student Government Council seats will be presented to the campus. An election like last spring's fiasco cannot be permitted to recur. Fortunately, SGC's election chairman Michael Levin is making careful plans for the No- vember voting. TO INSURE a valid election, candidates must know election and petitioning regulations. This is partially the responsibility of Council's pre-election candidate orientation program; however, there is absolutely no excuse for ig- norance of procedure on the part of the candi- dates themselves. This fall candidates must accept, not dodge, this responsibility. During the more than two week interval between the petitioning deadline and the actual election, candidates' petitions should be thor- oughly checked. Each candidate whose petition is deemed valid should be certified so that there will be no question of the legality of a candi- date's petition during the course of the election. The polls themselves present a major ad- ministrative problem. A two day election, re- quiring about 500 students to man the polls, "esiRA vnfa. ar rnfim~w~ini adft.Pt, nrPno cs citP C By holding the SGC elections on one day, a nucleus of trained poll workers could be developed, minimizing the chance of stuffing the ballot box. A vigorous campaign,'engendering real stu- dent interest in election issues, would result in as big a voter-turn-out for one day as for two. Informed, interested, intelligent candidates are needed to create meaningful student concern. Another way to insure that each and every vote is legitimate would be to require that voters sign a registration book at the time they receive their ballot. This would force the would-be ballot stuffer to become a forgery expert at the same time. IN THE FUTURE the registration book could be replaced by a coupon similar to the ath- letic coupon handed out during registration. Students would be required to turn in this vot- ing coupon on election day. The number of ballots handed out could be tallied with the number of coupons received. A stringent enforcement of election rules is an important manifestation of responsible stu- dent government. The validity of government itself, rests upon the validity of the election By JEAN TENANDER THE PROGRAM which Tuesday night enabled Prof. Frithjof Bergmann to lead a discussion group on the works of Albert Cam- us offers the undergraduate a glimpse of something which in the future may be a great deal more than one meeting in a series of seminars. Established originally seven years ago with the title of the Reading and Discussion Program, the present series is a continuation of this program under a slightly different structure. Officially the fall symposium is a result of the reading lists sent out to all fresh- men during the summer. This ab- breviated plan has come about in an attempt to whittle down the previously unwieldly all year around program initially establish- ed. If this year's sessions seem to have favorable results, as can be fairly accurately predicted from last nights gathering, the sem- inars may once again be extended to cover the whole year. It is this possibility for the future which should make everyone who is aware of the program's objectives look forward with anticipation to a broadening and enlarging of these objectives. * * CHAIRMAN of the standing committee, Roger Lowenstein, has predicted that the revamping of the program will for this year, anyway, involve only one or more additional seminar series but with The idea of holding a number of discussion groups on books of more than routine interest first germinated on campus quite a few years ago. The plans were so huge and all encompassing, however, that very little of worth was being accomplished and the outcome was lack of interest and discour- agement. In 1960 the present pro- gram was created and although it did not exist last year the year before a very successful sym- posium was held on Dostoevski. In order to avoid the mistakes the early series suffered from, the standing committee will make an attempt to choose a narrow topic which can be explored at great length and in depth rather than trying to work on a number of jumbled things at once. ALTHOUGH this program is sponsored by the Student Govern- ment Council, the people on the standing committee are respon- sible in a large part for the suc- cess of the venture. Those who in- itiated the series in 1956 were thoughtful and idealistic in their understanding of the need a stu- dent has to be able to express him- self on academic subjects to aca- demic people while renaining out- side the classroom. Those who are presently direct- ing the series have inherited an understanding of this need and will hopefully continue to serve the students with a view to this understanding. The possibilities are really quite astounding. A four 1 11