Seventy-Third Year
EDITED AND MANAGED 1Y STUDENTS OF THE UNVERSITY 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
Trutb Will Prevail" U U IACE
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. ThiS must be noted in all reprints.
"Well, Invite Somebody! Send For That Albanian"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Reporter Shows Bias
In Report of SGC
RIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1962
NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID MARCUS
If Meredith Flunks Out:
What Happens Then?
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THE NEWS that James Meredith is appar-
ently flunking out of Ole Miss meets two
reactions on the part of those who supported
his admission into the University of Mississippi.
students." Thi
behavior seem
IT IS a sada
on our time
Strange as it may sound there seems to in our countr
be a feeling on the part of some that Meredith their sphere t
" has somehow let them down by having the taking place o
nerve to be failing his subjects. "We could have The profess
at least picked an intelligent guy," someone of a sensitive
remarked a few days ago. This attitude is ervation of fr
obviously ridiculous and hopefully such com- parently this h
ments are made mostly in jest. But there or things arec
must be other things to make jokes about. Eventually p
The other and most frequent response to a university w
the news is a remark more or less to the between classe
effect that "it really isn't fair" or an expressed might see som
feeling of frustration that in addition to all forgotten feeli
that he has already gone through, Meredith of their half
should have to suffer this final indignity. instructors in
ledge.
TO ANYONE looking at the situation ration-
ally it is clear that a person in Meredith's IN CONSIDE
position would probably be failing. To expect fails to pas
anyone of even the highest intelligence to work faces two pro
well under cpnstant harrassment from fellow to remain de
students, obscene remarks scrawled on the wall be open to c
of his room, assassination attempts, and a who are again
general atmosphere of hostility and hate is will be givenf
unrealistic to say the least. the press abo
A few weeks ago three graduate students forcing the u
sat down at Meredith's table during dinner campus even
and returned to their rooms to find the walls requirements t
covered with the hastily written words "nigger rights will ha
,, will find itself
lover." It will take extremely brave persons centngar
to fight the hatred of the whole campus for centering ar
the sake of befriending one lonely Negro, and definately wou
It has already been fairly well demonstrated On the oth
that the Ole Miss campus has no one fitting expel him, it
this description. public opinion
Thus Meredith lives an anxious and alien- Ole Miss wit
ated life. Aside from the physical danger he segregationists
has to think about everytime he steps onto of the stuati
campus there is also the emotional stress of the opinion v
being constantly accosted with Ugly, hate- fall, it hardly
filled faces. To anyone posessing even the enough streng
slightest degree of sensitivity this is fairly in defense off
upsetting. To know that there is not one
person on his side, or at least not one brave IN A SENSE,
enough to declare himself, is also far from problem if1
comforting. It is true that
pelled and it i
been able to
IF, THEREFORE, Meredith does fail his sub- But thos wh
jects it is hardly fair to consider his position thinicose S f
a normal one in the determination of whether thin ice. So f
he should be asked to leave school. It would tive about Me
be blatant hypocrisy for the administration it has been e
subjective. Th
suddenly to begin treating Meredith as a treating it in
normal student who somehow just could not It seems i
manage to make the required grade point. a respected s
Meredith may not be meeting his respon- trolled just en
sibilities as a student but it would be difficult civilized being
to .say that the faculty of the University of supposes a ce
Mississippi have met their responsibilities for the part of th
the preservation of academic freedom in their case of the U
strange and indifferent silence throughout the only conclusio
tense days of Meredith's registration and the disgusting be]
weeks following his admission. university offi
Search as one may for any justification other attempt to re
than the one headlining a Chicago Daily News posedly capab)
Service story, "Ole Miss Faculty Would Rather The univer
Eat Than Speak," it is hard to come up with these students
any other plausible reason for their silence. nothing but n
The Minnesota Chapter of the American As- right which is
sociation of University Professors sent a letter justifiably be
to the Mississippi faculty commending them he is exercisin
"for the fine sense of responsibility they show- under which i
ed in accepting James Meredith into their abnormalities
classes and offering to him the same educa- in our time.
tional opportunities as those offered to other
Going Local
s interpretation of the faculty's
s questionable at best.
and thought provoking comment
s to realize that some professors
y no longer consider it within
o voice an opinion on atrocities
in their own campus.
r has generally evoked an image
intellectual, devoted to the pres-
eedom in all of its forms. Ap-
ias either been the wrong picture
changing rapidly and drastically.
perhaps 'the faculty members of
ill wear blinders as they walk
es on the off chance that they
iething which would arouse long
ngs of guilt over the abnegation
remembered responsibilities as
the unhampered pursuit of know-
RING what to do if Meredith
s his courses the administration
)lems. If it chooses to allow him
spite his failing average it will
harges of partiality from those
st ,Meredith. The segregationists
a golden opportunity to rage to
it insidious government pressure
niversity to keep Meredith on
though he is unable to meet the
the other students must.Human
ve won temporarily but Ole Miss
embroiled in another controversy
und Meredith-a situation it
LId like to avoid.
er hand, if the university does
will face a barrage of negative
from integrationists, charging
h deliberate collusion with the
and a disregard of the realities
on. Considering the strength of
)iced against the university this
seems that it could summon up
th to once again rally its forces
its declining integrity.
then, there is no solution to the
looked at completely objectively.
a failing student should be ex-
s also true that Meredith has not
study under normal conditions.
o argue for objectivity stand on
r there has been nothing objec-
edith's case. From the beginning
motion-laden and almost totally
ere is no reason to discontinue
this manner.
acredible that the students at
tate university cannot be con-
iough to make them behave like
s. Attending a university pre-
rtain degree of intelligence on
e student. If this is true in the
niversity of Mississippi, then the
n that can be drawn from the
havior of its students is that
cials have not really made an
ason with these students, sup-
le of rationality.
sity's concern should be with
not with Meredith. He has done
make an attempt to exercise a
constitutionally his. He cannot
judged on the manner in which
g this right until the conditions
t is offered to him are free from
shameful in our country and
-JEAN TENANDER
F
... .- '.
To the Editor:
ALTHOUGH a college paper by
definition is charitably under-
stood to have a certain prerogative
in slanting facts for the sake of
a good controversial story, there
comes a point where misrepre-
sentation is dishonest and vicious.
I feel such a point was reached
in yesterday's lead story on the
Committee on Membership in Stu-
dent Organizations.
There were two Daily reporters
covering the meeting and editor
Mike Olinick sat at the table as
an ex-officio member of Council.
That makes three Daily people
present as witnesses. They are all
bright and certainly grasped not
only the actual facts of the meet-
ing, but the tone of discussion.
Yet they chose to report neither
the facts nor the tone.
It is apparent in much of Daily
reporting that the writers are bel-
ligerant, self-aggrandizing, and
negative in their approach. This
is certainly too bad, however it
is not necessarily harmful. But
when this negative approach de-
liberately places the groups in-
volved in an unfavorable light-
undermining what small progress
has been made just for the sake
of a story-then they are violating
their privileges as reporters. Yes-
terday's story was such a viola-
tion.
* * *
THE MEMORANDUM which was
presented to the council for its
approval was submitted so that the
Committee on Membership could
assess the Council's feelings on
the committee's functions. It was
not asking for endorsement of the
specific proposals nor did it re-
ceive this endorsement. The Stu-
dent Government Council gave an
overwhelming vote of confidence
to the committee and its work of
eliminating mechanical discrim-
ination. However it stated expli-
citly in the portion of the motion
which the reporter chose to omit
that, while it considered the pro-
posed areas of investigation legiti-
mate, it could not endorse the
specific plans because it did
not have appropriate information.
Therefore the Council did not, as
your headline stated, "set pro-
grams for bias elimination in so-
cial organizations." It merely
pledged its renewed commitment
and cooperation in the area of
discrimination. The specific pro-
grams can only be determined and
approved by the committee itself.
The committee in its statements
to the council, also made it clear
that the seven proposed steps
were "possible areas of work" and
certainly cannot all be undertaken
simultaneously. The Daily, how-
ever, listed the proposals as if they
had been adopted by the commit-
tee and as if the committee were
prepared for immediate action.
IT IS UNFORTUNATE that this
story was printed, for once again it
placed the Committee on Mem-
bership in the position of a ter-
rorizing group. It was the kind
of article which destroys so much
of the good faith the committee
hopes to establish with affiliated
people. Each time this faith is
lost the committee suffers from
a lack of cooperation and thus
the progress in this area is slowed
down for months and possibly
years.
Understandably it is a delicate
area. The committee is dedicated
to eliminating bias and thus by
requesting information it often
has to indict the group it is work-
ing with-if discriminatory prac-
tices are discovered. However this
committee has always tried to be
understanding in its dealings and
fair in its demands. The proposals
suggest areas in which the com-
mittee hopes to work-areas It
feels must be examined. How-
ever these areas of proposed in-
vestigation will not be undertaken
without a great deal of prelim-
inary ground work, allowing the
committee and the groups involved
adequate time to compile facts.
There is no need for name call-
ing. However I am sincerely sorry
that the action of the committee
and council were misconstrued,
and I hope the damage done by
the article does not impede pro-
gress in this vital area.
-Wallis Wilde, '64
Member, Comnmittee on
Membership
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YEAR-ROUND OPERATION:
Cautious Approach Necessary
By DAVID MARCUS
" IF," so folk-wisdom tells us, is
the biggest little word in the
English language.
Certainly, it is upon this small
but significant word that the ul-
timate plans for full year opera-
tion depend. It is difficult to ap-
prove or disapprove of full-year
operation because it is so nebulous
at the moment. Implementation
and the ultimate form which full-
year operation takes depends on
factors which are not yet deter-
minable and which will not be
known for a long time to come.
A few things are known. First,
the University is only committed
to what Dean Stephen Spurr of
the natural resources school calls
two and a half-semester full-year
operation. This simply means that
the responsibility for handling the
summer session has been shifted
from the Summer Session Office
to the individual deans. Now, the
deans have a year-round respon-
sibility for the course-offerings
within their schools.
* * *.
SECOND, the University is com-
mitted to building up the summer
session, to making it more than a
series of skeletal offerings. Hope-
fully, this will transform the sum-
mer session from an academic or-
phan into a meaningful addition
to the University.
Third, the University is com-
mitted to trying out a new calen-
dar. The new schedule begins the
fall semester in late August and
places final exams just before
Christmas. The second semester
begins in January and ends in
May. This leaves room for a full
third semester in the summer al-
though it does not by any means
mean that there will be one.
The question of the third semes-
ter is one of the trickiest prob-
lems that the University now faces.
Whether there will ever be one
and what it will be like depend on
several as yet unanswerable ques-
tions.
1) How many students would
come to it?
2) What kind of students would
attend?
3) Will the University get
enough money .to do it?
4) Can the University recruit
enough faculty members to make
three semester operation feasible?
5) Can the individual depart-
ments and colleges make the nec-
essary adjustments without over-
burdening their faculties?
OBVIOUSLY, all these questions
interrelate. The University can do
nothing until it knows whether the
Legislature will come through with
enough money. In order to con-
vince senior faculty members to
teach during the summer or to
stagger their teaching between the
summer and one of the two other
semesters, the University is going
to have to offer to pay them at
their regular pay rates during the
summer.
Three-semester operation thus
means a large financial commit-
ment on the part of the University.
If the University were to plan on
a semester to set-up. This is one,
of the major questions which the
individual schools and depart-
ments will be considering in the
next few years.
For example, will students use
the third semester as a means of
finishing up more quickly? Or will
they stagger their education and
attend the University during the
fall and summer or during the
spring and summer? How can the
University continue to serve the
many special individuals, confer-
ences and institutes which come
during the summer to the Uni-
versity?
S* * *
CLEARLY, there is a great deal
of work facing both the faculty
and the administration in an-
swering these questions. Until they
are answered, there can be no
clear idea of what kind of courses
and what kind of schedules will
best suit an extended summer ses-
sion.
But however these questions are
answered, their answers will surely
provide as many new problems as
solutions. For example, how will
departments be able to stagger
sequences so that students attend-
ing in scattered semesters will have
no problems in fulfilling their dis-
tribution requirements?
An instancer: at present English
majors are required to take a two
semester-long survey. Under the
present calendar, the first half is
offered in the fall, the second in
the spring. What will the English
department, in this particular case,
do about the student who attends
in the spring and the summer?
Can the English department, or
any other department, be required
to offer all parts of all sequences
in all semesters?
What will happen to the junior-
senior honors programs if students
are allowed to stagger semesters?
Certainly it is unfair to burden
the departments with a complete
course offering in every semester.
Yet it is equally unfair to struc-
ture programs so that students are
forced to attend during certain
semesters.
* * * *
ANOTHER DIFFICULTY is if
the University is in full operation
year-round, what will happen to
the various summer institutes and
seminars heldhere? Some of them
will possibly have to be curtailed
and the University will be forced
into an evaluation of its summer
institute program. But again, the
question of summer institutes must
remain in limbo until other related
questions are settled.
The question of faculty is also
a crucial consideration. The Uni-
versity has constantly assured the
faculty that there will be no com-
pulsion of individuals to teach
during the third semester if there
ever is one. This presumably
means that faculty members will
be encouraged to stagger their
teaching and come during the
summer if they so desire and that
the University will have to seek a
large number of new staff mem-
bers.
Of course, the University must
get much more money to do this.
University has taken a positive
step toward the solution of these
problems of full-year operation.
Within the departmental or the
college structure, the deans and
faculty can survey their students
and determine what kind of a
program the school or department
should ideally set up during the
summer.
Furthermore, the individual units
hands of the various deans, the
can come up with solutions uni-
quely suited to their particular
functions. For example, the educa-
tion school during the summer
serves many teachers who are tak-
ing refresher courses or who are
working on advanced degrees. This
means that this -school will not
be able to set up a summer session
based solely on a trimester begin-
ning in the middle or end of May.
It also means that the education
school will have to work closely
with the literary college and other
units in order to set up summer
cognate courses for returning
teachers.
Each unit will be able to devise
an operation suited to its own par-.
ticular needs. The administration
will act only in certain budgetary
matters and in helping to resolve
any conflicts that may result be-
tween schools from varying calen-
dars.
But again, no matter how much
planning any unit does, no mat-
ter how much planning the Uni-
versity Senate does, no matter how
much planning the University
does, there are always the un-
predictable external limitations
that must be taken into consid-
eration.
FOR ALL these reasons, the
University has continued to move
slowly toward full-year operation.
The third semester is still no more
than a possibility which the Uni-
versity will consider carefully. The
University, by moving step by step
into a three semester calendar,
will better be able to evaluate the
effect and the direction of the
next step.
Although many faculty members
and students are disconcerted by
an apparent lack of direction in
the full-year calendar transition,
it is better that the University
move slowly than jump into an ill-
considered experiment.
Ultimately, the faculty can take
comfort from the fact that mem-
bers themselves will have the ma-
jor say in what the University
does about the calendar. Ultimate-
ly, students can take comfort in
the prospect that the University
is not forcing them into a situa-
tion where their wishes will mean
nothing. Student reaction will be
carefully considered at every stage
as a major factor in future plan-
ning. If Student Government
Council and other groups asserted
themselves and asked to have a
role in the planning, students
could well play a dynamic instead
of a passive part.
FULL YEAR operation means a
complete reorientation of the pres-
ent way of life at the University.
Nobody as yet knows in which
DANGEROUS AFFAIR:
Witty, Fine
T7O YEARS late, but in time
for Christmas anyhow, "Les
Liasons Dangereuses" has finally
managed to beat As path as far
west as Ann Arbor. The facts and
intentions surrounding the movie
have, by this time, become a little
comedy all of their own. In 1782
Pierre Ambroise Francois Choder-
los de Laclos, published the novel
"Les Liasons Dangereuses (Ou
Lettres) ," cunningly disguished
(you might guess) as a set of let-
ters between the major charac-
ters.
To heighten the realism, Laclos
wrote an "editor's" preface and in
the highest irony offered the "let-
ters" as a public service to in-
struct new brides and young lov-
ers in the terrible decadence into
which the world had fallen. Be-
fore this, Laclos put an alleged
publisher's preface disclaiming re-
sponsibility for the whole thing.
As you might suspect, the novel
was a great success.
IN 1960, Roger Vadim, best
known for introducing Brigette
Bardot to Cinemascope, attempted
to update the novel and film it.
The French government refused
for a year to send it to other
countries on the grounds that it
would certainly misrepresent the
terrible decadence into which
France had fallen. Finally it con-
sented if Vadim would appear
first in an editor's preface, speak-
ing in English to all Americans,
to explain that France, as a cul-
ture, disclaimed responsibility for
the whole thing.
Now, after a year in New York,
it's here.
All that remains of the Letters
is a scene or two where one is
being written. Nothing remains of
the irony; indeed, the movie ends
on a distressing note of morality.
But, in spite of himself, Vadim
manages to film what he knows
best: the kind of relationship
which remains when all guilt, and
other moral sanctions or prohi-
bitions have been paralyzed or
swept away. Valmont (Gerard
Philippe) and Juliette (Jeanne
Moreau) have based their mar-
riage oh a terrifying pact which
requires each to make and break
lovers as love-offerings for the
other. In addition, each is free
to pursue whatever ends he
chooses.
BY THE time the movie is done,
it has gone through a dizzying
series of interlocking triangles and
bedroom scenes, driven one sore
looser mad, killed the "hero," and
maimed by fire his proud wife.
Vadim spends a lot of time show-
ing his wife, Annette, nude. For-
tunately she is very pretty.
Background music, a stroke of
luck, is mostly Thelonious Monk
and Charlie Rouse.
The terrible cutting makes the
aural effect something 1ik e
standing outside in line and hear-
ing music when the door opens
to let someone out, but frequently
whole choruses are left in tact,
which makes it worth while, es-
pecially for a movie.
The dialogue, if you are sym-
pathetic to the spirit of the movie,
is witty and fine, assisted incom-
parably by a most natural and
delicate translation. The late
Gerard Philippe, so highly wor-
shipped, finds his part a bit be-
low his powers, but nonetheless
slays 'em all with his usual elan.
There are several, almost great
effects, which are better than the
situation calls for: the screen goes
white during a long kiss, a tele-
graph operator repeats, emotion-
lessly, the .message which will ruin
a life, and so forth.
In short, "Les Liasons Danger-
euses" is well worth the ninety
cents unless you're over fifty, in
which case it's just barely worth
the ninety cents.
-Dick Pollinger
THERE ARE some interesting and hopeful
inferences to draw from the recent decision
of Standford University chapter of Sigma
Nu to disaffiliate from the national organiza-
tion.
It is encouraging to see a group of men, un-
der no pressure except that of their own con-
sciences, decide to divorce themselves from
an organization based on racial discrimina-
tion. The new local fraternity, now Beta Chi.
is the largest house on the Stanford campus,
and it must be hoped that this example will
spread to other fraternities faced with sim-
ilarly enforced, institutionalized racial pre-
judice.
To those who believe that all fraternity men
are unconditional bigots, let Beta Chi stand
as a counter example.
MORE IMPORTANTLY, Beta Chi must be
seen as indication that a local fraternity
cannot "justify" its discrimination on the basis
of a national policy.
If a local fraternity is honestly interested
in being a nondiscriminatory house, and if
it is faced with a national policy of discrimina-
tion, that house should disaffiliate.
Beta Chi is not the first house to go local.
Two years ago, ATO expelled its Stanford
chapter for pledging four Jew'ish men. That
A~. ra..d.
local still exists and is strong and respected,
according to Tom Grey, president of Beta Chi.
But a university and its student body ought
not to wait passively for the spirit to move
a discriminatory fraternity to end its ties with
bias. It must be the university's policy not
to allow any unit within the university to
discriminate on racial or religious basis.
The university. and its student body, must
press vigorously for an end to all racial
inequality within its confines. Not to do so
is to lend tacit support to the inequality.
T HE BURDEN of complying with the anti-
bias stipulation must rest with the in-
dividual fraternity. The chapter must bear the
responsibility and the consequences of failure
to comply. And the university should make
the consequence expulsion.'
But if the university is honestly interested
in a non-discriminatory fraternity system, it
must offer the fraternity whatever assistance
possible in overcoming the problems of going
local.
A major problem in disaffiliation is financial.
A local chapter, faced with a deficit, has no
resource of "tide-over" funds to support itself
and must dissolve. The university should con-
sider possible means of emergency financial'
loans to fraternities who have gone local to
escape forced discrimination.
If the fraternities are really honest in their
CIVIC THEATRE:
Sentimental Ethics
THERE IS a technique of play-
writing that began with Dumas
fils and which is extensively in use
today. It combines an escape into
a realm of unbridled and senti-
mentality with an appearance of
serious ethical meaning. Truman
Capote's play, "Grass Harp," which
opened last night in Trueblood
Aud. under the, auspices of the
Civic Theatre, is a prime example
of this delibitation of drama. The
play is a sentimental review of
stereotypes, and a catalogue of
cliches: "Leading citizens have to
b e h a v e themselves, otherwise
things fall apart."
we are a long way from that classic
function.
LAST NIGHT'S performance, di-
rected by Herbert Propper, was
undistinguished. Although the pro-
duction showed that the director
had put a great deal of effort into
his production, the liability of his
own somewhat limited experience
and the extremely inexperienced
people he had to work with proved
insurmountable. The performance
was also marred by the presence of
one or two rather crude people
in the audience. No matter how
bad a performance is, there is