Seventy-Third Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS Op THE UNIVERSrrY OF MICHIGAN
- UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Where Opinions*Ae 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.
)AY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: KENNETH WINTER
}V
A FACE IN THE CROWD
By RONALD WILTON, Editor
Fraternity Life:
Pride in Belonging
[O RUSHEE should be ashamed of the pros-
pect of becoming a fraternity member. '
This may not be much reassurance in an
a where anti-fraternity sentiment has be-
me almost overwhelming from those not in
aternities. This may not be much reassur-
ce at a time when the Greek image has
en so dimmed that the number of rushees
decreasing. Worse, the attitude of those who
rush is increasingly skeptical.
This rushee skepticism is entirely under-
ndable. Listening to fraternity critics would
d the rushee to believe that in becoming a,
eek, he trades his individuality for a lettered
el pin; he abandons all academic ambitions
r the lure of liquor and loving; he inextric-
ly commits himself to several score other
lows under the guise of the great cliche
itherhood,
'hese criticisms are unjust. What makes
em worse is that their effect is to allow non-
iliates to prevail' over fraternity menbers
the very subject of fraternities. It is clearly
ae to ring up more correct totals.
FRATERNITY does exact certain commit-
ments from its members; but it does not
k to erase their identities. It is true that
member, particularly during his pledging
riod, will be called upon to perform various
irnal chores. These are intended, not as
iseless tasks of slavery, but to inculcate the
,ternity philosophy that with equal status
: privileges goes responsibility.
For once having achieved membership status,
member will be expected to participate in
very live form of democracy called the
use meeting. Once a member, he will have to
rage in the very subtle task of deciding who.
all be new members. Here he will find that to
ige others positively calls for strong intro-
ction.
ND MOST IMPORTANTLY, he must pre-
pare to live in the hub of Greek life, the
use itself. And here is its most striking,
nt: a fraternity means good living. Par-
ticularly for sophomores, it far outweighs the
animalism of the quads or the isolation of
apartments. Nowhere else can be found such
comfortable living, excellent food or minimum
of residence difficulties.
Going beyond the physical set-up, no Uni-
versity institution or building can breed the
wonderful feeling of "home" that the Greek
building can. Each member's emotional at-
tachment to the fraternity-his commitment
to the values he thinks it represents-are trans-
lated into an immediate and direct love for
the structure which epitomizes them.
For it is within this structure that a fra-
ternity yields many hours of social enjoyment.
Most fraternity men would probably consider
this to be the primary value of their house.
Nowhere else exists such ample opportunity
for being "fixed up," to partake in TG's and
beer blasts or to go out with the guys for
late chow.
From this social bustle comes what is really
the heart and guts of fraternity living, the
post-social activity. It is in the wee late hours
of Fridays and Saturdays that broken hearts
are aired and the first pangs of love are shared.
IN ITS ESSENCE a fraternity can bring out
the best and worst of people.
It can be a crutch for insecurity and an in-
strunent for stereotyped thinking. At the same
time, the fraternity offers the inimitable op-
portunity for the development of diversity
within unity.
It can serve as a basis for learning to accept
responsibility. It can be the teacher of social
graces and amicable relations among people.
It can provide a springboard to achievement
and community service.
In a fraternity, the house and member unite
in a reciprocal bond of giving and !taking-
the one's strengths supplanting the other's
weaknesses; The prospective pledge should en-
ter prepared to give and take, to be taken from
and given to.
BUT ALWAYS he should enter prepared to
be a fraternity man proud of his affiliation.
-LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM
THE STRUGGLE against dis-
crimination in fraternities and
sororities is reaching the end of
its first stage. By the end of this
semester a procedure should be
operational which will ensure the
elimination of discriminatory con-
stitutional clauses specifying ra-
cial or religious membership qual-
ifications.
The second stage will be con-
cerned with eliminating discrim-
ination from those constitutional
sections on selection which leave
it up to the individual members
of the group to determine wheth-
er they want to accept a person.
This second stage was discussed
at Student Government Council
Wednesday night. An observer at
the meeting could be forgiven ser-
ious doubts he might have about
Council's desire to embark upon
this second stage.
* * * -
COUNCIL was discussing a mod-
ification of a proposal for deal-
ing with discrimination in stu-
dent organizations submitted by
Prof. Robert Harris of the Law
School. This proposal would set
up a membership judge who would
decide, after hearing evidence,
whether an organization was dis-
criminating in membership selec-
tion.
This procedure is expected to
deal with constitutional limita-
tions on membership, and would
bring stage one to a close. How-
ever, Council made sure that an
area which has as much potential
for discrimination as the strictest
constitutional limitation will not
be touched. This is the blackball
system.
THIS SYSTEM is based on the
principle that the members of a
house have a right to choose who
they live with. If one, two or any
variable number of individuals
within a house object to a potential
member they can effectively bar
him from membership for any rea-
son they want. Discrimination oc-
curs when a member can stand up
and object to a rushee because he
is a Jew, Christian or Negro. In
some groups this veto power is also
exercised by alumni and members
of the national organization.
The main controversy Wednes-
day night centered around the first
rule under section "Prohibited
Conduct." This section reads, "No
group shall adopt, maintain or ap-
ply a discriminatory membership
policy."
A MOTION was made which
would have interpreted this to
mean the group is responsible for
any individual actions within it
which prevented a rushee from
joining on the basis of race, reli-
gion or national origin. Council
defeated this on the following
grounds: the group could not be
held responsible for the individ-
ual, individual prejudice could not
be legislated out of existence, and
the basic right of an affiliate mem-
ber to choose the people he wants
to live with would be seriously
compromised if not destroyed.
Council assumed the attitude
that the first stage in eliminating
discrimination was now almost
over. Before starting on the sec-
ond step the claim was made, time
was needed to prepare groups for
more changes. Some members saw
the second stage being solved com-
pletely by education and thus con-
sidered the defeated motion un-
necessary.
THE ARGUMENTS against the
proposed interpretation can only
be upheld if one fundamental re-
lationship is accepted as absolute:
the right of members to choose
their living companions is more
important than eliminating dis-
crimination. This ,proposition is
untenable. The Regents have pass-
ed Bylaw 2.14 which commits the
University to eliminating discrimi-
nation within its community.
Given this as a University law,
I cannot see how the right of the
individual to discriminate in affili-
ate groups can be maintained un-
der. any circumstances. The group
is a part of the University and
enjoys recognition and prestige
through association with the Uni-
versity's name.
Any person joining such a group
joins with the knowledge that dis-
crimination is outlawed by a by-
law; if he prevents the entry of a
person on the grounds of race,\
religion, color, creed, national ori-
gin or ancestry then he is wilfully
breaking a University rule. The
controversy arises over the prob-
lem of whether the group should
be penalized for the action of one
or two members.
* * *
I THINK the answer to this
problem lies in the fact that when
an individual casts a blackball he
is acting for the group; the group
has given him the power to decide
on what basis a potential member
LETTERS
to the
EDITOR
To the Editor:
PARY T. ROBINSON, I think,
has missed iuch of the mean-
ing and most of the beauty of
"Wild Strawberries." To call this
movie "Route 66 stuff" is to in-
sult Bergman, though perhaps un-
intentionally.
Mr. Robinson fails to note that
the distinction between life and
death, so strikingly portrayed at
the outset of the film, is then re-
examined and redefined. The old
doctor, itdseems, has crucified
himself and, as a resut, his "life"
has become a painful denial of
life.
FURTHERMORE, Mr. Robinson
asserts that he "cannot be ex-
pected to appreciate the fears of
old age." "Wild Strawberries,"
however, is at least as much con-
cerned with youth as with old age.
But what is most painful of all,
Mr. Robinson, in his short review,
seems to deny the possibility of
serious cinema, as he says "you
can't touch" thoughts on the
screen. This is a rather super-
ficial conclusion to so unperceptive
a review.
-Richard Kraut, '65
No Theatre . .
To the Editor:
ANN ARBOR Civic Theatre is
not considering building its
own theatre. All its productions
will be held at Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre. In January this year it
did purchase its own building, the1
former Ann Arbor Waterworks
Warehouse building at 803 West
Washington St., but this buildingI
will be used only for rehearsals,
meetings, building sets, and stor-
age of equipment. It is now busyi
remodeling the building and in-
stalling heat and plumbing so itl
can be used.
-Jerome C. Patterson 1
President, Ann Arborf
Civic Theatre
can be admitted or rejected.
By handing over its power in
this area to an individual mem-
ber, the group becomes responsi-
ble when he applies the power
contrary to University law. As such
the group as a whole should be
subject to punishment. The group
cannot delegate its power to in-
dividuals and not be responsible
when they abuse it.
Some people contend that the
affiliate system has taken giant
steps toward eliminating discrimi-
nation in the past five years and
that it is unfashionable in many
houses to be prejudiced. They say
give us time and it will soon be
eliminated completely.
* * *
THE SYSTEM has taken giant
steps in eliminating bias. How-
ever, much, if not all of this prog-
ress, would never have been made
had it not been for regental, com-
munity and national pressure
against discrimination. The best
way to insure that such progress
continues is to keep applying pres-
sure.
The best way to apply pressure
to individuals within a group is
to have the group as a whole pres-
sure a member who wants to throw
a discriminatory blackball into
forgetting the idea. The desirabil-
ity of this should be fairly ob-
vious; such discrimination is
against the bylaw, it hurts the
outside image of the house and
the system and it prevents a ma-
jority of the group's members
from living with someone they
want.
Yet such reasons have not been
enough to prevent individuals
from acting in a discriminatory
manner. The only way these in-
dividuals will be stopped is to ap-
ply pressure to them. The group
will only be concerned- with the
necessity to apply such pressure
when it can be punished for the
individual's action.
THIS IS NOT an attempt to leg-
islate against a person's beliefs.
An individual in a house can be as
prejudiced as he wants to be. What.
it will do will be to eliminate dis-
crimination. in membership selec-
tion by preventing race or religion
from being raised as a criteria.
Appeals based on tradition will
be used by affiliate groups in try-
ing to resist such reforms. Yet if
the system is to come to grips
with its own problems of exist-
ence in today's world and maintain
a dynamic, viable existence in it,
then such reforms will be nec-
essary.
The system and its supporters
must commit themselves to elim-
inating discrimination in member-
ship selection. If such reform is
not forthcoming the system will
have only itself to blame for cen-
sure from the public.
Poetry
IN SPITE of the immense amount
of poetry published and read
today, the personality truly and
naturally poetic seems to be be-
coming rarer and rarer. It may
be true that the kind of dignity
and distinction which have been
characteristic of the poet in the
past are becoming more and more
impossible in our modern demo-
cratic society and during a period
when the ascendancy of scientific
ideas has made man conscious of
his kindship with the other ani-
mals and of his subjection to bio-
logical and physical laws rather
than of his relation to the gods.
-Edmund Wilson
"ImA Young Goil What Would 'like To
Help YousP Wit' Your Shopping
l i
44
t
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Righting the Wog
Of A Century
kv
Ai
NDERSCORE:
Inertia 1n Congress
)ROCRASTINATION has become a way of
life in Congress. The 88th Congress has been
i session for over eight months and the most
nportant piece of legislation it has passed is
bill barring a national railroad strike.
It has yet to complete action on such major
Ils as civil rights, the tax cut, urban mass
ansit, youth employment opportunities, do-
estic peace corps, area redevelopment, and
e proposed national system of wildlife pre-
rves. There is also a "quality stabilization"
11 that is outside of the administration pro-
am, and that old standby, foreign aid, some
rm of which has got to be passed.
S PROSPECTS now stand some modified
form of Kennedy's civil rights proposals
:11 be passed along with a foreign aid bill
propriating about $500 million less than
e President requested.
In addition, the Senate w"111 have acted on
e test ban treaty, and possibly a tax cut and
form measure will sneak through Congress
December, making this the longest session
ice the Korean War.
'HE CAUSES of this lengthy lethargy are
many. Perhaps the most basic is that Con-
ess is essentially a more conservative and
litically susceptible institution than. the
esidency. Due to the electoral college system,
e President is elected by carrying majorities
the big industrial states. He does not need
great deal of rural, basically conservative
pport, finding a more attractive route to
tory in winning the support of liberal big
y voting blocs.
The Senate, whose members are elected on
state-wide basis, is naturally going to find
ore conservatives among its members. A
rm state senator can little afford to ignore
e feelings of the rural voters who do put
n in or out of office.
Editorial Staff
RONALD WILTON, Editor
AVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH
ditorial Director City Editor
RBARA LAZARUS .............. Personnel Director
ILIP SUTIN...........National Concerns Editor
.IL EVANS ....... ....Associate City Editor
LRJORIE BRAHMS ....Associate Editorial Director
ORIA BOWLES...............Magazine Editor
LINDA BERRY .............. Contributing Editor
VE GOOD...................Sports Editor
KE BLOCK.................Associate Sports Editor
SBERGER...............Associate Sports Editor
B ZW INCK. .....Contributing Sports Editor
The membership of the House of Represent-
atives is fundamentally more conservative still.
Thanks to outmoded congressional districting,
the rural population is grossly overrepresented.
The filbuster and the seniority system further
add to 'the conservative nature of Congress.
In the Senate, a small minority of senators
can and does prevent the passage of legisla-
tion it opposes by taking advantage of its
privilege of unlimited debate. The importance
of this weapon is clear, for it is largely re-
sponsible for often making the Senate more
conservative than the House-despite the elec-
tive procedures mentioned above, which should
make it the other way around.
Then there is the seniority system in both
houses of Congress. The longer a congressman
or senator has served, the greater his chance
of becoming a member of an important com-
mittee and eventually a committee chairman.
Since important committees consider important
legislation and committee chairmen exercise a
great deal of control over what goes on in
their committees, a small number of senior
members of Congress are in a position to exert
a great deal of control. Conservative Southern
Democrats, elected over and over from what
have been one-party states, naturally tend to
acquire the greatest seniority. Here is another
source of conservative strength.
BECAUSE conservatives are conservatives, it
is to be expected that legislation which
would increase the role of the federal govern-j
ment (and how much new legislation wouldn't?)
will be opposed strongly.
As if these political facts of life were not
enough to understand why so much proposed
legislation is deadlocked or pigeonholed in
committee (often at the request of pro-admin-
istration leaders who realize that it would
meet defeat on the floor), there is the problem
succinctly stated by Alan L. Otten in a recent
article in The Wall Street Journal:
"Legislation is rarely enacted because
its merit is clear and convincing. Most
major legislation passes because the ad-
ministration pushes, cajoles, wheedles,
bribes and threatens. . . Doing things
usually makes someone mad, and the poli-
tician likes to avoid making people mad if
possible."
rp OVERCOME the cumulative effect of
these negative forces, a President must have
as much help as possible from three sources.
He must have an adroit legislative liason corps,
capable of doing the necessary wheedling and
cajoling. He must have support from powerful
By WALTER LIPPMANN
ALTHOUGH the civil rights bill
is moving slowly through Con-
gress, it is no longer the burning
issue it appeared to be when it
was first introduced.
The prevailing American view,
held, says the Gallup Poll, by
some four-fifths of the people even
in the South, is that the substance
of the bill is bound to be enacted
in the near future. It is becoming
impossible to uphold the disf ran-
chisement of Negro citizens or to
uphold disobedience of the deseg-
regation ruling of the Supreme
Court.
As for the section forbidding
discrimination against Negroes in
hotels, stores, public restaurants
and places of amusement, it is
hard' to argue publicly the right
to discriminate. There is ample
evidence that the blatant discrimi-
nation in public accommodations
is an indefensible trespass on the
rights of American citizens.
y* * *
WE MUST REMEMBER, how-
ever, that the current civil rights
bill deals with the redress of old
grievances. The public accommo-
dations section, which is being de-
nounced as "Communist" and
whatnot, re-enacts the Civil Rights
Act which was passed by Cngress
on March 1, 1875, nearly 90 years
ago.
"All persons," says the act,
"within the jurisdiction of the
United States shall be entitled to
the full and equal enjoyment of
the accommodations, advantages,
facilities and privileges of inns,
public conveyances on land or
water, theatres and other places
of public amusement; subject only
to" the conditions and limitations
established by law, and applicable
alike to citizens of every race and
color, regardless of any previous
condition of servitude."
In 1883, this act washdeclared
unconstitutional. But there was
one lone dissenter, Mr. Justice
Harlan of Kentucky, the grand-
father of the present justice of
the same name.
* * *
THIS DISSENTING o p i n i o n
contains, it seems to me, the fun-
damental argument for reenact-
ing the law of 1875. The argument
of Justice Harlan against it be-
gins with the 13th Amendment,
which abolishes slavery.
What did it mean to abolish
slavery? "Something more," said
the justice, "than to forbid one
man from owning another as prop-
erty." Soon after the amendment
had been proclaimed as ratified in
December, 1865, Congress passed
the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which
was directed at the "burdens and
disabilities which constitute the
badges of slavery and servitude."
To make sure that this legislation
would stand up, the same Congress
proposed the 14th Amendment
which declared that "all persons
born or naturalized in the United
States, and subject to the jurisdic-
tion thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the state
wherein they reside."
The fact that Negroes became
citizens of the United States is
the foundation of their right not
to be, as Justice Harlan said, de-
prived "because of their race of
any civil right granted to other
persons in the United States." To
realize the revolutionary signifi-
cance of this declaration that Ne-
groes are American citizens, we
need to be reminded of the legal
status of Negroes before the Civil
* War.
THIS IS THE declaration of
Chief Justice Taney declaring that
Negroes do not "compose a portion
of" the American people, were not
authority and had no rights or
privileges but such as those who
held the power and the govern-
inent might choose to grant them."
Segregation in public places is a
badge of slavery and servitude, and
the obligation and the power of
Congress to erase the badge de-
rives from the decision to abolish
slavery.
Because our people feel the deep
justice of this principle, the civil
rights bill is going to pass, prob-
ably in this session of Congress,
almost certainly in the next.
(c) 1963, The Washington Post Co.
SGC:
.liberal
Failure
By LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM
THE LIBERAL renaissance on
Student Government Councilis
dead.
In contrasting the liberal poli-
tical fortunes as they loomed be-
fore last spring's Council election
and the prospects before the up-
coming Oct. 9 election, the casket
seems all but sealed.
As they election approached last
spring, a liberal majority on the
18-man Council loomed in the off-
ing. With three of the seven ex-
officios (Daily Editor Michael
Olinick, Assembly Association
President Mary Beth Norton and
Inter-Quadrangle President Kent
Bourland) and one of four carry-
over regular members (Gary Gil-
bar) definitely liberal, the liberals
needed five of the seven open seats
for a majority.
THEY THOUGHT they had it.
Running with three incumbents
(Kenny Miller, Howard Abrams
and Miss Norton) and figuring lib-
eral victories for Thomas Smith-
son and Graduate Student Council
President Edwin Easaki, the ma-
jority seemed inevitable.
Only it didn't materialize. Lib-
eral power, which had been build-
ing slowly over several years
through the rise in membership
and influence of Voice political
party, suffered severe setbacks to
suddenly acquired conservative
vote strength.
Incumbents Abrams and Miller,
counted upon to lead the Council
liberal resurgence, finished fourth
and fifth in the balloting, a
squeaky re-seating at best.
The third incumbent, Miss Nor-
ton, failed altogether to be re-
seated. Saski took third place in
the balloting, finishing the high-
est of the Voice candidates, while
Smithson (liberal although not
Voice supported) barely made the
seventh seat in a squeaker.
The liberal fortunes worsened.
Conservative Tom Brown was
elected President over Miller as
Bourland turned his back on the
liberal cause.
The only consolation was the
liberal push by Tom Brown for
Council action, exemplified by his
working papers on eliminating bias
in student organizations.
* * *
AS THE ELECTION approaches
within a month, the following dis-
couraging situation is revealed.
Daily Editor Ronald Wilton is now
the stalwart of the liberal action
cause.
He is surprisingly alone. New
Assembly President Charlene Ha-
ger and League President Gretchen
Groth are very fickle, with a very
cautious approach to most issues
except those pertaining to their
own organizations. Gilbar, involved
in Architecture school, is unlikely
1'
g
41
"We Are Determined To Fight Conuuunism By
Any Means Short Of Actual Spending"
(I
I