Seventy-Third Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS o, 0TE UNIVERSrrY OF MICHIGAN _ ~ UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS 'Where OpinionsAre eSTUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG., ANN ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 Trath Will Prevail" UNION-LEAGUE MERGER: Creeping Controlli~sm in Activi~ties?' I I I Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opnions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. AY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1963 ACTING NIGHT EDITOR: LOUISE LIND U.S. Pays for Tactics In South Viet Nanm THE LATEST TURN in the Viet Nam morass finds the United States paying for its con- lemnations. Monday, The New York Times ind United Press International revealed that while the State Department was condemning Vgo Dinh Diem's attacks on Buddhist opposi- ion, the Central Intelligence Agency was pay- ng $250,000 a month to maintain the Special -'ordes that ravaged the pagodas. This revelation sickened even the hardened kmerican officials in Viet Nam. These aides, forking both for the military and the foreign ,id mission, have seen much repression. But his crass subversion of official American poli- y by the CIA brought sharp criticism. P{ E RATIONALE behind the CIA decision shows the blindness that has led to the pres- nt mess. The CIA will continue to pay the pecial Forces because this organization is one f the few institutions that can be counted pon to resist Communist pressure, The New ork Times reported. That the Special Forces re brutally treating Buddhist leaders and emonstrators and that this action has brought reat popular resentment are only complica- ions to the CIA policy. This shortsighted outlook, seeking only anti-' ommunism rather than the development of able and democratic government, has placed burden of hatred upon the United States' houlders that will be present long after Diem rd his Byzantine family have departed. It ill make the fight against the Viet Cong pore difficult for the Vietnamese will see little enefits in supporting an anti-Communist but epressive regime. After all, what difference are epressive regimes to them. 3UT WHAT CAN the United States do? This country is so committed in South Viet Nam hat Diem and his cohorts leave the State De- artment no room to maneuver. The United tates cannot withdraw its support. The Diem egime; would collapse and after a short period f chaos the Viet Cong would take over. Such a collapse would shatter pro-Western orale throughout Southeast Asia and would give the Communists both a geographic and psychological impetus toward further conquest and domination. Nor can the United States overthrow the Diem regime. The State Department rather clumsily and publicly tried to do this two weeks ago, finding to its despair no one else strong or willing enough to rule Viet Nam. This heavy- handed interference in Vietnamese internal al- fairs won no friends either. The State Department does, not have many levers of pressure against Diem. Diem knows that the United States cannot withdraw or substantially reduce its comnitment to his country. THE FRENCH have also proposed an alterna- tive, but it is also unpalatable. They suggest that all Viet Nam be neutralized, much like neighboring Laos. However, this will be im- possible as neither Diem nor North Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh are willing to negotiate with each other. The New Republic suggests that the United States should give Diem up and support Ho as a potential Asian Tito. Such an approach is wishful thinking as Ho, long an Asian Commu- nist theoretician, is not about to desert the Chinese Communists. All this leaves the United States in a bind. It is largely limited to pious pronouncements and continued military aid. At this time, the United States should best backtrack slightly and attempt to maintain the current military position. It should await popular resentment to solidify and overthrow the Diem oligarchy. NOW SEVEN YEARS of aid and three years of concentrated effort have been appar- ently wasted on an admittedly authoritarian regime. Its unpopularity and brutal suppres- sion of its opposition has cost the United States far more than the money and men it has put into the country. It is time the United States reread history's lesson-"anti-Commu- nism is not enough." -PHILIP SUTIN National Concerns Editor (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sec- ond of a two part series about the Union-League merger as seen in the overall context of the future of stu- dent activities at the University.) By BURTON MICHAELS THEIR forthcoming proposals for a Union-League merger should indicate whether or not Vice-Presidents Lewis and Pier- Pont are trying to usurp all student activities at the University. If any attempt is made to in- corporate the independent boards now controlling many activities into the Offices of Student Affairs and of Business and Finance- that is, if any attempt is made to change the largely vertical struc- ture of activities into a horizontal one-it must be defeated by im- mediate concerted action. * * * THE DANGER materialized when the Regents asked Lewis and IPierpont for a long-range prospectus on all student activities, of which the Union and League represent only a fraction. The Union and League presently typify the vertical structure: au- tonomous groups with activity phases controlled by students who cooperate with faculty, alumni and administrative board members in managing physical plants. The ac- tivities are responsible to the over- all boards for finances,, but remain free of other control. The excep- tion is that the League endures an Office of Student Affairs "pro- gram consultant." The Robertson Report for a Union-League merger would main- tain the vertical system while co- operating with the Office of Busi- ness and Finance on a nearly horizontal level. Its essence is that it would retain an independent board of directors composed of students, faculty, alumni and ad- ministrators. The board would manage the physical plant and finance the otherwise independent student activity group. As a board member, the Vice- President for Business and Finance would enjoy great financial con- trol over the physical plants in- volved. He might even be able to arrange some cooperation between the independent board and his own professional staffs. * * * THE Robertson Report would exclude the OSA from the overall board and from the activities group. Lewis objects to this ex- clusion, seeking at least a con- sultant on the board if such a board is established. He finds some OSA representation neces-, sary for a liaison with the OSA on such matters as calendaring. The exact function of an OSA board representative seems un- clear, especially in the light of the present unofficial liaison between the Union and League and Stu- dent Government Council's cal- endaring process. The present OSA representative to the Union Board plays no role in this liaison. Furthermore, OSA consultants have a nasty way of getting votes on those boards on which they serve. Lewis, for example, was seated on the Board in Control of Student Publications as an ex officio without vote-but today he votes. This would have to be spe- cifically guarded against in the merger constitution. * * * THE Robertson Report demon- strates how efficiency can be in- creased while student, faculty and League enjoys the services of Mrs. Robert Clark, who, according to League President Gretchen Groth, does act as a consultant, help- fully. But, as Miss Groth notes, the position remains subjective to the person in it, a vulnerability which must be prevented. * * * SEPARATION of activities and physical management boards would also eliminate one of the Union's greatest traditional advantages for students: the opportunity to par- ticipate with faculty and alumni in managing the plant which serves all three. The feeling of pride every student experiences in the student-operated Union would be lost. Lewis' comment last Friday that. "we are trying awfully hard to separate the physical plants from the activities board" seems to in- dicate that, at this point, he pre- fers two separate boards. If so, he will hopefully change his mind before submitting a prospectus to the Regents. * * * ONE STEP further towards hor- izontal efficiency and loss of the concepts of independence and ser- vice would be eliminating the boards altogether, and placing the physical management under Pier- Pont and the activities under Lewis. This dreadful prospect seems more likely to be proposed than simply separating activities and management into two boards. Since he would still have to deal with an autonomous physical plant board, mere separation would not help Pierpont. And Lewis' prophesy. that the activities "might even be housed in SAB or a new building" would be feasible only if vertical boards were eliminated.. Eliminating the vertical boards would eliminate the whole concept of a Union and League. The alum- ni who contributed so much to both organizations would be cheat- ed, instead of having their in- terests protected as in the Robert- son Report. The tradition of free activities in the Union and League would die, leaving just another activities group in the OSA. And Pierpont would be put in the position of making service decisions rather than purely financial decisions- and service is one thing hie can in no way determine. Thus the Union and League would exist no longer as service organizations, but as impersonal University facilities for making money. * * * POURING THE UNION and League this way into horizontal levels would indicate that the same thing could be done to other au- tonomous boards. If the Union and League were submerged, the Board in Control of Student Publications could come next. The wedge would come from Pierpont, and would hinge on expansion of the present Stu- dent Publications Building or building of a new one. It may seem incredible that Lewis could then manage to elim- inate the Board in Control, but it seemed equally incredible with the Union Board, which now faces that real danger. Without the Board, an OSA consultant could move 1 and destroy the Daily's "73 yea of editorial freedom." This would undoubtedly save Lewis and other administrators much embarrassment, but it would destroy the nation's best college newspaper and the campus' most influential student voice. * * * IF THE UNIVERSITY were to degenerate to such an extent, the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics could fall next. With Lewis demanding calendaring rights and Pierpont demanding rights over physical plants, even this take-over is not inconceivable. Not that Lewis and Pierpont are necessarily planning to "take over," either with the Union and League or with the rest of stu- dent activities. They are still studying all possibilities. But the horizontal leveling is one idea they must dismiss-or the Regents must dismiss it for them. It must not be allowed with the Union and League, not only for benefit of those organizations but for the beiefit of all student or- ganizations=-and all students. JAMES A. LEWIS . . . considers merger . To The EdiOr alumni rights are guarded under an overhauling of activities. But the Robertson Report has not been approved and there are less palatable possibilities which aim at eliminating vertical auton- omy and thus sacrificing service to profit. One possibility is that the stu- dent activity phases of the Center be under a separate student board of directors, and that the physical management remain with a fac- ulty-alumni-administration board. If such a separation materializ- ed, Lewis would want a "consul- tant" on the activities board. Con- sultant is an evasive euphemism, however. Miss Judy Guardhouse was officially a consultant at the League, without vote or veto. Yet she managed to dominate the whole set-up. At present the 'Coalition' Foreign Policy Spells Disaster AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY rests upon a shaky coalition of self-interest, misinfor- nation and prejudice, apd, sometimes, high mnorality and altruism. Occasionally the coalition may succeed, as it did with the Marshall -Plan. At these times, self -interest is intelligent and comes close to being altruistic. We saved Europe from Com- nunism with massive doses of United States assistance which has been paid back many imes over in the trade we were thus able to oster. There is little misinformation as we do not allow our prejudices to foster its existence. And high morality, the concern for the welfare f humanity and for living by the principles we preach, is a logical operating principle. JUCH MORE FREQUENTLY, however, the coalition behaves as one would expect of uch a hodge-podge of cross-purposes and illu- ions: it fails. It failed in China. It is failing ri Viet Nam. But most of all it has failed in ,uba, and that failure may well cost the United States much of the rest of the underdeveloped vorld. American self-interest in Cuba was the self- nterest of the business community. The United tates government under Dwight Eisenhower iewed with great alarm the nationalization f millions of dollars worth of American busi- essmen's property by Fidel Castro not only s a serious blow in itself, but also as a grave hreat were it to spread throughout Latin and outh America. The consequences of such a usurpation, it' 'ould be easy to believe, would be great eco- omic disaster to the United States. The self- iterest of the American business community rd a consideration of what was thought to be he self-interest of the nation dictated a policy f containing, if not killing, the Cuban revolu- on. [HE PREJUDICES of the publishers of Ameri- can newspapers made such a policy that Luch easier. Publishers are businessmen and )nservative. The spector of socialism--if not itright Communism-becoming the wave of ie future for the underdeveloped world was terrible prospect. Aided by similar, if not Editorial Staff RONALD WILTON, Editor DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH Editorial Director City Editor ARBARA LAZARUS..............Personnel Director IILIP SUTIN.............National Concerns Editor AIL EVANS .................... Associate City Editor ARJORIE BRAHMS ...... Associate Editorial Director LORIA BOWLES.................Magazine Editor ALJINDA BERRY-------------.. ontrhibting Etr~i quite so widely shared and so strong, prejudices in the American public, there was little diffi- culty in painting a picture of a dictatorial political system whose economic policies were falling on their faces. Eventually it became easy to believe that the altruistic course, the course best for Cuba and best for the United States, lay in "liberation" of the island. IT MUST NOW BE REALIZED that such a policy was a total failure. A brief synopsis of what has happened in Cuba makes that fact only too clear. First, we cut off not only all economic assistance, but all economic ties with Cuba. We placed an embargo on goods that could be sent there from this country. When these actions forced the island to turn to the East for help, we cried "Communism." Then we played up the suppression of civil liberties and the military tribunals, and the anti-American tirades which were sure to fol- low. Finally we were forced to try to bar travel to Cuba to preclude the possibility that some- one might find that the revolution succeeded despite our efforts. And there can be little doubt that the revo- lution has succeeded. The two University stu- dents who went to Cuba last summer said that it had, and that the 48 other students who went with them shared their belief. Other coun- tries imply that they also believe that it has succeeded when they refuse to go along with our pleas that they too place an embargo on Cuba. And even our government has to admit that the revolution has succeeded at least to the point where the country will not rise up in re- volt-a bitter lesson we learned with the Bay of Pigs. THE QUESTION NOW is what to do to avoid the imminent disaster looming as the re- sult of the folly of our policy toward Cuba. Fifty American university students went to Cuba last summer. Barring highhanded and il- legitimate if not illegal tactics by the State De- partment, it is quite probable that hundreds more will go next summer. Even if they don't, many students from Latin and South America are visiting Cuba. That the countries of their origin have re- fused to go along with travel restrictions on Cuba is another testament to the success of the revolution. These countries know that we have not been entirely truthful in what we have said about Cuba, and are keeping the door open if only so that they may learn. The United States, then, faces a real and immediate problem. It will not be easy to continue to allow United States citizens to visit Cuba. It would be next to impossible as well as political suicide to admit the success, and there- fore merit, of the revolution. Aid yet, if the revolution has been a suess.p the Tnited To the Editor: TH E EDITORIAL by Ronald Wilton on fraternity discrim- ination in Sunday's Daily outlines a proposal which is idealistically and practically incompetent. He proposes that the right of fraternity members to choose their living companions should be abol- ished because it makes discrimin- ation possible. To destroy this right would be to destroy anything that could becalled a fraternity system. Without this right the fraternity would become nothing more than a dormitory where in- dividuals would be assigned at whim. Certainly no one could seriously compare the spirit of comradeship and unity of a fra- ternity to that of a unity in a residence hall. Perhaps the writer felt that if the fraternity system can permit some degree of racial discrimina- tion, it is so evil that it must be destroyed, but to destroy all groups where prejudice can be manifested would not leave much organiza- tion in our society. * * * WILTONsSUGGESTS that a fraternity should be punished for the dropping of a discriminatory blackball. Certainly he could not have strongly consideredthe prob- lems surrounding enforcement of such a law. Who can say that a blackball was used in a racially discriminatory manner?Does the fact that the blackballed rushee is of a minority race indicate di- crimination? A person forms an opinion of someone on the basis of a number of impressions. How does one decide what part of these impressions are involved with the race of the other person? In fact, it is impossible to truly discover the mental criteria used in ac- cepting or rejecting a rushee, let alone to pass judgment on some alleged criteria. In removing constitutional re- strictions that would prevent the individual fraternity from accept- ing members of certain races, the University has taken an important step toward eliminating racial discrimination. However,;the pro- posals embodied in Wilton's so called "second stage" are so un- just and impractical that they would harm both the cause of eliminating discrimination a n d the whole fraternity system. -R. Bruce Laidlaw, '66L Progressive .. To the Editor: IN THE SEPT. 5 issue of The Daily mention was made of the "new advances" being made in educational technology in the field of progressive education. These techniques are certainly not "new" and there is some question as to whether they are "advances." Progressive education has had many trials and has met with great success and tragic failure. The success of such programs, however, does not seem to lie so much in the philosophy of the new approach as in the manner in which it is applied. Progressive education requires small classes, expensive facilities and, above all, exceptional teachers. These are luxuries that most school districts cannot afford. * * * able to communicate the new con- cepts to their students. Children a r e not naturally oriented to progressive methods. When given a choice between do- ing math and drawing pictures it takes an exceptional teacher to instill enough interest in the pupil to choose math. THERE IS a need for greater use of progressive methods in education, but it is foolish to rush into a program for which adequate preparation has not been made. -Lee Larson, '64E Integration... To the Editor: THERE IS AN old saying which goes something like "Freedom for the wolves is not freedom for the sheep." I would suggest that Philip Sutin, in his editorial "Pa- tience" praising President Ken- nedy's do-nothing policy in the current school integration crisis, think about this saying because he obviously hasn't heard it before. The time is past when we can worry about the rights of the segregationists-such people no longer have any rights. The right to kill, to destroy property or even just to refuse to serve a glass of orange juice is something thata we cannot allow anyone to have. We do not call for "patience" or gradualism in the punishment of criminals. We realize that for the good of society the freedom of such people must be drastically and im- mediately curtailed. Segregation- ists are criminals and their free- dom must also be curtailed, not 'gradually, and not "with all de- liberate speed," but now. -Paul Kanter, '67 By STEVEN HALLER IF OUR AMERICAN way of life seems flashy at times, it is the essence of conservativism when compared to our American way of death. Investigations into the practices used in interring the dead in many areas of the country have unearthed much that is shocking and much which is just senseless. At the same time, they have sparked flames of controver- sy between the clergy and morti- cians everywhere. The public was first made aware of the lavishness of many funerals today with the publication of Eve- lyn Waugh's novel, "The Loved Ones." This dealt with Southern California - funeral rites which made those of Egyptian pharaohs appear drab by comparison. Now two recent publications in the same vein-Ruth Harmer's "The High Cost of Dying" and "The American Way of- Death" by Jessica Milford-have taken up the cudgel against showmanship in mortuary science. However, they appear to have drawn more blood than did Waugh's book, as the controversy which has been brew- ing for 20 years now breaks into the open. * * * THE UNDERTAKERS have got- ten up in arms, as might have been expected. But what is unexpected is the tack they are taking to fight a trend back to a simpler funeral rite. Their spokesman, Wil- liam Krieger of the National Se- lected Morticians, has implied that the ladies who wrote the exposes are "trying to substitute practices utilized in Communistic countries such as the Soviet Union" for such American customs as "Post Mor- tem Form Restoration," "Eternity Rest Mattresses" and the "Beauty- rama Adjustable Soft-Foam Bed." Of course, Krieger, in his strong- ly Birchlike rantings, fails to ex- plain how Communist burials com- pare to American burials. In fact, he conveniently neglects to give any details of Communist inter- ment at all. * * * A GOOD EXAMPLE of the bar-, baric funeral practices now in- dulged in is the case cited by the Rev. Dr. Howard Johnson of a Pasadena church. He, tells of be- ing called to a nearby memorial 4 CONTROVERSY OVER DEATH: America's Bar barc Burial Rites controversy which has been brew- ing called to a nearby memorial t tv . ,rya;! ยข,f" ;. !r<.. R < .t I "' Y+ "/1111 . ,( park. "I entered . .. expecting to see a corpse laid out. Instead, a marcelled receptionist with a toothy smile said: 'Mrs. McAdoo will see you.' This sounded weird because Mrs. McAdoo had died the preceding day. "(The receptionist) led (me) in- to a sort of boudoir, replete with dressing table, combs, etc. Mrs. McAdoo was lying in negligee upon a canopied bed. I stalked out of there and said I'd never conduct a funeral in that place." Rev. Johnson scored other in- stances of the last rites being turned into a show of wealth or an occasion for some cosmetol- ogist to use the lifeless body of the loved one as "a product to be tricked up with cosmetics into a semblance of life." * * * ALTHOUGH such attacks as this by members of the clergy cant surely be traced back in part to a desire for the return of a more re- ligious treatment of the dead, even those who might not be particular- ly religious will surely decry the way in which money is wasted on extravagantly sculptured coffins. Add to this theufactrthat ,these coffins will lie unseen while per- forming their intended function and you have a good idea of the form of ostentatiousness that is all too common in mortuaries to- day. The idea that the death of a loved one might not be accompan- ied by the dignity it deserves may seem strange to many people. Yet surely one can be buried amidst some ceremony without rivalling P. T. Barnum. Surely one can dis- play sentimentality beside the bed- side of a departed relative with- out engaging in a neurotic desire to "keep up with the Joneses" at the expense of dignity and the budget. One need not be a pillar of the church to feel nauseated at the farce which death has become at the hands of money-mad morti- cians in this country. And one does not need to be a member of the clergy to applaud the fight which that group is now waging for a re- turn to the simple and meaningful ceremony. Despo tsm WHAT, THEN, is this compact or agreement which underlies any plan for political freedom? It cannot be understood unless we distinguish sharply and persist-' ently between the "submission" of a slave and the "consent" of a free citizen. In both cases it is agreed that obedience shall be required. Even when despotism is so extreme as to be practically indistinguishable f r o m enslave- ment, a sort of pseudo consent is given by the subjects. ONE EXAMPLE of failure due to the lack of adequate personnel is the recent experiment in pro- gressive education by the Fern- 1W , a Y F s. o"4 :5 . 7.