We miigatt ]ail# SerVnty-Tkird YAW EDiTED AND MANAGED y STUDENTS o E UNlvpRsrry OF MICHmAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATION: 3sere Opinions Are FitSTUDENT PuauCAnoNs BLDG., Aiiw ARBOR, MICH., PHONE NO 2-3241 T"ruth Will Prevail" litorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. Latin-American Showcase .M { 1 , CINEMA GUILD: Chilly 'Marienbad AY, OCTOBER 3, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: JEAN TENANDER Green's Education Vision A Bit Shortsighted LAST YEAR AT Marienbad" is a film that resists interpreta- tion as much as it seems to de- mand it. In a baroque palace a man pursues a woman, saying that they met last year at Friedrichs- bad (or maybe it was Marienbad), and arranged to go away together a year hence. She demurs, insist- ing that she has never even been in Friedrichsbad, but finally is persuaded. The story is this simple-little more than a pretext. The real con- cern of the two Alains, Resnais and Robe-Grillet, is a rendering of consciousness. TECHNICALLY, and even the- matically, the film is a logical extension of "Hiroshima Mon Amour." There is a major change, how- ever. Resnais has completely elim- inated the dimension of external reality. It is a little spurious to ask whether or not the man really met the woman last year, or whether it was really in Fried- richsbad or Marienbad. There is not, therefore, the usual discrep- ancy between the length of time the events take on the screen and the length of time they would take in reality. Screen time is ab- solute, in the sense that no other temporal orientation is possible. IN "MARIENBAD," will is more important than knowledge. The flow of consciousness is a process of wish fulfillment. The man wants the woman to fit into a certain conception of things; the woman wants to resist this. In this context, the game that the husband always wins becomes a conflict of wills. I oversimplify tremendously, of course. Resnais never quite allows this easy assign- mnent. Technically, "Marienbad" is a tour de force. Resnais employs some really breath-taking effects, such as overexposure and repeated motion shots. But while technically brilliant. "Marienbad" remains a very unengagir~g film. It is obvious that Resnais is not much interest- ed in his characters. As a result. they remain ciphers, objects. Their situation is a pretext. The film succeeds most completely on a purely visual level. "Marienbad" is a beautiful but chilly film. -David Zimmerman ;t FORMER SCHOOL TEACHER Allison Green, the most powerful Republican in the House, displayed a laudable con- cern for education Tuesday. But his pro- posals for changes in Gov. George Rom- ney's fiscal reform program are short- sighted and will defeat the very aims he seeks to promote. Green, the Speaker of the House, told a Cass City hearing of the House taxation committee that Romney's proposal for state payment of 20 per cent of school taxes is a "poor plan for distributing the money." He declared that it would help some areas of the state more than others and suggested a flat $50 per pupil or up to 3 per cent in county taxes. In virtually the same breath, Green warned that he would not support a state- wide income;tax without substantial pro- perty tax relief, hitting the props of both state and local finance upon which a good educational system must depend. Gov- ernments without a strong tax base can hardly support education. GREEN ARGUES that state money should be evenly distributed to all school districts, regardless of individual need or tax burden. He fails to account for UNIVERSITY President Harlan Hatcher took timid steps Monday night to de- fend the University against the possible ravages of current fiscal reform proposals. Unfortunately, he did not warn of the University needs strongly or clearly enough. Hatcher praised the basic concept of fiscal reform without going into specifics and praised Gov. George Romney for "courageously" working toward a "more rational and equitable tax apparatus." He also warned that higher education can no longer afford the governor's policy of "paying off the mortgage" before "feeding the children." BUT THAT IS ALL he said. He did not decry the at least $13 million cut Romney made in his own $610 million "minimum" budget that gravely threatens the growth of the University and higher, educatoin. Nor did he strongly come out for more revenue in fiscal reform to raise future appropriations. Further, President Hatcher did not use his prestige as a statewide leader nor the resources of the University to point out that the only way meaningful fiscal re- forn for the decades ahead lies in a statewide income tax. RRTHER, President Hatcher dealt in vague generalities and analogies where forceful language was needed. If the Uni- versity is to remain strong and adequate- ly serve state and nation, wishy-washy statements will not do. -P. SUTIN the more extensive programs of urban school districts and the larger number of students they serve. He also fails to re- lieve the burden on the property owner who pays the higher urban tax rates. The speaker has basically come to the defense of low tax-rate school district. Romney's proposal will pump more money into the high-tax districts as the 20 per cent rebate is computed on a percentage of the tax rate. But tax relief would also be greater in these districts and Green's assertion seems parochial even in terms of his own aims. The flat rate rebate proposal, while it would help somewhat, is not an adequate solution. This sort of state help can be implimented next spring by ,revising ahd increasing the state school aid formula. Basic and more drastic relief is needed. The best proposal to aid hard-pressed school districts and property owners was suggested by Detroit Board of Education member Roy L. Stephens' proposal for returning one per cent of a three per cent statewide income tax to local school boards. His proposal should be slightly modified to return one-quarter per cent of this tax to higher education, giving it an assured steady income base..Stephens' scheme will at least stabilize the burden on property taxpayers while giving school -boards the money needed to educate properly an increasing number of stu- dents. HOWEVER, giving further relief to pro- perty taxpayers will undercut Green's attempts to aid education and will harm local government in general, forcing in the long run, more costly services upon the state. While overworked, the property tax is still the basis of local finance and any reduction will mean only a cutback in local services and their transfer to the state or federal government. Aside from removing the financial bur- den from the local to the state and federal levels, the shift of local services to the higher levels should be repugnant to Green and fellow Republicans who have long cried for local responsibility. This result of property tax only relief will further negate Green's aims. Property tax relief will come through the extensive use of income, corporate profits and payroll taxes. These taxes, more realistically related to wealth and ability to pay than property taxes, yield greater revenue and are more flexible than property and sales taxes. With in- come-related taxes forming the bulwark of the tax system, property taxes can be stabilized or reduced while services are increased. Unfortunately, Green's narrow concern about property taxes obscures the ad- vantages of income-tax based fiscal re- form. The governor should take strong steps, both in his current state-wide tour and in his legislative lobbying, to counter- act this shortsightedness. --PHILIP SUTIN National Concerns Editor 9I TODAY AND TOMORROW: East and West Grope Toward Future 4 7 NATIONAL STUDENT CONGRESS: A Turn Toward Moderation Assembly Moves Forward IN ITS FIRST newsletter, released this week, Assembly Association writes that the purpose of the letter is "to inform house councils and staffs of what we are doing. "However, it has a second aim broader in implication and more important: we do not want this newsletter to be a one- way conversation with you; we want you to respond to the content of the letter when it discusses matters of policy, plans Help! ARGOYLE has received approval to sell its next issue at Michigan State Uni- ersity. ; I guess that's what is meant by aid to nderdeveloped areas. -D. MARCUS Editorial Staff - RONALD WILTON, Editor DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH Editorial Director City Editor ARBARA LAZARUS.............. Personnel Director HILIP SUTIN............. National Concerns Editor ArL EVANS .................. Associate City Editor ARJORIE BRAHMS ...... Associate Editorial Director LORIA BOWLES.................Magazine Editor ALINDA BERRY .............Contributing Editor AVE (300D............... ..... ... Sports Editor IKE BLOCK...............Associate Sports Editor' M BERGER ............... Associate Sports Editor )B ZWINCK.............Contributing Sports Editor we are considering regarding future hous- ing, women's hours, programs to be im- plemented, etc." THUS ASSEMBLY has taken a second meaningful step this semester toward a stronger and more legitimate organiza- tion: the first was the proposal approved to convert the body into a president's council. With the latter step, the group can be assured of stronger, more informed lead- e'rship. The newsletter, to come out bi- weekly, is a big step toward widening communication channels between AHC and its constituency-who it claims to represent. These chanels were notably absent last year. Among matters discussed in this news- letter are the Assembly-Inter-Quadrangle Conclave this Sunday, the Big Ten Resi- dence Halls Conference, the sing to be held with IQC and openings still to be filled on executive committees of AHC. IN CLOSING the newsletter, Assembly President Charlene Hager says, "All too often we discover that students do not understand Assembly's function on cam- pus. We have information that is avail- able to anyone wanting to know more about Assembly. Please call us at 2-8890 if you would like to learn more about what we are doing, or refer anyone else interested to the same number." 4 There is no guarantee that students will read the newsletters made available to them, or that they will inform house presidents at house meetings or at other onnnortinitiaqe f thi+ ' ninin n- "r- i i (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in. a series of articles evalu- ating the Sixteenth National Stu- dent Congress last summer. Howard Abrams is a member of the Con- gress Steering Committee, the group that will lead plans for next year's Congress. Abrams is a former Stu- dent GovernmentCouncil member and is chairman of the Michigan region of United States National Students Association.) By HOWARD ABRAMS Daily Guest Writer THE CONSENSUS evaluation of this summer's United States National Student Association Con- gress is that it marked a turn to- ward "moderation." This is far from an adequate description of the events of the Congress, but is useful as a basis of discussion. What is significant is that the legislation that was passed on the crucial issues of civil rights and civil liberties did not reflect the intensive concern with these is- sues that had characterized pre- vious Congresses. The resolutions concerning education reflected an inability to cope with the com- plexities of contemporary higher education. The policy of the US- NSA on international issues re- mains unchanged in its most basic elements and shows some tendency of trying to come to grips with some of the questions raised in the cold war among international stu- dent groups. * * * DURING THE recent school year USNSA came under severe attack from the well-financd far right groups of the student world, Young Americans for Freedom, Intercol- legiate Society of Individualists and others. Since, on most cam- puses, USNSA does not have a strong campu program to rely on, the Association has found itself extremely vulnerable to these attacks. As a result, USNSA lost five more member schools dur- ing the year than it gained-the most serious setback the Associa- tion has had since many southern white schools walked out when USNSA took a stand strongly favoring integration. The import- ant referendum victories at New York University, the University of Michigan and the University of New Mexico were largely over- looked. It is my belief that this was sig- nificant in impelling the past officers of the Association to make an effort to tone down the poten- tial explosions of this year's Con- gress. Committees and sub-com- mittees were juggled in an attempt to achieve a "political balance," The officers often intervened, us- ing the prestige and influence of their positions, and gravely af- fected the course of debate-not only on the Congress floor, but in committee and sub - committee. These actions were far more ef- fective than anyone would have anticipated and helped to stifle debate rather than channel it. * * * MOST IMPORTANTLY, it was painfully obvious that the dele- gates to the Congress were inade- quately prepared to confront the issues that the Congress raised. USNSA policy is right now in a state of transition. Having con- is impossible for USNSA to deal with the issue on a strictly moral basis and simply re-affirm the dignity of man and the right of James Meredith to attend the University of Mississippi. It is now necessary for USNSA to do a serious analysis of the political and economic structures of our society and make an ana- lytic evaluation of the crucial factors which create and main- tain the overall pattern of racism and bigotry that permeates Ameri- can society. In turn, this means that a clear and detailed understanding of the economics and politics of educa- tion must be developed, not only for the South but for the North as well. The role of educational sta- tus as a factor in social mobility, problems of educating the chil- dren of underprivileged families adequately and other factors must all be analyzed on an intellectually rigorous basis. It was painfully apparent that the average delegate, prepared on- ly by the sandbox experience of student government, was un- equipped to discuss these issues. The same comments are equally applicable to academic issues, civil liberties, university reform, aca- demic freedom and others. * * * ANOTHER MAJOR cause of the lack of controversial issues was the simple fact that people who should have known better came unprepared. Neither liberals nor conservatives had any concrete notion of legislation that they Coexistence, THIS WORD "coexistence" is a misunderstood one. Can we co- exist with the Cubans, the Rus- sians, the East Germans? We have to as people. But do we have to coexist with the philosophy of Communism? No.-.. -Sen. Barry Goldwater wanted to see passed or issues they wanted to have discussed. The lib- erals were so badly disorganized that they did not form a working caucus until two days after, the. committee and sub-committee ses- sions were over. Also, it was unfortunate that- people with special interests at the Congress were unprepared to talk to the majority of the dele- gates in any way that would have provided a decent interchange of. ideas. Groups such as the Student Civil Liberties Committee were un- able to articulate effectively. Their concern about the problems of civil liberties were not made to the delegates and their problems on their campuses. The delegates, in turn, were unprepared to seek out these relationships for themselves and were largely unable to place. the parochial concerns of their campus student government in any broader context. Finally, the lack of any serious contention among candidates for the office of president detracted from the quality of debate and leg- islation. With only one serious contender, Greg Gallo, there was not the normal delineation of is- sues during the debate process as candidates strove to make their positions distinct and appealing. * * , a THE CONGRESS was "moder- ate" in the sense that the delegates were often unsure of the issues and problems that they were voting on and for this reason often tried to avoid making a positive commit- ment towards any definitive position. Much of the "moderation" was merely confusion. Yet this will probably carry through' in the fu- ture, for the issues that now con- front USNSA will grow more and more complex and demanding in the foreseeable future. Nor is there any reason to believe that student governments will improve as a training ground for preparing peo- ple to discuss intelligently the problems of education and stu- dents in a societal context. By WALTER LIPPMANN BOTH EAST and West, the pace of- change is growing faster, and the future of both alliances is now in question. If all the trouble were onone side, it would be a triumph for the other. But, as a matter of fact, the Chinese- Russian rift is running parallel with increasing divisions between Europe and America. F1or that reason, in neither Moscow nor Washington is there as yet a view of the future suffi- ciently clearly defined to form the basis of ' a long-range foreign policy. Both are waiting and won- dering and trying to feel their way. * , IT IS MORE agreeable to begin by talking about the troubles of the other side. It is now apparent that the conflict between Red, China and the Soviet Union has widened and has come to include the historic rivalry of the Rus- sians and the Chinese in Central and Eastern Asia. The origin of the quarrel, so I am told by men who have reason to know, was the refusal, indeed the inability, of Russia and the European satellites to subsidize the Chinese Communist revolution. Mao seems to have assumed that as Communists these Europeans would make all the necessary sac- rifices to bring the backward Chinese abreast of the European standard of life. Khrushchev re- fused to make these sacrifices. This, said a very knowledgeable Communist whom I know, was politically impossible for Khru- shchev toldo.-The Russian people have suffered too long and too much to be made to suffer more for merely ideological reasons. * * * THERE IS NO such issue with- in the Western world. But there is /a rivalry of the affluent and a contest for little advantages (e.g., chickens and carpets) and LETTERS to the EDITORT To the Editor: IN ANSWER to Marjorie Brahms' article in The Daily of Oct. 1, I would like to point out: Although Miss Brahms justifies the anger expressed by the leader of DAC and his followers as "nat- ural to anyone when continually deprived and degraded, when promised something never to be delivered" she denies the method they use in resorting to violence when provoked, as non-successful and alienating to whites. * *' * PERSONALLY I SEE the prob- lem in a different light. I think - it is hypocritical and cowardly for anybody concerned with justice to stand in a way that so indicated a readiness to believe they will obtain what they are aching for, mainly their own rights, by ask- ing for them with the right kind of spile or a polite attitude. The defenseless have always been treaded upon in all centur- ies and repetitive pleads for mercy from them have never moved the tyrants very much. If people are angry, let it be known that they are, and let them show that they are. Let them stand and wait for the first blow, which is sure to come, and answer with whatever is needed at the time. A blow is a blow is a blow, and I think that turning the other cheek or putting your whole heart on your sleeve to try and change the current will only get you an- other blow from another current. * * *w HUMANITY IS A weak organi- for status. There is no reason to think that the Western alliance is breaking up as is the Sino- Soviet alliance. General De Gaulle has been so explicit and so wounding that it is altogether too easy to assume that, but for him,there would be business as usual inside the West- ern alliance. This is not true. Gen- eral De Gaulle is not making his- tory, he is recognizing history and declaring it. It may be that the Germans will follow our line on NATO, though it will be from expedienc and not from conviction. But the British under Macmillan, even more so under Harold Wilson, are not with us on the multilateral nuclear gadget, so beloved in this adminis- tration. As for the rest of the alliance, it will abstain unless we corral one or two countries by sufficient subsidies. GENERAL DE GAULLE'S dec- laration of independence against the two "colossi"-the USSR and the United States of America- is a w y of announcing the end of the postwar era in which Europe depended on America. The President would be well served if in his talk about foreign' policy he began to introduce among the stereotypes of the 1950s a certain awareness that the postwar era is ending and that in fact we have crossed an old frontier. 1 (c) 1963, The Washington Post Co. MICHIGAN v.IP. '5 Flounders THE "V.I.P.'s" is a good example of a bad type of movie. Personally I rail against people who make blanket statements dripping with intellectual scorn about "those Hollywood movies"; but there definitely are certain problems common to most Holly- wood-type productions-and the "V.I.P.'s" has most of them. There is a difficulty involved in making an overall judgment of this movie and others of its cate- gory, because it deals with valid questions, the acting is quite pass- able, tle sets lavish and the tech- niques perfect. However, the movie just. doesn't come across. * * * PERHAPS Hollywood is too good. Hollywood has gotten too adept with the formula and left all the soul out of the picture. The mechanics are too obvious. One can just hear the director saying-"well, that's enough tear, time to put in the comic relief." There is perfect balance-Mar- garet Rutherford is quite funny, where she's supposed to be and properly maudlin elsewhere. Another problem with this movie particularly is- the stress on aes- thetic distance. It's hard to think of the business magnate who gives his wife $10,000 trinkets as want- ing to throw himself off a bridge. One could look at the theme of this movie as being conspicuous consumption. It's very difficult to feel much empathy; and the at- tempt to make these vip's just or- dinary people under the fur is ridiculous. UNQUESTIONABLY the biggest failing is the dialogue. The prob- lems of human emotions, needs and vacillations certainly can be dealt with in terms of the "upper classes," but only if the dialogue can carry it and this one can't. Every conceivable trite phrase .is used, and each scene is predictable consequently there is no suspense. Richard Burton is a fine actor I 4 ) "You Mean Help Americans Twice In One Year?" ; f :-r:: ..} '.ti.. ;: i. 4f*'' t &4 'tA CUT ' A ,1 4 I