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October 16, 1963 - Image 4

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1963-10-16

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Seventy-Third Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIvERSrr OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD I CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONw
"Where Opinions Are Fro STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG.,ANARBORMicH. PHONE No 2-3241
Truth Will Prevail"E UGA.o

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Making Much Ado About 'Much Ado

I

Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

DNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1963

NIGHT EDITOR: LOUISE LIND

The Committee on Referral

And SGC's Action

[HE COMMITTEE ON REFERRAL will
meet today to consider Student Gov-
rnment Council's motion on membership
election procedures. The meeting-call-
1 at the request of five of the commit-
ee's members-will consider the jurisdic-
.onal and procedural problems involved
: the motion. Ironically, the committee
iay wind up recommending that students
ave more power than students them-
elves have asked.
But before discussing the issue involv-
1, it is necessary to take a look at the
recise function of the Committee on
,eferral. It is an advisory group only. The
nal decision on whether an SGC motion
iould be vetoed clearly rests with Vice-
resident for Student Affairs James A.
ewis. The committee only acts as an in-
ependent appellate body for the com-
Lunity.
Thus the committee only concerns it-
elf with completed SGC actions. Its
iembers cannot act to call the committee
ito session until Council actions have
een passed and published in The Daily
fficial Bulletin. Lewis, according to the
ouncil Plan, is obliged to call the com-
Littee into session if he "contemplates
eto of a Student Government Council
ction." Any request from Lewis must be
with reasons stated."
The committee calls itself into action
hen "In the opiinon of four or more
embers there is reasonable belief that
n action taken by Council might involve:
) jurisdictional questions; b) procedural
'regularities; c) unreasonable action."
'HE COMMITTEE, composed of faculty,
students and administrators, will be
eeting today to consider jurisdictional
nd procedural matters. Its main concerns
ill most likely be the composition of the
ibunal Council has set up to judge mem-
ership cases and giving the sororities
nd their representative an opportunity
) be heard.
In the case of the membership tribunal,
here are two issues at. stake. First, some
Lculty members feel that it is improper
>r Student Government Council to ap-
Aint a faculty member by itself. See-

ond, some members of the community feel
that the whole responsibility for the mem-
bership selection problem has clearly been
given to students and students ought to
handle it themselves.
These two problems are clearly related
to one another. The Student Relations
Committee has for some time now refused
to appoint a faculty member to the Com-
mittee on Membership in Student Organi-
zations. If SGC were to ask the SRC to
appoint a faculty member to the tribunal,
on precedent Council would be met with
a firm "no." And the reason the SRC has
refused to appoint faculty members is be-
cause members of the SRC feel that the
bias problem ought to be settled by stu-
dents with only advisory help.
IT IS. OF COURSE, unfortunate that
groups outside SGC have more faith in
the ability of students to handle their own
problems than SGC. But Council, acting
cautiously, decided that a non-student
"member of the University" ought to be on
the tribunal. At the same time, in order
to get around the problem of the SRC's
refusal to appoint faculty members, Coun-
cil decided to appoint the third "member
of the University" itself.
After formal notice of SGC's action
was published, five members of the Com-
mittee on Referral decided that the com-
mittee should meet to discuss the matter.
This acts as an automatic stay on SGC's
action. Also, the lawyer for several sorori-
ties sent a formal notice to Lewis asking
him to veto the motion and requesting a
meeting of the committee. This after-
noon's public hearing will give him an op-
portunity to express his views.
WHETHER OR NOT the function of the
Committee on Referral and Lewis' veto
is legitimate is an entirely separate ques-
tion. But certainly, if students propose to
appoint faculty, to the tribunal, the facul-
ty should have something to say about it.
It is also an irony that the Committee on
Referral may recommend that students
be granted greater responsibility than
students themselves have asked.
-DAVID MARCUS
Editorial Director

To the Editor:
IT IS COMMON custom for
theatrical producers to quote
their critics out of context in ad-
vertising, and I have no quarrel
with this often humorous practice.
I feel, however, that the Pro-
fessional Theatre Program ad in
Tuesday's Daily misrepresents my
views on "Much Ado About Noth-
ing" somewhat more drastically
than is customary.
Before readers of The Michigan
Daily accept the advertisement at
its face value, I respectfully sug-
gest that they consult the original
source (Ann Arbor News, Oct. 11,
Page Three, "Bard Baldridge
Dazzle, But_").
-Ted Rancont, Jr.
Ann Arbor News
Drama Critic
Reply ...
To the Editor:
E REGRET that Ted Rancont
objects to the use of quotes
from his review of "Much Ado
About Nothing." As he himself
points out, this is customary; nor
do we feel we exceeded the custom
in view of the following quota-
tions from his critique:
"The University's first Profes-
sional Theatre Production of the
season dazzled and dazzled us with
real and figurative fireworks."
". ..you could sink your teeth
in some of the glitter."
"The stage consistently flashed
back into brilliance."
"APA artistic director Ellis Rabb
was the funniest man in the world
as Benedick."
"A fine comedienne . . . Nancy
Marchand radiated w a r m t h
through the ice crystal exterior of
Beatrice."
* * *
.."THE REST of the large com-
pany . . . peopled the stage ad-
mirably, every character well de-
fined and every movement polish-
ed."
'An impressive display of sheer
creative energy ...
"Not that the APA company to
be superb, nor that the color and
excitement failed to astonish and
excite, nor that the lively inven-
tion failed to fascinate."
"The costumes were elegant fun
as was Baldridge's and his cast's
endless technical ornamentation."
"The indolent, sensuous atmos-
phere so flawlessly created by the
whole rococo production had a
tastable reality."
The context cited above seems to
us to justify the selected quotes.
-Robert C. Schnitzer
Executive Director
Professional Theatre
Program
Response .
To the Editor:
PROF. FELHEIM'S critical 're-
view of "Much Ado About No-
thing" represents the only possible
response for an intelligent and in-
formed Shakespearian, amateur or
professional.
Mr. Baldridge's second varia-
tion based on a theme by Shake-
speare (last season had "The Mer-
chant of Venice") reveals a basic
contempt for the Shakespearian
audience. His principle of direc-
tion is absolute self-indulgence;
the tediously predictable formulae
of interpretation are ludicirous.
The pace is broken for patent
gimmicks that masquerade as pro-
fundities; an utterly academic
anti-academic response to the text
produces the mechanical opposite
of Shakespeare's clarities.
THE SEEMINGLY DARING in-
ventions of the Baldridge inter-
pretation are distinctly second-
hand cliches lifted from the
movies: a Hollywood elaboration
of local color; or a 'new wave'
version making comic characters
sad and vice versa.
Principles exist: e.g., multiply
old stage directions by ten so that
"three or four with tapers" at

Hero's monument can become 30
or 40 and a Requiem for the dead
(Miserere nobis!). The earlier
marriage was a spectacle, done
in Spanish so that if the com-
prehension of a modern audience
was clouded by odd obscurities in
Shakespearian English, it could
now be prevented by the total ob-
scurity of another language. A
stage direction for a dance is
fatal; a corps de ballet will appear
(even without a stage direction).
Music or an air? Continuous Fla-
menco muzak!
Don't let the audience go home
just because the play is over; in-
vent an ending to replace the old
one which stupidly ends with the
major plot instead of the minor;
make an Elizabethan dumb show,
especially for the 400th anniver-
sary. A prince always carries a
black cloth in case any bastard
brothers should be apprehended
and need sentencing to death just
when the dialog has run out.
Since executions jar comic reso-
utions (marriage, harmony), there
must be more Baldspeare to undo
the created confusion and reveal
that a bribe frees the villain to
ride again until the next episode
of the works of Baldridge based on
Shakespeare ("Macbeth" in.
'drag'?). These operatic distor-
tions are reminiscent of the 18th
century: "King Lear" with a

Rabb's direction of "A Midsum-
mer-Night's Dream." He made the
poetry of the play dramatic and
the drama poetic. Encore! But
"good frend for Jesus' sake for-
beare ..."
-A. E. Friedmann
Department of English
Pilfering
To the Editor:
BOTH THE Undergraduate and
General Libraries attempt to
stop pilfering of books by their
patrons. Granted, the people at the
check out desks do turn up an
occasional book which has not
been checked out, and their
searchings of brief cases and large
handbags probably discourage
some would-be thieves. Neverthe-
less, many volumes are lost, stray-
ed, or stolen from the General
Library each year. How?
A very interesting clue to this
could be found if turnstiles were
installed at the check-out desks
at the General Library, as well as
at the entrances. A ~omparison
of their totals would perplex naive
library personnel, because output
would not equal input. The ma-
chines would indicate that more
people enter the library than leave
it. As any freshman engineer
knows, when output does not equal
input, a loss from the system is
involved. If, like Michigan Sta-
dium, we were to enclose the sys-
tem (General Library) by a high
fence with barbed wire at the top,
loss to the system, in people and
books, could be recovered at check-
out points.
From an aesthetic standpoint,
as well as an economic one, it
might be better to reduce this loss
just by installing screens on the
windows in the southern part of
the stacks.
-Brian Briggs, '63
Something Amiss .. .
To the Editor:
TAM NEW to this school but I
don't think the following obser-
vation is inaccurate: there is
something wrong with the educa-
tional set-up here which is due
more to the quantity of the stu-
dents than to the quality of stu-
dents or teachers. And what's
very strange is the small mention
or discussion of this problem by
students and faculty and the al-
most total absence of a >public
impetus t o w a r d improvement.
(There is one exception which I
am aware of-the proposed ressi-
dential college.)
What's wrong, of course, is the
large lectures and classes which
form the majority of the curricu-
lum for just about everybody from
freshmen to grad students. A
large dose of this fare just kills
the educational experience. I do
not wish to deny that there are
many people for whom the fas-
cination of the subject matter will
overcome all attempts to dull their
sensibilities. But this is not the
case with the large majority of
students, especially the mass of
entering freshmen for whom the
first year will spell gargantuan
disillusionment.
A UNIVERSITY education, I
think, has several purposes. On
the highest plane it should intro-
duce people to and give them an
appreciation for the achievements
of intellect; it should even entice
them to carry on the process. But
on a more down-to-earth level it
should try to make the four years
enjoyable and exciting. The en-
joyment of the education, one
might argue, may be only a by-
product of the process (though I
doubt it), but nevertheless it
seems an important criterion for
the success of the process. To all
those people who see their col-
lege experience as a grueling drag
for credits, grades and the ful-
fillment of distribution require-
ments, the university is a failure.

To stop and prevent the "drag"
people must be caught by the ex-
citement of the experience as soon
as possible. And for most people
this means small classes, seminars
and tutorials-a close contact with
teachers and an environment of
students who are anxious tb. talk
about the subject-matter, i.e. for
whom studies are a part of life,
not an external grind. It is a fact
of human psychology, whether we
like it or not, that people must
be stimulated by incentives out-
side the subject-matter itself. And
once these people are caught,
they've got it made.
I DON'T THINK this school is
providing the stimulation. Most
people seem to be aware of this
but few say anything about it. The
student government is notably
silent; but what in the world is
student government for if not to
help improve the educational op-
portunities here? The residential
college is a good step but doesn't
seem to have engaged enough at-'
tention. Much more can probably
be fit into the framework of this
university with a little imagina-
tion. And one way to start the
imagination working is by vigor-
ous student protest and carefully
formulated student proposals.
-Bruce Landesman, Grad
Civil Rights ,.

groups by own perceived "achieve-
ment." It is largely their own
fault, we can all too easily con-
clude, when group members do
not measure up to our desired
standards.
However, without in any way
associating myself with a defense
of the Direct Action Committee or
their announced tactics, I wish to
note some reasons why I take
strong -exception to Mr. Sasaki's
ill-considered assertions.
* * *
INDEED, I hold perhaps as
anyone that, while Negro-interest

units, Negro slaves were in no way
similarly encouraged, as they were
bought and sold from each other
on the market; nor were they
help to exemplify moral behavior,
as they were, like prized cattle,
bred for various commercial ad-
vantages.
Additionally, Japanese-Ameri-
cans, descendants of a distinct,
rather homogeneous culture and
arrivals in the United States as
free men only two generations ago,
have always been able to iden-
tify and maintain close ties with
their homeland, as well as to de-

"It's Peacemongering And Creeping Private Enterprise,
That's What It Is!"
.2*1
---1
~ w.

door-opener to equal citizenship
opportunities. Witness, for exam-
ple, the problem being encountered
by some highly educated Negroes
in merely acquiring the basic right
to vote in many Southern areas.
Certainly, the faculty of Tuskegee
Institute and the medically-trained
personnel at the VA Hospital in
that Alabama city worked hard
and achieved professional status;
yet when they eventually succeed-
ed in receiving voting rights, the
state legislature, contrary to Mr.
Sasaki's formula, showed them
how far it would go to accept their

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UNDERSCORE:
The World Disorganizes

THE WORLD is headed into a stage of
disorganization and confusion among
its leading components, which will prob-
ably last at least a decade. Within both
the Communist Bloc and the non-Com-
munist nations there exist dangerous
splits of interest and ideology.
The Soviet Union and Communist
China, although still associated on the
basis of their mutual security agreement,
have come apart upon basic issues which
had previously cemented their relation-
ship.r
The foundation of their conflict, on
first consideration, appears ideological.
Statements from Peking blast the Soviet
brand of non-aggressive Communism, and
assail Khrushchev for his attempts to co-
exist peacefully with the West. Further-
more, the Chinese claim that their policy
of spreading active revolution to Commu-
nist target areas is the only true- method
of perpetuating the doctrines of Lenin.
The Soviets reply to these criticisms
with equally bitter denunciations of Chi-
nese militancy in Southeast Asia. Moscow
insists that a world dominated by Com-
munism cannot be realized until today's
Communist powers have gained a level
of industrial maturity on a par with the
West's.
IF THE RESPECTIVE ' Communistic
-methods of the Soviet Union and China
were completely ideological, then it is con-
ceivable that they could be reconciled in
the near future. However, the two doc-
trines are primarily expressions of the
nationalistic interests of the two coun-
tries.
The Chinese are hopelessly underdevel-
oped at home and it is highly improbable
that they will become economically stable
in the next few years. It is for this reason
Editorial Staff
RONALD WILTON, Editor
DAVID MARCUS GERALD STORCH
Editorial Director city Editor
BARBARA LAZARUS .............. Personnel Director
PHILIP SUTIN............ National Concerns Editor
GAIL EVANS................Associate City Editor
MARJORIE BRAHMS ..... Associate Editorial Director
GLORIA BOWLES ................. Magazine Editor
MALINDA BERRY............... Contributing Editor
DAVE GOODK.......................Sports Editor
MIKE BLOCK............... Associate Sports Editor

that they are forced to war upon their
weaker neighbors in order to obtain the
power and respect they so earnestly de-
sire.
Meanwhile, the Soviets are rapidly de-
veloping industrially and feel that they
may soon reach the standard of living and
level of economic prosperity that exists in
the West. It is logical that they should
want to sublimate tempirarily their im-
perialistic intentions in order to achieve
the more immediate goal of domestic de-
velopment.
Therefore, it is inconceivable that the
Soviets and the Chinese will come to
agreement in the next few years.
T HE NON-COMMUNIST world faces an
equally turbulent, although less publi-
cized, period of disunity. The United
States is encountering widespread and
varied opposition to its policies for com-
batting the spread of Communism.
The neutralist powers, although desir-
ous of and expecting American economic
aid, do not want to form any diplomatic
ties with us toward the achievement of
our common goal, the stopping of Com-
munist expansion. These neutrals are easy
targets for Communist infiltration, and
only when they are on the verge of com-
plete takeover do they plead for miiltary
assistance from the United States. This
unorganized anti-Communist policy in re-
gard to the neutral nations can be blamed
for the series of crises in Southeast Asia.
The uncooperative attitude of the neu-
trals can be attributed to nationalistic
designs. These countries want to estab-
lish their sovereignty and believe that any
alliances with the powerful Western na-
tions will not only all but eliminate their
maneuverability ifi foreign relations, but
will curtail their domestic independence.
In addition, they think that the West will
come to their rescue if they are bothered
by Communism despite the fact that they
are not formally allied.
FURTHERMORE, the United States is
facing problems with our supposed al-
lies in Western Europe. Whereas Great
Britain would favor a more pacifist course
of action in world relations.
France is inclined toward furthering
the arms race as indicated by its rejection
of the test ban treaty.
Here the French philosophy is clearly
one of national self-interest as they feel

groups are fighting for equal
rights and opportunities, they can
and must simultaneously seek
some group advancement through
self-help programs. Some of these,
of course, are already being exe-
cuted; others, with considerably
more impact, are being planned.
But self-help projects and the
intensified battle against Jim
Crow laws and practices must
necessarily complement each other,
as neither can be the other's sub-
stitute if the Negro's long struggle
to break out of the shackles of his
subjection is to be won reason-
ably soon.
On the other hand, if self-initia-
tive programs are to be effective
on a large scale, expanded op-
portunity for potential achieve-
ment must be real, guaranteed,
and perceived. Such opportunities
as a basis for reinforcing self-help
measures have been sorely missing
in the past. In my own experience,
for example, my education through
the eighth grade in five-month
per year .school terms in a one-
room, one-teacher, overcrowded
Arkansas school was hardly in-
tended to help me help myself or
others-certainly.not to encourage
me to become the "better Ameri-
can," which Mr. Sasaki prescribes
as a prerequisite to seeking equal
citizenship rights. In fact, this
separate and unequal treatment
was intended to have quite the
contrary effect.
In comparing Negroes with other
American minorities, Mr. Sasaki
seems unaware of the fact that no
other group has been forced to
endure the conditions of the Ne-
gro's historical experience. To be
sure, the noted sociologist Bernard
Barber, in his scholarly study of
American social stratification, ob-
serves that Negroes of all Ameri-
can groups "have suffered the
most from prejudice and discrima-
ination." Moreover, Mr. Sasaki
seems uninformed of the social
detriments to being Negro in
America as high visibility, an an-
cestry of slaves, membership in
exceedingly large minority, and
the occupation of society's lowest
ranks. All these and other factors
combine to differentiate the Ne-
gro from other minorities.
* * *
THIS IS all the more reason
why it is absurd for our graduate
student commentator to compare
on an equal basis and in expec-
tation of similar effects the un-

velop considerable social cohesion
here in a proud, self-help relation-'
ship. Small in numbers and largely
settled in several states' until the
war, our citizens of Japanese back-
ground were also able to become
consciously socialized in the Amer-
ican system; and their brief cap-
tivity was not sufficient to break
this social continuity.
Negroes, on the other hand,
originating from various, areas of
the existing black world and at
vastly different times during slav-
ery, arrived here without common
cultural experiences; and their
only common social feature down
through the ages has been their
pigmented skin and their similar
struggle in America.
UNDERSTANDABLY, the con-
dition of slavery and its aftermath
effectively prevented, in various
ways, the development of Negro
cohesion, their exercise of initia-
tive, or their perception of self-
worth. Some of these manifesta-
tions, unfortunately, are still evi-
dent. Kyle Haselden, editor of
"The Christian Century" and au-
thor of "Racial Problems in Chris-
tian Perspective," makes the point
thus: "During their long pilgrim-
age through slavery and semi-
slavery, most Negroes did not have
an incentive for the kind of active
self-compensation by which other
minorities have climbed out of
humiliating servitude into respect-
ed equality. Slavery and peonage
do not generally encourage am-
bition." To the last statement, he
may well have added self-reliance.
Also, to be noted is the contrast
in attitude which gov'ernmental
units expressed toward the two
groups as they were emerging
fromsconfinement. Numerous of
our Oriental , neighbors (citizen
and noncitizen alike), benefitting
from the more highly developed
national morality of mid-Twen-
tieth Century, received some
measure of governmental compen-
sation for both their losses and
their inconvenience, a gesture
never extended to Negroes, who
endured much longer suffering.
Yet, despite their comparatively
brief and more humane inter-
ment, some Japanese did, never-
theless, suffer immensely from
that experience. Through my Nisei
roommate in Seattle during 1957-
58, I met a few older Japanese
who became so dispirited and dis-
illusioned from this captive period

participation even on this "non-
social" level when it gerrymander-
ed them out of the city. (See the
U.S. Supreme Court case of "Go-
million vs. Lightfoot," 1960).
His assertions raise so many
questions that space does not per-
mit a full reply except with a
series of questions directed to Mr.
Sasaki: Has not Gandhi's tech-
nique been the rather exceptional
model employed by nations and
groups in over-powering their
enemies? Would this technique
have been realistically recom-
mended to, or even used by, our
American Revolutionists of 1776
Did not the interned Japanese
"choose" not to become a "mili-
tant rabble" because they felt
this method would, for various
reasons, hinder rather than help
their situation? Indeed, do not
groups, however they rationalize
their choices, employ a particular
means because they perceive it to
accomplish some desired results?
Various demonstrations, we must
admit, have helped speed change
in our system, whether for the
suffragettes, labor unions, or Ne-
groes.
Why do you require that one
be "better" to gain his Constitu-
tional rights than those already
enjoying them? Are you not con-
fusing the picture by claiming
"social acceptance" with its nu-
merous emotion-laden implications
rather than equality of access and
opportunity as the goals of the
Negro movement? What informed
examples do you have that the
NAACP and other similar groups
are sponsoring "low-income Ne-
gro families" in the purchase of
homes in "a high-income neigh-
borhood which they could never
afford . . . ?" Where in America
is there a widespread notion that
the Negro has such a "good name"
that you must help protect it
from being destroyed by the
"rabble?" (To Southern segrega-
tionists, the "good Negro" is the
ignorant, subservient one). In
constantly referring to Negroes in
a group context, are you not for-
getting that members of this race,
too, are individuals?
* * 4
CLEARLY, Mr. Sasaki's letter is
an illustration that latent feelings
are often exposed by various pres-
sures. Moreover, it indicates that
in his effort to "out American"
his fellow citizens, he has not,
unfortunately, become an adequate

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