Se'tnty-Thid Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS "Where Opinions AreFree 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. L'URDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1963 NIGHT EDITOR: GERALD STORCH Effort To Abolish SGC A Pragmatic Debacle THE RECENT EFFORT to abolish Stu- dent Government Council is an intel- lectual and pragmatic debacle. A group of students are currently cir- culating a petition to abolish SGC. They rest their case on the slogan "end Mickey Mouse student government, i.e., SGC." Unfortunately, they have not specified areas in which they are dissatisfied with Council nor constructive ways to strength- en the body-both as it exists now or un- der any altered structure which they think would permit an effective student government. Thus they are proposing to destroy the only all-campus student government at the University without clearly stating the functions of the body as it is now, or the functions they wish to ascribe to it. For all the strength of their view, they calm- ly disassociate themselves from any ra- tional defense of it. THESE STUDENTS' lack of cogent in- formation is linked to the fact that their plan would be a pragmatic disaster. It is true that, from a practical stand- point, the power of the Office of Student Affairs veto severely limits actions Coun- cil can take. But the recent Regental dele- gation of power to the body on member- ship statements is evidence that measures of power may be achieved on important issues, providing that persistence and pressure point to the necessity for action by SGC. HERE ARE AREAS, in addition, where SGC can exercise initiative, and work for the benefit of students without hav- ing to haggle with harassed administra- tors. For example, the possibility for stu- dent-faculty government may be vague, but students are being given the oppor- tunity, for the first time, to work formally with professors. These are the people, rather than administrators, whom "Uni- versity community" advocates claimed they wanted more' contact and communi- cation with. Despite the "advisory" role of the faculty body, students have been pre- sented with a new and potentially influ- ential responsibility. Further, the concept of the new resi- dential college is amenable to initiative and serious study by Council members. In this area it is doubtful administrators or professors will seek opinions of SGC. But, if the issue is responsibly dealt with by Council and properly presented, stu- dent influence can be felt. ANOTHER AREA where concrete action is needed is in the creation of a course outline booklet. The idea has been kicked around by various groups for the past few years, but there is reported faculty oppo- sition to it. Nobody has determined the exact extent of this opposition, or taken definite steps toward putting out the booklet. But this service would be im- mensely valuable to the majority of stu- dents at the University. There has been some fear that when the membership practices issue is over, Council will fold. But even if this should unfortunately and unnecessarily come true, existence of its related boards and committees, all of which serve the campus in one way or another, justify Council's existence as a body of overview for all campus activities. OF COURSE SGC is a weak voice-and is perhaps doomed to be a weak voice for many years due to the University's state support and resultant political pressures. But it is hardly practical to prefer no voice. The administration has granted stu- dents power due to expediency, with pub- lic opinion and student pressure being the two variables most considered. If students are dissatisfied with the degree of self- government they have been granted, and care to complain about it, they must ac- cept the responsibility of making their views known to administrators. If SGC were destroyed, through what channels could a stronger Council or stu- dent voice be established? SGC is osten- sibly the most powerful representative student lobbying group at the University. If any group is going to convince the ad- ministrators that students deserve a stronger self-governing role, it is this body. IF IT WERE ABOLISHED, not the an- archy the anti-SGC group might hope for, but, practically speaking, an even more totalitarian situation would prevail. One does not make a weak leg walk by cutting it off. If the weak-leg SGC is ever to walk, it needs care through enthusiasm and creative work. By seeking its abolition, the group, ironically, is displaying irresponsibility in the name of "protecting" the very respon- sibility which they are arguing so strong- ly they deserve. -MARILYN KORAL y l~ ., {{ f " i'T}}jjff +. Y e .: :': . t ,t: %Sa" ixi +PV, s s . yy ,'i . 00 0 ;,. s<, } : r , ,' a' )d, .ยข r 1.' r.} J. 1 hb' " . f. .. " s.' . a ; ' 3 j , ,a .b ' " ,, V i '' 4 !} ,} S1 " ," u',s s, ey 7 f .$ y r 1 AT HILL AUD: Bulgarian Ensemble Fresh and Lively ESSENCE of ethnic folk entertainment, vitality and life was aptly demonstrated as the Koutev Bulgarian National Dancers, performing at Hill Aud. last night, deftly whirled through a pattern of dance, color and music. A fresh and candid quality elicted a quick, warm response from the audience, so that by the end of the evening, feet were in motion WT TE .&~ ~#. ~ 4 'Silk +.T' Z.OQ Cam. 4 MZ+ S ilA}t'KLf MIXEIR and constant bursts of applause couldn't be constrained. THE COMPANY gives an over- all impression of light and deft movement and sparkling color. The costumes were of such beauty that at one point the audience gave a collective gasp of appre- ciation. The program was an artful mix- ture of folk song, dance and musi- cal solos"The women carried the singing with a string nasal voice quality. The melodies were sung in unison, without accompaniment in most cases. A basically simple melody was woven into an intri- cate pattern of harmonics. The main melody is often sung by a small group and is echoed in three of four parts by the remaining chorus. The effect is that of a fugue with the subtle quality of a string instrument. THE MUSIC is a hybrid, whose origins are difficult to perceive. Nonetheless, a definite middle- eastern flavor was found. Flute- like wind instruments, stringed in- struments, both bowed and picked, and bagpipes gave the small or- chestra a delicate quality. To the amazement of all, the bagpipes, unlike those we are used to, were capable of producing the most subtle and minor melodic tones. Outstanding was, the syncopa- tion and irregularity of rhythm. The unusual use of rhythm was underlined by a 'drum, stamping and shouting. The dances with this high syncopated quality won the greatest reception of the even- ing. By using a smooth melody with voice and wind instrument, over a set rhythm, a continual, excite- ment was created. * * * THE Bulgarian dances stress in- tricate footwork with a' small amount of body movement. Most of the ldancing was done in chains which wove and twisted among' themselves. The arms were used in an interesting manner which gave an impression of great mo- tion and speed. A dancer would hook his fingers into the belt of of the dancer on either side of him. This gave him complete free- dom to move his arms in a quick, flapping manner. The horns, dances of intricate rhythm and movement, were the highlights of the performance, rivaled only by an amazing ren- dition of "Oh Susanna!" This sur- prise insertion was sung in Eng- lish, to the' delight of the audience. THE COMPANY, relaxed and natural, seemed to thoroughly en- joy the evening. This was so infectious that the audience itself was moved to join the company, in a, final' curtain call in the Slavic tradition, clap- ping hands in rhythm. I -Gail Blumberg SEVERAL YEARS AGO, Francois Truffaut decided to stop re- viewing movies and start making them. With just three films, he proceeded to establish himself as one of the most talented and orig- inal directors alive. Truffaut's most recent work, "Shoot thetPiano Player,"com- bines beautifully the highly ef- fective photographic technique which was an important element in "Jules and Jim" with the artis- tic handling of tragicomic ele- ments already present in his first film, "The 400 Blows." The result of this combination is one of the best movies ever made. IN "JULES AND JIM," and to a lesser extent in "Shoot the Piano Player," Truffaut depends heavily on such technical devices as the split screen, scenes which consist entirely of small splicings, double exposure and divorcing the sound from the source. Judging from his last two films, Truffaut seems to be interested in a special sort of character: one who, in his search for something (not necessarily someone) he loves, becomes caught in an end- less interchaining of the beautiful with the ugly, the comic with the tragic and the sacred with the commonplace. IN "Shoot the Piano Player," he is dealing with a man (Edouard Saroyan) who has plunged from happiness and success as a con- cert pianist to "just breaking even" as a honky-tonk player on a cafe tub. He falls in love (for the second time-his wife, Teresa, killed herself out of shame) with a girl, Lena, who sweeps up in the cafe. Aware of his former success, she persuades him to quit his job to regain what was once his. Quitting isn't that easy, how-. ever, and a childish argument re- sults in Edouard somewhat acci- dentally killing his boss. He and Lena flee and just when they learn that Edouard is not being accused of murder, Lena, by chance, is shot. She -slides down a long hill of snow, in what can be taken as a grotesque mockery of childhood fun, and is found dead. Edouard returns to the cafe. THIS MAY all sound like non- sense, but it is nonsense of the most beautiful sort--and tragedy of the most comic sort. All of which 'means that if you haven't already seen "Shoot the Piano Player," you should this weekend. -Richard Kraut c. CINEMA GUILD: comic ' LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Conference Group Defended Sweetness IF THERE EVER was a holiday based on an entirely fallacial premise, it is to- day, which has officially (if candy com- panies and florists can be considered "of- ficial") been designated as Sweetest Day. Apparently one day of each year has to be set aside for otherwise cranky people to suddenly don a beatific smile and trip gaily next door to give the equally cranky neighbors a bowl of hot gruel or some- thing. OF COURSE, the whole idea is utterly ridiculous. Humanity is in a pretty sad state of affairs if it takes a "holiday" for someone to show kindness and courtesy to his fellow man. Sweetest Day is such a sickeningly ob- vious attempt on the part of merchants to line their pockets with the long green that it makes even Christmas look religious by comparison. Sweetest Day is not a joyous occasion- on the contrary, under the circumstances it is a total farce. -S. HALLER To the Editor: AS A MEMBER of the Confer- ence on the University Steer- ing Committee and as one of the acquaintances with whom Diane Lebedeff allegedly filled the com- mittee, I feel compelled to reply to what I consider an unjust and unnecessarily vicious attack by Philip Sutin on the Steering Com- mittee and Miss Lebedeff. While it must be admitted that some of Mr. Sutin's accusations contain an element of truth, much of his information is either in- complete or intentionally biased. As a long-time admirer of The Daily, I hope it is the former, since such a blatant distortion of the facts would drastically shake my faith in the ethics of The Daily editors. * * FOR EXAMPLE, Mr. Sutin er- roneously traced the release of Richard Hofstadtpr's name as key- note speaker to Miss Lebedeff. To my knowledge the incident occur- red as follows. On the night preceding the an- nouncement of Hofstadter's name I received a phone call from Stan- ley Levy. Mr. Levy informed me that Mr. Hofstadter had been con- tacted by Richard Simon and that he had tentatively accepted the invitation to keynote the Confer- ence and awaited a written in- vitation. Mr. Levy and I agreed that such an invitation should be. sent immediately, and I notified Miss Lebedeff to that effect. This notification was by means of a note dictated to a receptionist at Health Service, where Miss Lebed- eff was recovering from exhaus- tion due primarily to her intensive work on the Conference. It is possible that this and other communications which Miss Le- bedeff received in Health Service may have become confused, and it is certainly true that she was subject to a dearth of direct com- munication during this period. Im- mediately after her release from Health Service Miss Lebedeff was called and asked if it were true that Hofstadter would keynote. She said that to her knowledge he had tentatively accepted. Shortly thereafter it was announced in The Daily that this was so. Miss Lebedeff, however, had neither notified The Daily personally nor said that it was definite. FURTHERMORE, Mr. Sutin implied that the Steering Commit- tee is composed almost entirely of Miss Lebedeff's friends. In truth there are only two personal friends of hers on the committee, and as one, I resent being called uncommitted to the Conference and unknowledgeable about the University, especially since I con- sider myself more active in cam- pus affairs than 90 per cent of the student body. Neither is it true that "these people" did nothing. Sharon Al- brecht and I were among the few committee members who regular- ly attended meetings, and I am sure any of the other members who did so would vouch for this. had responded. Three of these people are now serving on the committee. It is true that some of the com- mittee members have done little work, but if Mr. Sutin insists on labeling the committee apathetic, I would like to. hear some. con- structive suggestions for enlisting the aid of students who are will- ing to work. In addition, when Miss Lebedeff took the job of chairman of the Steering Committee, there were no records from the past com- mittee with which to work. These had been inadvertently lost. Neith- er were any participants in the past conference, with the excep- tion of Pat Golden and Caroline Dow, willing to advise the com- mittee in any way. Miss Lebedeff was forced to start from scratch. THERE ARE many reasons for the delay of the Conference. Some- of these are included in the ar- ticle on page one of the Oct. 18 Daily, and include lack of co- operation on the part of the ad- ministration and the last minute reneging of certain key partici- pants. Another reason, not included, was the failure of many working paper writers to submit their papers by the Sept. 18 deadline. Several of these papers have just been turned in, and Mr. Sutin's own paper arrived well after the deadline, in spite of the fact that he himself was forced to admit that most of the student discus- sion leaders (who also wrote the working papers for their groups) were contacted last summer. * * * I BELIEVE the postponement is in the best interests of all con- cerned and that it will result in a much more productive Con- ference. In contrast to Mr. Sutin, I would like to applaud Miss Lebedeff's courage in delaying the Conference in the face of criti- cism, rather than sacrificing its ideals by holding it under adverse circumstances. -Beth Bower, '65 HRB Letter... To the Editor: IS LETTER was sent to Jacob Fahrner, city attorney, from the Human Relations Board with a request to read it at the next city council meeting: The University Human Rela- tions Board has long been inter- ested in attempts to achieve equal opportunities in Ann Arbor hous- ing for people of all races. The Fair Housing Ordinance passed by the city council last month was a feeble beginning at correcting the injustices of discrimination against minority groups which exist in our city. We had hoped the council would pass an ordinance which would at least protect University students as well as Ann Arbor residents. The present ordinance, however, gives little help to either. SINCE IT IS our hope that Fair Housing Law. After consulting with several attornies we are in- clined to accept Mr. Kelley's de- cision only as his opinion as to how the court might rule on an actual test case. We are advised further that the Ann Arbor law is still valid and will become operative on Jan. 1, 1964. IF THE ABOVE is true, we ex- pect the city to enforce the law until' such time as either the courts rule against such local or- dinances or until a state law actually supercedes local authority., We also feel that it is your re- sponsibility to clarify the status of our local ordinance. We hope that in the near future. you will publicly state the inten- tion of your office regardingthe enforcement of Ann Arbor's Fair Housing Ordinance. -David C. Aroner, Chairman Human Relations Board Ultracivilization? ... To the Editor: SAM WALKER'S REVIEW of Mondo Cane" completely missesthe point of the film and its value. In essence, all he tells us is that he could not discern the form of the picture because dogs were urinating too often and episodes followed one another without "purpose." "Mondo Cane" is not "a cat- alogue of bizarre customs from around the world." It is hard to believe that Mr. Walker was too upset with the dogs, and too con- cerned with the 'possibility that the producer might have. touches of voyeurism, to perceive the con- trast (evident in each change of, episode) between- primitive bar- barism and 20th century barbar- ism. This is hardly what Mr. Walker calls "thoughtless juxaposition." And the episodes are not that "bizarre." Mr. Walker has evi- dently never had the privilege of witnessing the spring rites on this ultracivilized campus: men's honorary tapping and initiation, particularly that of the distin- guished Tribe of Michigamua. * * * IT IS REALLY TRAGIC that the producer did not include an episode of graduating campus leaders gleefully and barbarically treating the next year's cream of the student crop to sexually aber- rant animal-like rituals. What makes Michigamua the perfect example for "Mondo Cane" is its high University approval. The president of this university is the honorary president of the tribe. Education gets so far. There is not very much difference to the bull-beheading rite in Southeast Asia with British approval, and the imbecilic activities of men's honoraries with official University sanction. Perhaps if Mr. Walker had con- centrated less on the lack of a black and white plot, he would have seen more. "Mondo Cane" is not a sideshow for the misguided and curious, and is the farthest WOMEN & CHILDREN FIRST: Washboard Williemails ,V By DICK POLLINGER Operation Foil: Laneelots? N THE PRE-DAWN HOURS on the day of the Michigan State game, the campus Lancelots heed the call of University pa- triotism: They flock en masse to guard the sacred landmarks about from the expect- ed hordes of invading vandals from East Lansing. Operation Foil, as this honorable mo- bilization is called, more often than not becomes a fiasco, a shameful display of the immaturity of its participants. Granted, its purposes are worthy, and if executed as prescribed, this operation would serve a constructive function for the University community. If its noble goals were carried out with a minimum of violence, the endeavor could be justified. UNFORTUNATELY, this is rarely the case. At the most, a handful of MSU crusaders shows up to challenge the ef- fectiveness of the stalwart defenders. Thus frustrated, the student vigilantes look around for someone to thwart, and 11- logically convince themselves that every passing car is driven by a potential enemy. If the hapless soul, driving by the cam- pus and noticing, what appears to be a hostile mob entrenched upon the curb, happens to accelerate slightly to more rapidly pass the danger zone, he is doomed. The ever alert Foilers quickly size up the situation; ascertaining the speeding vehicle to be a violator of University sov- ereignty, they dutifully release a volley of stones in the general direction of the enemy, unmindful of the fact that the police car around the corner could more safely and efficiently apprehend the sus- pected car. INCIDENTS such as this have been the rule ratherthan the exception in the past few years. It is justified to assume that Operation Foil will- perform similarly in the future. At present the University tolerates the movement; if the flagrancies persist, the administration must with- draw its benevolent attitude. As long as the defenders continue to wreak more havoc and be potentially more dangerous than the expected invaders, it must be judged an unwarranted operation. It can be argued that the students need Operation Foil as an outlet for the emo- tions that school spirit develops within them before the State weekend. However, there must be some other game they can play which will channel off some of this HOWEVER FABULOUS campus night spots are, there is one down- town club, at least, which never wants for patrons. I stopped down last Thursday to talk with its feature attraction, Washboard Willie, and trace his checkered career. Outside, the street teemed with impatient fans of all sexes. Inside, the population density increased to extremes, not unlike the black hole of Calcutta, except that the room was a little larger and beer was served. At the front tables sat girls and women of every description, most of them escorted, all transfixed, in high Euterpic communion broken only by an occasional gasp or responsive spasm. Willie himself, casually attired in Hawaiian shades, was singing a number known to his fans as "The Thrill on the Hill." He accompanied himself on drums and washboard, supplemented by two electric guitar- ists. When he was done, he took a break and we talked. * * * * "I'VE BEEN beatin' the drums ever since I knew myself, but about 30 years ago I got the mere thought-it came to mel-tha t could get the same beat out of a washboard. Here," he said and fished a card out of his wallet: Yes! Yes! Yes! The Fantabulous WASH BOARD WILLIE WM. PADEN HENSLEY and his "SUPER SUDS OF RHYTHM" "When did you start saying 'Yes, yes, yes'," I asked. * * * * "WELL, IT CAME ABOUT quite by accident. See, I usually end my sentences sayin' 'Mmmmmm,' but that sounded bad out of a microphone, so I tried sayin' 'yes'. Then one night I was playin' in Mt. Clements and when I walked into the room, everyone said 'Yes, yes, yes'. I said 'What do you mean' and they said 'that's what you always say'. So ever since then I've been sort of emphasizing it. So it was the crowd that started me sayin' it. i , .