Seventy-Third Year
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Truth Will Preval"
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in al reprints.
AY DECEMBER &, 1963
- NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL SATTINGER
Evaluating the Teacher:
A Chance to Contribute
THE FEW MOMENTS at the end of a
semester when a student pauses to
write an evaluation of his teacher could
well be the best-spent moments of the
term.
For the student, it can serve as a stim-
ulus to look back at the education he has
received during the past few months-
something most students seldom or never
do-and to consider its broad purposes
and how well they have been achieved.
It also offers him an opportunity to get
criticisms of the course, formerly repress-
ed by timidity or fear of grade-point re-
prisals, off his chest. And in considering
how to express them, he may turn crude
gripes into constructive criticisms, learn-
ing something about the problems of
teaching in the process.
FOR THE TEACHER, it can provide some
crucial feedback which generally is
hidden behind the blankly-staring or
falsely-enthusiastic classroom faces.
or the department and the University,
the evaluations can provide the most re-
liable - though imperfect - device for
evaluating a very elusive quality: good
teaching. And in making the measure-
ment of instruction more feasible, they
could increase the importance of good
teaching as a criterion of faculty promo-
tion. This in turn could promote respect
for the dedicated teacher in a university
which tends to over-reward research and
other such "visible" activities.
THIS IS WHAT teacher evaluations could
be. But the present questionnaire and
procedure for distributing it have fallen.
short of this potential. Prof. Louis I.
Briggs, head of a group which is trying
out a new questionnaire in selected classes
this semester, cites several shortcomings
of the older forms. Many students don't
fill them out at all. Those who, do often
misinterpret questions. The results, once
collected, are hard to quantify and com-
pare.
The new questionnaire Prof. Briggs'
group has come up with is a promising
one. It is .a good compromise between
the wide-open-essay type which discour-
ages many students and leads to useless
Friday COw
To Pressur
AT THE DISCRETION of individual in-
structors, classes may be held next Fri-
day and Saturday. This is a justified de-
cision from the faculty point of view but
to the student, it is an infringement on
his rights.
At the beginning of the term, admin-
istrators set aside Friday as a study day.
Most instructors, however, were unaware
of this. When the announcement was
made less than two weeks ago that no
classes would be held Friday, instructors
threw up their hands in despair.
AN EXTENT these men have a point.
One can understand the "fairly gen-
eral concern" faculty members of the lit-
erary college expressed over what they
Editorial Stf
RONALD WILTON, Editor
DAVID MARCUS GERALD STOROR
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 GOOD.......................Sports Editor
JIM BERGER ...............Associate Sports Editor
MIKE BLOCK............... Associate Sports Editor
BOB ZWINCK.............Contributing Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: H. Neil Berkson, Steven Hailer,
Edward Herstein, Marilyn Koral, Louise Lind, An-
drew Orlin, Michael, Sattinger, Kenneth Winter.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Mary Lou Butcher,
John Bryant, Robert Grody, Laurence Kirshbaum,
Richard Mercer.
Business Staff
ANDREW CRAWFORID, Business Manager
PETER ARONSON............. Advertising Manager
LEE JATHROS .............. ..... Accounts' Manager
JUDY LEPOFSKY........Associate Business Manager
RUTH SCHEMNITZ ................ Finance Manager
JUNIOR MANAGERS: Harvey Braunstein, Susan Craw-
, , TAv Ca_. m nm .Tid clsti BraaJonston.
responses, and the too-rigid variety once
* used which yields results that are equal-
ly meaningless because too oversimplified.
It makes answering easy for the rela-
tively uninterested student. Well-written
multiple-choice questions (example: "In-
dividual help and further discussion out-
side of class was (a) quite readily avail-
able, (b) usually there if needed, . (c)
rarely available") allow him to give a
fairly useful evaluationwith little effort.
This should assure that virtually every
student will give his instructor at least a
rudimentary evaluation.
On the other hand, students are en-
couraged to take advantage of this oppor-
tunity by elaborating at greater length on
their multiple-choice answers. Thus in
addition to the survey-type information
from the multiple choices, the teacher
can receive some readily incisive com-
ments and novel ideas from the few stu-
dents willing and able to put some
thought into their answers.
BUT IF THE QUESTIONNAIRE is to suc-
ceed, one simple but important change
must be made in the way it is distributed.
The practice has been to pass them out
in class and collect them within five or
ten minutes. This hurry-up procedure de-
stroys the whole concept. Even the stu-
dents who would like to do a conscientious
job are limited to writing down the first
thoughts-however disorganized or in-
complete-that come to mind.
If, when distributing the question-
naires, the instructor would simply say,
"Those of you who want some time to
think before writing these may take them
home," this barrier would be easily elim-
inated. Students who didn't care about
the whole business-the ones who'd be
likely never to return the forms if they
took them home-could mark the multi-
ple-choices and hand them right back.
Those interested enough to take them
home, presumably, would be interested
enough to return them.
Given these opportunities, the success
or failure of teaching evaluations rests
with the student alone. Using them wise-
ly, he can make an important contribu-
tion to his education and to his university.
-KENNETH WINTER
sses Unjust
ed Students
consideied the abrupt announcement of
this study day.
To the professor who is already under
difficulties in trying to compress his
course into 14 weeks, this announcement
might have come as a shock. And some
most likely considered it an unreasonable
demand.
But to the student it was a welcome re-
lief and a chance for, an extra day of
study for finals.
THE ORIGINAL DECISION was un-
doubtedly made by administrators with
the student in mind; they realized the
new pressures of the trimester system.
They saw the need for more time to pre-
pare for finals; they also must have real-
ized what faculty reaction would be.
Administrators felt students needed
this extra day. Students wholeheartedly
agree.
But some faculty members-unaware
that the decision had been made at the
beginning of the term-felt they were
being treated unfairly when it was rean-
nounced.
Under faculty pressure, the present
compromise measure was born. And this
is where the students' rights have been
violated.
THE DECISION-as it first was made-
should stand. Students without the ex-
tra day will suffer from lack of time to
prepare for finals. Administrators real-
ized this yet gave in to the demands of
certain members of the faculty who felt
they needed this extra day to complete
course matter.
This decision seems to put an unneces-
sary emphasis on the needs of the pro-
fessor and fails to account for the stu-
dent's difficulties.
This is unjust. Moreover, the student
_-. --_ _a e _ a _ _ __ _ a . . .. , . .. s
:4i4 *
t S P 4 r'uNIG AAR.;
TODAY AND TOMORROW:
U.S.: from Woer to Wooed
By ERIC KELLER
Daily Correspondent
BASEL-Europe stood still as the
American presidency changed
hands last week. The news from
Washington seemed to crowd front
pages of European newspapers.
The first major European states-
man to come back with a strong
impression of the new White
House was President de Gaulle of
France. Although he made public
no official changes in his public
policy, it seemed that he was in-
terested in giving the impression
of cordiality between Paris and
Washington.
De Gaulle has been able to ful-
fill an image which he has creat-
ed over the past few years. On
several occasions, spokesmen for
his administration have pointed
out that France is a close ally to
the Atlantic Pact. She keeps her
integrity at all times and at the
same time, the West will always
be able to count on her in case of
crisis.
THE MOMENT of crisis was
here-and General de Gaulle prov-
ed France one of the steadiest al-
lies within the NATO alliance. His
talks with President Johnson were
described as very cordial and both
statesmen are said to have pointed
out that differences between
France and the United States
have often been exaggerated.
Apparently, de Gaulle was high-
ly impressed by the smoothness
with which President Johnson had
taken over the presidency. Influ-
ential French ministers have im-
plored de Gaulle to create a vice-
president's post in the French
government.-
They fear that sinister elements
in France may have been encour-
aged by John F. Kennedy's" assas-
sination to try another-and bet-
ter planned-coup on the stout
general. In the past all attempts
at would-be assassinations have
been crushed. The secret French
nationalistic group, the OAS-a
remnant of the Algerian war-has
made several tries at getting de
Gaulle.
FEARS for de Gaulle's life are
not groundless. Pro-Gaullist fofc-
es maintain that the sudden death
of de Gaulle would creatse tremen-
dous national problems or seven
provoke chaos and endanger the
Fifth Republic. Even if French op-
position leaders indirectly mini-
mize de Gaulle's importance to
France, his death would surely
not add to the continuity of
French politics.
Under the Constitution and fol-
lowing old French tradition, the
successor of the president in case
of death would be the president of
the Senate. But the present presi-
dent of the Senate, Gaston Mon-
nerville, belongs to the radical so-
cialist party and is a sworn anti-
Gaullist. De Gaulle is now said to
be considering the creation of a
vice-president's post seriously.
BEYOND THESE FEARS, Gaul-
lists seem to be quite assured of
their position. At their party con-
ference in Nice, they spread only
notes of optimism and some bit-
ing critical remarks for "Monsieur
x." This "Monsieur X" is the un-
official opposition candidate, Def-
ferre, a socialist mayor of Mar-
seille.
COMMENTARY:
De Gaulle Optimistic
But France Is Restless
CHARLES DE GAULLE
.. cordiality
By WALTER LIPPMANN
IT IS TAKING too simple a view
of President Johnson's problems.
to overlook the deadlock and
standstill which prevail at home
and abroad in the late President
Kennedy's program.
Although Presidentr Kennedy
might have waited until he had
been re-elected, he could not have
put off indefinitely a serious re-
appraisal of many of his foreign
policies. The condition of affairs
has changed tremendously since
these policies were first conceiv-
ed and formulated. They were ad-
dressed to the world of the late
1940's and the 1950's when there
were two, and only two, great
powers. Now, there are several,
and the two big nuclear powers
are finding that in the outer world
their control is weakening and
their influence diminishing.
* * *
IT WILL BE NECESSARY to re-
appraise the policies which come
down from the time when the non-
Communist world, and particularly
the European part of it, looked to
Washington for leadership because
it depended wholly upon the Unit-
ed States for its defense against
Communism and for its recovery
from the war.
This abnormal relationship had
to come to an end. It was the
avowed purpose of our postwar
policies to bring it to an end. And
though it is human to cling to a
superior place, we must recognize
that Europe has recovered and en-
joys a freedom of action hitherto
denied it. This is because the bal-
ance of-power has been organized
successfully to rule out great war.
By the end of the 1950's when
the New Frontier was struggling
to come into power, the abnormal
preeminence of the United States
had already begun to fade away.
The phenomenon was then ascrib-
ed to the weakness of Eisenhow-
er and not to the nature of things.
General de Gaulle has note
brought about the decline of NA-
TO and the American-led Atlantic
partnership and the primacy of
the United States in all the un-
derdeveloped continents. General
de Gaulle is pointing out the de-
cline of an American leadership
which was temporarily necessary
but inherently abnormal-abnor-
mal in regard to the national spir-
it of the Europeans, abnormal also
in regard to the historic traditions
of the Americans.
* * *
IN MY VIEW, President John-
son will do well to begin with a
confident acceptance of an ac-
complished and unavoidable fact
-that our position in relation to
Europe is no longer that of guard-
ian and tutor. From abjuring the
pretension to superiority in world
leadership will come, one may
hope, the end of that eager-beav-
erism which has interferred with
our serious thinking and has done
nothing but irritate and destroy
confidence.
We should accept the fact that
since we are no longerneeded or
able to lead Europe, the time is
over for hot-foot missions to Paris
and London and Bonn and Rome
to sell one of our devices.,
It is time to relax and wait
considerately and receptively for
proposals from Europe. It is most
emphatically not the time for the
new President to consider traveling
abroad, for, him to listen to the
naive argument that, face to face
with the European leaders and
with sufficiently large crowds
cheering him along, Europe will
relapse once more into the de-
pendent posture of the 1940's and
the early 1950's.
The time before our elections is.
too short, the accumulated prob-
lems here at home are too many,
to allow time or energy for the
diversions and distractions of
propaganda travels abroad.
WE ARE IN THE 1960's, and we
must search our minds lest we
accept unexamined the assump-
tions of the postwar years, lest
we act on the reflexes which were
conditioned in another age. The
paramount theme of the 1940's was
the necessity of American inter-
vention to save European civiliza-
tion from destruction. The para-
mount theme of the 1950's was to
consolidate the western world
against the onset of revolutionary
Communism.
The paramount theme of this
decade as we know it thus far is
that we are emerging from a two-
power world and entering one
where there are many powers.
It will be false to say that a
recognition of the change in our
relative position is a revival of iso-
lationism. A reappraisal ofour po-
sition involves no retreat from the
task of maintaining the nuclear
peace. It means no withdrawal and
no desertion of our friends. But it
does mean a change in our role in
power politics, let us say from
wooer to wooed, from buyer to sell-
er, from seeker to sought.
(c) 1963, The Washington Post Co.
Not all, though, seemed to speak
against the oppositio* the week of
President Kennedy's funeral. On
the contrary, it was crowded with
signs of dissatisfaction with the
Gaullist administration's present
stabilization and budget plans.
France suffered some severe in-
ternal disruptions.
* * *
TUESDAY: French National
Railroad workers strike for 34
hours. Wanted: a 12 per cent
salary raise and an additional
week per year of vacation.
Wednesday: Demonstrations in
several cities against "Force de
Frappe," France's own atomic de-
fensive weapon system. This is the
first time that demonstrations
against a government policy have
been seen in French cities for
years.
Friday: Strike of university stu-
dents and professors. Wanted: bet-
ter facilities and more auditori-
ums, in short,an additional $125
million to the already extensive
educational budget. On Friday aft-
ernoon student demonstrations on
the campus of the Sorbonne re-
sulted -In a battle between 3000
st dents and police. Only after,
two hours of this stone-throwing
versus water hose and shock bat-
tle, the demonstrating groups
started to disintegrate. Demon-
strations were also held in similar
ways in Grenoble, Reims and
Nanates.
* * *
BUT GAULLISTS don't inter-
pret these signs to be dangerous
to their party; even if the opposi-
tion thinks they are. Only in a
single matter did the anti-Gaul-
lists seem to carry the majority
of opinion when Defferre declared
that it was disgraceful to see
that President de Gaulle went to
John F. Kennedy's funeral wear-
ing his general's uniform instead
of wearing civilian clothes.
CHORAL UNION:
An Uninspired Reading
Of Handel's 'Messiah',
UNDERSCORE:
JFK's Political Style:
its" Effect on Europe
HAD IT BEEN a snowy, Christ-
mas type evening last night,
one might have been moved by;
the Yule spirit to listen joyously to
the Choral Union's production of
"The Messiah." But since it was
just another cool, late autumn
night, the listener was forced into
the realization that this was just
another reading of Handel's epic
Christmas piece.
The orchestra, under guest con-
ductor Harold Haugh, was for the
most part uninspired. The strings
sounded consistently overbearing
and discordant, and their articu-
lation was so poor that in the
overture the extended trills sound-
ed as if they w re notes with
measured time values.
By PHILIP SUTIN
National Concerns Editor
TRENDS in Western Europe to-
ward the moderate Jeft and the
American folksy style of political
campaigning suffered a serious
blow with President Kennedy's
death.
Hisevigorous, youthful New
Frontier and shrewd campaigning
have been a strong influence in
Europe. They gave impetus to the
challenge to that region's aged
leaders by impatient younger men
that is now beginning to bear
fruit. The adoption of the Kenne-
dy style by some of these younger
men also forced the older leaders
to deal more with the public.
While President Lyndon B.
Johnson will continue the essen-
tial Kennedy program for some
time, his style will be different.
He is older, less intellectual and
less skilled in public appearances.
Johnson is also somewhat more
conservative than Kennedy, thus
diminishing the aura of dynamic
liberalism that wafted from the
White House to Western Europe.
WESTERN EUROPE, through-
out the Kennedy years, has been
swinging to the left, although not
the old-fashioned, doctrinaire So-
cialist left. With a revamped phil-
osophy that sounded more like the
tian Democrats finally managed to
force "an opening to the left" and
set up a coalition government with
the Socialists.
In France de Gaulle is losing
popularity. The youthful Socialist
mayor of Marseilles, Gaston De-
frerre, is meanwhile becoming a
leading figure in the anti-Gaullist
forces.
WHILE KENNEDY maintained
close friendships with the older,
more conservative Adenauer and
Macmillan, pronouncements such
as calling for social reform in Lat-
in America through the Alliance
for Progress and asserting the
need for youthful, vigorous lead-
ership created a favorable climate
for the moderate left.
Politicians such as Mayor Willy
Brandt of West Berlin began to
imitate Kennedy's campaign style;
they began to build images similar
to the late President's and met
success doing so. Theodore White's
"The Making of a President, 1960,"
became must reading for cam-
paigners not only in Western Eu-
rope, but also throughout the dem-
ocratic world.
Politicians used Kennedy's com-
bination of personal charm, skilled
staff and shrewd analysis of poli-
tical trends in their quest of elec-
toral victory. They adopted such
The trumpets and harpsichord;
on the other hand, were usually
clear and concise, and the former's
appearance in the Hallelujah
chorus and later, in the bass' last
solo, was refreshing.
* * *
THE CHORUS, spearheaded by
fairly sensitive sopranos, suffered
under a conductor who seemed un-
sure of himself and equally un-
,sure of his performers. There were
moments of great pain for Haugh
as first the strings, and later the
chorus, made out-of-time en-
trances. One cannot be sure
whether these blunders resulted
from insufficient rehearsal time or
from sadly unpolished musicians.
The nucleus of the ensemble,
the soloists, made happy excep-
tions to the general feeling of
tension that prevailed. All four
seemed more than adequately ac-
quainted with their parts. All sang
expressively and gave a sense of
continuity to the story of Christ's
coming.
Lois Marshall, soprano, and
John Craig, tenor, deserve special
commendation for their offerings.
The bass, Richard Cross, seemed
to strain in his extremely low
range and tired as the program
progressed, resulting in a slightly
muddy texture to his voice. The
contralto, Beverly Wolff, was deli-
cate and beautiful, but she wag
occasionally meek and the strings,
reminding one of an elephant
crossing a high wire, drowned her
out.
* * *
"Did He Say 'Let Us Continue' Or 'Let Us
Work Continuously'?"
PECEMBER
1963
SII I
,4 Iinees
THE OVERALL FEELING that
one has after listening to this
performance is uninspired peace
of mind. The orchestra can only
do so much to destroy the con-
tinuity of the story which the text
n meticulnlv outlines. One has