Thursday, September 6, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Eleven
Mood of the campus
--_________.
...a
Seeking
alternative paths
WEL COME
BACK...
(Continued from Page 3)
jammed with students, many of
whom have abandoned mariju-
ana and other drugs for the
more traditional highs of alco-
hol.
HAVING WITNESSED these
trends at colleges across the
country the pundits of the na-
tional news media have decided
the nation's campuses are ex-
periencing a wholesale regres-
sion to the 1950s. "If .you liked
the 50s, you'll love the 70s" is the
slogan they have adopted to de-
scribe the movement.
Their general scenario runs
roughly like this: Frustrated by
the failures of activism in the
late 60s, students are returning
to m o r e traditional v a 1 u e s.
Wealth, success and pleasure
have replaced peace and love
as the goals of the new breed of
student. Apparently the only
thing separating today's stu-
dents from their counterparts of
the 1950's, according to these
writers, is a plentiful supply of
'I like Ike' buttons and crewneck
sweaters.
The notion that the campus is
experiencing a large-scale re-
treat on all fronts lies at the
heart of most of these analyses.
While a number of signposts of
that retreat are apparenthere
and at other schools one should
not make too much of these sym-
bols.
FOR STUDENTS, despite their
renewed interest in studies and
pleasure are simply not ready
to be assimilated into American
society as were their predeces-
sors a generation ago. Nine-to-
five jobs, rising through the cor-
porate structure and comfort-
able houses in the suburbs are
still for the most part looked up-
on with scorn.
In the political sphere students
generally remain far to the left
of the American mainstream.
Heavy student precincts turned in
four- and five-to-one majorities
for George McGovern in the No-
vember election. The McGovern
campaign was also able to at-
tract a large number of student
workers for canvassing here and
in other parts of the state.
Local students h a v e helped
maintain the radical Human
Rights party as a viable though
admittedly declining political
force while forcing the Demo-
cratic party to seek relatively
youthful candidates with politics
well to the left of the national
party.
ACADEMICS present a similar
picture. Students aiming for
careers in medicine and law, at
least at this point, speak of
those professions, not just in
terms of potential wealth, but
also as vehicles for social
change. A great many, others
seem unsure about future career
plans. Very few talk of heading
for Wall Street or selling insur-
ance.
The retreat then appears to be
something less than a complete
one. The quiet that pervades the
campus clearly does not signal a
blanket acceptance of traditional
American society. The cynicism
and critical perspectives that
grew out of the student move-
ment appear to have remained
intact even as the movement it-
self has come apart at the
seams.
Today's quiet seems inspired
partly by apathy but equally im-
portantly by people lookingfor
alternative paths. What paths
they will eventually wind up on
are at this point hard to pre-
dict.
BUT THEY just might fool the
pundits and cynics by showing
that watching football games,
going to medical school and
dancing at sock hops are not in-
compatible with changing the
world.
Read and Use
Daily Classifieds
MEN and WOMEN of MICHIGAN
Daily Photo by TERRY McCARTHY
WILD'S, "HOME OF THE RED CARPET TREATMENT" invites you to come in
and meet Bill Hoffman and Hans Jansen in the VARSITY SHOP. They can show
you everything you need in clothing, from very casual to very dressy. We now
have in stock a wide variety of jeans, shirts, sweaters, slacks, sportcoats; suits,
ties, outercoats, jackets-you name it-,,in popular and reliable brand names, in
the latest styles and fashions, and at prices that won't have you wiring home for
that extra few bills. You'll enjoy the pleasant, unhurried atmosphere and that
touch of 19th century courtesy and service in the 20th century at Ann Arbor's
oldest continually family-owned men's store.
WILD'S
STATE STREET ON THE CAMPUS
Student council scarred by.
several, successive scandals
(Continued from Page 3)
lems didn't disappear. Shortly be-
fore the voting, Bill Dobbs, a
Council member, and Bob Black,
a longtime SGC activist, forged
a Daily "editorial" supporting
Ro Nagey's presidential candi-
dacy and distributed the forgery
as a campaign leaflet.
At, long last, some results ap-
peared. Lee Gill, a 24-year old
paroled ex-convict with aaback-
ground in black student political
activism won a landslide victory
over four other presidential
slates.
Gill's radically-inclined S t u-
dent Rights Party (SRP) won
three of five open seats on Coun-
cil, with the Coalition of Liberals
and Moderates Party (CLAMP)
taking the other two.
Gill took over in flamboyant
style, declaring that he would
"clean up" SGC and gather re-
presentatives from all student
organizations in late August to
seek "new directions" for student
politics.
In his first official- move as
SGC president, Gill fulfilled a
campaign promise to remove
Schaper from Council affairs. He
also named Rosemary Mullin, a
graduate student with a certifi-
cate in accounting, to take the
treasurer post and oversee the
purging of mangled finance re-
-cords.
FOR THE COMING year, Gill
has his work cut out for him.
SGC's zero credibility, reflected
by lack of interest in Council
affairs and consistently atrocious
voting turnouts, will stand in the
way of any solid action until
SGC, in Gill's words, "throws out
last year's bullshit and puts it-
self together."
Gill is -also extremely aware of
the potential roadblocks created
by his skin color: Less than 10
per cent of the student body
is black, and thousands of white
students who either voted against
Gill or didn't bother to vote may
be waiting for some reason to
trust - or not to trust - thair
first black student body presi-
dent.
However, he is convinced that
SGC can lead a revival of stu-
dent political interest at a time
when sock hops and bubble-gum
blowing contests attract far more
excitement than sit-ins.
WORKING IN GILL'S favor are
his own leadership qualities, his
willingness to take action, as de-
monstrated by Schaper's remov-
al, and a workable coalition of
CLAMP and SRP supporters on
Council.
It should be an interesting year.
2 hours free parking
Open Fridays until 8:30
,1 '
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