w:_THE MICHIGAN DAILY FRIDAY A Question of Ethics DORIS FLEESON: Independent Democrats' "Always Glad To Loan My Neighbor A Shovel" -,~ m 4 -. A THREE-MAN disciplinary committee has meted out punishment both unjust and unwise in its recent expulsion of en- gineering student Robert J. Lapham. The student broke his contract with the NROTC after becoming a conscientious objector and at first stated that he did not feel obligated to pay back the Navy for benefits he received while in the NROTC. This action was termed "un- ethical and irresponsible" by the engineer- ing college Committee on Discipline. The committee has said that it is con- cerned with the ethics of students. Appar- ently they feel that breaking a contract made in good faith is unethical even though any contract may be declared void - by mutual consent. Having become a conscientious objector Lapham could not honestly continue to re- main a member of and receive financial aid from the Navy while he no longer believed in the codes established by a military insti- tution. F LAPHAM is to be penalized in an educa- tional iTnltution for acting on a decision made on the basis of his conscience, there is something wrong with that institution. The primary aim of an educational institution is to encourage its students to develop their ability to think. Even such a specialized part of a university as an engineering college must recognize that the vocational training is only one facet of education. The full de- velopment and use of the individual's in- tellectual capacities is a more important aim of a college education. In many cases this process results in some changes in thinking and action. If a student has the same opinions on all matters at the end of four years in col- lege as he did at the start, the education has not been of much value. By penalizing a student for acting on some basic changes in philosophical thought, the disciplinary committee has ignored this. Of course, a student should not join the NROTC with the feeling that it is his prerog- ative to change his mind at any time and Editorials published in The Michigan Daily are written by members of The Daily staff and represent the views of the writers only. NIGHT EDITOR: BOB KEITH The Weekend leave, but a case involving some really sound reason for leaving should be considered as such, and not handled according to some firmly molded all-encompassing rules. * * * THE COMMITTEE was also influenced by Lapham's initial statement, later re- versed, that he did not intend to repay the Navy for its investment in his education. The NROTC contract, however, makes no provision for repayment of funds by those who do not complete the program. Any money paid back by those breaking the con- tract is placed in a special "conscience" fund, which is not used for the NROTC pro- grams. Since actual repayment of the money invested in his education was im- possible,'any disciplinary action by the school on this point seems to be clearly out of bounds. Repayment of the funds is a matter to be decided by the individual in his rela- tions with the Navy, and not to be judged by the school. It has been brought out that during his interview with the committee, Lapham made an unfavorable impression, and that the decision to expell him was influenced by this. Perhaps the committee's charge of "irresponsible action" was based on this im- pression. If so, the committee is again off base. It is their function to review the evi- dence at hand, and to act on that, not to condemn on a single personality impression of a student at the disadvantage of being placed in a defensive position. More important than Lapham's indi- vidual case, however, is the question of the power vested in the three professors who make up the engineering college Com- mittee on Discipline. Decisions regarding student conduct are made on the basis of some unwritten code of ethics, and appar- ently what these ethics are is determined by these three men. The University does have, as the pro- fessors stated, some responsibility for the ethics, as well as the academic well-being of its students. It does not, however, have the right to ask students to comply with an unwritten set, of standards. Neither should it allow three men to decide what these standards are, and what constitutes living up to them. There are some basic rules governing the conduct of students, and a student commit- ting a serious breach of one of them can expect disciplinary action to follow. Lap- ham has not broken any of these rules. The disciplinary action taken in his case was an arbitrary rule of three men who seem to have incorrectly interpreted social and individual ethics, and have a short- sighted view of how a university should deal with its students. -Roma Lipsky Janet Watts ettePJ TO THE EDITOR The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters of general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the writer and in good taste. Letters exceeding 300 words in length, defamatory or libelous letters, and letters which for any reason are not in good taste will be condensed, edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the editors. WASHINGTON - A growing number of Democratic Senators have begun to show a marked independence of late which is reflected in the nation's headlines. What it portends is the kind of aggres- sive struggle for the Democratic nomina- tions for President and Vice President that the party has not experienced in 20 years. It proceeds from several well-founded assumptions. One is that President Truman as of now does not intend to run again and that it is best for his party that he should not. Another is that Vice President Barkley, now, 73, positively does not want to be renominated but will retire gracefully at the end of his term. * *- * * STILL ANOTHER is that the best way to disassociate the next Democratic ticket from the current slurs and scandals is to give it a new look for which plenty of fresh crusading faces are available. They are figuring prominently in today's newspapers and are central figures in the kind of colorful stories that the great mass communications of America - newspapers, radio, television, movies - impress swiftly and indelibly upon the public mind. What is so significant politically about their activities is that all are more or less critical ,of the administration and of the war effort for which Mr. Truman is re- sponsible. Such detachment from the for- tunes of their President is new and shows clearly how the political wind now blows. In the present state of affairs-the war, the struggle to prepare the country, the sacrifices that will be increasingly demand- ed-anything that will make these aspiring men appear more statesman like is apt to pay off better than strict party adherence. Having so narrow a margin of control in congress, President Truman is not, of course, in a position either to demand or to enforce any adherence not willingly given. * ** * SEN. PAUL DOUGLAS of Illinois, a little older and more seasoned than some others, forged Ahead early with his portrait of a liberal who refuses to be soft.. Douglas annoys the White House no end and his colleague often but the capitol sight-seers always ask to have him pointed out. He could prove too much of a maverick for a national con- vention, always dominated by regulars, but he has strength with the Democrats' labor and liberal allies. Currently breathing on his neck: Sen. Lyndon Johnson of Texas, chairman of the preparedness sub-committee, a triple threat with his crucial manpower bill, crack- downs on the military, and his inside post aS whip. Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee, chair- man of the crime committee, who has been long on the road with his gaudy attraction, a tour about to stage a brilliant New York climax. Sen. William Fulbright of Arkansas, a slow starter but photogenic. In his RFC investigation, he is producing not only mem- orable mink-coat and girl-meets-wolf stories but an important exposure of how Wash- ington's independent agencies and commis- sions are breaking down. Sen. Mike Monroney of Oklahoma, new to the Senate but an able veteran of the Hlouse, is off to a bright midnight-ride start with his investigation of the Mary- land election. Others who can be counted upon for plain and fancy elbowing of the current headlin- ers include: Sen. Brien McMahon of Con- necticut whose rivals grumble that his con- stituents think he makes the atomic bomb personally; Sen. John Sparkman of Alabama and a lincolnesque appearance, who is mov- ing up in foreign relations; Sen. Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, the former secre- tary of agriculture; the colorful Sen. Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma, and the articulate Sen. Humphrey of Minnesota. (Copyright, 1951, by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.) I aN _ r.;.... v. '' ' . _ More B. S... Suggestion . . . To the Editor: To the Editor: C C 1 s p ON TE W~ashington Merry-Go-Round with DREW PARSON In Town BESIDE IRON CURTAIN, Adrianople, Turkey-I have just inter-3 viewed a Bulgarian refugee who lived six years behind the iront curtain and then fled to safety across the Turkish borders one hour before I talked to him. He was almost like a man coming out of a dark attic and seeing the modern world for the first time in years. He did not know for instance, exactly what the United Nations was. He thought the Korean war was won by America, having heard1 the Voice of America broadcast that MacArthur was bringing U.S. troops home by Christmas. He had been told also that people in Greece and Turkey were living on grass and leaves because America was starving them under the Marshall Plan. The most significant, immediate news he brought was that the Communists had come in an automobile to Oseno, a village near him last week, to notify the people that Britain and United States were about to attack them. Therefore all villagers must rally in defense of the homeland. This dovetails with other tell- tale signs that Moscow may be alerting for war. Osman Omer, the peasant I interviewed, was dressed in a sheep- skin coat, had a city-bought hat, shoes and other earmarks of a mo- derately well-off farmer. He was born in Bulgaria. Though his fa- ther migrated there from Turkey 75 years before, it was partly be- cause of his Turkish ancestry that he was hounded by Communists. Finally he sold his eight acres of land and fled. The Communists ap- parently are either dispossessing or harassing the landowners to make way for collective farming. * * * * . - BULGARIA CHANGED OVERNIGHT BY REDS - OSMAN OMER told me, in reply to a long series of questions, that Bulgaria changed overnight after the Russians entered. "The first thing the Russians did was to change our money," he said. "We had to turn in all our money and get new money, thus they knew how much money each man had. I was allowed 12,000 levas for my family of three. Then every farmer was given a crop quota and if he didn't raise that much and turned it into the government, he had to buy it from someone else or go to, jail for one year. My cow didn't have a calf so gave no milk and'I had to buy my quota of milk on the market and give it to the government. another time. My wheat crop was short so I bought a gasoline can of wheat to fill my quota. "There was no use hiding anything from the Communists," Os- man continued. "They sent their inspectors around immediately after the crops were harvested." "Are there many Russians in Bulgaria?" I asked. "Not now or at least we don't see them. At first they were every- where. Then they trained Bulgarian Communists to take over. Re- cently I heard from Varna however that Russian troops had moved in so many numbers that there was a shortage of bread." "What is the percentage of Communists in Bulgaria?" "About 10 per cent, maybe 5 per cent, chiefly people who want good jobs in case of war." N ERSTWHILE opponent has recklessly flouted my ability to °ommand my emotions. (One would suspect, if one were una- ware, that student elections were upon us.) To his initial query, i.e., "How an B. S. :Brown compare Han- lon Won't Go with such univer- sally acclaimed masterpieces as A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear?", I indignantly re- tort: I can. I did. And what's more, I am going to repeat my perceptive comment, unafraid, stalwartly flinging my quill into the breach with steady hand: "In the past . .. . I have re- commended several productions. By all odds, "Hanlon Won't Go" deserves that special recommen- dation AS A PLAY which I would assign to such recent productions as "La Boheme," Midsummer Night's Dream," and the Oxford Players' presentations of "King Lear" and "The Alchemist." I have spoken. How dare this criticizing indi- vidual question my innate pre- rogative of fearlessly setting my own standards? Universal acclaim is mob-like in character. The words of infinite wisdom which I, dauntlessly, have written are the glorious product of democra- tic individuality. Is this not the true American tradition? Can we abridge the freedom of the individual to ex- press his innermost thoughts? Without endangering the demo- cratic process, can we carelessly infringe upon the freedom of the press? I'm confident my idols, Pegler, Sokolsky and Lewis, Jr., would stand behind me in this trial and tribulation. I sense an invasion of my rights, and I am a native-born American, too. I cannot sit idly by and allow freedom to be flushed down the drain. I suspect my critic of question able political leanings-his dia' lectical attack is fraught with danger. A recurrence of the type lette shall force me to an irrevocable decision-to demand an investiga- tion. The dignity of rugged indivi- dualism must be maintained. -B. S. Brown * * * Stockwell Ruling ... To the Editor: HERE HAVE been certain mis conceptions on the new ruling on conduct in the Stockwell lounge it seems. This is written not t defend or criticise the rulings, bu solely to clarify them. In the first place, no definit rulings have been issued. Instea the girls were told to treat th lounge as their living room, bu to remember that it is also th D'ing room of five hundred othe girls. And these girls might b entertaining members of thei family. The suggestion about keepin two feet on the floor was mad not to save the upholstry, but a a hint for keeping within th bounds of good taste. Furthermore, there are n "monitors-on virtue . patrols i the lounge; eagle-eyed for fee which are not on the carpet, an other such examples of gross imi morality." Instead, the girls ar expected to be mature enough t respect the standards of decenc without being told exactly whE they are. PRESIDENT Alexander Ruth- ven's pleasant chat with the students at Gulantics last Satur- day night brought home an ur- gent and timely question to our minds: Who will be the next president of the University of Mi- chigan? Whether it is the place of stu- dents to offer a suggestion, or whether we may be able to sway the verdict of those who will make the choice, we cannot be certain. But we feel we cannot sit back and just wait without doing our best to point out the needs of Michigan in this department. What Michigan needs is spirit! Good old school spirit which will make every student proud of his school in all ways. Spirit which will get capacity crowds to every pep rally, athletic event, program of student entertainment, and so- cial event. Spirit which will make everyone wants to remember his college years with an Ensian, as well as a few issues of the Garg- oyle. Spirit which Michigan has sacrificed for academic prowess, yet which it can regain without damaging this coveted prestige. Sir, we believe we can suggest. the one and only man for ourk next University president. He is a man who has already done much' to enliven our school spirit. He is a man who can once again re- store the friendly and congenial atmosphere we have lost, of which X other colleges in Michigan boast. He is a man who will see the stu- dents' needs, and will work with them in doing everything in his. power to throw off the shackles t which have kept Michigan from preserving these desired attri- butes. Yes, we have the man; let's every student get behind our friend H. O. "Fritz" Crisler, and I make him, through overwhelming decision of the student body, the next president of the U. of M. Students, let's make our cry: "We want Pritz!" -Chuck Vinkemulder, '53 Roy Wagner, '52 Milt Meier, '54E EVENTS OF INTEREST IN TOWN THIS WEEKEND: SPORTS BASKETBALL-Michigan faces Indiana tomorrow; they're near the top of the lad- der, but were last year, when we beat thwn. At the Field House, 7:30 p.m. HOCKEY against Michigan State at the Coliseum, 8 p.m. tomorrow. Even tiddle- de-winks between the two schools should prove interesting, though this should be a good match. GYMNASTICS with the University of Illi- nois tomorrow at 8 p.m., Sports Bldg. s s DANCES ASSEMBLY BALL, to a "Show Boat" setting, tomorrow night. Features Phil Bres- toff and orchestra, imported from Detroit;' a girl-bid affair; Little Club will serve re- freshments. At the League, 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. today. WINDY WHIRL at the Union, with Frank Tinker's orchestra, tomorrow from 9 p.m. to *midnight. MUSIC BEETHOVEN SONATAS will be perform- ed in a faculty recital tonight at 8:30 in th' Rackham Lecture Hall; performers are Ma- bel Rhead Field, pianist, and Gilbert Ross, violinist. Auspices of the School of Music. * *' * DRAMA BILL of ONE-ACTS, two of them stu- dent-written, tonight at 8, Lydia Mendels- sohn Theatre. See Review this page. ARTS THEATRE CLUB production of Sarte's "The Respectable Prostitute" and Noel Coward's "Red Peppers." Said by all to be excellently staged and acted. Sarte's op- us, the major work of the evening, concerns race relations in the South and their effect on the title character of the play. At the Club's own theater, 2091/2 E. Washington St., 8:30 p.m. Admission only to Club members and their guests. MOVIES I KNOW WHERE I'M GOIN", starring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesay. Presented by the SL Cinema Guild and the Student Religious Association. See Review this page. BITTER RICE, said to be served piping hot, at the Orpheum tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday. THE MAGNIFICIENT YANKEE, starring Louis Calhern and Ann Harding, is a gentle comedy of character centering on the char- acter of the late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. At the Michigan starting tomorrow. VENDETTA, introducing Howard Hughes' latest star, Faith Domergue, is set in Cor- sica in 1825. The Daily reviewer called it "little more than a fairly near miss." To- nigh+ + + ,.tihgan. .4 D~ RAMA I , At Lydia Mendelssohn.. THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS: Final Returns by James Gregory; Morgue Duty, by Al- bert H. Nadeau; and The Flies, by Jean- Paul Sartre. Presented by the Department of Speech. NONE OF THE three one-acts being of- fered this week at the Lydia Mendel- ssohn seemed to me to be worthy of much hopeful comment, and only one of them attained to anything like the merest level of competence. Leading off was a student-written play, Final Returns, by James Gregory. In it Mr. Gregory is concerned with the prob- lem of whether justice exists all by itself somewhere, inflexible and immutable, or whether it is somehow often modified by the circumstances which surround it. Unfortunately, Mr. Gregory makes much more of this problem than he needs to. He peoples the story with an unnecessary number of characters, permits too many of them wordy and repetitious speeches to explain to each other and to the audience why they think what they think, and re- solves the whole thing with a synthetic bit of melodrama. One is left with the impression that Mr. Gregory is unwilling to trust his audience to see anything all by themselves. Participating in the performance were, among others, William Hadley, Richard Teneau, and Lloyd Kaiser. Their perform- ances were uniformly poor. Final Returns was followed by Morgue Duty, a brief ghost story by Albert Nadeau, another student. It proved to be the only item on the bill which aroused the audience from its doldrums. It did this by suggesting that odd things can happen even to the most phlegmatic of morgue attendants. There is automatically a kind of nervous humor in making jokes in the presence of a large number of corpses. Mr. Nadeau capitalizes upon this fact, much of his wit running along the "one nice thing about dead people is that they're so quiet" sort of thing, and follows it up with a reasonably entertaining situation involving bodies be- ing taken for living persons, and vice versa. Arsenic and Old Lace is about the best example I can think of of how funny you can be with death, and Mr. Nadeau's humor is never of that quality. The reasonably simple roles of the three morgue attendants were undertaken by Arthur Nevins, Paul Bagrow, and John Daugherty, all with a certain amount of - - - nac Best Hope WHEN WE come to realize the nature of the conflict and the issues that are at take, we too will know that we have still to fulfill our promise to mankind. We will know that now, more truly than when Lincoln spoke, "we shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth." -Henry Steele Commager 1 V. 4'V * * * I - BULGARIANS DO NOT WANT WAR - "TO WHAT EXTENT would the Bulgarian army fight?" "Not much," was Osman Omer's opinion. "Nobody in Bulgaria' wants war except the Communists. Young Communists have been giv- en the best jobs in the Bulgarian army and they would fight but a lot of others are given construction jobs because the Communists know they won't fight." I asked Osman if he ever listened to the Voice of America. He said he didn't because all radios were confiscated but fre- quently he learned from others what the voice said. Osman was vague about the United Nations, said he thought it was a combination of countries fighting on one side in Korea with about twelve nations excluded. He did not seem to know that the C IINIEMA 1 7 7 La n J Architecture Auditorium I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING with Wen- dy Hiller and Roger Livesey. HAVE ANY OF you kids seen J. Arthur Rank lately? If he could be persuaded to use his considerable influence with the Home Office to get me out of the Hebrides and safely back home to mother, I'd appre- ciate it. For the past month, I've been buffeted about by the twin forces of the eternal Scottish gale and elemental Scottish pas- sions; participated in one of the most mon- umental binges in cinema history; listened to the skirling of the pipes and watched the swirling of the kilts until I'm nearly; dizzy. Frankly, I think we've overstayed our visas just a wee bit. This is not to say that, taken singly, these pictures have not been good, but rather that a change in pace is to be United Nations functioned regarding other matters aside from Korea. No hapless lass is dragged be- Apparently he had not heard about our December reverses in Korea fore the council and put on so- perhaps because he didn't listen to the Moscow radio. cial probation. Instead she will "To listen to Moscow," he said, "You had to belong to the Com- be talked to, if she is a habitual munist party and be admitted to the clubhouse where they sat and offender, and reminded that any listened to the radio. resident of the dorm is respon- * * * sible to the other residents for - FRIENDLY TOWARD AMERICANS-BRITISH - eeyong the lounge a place w er SMAN SAID that Bulgarians had the friendliest feelings toward without being embarrassed. Americans and British and were awaiting for these two nations to Also we would like to make liberate them. clear that the house directors are not members of the council. They This feeling was held by most people, he said despite con- serve solely as advisors without stant Communist propaganda that America was bleeding Greece vote or veto. and Turkey white under the Marshall Plan and that people In Stockwell has been able to with- those countries were starving. stand other crises within the last "Finally," Osman said, he "became so harassed by Communists" decade, and it is the feeling of he decided to try his luck in Turkey. "All. my neighbors said, 'Let us its residents that it will be able know how you find things in Turkey and we will come too,' concluded to withstand this one too. the man who but one hour before had passed through the iron curtain. -Eva C. Stern (Copyright, 1951, by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.) Inge C. Wolff Sixty-First Year Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan under the authority of the Board in Control of Student Publications. Editorial Staff Jim Brown .......Managing Editor Paul Brentlinger............City Editor Roma Lipsky......... Editorial Director Dave Thomas ..........Feature Editor Janet Watts.. ...,.,,..Assoclate Editor Nancy Bylan..........Associate Editor James Gregory........Associate Editor Bill Connolly............Sports Editor Bob San dell.... Associate Sports Editor Bill Brenton.. . .Associate Sports Editor Barbara .lans..........Women's Editor Pat Brownson Associate Women's Editor Business Staff Bob Daniels ......... Business Manager Walter Shapero Assoc. Business Manager Paul Schaible....Advertising Manager Bob Mersereau..... Finance Manager Bob Miller . -.. ...Circulation Manager Telephone 23-24-1 Member of The Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches creditea to it or otherwise credited to this newspaper. All rights of republication of all other matters herein are also reserved. Entered at the Past Office, at Ann Arbor. Michigan as second-class mail matter. Subscription during regular school year: by carrier. $6.00; by mail, $7.00. '4 4 t. BARNABY Mom, will you give Gus the Ghost some new sheets for the ones that got stolen? ... My Fairy Godfather says if you don't Gus can sue us. Oh, an imaginary Ghost can't win q law suit over some imaginary sheets, Barnaby. f He hasn' a ghost i was afraid your folks might take just suchyan unrealistic view of their predicament! It makes things difficult! Tsski i A'