EAGE FOUR
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
1 ULSDAY, OCTOBER 7,195Z
N a ' -- -- __.. . ... ..... . ... .. .. . .
{ 1
T~ t~ b D A ~ O C-OB E - 7, 195
A Defense of Sorority Rushing
DORIS FLEESON:
A STRANGE and rather distorted picture
of sorority rushing, written by Donna
Hendleman, appeared Sunday in the edi-
torial columns of The Daily, attempting to
picture a horrible Panhellenic Association
reaching out and forcing innocent fresh-
man women to be chained to the life of
Greek Sisterhood.
There were many factors which Pan-
hellenic considered before it decided to
abolish the previous system of deferred
rushing, many of which were omtted from
Miss Hendleman's list.
For one, Panhellenic assumed that fresh-
man coeds upon entering the University
were intelligent, grown-up women. capable
of deciding for themselves whether they
would choose to become affiliated with a
small campus group or remain in the Uni-
versity dormitories.
In addition, it was felt that fall rushing
would give freshman coeds the opportunity
to compare smultaneously, the sorority sys-
tem with the dormitory system. Under the
deferred rushing program, women in the
dormitories were subjected to a semester
of rumors and wild gossip about the evils
of sorority life.
The fall system was purposely set up
so that it would not interfere with orien-
tation week activities. There were two free
days during the period to allow coeds to
catch up in their work. The new sets of
outdoor suppers, which would be impos-
sible in February, were during the dinner
hour, permitting rushees to spend only
a little more time at the sorority houses
than they would at dinner in the dorm.
There was no reason why any rushee
should have been overly tired.
In fact, the out-door parties and more re-
laxed atmosphere of this year's new rush-
ing program have made rushing more en-
joyable than ever before. Meanwhile, rushees
have made hundreds of new acquaintances.
This could hardly be a "painful process' to
campus women.
Even those coeds who went through rush-
ing, but who, for lack of accommodations
were not able to pledge a house, have added
to their list of friendships. Contrary to pop-
ular opinion, no true sorority woman would
scorn a coed she had met in rushing because
that person was not pledged. As to having
the door to social success closed in the faces
of the unpledged, that idea has long since
been out-dated. Opportunities for independ-
ent women are still abundant.
The sororities sincerely feel that with
fall rushing they can help their new
pledges to become even more happily ori-
ented to Michigan. Sororities will make
every effort to see that fewer freshman
women fail to make their academic
grades by helping them to become adjust-
ed to this institution. (Sororities consist-
antly maintain a higher scholastic average
than independent dormitories.)
The entire idea of the contact rules was
treated lightly by Miss Hendleman. She
failed to see that the abolishment of these
rules was important enough to be a deciding
factor in starting the new rushing system.
The sorority women felt that these rules
were more than merely "poor"-they felt
such rules should be eliminated entirely, ex-
cept during the rushing period.
No one relished the idea that under a
deferred rushing system, affiliates and in-
dependents alike were forced to remain
in their own circle of friends. Now, the
contact rules are gone and sorority wom-
en can go into the dormitories and renew
or find new friendships with independent
women without the threat of a fine. It
would seem that this fact alone would
warrant the change in the rushing system.
All in all, it seems that fall rushing is an
innovation which has abolished many of the
weaker points of the sorority system.
Daily Associate Women's Editor
-Mary Jane Mills
MATTER OF FACT:
Democratic Strategy Going
Awry; Adlai Not Registering
Indignant HST
Lamb asts Ike
ABOARD TRUMAN TRAIN-When and
why did President Truman decide that
it was morally defensible and politically pru-
dent to draw a bead on General Eisenhower's
halo? Is it "just politics" or does he really
mean it?
Informed sources aboard this train as-
sert that the President knows exactly what
he is doing, that he feels General Eisen-
hower asked for it-and not just by a-
cepting the Republican nomination for
the presidency, either.
It was not, after all, too long ago that
Mr. Truman planned to appeal for Ike's
election from the same back platform which
dally resounds to his charges that the Gen-
eral is a pliant captive of special interests,
ignorant of the public business, and cold to
the human needs of the American people.
Mr. Truman is a partisan Democrat, vast-
ly stimulated by the hustings and the seas
of upturned faces. Yet he is equally famous
for another quality-loyalty to his friends.
It is his cross and his crown.
The General, of course, rebuffed the
Democrats and embraced the party that
the President says firmly never did right
by our Nell and never will. When he blazes
away at Ike, however, there is no trace of
a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger mood
about Mr. Truman: mayhem is his object
and he clearly hopes to attain it.
Aides report that the President first be-
came disillusioned with his five-star General
during the fight last spring for the military
security budget. Senator Taft had rallied
his forces for a deep cut; a $1,000,000 com-
promise was in the air. The Administration,
battling hard, waited hopefully for Eisen-
hower's word, doubly important since he was
both NATO commander and a potential pre-
sident with increased influence among Re-
publicans.
* * *
General Eisenhower, they now recall, sent
a tepid message which the President felt in-
consistent with his command position and
his stated belief in collective security. It
seemed to the President then that he Gen-
eral was playing politics with a foreign pol-
icy he had helped to shape and which he
was duty bound to protect and defend.
Far from improving in that respect, in
the Truman view, the General has increas-
ingly adopted the Taft Republican line on
foreign policy. The General's domestic con-
servatism compounds the felony, as seen by
the President. It has also made it possible
for Truman to rake him fore and aft with
his best whistle-stopping technique.
The President continues relaxed and
confident. His attacks on the General
vary but they are not the more restrained.
At Seattle he bored into Eisenhower as a
Taft captive in foreign affairs wh o made
no spectacular economies when Chief of
Staff; at Tacoma he needled him as a
beneficiary of a socially secure military
system who doesn't want others to have
security.
Until Seattle at least he was heckled only
once when he turpentined Ike. At Wenat-
chee a small group of boys about high-school
age visibly resented it and replied sharply.
Certainly he is taking a political risk, but
people are listening and with close attention.
(Copyright, 1952, by the Bell Syndicate)
"THE RELATION of the sexes ... is really
the invisible central point of all action
and conduct, and peeps out everywhere in
Spite of all veils thrown over it. It is the cause
of war and the end of peace; the basis of
what is serious, and the aim of the jest; the
inexhaustible source of wit, the key of all
allusions, and the maning of all mysterious
hints."
-Schopenhauer
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily
are written by members of The Daily staff
and represent the views of the writer only.
This must be noted in all reprints.
NIGHT EDITOR: HARRY LUNN
--Daily-Allen Jackson
Daily Critic
By JOSEPH ALSOP
)BOARD THE PRESIDENT'S CAMPAIGN
TRAIN -Aboard this extraordinary
train of Harry S. Truman's, it is frankly ad-
mitted that the Democratic campaign stra-
tegy has gone slightly awyr.
The idea, of course, was for Gov. Adlal
E. Stevenson to make his mark with the
voters during September, while the Presi-
dent kept silent. Then, with Stevenson'
already established as a major national
personality, the President was to get in
his licks, as he is now doing.
What has gone wrong is that the Illinois
Governor has somehow failed to register
really vividly with the broad mass of the
electorate. You discover this failure among
the amazing crowds that run out every-
where for Truman. Although the President
himself is unfailingly generous, the Steven-
son failure is acknowledged by the more
realistic members of Truman's own entour-
age. It has been much discussed by the
Democratic candidates and attendant poli-
ticiarA who have swarmed through this
train from Montana onwards.
The truth is that out in this part of the
country at least, Adlai Stevenson still re-
mains a fairly dim figure to most of the
people who will go to the polls only a month
from now.
The trouble does not seem to be that Ste-
venson's speeches have been too elevated or
too "high level," although a tough, more po-
litical pugnacity might have helped. Judg-
ing by all the signs, the trouble is that only
a few of the voters have either heard or
read what Stevenson has had to say.
In part, it had better be confessed, the
blame lies with the newspapers and allied
businesses. They have gone all-out to
build up Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, while
merely according Stevenson the limited
privilege of a chilly hearing.
Eisenhower was a nationally advertised
product long before the campaign began.
Stevenson was not well-known except in
Illinois, and had no ready-made audience.
Thus the almost unanimous coldness of the
engines of publicity has been a particularly
heavy handicap to the Illinois Governor.
In part, however, the fault is clearly Ste-
venson's. His handicap was plain from the
start. The way to overcome the handicap
was also plain-by vigorously and imagina-
tively exploiting Stevenson's remarkable ra-
dio and television personality from the be-
ginning. He ought to have built his cam-
paign around regular and frequent fireside
chats, plus perhaps national question pro-
grams. These would have concentrated at-
tention on him, and have gfven meaning to
the scattered shots of his cross country cam-
paigning.
The value of this method was early
discussed at Stevenson headquarters. It
has at last been recognized, according to
report, because of the success of Steven-
son's fireside talk from Springfield a few
days- ago.
It is a bit late now, however, to get the
original Stevenson-Truman strategy into
working order again. Truman is stumping
now, and with great effectiveness if one can
judge by his huge and enthusiastic audi-
ences. With the President marching across
the county, pouring it on the Republicans
with inexhaustible vigor, it will be hard for
to see and hear Truman plainly remember
that the General has been saying some pret-
ty hard things about the President.
They see nothing improper in Truman
giving as good as he has got. They also
note a lot of unpleasant truth in Tru-
man's untiring recitals of the record of
the Republicans in Congress on such lo-
cally burning issues as public power. Thus
far, Truman's homely, tough campaign.
ing looks to be going over big. Meanwhile
other Democratic big guns are beginning
to fire, and some of them, especially
Senator Estes Kefauver, will have great
importance out here.
This is happening, moreover, at a time
when the decision of the electorate appears
to balance on a knife edge. Most of the poll-
sters say this is not the case, reporting a
wide lead for Gen. Eisenhower. Only Elmo
Roper has announced that fully half the
electorate has not finally made up its mind,
with the other half dividing 27 per cent for
Eisenhower and 23 per cent for Stevenson.
Roper may be alone among the professionals,
of the polling art. But his analysis exactly
coincides with the findings of this reporter
and the many other reporters on the Tru-
man train.
Between them, the large group of re-
porters on this train must have asked a
good many thousands of people about their
voting intentions in these last weeks. All
agree that the proportion of undecided
answers (some, of course, showing lean-
ings in one direction or the other) is at
least half of the total.
Maybe this huge undecided mass of voters
will at last be won over by Gen. Eisenhow-
er's ringing denunciations of corruption,
Communism and bungling. But it is also
possible that continued sounding of these
somewhat general themes, mingled with ap-
peals to the Taft Republicans, will cause
the undecided voters to grow suspicious of
Republican intentions. The President is
working hard to implant just such suspi-
cions.
(Copyright, 1952, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.)
LOS ANGELES-Here are the inside facts on General Eisenhower's
book, "Crusade in Europe," and the much-discussed capital-
gains tax which the Bureau of Internal Revenue granted him.
The ruling is estimated to have saved Ike in the neighborhood
of half a million dollars. Later, Congress adopted an amendment
closing the loophole.
After a preliminary talk with Internal Revenue, Eisenhower wrote
a letter to Undersecretary of the Treasury Archibald Wiggins on Dec.
20, 1947 outlining the following facts:
"Certain publishers have urged me to write a personal memoir
of the war years.
"The proposal is that the publisher take in one transaction the
complete bundle of rights. The sale would completely divorce me
from further control over the manuscript. It would produce no fur-
ther income to me.
"I am not a professional writer in any sense of the word.
"I am anxious to comply with every requirement of the law."
Eisenhower then asked the question: "Will the Treasury De-
partment regard this transaction as a capital gains or as income?"
On Dec. 22, 1947-two days later-which was extremely fast
action for the Treasury, Commissioner of Internal Revenue Scho-
eneman gave Eisenhower a reply. Ordinarily a reply on a matter
of this kind does not come for a month-frequently longer.
Schoeneman wrote that Eisenhower's book looked like a capital
asset transaction, but pointed out that. Ike would have to hold the
completed manuscript six months after its completion before selling
it, if he was to get a capital gain.
RICHBERG IKE'S "ADVISER"
QEVEN DAYS LATER, on Dec. 29, Donald Richberg, a partner of
Ambassador Joseph E. Davies who first suggested the capital-
gains tax to Eisenhower, wrote Commissioner.Schoeneman:
"I am acting as volunteer adviser to General Eisenhower in re-
gard to his memoirs."
Richberg then proceeded to raise some technical questions
about the capital-gains tax, apparently to make sure that Ike's
contract with the publishers would contain the clauses necessary
to insure a capital-gains tax.
The General then waited nearly a year. In this time the book
was completed, and, after completion, it was held six additional
months. Then he wrote another letter to Internal Revenue. Com-
missioner Schoeneman replied, Dec. 7, 1948:
"You state you completed 'Crusade in Europe' on March 24, 1948,
that you held the manuscript and all rights for more than six months
after completion, and that on Oct. 1, 1948 you sold the book to Double-
day and Doran, Inc... . all rights to the book.
"In view of the above you request that the gains be classified as
long-term capital gains.
"This office will recommend the approval of a closing agree-
ment on the following basis:
"The manuscript entitled 'Crusade in Europe' completed by you
on March 24, 1948, was a capital asset within the meaning of Sect.
117 (A) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, and the amount of $635,000
received by you upon the sale of the manuscript constitutes a long-
term capital gain,"
U.S. OF AMERICA VS. U. OF S. AFRICA
IT HAS BEEN carefully hushed up, but South Africa has threatened
to pull her troops out of Korea. The reason, far removed from
Korea, is racial segregation.
The threat will be carried out, Premier Malan has warned,
if the United States supports the Arab demand for an investiga-
tion of racial segregation in South Africa.
The loss of the South African troops would have little effect on
the UN military strength in Korea. But it would be the first break
in the united front, and a severe psychological blow.
Inside story is that the Arab nations-including also India, Pak-
istan, Indonesia and Burma-have asked the United Nations to in-
vestigate the South African policy of "apartheid," or discrimination
against nonwhites.
This is a hot domestic issue in South Africa, so, in an effort
to block the UN investigation, Premier Malan has resorted to
diplomatic blackmail, threatening to pull his troops out of Korea
and embarrass the United States before the world if we support
the Arab move.
The issue is still hanging over the heads of the American delega-
tion at the United Nations.
KOREA BECOMES "CHINA"
IT HASN'T leaked out to the public, but Russia has turned Korea
over to the Chinese Communists as a "military protectorate."
This was the chief result to the Sino-Russian talks in Moscow
last month.
What all this adds up to is that Korea, in the Communist scheme
of things, is not a province of Red China. In other words, even the
satellites are acquiring their own satellites now.
(Copyright, 1952, by the Bell Syndicate)
Sororities .. .
To the Editor:
I WISH I had a nickel for every
letter The Daily is going to get
in regard to Donna Hendleman's
editorial on rushing. Well, here's
one more vehement reply.
As a member of a sorority, let me
say I more than agree with Miss
Hendleman's letter, and I say more
than agree because I have a few
things to add. First, may I take
this time to congratulate all of
the sororities on making their quo-
tas through fall rushing, but may
I add that it isn't worth it on ei-
ther side!
From the sorority's point of view,
there are far too many girls to
pick from. I met hundreds, and I
mean hundreds, of wonderful,
sweet, charming girls at rushing,
and when it came time for me to
chose the ones I wanted to live
with, I was so confused I almost
decided to close my eyes and chose
blindly. But because I had to lim-
it my choice, about five out of
eight girls got the door "closed in
their faces," and not too politely or
gently as Miss Hendelman said in
her editorial.
From the rushee's standpoint,
there is no chance to decide be-
tween dorm and sorority life.
Many of the girls who were hurt
by being turned out would have,
by February decided to remain in
the dorm where they were quite
happy their first semester. Fur-
thermore, by February the girls
would have made friends in the
dorms and wouldn't feel so alone
when refused by the sororities. As
it stands now, the rushhees who
were dropped, in many instances
didn't have a close friend in the
dorm to help them mend their
damaged pride.
If soroities are on their way out,
then let them die naturally. They
will pyway, no matter what Pan-
hellenic does to try and save them.
If it's more important for the so-
rorities to fill their quotas at all
cost to the befuddled rushee, then
I'm against the whole mess, and
would rather see sororities abol-
ished.
The funny thing is I've loved ev-
ery moment of my sorority living,
but the fact is I probably would
have loved every moment of dorm
living too. So let the rushee choose
between independence and affilia-
tion-and give them time to do it!!
Back to February rushing.
-Ann Lewis '53
* * -
Sororities , , ,
'o the Editor:
HIS IS IN PROTEST to Donna
Hendleman's article, "Sorority
Rushing."
You refer, Miss Hendleman, to
Pan-Hellenic Association as an
"avaricious grasping" group "fear-
ful for its life." There is nothing
whatever to stand behind this bit-
ing mis-statement. You say the
"victims" (rushees) were "forced"
to rush - Sorority rushing is
entirely a free-will proposition.
Then you describe the series of
parties as "gruelling, often degrad-
ing and frenzied." This is a tiring
process, it does have some unhap-
py results for both rushees and
rushers, and certainly there are
pressing moments of indecision
which cause confusion. However,
in your attempt to produce a
forceful article, you have increased
the intensity of your adjectives to
untruth.
Miss Hendleman, have you ever
gone through rushing yourself?
Many independent women with no
desire to pledge, go to the first
two sets of parties just for the op-
portunity of meeting people and
making friends. If rushing were
truly a "prey on confusion, ignor-
ance and helplessness," as you
claim it to be, they would not do
this.
Now, we come to the point which
you claim is the basis for your
vicious attack . . . that deferred
rushing would be the "lesser evil"
and therefore better than the new
system. Your obvious underlying
reason for this, throughout the
whole article, is that with deferred
rushing less people "sign them-
selves over to a life of Greek sis-
terhood." In your estimation this
is good. How can you even dare to
insinuate such a thing when you
have no comprehension of what
living in a so-called "Greek sis-
terhood" is like?
With the new sytem of rushing,
the length of time spent at so-
rorities was less than before; how-
ever, the actual time spent getting
to know the girls was greatly in-
creased by the fact that no time
was wasted on skits. The informal-
ity and better weather are assets to
the new plan which can't be ig-
nored.
With rushing placed in the fall,
twice as many girls were able to
take part. With rushing placed in
the fall, girls will be free for a
much needed vacation after first
semester final exams. With rush-
ing placed in the fall, all tension is
now over with. With rushing
placed in the fall there is no long-
er the wall of contact rules which
previously existed for half the
year between independent and af-
filiated women.
I feel sure that such an on-
slaught of unfair and untrue
words as Miss Hendleman put
forth can not attract believers. I
strongly advocate the new system
of rushing and hope it will con-
tinue.
-Mary Ann Alexander
* * *
Full Speed Ahead...
To the Editor
CONTRARY to what one of The
Daily critics wrote of the cur-
rent movie "Fearless Fagen," I be-
lieve it was terrific. Nowadays, we
have enough of deep conflicts,
murderers, cowboys, and Indians,
and just plain cheap muck. I think
that "Fearless Fagen" is a wel-
come change. Not only was it light,
cute, and had a good touch of hu-
mor; but I think, very clever.
I think the lion has Lassie beat
by a mile and doesn't try to draw
your sympathy quite so much. It
was very realistic to me because
Janet Leigh didn't fall for the
lion-friendship story for a long
time. And she really neededucon-
vincing as we certainly would in
our every day life.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think
the American public needs a lot
more pictures like "Fearless Fag-
en" and its wonderful lightheart-
edness.
-Alison Thomas
T p Try. .
To the Editor:
CORRECTION PLEASE! A few
Dailies back, there was an edi-
torial, bemoaning the lack of a
non-partisan political organization
on campus. The new Campus
League of Women Voters is set up
to help fulfill this need. The
C.L.W.V. attempts to stimulate in-
terest in government irrespective
of party affiliation. Not only is
the C.L.W.V. interested in national
politics, but in state, local and
campus government as well. Our
present project is voter's service
in the coming election, which will
include such activities as absentee
ballot information, and instruction
in using the new voting machines.
The C.L.W.V. gives all women
students, regardless of age, a
chance to become well-informed
citizens.
Isn't this the type of Y-I the
campus is looking for?
-Marie Abendrotts
Acting President,
C.L.W.V.
3ir~~gtnhof
tP. t I~t tI
etteP4 TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters of
general interest, and will publish ail 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.
4
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CURRENTMOViES 14
Sixty-Third Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Crawford Young ..,...Managing Editor
Cal Samra.........Editorial Director
Zander Holander......Feature Editor
Sid Klaus ...... Associate City Editor
Harland Britz .........Associate Editor
Donna Hendleman ....Associate Editor
Ed Whipple ............. Sports Editor
John Jenks ... Associate Sports Editor
Dick Sewell ....Associate Sports Editor
Lorraine Butler ....... Women's Editor
Mary Jane Mills, Assoc. Women's Editor
- Business Staf f
Al Green ...........Business Manager
Milt Goetz......Advertising Manager
Diane Johnston ...Assoc. Business Mgr.
Judy Loehnberg.Finance Manager
Tom Treeger ,...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 credited to it or
otherwise credited to thisnewspaper.
All rights of republication of all other
matters herein are also reserved.
Entered at the Post Office at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, as second-class mal
matter.
Subscription during regular school
year: by carrier, $6.00; by mail, $7.00.
At The Michigar...
JUST FOR YOU, with Bing Crosby and Jane
Wyman.
PRESENTING the usual lavish outlay of
songs and dances, this musical is con-
cerned with the family difficulties of a fa-
mous songwriter.
Bing Crosby realizes on the opening
night of his latest Brodway hit that he
is not being a very successful parent to
his motherless childen.
- His eighteen year old son, who yearns to
be a songwriter, resents his father's mo-
nopoly on the family fame. His daughter
wants to be admitted to a very exclusive
girls school, and is discouraged by her fa-
ther's low standing with The Five Hundred.
The son further complicates matters by fall-
ing in love with Jane Wyman, who is al-
ready solidly attached to Crosby.
Bing solves his daughter's problem fair-
ly easily by captivating Ethel Barrymore,
headmistress of the elite school, and per-
suading her to admit the girl. The son,
however, has to be made into a man by
the Air Force before he can get along with
father Bing.
The whole picture is made somewhat ri-
diculous by the son's preposterous callow-
ness. Added to this is Crosby's inability to
portray anything but lovable, casual old
Bing. Although this trait is pleasantly en-
tertaining by itself, it doesn't make for a
very cohesive dramatic structure.
The more extravagant musical portions of
the movie have practically no connection
with the plot, other than providing a meas-
ure of relief from it. For example, one elab-
orate dance tells the story of a Mexican peon
y
SMALL WORLD
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