Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY September 17, 1956 September 17, 1956 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PageSix HE MCHIGN DALY Sotemer 1rT/1 9V f September 17, 1956 THE MICHIGAN DAILY OF EGGHEADS AND MR. LUCE Teacher Sylvia Hamer is trying to "prepare a place for A Probing Analysis of the Campus Intellectual local people to dance, so they won't be running off to N By DAVID R. WEIMER SINCE my wife and I always like to know what the enemy is do- ing, we subscribe to Time maga- zine. I admit to a certain hand-1 tremor as I snake our copy from the mailbox each week. Except in the realm of social philosophy, Henry Luce is full of surprises. The second issue in June was loadedtwith social philosophy, but we got our twenty cents' worth anyway. On the red, white, blue, yellow and black cover: teacher (Teacher in America) -historian (Darwin, Marx and Wagner) - biographer (Berlioz and the Romantic Century) -ethnographer (Race: A Study in Modern Super- stition) -social critic (God's Coun- try and Mine) -myth critic (Ro- manticism and the Modern Ego) - music critic (Music in American Life) Jacques Barzun, 48, longtime (1927-56) teacher (Columbia Uni- versity) and "willowy" intellectual. "Willowy" (Time's word) suspi- ciously resembled "slippery," but it turned out that Time was all for Barzun. As Time saw it, he had proved himself a "Man of Affirm- ation," joyfully replacing the gloomy "Man of Protest." Pre- cisely what Affirmation is the anonymous writer (call him X) didn't say, though he made it pretty clear that the Affirming Intellectual tispe was optimistic, nationalistic, and neither very bookish nor very critical of Amer- ica. By "America"-Arthur Schles- inger, Jr. was happy to point out the following month in The New Republic-was meant "Mr. Luce's America." And Schlesinger testily observed that "those who say Yea to Emerson's America or Jackson's America or Lincoln's America might conceivably wish to say Nay to Time's America." The skirmish between Schles- inger and X might have been an equal one, were it not that for every melancholy reader of the New Republic, probably 50 readers breeze cheerily through Time, O COURSE, other Deep and Shallow Thinkers were in the battle too. A second Luce tentacle, Life magazine, writhed last Sep- tember in much the same direction as that of writer X. American novelists, declared X-1, should present a more "affirmative" pic- ture of America abroad. Robert Penn Warren, novelist, poet and (ah!) critic, attacked this argu- ment in the New York Times Book Review, apparently with such mortal effect that X-1 moved out of the grotto for only a feeble counter-attack in a subsequent is- sue of Life. It isn't just the commercial overtones of the Luce message that ought to perturb the public (in- cluding the Michigan student body), nor'the striking difference in bankroll that enables Life to sandwich that message between brightly-colored views of the Chrysler Imperial and Anita Ek- berg, while the Times Book Review' scrapes along on black-and-white woodcuts and The New Republic on black-and-manila snapshots and Herblock cartoons. What ought to stir even Light Thinkers is the bewildering spec- tacle of a mighty journalistic em- pire taking the stand in a period of unprecedented national eco- nomic prosperity and political and social stability that American in- tellectuals ought not to criticize too much. Is this Luce's "Ameri- can century"? Is this, in the words of X-2, "the most successful soci- ety in human history"? (Even the less conservative Har- per's carried an article in Febru- ary by the widely-publicized French Dominican priest, Ray- mond-Leopold Bruckberger, who pleaded a case quite similar in many respects to that of Time and Life. Harper's editorially disagreed with Bruckberger, but only mod- estly.) Wherever virtue may lie in this battle, the Affirmers may soon be pleased, if surprised, to discover that they have won. At the Uni- versity of Michigan, for instance. KNOWINGLY or not, what Time- Life-Fortune-Tide-Sports Illus- trated really wants is the abdica- vision appears to be well under way. An "intellectual"-if I may add my own definition to the pile of definitions under which countless, sociologists are already buried-is a human being who exploits thought primarily for its own sake. In the relatively free, pure, un- cluttered atmosphere of a univer- sity, this is what students are ex- pected to do 40 to 50 hours a week. They dissect frogs, not to exhibit their cruelty nor to sell the legs, but to understand better the prac- tice and (especially) the theory of science. They dissect Plato's Re- public, not to refute "communism" nor even to find out what's wrong with Detroit, but to watch the workings of a remarkable human mind. Now, really to study, to exploit thought, to follow ideas wherever they lead, requires that the young man or woman be highly detached from the things and persons around him, not just now and then, but for stretches of two or three hours several times a week. As every undergraduate knows, the thousand-guest, open-door barracks-hotels on campus hardly encourage this kind of detachment. Neither do the barnlike study halls in the General Library, nor the square, gray, formica-top tables (like the library tables, ranged in utterly straight lines) in the Mich- igan Union or the League (that "mass-feeding institution," as a shiny plaque near the cafeteria line boldly states), AND if the usual campus places for sleeping, eating, studying and relaxing conspire against the student's independent action and detachment, how much worse are other things in the gauntlet he runs. From the fantastic begin- ning at Waterman Gymnasium, where unarmed but grim-faced troops fight it out across the wooden barricades, to the equally fantastic ending at Ferry Field, where the regimentation of cap- as they do the kinship between academic and industrial institu- tions, no wonder they cry, "This place is a factory!" They're right - it is a factory. The architecture grows yearly more factory-like: compare Haven and Mason Hall with the doomed Romance Languages building, which is unquestionably more in- teresting and individual than either of its neighbors. Each se- mester, students are loaded into courses like cartridges into tin ammunition cans. Often they can't even ask for instruction from a particular teacher; they are given (again mathematics pre- vails over man) a "section." And then there are the Others. The Pretzel Bell Bohemians who pose with a tired cigarette, wear dirty-looking (but really clean) clothes, and talk about their Bon- go drums to avoid writing the play they are always about to begin. The Snack Bar conspirators who spend less time learning the com- plex lessons of European and Am- erican, political history than plotting the overthrow of their housemother. The fraternity re- fugees from freedom who can't visualize social life without bour- bon, campus life without cars, or post-graduate life without "con- tacts." These are the Groups, the Cliques, the Boys, the Girls, the Others who relentlessly crowd the student's independence, his de- tachment, his intellectual growth. W HY do Michigan undergradu- ates commonly devote. more attention to their clothes than to their minds, more to earning the approval of Others than to de- serving their own self-esteem? Is it the "basic need' to "get along (with others?" Nonsense. To a larger degree than we sometimes realize, ,peeds are what we think they are. Those who find a second womb in the System or in belong- ing to Others would naturally like everyone else to applaud this in- fant-like behavior. To achieve detachment or in- dependence, which is the neces- sary condition of being a real student, one must be conscious of these threats from without. tion of independent thought. gown-and-precision-handshake on- What this abdication would mean ly briefly replaces the drill of the in Ann Arbor is a subtle revision football team and the ROTC, of the idea of a "student" that Michigan undergraduates are most teachers and students at schooled not merely in the arts Michigan fortunately still cling to. and sciences, but in the spirit of What worries me is that this re- military discipline as well. Sensing He must also recognize that in- dependence comes not primarily from "affirmation," as Time-Life believes, but from Protest. Any one who finds himself excited by ideas and ventures onto the stony ground of hard thought soon re- alizes that merely to preserve his intellectual independence, he cannot simply leave the System and Others behind. They won't keep away from him. The student must actively (while responsibly) criticize both. For if he persists in thinking for himself, the winds of military discipline and group snobbery will blast him so harshly that criticism becomes at the very least a means to his self-preserva- tion, DIFFICULT as comparative free- dom from people and things is to maintain, at times it is likely to seem less difficult than the other task of the student, which is to gain independence by strengthening and sharpening his mind. Students, especially before they become sophomores, want to succeed on the university's terms, and to their emotions that means looking alive, being personable, and trying to show interest. "Soc- rates - oh, yes - uh, huh." For women: cross legs at the knees; for men: deodorant. Work hard, of course (hours at the books last night), but not ordinarily with the idea that the contours of one's brain are really going to change. My grade may change: my in- structor's opinion of me may change: but not my brain. Amer- ica and me: fixed forever in the mind of God. As the protesting 1930's dis- appear over the horizon, as the veteran's fervor after the second world war and the Korean war passes into history, and as I fade into middle age, each year strikes me as bringing more and more re cruits to the university who love the uniform and hesitate to wear their own clothes. To those who like the security that living in a tin can brings, I have nothing more to say. But to those who have it in them to hold the IBM and Time machines at a distance, to walk on the side of State Street opposite that sal- mon-pink brick edifice, to put first things - that is to say, the crea- tive and aware human being -- first, I would recommend the fol- lowing practical steps: 1) Join groups for relaxation, for frutiful or fruitless discussion, but don't make it a habit. Learn how to be anti-social. 2) Seek personal fame. Don't let the argument that you're just compensating for your deficiencies bother you. There are more im- portant things in the universe than scrutinizing the first three months of your life. 3) Carry out your responsibili- ties to others, but lead your own life. 4) Learn how to read. 5) Put some system into your daily routine, but keep it in its place. 6) Search out eccentrics among teachers and students: they can teach you courage, if nothing else. 7) Learn how to write. 8) If you have the guts, ignore grades completely. 9) Don't train yourself for a job or profession that pays well. After your salary reaches a cer- tain level, you're being paid for your soul. 10) Don't be "practical." Even the Bell Telephone Company is sending-its executives back to col- lege now for the impractical lib- eral arts education they missed. This is Mr. Weimer's first article for the Magazine See- tion. He isan instructor in the English department. FOR THE TOTS -- Priscilla Basom demonstrates a "Releve in cinquieime position," accomplished in three months of pointe work. Her young audience seems more interested in the photo- grapher. before they're ready" to meet competition in the dance w The Dream That Cook Built (Continued from Page 5) improvident housekeepper [Miss Bozorth is always asking for new equipment. "I don't undertand why you ask the Regents to investigate. They have ,troubles of their own and probably will not care to be bothered with the merits or de- merits of Miss Bozorth's manage- ment." At the end of September, 1937, Cook wrote, "I do not expect you to break your contract with Miss Bozorth ... but I do expect that my protest will be considered be- fore you make any contract for next year." Despite Cook's pro- test, Miss Bozorth was retained until November, 1929, when, bend- ing to Cook, the Lawyers Club re. leased her until September, 1933, when she was rehired. No Mystics . . THE New York lawyer was not above sarcasm in his dealings. In one particularly vitriolic letter written November 27, 1925, Cook says, "I note your statenent about my not comprehending your ac- counts but I defy gods and men to understand those accounts. It may be that some mystic of the middle ages might decipher them but certainly I cannot. I recognize and admit the limitations of my intellectual faculties, but I have the slight satisfaction of noting that your books do not enable you to tell how much you made last year, and that several changes have had to be made in your books 'with some resulting confusion.' "I should say so and hence do not put too much blame on me for my limited ability." The let- ter was one of the very few per- sonally signed. AN interesting note on Cook's gifts is that he always placed them as far beyond University control as possible. He attempted almost to create autonomous little kingdoms out og Martha Cook and the Lawyers Club. Whether this was done out of obstinacy or ad- herence to some high ideal is a matter for conjecture. It was, of course, necessary to keep a benefactor the size of Cook satisfied. Though it was no easy task, University and Law School officials gave it their all. Dean Bates, having earned Cook's deep respect, was a key figure and yet even the Dean was at times a subject of Cook's wrath, always over the pettiest of mat- ters. ON one occasion, July 23, 1926, Cook objected to Bates' hand- ling of a request by the Ann Arbor Bar Association to use the Law- yer's Club for meetings. He wrote, "His [Mr. Jones', then president of the association] re- quests are of course absurd. Bates should have referred to you Mr. Jones' letter to him of April 22 but instead of that Bates brought me in and made reflections on your board of directors. "I don't like it and if it occurs again I shall refer the matter to the Regents." And on another occasion a group of gargoylish projections, were bedecked with busts of Bates, President Hutchins and others. Enraged, Cook demanded, so the story goes, that the busts be re-' moved and replaced with those of ancient law figures. Tact &A Dreams . . A particularly difficult situation arose when Cook submitted an article for the Michigan Law Re- view. The article was poor. In a letter to the Regents' Committee on the Lawyers Club it was noted, "Not a member of the law faculty agrees with the conceptions of le- gal research set out by him in the article. We should therefore pre- fer not to publish it at all and if it came from anyone else should; reject the article. We desire, how- ever, to make every possible ef- fort toward cordial relations with Mr. Cook ...' Especially objectionable were invidious comparisons in the ar-i ticle and derogatory remarks con- erning Harvard. Cook, as mentioned earlier, was proud of his ability as an author. It was difficult to reject his man- uscript and a great deal of work went into it. The Regents were consulted and several drafts of the rejection notice written. In all, it took three typewritten pages to explain to Cook that his work was unsatisfactory. And the Law School offered to publish the article in pamphlet form to pla- cate the millionaire. In many instances letters re- flect the harassed attempts of the Lawyers Club Secretary to main- tain dignity while obsequiously answering Cook. IT is difficult at times to believe that the Cook who created one of the great Law Schools was the same man who feuded with a housekeeper 'for five years. It is stran'ge that the author of several books recognized as au- thorities in their field, was also the author of a rejected Law Re- view manuscript. The Cook who worked unceas- ingly to better the ethics and ideals of a profession was not above tearing down a sister law school. His letters portray a petty, dis- agreeable man. His speeches evi- dence depth and intelligence. His books mark him as a learned man. His benevolence indicates he did not dream idly. The cold, hard businessman who built a fortune was the same dreamer who would not return to campus for fear the dream would shatter. Yet, whatever else it may be, the story of Mr. Cook is undeni- ably the story of a man who spent eight million dollars on an ideal, and in the next breath demanded to know where $174 of it had gone. PREPARATION -- Miss Magoon tieing her pointe si the shoe come untied, she runs the risk of a severe ,i pointe" is the proper term for what is commonly refer MORE WORK NEEDED -- Martha Woodruff (left) shows in- correct position of "sur le cou de pied" which is placed too high on ankle. Suzanna Hedlesky demonstrates wrong raised hip and unturned heel of "retire," PROGRESS -- Miss Magoon (left) practices a stretch for "de- veloppe a la seconde sur la pointe." Bonnie Shigemasa does a "developpe a la seconde, a ila Barre"; as she studies more, she will eventually be able to perform the position Miss Magoon is demonstrating. AT THE BARRE--Miss Magoon practicing "