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September 17, 1956 - Image 6

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Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1956-09-17

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Aw A4bidpj ait
Sixty-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITT OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLDG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * PhoneNo 2-3241

I

pnlons Are Free,
Will Pre W*

orials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or
the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

DAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1956

NIGHT EDITOR: LEE MARKS

Faculty-Student Ratio
Needs More Attention

"])YE THINK th' colledges has much to do
with th' progress iv the wurrld?" asked Mr.
Hennessy.
"D'ye think," said M'. Dooley, "tis th' mill
that makes th' water run?"
Apparently Mr. Dooley's cynicism of univer-
sities has not spread far out of the pages of
Dunne's Colleges and Degrees. For today more
people are attending college than ever before.
An expected national rise in college students
in the next 20 years to six million, triple the'
present enrollment, has created serious prob-
lems for all but a few American universities.
In most colleges and universities there is no
longer debate on the question of whether these
increased numbers should be admitted. In tax-
supported institutions particularly the approach
has been in a "we've got to" vein with little
wasted energy spent deciding whether the
expanding enrollments can be handled without
harmning the institutions' educational standards.
IF PART of a citizen's taxes go to support
colleges in the state, his children should not
be denied ,the opportunity to attend one of
these colleges, provided they can satisfy the
entrance requirements.
And it. would be unfair to raise the require-
ments simply to limit enrollment. As yet,
moreover, there has been no conclusive evidence
to indicate that educational standards would
improve with limited enrollment.
So the leadersof the nation's institutions of
higher learning have centered their attention,
many resignedly, on methods of alleviating or
at least anesthetizing the growing pains.,
LONG-RANGt PLANT developments are be-
ing presented periodically to regents, trus-
tees and legislators and they include every-
thing from huge lecture halls to multi-storied
parking garages for student cars. The impas-
sioned pleas of college administrators have
begun to take effect and money is slowly being
allocated toward the material expansion of
universities.;
But here the planning has stopped. Rare is
the institution which has devoted thought to
increasing the strength of the horse to pull
the bigger college cart. Who is going to instruct
the increased number of students?
Here at the University the faculty-student
ratio is approximately one to thirteen. On the
assumption that this ratio will not increase,
as the administration claims, the University
must expand its faculty by no less than a thou-
sand in the next ten 'years of the planned
student enrollment increase is realized. Not
included in this thousand is the increase in
personnel necessary to handle the additional
administrative problems, to staff libraries and
maintain the plant.
The administration has answered critics of
increased enrollments by saying that educa-

tional standards will not deteriorate as long as
this faculty-student ratio does not increase.
But it has failed to state just where and how it
plans to obtain the additional faculty.
EVEN AT PRESENT the American universities
are not producing enough top scholars to
supply their own personnel requirements. And.
when the majority of these scholars are grabbed
up by government and business as they gradu-
ate, the problem is not lessened any.
Maintaining a good faculty-student ratio is
not so simple and it is questionable that the
administration really thinks it can be done.
Perhaps this easy promise has just proven an
effective block for most of the arguments
against a bigger student body.
At any ratethe University cannot rely on
its ability to attract top-rate educators to fill
future demands when there are not now enough
to go around. A better approach would be to
investigate ways of lessening the seriousness of
an increased faculty-student ratio.
Serious consideration should be given to in-
creasing the responsibility of the student to
educate himself. The student, in spite of what
many teachers and administrators seem to
think, is capable of accepting responsibility if
he is made to.
IF THE STUDENT knows what is expected of
him, he will act accordingly. If instructors
present detailed outlines of courses, if lecturers
rehash material obtainable in the library or
text, if a student's education is made as painless
as possible, he will accept it. But there is no
reason to believe that if the hand that holds the
spoon is taken away the student will starve t
instead of seeking the food for hirnslf.
If small demand is made of the student, the
return will be small. But if a student is treated
in a responsible and mature manner this also is
the way in which he will respond.
Many of the services which the University is
constantly expanding have become crutches to
a student body which for the most part is not
crippled. These services are making the student
less responsible. Students are capable of organ-
izing their own athletic contests (admittedly on
less of a monster scale) and of setting up their
own student government (though it may not be
perfect) as much as they are of helping to
educate themselves.
The disturbing fact is not only that students
would not suffer by doing these things, but
that they would actually develop more fully.
The mines of intellectual material to staff a
complex of universities undergoing growing
pains are not inexhaustable. Substitutes must
be found to meet increased enrollments. Educa-
tion must necessarily become more a student
responsibility and less a faculty spoon feeding.
-DICK SNYDER
Daily Managing Editor

"On This Order For A New Typewriter Ribbon--,#
Did You Know You Forg ot To Stamp It 'Secret'?"
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I

GUT AND GUTTER CYCLE:
American Public Insists
Movies Portray 'Life.
By ERNEST THEODOSSI
ISOLATIONISM, the intellectual and emotional tone for which Ameri-
cans have been long noted, has made its presence felt in the cinema
world just as conspicuously as it has in the sphere of international
politics.
The American film is traditionally an examinatidn of American
problems faced by American people and solved in the American way.
It is a kind of self-analytical approach to life, a determinatilon to find
everything within one's own being; moreover, it is generally presented
as part of a similarly patterned series or cycle of films, the pattern
concerned with specific problems that are confronting the nation at a
given time.
For example, during the thirties, the awareness of excessive
crime waves and slum areas reached it apexed manifestation in the

ENROLLMENT, HOUSING, SGC:
Students Should Understand Issues

gangster cycle. Essentially sopho-
moric, these films explained away
the difficulty of the segments of
society hit hardest by the eco-
nomic depression in terms of en-
vironment. Clean up the slums
and you clear up the problems.
The approach to film-making in
this period was highly naturalistic,
and the black-and-white motion
pincture, filmed in muted, dark
tones, and emphasizing the sordid,
became standard.
Escapism .**
IN THE EARLY forties, when
mothers and wives were terrifiedly
watching casualty lists, Hollywood
began putting out its most absurd
products. Escapism was what the
public wanted, and except for war
pictures purporting to prove that
our boys were the bigest, best, and
strongest (American boys were
fresh faced, the Japanese boys
leered, the German boys snarled)
-except for the inevitable war
films, the emphasis was being
placed on lightness.
Darryl Zanuk, head of 20th Cen-
tury Fox, began the Latin-Ameri-
can musical phase. Carmen Mir-
anda, accompanied by a Latin
rhythm group and sporting fruits
on her head,! was all'the rage as
she jabbered her way through
sambas. Betty Grable was the na-
tion's darling as she tap-danced
in cheap nightclub numbers and
promised to wait for her man. And
Rita Hayworth was busy proving
that the Gay Nineties were really
gay.
There were also the island pic-
tures: Dorothy Lamous or Maria
Montez, wearing the latest Maid-
enform Sarong, would curl them-
selves around palm trees. "Me can
no marry you without chief's ap-
proval": life in these pictures was
as simple and easy as anyone
could imagine. -
And then, after the war, when
everybody was adjusting to some-
thing or other (families, new jobs,
our-kids-we-never-met), the psy-
chological melodrama, emphasiz-
ing the building of a new-and-
better world, and the documentary
("you gotta face the facts"), were
tremendously popular: Ingrid
Bergman, tortured and fashionably,
garbed in shoulder-padded gowns
by Edith Head, and what to do
with the Mullato who is almost
white.

may be a slight feeling that these
things are wrong, but it is a vague
feeling.
Inside Her Soul .. .
FOR INSTANCE, take the Amer-
ican film "I'll Cry Tomorrow."
"This story was filmed on location
.. . inside a woman's soul" the ads
claim. What do we get? A cock-
tail-by-cocktail, husband-by-hus-
band delineation of Lillian Roth's
rises and fall and rise. On her trail
from tavern to bordello to tavern,
Miss Roth picks up a curley-hair-
ed, smiling Alchoholics Anonymous
man who tells her to stop drinking
and start singing. Naturally, sh6
does,
"The Man With the Golden
Arm" tells how Frank Sinatra
becomes a dope addict, writhing
and convulsing when he cannot
get a "fix." By the end of the film,
Frankie is in a pretty bad pre-
dicament: his hospital treatments
have been a failure, he can't get
a job, and his wife is insane. How
does he over all of this? His wife
commits suicide and Kim Novak
promises to work with him.

4

Daily Runs Signed Editorials

T'HE editorial page of the Daily is unique.
It has no editorial policy.
At least, it has no editorial policy in the
sense that most newspapers have where the
publisher and editor determine the political
tone'of the paper, decide which issues will be
discussed, which side will be taken on those
issues, and pass on the myriad of other details
which go into the maKeup of any editorial page.
In another sense, however, the Daily has a
strong and positive editorial policy. Paragraph
I of the Daily Code of Ethics reads "The Edi-
torial page of the Daily shall not reflect one
point of view to the exclusion of all others ..."
This is the basis of the Daily's practice of open-
ing the editorial columns to every member of
the staff who presents an honest opinion
which is logically thought out, in good taste,
responsible. Each editorial printed in the Daily
is signed by the author and represents his in-
dividual opinion.
THE Daily operates under the general super-
vision of the Board in Control of Student
Publications, acting as publisher of the paper.
The Board is concerned with the broadest
aspects of student-run ventures and has tra-
ditionally neither censored nor dictated to The
Daily with regard to its editorial policy.
Student leadership in publishing The Daily
comes from the Senior Editors. Unlike most col-
lege newspapers, this group does not deter-
Editorial Staff .
RICHARD SNYDER, Managing Editor
RICHARD HALLORAN LEE MARKS
Editorial irector r City Editor
GAIL GOLDSTEIN ......... Personnel Director
ERNEST THFODOSSIN............. Magazine Editor
JANET REARICK....... Associate Editorial Director
MARY ANN THOMAS............. Features (Editor
DAVID GREY ................... Sports Editor
RICHARD CRAMER .......... Associate Sports Editor
STEVEN HEILPERN .......... Associate Sports Editor
VIRGINIA ROBERTSON .............. Women's Editor
JANE FOWLER ............ Associate Women's Editor
VERNON SODEN ..............Chief Photographer

mine what the editorial slant of the paper
will be though it exercises some influence over
it. The Daily is a cooperative venture, draw-
ing on personnel from all facets of the Uni-
versity community. For one small group with-
in the staff to impose its will on the entire
group in an area so sensitive as the expression
of opinion would not only be undemocratic in
a cooperative enterprise but definitely limit
the value of the Daily to the community.
One of the basic tenets of American demo-
cracy holds that an honest difference of opin-
ion, a diversity of views on any given topic,
is healthy and when resolved, results in a
stronger and more thoroughly considered prin-
ciple or plan of action.
Thus the Daily hopes, by printing opinions
in variance or opposition with one another to
present to the reader carefully considered
points of view on a question and by so doing,
be of some assistance to him in his own think-
ing on the problem at hand. Toward this end,
it is not unusual for the Daily to print edi-
torials with diametrically opposing stands on
the same or succeeding days. Over a period
of time, a series of editorials, each viewing a
problem from a different angle, may appear.
IN AN academic community, where citizens
are primarily concerned with the formula-
tion and exploration of ideas, The Daily staff
believes this modus operandi to be particular-
ly pertinent.
An apparent weakness in the "freedom of
expression" policy, and one of which the Daily
is often accused, is that the paper never takes
a stand on an issue, does not present a united
front, and therefore suffers as an institution
which should provide leadership and exert in-
fluence on the campus. To some extent this
is true' and cannot be denied. But, when
weighed against the advantages of a wide
variety of thought in an intellectual commu-
nity, this disadvantage is more than overcome.
The Daily does have one method of present-
ing a strong position, the Senior Editorial. This
article presents the unanimous opinion of the
Senior Editors on an issue of local importance.
While it still does not carry the full weight of
the newspaper as an institution, the Senior

By LEE MARKS
Daily City Editorf
AS A LARGE and vital segment1
of the University community,1
students have assumed an increas-I
ingly greater responsibility for
dealing directly with their immedi-
ate affairs and assisting other seg-
ments of the community in solvingI
overall problems.
Once prone to ignore studentI
opinion, the Administration has,
over the past few years, indicated
a growing willingness to heed and,
accept it.
Change in driving ban regula-
tions, deferred rushing for sorori-
ties and the million-dollar Student
Activities Building are examples of
projects initiated and planned by
students. The proposed nine mil-
lion dollar coeducational dormi-
tory to be buit on North Campus
is the result of student initiative-
and students are working closely
with architects in planning the
dorm.
There are many ways in which
students' opinions are manifested.
The most direct is through the
editorial columns of The Daily.
Action by Student Government
Council, Inter-House Council and
Interfraternity Council all reflect
what students want and are willing
to work for..
To form opinions responsibility
and initiate action intelligently
students must be cognizant of the
problems which face the commun-
ity and the frame of reference
within which they must work.
n. * *
PERHAPS the most serious issue
confronting the University is ex-
pansion. Present plans call for an
Ann Arbor community of 40,000
by 1970. The campus enrollment
of roughly 20,000 in 1955 is expect-
ed to increase at the rate of 1200
a year.
Many prominent faculty mem-
bers view the increase with alarm.
They contend that the increase
perse, no matter how carefully
prepared we are to meet it, will
lower the University'seacademic
standards. Fear of total mass edu-
cation, a cold, spiritless student
body, ascendance of a corps of
administrators to deal with the
40,000 and loss of basic intangibles
that now make the University
great, make many wary of the pro-
posed increase and anxious to halt
it.
The administration claims it can
control expansion so that aca-
demic excellence will not be im- -
paired. Further, they point out
that if enrollment is limited pres-
sure from the State Legislature
will almost certainly cause the out-
state population to bear the brunt
of the action.
Despite the University's prepara-
tion it is difficult to see how the
basic University community can
withstand doubling in numbers
without losing cohesiveness and
spirit.
The true story of a great Uni-
versity cannot be found in statis-
tics or new buildings. Already the
expansion of the last few years
has made itself felt.
We would join with those who
view expansion as a threat to the
University's academic standards

Its main problem is generating
sufficient student interest and at-
tracting capable, energetic and in-
telligent personnel, a problem it
has not yet solved with any great
success. Apathy of the ex-officio
student leaders, cased by the
time spent on their own activities,
has further hindered the Council.
When it passed deferred rush-
ing for sororities over the an-
guished screams of sorority alumni
and'sororities themselves, SGC put
on long pants. Keeping them on
will require people who want to
work for student government, not,
as is often the case, people who
are pushed into running by frater-
nities or dormitory houses anxious
to "get" people into things to
increase prestige.
A second pitfall SGC must avoid
is becomingpa "doer" to the exclu-
sion of moulding student philos-
ophy. Running cinema guild and
the student book exchange are
worthwhile projects but of secoh-
dary importance. More important,
the Council must take stands on
issues students are concerned with.
It is, primarily, a representative of
student opinion.
* * *
AN ISSUE SGC might tackle
this fall is establishment of an
honor system. Daily editorial writ-
ers urged such a system last spring
when the literary college released
a pamphlet indoctrinating faculty
members in the "art" of proctoring
exams. Regulations included the
stipulation that smoking was in-
sufficient reason to leave an ex-
amination room and a suggested
minimum proctor ratio of one for
every 25 students.
The feeling that intense proctor-
ing indicates distrust of students
and creates an unpleasant atmos-
phere in which to take an exam
prompted pleas for University
adoption of an honor system. Most
frequent reply to suggestions that
an honor system be instituted is
"It wouldn't work here." No one
has yet explained why.
* * *
AN AREA in which student
opinion is sought, and with which
students ought to be familiar, is
hdusing. Increased enrollment has
outstripped housing thus far and
will probably continue to do so. As
a result Ann Arbor rents have be-

come abortively high and unrea-
sonable. Dormitory fees are now
the highest in the Big Ten with
two raises in successive years.
Fraternities, faced with the
problem of maintaining their rela-
tive size and importance, have
started thinking in terms of fra-
ternity "row" on the new North
Campus. So far they have done
all their planning behind closed.
doors and no one really knows
what they're thinking about but a
report is promised this fall.
Fraternity "row" in essence em-
bodies some sort of financing
between university and fraternity.
Plans vary from school to school
but fraternity representatives here
seem to favor the University rent-
ing land to fraternities on a 99
year lease and helping finance
mortgages. There has been no
reaction yet from the business.
office.
STUDENT initiative in enforcing
the driving ban is essential to suc-
cessful operation of the new, more
lenient ban. University attempts
to secure police authority to en-
force the ban have been unsuc-
cessful thus far. The '21-year-old
rule is on a two-year trial basis.
If it proves a failure it will not be
renewed and it's concievable the
Regents would revert to the 26
year limit in effect prior to this
fall. Thus the lion's share .for
insuring that the ban is a success
falls to students.
While any formal student moni-
toring system would be odious at.
this school, social pressure and
community awareness of the prob-
lem can accomplish the enforce-
men if well-directed.
Enrollment, housing, SGC, fra-
ternities and driving ban enforce-
ments are examples of specific.
problems and issues with which the
student ought to be famiilar.
Attempts to orient students to
these problems are constantly un-
dertaken by administrators and
student organibations.1
Students would be well-advisedj
to take advantage of the many op-
portunities to understand the com-
munity they live in. It is a com-
plex onerand understanding it
takes effort
But it is an effort that will pay
dividends.

A Short Life .. .
WHEN ONE views these pictures
again (and Americans will soon be
doing so on television), their utter
naivete and absurdity becomes ex-
ceedingly obvious. They ar'e essen-
tially products of an age and their
life-expectancy as film literature
exactly parallels the life-expect-
ancy of their age. When the im-
mediate problems they represent
take on less grandoise dimensions,
they have done their job.
But this provincial attitude to-
ward life that has been the Holly-
wood philosophy is still the Holly-
wood philosophy today. The diffi-
culties are not quite the same-at
least they have now .achieved a
different perspective-but Ameri-
can film producers are still con-
templating their navels.
From the picture of American
life that Hollywood gives the ordi-
nary film goer today, it is safe to
say that Americans have still not
gotten over their feelings of inferi-
ority to their "mother," Europe.
Awareness ...
THE PRESENT craze in Holly-
wood is what for lack of a better
name we shall call the gut-and-
gutter cycle. The apparent ration-
ale behind this cycle is that Ameri-
cans need to become-as the social
scientists are always shouting -
sophisticated.
Sophistication may be defined in
many ways, but in Hollywood it
means having a strong awareness
of sexuality, (both- normal and
perverted), using language that is
profane, and realizing that each
human being is partly animal, and,
hence, sadistic or masochistic, in-
capable of controlling the passions
(distinguished from feelings or
emotionsthrough the criterion of
violence).
Now this conception of sophisti-
cation is about-as elevated as that
of the second-semester freshman
who rushes home and announces
tn the family at dinner that "XA

'SHOCK !'...
IF THESE films appear to be
innocent, they are almost com-
plex when compared to "The Proud
and Profane."
In this one, Deborah Kerr is
fallaciously wooed by no-good
William Holden who gets her
pregnant and leaves for war duty.
"An emotional masterpiece" the
advertisements state.
Obviously, Deborah (who-is basi-
cally confused, but pure in heart)
cannot have, the child. Neither
can she have an abortion (Ameri-
cans are, according to the Produc-
tion Code, not ready for this
"fact"). Fortunately, she falls on
her head and loses the child.
Then there was "Blackboard
Jungle," promisuously labelled
"SHOCK!" "She was a teacher
who was indiscrete enough to wear
a tight skirt! What happened
then could only happen In this big
city school where tough teen-
agers ran wild!" "She" was act-
ress HMargaret Hayes and "what
happened" was that a hoodluM
tried to rape her in the library. Of
courses, he didn't succeed, and all
the bad kids learned to be good
through the music club an English
teacher instituted in the "big city
school where tough teen agers ran
wild!"
"Trial" recounted the misad-
ventures of a Mexican youth
wrongly accused of killing a Cau-
casian girl at a teen-age "petting
party." This one was "SHOCK!"
too, and by the same men "who
gave you 'Blackboard Jungle'."
This one provd, also, that Ameri-
can life is the best in the world.
It's Life! . .
IN "The Plumed Serpent" (first
published in 1926), novelist D. H.
Lawrence comments about an
American character: "... he had
the insidious modern disesase of
tolerance. He must tolerate every-
thing, even a. thing that revolted
him. He would call it Life!"
Mr. Lawrence probably never
guessed it, but just this natural-
istic philosophy, so popular in the
thirties, has come back into Amer-
scan movies, and along withbthe
isolationistic feelings, it has been
responsible for the new gutand-
gutter cycle.
America is probably the only
country in the world where a girl
can ask a man "Are you a virgin?"
in a movie and have that movie
become a national pastime, It's
so daring, it's swell-and locally,
it's cool.
Brutes & Peaches . ..
IN THE next few months, Amer.
can film audiences will be seeing
"Bigger Than Life" (about the
misuse of wonder drugs), "Tea and
Sympathy" (about homosexuality),
and "The Bad Seed" (about' e
homocidal child): these'should
be "SHOCK!" too.
The American public wants Rod
Stiger hung on a crane hook,
Susan Hayward thrown on the
floor by a brutish husband and
"She" being attacked in the school
library: this, as Lawrence ob-
serves, is "Life!"
-Isolationism, feelings of inferi-
ority., and D. H. Lawrence: all of

LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUSl

by Dick Bibter l

-°1
hZAIZ~i,~INAJE -

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