. . . March 1996
'65 Teach-In
I WAS VERY interested in the letters about the 1965
Teach-in in the December issue. I, too, was there. I was
there as a protester. I believed my government was doing the
right thing and opposed those who tried to interfere with
the government.
However, I protested and also listened. The facts I
heard were alarming. I went to the library and confirmed the
accuracy of those facts. The 1965 teach-in transformed me
from pro-government to anti-war.
Nobody I listened to at the teach-in advocated non-
support for our soldiers---only non-support for our
government's position. I heard these anti-war radicals
condemning sending the soldiers to a foreign country to
fight in a civil war. They just wanted all of our troops
home safely and quickly.
How does this differ from many prominent Republicans'
position on sending our troops in Bosnia? Somehow the words
become patriotic coming from the mouth of an older,
conservatively dressed member of the establishment.
I think politics were a major motivation to try to win
the war in the 1960s, and politics are a motivation to bring
our troops home today. Politics, not morals or ethics. The
teach-in taught me that ethics and morals were more
important than politics.
Ron Krawitz '70 Eng.
Tempe, Arizona
THIS IS a rather belated comment on the item concerning
Alice Hamilton on page 13 of the October issue. The relevant
part of the item reads, "Alice Hamilton was 93 when she
signed a letter protesting U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam, but that was in 1964, a year before the historic
teach-in at the University and shortly before her death."
The year 1964 was definitely not "shortly before her
death" because this remarkable University of Michigan alumna
lived to be 101 years old and died in 1970.
Samuel Sass '39, '40
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
I AM sending a paper clip on this true Blue man like
myself. I have most of his papers he published every year.
He stopped the paper for awhile and started again this year.
I did not know if you ever heard from anyone about Ben
Anslow of Bucyrus, Ohio.
Wm. (Bo) Heltz
Mansfield, Ohio
Thanks to a newsclip Mr. Heltz sent, we learned that
in November 1969 alumnus Benjamin Anslow '48 published the
first edition of the Bowl News, a stimulating news
sheet the former journalist and ad man continued to issue
right before the Michigan-Ohio State game for the next 21
years.
That first year, the Buckeyes, riding a 22-game winning
streak, rated No. 1 nationally and reputed to be one of the
top teams ever assembled in the history of college football,
faced Glenn (Bo) Schembechler's first Wolverine squad.
Anslow's prognosticative headline read: “Wolves Belt
Bucks 38-14.” That stirred a lot of ire in Ohio even before
the game. After Michigan upset OSU 24-12 and seized the Big
Ten title, some of Anslow's neighbors put for-sale signs on
his lawn.
This year, Anslow reissued his paper for the first time
since Schembechler stopped coaching in 1990. Again the
Buckeyes were rated No. 1 or 2 in the nation; they boasted
some half a dozen first-round pro draft choices, one of whom
publicly described the Wolverines as a minor impediment
between them and the Rose Bowl.
Anslow's pre-game headline read: OSU Wins Coin Toss,
Loses Game 24-13.” A smaller headline said: “Buckeyes
misunderstand meaning of coin toss, opt to forgo game
itself; 'Big 11' forces team to take field for annual
slaughter.
Perhaps it wasn't a slaughter, but the Wolverines' 31-
23 victory certainly established 1995 as a good year for
Anslow to resume publication of the Bowl News.---Ed.
THE OCTOBER issue contained the shocking news of
President Duderstadt's resignation. As a former member of
the Department of Humanities of the College of Engineering
that he abolished shortly after becoming dean of
engineering, I must confess dismay at his pending departure
from office. In the years since being forced to leave
Michigan, I have come to appreciate the wisdom of President
Duderstadt's policy as dean in eliminating my field, the
history of technology, from courses offered not just in the
College of Engineering but throughout the University.
President Duderstadt was ahead of his time here, so to
speak, and he recognized, as I did not, that such courses
are marginal at best and should be eliminated whenever
possible. I regard his pending departure from the Presidency
as a tragedy, one of the worst tragedies in higher education
in recent decades, and I hope and pray that his enormous
talents will be applied to other educational endeavors. I
also think it outrageous that he will not be paid more than
the three top Engineering school faculty upon his return to
teaching. At the least, the Regents should establish an
endowed chair in his honor.
Prof. Howard Segal
University of Maine
Orono, Maine
Statistical Error
THE DECEMBER 1995 issue, page 5, shows that 62.1% of
the first-year students are residents and 47.9% are
nonresidents. This makes a total of 110%. No wonder it's a
record high!
Thomas Levy
Bethesda, Maryland
I ENJOYED reading (my wife's) copy of Michigan
Today. The section on Prof. William Dow was especially
interesting. Also, the selection of “Letters” was good. On
page 5, some of the percentages are questionable, as you no
doubt already know---e.g., residents and nonresidents = 110.
Armiger H. Sommers
Lake Bluff, Illinois
The figure should have read that 37.9% of first-year
students were nonresidents of Michigan.---Ed.
I AM A '67 U of M grad. Yes, I loved my college years.
Yes, I am appreciative for the learning opportunities. And,
my life has moved on. Recently, I received a fund-raising
call during which the caller stated something about how I
could raise my personal prestige by giving money to help
keep Michigan's prestige high. I was insulted by this tack.
My prestige is no business of the caller's, and personally,
whoever I am is based on far more than the University of
Michigan.
Still more recently, I received another call during
which the caller tried to talk me into using a Visa card
which would return money to Michigan. Numerous times I
politely said, No, I do not want such a card. I will not use
such a card. Please end this conversation. The person would
not stop insisting, and asked questions he had no business
asking about. I was able to end the call only after saying,
I am going to hang up. Then I hung up on the guy.
I am not going to send money to Michigan. I do not want
to receive fund-raising phone calls. I do want to raise
objections to the pressure tactics that are being us---Ed. They
do not seem congruent with the level of prestige the fund-
raisers suggest is true of Michigan.
Dianna (Wistert) Rorabacher '67
Kingston, Arizona
MAY I ASK a favor? Read your profile on Dr. Peter
Steiner, former LSA dean, in the most recent issue. I have
no address for him. Would you please forward the enclosed
letter? It's simply a request as to where and when I might
obtain his forthcoming book (and possibly an autograph). I
was delighted and fascinated to be informed of a poker
playing dean who might just be a dean of poker players.
Grant Howell
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
The book was published in February by Random House
($16 paperback, 426 pages.)---Ed.
IN THE ARTICLE about President and Mrs. Duderstadt
published in the December 1995 issue, there is a reference
in the last paragraph to Lurie Tower, a carillon under
construction on the North Campus. Can you tell me where I
can get information about it? I am curious because of the
name "Lurie." My parents, Daniel and Shata Ling, were
responsible for the construction of Lurie Terrace, a well-
known housing facility for the elderly in Ann Arbor. Lurie
was my mother's maiden name. Since it is a rather uncommon
name, I would like to learn how the Tower was given this
name.
Joanne Ling Moot '46
Bethesda, Maryland
The North Campus carillon will sit in the Ann and
Robert H. Lurie Tower. The late College of Engineering
alumnus Robert H. Lurie of Chicago received his bachelor's
and master's degrees in 1964 and 1966. The six bells for the
167-foot-tall Lurie Tower will be installed in April after
shipment from the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry in the
Netherlands.
Both the tower and the nearby Robert H. Lurie
Engineering Center will be dedicated on Oct. 17 and 18. All
College of Engineering alumni and alumnae are invited to
attend.---Ed.
WHAT IS the correct pronunciation of the first name of
Thylias Moss (Oct. '95 issue. Enjoy the paper immensely!
Jean R. Carpenter '45, '48
State College, Pennsylvania
Poet and professor Thylias Moss's first name is
pronounced THIGH-lee-es.---Ed.
I ENJOY each issue of Michigan Today. I found
the Duderstadt interview issue especially interesting this
time around. In order to ensure that I continue to receive
each issue, please note that my street has been renumbered
with a resulting address change. Thanks for updating your
records and thanks for each issue!
Max Bidle
West Hurley, New York
Thanks for sending us your new address. We can
correct our address labels only if we hear from our readers.
We hope all readers will read our announcement about address
labels.---Ed.
The ELI
MY WIFE Ann (LSA '45) was mentioned in the
October article about the ELI. Both of us, as former
instructors in Michigan's world-famous English Language
Institute, were pleased to see the article and to read about
the part Ann played as advisor to Marina Oswald during her
stay in Ann Arbor. Many thanks.
Edward M. Anthony '44
Alison Park, Pennsylvania
I WAS MUCH interested in your article about the English
Language Institute ("The Battle of Lexicon" October 1995).
During the 1930s my father, Leo Rockwell, a professor at
Colgate University, spent his summers at the U-M teaching
such courses as Beowulf, Old English and Phonetics
and Phonemes. He was a long-time friend of Charles Fries,
and they spent many happy hours exploring the possibilities
of teaching English as a foreign language. Consequently he
was in on the ground floor at the start of the ELI.
Your article neglected to mention that it was the
Kellogg Foundation that funded the first experimental group
of students to enter the program, in the summer of 1941. The
man who handled this project, Andrew Pattullo, has told me
that this was his first assignment as a new employee of the
Foundation. Under the Kellogg guidelines for grants, the
participants were all health professionals, and were all
from Central and South America.
The students, along with my parents, were moved into a
large house on Hill Street, which was dubbed The English
House, and bore a large sign just inside the door reading
"Only English Spoken Here!" My father, besides his teaching
duties, was titled Director of the English House. My mother,
Vera Rockwell, titled Social Director, was well qualified to
deal with Spanish-speaking people, having at one time taught
Spanish at Bucknell University.
When the Rockefeller Foundation took over the funding,
the guidelines for applicants were broadened, bringing a
diversity in occupations.
In 1943 the ELI went to a year-round program, and my
father obtained a leave of absence from Colgate University
for that year in order to help organize the program for
training teachers in the ELI techniques. I also remember a
young man trained in counter-intelligence who enrolled in
the teacher training as a watchdog supplied by our ever-
vigilant government. During the war years Uncle Sam was well
aware of Nazi sympathizers in countries south of the border.
In the late '60s both my parents were deeply
disappointed that my father's illness prevented them from
attending ELI's 25th anniversary celebration, where Dad had
been asked to be a featured speaker.
Carol Rockwell Sullivan '38
Battle Creek, Michigan
IN THE OCTOBER 1995 issue appeared an article headed
"Library on 'The Net'." For many years, I have regarded
myself as a reasonably self-sufficient and literate graduate
of the University of Michigan. But comprehension of that
article is beyond me. It seems I must turn to others for
help. Since you wrote it, I suppose you have some idea of
what it was intended to convey.
Just what does that article say? It is gibberish to me.
I cannot derive any idea of what it purports to describe.
What is "exciting, new configurations, extending far beyond
the walls of traditional public libraries" supposed to mean?
To my mind, a brothel could well supply the same kind of
sensory input. Has the School of Information and Library
Studies opened a brothel? Is that what you are trying to
tell us? If so, kindly tell your readers where it is.
Theodore E. Lauer
Laramie, Wyoming
I APPRECIATE your reprint of Susan Tyler Hitchcock's
letter concerning my work. And although Michigan Today has
shrunk in size, your extensive coverage was, as always,
engrossing. I object only to the defiant crease. It makes
the line on the fold difficult to read. The University Press
of Virginia has just published a paperback edition of
Hitchcock's charmingly written and toothsome book Gather
Ye Wild Things.
The letters about some of my favorite professors
provided "auld lang syne" pleasure. My major was playwriting
and the outstanding Oscar J. Campbell permitted sophomore me
to enroll in his junior Shakespeare course "providing I
would present him with a box at my first Broadway
production." Alas! Providing interest to the study of
Sartor Resartus, spirited Howard Mumford Jones used
to pitch pennies to a student able to grasp any of Carlyle's
concepts!
Currently, I am writing my autobiography and mention my
pride in having sat next to Willis Ward in English History
class. Your previous issue enlarged my knowledge of Ward's
estimable career.
Helen Worth
Charlottesville (Ivy), Virginia
ALL ACROSS the country universities are not just
offering more and more women's studies. In 1994 U-M created
the Michigan Agenda for Women, apparently feeling that
women's studies by itself would not achieve enough toward
the goal of improving women's lives. Then as if that
were not enough, it created the Institute for Research on
Women and Gender.
Universities see no need for men's studiesuntil
they hear something like this: nearly 85 percent of the
street homeless are men; men die seven years sooner than
women. Men die of most major illnesses at a higher rate;
although only 14 percent more women die of breast cancer
than men die of prostate cancer, yet the amount spent on
breast cancer research is 700 percent more than the
amount spent on prostate cancer research.
Male U-M students ought to be incensed at President
James Duderstadt. Because of his ignorance and his cowardice
when confronted by feminist ideologues, he has created what
can only be described as an institution of deceit, sexism
and blatant discrimination against males.
Jerry A. Boggs
Westland, Michigan
De-Coders
IN THE EARLY 1980s, the University of Michigan's
administration passed a controversial Code of Non-Academic
Conduct. Then, as now, students were fiercely opposed to
such a Code. Then, as now, the administration forces its
will on the students by excluding them from any meaningful
input in the process.
The code consists of two categories: crimes and
"improper" behaviors. When a student, faculty member or
University employee commits a crime, the University should
cooperate fully in apprehending and convicting the criminal.
(The University might start with the Greek system.) Aside
from crimes, the University, as a state function, has no
constitutional power to determine acceptable and
unacceptable behavior on its publicly owned campus.
Let the University teach. Let the cops find crooks. Let
everyone else alone. And to the people who would have the
University turn into a sanitized, fluffy world of hypo-
allergenic pastel flowers, I say: Grow up. The world is a
nasty place sometimes; the strength of the University of
Michigan was that it prepared us to fight it ourselves, one
offense at a time.
Greg Bobrowicz '86
Alameda, California
THE NEW Student Code of Conduct reported in the
December 1995 issue takes political correctness to new
heights. The representatives of the ACLU are perfectly right
in saying the code deals with matters in which the
University should not be involv---Ed.
Daniel Waldron
Royal Oak, Michigan
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