A Conversation at the University Centers for Rational Alternatives, Part II

...It will Part II A Conversation at the University Centers for Rational Alternatives Courage has never been a virtue prominent in the American professor's repertory...

...As I said earlier, when militant group members came back to the campuses they believed they would continue exactly where they had left off in June And they worked hard for that There were many places in this country where incoming freshmen met not the usual orientation committees but very carefully structured militant committees...

...Second, because many aspects of student turmoils propagated downwards to the high school level, numerous freshmen students who are now coming in to our universities have had some experience with this kind of "movement" and-reach the university scene in a much more realistic mood Students three or four years ago coming from a completely uneventful high school atmosphere were easy prey for demagogues descending on them from the protected sanctuary called University The naive one is easy to manipulate but such is not the entering class of 1970...

...Two zombies in the making...

...The mainstream of the student body is becoming much more mature and less influenced toward turmoil Also the faculties learned very much during these years of trials and will not so easily be drawn into supporting--even passivly--certain moves and trends just because they look as a reflection of youthful idealism Remember how just two or three years ago SDS was presented in the press and in TV as something almost good But precisely because of this development, which we believe is all for the good and is very positive, we think that many of the militant groups may get more and more desperate t like the Weathermen) and that they may attempt to achieve by naked violence what they failed to accomplish by persuasion Consequently before things become fully stabilized, before violence becomes completely discredited, such extremist desperadoes will commit some very unpleasant excesses during the school year, and troubles may start earlier than usual Normally it is only in the late spring that things really build up Now some of these lunatic groups--like the actions at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere show--are willing to go to any length Much of what has happened on our campuses has been generated by individuals whose beliefs border on lunacies and whose anarchistic tendencies are clearly pathological The best that one can do is to try to contain such people from doing something truly horrible There is not much there to be "understood" and they can hardly be persuaded because they are beyond the communicative stage 'I'llE L't'h;HN.1'rIVE: Have the militants harmed scholarship in America and the future of the university' TOl)OHOVI('l1: I would not be too pessimistic about the future of the university We found out from our own correspondence that there are truly hundreds and hundreds of excellent men and women in the university ranks of professors, students, and administrators and all that we need is that they be molded into an effective leadership of the future educational enterprise The American higher education definitely has quite a future However at the present time the actual scholarship, the actual learning process is greatly, greatly disrupted and this is so much more than the community at large has ever understood and appreciated Let me just give you one simple example The number of manpower hours that were wasted during the past few years just on walking from one conference to another is enormous Go to Morningside Heights--the place where the big controversy about the gymnasium started (Who still remembers the gym at Columbia') What is now there...

...The Alternative January, 1971 9 probably incorporate the basic tenets of academic freedom, and with this the conduct of teachers conducive to the maximizing of the academic freedom However every age needs the restatement of the basic principles of existence and conduct its own language and this is probably what Professor Handlin meant when he wrote his statement In other words we need in the language of the latter part of the twentieth century restated some of the eternal truths They must be related of course to the realities of the present social and economic situation...

...For example at Georgetown, where such a committee couldn't have it in its own way, it stole official stationery and sent (after somehow getting the home addresses of all the incoming freshmen) to all incoming students, prior to their arrival, batches of politically biased literature...

...Now I knew what the K's joyless preaching ardor, their enthusiasm without warmth, reminded me of -- Count Dracula's need to make converts, with a bite...

...In the Golden Days of Klannery and One-Hundred-Percent Americanism when the American Protective Association attempted to bring us together and anti-semitism competed in popular thought with nativisni, most professors meekly followed the tides...

...Whenever I am told that the new sexual freedom expresses a happy, sane laughter and openness, I think of the Kronhausens on that platform, white masked creatures of night out of place in the air and sunlight...

...Composed of professors of many different political persuasions its members wish to preserve open universities and free inquiry...

...And in their frame of reference these militants thought that come the first day of classes they would continue just where they stopped last spring Such extremist hopes failed to materialize...

...Violent actions may happen among other reasons, because in many respects we think things will start to become better...

...New York, New York 10018...

...when a student body returns from vacation it is not in the mood to go for various assorted kinds of lunacy...

...l'OOOROVIl'll: Oh yes, and I may only add that it will come and perhaps is already in coming I know of some professors--it's a mixed group of UCRA members and non-members in the California region--who are trying to produce precisely something like a code...

...The second way is through the kind of things people write to us--they send us copies of their local campus resolutions, tell us about things they are trying to do...

...Apparently agreeing with our Board of Directors, many of our member groups and individuals were--and are--actively working to rectify the situation This is then another example of how we gauge, through action, the effectiveness of our organization...

...But how "spontaneous" was it, Kauffman asks, for these girls to be recruited, taught their roles in the "natural experi Till•: \1.'l'ER\.\'1'1\'1: Do you feel you are achieving the goals you set out to achieve' TOl)ORO\'I('II: Most emphatically so First of all we gauge this by the kind of happenings that are going on as reported by the press and other media When for instance Professor Ralph Bendix who is, I think, the out-going chairman or president of the American Sociological Association gave a speech a while ago and was quoted extensively in the New York Times about politics not having any place on campuses...

...Universal Press Syndicate a getting our efforts amplified...

...Thus we should not expect many of our tweedy-coated tape recorders to act against the barbarians intent on destroying their university...

...Let me explain this apparent contradiction We know that in many places in the United States certain extremist groups and radical groups hoped to continue this fall exactly where they left off in June Now before I continue with the narrative, let me elaborate upon my reluctance to use the word radical as a blanket political label You see, I was raised in an atmosphere of a European university where the word radical had as good and noble a meaning as the word liberal or the word conservative--where they were not freely flung as labels pinned by opponents onto their adversaries, but were well-thought out names characterizing certain movements and certain ways of operation...

...Even as the bleak winds of Nazism began to howl through Europe the professors did not raise a very resonant hue and cry...

...as I said, many of our good members-and it you read the letterhead of the organization it's almost like Who's Who of those who are willing to be heard and do something--are getting into the act, and they seem to be doing it because it's important to them This is then one way in which we are getting to know that we are probably getting across and succeeding in ment," rehearsed in it, then told to perform it for the camera...

...and about their groups that became organized to do a specific job--all implementing some or all of UCRA's basic propositions One very important case in point was the whole problem related to the so-called Princeton Plan, the two-week recess instituted at some colleges and universities for electioneering purposes Now, you see, we are fully cognizant that the whole idea could be presented in a very pure way which may sound very commendable...

...TOl)OROVI('H: Here I'm sorry to say that we still have to be quite pessimistic...

...and I don't know of any school year or for that matter any fall in recent memory which could match the present one in reluctance and apprehension with which our teachers returned to their classrooms This is disquieting and it is damaging 0...

...The educational process is much longer and slower than we have anticipated and this lesson which we learned the hard way is indeed affecting our future programs '1'111:As Oscar Handlin recently said in Encounter there seems to be a lack of a professional code for professors Do you think this is true and do you think perhaps UCRA will be trying to establish or to promote a code...

...When the more decent of our professors do take action to defend an open university they deserve the energetic support of all thinking students, whether conservative, moderate or liberal...

...It would be wrong, you see, for us here in New York to sit down• scratch our heads and invent such a code It has to come from the grass-roots level after, of course, a lot of preliminary informational exchange Then as soon as, anywhere in the country, such a program becomes a codified reality, UCRA will do its best to disseminate the necessary information If the newly formulated code survives the first wave of criticism we may even suggest that it be officially adopted and so on Most definitely there's a need for such a code which--let me point this out--would probably in retrospect represent nothing terribly new, something that was not known several hundred years ago...

...because we are getting a continuous feedback from the campuses to this office So...

...For information concerning membership in UCRA write, 100 West 40th Street...

...1'111 . L'l'1•:RN,\TI\'I•:: What have you learned that will affect your future programs' TOI)ORO\'Il'lI: We have learned especially one thing: that because of the enormous number of psychological factors involved the progress is and will be much slower Not overly difficult but just very slow Different stages have to be crossed before a new positive stability can be achieved, and when I say stability I mean a peaceful, normal and regular development towards the further strengthening and widening of the educational process And in that sense we had to learn that the development of rational alternatives, which we thought would at this stage be a much bigger part of our operation, will have to unfold in a much slower way We are quite unhappy because of that On the other hand we have to realize that this is how things are and that trying to jump ahead too soon may prove counter-productive First you must almost follow certain events People have to see and learn from what is taking place on their home ground What happened at University A is only partially profitable to people in University B unless they experienced at least a certain degree of disruption So there is need for the faculties to experience a certain degree of turmoil before its enlightened elements within or without UCRA can hope to become really effective...

...A barren piece of land which is not safe for the majority of people It's a wasted piece of land serving neither the University nor the community I am not saying here that the gym should have been built My personal view on the matter is here quite irrelevant The point I am trying to make is that the whole , so-called "Columbia Rebellion" produced not a single solution for any of the causes that allegedly sparked the confrontation The issues were simply under attack--used as reasons for turmoil Consequently, no wonder that the faculties are just getting tired of running from one meeting to another, wasting an inordinate amount of highly paid professional time, and resolving nothing A kind of campus cynicism is born All this is very damaging...

...TIHN...

...but Stanley Kauffman suffered for us and wrote a fine review in The New Republic...

...his talk was almost "straight UCRA" as we jokingly observed here in the office And that's a very pleasant feeling I don't mean to imply that our writing influenced exactly the thinking of Dr Bendix who is a good social scientist in his own right, but we think that we are in a sense giving the people a certain point of view of what we see as the most pressing university problem at a certain time We can do this...

...And all these were within the context of democracy So in that sense it may be very wrong for me to associate indiscriminately radicals with extremists Perhaps I should improve my classifications by saying radical-extremist as opposed to conservative-extremist' In the same vein I always hesitate to use the word student as in "student demands" or "violent studentfaculty confrontation " Violent students and demanding students are a minority--a tiny minority of the general hard-working student body Having clarified these semantic nuances let us return to the explanation of the apparent contradiction...

...The first half of this interview appeared in our December issue...

...From reading this second half of the interview with UCRA's executive secretary, Professor M. M. Todorovich, we hope you will gain an appreciation for their unique place in the contemporary struggle for the campuses and in American history...

...The University Centers for Rational Alternatives was founded by vigorous intellectuals like Sidney Hook who believe freedom and democracy are precious and worth fighting for...

...He tells how the "documentary" shows two subteen girls who oversee a lesbian act and imitate it -- a spontaneous and natural experiment, the K's say on the soundtrack...

...let's give these students a chance to learn something about the election process and give them an opportunity to support the candidates of their choice...

...First of all...

...ALTERNATIVE: Do you expect much more violence on the campus this year...

...Yet, when we go over to the letters, to the clippings from student newspapers--don't forget student newspapers are mostly run by very militant if not even extremist groups so they reflect their thinking--when we go through all available materials and find that many unversity facilities which are by law tax-exempt have been given to a particular kind of very doctrinaire people to be able to run their one brand of views (which very often meant the suppression of all other views), then the whole affair-the Princeton Plan--exhibited a quite The Alternative January, 1971 different practical appearance, and UCRA was--and is--very much opposed to this kind of midterm recess...