Volume 8 - Issue 4

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Volume eight, number four February 14, 1976

Can Valies Write1 ,

The inheritance of physical and instinctive traits is a direct result of gene transmission, the study of genetics.

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gene is one of 100,000 in each cell of the body, along with 46 chromosomes.

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materials RNA and DNA and protein are the three basic ingredients of a chromosome.

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The New Journal/February 14, 1975

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_____________ conanaent _____________________

TheNewJournal Volume eight, number four David Sleeper Editor-in-Chkf

Stephen Sternbach MQ.II(Jging Editor Michael Jacobs on Executive Editor Marla Schay Designer Bob Lichte Associ4te Editor CarolEliel Associ4te Editor Na.n cy Olcott Circulation Manager Jean Benefield Production Editor Robert A. Cohen Business Manager Brian D. Raub PublisMr Contributing editors: Daniel Denton, Ronald Roe!, Stuart Rohrer, Steven R. Weisman, Daniel Yergin Editorial Staff: Sandy Lee, Wendy Wolf Robert H. Barker Business staff: Angus Gephart, advertising manager; Reg Miller, Jon Steinberg Circulation staff: Jim Bick, asst circulation; Jack Ryan, colkge coordinator; Hugh R. Gross, Eric Kueffner, L. Bucky Levin, Roger Morrow, Leo Orenstein, Asela Russell, Tony Segal, Ed Troncelliti, Rich "squashball" Viner, John Hays Yandell

credits: Marla Schay: cover Rita Stem: pageS Ed Woodhouse: page 10 David S leeper: page 15

TM New Journal is published by the New Journal at Yale, Inc., partners in publication with the Yale Banner, Inc., and is printed at Chronicle Printing Co., North Haven, Conn.

Distributed free to the Yale community. For aU others. subsciption rate 17.50 per year.

Copyright C by Tbe New Journal at Yale, Inc., a non-profit organization. Letters and unsolicited manuscripts welcome. 3432 Yale Station, New Haven, Conn. 06520 Phone -432-()271 or -436-8650

Naked men on t he 5th floor Several years ago, when women at Yale were still outnumbered ten to one, I attended a meeting at the A lumni House on involving more female graduates in alumni•functions. Someone mentioned the Yale Club of New York, recounting how annoyed his wife always became because she was not allowed to eat in the dining hall at certain hours. My picket-pig-Mory's adrenalin started pumping.

Then, a woman staff member of the Alumni House, who by her dress, make-up and polite deference to the director seemed to be his secretary, spoke for the first time all meeting.

She said that she had entered the elevator at the Club one evening wearing a pants suit-she traced the imaginary creased flairs and longbelted tunic-and was told by the operator that women were not allowed in pants. "I won't take you up in those, lady.'' She calmly unzipped and removed her elegant bottoms, left them in a heap by the astonished attendant, and got off at her floor.

We left the meeting together, talking about Yale's guilty, schizophrenic attitude toward women. On the one hand, the gallant-"Yes, we love women," as one French professor told me; on the other, "No, we won't admit them on an equal ratio with men." I found out later that this "secretary" was the assistant director of the Alumni House.

Since then, thi.n gs have changed.

When I talk to undergraduates about ratios and quotas, they act as if I'm lecturing on ancient history.

One sophomore told me how grateful she was to us pioneers who had gone before and made her life easier. And I no longer mistake assistant directors for secretaries. Women are equal participants in all aspects of Yale life-undergraduate and alumni-or are they?

All the women I saw at theYale Club one recent afternoon wore pants except me. All eight of them. Three were secretaries who rode the elevator with me to the seventh floor administrative offices where I wanted to inquire about filing a membership application. I wasn't interested in joining-using the barbershop, banquet rooms, limousine service and valet. I simply wanted to snoop.

A friend had just shot a scene from h_e r_un _ d_er_gro _ u_n_d_film _ _in_ t_h_e_d_in-in_g_

contents_______ comment:

Joann Lawless visits the Yale Club; EdDroge discusses the idea ofa National Police Academy; JonEtra's bank collapses.

3

Tales from the Judiciary Committee: The Ordeal of Elizabeth Holtzman Chris Whipple the Brooklyn congresswo17UU1 at the impeachment hearings

6

First Draft Unacceptable.

Stuart Rohrer Please Re-write Yale student writing needs attention

10

The Latest Final Policy Carol Eliel and Mindy Beck a closer look at the WoodwardReport

12

TheExperienceofDirecting Jem Winer an interview with Nikos Psaclw.ropoulos

room where women are not allowed to eat dinner. I thought I'd check out the set.

Miss G, in charge of membership, looked like all the other women in Yale offices, without whom the university would collapse-fortyish, New England tailored, helpful, efficient, and determined to guard the corridors of power.

She gave me an application and the list of admissions committee members, two of whom must sign in order to be admitted. I glanced at their business addresses, in case I decided to contact someone-there was Madden. Plunket, Wetzel, and Scott, yes, that William J. Madden, '62, and then James Preston, '67, of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, or was it Skadden, Madden, Slarps, Flott and- she whisked the paper away. Then she let me glimpse at the card with the fee scale, 10 per cent less for women, she explained, because "you can't use the fifth floor yet. The pool and S&llll;& baths, and steam room, you know, are off limits." She spoke reverently, as if a bank vault were secreted there. "When will they be renovated to accomodate women?" I asked in my best trouble-maker tone.

"Soon, I'm sure. Just wait." A pink blush peaked behind her rouge. I could see she was imagining naked men running around in towels. So was I. "I'm not a swimmer," I said, "but I would like to play squash." She smiled, delighted to tell me that since July, all the squash facilities were open to women-at $1.00 per fifteen minutes per court, with reservations. Why did I feel so uncomfortable? Because of the double figure dues, paid "quarterly?" Because I needed an hour for a good work-out and would have to join Floro, Flunket and Scoot before I could afford it?

Miss G was being very friendly.

No barriers. I was paranoid. I asked if I could look around, check out the facilities. She was horrified, her rouge spotting, "You can't just wander around on your own, that wouldn't do." The naked men on the fifth floor? Perhaps a nude swim-in was just the thing to liberate the place.

She picked up the phone and made a few calls to find me a guide. Everyone was "out to lunch." "Can't I just go up to the library and read? I 've got some time to kill before... " "No, I'm sorry, you might get stopped."

Perhaps, like at the Pentagon, members wore ID badges.

I played my trump. " A friend of

mine knows Mr. L, the manager, she made a film here. Can I see him?"

(The movie was neo-Warhol, but he didn't have to know that.) "The manager?" Her face lit up. "Of course I'll call him." But he too was out to lunch. "Why don't you go down to the lobby to wait," she suggested. "We'll call you as soon as he's in."

I waited nervously in the lobby plush and bustling like an ad agency-flipping through Newsweek, Cue, Esquire, Vogue, studying the diagram of the Yale Bowl, my legs sticking to the Moroccan leather lounge chairs. I checked the display of club ties, the brochures on tours to Africa.

Traffic around me was brisk-all shapes, sizes, and ages of conservative businessmen left the dining room, checked baggage and occasionally squired a svelte woman.

None of the women looked like alumnae. The atmosphere, including the Moroccan leather, exuded off-hand politeness, efficient snobbery and money.

I investigated the ladies room.

Marble sinks and elegantly stained wooden stall doors.

I listened to the interactions, punctuated with words like market, benefits, sailboat. A silver-haired woman came in, pants and cape, nervously peering. Immediately, a blueuniformed guard buttonholed her" Lady, what can I do for you?"

"Over there, lady." She rang up someone at the hotel and sat opposite me, her wan smile mirroring my own discomfort. · An hour and a half passed. I remembered that I had bought a new paperback -Erica Jong-and pulled it out, hoping the dirty cover would get a rise out of someone. "The most uninhibited, delicious, erotic novel a woman ever wrote," John Updike blurbed on the cover. But I felt increasingly anxious, untitillated, reading about a fantasy in an Italian train between a soldier and a widow.

Most of the other loungees had Wall Street Journals.

"Mr. L," someone said across the lobby, and I perked up. A man with polished loafers that curled up slightly at the toes and with sleek grey hair that also curled up slightly, like Liberace's, slid over to the guard who had called him. He clutched a manila poster, announcing some football weekend gala. He and the guard argued where to hang it, by the front door, or by the dining hall.

The doorman was obsequious, Mr. L this, Mr. L that. I wondered whether to announce myself. My friend said that he had been incredibly helpful on her film, even offering to take her to dinner when it was finished. But when she had called to say she had a friend in town, would he like to have a drink with us this week, he was busy with a hotel convention. Was he embarrassed that she had called his bluff? I decided to wait for Miss G to call me.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, after Mr. L parted with the guard, she appeared, "Mr. L called from lunch to say he would be tied up in a conference all afternoon," she oozed, oh so polite. "He can't see you." (continued on page 15)

Tales from the Judiciary Committee: The Ordeal of Elizabeth Holtzman

by Chris Whipple

Elizabeth Holtzman, the Democratic Holtzman's time was up-and so was congresswoman from Brooklyn, sat her patience. nervously under the glare of the klieg That was not unusual. As volunlights of the House Judiciary Comteers in Holtzman's office, we were mittee Room, waiting for her chance accustomed to her occasionally irrito say something. Caldwell Butler, table moods. For the last week she the Republican from Virginia, had had been working sixteen to twenty been droning on for ten minutes, dehours a day. Three days before, the fending the first article of im~ach­ Supreme Court had ruled 8-0 that ment of Richard M. Nixon. HoltzRichard Nixon would have to surman fumbled briefly with the papers render the remaining White House on her desk, glanced impatiently at tapes. Impeachment was inevitable, Chairman Rodino, and then looked the hearings were televised, the pace straight at Butler with a menacing was picking up. ·Holtzman had been glare. Butler was supposed to speak writing her own articles of impeachfor five minutes. Now he was on Liz ment, preparing statements, and Holtzman's time- and on her nerves getting ready to debate the evidence as well. when she was called.

There were a lot of nerves on edge But not that day, because Rodino that night. It was the third day of had giveri Butler the OK to continue. the televised impeachment hearings It was no surprise by then that the and the comittee was tired, their Republicans got the call. Impeachstaffs were tired, the reporters and ment was assured, and the Demotechnicians were tired. It had been cratic strategy was to come up with seven months since the committee as many pro-impeachment Repubbegan compliling evidence-hearing licans as possible. Rumor had it that witnesses, examining documents, Butler, the Republican, had been lisand listening to John Doar recite tening to his wife read All The Presendless points of evidence behind ident's Men to him at bedside. And closed doors. Rodino and Doar were his opening statement three days annoyed by Republican opposition before had been surprisingly direct: on the day before and had been up " I am not unmindful of the loyalty all night re-drafting articles and I owe him," he had said of Nixon to assigning members to compile more his Republican colleagues, "but evidence for the debate. Rodino Watergate is our shame... These looked exhausted.' Tom Railsback, as things have happened in our house, and it is our responsibility to clear it usual, looked distressed. up ...throughout the extensive tranBut at that moment Liz Holtzman scripts made available to us of intilooked the most distressed of all-esmate Presidential conversation and pecially to her staff across the street discussion there is no evidence of in room 1009 of the Longworth House regret...or reflection upon the basic Office Building. Most of the offices obligations of the Presidency. In were empty that day and Holtzman's short, power seems to have corrupstaff was gathered around a teleted." vision set waiting for her speech. As It was partly Holtzman's lack of an intern on Holtzman's staff, I had spent the morning with other interns . power on the committee that made her situation so uncomfortable. The looking up obscure quotations in heavies were Chairman Rodino, books of committee evidence eo that Counsel Doar, and such senior DemHoltzman would be ready to speak that afternoon. But Caldwell Butler ocrats as James Mann of South Carolina and Paul Sarbanes of Maryhad not yet finished his recital. Liz

land. 'l'hey were the ones who took part in the deliberations-the ones who drafted the articles of impeachment. Rodino and the senior Democrats determined who would speak and when and what the ultimate s trategy would be. Then there was the celebrated "swing" group, the undecided Republicans and Southern Democrats who were crucial to the final vote. Holtzman·belonged to neither. She was a freshman Democrat, her vote was certain, her ability untested. Holtzman had to go her own way.

And that was jus t·as well, because Liz Holtzman is a loner. It is remarkable that she got to the committee in the first place. Marilyn Shapiro, her "administrative assistant" and the only one who sees much of her at all, confesses that no one thought she had a chance to unseat Emanuel Celler, the incumbent since 1923 and former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Celler reportedly compared Holtzman, a graduate of Radcliffe (magna cum laude) and Harvard Law, to "a toothpick trying to topple the Washington Monument.' ' At 32, inexperienced in national politics, Holtzman pulled off something of a miracle. She did it without much help from anyone-including John Lindsay, her former boss, or Bella Abzug, her fellow Congresswoman from New York. But by unseating Cellar, she may have fulfilled Bella's prophesy. Cellar once said that he opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because. after all, there were no womenattheLastSupper. ~'There may have been no women at the Last Supper," responded Abzug. "but there damned well will be wom en a t the next one. •• There was a certain irony in Holtzman's triumph that was even more remarkable than the odds she overcame. Holtzman owed her election almost solely to her getting out and talking personally to the voters.

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The New Journal/February 14, 1975

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Those who are accustomed to her Washington behavior fmd that difficult to imagine. In Washington, Holtzman seldom has the time or inclination to talk to her own staff, and when she does s he looks so nervous that she makes even her shyest interns feel at ease. She is constantly intense, impatient with intruders, uncomfortable with any kind of small talk that might keep her from her work.

But when Liz Holtzman is out campaigning in the streets of Flatbush, in her Brooklyn district, she undergoes what seems to be a total transformation. "You ought to see her with her constituents," remarks one of her Washington staff in disbelief, "she is warm, compassionate, understanding.. .it's because they aren't really people; they're constituents." Whatever they are, Holtzman treats them more like people than Celler ever did, who never bothered to maintain an office in his district and seldom ventured out of Washington to keep in touch. Holtzman regularly turns down speaking invitations to spend one day a week with her constituents. And they respond in kind. Last month Holtzman took the oath of office for a second term after capturing 78.6 per cent of the vote.

Holtzman's Washington staff must set some sort of record for being underpaid and overworked.

Marilyn, who has been with her since they both worked for Lindsay, is the first to admit that Holtzman is not an easy-going type. This results in a fairly rapid tum-over on her staff; they seem to come and go nearly as fast as they are hired. During the Impeachment hearings Holtzman worked in nearly total isolation from her staff. On our arrival we were told

by Marilyn that whenever Liz was on her way to the office we were to make ourselves as scarce as possible. So when Liz was on her way from the committee we would retreat down the hall to the annex. Like Woodward.and Bernstein, Holtzman goes her own way without a family to tie her down. But unlike either Woodward or Bernstein, she has no apparent social life to distract her from her work.

She has never been a favorite of the committee, but Liz Holtzman is respected for her obvious legal talent. Larry Hogan, the Republican from Maryland, spoke of her tendency "to face the world with a chip on her shoulder," but added that she "is very bright, brilliant, hard working, dedicated." No one argues with that estimation. It was Holtzman's lawsuit, for example, that very nearly ended the bombing of Cambodia not too long ago (Justice Douglas sustained her suit that the bombing was unconstitutional but the full court was hastily convened to overrule him). And it was Holtzman's questioning that caught Gerald Ford contradicting himself in his VicePresidential confirmation hearings.

So as the televised hearings began and Holtzman waited for her turn to speak, there was no question that she knew the evidence cold. What she would do with it in front of all the lights and cameras was another matter. Holtzman seemed oddly out

of place-uncomfortable with the hearings despite her obvious preparation for them. I recall one day when she was ch arging around the office, waving a copy of the New York Times a b ove her head. Her picture was spread across t he first page.

She was overwhelmed by it-delighted, but maybe just a little scared as well.

It was, after all, a proceeding of high theater as well as history, no ordinary meeting of the House Judiciary Committee. Three days before, the day the televised hearings began, Holtzman had to wait her turn while the senior members delivered their opening fifteen-minute monologues.

The scene outside room 2141 of the Rayburn Building resembled the stage of a musical comedy before the curtain has gone up. Police were swarming in the corridors, reporters were badgering each other, exchanging notes, waiting for the soloists to appear. Some demonstrators-mostly middle-aged and matronly-were holding a "Fast for Nixon" outside. Curiously, impeachment seemed to arouse only fanatics.

Roger Mudd was questioning Rodino around the comer from the committee room when someone yelled, "Ask Rodino why his Jewish Mafia friends are fucking the impeachment!" An armed escort showed him to the door.

Inside room 2141 no one was unmoved by the occasion. Liz Holtzman's mother was sitting in the staff seat provided to each committee member. On previous occasions, when I had occupied it myself, I imagined that I saw Liz Holtzman wondering who the hell I was. Now she was probably wondering what to say in her first speech the following day.

At 7:45 in the evening, Chairman Rodino called the meeting to order.

It was Rodino w h o had charted the impeachment process through uncertain territory and under bitter opposition from all sides. He had set the tone for the proceedings in his opening remarks: "The committee must now decide a question of the highest Constitutional importance," he said, and then quoting Edmund Burke, "it is by this tribunal that statesmen who abuse their power are accused by statesmen and tried by statesmen, not upon the niceties of narrow jurisprudence, but upon the enlarged and solid principles of state morality ... Let us go forward ...Whatever we now decide we must have the integrity and the decency, the will and the courage, to decide right... " Since that first day, Holtzman had been re-drafting her own statement while the other members followed Rodino's lead. They avoided "narrow jurisprudence" and spoke eloquently about the larger picture. It was an impressive collection of speechesa virtuoso performance for members of the House of Representatives, who were better known as party hacks and undistinguished politicians.

"Here the issue is the Constitution," said Hamilton Fish, "and in assessing the fitness of the President for remaining in office the Congress becomes the conscience and protector of the State." Walter Flowers, the conservative white Southerner,

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TheNewJournol!February 14,1975

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seemed to have been struggling with his conscience. His speech may have been the most eloquent of all:

ber on the committee is publicly groping for the right thing to do... " in fact, as everyone on the committee knew, Liz Holtzman had never exactOur problem is not now to find ly "groped" for the right thing to do. better values, but I say our probShe had been a sure vote for imlem is to be faithful to those we peachment all along. Now she was profess and make them live in groping for the right words to intromodem times ... 'We the people of duce the list of evidence she had prethe United States,' and surely pared. She continued, "it is printhere is no more inspiring phrase cipally out of the President's own than this- 'We, the people of the mouth and through his own words United States,' not we the public that we find the strongest evidence officials of the United States, not of the high crimes and misdemeanors we the certified experts, or we the he has committed ... " Now she educated, or we the grown-ups seemed to be recovering her poise over twenty-one or twenty-five, and spoke defiantly- if just a little not we the privileged classes, or nervously-quoting Nixon on the whatever, butjustsimply 'We, the subject of the FBI, the CIA, the paypeople ... We, acting in our comment of hush money to defendants, munities across the nation, can offers of executive clemency and so pull our fragmented nation toon. She lacked the eloquence of J orgether... dan, but by the end of her speech, as she recommended that the commitSo on the second day, when Liz tee vote to impeach the President, Holtzman was looking more relaxed.

Holtzman gave her fifteen-minute Across the street in Holtzman's statement, she had reason to be neroffice, Marilyn, who had been watchvous. She was not about to steal the ing nervously, looked visibly reshow. Holtzman, 36th in seniority lieved. There was nothing remarkout of 38 members, had heard other able about her opening speech, members make many of her points except perhaps the fact that Liz already; and Barbara Jordan, the Holtzman, the s hy congres swoman massive black congresswoman from from New York, had begun to warm Texas,hadjustknockedthewind out of the galleries with her remarks. to the occasion.

If she seemed a little nervous on Jordan had become one of the favorher opening night, that was hardly ites on the committee, respected for her eloquence and for her thundering unexpected. But what Holtzman lacked in poise that night she made delivery. In contrast, Holtzman, up for in her first real test the followlooking pale and slight behind her ing day. The opening fifteen-minute hornrimmed glasses, spoke in a faltering voice. While most of the other statements were only the groundwork for the actual debate. On the members were staring blankly into substance of the articles of impeachspace or jotting notes, she began, ment Holtzman came as well pre"Mr. Chairman, as we sit here to pared as any of her senior colleagues. measure President Nixon's conduct On the first day of the debate on against the standard set in the ConArticle I, Holtzman came to the stitution of the United States each assistance of the senior Democrats one of us has questioned what the Constitution means... and each mem- on a point of obscure law. Paul Sar-

pageS

banes¡had been assigned to introduce the first article of impeachment, and he had run into some unexpected trouble. Charles Wiggins, Nixon's most articulate defender, asked when the "policy" to obstruct justice had literally begun. Charles Sandman, another Nixon supporter, closed in.

"Is it your understanding of the law," he asked, "that the articles of impeachment must be specific... ?"

"Wouldn't it be a damning indictment," Wiggins added, "if this committee, if after all this time and money we were unable to state with specificity what this case is all about?" Sarbanes looked confused.

Hardly anyone, it seemed, had been prepared to deal with "specificity."

Except for Liz Holtzinan. "It's true," she countered, "that earlier impeachment hearings pleaded very specific language. It's also true at that tim~ that they were based on general civic practice which required factual pleading. We abandoned that system in 1938:..and have been operating on a notice pleading system which has been held innumerable times to supply the defendants due process of law." I doubt that her constituents understood it, but Holtzman was beginning to make her points to the Committee in her inimitable way. Although uncomfortable with her opening speech, Holtzman delivered lectures to her colleagues when debating minute points of evidence or law.

By the time of the debate on the secret bombing of Cambodia and Nixon's tax evasion (the articles that did not pass), Holtzman was leading the debate in what was unfortunately a losing cause. Most of the members agreed that the bombing of Cambodia was an impeachable offense; they disagreed on whether Congress had approved the President's action. "I am not saying," snapped Holtzman, "that if the secret bombing were made public that the Congress would not have approved it. Congress may very well have approved it. But it was the right of Congress to have approved it and it was the right of Congress to have known and it was the right of the people to have approved it. That is the point that is made here and that is the reason for the seriousness of the President's actions. " So effective was Liz Holtzman in the debate on Nixon's taxes that Sandman, who apparently could think of nothing else, accused her of libeling the President. Toward the end, when Caldwell Butler need a "chief resource person" on the subject of Cambodia, he called on "the gentlelady from New York. " "Gentlelady" may be the least appropriate title for Liz Holtzman.

She has never seemed particularly gentle, either to her staff or to the press. Some call her aloof or uncommunicative, others find her condescending and on occasion even sanctimonious. Seymour Hersh, the New York Times investigative reporter, may have described her best of all. Hersh had been talking with Holtzman briefly in her office and on his way out he reportedly stopped long enough to say: "She's not a lot of laughs, is she?"

On Capitol Hill that is a typical

reaction to Liz Holtzman. Bu t it is hardly the reaction of her constituents in the 16th district of New York. "Wesawyouon t.v., announced a delighted old woman on one of Holtzman's recent visits to her district, "and the way you let them have it was very good." That is apparently the general feeling in Emanuel Celler's old Flatbush district, a sense that they have found a tough replacement for Celler in the fres lunan congresswoman from New York. In her first term Holtzman has acquired an impressive reputation as one of the most outspoken advocates{){ the liberal cause in the House of Representatives.

It is a curious role for Liz Holtzman, who looks a s if she might just as well be studying for her law boards. She is intense and distant, more comfortable with evidence than people, so ill at ease in person that it is difficult to imagine her in front of lights and cameras. But no one underestimates Liz Holtzman anymore, especially since her performance last October during the hearings into the pardon of Richard Nixon.

The pardon hearings were an unexpected twist for the committee that had fearlessly impeached Richard Nixon. This time, when Gerald Ford arrived to answer questions before the committee, the members acted as if they were witnessing the arrival of the Messiah. William Hungate, the chairman for the occasion, began by assuring the new President that he would not be kept past noon. Then, each member in turn thanked the President for the privilege of being with him. "It was,'' as the New York Times reported, "as if Love Story had been presented as a sequel to Crime and Punishment."

But the exception was once again Liz Holtzman. Without pausing for replies, Holtzman asked eight critical questions in rapid-fire, about "dark suspicions" that the pardon was part of a deal, about the secrecy of the decision, about whether the President would be willing to surrender tapes of his conversations with Richard Nixon. One editorial called her behavior "crude" and "boorish," and two columnists suggested parallels to Joseph McCarthy. Larry Hogan, the first Republican to abandon Nixon only three months before, was offended by her "accusatory speech." But now it was Liz Holtzman, the shy congresswoman from New York, who dominated the occasion. "I wondered," she concluded in her questions to Ford, "whether anybody had brought your attention to the fact that the Constitution specifically states that even though somebody is impeached, that person shall nonetheless be liable to punishment under the law?" Ford had no time for a response. Liz Holtzman's time was up and the committee hurried on to finish its proceedings so that the President could get to lunch. Come to think of it, if Liz Holtzman weren't so nervous, maybe the committee would get nothing done at all. 0 Chris Whipple is a senior history rruzjor in Timothy Dwight.

First Draft Unacceptable.

Please Re-write.

by Stuart Rohrer

Are Yale students good writers?

At a university that produced the likes of Sinclair Lewis, Thornton Wilder, Steven Vincent ~enet, John Hersey, John Knowles and Calvin Trillin; where Robert Penn Warren, Arthur Miller, Norman Mailer and a host of others have taught on the faculty or visited through fellowship programs, one would expect good undergraduate writing.

There is certainly great interest in writing on campus today. Attendance at programs featuring writers and journalists has been overwhelming.

Writing courses are swamped with applications.

Yale students are clearly writing more than ever before. It is not uncommon for an undergraduate to chum out 60 to 100 pages of academic papers each term. And student writing fills the pages of a diverse group of undergraduate publications.

But do these students write well?

Not well enough. Among the faculty and administration, there is, in the words of one concerned faculty member, "a widely shared view that student writing needs attention."

In the coming year, beginning with the summer term, the University will inaugurate new courses and programs designed to raise the quality of student writing. At last, Yale recognizes the teaching of writing skills as a University obligation.

Hopefully, the University will also recognize that the ability to communicate ideas clearly is essential to a modem education.

1 It is a commonplace that educated men and women should be able to express themselves clearly in their own language, both in speech and in writing.

It is a frequent illusion to suppose that one can think clearly if he cannot write clearly: words are the basic tools of thought. If a person cannot use them skillfully, he will be handicapped not only in communicating his ideas to anyone else, but also in devewping, defining, and understanding them himself. from "Guidelines" in Yale College Programs of Study Michael Cooke, Professor of English and director of undergraduate studies in the English depart. ment, offers a favorite metaphor to describe the basic elements of training in English -a cart with four wheels representing fiction, poetry, drama and expository writing. He comments, "We've been riding on three wheels for too long."

Traditionally, the English department has assumed the responsibility for teaching students to write. Until aoout fifteen years ago, every freshman was required to take English 10-freshman composition. Laying down rules for organization -the paragraph and the topic sentence- and polishing grammar supposedly mastered in high school and prep school, English 10 prepared students to write expository prose about English literature. The basic principles served for writing in other subject area.s as well.

For those who were serious about writing for publication, Yale offered Daily Themes (today's English 80 ), the oldest fiction-writing course in America and one of the few writing courses that have survived the changes of the past seven decades. First offered around 1905, the course for many years included a year-long sequence which taught narrative, descriptive, argumentative and expository prose. From 1910through theearly 1920's,taught by Professor John Berdan, Daily Themes attracted many of Yale's most famous alumni writers, including Henry Luce, Thornton Wilder and Archibald MacLeish.

(Today's Daily Themes, taught by Associate Professor Edward Gordon, concentrates exclusivelyon creative writing, emphasizing the virtue of clarity. Formerly limited to 45 students, it now has been expanded toaccomodate75.)

But Daily Themes has never been a required course, and in the late 1950's, English 10 became an elective as weU. Yale demanded only that a student take one year of English. Those in need of remedial help were offered a special course in basic reading and writing skills.

Finally, in the early 1960's, Yale dropped all requirements. Incoming freshman were ins tead given " Guidelines" to assist them in course selection . Predictably, the guidelines insisted on the necessity of training in English. The success of these guidelines is evident: about 90 per cent of Yale's incoming freshmen enroll in English courses.

But these introductory courses - English 15, 25, and 29- now emphasize English literature more than basic writing skills. There is now no guarantee that Yale undergraduates will enroU in courses that emphasize writing.

Cooke concedes that the quality of student writing in the English department today "has not come up to our expectations." Professors, absorbed in their own work and writing, leave the bulk of undergraduate teaching duties to the junior faculty and teaching assistants. These teachers, likewise overburdened, do not have time to offer close attention to s tudent writing problems.

The English department now intends tore-emphasize expository writing. A new sophomore writing seminar will make its debut in the summer term. Next faU, three new faculty members will be added to first -term English 15 sections to permit increased attention to basic expository skills.

"These changes are part of a constant self-revision' ' of the department, says Cooke. ''We needed a change."

But concern over the quality of student writing is not limited to the English department.

Eighteen months ago, responding to a general view that student writing needed more attention, President Brewster called together a group of faculty members to discuss what could be done on a University-wide basis.

One proposal written after that meeting suggested that all students be required to take a "Freshman Essay" seminar in their residential colages. Close attention to writing skills would be emphasized as students wrote essays on general topics chosen by their instructors. This proposal was ~nsidered seriou sly, and educational foundations were approached for the funds needed to implement it. But due to ' ~logistical problems" involved in "administering such a program, explains Richard W arch, Associate Professor of American Studies and one author of the idea, "it never new."

The more flexible curriculum of the summer term, however, offers new possibilities for increased attention to student writing. A "Special Committee on Writing for the Summer Term,'' cbaired by professor of history Jack Hexter, was formed to act as a ' 'clearing house'' for ideas on how best to incorporate emp hasis on writing in summer term courses. "The purpose of our work is not to tell professors how to teach writing, "says W arch, a member of the committee. Nevertheless, the Special Committee will soon issue to the summer term faculty a memorandum offering three possibilities.

For summer term courses that emphasize writing, the Special Committee will allocate funds to add more graduate students to the teaching staff, and thus permit closer attention to students. A group of experienced editors will be assembled to screen student papers for grammatical and stylistic problems before the papers are handed in to the course professors. In courses which do not emphasize writing, a third option will allow students, with the approval of their instructors, to work individually with an editor to remedy writing problems.

W arch and Jonathan Fanton, the Executive Director of the Summer Term, emp hasize that these ideas, which have yet to be a pproved, are not designed to increase the workload on summer term students. Faculty members who wish to incorpora te these offerings in their courses will be advised to adjust course requirements accordingly.

I n response to general concern around the UniYei'Sity about the intensity of academic pressure on

,.

The New Journal/February 14, 1975

page7

but will also be better able to make themselves understood. At a time when knowledge is increasingly specialized, when interdisciplinary approaches to research are widely valued, shouldn't a student also be taught to write for an audience wider than the faculty of this department?

Much of the extremely complex work being done in highly specialized areas obviously cannot be understood by anyone who is not familiar with the field. But much of this work could be more readily understood by people outside the field if it could be expressed in clear, concis~English, stripped of jargon that is often vague and unnecessary.

True, in some cases the simplification and generalization of complex subjects to make them more readily understandable can distort or misrepresent their significance. But at Yale today the teaching of clear, precise writing for a ~ore general audience than one's colleagues is gaining increased acceptance. For the first time in its history, the University endorses courses in the craft of writing, independent of any one discipline.

J

.Richard Warch, Associate ProfessorofAmerican Studies, and memberofthe" Special Committee on Writing for the Summer

Term."

students, the Special Committee will also attempt to insure that papers assigned in summer courses will not all fall due at the same time. This effort at coordination of course requirements could reduce the end-of-term crunch on summer students.

If these ideas are accepted by the summer term faculty and succeed in their purpose, says Fanton, they could be introduced into theY ale curriculum in the fall, but only if new staff and funding are available.

2 Implicit in the suggestions of the Special Committee on Writing for the Summer Term is the recognition of two valid-and complementary- apprO,llChes to the teaching of writing. One way-providing for increased individual attention to students-offers a teacher familiar with the subject area of the course, and therefore knowledgeable in the special requirements of writing fo for that discipline. The second approach, which calls for a group of editors with little or no familiarity with the subject, utilizes a basic knowledge of )low to write clear, precise English.

Several departments at Yale have been using the first approach for many years. In the English department, for example, students are taught to write literary criticism. In the history department, a junior seminar (History 91) which emphasizes historical prose is required of majors before they write a senior essay.

Many professors at Yale prefer the first approach. They argue that there is more to good ·academic writing than correct English prose. · "There is a danger in learning to write without really writing anything," explains Cooke (who endorses both approaches). The student must also learn to use his writing skills to focus and test his own ideas. Translating thoughts into words is . essential to learning: "Clear writing," Cooke con- . eludes, "is the result of clarified thinking.'; . Cooke admits that many faculty members at Yale believe that readers who cannot understand highly specialized subjects are ignorant and therefore not worth reaching. This attitude is typified, he adds, by many modem poets. Many scholars denounce efforts to make specialized knowledge accessible to wider audiences as "gopularizing."

The second appro~ch, now gaining increased acceptance among the faculty, does not deny the validity of writing for specialized disciplines. 1 ts proponents insist; however, that students who can write clear, clean sentences v.jll not only be able·to · translate their thoughts into words more easily,

3 " ... ifa man can keep his eyes open, distinguish facts from inferences, and write good English, a very little knowledge ofhistory and economics and elementary law wiU go a great way.''

Arthur Twining Hadley, President of Yale from 1899-1921, rejecting journalism training at Yale

In response to this increased interest, the college seminar program has in the past five years included course titles such as "Personal Journalism, "taught by Loudon Wainwright, and" Journalism, the Art of the Fact," taught by Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Powers, Yale '60. The swollen number of applicants to these courses has been interpreted by some as an adjunct to grim professionalism.

But the teaser that draws many of these would-be writers is the chance to read and imitate cult heroes, many of whom have pried their way into journalism, stretched its limitations, and created what is lPOsely called "the New Journalism." Writers such as Norman Mailer, Jimmy Breslin. Gay Talese, Hunter Thompson and Tom Wolfe draw freely from the resources of fiction and inject much of their own personalities into their writing.

Tom Wolfe, who earned a Ph.D. from Yale in American Studies (he wrote his dissertation on political activities of American writers of the 1930's), writes frequently for New York magazine and first reached a large "counterculture" audience with his book The Electric Kool-AidAcid Test. Zinsser believe that Wolfe's writing is "exhilarating, but exhausting on the optic nerve.''

HunterS. Thompson, inventor of "Gonzo" journalism (his own term) and the most outrageously drug-crazed writer of all, cut his teeth writing features for The National Observer as their South American correspondent. He has chronicled his more recent adventures tn HeU's Angels; A $trange and Terrible Saga, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, FearandLoathingon the Campaign Tra4 (the 1972 presidential election) and Fear and Loathing at the Superbowl.

These colorful and innovative writers, and others like them, have exposed students to the variety of forms that personal expression can take.

The college seminars which have sprung up in response are flooded with applications.

But these courses, because they deal largely with a subject matter that runs the risk of becoming faddish, generally have a short life span at Yale. They usually run for the two years allowed them in the college seminar program and disappear when no place is offered them in the academic departments.

But they do encourage students to improve their writing on their own, in student publications, and in other writing courses.

The longest running and most successful non· fiction writing course. and the only such course to complete the move from the seminar program to the English department, is Zinsser's •'Non- Ficti~n Workshop."

"We have become a fact-minded countrv," says William Zinsser, Master of Branford College, Editor of the Yale Alumni Magazine, and teacher of the highly successful "Non-Fiction Workshop" (English83-1b). "Socialchangeishappeningso fast- Women's Lib, advances in science, drugs, Civil Rights, sex- that people are inundated with facts. They ask 'what does it all mean?' They are looking for answers. · The quickened pace of life, prompted largely by television, has made readers more impatient for those answers. No longer so willing to read a novel, they read newspapers, magazines, and longer nonfiction works. Zinsser notes that several major American novelists-Norman Mailer andJ ames Baldwin, for instance-have turned from fiction to non-fiction, a trend he sees as' 'no accident. N on-fiction has become the predominant literary form in America today.''

In most magazines today, according to Zinsser, non-fiction is "whattoday'swriterswrite, publishers publish, and readers read."

The newspaper reporting of Watergate (with Robert Woodward, '65, in the front ranks), coupled with the rise of writer-heroes like Mailer, Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, has sparked anationwide interest in what Zinsse~ aptly terms "the romance of journalism." The chance to topple governments and expose corruption has inspired an awe of the media's power and attracted unprecedented numbers of young people to journalism.

Columbia University's School of Journalism reports that applications are up 48 per cent since . 1972; Northwestern reports similar statistics. Media organizations are swamped with job seekers, and no longer find recruiting necessary. · The romance of journalism is eagerly pursued

by Yale students. When Yale'sOffi<:eofPublic In• formation and theNew Haven Register jointly offered a journalism internship, 40 students immediately responded with applications. Overflow crowds of students have attended panel discussions sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism (established in 19~7 by Nels_on Poynter, M.A. '27, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times).

Two newspapers and four undergraduate magaWilLiam Zinsur, Mastero{Branford College wid teacher of zines are curre:t;ttly published on campus. tM1 "Non-Fic~n Work.shop"(Englishs:J.lb)

... .

..!1

8

l 0•

pageS

The New Journal/February 14, 1975

students' papers. He stressed organization, meaningful detail, and always, clarity.

Fom the beginning, Zinsser knew what his course was not. It was not creative writing. It was not a course in journalism; he hoped to help students with a wide range of interests, both academic and professional, to communicate their knowledge clearly. Today, he is careful to admit some' 'mavericks" to the course each year- students who have never written for publication. And he does not allow group criticism of student writing, each student receives his individual attention.

Finally, the Workshop was not intended as a "career preparation" course. Although many of his students hope to write as a career (graduates of the course today work with a number of newspapers and magazines), Zinsser stresses that the best college preparation for writing is a strong liberal arts program, and the best post-graduate training is found on small newspapers and magazines. The "Non·Fiction Workshop" has been such a success at Yale that Zinsser has now written the basic principles of his teaching into a book, to be published

by Harper & Row as both a textbook and a general interest work.

Michael Cooke, Pro{essoro{EnglishOJ'lddirectorof undergraduate studks in the English Department.

4 Zinsser brought the teaching of non-fiction writing-which he broadly defines as writing for publication in magazines and professional journals- toYale as a Calhoun College seminar in the spring of 1971. It was absorbed into the English department in 1973. Because of continuing student demand, the English department offered a similar course last fall and this spring taught by Charles Elliott,aformercopyeditoratLIFEandnowa senior editor at Alfred Knopf &Company.

Zinsser came toY ale almost by accident. A veteran of the now-defunct New York Herald Tribune. he had been a successful freelance writer in NewYorkandbeenaregularcolumnistforLIFE magazineforfiveyears.Butthesolitudeof sitting before a typewriter in his New York City apartment began to get to him so he tried tofindateachingjob.Atasummersession atlndiana University he found teaching to be "exhilarating," so he began to search for a JM>.rmanentjobatanexperimentalcollege.

Much tQ his surprise, Yale called Zinsser.

R. W .B. Lewis, then Master of Calhoun, invited him to teach a college seminar. Zinsser was eager to leaveNew York, so he accepted. Soon after he had bought a house in New Haven, Zinsser received another call. The Yale Alumni Magazine needed an editor-was he interested? Though it seemed "an absurd thing for a middle-aged man from Princeton to do," he accepted that, too. Threeyearslater, he accepted yet another Yale position -as Master of Branford College.

Zinsser first taught his "Non-Fiction Workshop" in the spring of 1971. Teaching from his own experience, he hoped to exPOse his students to the llUlll¥ options OJ?eD to them as writers of non-fie· tion.Hesuggestedreadingsfromavarietyofnonfiction writers, and read excerpts in class from others. His students wrote one paper each week in a different area of non-fiction- the interview, the editorial, science writing, personal experience, feature writing.

Above all, Zinsser emphasized craft. "Writing is a craft, like carpentry," he believes. He ruthlessly red-penciled clutter and jargon from his

JoM.tluuaFMton,EJC.«Utiv.DincttJroftlt.eS~rTerm.

5 As Yale seeks to raise the quality of student writing, it should consider the basic philosophy of writing that Zinsser teaches in his course. Students who can write clearly for a general audience can also write clearly for their professors. Much of the jargon and imprecision which clouds student writing can and should be eliminated. Most of the lengthy papers cranked out in the wee hours of the morning could be condensed. A short, concise essay cannot be padded with lengthy quotes. If students were encouraged to get to the point without concern for page length requirements, maybe they would not resort to the widespread practices of paddi.n g, cheating on margins, using typewriters with large typefaces, and even submitting other students' papers with a new tiUe page. .

Richard W arch of the Special Committee on Writing for the Summer Term agrees that "a short paper written twice is probably better than a longer paper written once," especially in terms of writing quality.

In a few years, the success of the University's efforts should be known. Maybe then YaJe stu· dents will ~ good writers. 0 Stuart Rohrer '74 is former Edit:or o{Tbe New Journal

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The Latest Final Policy

by Carol Eliel and Mindy Beck

..

Yale's policy towards freedom of lace of Alabama under what appears expression has, it seems, come full to have been heavy pressure from the circle. Or perhaps it never changed at Yale administration. In 1969, as miliall. Or perhaps- most importantlytarism flared on campuses across the Yale has no coherent policy firmly nation, students seized Wright Hall, and clearly stated. All of these points and held University personnel cap· of view have been expressed in re· tive for several hours. Forty-seven action to the recent release of the students were suspended as a result, Report of the Committee on Freedom but were immediately reinstated, beof Expression at Yale, known also as cause "it was felt that the suspension theW oodward Report. was a sanction," according to Georges Over the past 12 years, President May, Dean ofYale College at the Brewster has often expressed the time. Several times in the past ten University's belief in "the encourage· years protestors have disrupted ment of controversy, no matter how classes or film showings for a variety fundamental, and the protection of of reasons. The administration has dissent, no matter how extreme." never taken any serious or long-term disciplinary action. During April and Furthermore, Brewster has also said that "willful disruption of the activMay of 1970, at the time of the Black ity of the University cannot be toler· Panther murder trial in New Havena ted. The right to recommend sus· and the planned May Day demon· pension or dismissal of anyone who strations- freedom of expression was maintained at Yale in spite of high disrupts the life of the University tension. But two years later, in April, must be understood."

1972, a hostile crowd shouting anti· Yetjustlastmonth the University saw fit to issue anew a statement of war slogans and obscenities effective· ly prevented General William West· policy concerning freedom of ex pres· sion. On January 8, 1975 the adminmoreland, another P. U. speaker, from reaching the podium. No disciplinary istration distributed copies of the Report of the Committee on Freedom action ensued. Shortly thereafter, Secretary of State William Rogers of Expression at Yale, the fmalstatecancelled an appearance to receive a ment of a 13-member committee chaired by Sterling Professor of P. U. award, claiming "pressing engagements'' elsewhere.

History C. Vann Woodward. · In essence, this report reiterates The Shockley affair last spring was the assumptions previopsly laid out thus only the last in along line of events at Yale bringing to the foreby President Brewster. It states the "need for Yale to reaffirm a commit· front the University's policy-or lack thereof- on freedom of expression. ment to the principle of freedom of · expression and its superior impor· As unclear as it had been in the past, administration PQlicy was even tance to other laudable principles and values, to the duty of all members of vaguer in the spring of 1974. Shock· the University community to defend ley himself called the episode "the the right to speak and refrain from administratively worst-handled disruption I've experienced." The appardisruptive interference, and to the sanctions that should be imposed entlack of standard procedures led upon those who offend." The report Brewster to establish a committee suggests ten ways of achieving these •'to examine the condition of free ends, including an explicit statement . expression, peaceful dissent, mutual of University policy, firm administra· r:_;spectand tolerance at Yale, (and) to tive action when freedom of expres· draft recommendations for any sion is denied anyone, and possible measures it may deem necessary for suspension or expulsion as punish· the maintenance of those principles." ment for disrupters.

Early this year the committee pub· lished its final statement.

Why did Yale re-state policy when previous statements were clear? The Included in the booklet with the answer lies in the administration's committee's report is a statement by · the one dissenting member of the past reluctance to carry out its own policy. committee, Kenneth J. Barnes, a graduate student in both law and In 1963, the Political Union's executive board rescinded a speaking economics. "Specific limitations of tolerance are justifiable," Barnes invitation to Governor George Wal• writes, "if they further the pursuit of • truth." In addition, he claims that the powerful have more influence in controlling the " free marketplace of • ideas" than minority groups do, and thus "can.dominate the market and drive out weaker, albeit 'true' ideas."

Free expression in the short run does not always outweigh potential longrun costs, Barnes says, thereby dis· agreeing with the majority's view, "that the results of free expression are to the general benefit in the long run, however unpleasant they may appear at the time."

Reacti<_>n to the rep<?rt has been _._,.. · mixed. President Brewster issued only a short statement in response to theW oodward Report. He praised ·"the Committee's insistent desire to st~1_1gtheJ?. the protection of freedom of expression at Yale, " although he disagreed.with the recommendation that University offieials should a t tempt to dissuade a group from issuing a particular invitation. Brew·

ster also suggested that "suspension for not less than a year...be automatic" for those found to have disrupted a University event.

Stanley Flink, Yale's Director of Public Information, stressed that the Woodward Committee's report was only a recommendation, and not yet University policy. The Yale Corpor· ation, which ultimately is the body to set policy, began consideration of the matter on February 8, and may not make any decisions until the next Corporation meeting. Flink did say, however, that a clear policy on free· dom of expression at Yale will be laid down within the next few months, adding that "the maximum freedom of expression is still th~ principle and always has been." He called the present time an "interim moment," a point at which the University has no official policy. As far as press cover· age of campus events is concerned, he said that for the present "there is no policy but common sense." He would not comment further on the report and added that President Brewster's statement was also final.

Professor C. V ann Woodward, chairman of the committee which authored the report, was "very satisfied with (it)," and added, " ) very much appreciated (Brewster's) support, especially the last line of his letter," which emphasized that dis· ruption of a University event is not tolerable. W ood.ward feels that the Corporation may alter or add to the report before establishing it as Uni· versity policy, but claimed that in any form such a policy would affect campus activities. "I believe," he said, "that it will encourage a new spirit about the principle of free speech." In general he found support of free speech •'pretty widespread in the University," calling the opinion promulgated by the dissenting state· mentone of a "non-representative minority." He continued, "I find it ironic that this opposition to free speech is largely radical and this movement which started out in Berkeley in 1964 as the Free Speech Movement has turned out in its latter days to be against free speech."

Thomas Spahn, former Executive Director of Lux et Veritas, one of the campus groups which considered inviting Shockley last year, commented, "I always assumed that the University believed in the freedom of speech ...The committee just re-stated the obvious." lr. 3hort, he was "very, very plea:::ed" wich the committee's statement. Spahn was disappointed with the U Diversity's vague policy on television coverage of Yale events, but added that the committee no doubt had been unable to study such problems due to lack of time. He did not feel that the report would affect Lux et Veritas, a conservative group engendered by the radical activities on May Day 1970. "We wanted to bring in a variety of viewpoints to campus that aren' t normally heard, and we'll keep on doing that," said Spahn. (In January, Lu.xet Veritas published.a detailed history on free speech at Yale during the sixties and seventies, and included its own views). Greg Hyatt, the current Executive Director of Lux et V eritas, also feels that "it was a pretty good report... It comes down hard for free speech and against disruption, which

.,.

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The New Journal/February 14, 1975

page 11

33 BROADWAY • NEW HAVEN

is the proper attitude as far as I'm solute rule on this campus is to ignore concerned." Hyatt said that he didn't restraints on freedom of expression in like the dissenting report, but added the greater society," he said, citing that he felt the majority report looked such examples as the practical joker even better in light of it. who yells "fire" in a crowded theatre Eugene Meyer, the President of the or the old man who displays himself Young Americans for Freedom at to young girls on the street. AccordYale, the group that finally sponsored ing to Darnell, "The Woodward Comthe Shockley debate, feels similarly mittee Report would throw disabout the committee's report. "Basicretion, reason, morality, and many cally I was pretty pleased with it," he of the other values we...cherish off the said. It seemed to stress the need for campus or subordinate them ... to an freedom of speech or some kind of 'absolutism' that denies man's ability freedom of expression." He did not to solve problems." He focused on the think that the report would alter Shockley affair, decrying the use of significantly theY .A.F. 's invitation the "absolutism" which he thinks the policy. Meyer stated that he personal- Woodward Report advocates as a ly felt that before inviting a speaker ''free ticket to those racists who theY .A.F. should consider whether abound (at Yale) to inflict irreparable or not the meeting would be valuable harm upon minorities under the guise to the participants, not whether or of scholarship.'' Darnell argued that not it would be disrupted. Nor was he "'absolutism' does not justify the altogether confident of the report's relegating of morality to third class future success as University policy. status among values." In addition, he "I don't think, given Yale's record on faulted the report on the grounds that freedom of speech, that feeling secure the committee was predominantly would be terribly rational," he said. white, and that the final statement But I feel that the chances by and was written largely by four of the large are a lot better than they would thirteen committee members and have been without that report...It based on preconceived notions. remains to be seen what will happen."

Three letterw signed by a total of But there are others who disagree 4 7 members of theYale faculty also with the report's findings, and who registered disapproval of theW oodclaim that their opinion is being igward Report and of President Brewnored. Elwyn Lee, former Chairman ster's recommendations. The shortof the Black Law Students Union, est letter, from three faculty meminsisted "Ken Barnes is absolutely bers, said, ''There are circumstances right when he says that very little and situations in which 'free expresattention is being paid to his dission' can inflict a violence which, sent... It's ironic." Lee was originally though less obvious than physical upset over the composition of the force, is perhaps no less severe ... We... committee, because he felt it was urge the Corporation to take account designed to vindicate an as yet unof the'non-physical forms which announced, presumed consensus violence can assume, and to refrain about free speech, "a mythical confrom taking too facile a stand on the sensus which wasn't defined." Lee questions of disruptions." The eleven believes that any University official, signers of a second letter wrote, in accord with his right to free speech, " ... We understand that individuals should be allowed to speak out on the may at times feel bound in conscience propriety of an invitation to anyone to oppose (a) speech.'' They added, to appear at Yale; he believes that the "We do not believe that it is possible report heads in the right direction on to assign primary importance to one this matter a lthough "the committee value unconditionally, be it freedom members don't go as far as (Lee) of expression or any other value,'' would like." thus attacking the basic premise of Lee's biggest criticism of the theW oodward Report. The third letWoodward Report involves the secter, signed by 44 professors, urged tion entitled' 'Of Ways and Means." that "on both moral and pragmatic He claimed that the report allows for grounds... the University ... retain the peaceful registration of opposition possibility of a mild or suspended but nothing more. Thus, Lee said, the sentence in a case of interference with fact that •• (the committee members) free speech.'' They claimed that don't want anybody hurt" is placed denial of discretion in sentencing was above their belief in freedom of exan abdication of "the moral responsipression. In addition, he said that the bility of judgment." They said also report focuses too heavily on the disthat the ability of severe sanctions to ruption of speeches and ignores other deter further disruptions was at best violations of the freedom of expresdoubtful. The 44 professors claimed sion. Lee criticized Brewster's desire that mild rather than severe sancfor standard punishment of disruptions would often be appropriate "in ters, claiming that hidden that desire light of adequate mitigating circumwas a feeling that the President "does stances." not trust the faculty," ... and that he Does Yale have a coherent policy was disappointed by what the execon the freedom of expression? T«hutive committee did to those students nically speaking, not yet. Yet almost brought before it after the Shockley everyone is treating the Woodward affair. Lee feels that Brewster's lack Report as if-with minor additions or of trust contradicts the "supposed alterations-it were already policy. consensus on free speech'' that some And reaction to the report is spreadclaim exists. In general, Lee coming outside of theY ale community. plained that the committee did not do InarecentarticleintheNew York much thinking, because "they knew Times, Anthony Lewis wrote, "Other what they were going to say in adUniversities will look to the Woodvance." ward Report for a philosophical exMichael Darnell, present Chairman position of the classical argument for of the Black Law Students Union, freedom.'' The report is making farcriticized theWoodward Report as reaching ripples in the academic pond.O being simplistic. "To call for an ab-

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The Father Directed by Jeff Bleckner Opens Fri., Feb 21 Previews Thurs., Feb. 20

In repertory through April 19

yale repertory theatre comer of Yen enid Chapel Streets, Box office now open For reservations and information phone 436-1600

The Experience of Directing byJemWiner

Nikos Constantin A thansios Psacharopoulos VII has taught acting and directing at Yale for almost twenty years. For eighteen of those years he has.also beenExecutiveDirectorof the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, considered by many critics to be the finest summer theatre in the country. · Emmy winner Dick Cavett and Obie winners Sam Waterston and Stacy Keach began their careers under Nikos at Yale. So did actor/ director Austin Pendleton (who won an Qbie for "The Last Sweet Days of Isaac" and appeared in "Catch 22," and "What's Up, Doc?") and Long Wharf Director Arvin Brown. Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lee Grant, E. G. Marshall, Mildred Dunnock, Thornton Wilder and dozens ofothers have acted in his productions at Williamstown.

Last summer, Nikos directed his 61 st production at William stown, Chekov 's ' The Seagull. " The cast included Lee Grant, Blythe Danner, Kevin McCarthy, andFrankLangella. The National Educational Television Network asked him to film the production for their Theatre in America series. Nikos accepted, and resolved to do all editing himself. Five and a halfdays of shooting, three hundred thousand dollars, three months ofediting, and many Nikos man-hours later, "The Seagull" appeared on national television to considerable acclaim. Reviewers called it "a natural, energetic Chekov, "and "the most complete Chekov imaginable. "The only sour notes came from aN. Y. Times reviewer, who didn't like the background music, composed by ArthurRubenstein ("not the famous one, " says Nikos).

We talked to Nikos about the experience of filming the work. We caught him on the run, between class, and a screening of "The Seagull" for his Yale students at the Art and Architecture Building. He talked about the problems ofdirecting Chekov, teaching, working with actors, and making theatre into television.

NJ: How did your first t .v. production come about?

Nikos: "The Seagull" is not my first televised play, it's just the first in which I supervised the photography and also the editing. First, N .E.T . asked me to do it, I asked the cast, and finally we did it. It was a good choice for me, because Chekov adapts himself to the t.v. screen well ; he never writes about something or _s omeone you can't see. You just need an exterior and an interior set. Can you imagine " Our Town" on t .v.? It wouldn' t work. With "The Seagull" I didn't have to keep it a play or make it a movie but could just make it be Chekovon t.v.

NJ: Have you been happy with the result? How have your reviews been?

Nikos: The East coast reviewers liked it, but the three Los Angeles papers flipped over it. They say that Chekov is all of a sudden a household word. That's great.

NJ: Howdidyougoaboutcasting it?

Nikos: I cast the people I like, and

I cast them for the Williamstown twenty-five hours straight. At least the last three hours were pure hell. stage, not for t.v. Emotional range is primary, since they're all professionCameras take four hours to set up als, you assume the vocal and physisometimes, then the actors get up and act for maybe five or ten minutes. cal range.

NJ: How was the actual stage perThen they have to move the cameras again. But the crew was excellent. formance?

Nikos: There were some problems.

The man who did the audio has won four academy awards. Most of our We only rehearsed about two weeks lighting problems were taken care of and four days. It's never enough later, in the studio. We ended up rethough people exaggerate how much lighting the entire play and added time you need. Lee Grant had difficulties getting an idea of her aura, the special effects. For example, when I had a close-up of Blythe (Danner, who characterization of Arkadina in Mosplayed Nina, a young country girl cow. There were also a lot of battles. aspiring to be an actress), we colored Lee had thought she was going to the film just a shade pink. relax, enjoy a vacation and her art, NJ: Did you re-shoot many scenes? and then 37 reviewers came up and Nikos: WeshotonelineofBlythe's criticized her performance. Therefourteen times to get the right effect. views were mostly bad and that put pressure on. She was frightened by all But Act IV was done in one take. We used three cameras most of the time. of the publicity. . Usually, whenyou'reselectingshots NJ: Did the film version change. from the truck, a red light goes on in any of the performances? the camera that is filming. So the Nikos: Lee was better on t .v. than actor ends up knowing which of the she was on stage where she was too three cameras is taking his picture. I undisciplined. All the others were asked the camera men, " Is there any more or less the same. way that they won't know?" They · NJ: Were there any difficulties in said, •'Yes, if you put the cameras in the actual filming?

Nikos: We only had five and a half isolation." Which we did, leaving me days. Trying to coordinate color when to work on it later, taking the time in the editing room. It's not the best you're s hooting day and night is almost impossible. I also knew I had to way. shrink the performance for t.v. True NJ:Why? Nikos: It drives you bananas. adaptation to the medium changes Especially with tape. I dicllearn a lot what you're doing, although I didn't about the medium, when to use closere-direct any of the scenes. We filmed it on location at Williamstown, bor~ps. I also got involved with the rowing a Williams College professor's rhythm of editing: is this a group shot, or a person, or whatever. I enhouse. All we had to do to it was joyed cutting back and forth. But the change the shutters. We brought up real work was done with the actors. the furniture we needed from New York.

The t.v. work was mostly technical.

NJ: Five and a half days sounds NJ: Were you unhappy with any of like a very short time. the performances?

Nikos: The last day we worked Nikos: I could not do what I want-

page 13

The NewJourruzl!February 14, 1975

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ed with Trigorin, so often I would cut back to Nina. I tried to get Trigorin to have more urgency on the camera.

The play could have been his. But his characterization was bland, too mushy. He had done it before and never moved away from his earlier performance.

NJ: How does one go about becoming a director these days?

Nikos: You train. You must go into a program in one of the few schools there are, unless you're an actor and switch later on.

NJ: Howdidyou begin?

Nikos: I went to school at Oberlin and then Yale.

NJ: How do you go about directing a play?

Nikos: First I read it, then I put it away for a while. I think about it, let it happen to me in my mind. Then I . form my ideas, backing them up with evidence, other things that are happening.

NJ: Do you tell your actors how you want to do a play?

Nikos: I just let them act. I don't say anything until they say something. It's much better to let the actors develop. You guide them, it's anthologizing, putting them into the right direction.

NJ: Have you ever directed a disaster?

Nikos: I did a very bad version of "Lion in Winter." Wedidn'thititoff, it wasn't the right chemistry. I didn't have the right cast, and they didn't have the right director. What can you do? Afterit'sover,youjustsay, "back to the drawing board."

NJ:Whatabouttheeconomicsof the theatre? Are the stories about the starving actors still true?

Nikos: Yes. Starving actors are a fact of life because it's too easy to become an actor, much too easy. If it were more difficult, there would be less of them, and if there were less of them, there would be less unemployed.

NJ: Alvin Epstein (director of many Yale Rep productions) was interviewed in the Yale Alumni Magazine a few years ago claiming there were too many amateurs in theatre.

Nikos: He was right, there are too many, but who in hell is going to decide who is an amateur? Still, you don't want a veterinarian to do heart surgery, do you? Then why do you

allow untrained people to direct and act? I realize people believe it's instinctual, butitisalsoascience. I trained for years, everyone should.

There are a million amateurs who see themselves as professionals.

NJ: Haveyoueverworkedin the commercial theatre?

Nikos: Some of the things I have done have made money. What's the difference between the two? I don't think that everything done for art's sake is art, or that everything meant to be commercial is bad. Still, America is far behind where it should be. In Russia, the artists are paid as much as the Generals. Or so they tell me.

I'm sorry we're not subsidized for theatre here. I envy people in England and Canada. We don't have the money to do what we want.

NJ: Whataboutresidentialcompanies?

Nikos: I think the residential companies are the salvation of the theatre. It's where people can do their best work.

NJ: Have you seen any productions you have especially liked or disliked in the past few years?

Nikos: I really loved Oliver's "Uncle Vanya" in England last year.

It was beautiful. It found what was contemporary in the material. And also Peter Brooke's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which was most inventive. The worst thing modem directors do is impose things on material when there's so much already there. To invent, before you take the time to discover, is dangerous. Youdon't mixupchemicalingredients unless you first identify them and discover them.

NJ: Is teaching important to you?

Nikos: Obviously. It's more than half of my career, not in terms of time, but in terms of interest. At Williamstown, we get in as many young people as possible at our school. They feed into our second company, and that feeds into our main one.

NJ: Howmanyshowshaveyou done in your career?

Nikos: I don'tkeep track, but more than a hundred. Now I try not to direct more than two or three plays a year, in order to continue to replenish my thoughts in between. 0

Jem Winer is theManagingEditorof The Yale Graduate Professional.

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The NewJourru:d/February 14, 1975

page 15

I

(continued from page 2) "How about tomorrow morning?" I asked. "Some other time, I'm afraid."

Clutching Erica Jong, I took the next elevator up to the library. It reminded me of L & B, deep shiny worn-leather chairs, arched windows, the ease and stuffiness of an Englishman's study. Several retired types slept in assorted positions in armchairs. I remembered that L & B used to be closed to women, and got bolder.

I tried to figure out the classification system. One section for biography, another for history, I wandered from shelf to shelf. My eye fell on the row labeled "Women." The first book was The Dangerous Sex,

by H. R. Hays. Then there was Life with Women and How to Survive it, A Guide, with such helpful hints as how to explain a football game to your wife.

Perhaps Helen Gurlie Brown's Sex and the Single Girl was more my line. Then there was Esquire's All About Women. Women Today, now t hat might prove useful, "A Sourcebook." It was published, alas, in 1938.

I had expected these titles, remnants of the old blue, no-pants days.

But the tokens of the times surprised me. Here was The Second Sex, The Feminine Mystique, The Female Eunuch, even Sexual Politics, all in hefty hardback. I was feeling the old schizophrenia. A quick check showed The Feminine Mystique had been borrowed exactly three times since 1966. Still, a beginning. For historical perspective, there was Everyone was Brave, about the suffrage movement, no complaints there, and even, wonder of wonders, that radical socialist feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Woman and Labor, posi- . tively communistic. The book selection committee must have thought it was about pregnancy.

There were a few other titles I didn't recognize, though The Bold Women sounded promising. About hookers? And then my favorite, John Stuart Mill's classic On the Subjection of Women. I knew it well. An eminent professor had once told me that you had to watch out for his conclusions because he had been living in sin with that woman Harriet.

What two books were the most dog-eared, tattered and stained with the largest number of purple date stamps? You guessed it-Andrew Sinclair's The Better Half, and Ashley Montague's The Natural Superiority of Women.

Before I discovered any other Yale Club secrets, or got thrown out, I hoisted my totebag, a few sheets of engraved notepaper, and a copy of Penthouse Magazine left open on the ta!>le. I stole it as a political act, remembering the pants dropped in the elevator. O Joann Lawless Joann Lawless '71 is an MF.A. caruJidQ.te at Columbia in writing.

Thoughts on a National Police Academy Two and one half years ago the Knapp Commission asserted, in no

uncertain terms, that corruption was widespread in the New York City Police Department. Since then, other major cities have taken to task the investigation of their own police departments. The results of those investigations have flowed in a steady stream before the public in the form of sordid front-page stories. One city recently in the news was Philadelphia. Corruption in its police department, said the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, was "ongoing, widespread, systematic and occurring at all levels." Moreover, the commission accused the mayor of attempting to block the investigation. In the interim between the Knapp Commission Report and the Pennsylvania Crime Commission Report, a spate of police depart. ments bit the bullet while bearing up to degrading allegations concerning the ethical performance of their men: Detroit, Baltimore, Newark, Cleveland, Chicago, Albany, Minneapolis, Atlantic City, Paterson, Indianapolis-the list grows longer every month.

Shocking? Apparently not. It seems that ugly revelations of this nature about the police of numerous cities are not enough to spur the country into taking measures to treat the problem effectively. Perhaps it is because the people already know that their high school educated policemen are not really the "finest."

Perhaps the media headlines are old news to most people who know from their own experience the extent to which the corruption exists. Perhaps the public expects no more from its police. Perhaps every major city in the country will have to rumble with police department scandals before there is an impetus for action. But one thing is certain: everyone, including the majority of this country's policemen, would rather have corruption-free departments, yet little is being done to achieve that end. True, there are many energetic individuals and organizations, such as the Police Foundation and the staff working under the Law Enforcement Assistance Act, striving to better our police. But when viewed with a national perspective, the effort is relatively minimal, particularly when it is becoming increasingly clear that most-if not all-major cities suffer corruption to some degree.

The problem is not so easily solved. It is not as simple as a few rotten applies in the barrel. An entire system-a tradition-must be broken.

The time has come for a National Police Academy, or at least a study of the National Police Academy concept. The idea is not that complex.

A national institution with a curriculum aimed at producing professional police officers could be set up similar to the military academies.

Earnest, career-minded individuals would be recruited and awarded not only a college-level degree, but also officer rank, in return for an obligation to serve in a specified police department for a certain number of years following graduation. While it may be a good idea to provide the stipulation that a graduate be permitted to serve in various cities during his career, by no means would this institution be an invitation to nationalize our police force. High standards would be set for the Academy a.n d maintained at a level commensurate with the desired result-a truly professional graduate who can not only cope face-to-face with corruption, but who can also help in overcoming the system that actively plagues our police departments.

In the police departments of most major cities today a candidate needs only a high school diploma or its equivalent to satisfy the educational prerequisites for the job. When an individual is accepted he is given four to six months training, which is intended to cover the entire spectrum of police duties and assignments. This includes little or no corruption training. Four to six months of training and that's itinstant police officer. It cannot be too surprising, therefore, that the people living in corruption-ridden cities expect no more from their police, considering the educational standards and extent of training.

The all-important role a police officer plays in our society demands a better educated, better trained individual for the position.

In a National Police Academy, a single course on corruption might last four to six months. The graduate would be college educated. He would be looked upon as nothing less than a true professional and his peers would expect nothing less than professional performance at all times. The pressure would be on those officers who chose not to conform to the image.

The creation of a National Police academy-for the purpose of combatting police corruption-is becoming more and more necessary and compelling with each passing day, with each passing newspaper splash, with each passing city losing confidence in its men in blue. 0 Edward F. Droge, Jr.

Ed Droge '77 served for five years on the New York City Police Department

Depression chic My bank collapsed. The fastest loan in town. One point eight billion dollars. Ninety branches throughout the New York metropolitan area. When the need is financial-Security National-KABOOM-the reaction is Chemical-SHAZAAM! (My bank had collapsed.)

Fiduciary waters run deep. These were the people who gave me a ticket to the World's Fair in '64 when I opened my first account and added

an avocado enamel percolator in '73 when I joined Christmas Club. I b..9ught stamps in their postage machine, made copies on their xerox, watched their philodendrons grow from sturdy sprouts to spindly fronds. This was no idle mercenary cartel. This was my bank. My bank.

Initially I belonged to the Royal National of New York and some years back, it was absorbed by Security. Now, Security struck me at the time as lacking something of the imperial fillip of the Royal National.

Security was, as we know, a Long Island bank, which is to say not really a bank at all but more likely a sort of grange (or combine) or modified alfalfa fund which one would never think of as actually dealing in real, live, legitimate, tinkling money (one could see the bushels of apples and corn strewn hither thither about the rude wood-beamed arches of its vaults). And yet an admirable bravado lingered around this metropolitan interloper which in the end caught my economic whimsy. Here was the proverbial David facing off the megalosaurian Philistines. I was stirred.

Now all is gone, eviscerated, expunged. What have you done to my bank, William Simon? Two billion dollars of the little guy's best blood sold down the river for forty million pieces of corporate silver-it gives one a lasting financial frisson even to consider such an unconscionable fire sale. What delight is my share of the nation's seventh largest bank compared to that erstwhile acre in the bedrock of America's sterling seventy-ninth? I am now party to those des testable stiffs who fought slammin' Saul Steinberg and the Leasco Data boys. I am now all that's tedious in American sound investment, all that's boring in our dependable national institutions. I will never get a percolator again.

There is however some compensation. Economic ruin has brought me a rare gift: the chance to step into the past. For me at least those wonderful bread line days are back.

Think of it, shadows of 1930, my bank has collapsed. I am a child again, a disreputable scion of no less than Herbert Hoover: Archie Bunker's dream, selling apples on the street, tooling off to California, soup kitchens and mercy missions-the unutterable charm of the crash.

Admittedly I am not the first of this nostalgic new wave. Those wonderful people who brought you Franklin National, uh, EuropeanAmerican won the lead. But I am still of the privileged few. True, FDIC has protected the cash, but in spirit I am still beset. My clothes have grown shabby. I walk with a slouch, ration stamps in pocket, WP A card at hand. I am an honored ghost, the envy of disaffected multitudes, comrade of the eternal supine.

And what of the rest of you, will you be denied this heady pas de deux with debacle, this epopee of economic demise? Take heart. Have faith. 0 Jo-rtEtro.

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