100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

February 16, 1968 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1968-02-16

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.


4r At l3 guD
Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

ROGER RAPOPORT:
When Secrets Get More Secretive ...

Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
Truth Will Prevail

NEWS PHONE: 764-0552

:ate .::"r.".""" .:sv v; '... r:: ". ,vr: :vrr::^.^.:".^n:v: u: :: .""rv. ; "..".:-v:: r: r;:,v ::v::.e:vv ". " ."rr,".:anw"
{:" xvty.-. r:,:".":.v+."r,".v.v:.:v.+r::: "rn^.:: : aarr:::. :, " ""."",."" .": v::.w,.vr.".^r.=:.^.:w:r. .v
.V,[.V :.,. ... {{. J,' .vr Y. r. r.. ..1.... ....., {1 :r'L. ^.;.h.: +}{t ". .......t ...: :'..: ":.:V.. S.:. rr. 1 .......:.v:t ..... ............
.vvVr .1 1 ^ . r.. .. . . t.. .. ....... r:,{ :t:.1";t.:. ... ..:.. r. .. vs ... ..... .., .. .V: t:: ":
.Y.{:r...r.}.1}..r.....r.....:.. r....... N.:...v.r...... ,..,..r....,.h,.......,:4r.{...,...V...",+.ti. r..:l..,.{.,.'1:.41.1{:vY:::;:.".'",".'.:.": .":::: :', :1":::::::::.:^:.::: ;;:::"::: ".::::::":N :'::":,...:..:v::.'::.:".^::,::'.:'.:^.:'v'.".^;:vN.":":L.:.vV::ti.::::::":{ti :"::"::ti":^;

.:^:, :: : ::{:tip ;::::: ? ;.::;::: ti;: ti'i; x ;:ti " 11;:::ti';":a::,^" ti;k 1,: ^:t *Xa.K.,:

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

FRDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1968

NIGHT EDITOR: WALLACE IMMEN

S)trikng Down U of D
Student Movement

OR A WHILE, at least, it seemed as if
the University of Detroit was finally
coming of age. The school had progressed
from the jocular rowdyism of three years
ago when the administration abolished
football and some of the disenfranchised
athletes tried to block the John Lodge
Freeway to "protest" the sport's demise.
This week a genuine protest to emphasize
the need for some basic changes in the
.way the Jesuits have been running the
institution appeared to be gaining en-
thusiastic supprt.
Khe Sank
Atomic Blues
THIS WEEK'S award for thinking about
the unthinkable must go to General
Earle G. Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Asked whether we would
use nuclear weapons at Khe Sanh, he
forthrightly replied, "I refuse to specu-
late any further."
. If the innuendos implicit in Wednes-
day's New York Times are, to be believed
-and let's face it, what choice do we
have-then Wheeler is about the only one
in official Washington who isn't conjec-
turing about the use of nuclear weapons
at Khe Sanh - especially if this long
awaited battle takes on the dimensions
of another Dienbienphu.
Throughout all this furor it must be
remembered that nuclear weapons are
just not that important militarily. When
reduced to stark simplicity, tactical nu-
clear weapons' major distinguishing mil-
itary quality is that they provide bigger
bangs when they go off. And if bigger
bangs were the answer to the Vietnam
embroglio, then good old American air
power would have shackled Ho Chi Minh
to that oft-mentioned conference table
loi ago.
Looking for the ulterior, motives which
surround almost all discussions of Ad-
ministration policy in Vietnam, one is
seized by the notion that the whole thing
has nothing to do with military matters
at all, but is to be understood on the eso-
teric realm of the psychological and the
political.
It's really quite simple. If we discuss
the possibility of usingnuclear weapons
at Khe Sanh and then prudently decide
not to use them, James Reston praises
Johnson for his "moderation." And as we
all know, it's the President's moderate
image which is the key to his political
success.
OF COURSE. if the Commander in Chief
in his infinite wisdom decides that
we reluctantly must use tactical nuclear
weapons against our armed-to-the-teeth
adversaries, then we have another world
crisis, on our hands and all good Ameri-
cans. must rally around their leaders in
this time of troubles.
The important thing to realize is how
easy it is to take for granted that there
is nothing wrong with using nuclear
weapons against Asians. Already, the New
York Times is doing this by headlining
their story "Wheeler Doubts Khe Sanh
Will Need Atom Weapons.'
Of course if it should become neces-
sary. ...
-WALTER SHAPIRO

Things reached a head when the lead-
ers of Student Government, the elected
representatives of the student body, sub-
mitted a list of 23 demands to Rev. Mal-
colm Carron, the school's president, ear-
lier in the week. Students were concerned
about the quality of education they were
getting, especially in light of the recent
tuition increase of 30 per cent. 11
"We Want Our Money's Worth," read
the placards at rallies both Tuesday 'and
Wednesday, where 300-odd students felt
strongly enough about their cause to
brave subzero weather and stage a show
of support for their Student Government
leaders who were voicing their demands to
Carron.
They were also concerned about the
lack of security on campus at night, the
lack of Negro faculty members, and the
general absence of students from par-
ticipation in decision-making.
CARRON'S FIRST answer was to invite
the student leaders in and have a
little talk. They emerged three hours later
saying that their major demands had not
been satisfied, and that to show how ser-
ious they were they were calling for a
student boycott of classes to be held
today.
Surprisingly, leading faculty members
came Out in support of the proposed
strike, including the dean of the engi-
neering school, the head of the English
departmert, the dean of the architecture
school, and the Jesuit head of the radio-
television school. Enthusiasm mounted
rapidly, and one faculty source estimated
that 80 per cent of the student body
might participate in the strike.
But Carron displayed the administra-
tive skills for which he was appointed
president a year ago. He called a meeting
yesterday morning with Student Govern-
ment leaders, just prior to a teacl-in
preliminary to the actual boycott. He
persuaded the student government lead-
ers to agree to an ad hoc student-faculty-
administration committee to "talk things
over." He made it very clear in a public
statement that "I have acceded to none
of their demands." But, evidently, the
leaders didnt take him seriously.
They went tosthe teach-in, announced
the strike was off and that Carron had
made a significant concession. The term-
ination of the strike was greeted by an
outburst of dismay from the students.
In an attempt to quiet the outcries, the
student body president resigned.
THE STUDENT government's actions
have brought total stalemate to the
student power movement at the Univer-
sity of Detroit. The students cannot see
the relevance of the student government
leaders on the Carron ad hoc committe.
Since the leaders of the strike movement
were so easily co-opted by the administra-
tion, they cannot be trusted to put up a
stiff fight on the committee for settling
student grievances.
Hopefully, the rest of the student gov-
ernment will follow the student presi-
dent's lead, and let people who will repre-
sent their constituents take over. It
indicates something when students can
find more sympathy with their cause in
the dean of the engineering school than
in its own elected leaders.
-KEN KELLEY

MONDAY the Faculty Assembly meets to begin debate
on the stagnant report of the Faculty Research
Policies committee on classified research.
There is no doubt that the faculty committee has
produced the report largely as a public relations service
to the University administration.
It was not produced to help solve the moral ques-
tions raised by doing $10.3 million in secret research
here. Rather it was done to cleanse the image of the Uni-
versity, which had been tarnished by ne'ws reports of
counter-insurgency work in Thailand, surreptitious mon-
itoring, and design work for ICBM's.
The report was set for press release at 10 atm. on
Jan. 18. The University news service dutifully wired a
long release on the report to the wire services and papers
like the New York Times and the Washington Post at
9 a.m. in the morning. The Ann Arbor News was also
supplied with the story.
The Ann Arbor News, of course, chose to print the'
news release, as it almost always does. But, of course,
the Times didn't touch the story and the Post gave it
scant coverage. The Daily first found out about the
story when it chattered over the AP wires at 11 a.m.
about an hour after the release time.
University News Service was contacted but explained
that it didn't have any news for the paper. Finally about
11:45 a.m., an assistant from Vice-President Norman's
office produced, a copy of the report, and news service
gave its report out shortly thereafter.
WHY DID the campus paper have to wait until
nearly two hours after release time to get a story that
had been supplied an hour early to papers that didn't
even want it?
"The members of our committee don't like the way
The Daily handled this whole classified research busi-
ness," explains Prof. Robert C, Elderfield of the chem-

istry department, chairman of the research committee.
"We instructed news service to do it this way."
But let there be no hard feelings. Although it is
virtually certain that the Faculty Assembly will swallow
the report - which takes 5,000 words to recommend
four new policies and one new committee to enshrine.
all but $261,192 of the University's secret research-
it is always good to see faculty groups help the admin-
istration keep the University the way it is.
Indeed the Faculty Assembly will undoubtedly ratify
the report and then the Regents will ultimately turn it
into meaningless new by-laws.
SO, SINCE the "investigation" is over, why not relax
and laugh at one intriguing story of classified research
that never made it into the verbose Elderfield report.
Back in 1963 Malcom Monroe, a young researcher in
Willow Run's Infrared Physics laboratory was working
on "Project Defender," a major anti-missile project
sponsored by the Defense Department's Advanced Re-
search Project Agency (ARPA)L
Much has been made of the positive contributions
of classified research which eventually becomes declas-
sified. But as Mr. Monroe found out, sometimes it works
the other way. Classified work gets even more classified.
And sometimes this can mean you are prevented from
reading what you have written.
Mr. Monroe was working on detection of missile re-
entry into the atmosphere. "By analyzing optical data
obtained from a missile re-entering the atmosphere we
attempted to understand the physics of light generated
during reentry."
But there were problems, each time a missile was
fired the group had to go back to doing elaborate library
research to find out what were the special characteristics
of the reentry vehicle."
So in late 1963 Monroe went to work on a handbook

called a "compilation of nose cone characteristics." The
document, which eventually ran to 500 pages, was de-
signed to serve as a reference work for the group. The
book would eliminate the need for researching each mis-
sile's characteristics on reentry. By simply consulting
Monroe's new book a scientist would be able to find out
the important characteristics of each missile that in-
fluence the radiation given off.
The ARPA officials were enthusiastic about the pro-
posal and told Monroe they wanted to publish the fin-
ished product so that scientists elsewhere could take
advantage of it.
BUT THERE WAS a serious security problem. There
are three levels of research classification: classified,
secret, and top-secret. Relatively few researchers at Wil-
low Run need the "top-secret" clearance and as a re-
sult are simply classified at the "secret" level.
Monroe had a "secret" clearance and had been writ-
ing the document with "secret" papers. But the ARPA
officials indicated that the finished product would prob-
ably be classified "top-secret" (since it became an ex-
tremely valuable final product). Thus Monroe was ser-
iously in danger of writing a "top-secret" document
that "secret" researchers like himself couldn't read.
"ARPA told me to go to work on getting my top-
secret clearance," he explains. The situation was touch
and go since the clearance process takes time.
After a year's work Monroe finished the handbook,
turned it in and still hadn't gotten his clearance. Was
his own work to be kept from him?
"I was pretty concerned" he confesses. Ultimately
he did manage to get his "top-secret" clearance by the
time the book was published.
"But it sure was kind of a silly business," says Monroe
who has since left the University and now works for
RCA in Florida. "I guess they have some rules and you
have to play by them."

Biafra Resists Nigerian Liberation'

By AZINNA NWAFOR'
Last of a Two-Part Series
The author is a graduate student
in the University's political sci-
ence department from Ndikelion-
wu, Biafra. He has been in the
United States since 1961.
ONE VERY crucial effect of the
change in government was the
transfer of political power at the
center into the hands of the Ibos.
The Ibos are highly advanced enter-
prising peoples. They had em-
braced Western education with
much greater avidity than any
other people in Nigeria and con-
sequently were predominant in the
life of the country-intellectual,
cultural, commercial and indus-
trial. They also excited, in the pro-
cess, the jealousy of their neigh-
bors and the suspicion of local
Europeans who saw in the "ed-
ucated African, the curse of West
Africa."
Their neighbors' belief that they
were domineering and bent on
dominating others was abetted by
Great Britain-the ruling colonial
power-and the more insistent
were the demands of the "educated
Ibos" for the political independ-
ence of Nigeria, the greater was
the scare of Ibo domination in a
free Nigeria conjured up.
When, finally, these were un-
availing and Britain had to leave
the country, a very ingenious con-
stitution was drawn up which was
to assure that political power at
the centre would never be exer-
cised by them.
But the Ibos-who had literally
created independent Nigeria and
were the most ardent nationalists
in the country-wanted independ-
ence from colonial rule at any

price, and the price exacted by
Britain was draconian indeed.
HOWEVER, IN Jan., 1966, ut-
terly fortuitously, the-elaborately
constituted edifice left by Britain
came tumbling down with military
precision. The new rulers were bent
on creating a unified and dynamic
Nigerian entity that can also play
a meaningful role on the world
scene.
In their determination to create
this entity they underrated the
resource of the opposition which
saw in every act of more effec-
tive national unification policy a
conscious Ibo design for domina-
tion.
In May, 1966, sporadic killings
of Ibos living outside their home-
land was initiated. Soon after, the
"Ibo Administration" was over-
thrown and a deliberate policy of
massacre of Ibos in Nigseria was
undertaken to rid Nigeria of the
Ibo problem. 30,000 Ibo and other
minority peoples of Eastern Ni-
geria who were living in Northern
Nigeria were massacred.
Those who were lucky enough to
escape the problem returned to
what was then Eastern Nigeria
with the clothes they had on them
-if any-as their only possessions.
The refugee problem was reaching
astronomical proportions.'
Efforts by the East regional gov-
ernment to involve the whole
country in meeting this drastic
situation were unavailing - the
agreements reached under the
mediation of the Ghana govern-
ment were not respected by Ni-
geria.

IT WAS becoming very clear
that Nigeria was bent on ridding
itself of the Ibos-they sought a
Final Solution. Perhaps people
never learn from history.
Historical experience shows that
all efforts at Final Solutions have
met with unmitigated failure: the
Turks failed to eliminate the Ar-
menians and Nazi Germany's con-
spicuous failure to rid Europe of
Jews is too obvious to need stress-
ing.
The Ibos and other minority
groups of "Eastern Nigeria" want-
ed to survive. Nigeria had shown
that it did not want them. It was
a difficult judgment to accept, yet
one that must be faced if the more
gruesome alternative of extermina-
tion is to be avoided, And so
Biafra is, and Biafra lives on.
Though no one cared for the
lives of the Biafrans, they all de-
sired the many mineral resources,
particularly oil, that Biafra is rich-
ly endowed with.
SINCE LAST July, Nigeria has
been waging war on Biafra. It is
aided by Britain which has been
providing the arms to ensure that
British oil interests and British
colonial heritage is preserved.
Nigeria is also aided massively
by the Soviet Union which has
been supplying the MIG planes
and other ammunitions for bomb-
ing targets in Biafra. The Soviet
Union also covets the wealth of
Biafra as well as a fertile foothold
in the heart of West Africa. To
this end its support of Nigeria has
been most impressive.
The United States maintains a
policy of neutrality and refuses to

sell arms to Nigeria. It continues
to regard the Nigerian Federal
Government as the only legitimate
government, and views the whole
war as an entirely domestic mat-
ter. In spite of a massive Soviet
and British involvement on the
Nigerian side, the United States
continues to pursue the same pol-
icy-much to the dislike of the
Biafran leadership, which has
sought U.S. assistance.
Perhaps it is just as well that
the U.S. is neutral, since for the
Biafrans this is their struggle
which must be won as they have
been fighting it-by themselves.
DESPITE overwhelming odds
and the disadvantage of a near
complete blockade on her, Biafra
has performed very well, at times
brilliantly. For this, unmistaken-
bly, is a people's war, and one be-
sides that they cannot lose. Their
very survival is at stake.
It is misguided and false to
label it "Ojukwu's war" (Colonel
Ojukwu isthe)Oxford-educated
leader of Biafra). The Nigerian
Federal Government has some-
times said that it is fighting to
liberate the minority peoples of
Biafra from the clutches of Ibo
domination.
In fact, as Lloyd Garrison show-
ed in the Feb. 3 issue of the New
York Times, in the "liberated"
minority areas of Biafra, the peo-
ple have often been hostile to
their "liberators" and have over-
whelmingly demonstrated their
support for Biafra."
For the massacres in Northern
Nigeria were extended to all East
-Nigerians indiscriminately and no

one is now doubtful as to what
"liberation" implies. The atrocities
perpetrated by federal forces in
Asaba and Calabar (two Biafran
cities) in the wake of their "liber-
ation" have taken care of that.
Moreover, the minority problem
in Biafra is not comparable with
the Nigerian situation. The minor-
ity people of Biafra are as highly
educated as the Ibos and as com-
petitive. There is no gap in Biafra
similar to the Ibo-Hausa gap in
what used to be Nigeria.
Yet Nigeria fights on under the
banner of its false myths as to the
war it is waging. At the onset of
war they planned and executed
a "quick surgical operation" that
would smash Biafra in "48 hours."
BIAFRA HAS refused to accept
extermination as a desirable goal
to be pursued by any government
and certainly does not, intend to
sit supinely and watch her people
wiped out for the benefit of an
artificial Nigerian unity held to-
gether only by the war on Biafra.
In so doing, Biafra needs the
support and encouragement of
those who value that concern for a
"central humanity that is the best
of Western civilization and all
those who generaly desire the
emergence of an African intelli-
gence. For Biafra is uniquely
placed to enrich the African herit-
age given its human potential, its
natural resources and its deep
concern for the fifture of Africa.
Indeed Biafra is tearing Nigeria
apart, albeit forced to do so, with
the certain knowledge that at the
end of the destruction of the ob-
solete feudal establishment is an
affirmation of life.

't I

;V

A T-LA R GE
Rez's Rare Book
1y NEIL SHISTER

Broadening the Bases of Dissent

IT IS APPARENT that the war in Viet-
nam is compelling formerly reticent
groups to voice their opposition.
Yesterday 4,000 law school faculty and
students from across the nation released
petitions calling for a de-escalation in
the war. Their concerted action follows
previous similar condemnations of Ad-
ministration policy by student body
presidents, medical and theological stu-
dents.
Evidently, an increasing number of the
nation's future leaders and professionals
has become alienated with the foreign_
policy created by the country's current
leaders. The real significance, however,
in yesterday's action is that the normally
conservative law students spoke out at all.
As a professional group, lawyers are
likely to be more critical of any state-
man+. +han wnid sin +han manv nther

changes that characterize other anti-war
petitions is that a more extreme state-
ment would not attract the wide profes-
sional support which was achieved.
THE IMPORTANT fact is that the law
students have finally voiced their op-
position to the war. The objective cir-
cumstances of the war itself have grown
to such proportions that previously mod-
erate groups are being forced to take a
stand one way or another. As opposition
to the war involves a broader spectrum
of social groups, the radicalism that now
tinges the anti-war movement and re-
pulses many people will become accept-
able to more people.
The Administration will have to wake
up and realize that it is not only a few
extremists who dislike what is going on

REZ IS SOON to set off on a cross-country hitch,
leaving next week for California to spend his three-
day spring vacation on the coast where he has never been
before. Rez will likely come back in order to graduate this
April, four years passed here trophied at the end with
a diploma, but after that I suppose he is in the vanguard
of one segment of our generation, mustachioed and long-
haired and rolling-with-the-punches.
In other words, without making a show of it, Rez is
moving Into modernity. In appreciation of electric music,
fine jazz and television he strikes me as a forerunner, a
prototype for the gearing of a new American model. Rez
is not a rebel, his politics are clean but mostly passive
though he marched in Washington last fall. If he is con-
sciously dissenting, it is from a way of life that quite
simply he doesn't enjoy. But rebellion is not an important
part of his style, and the women and men who look at
him and sneer about the protests of the younger genera-
tnon badly misread him.
BUT THIS DESCRIPTION is simply to set the stage:
Rez got a birthday present from his sister Rachel a few
days ago that is worth remembering. Rez and Rachel
come from The Island and when they're home they work
in The City, so you have to think Lord and Taylor, Sak's-
type cools. Always before Rachel had given Rez clothes
for his birthday, so this year she tells him she is going
to break out of the sweater syndrome and surprise him.
Rez's birthday comes and goes one day in early Febru-
ary, and a few days later a big package comes in the
mail: Rachel's present. Rez returns home to find it wait-
ing, and those of us around gather to find out what it is.
It is very heavy in its box, and we start guessing what

A scrap of paper was found upon which was scribbled
'Friday' aind in another page was a program from the
'Soiree' held by New Windsor College, June 6, 1882 and
featuring a Cantata, 'Quarrel Among the Flowers.' At the
top of this program, written in an ornate hand, was 'Put
this in Moore June 11th, 1882 at 4:26 P.M.'
The feeling was powerful, striking, to think that on
a June afternoon nearly a hundred years ago somebody
had been moved not only to file away a leaf of blue paper
from a previous evening but record the exact moment,
as if somehow to be able someday to return.
HISTORY IS DECEPTIVE. It is peopled not by per-
sons but rather by almost static, abstractly defined enti-
ties who even when brought to life by skilled historians
are unreal.
"Garfield, Arthur, Harrison and Hayes-time of my
father's time, blood of his blood, life of his life, they had
been living, real and actual people in all the passion,
power and feeling of my father's youth. And for me, they
were the lost Americans: their gravely vacant and be-
whiskered faces mixed, melted, swam together in the
sea-depths of a past intangible, immeasurable and un-
knowable. And they were lost." So writes Thomas Wolfe.
and he is right, there is something tragic and yet monu-
mentally important in the fact that men can never know
their past nor understand it, let alone someone else's.
Again Wolfe: "There is a bridge we crossed, the
mill we slept in, and the creek. There is a field of wheat,
a hedge, a dusty road, an apple orchard, and the sweet
wild tangle of a wood upon that hill. And there is six
o'clock across the fields again, now and always, as it
was and will be to world's end forever. And some of
us have died this morning nming through the field -

feel qualified to rule by virtue of the absolutes of their
reality. They have come to know certain "truths" and
must pass them down.
The dynamic of change, though, seems to be the
fact that one cannot accept synthetic truth. Or at least
those who provide the impetus to change cannot accept
an experience handed down' artificially and have it con-
stitute their definition of reality. Instead they must go
out for their own, lessons.
An interesting dialectic of history might well be
the conflict generated by two opposing visions of the
world which eally reflect nothing more basic than
these contrasting perspectives. The political impulse
viewed in this system might be the desire of men to
preserve their world, make permanent their time,
through collective action.
PERHAPS THAT is why there is something desperate
about the exercise of power. It is an activity engaged
in by men believing that they alone, or at least they es-
pecially, have the key to the universe in terms of their
social vision, which they feel is unique and singularly
qualifies,.them to rule. It seems reasonable to believe
that men of power, when finally stripped of all their
ideological cant, will finally legitimate their positions
of power by pointing to the qualities of their personality.
In other words, they feel that they best understand
the way things are or at least can best make meaning
of events and translate it into action.
I hope the historian see it this way when they write
about our time. For it is the way it is. The tragedy of
today is that Dean Rusk and Walt Rostow and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff all know they are right. And in
their world they are. But the dissent, the opposition to

4

I

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan