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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
ATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1967
NIGHT EDITOR; DANIEL OKRENT
SGMeeting: OK
For Me but Not for Thee
By TRAN VAN DINH
Collegiate Press Service
MqY VIEW of the September 3
elections, the way they were
organized, the circumstances-un-
der which they took place is that
they were simply a boring act in
the already too long tragi-comedy
which is politics in South Viet-
nam since the U.S. intervention.
The elections were simply an
act of legitimization of the old
cast for the continuation of the'
escalating, atrocious war. But
there are Americans who are tak-
en in by the official line, rein-
forced by the report of the jet-
mission of 22 presidential observ-
ers conducted by former Ambassa-
dor Henry Cabot Lodge.
To these people, I would like
to forward some facts coming
from Saigon. Unlike the presiden-
tial advisers and envoys, the Viet-
namese in Saigon speak Vietna-
mese, are Vietnamese, and write
reasonably good English. They al-
so live in Vietnam.
The South Vietnam National As-
sembly announced on September
13 that -it could not proclaim at
that moment the results of the
presidential and vice-presidential
elections for it had not received
all village and district reports
for the purpose of cross-check-
ing. The decision was made in the
morning with the approval of 56
of the 80 deputies present.
First to speak in the session
was Nguyen Thanh Vinh, presi-
dent of the Special Committee (on
elections). He said many inac-
curacies have been found in many
of the reports.
Many other deputies also took
the floor. Deputy Nguyen Huu
Chung; reporting in the voting in
Saigon, sai'd there were an extra
4,728 ballots as compared to the
number of people who voted on
September 3. Another deputy,
Dam Van Quy, reporting on the
case of Gia Dinh, noticed that 1,-
133 ballots must be considered as
lost as compared to the number
of actual voters on balloting day.
According to an official of the
Central Elections Council, "it will
take at least 5000 people to screen
the minutes of the senatorial elec-
tions." The -day before (Septem-
ber 12) Vu Tien Huan, first pres-
ident of the Court of Cassation
(equivalent to chief justice of the
Supreme Court) and chairman of
the Central Elections Committee
(CEC) told a Vietnam press (of-
ficial agency) correspondent that
the "Council can only proclaim the
results of the senatorial elections
after careful checking of the
minutes sent to the committee
from the provinces." The chief
justice also complained that the
results recorded in the minutes
"often completely differ from fig-
ures sent to Saigon through the
Post Office." (Saigon Post, Sep-
tember 14.)
0 About 1000 students of the
Faculty of Sciences of the Univer-
sity of Saigon yesterday refrain-
ed from entering the examination
room to protest what they called
"fraudulent elections." Pham Van
Binh, press officer for the Sci-
ences Student Group said that he
had distributed a two-point reso-
lution demanding the proclama-
tion of the September 3 elec-
tions as fraudulent and anti-
democratic.
Later in the day, Tran Trieu
Luat, press officer of the Saigon
Student Association blamed the
Americans (President Johnson and
others) for sending congratula-
tory messages to General Thieu
and Ky before the official proc-
lamations of the presidential elec-
tions by the National Assembly.
He then criticized American pol-
icy as backing only individuals
and not the people of Vietnam.
According to both Binh and
Luat, "American policy here only
makes things more complicated,
It won't help 'find a solution for
the war." (Saigon Post and oth-
er Vietnamese papers, September
14, 1967.)
* Commenting on the results
of the elections, the Saigon Post
writes: "Without a powerful and
influential opposition w h i c h
should represent an alternative
government, the newly elected
leaders may find it impossible to
resist sycophants. The danger is
real that flatterers could make
him (General Thieu) think he
is what the Vietnamese would
call 'the center of the universe.'
The need for an opposition, how-
ever, transcends this aspect. Wher-
ever there is nothing to channel
the many grievances of the peo-
ple and especially in underdevel-
oped countries where patriotism
is often synonymous with ex-
tremism, minor grievances may
speedily turn or be converted in-
to violent manifestations of pub-
lic ire. This is all the more true
in Vietnam which. witnessed so
many such developments. And this
all the more important if one
should realize that the Viet Cong
successes so far can be traced
partly to the lack of a popularly
backed government and a pop-
ularly backed opposition which
share a common principle of pub-
lic service." (Saigon Post, Septem-
ber 12.)
Commenting on the strong vote
peace candidate Truong Dinh
Dzu got in the electiops, the same
paper wrote: "The white dove
which Dzu adorned all his pos-
ters and leaflets and his appar-
ent willingness to embark on the
road of peace negotiations--even
without Hanoi and the Viet Cong
agreement-can be said to please
a substantial segmeent of the
Vietnamese population which does
not hold the-Communists respon-
sible for the nation's present
trials. The 70,000 votes he got in
Saigon, for example, cannot. be
blamed on Viet Cong presence.
Vietnamese suspicion of anything
foreign is another factor for Dzu's
success. Let it be known here
that when the French first were
interested in Vietnam, they were
called by our forefathers the
devils from the West.' American
presence here, however benefi-
cient it ma. be for this nation
in the long range, is viewed with
suspicions and with resentment.
Dzu was the only candidate to
forget mentioning the necessity of
U.S. presence at the present junc-
ture of the nation." (Saigon Post,
September 14.)
0 On September 18 (two
weeks after the elections) a
change in the lineup of South
Vietnam's Senate pushed out one
slate made largely of members
of Cao Dai, Hoa Hao sects and
replaced it with another slate
dominated by the Catholics (Gen-
eral Thieu is a Catholic). The
Catholics, who represent 10 per
cent of the. population, control
now half of the Senate.
* There- are now 25 out of 48
senatorial slates which filed com-
plaints with the National As-
sembly on the irregularities and
fraudulent practices of the elec-
tions.
In an article from Saigon Rich-
ard Critchfield (Washington Star
September 18) wrote:
"The Vietnamese government
and U.S. officials have been shock-
ed by what they say is the grow-
ing bitterness, indifference and
fence-sitting of the Vietnamese."
These officials are shocked be-
cause they have lived away from
people, in air-conditioned ivory
towers. To me these feelings of
bitterness and indifference are the
only logical consequence of fraud-
ulent, illegal elections.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT Council's hy-
pocrisy is showing.
Last week, SGC voted not to send a
representative to the University Assem-
bly's Committee on Communications Me-
dia unless it agreed to hold open meet-
ings.
But at its meeting this Thursday,
Council decided that what may be good
for the faculty is definitely not good
for SGC.
After taking the _commendable step of
withdrawing from National Student As-
sociation because of the NSA's undemo-
cratic nature, Council resolved to ap-
point new members to fill three vacant
seats. Eight candidates were interviewed.
At this point, Council moved to go into
executive session. Executive sessions are
closed to constituents and the press.
When four representatives of The
Daily, the chairman of Joint Judiciary
Council and two other observers refused
to leave, there was an embarrassing
pause. A befuddled Council. was forced
to beat a hasty, strategic retreat into
full open session.
THE .RATIONALE for closed meetings is
not entirely unconvincing. Several
Council members contend with some jus-
tice that debates over appointments in-
variably devolve to some extent into
discussions of personalities. To hold such
a forum in public, the argument runs,
would inhibit many from speaking their
piece.
But this is the precise logic SGC re-
jected when the communications media
committee used it. By the same token,
Council's rebuttal then applies equally
now.
Closed meetings are inherently un-
democratic. The principle apparently
cannot be repeated too often: if those
represented are to be intelligently in-
volved in the decision-making process,
they must know what facts and issues
are at stake when decisions are made.
Closed meetings obscure the issues.
The demand for open meetings is es-
pecially valid when Council is filling
seats vacated by the resignations and
graduations of elected at-large members.
The right of students to choose their own
representatives must override anyone's
squeamishness about frank talk in pub-
lic.
COUNCIL MEMBERS are public figures
bythi own volition. As public fig-
ures, they are subject to constant criti-
cism and occasional outright abuse from
the press, fellow Council members -and
interested constituents. Realizing thiat
conflict is natural, in fact, desirable in
a healthy democracy, Council members
are usually pretty good sports about it.
There seems to be little reason why
they should be any more hesitant to
freely discuss the personalities of pros-
pective members than their own.
SGC's unrelenting demands for open
meetings and "pure" democratic pro-
cedures are not so unrelenting when it
is the ideals of Council itself rather than
NSA, the faculty or the administration
which are at issue.
-URBAN LEHNER
'4
Letters: Engineering Council. Clarnfies Stand
Percy Drives a Wedge
THE PASSAGE of the Senate resolution
introduced Thursday by Sen. Charles
H. Percy (R-Ill) calling for more Asian
involvement in the Vietnam war is a
necessary step for relieving the intense
burden which the war has imposed on
the American people. The resolution,
which- said "the armed forces of the
United States should not continue to
bear an ever-increasing proportion of
the fighting in Vietnam" was introduced
despite administrative efforts to obstruct
it.
The passage and enactment of this res-
olution is important from both the Asian
and American viewpoints. No one will
deny that peace in Southeast Asia must
be sought and settled by the Asians
themselves in the absence of outside
aid. The resolution must impress upon
the Asians the likelihood of a decrease in
American aid.
The passage of the Percy resolution al-
so could improve American relations
abroad. As has been evidenced in the
United Nations, American policy in Viet-
nam is resented by nost world powers.
If the Asian nations would shoulder more
of the war's burden, making it more
their own war, and thereby lessening
American involvement, foreign powers
-would look at the'U.S. in a more favor-
able light..
DOMESTICALLY, the growing discon-
tent among the American people at
the slow progress and , high casualties
of the war is reaching a peak. Something
will have to be done soon on the part
of Congress or the administration, if not
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-Editorial Staff
ROGER RAPOPORT, Editor
MEREDITH EIKER, Managing Editor
MICHAEL HEFFER' ROBERT KLIvANS
City Editor Editorial Director
SUSAN ELAN ... ....... Associate Managing Editor
STEPHEN FIRSHEIN.....Associate Managing Editor
LAURENCE MEDOw ..Associate Managing Editor
RONALD KLFMPNEB .... Associate Editorial Director
JOHN LOTTIER......Associate 'Editorial Director
SUSAN SCHNEPP...............Personnel Directoi
to end the war completely, to lessen its
intense pressure on American society.
The costs of the war have exceeded its
benefits, and even State Department of-
ficials . privately concede that to reach
our present goals in Vietnam, we must
continue with our current level of in-
volvement for at least a decade.
The resolution's support by both doves
and hawks, such as Sen. Mark O. Hat-
field (R-Ore) and Sen. Harry F. Byrd
(D-SC) demonstrates that there can be
common grounds for opposing the cur-
rent administration policy by doves on
the one hand, and hawks who are be-
ginning to think we should withdraw if
we" can't win, on the other. Furthermore,
a resolution such as this gives these
doubting hawks a rationale that is ac-
ceptable to their "American Conserva-
tive" ideology for changing their posi-
tion regarding Vietnam.
These common grounds must be ex-
plored and exploited whenever possible.
Only through such diverse opposition
can the people's faith in Johnson's han-
dling of the war be undermined to such
an extent as to cause him to bring the
war to a conclusion by the 1968 elec-
tion. Hopefully, the war's termination
will manifest itself in withdrawal rath-
er than the futile efforts of escalation.
IF JOHNSON FAILS to do so, we must
hope that his Republican opposition
does not take the form of Richard Nixon
or Ronald Reagan.
-RONALD KLEMPNER
Associate Editorial Director
-LIZ WEITZENKORN
No Comment
SALISBURY, RHODESIA Oct. 2) -
There were complaints at the congress
(last week of the country's ruling poli-
tical party, the Rhodesian Front) about
the same surgical instruments being used
on white people and colored in some hos-
pitals. At one hospital, it was said, white
trainee nurses were having to take orders
from nonwhite matrons, and were hav-
ing to eat at the same table, although
not at the same times.
Two resolutions deploring these facts
were adopted unanimously and Ian F.
McLean, the minister of health, assured
the congress that steps were already be-
ing taken to segregate hospital facilities.
One delegate, warning against the in-
To the Editor:
C R I T I C I S M of Engineering
Council's reapportionment pro-
posal, appearing in The Daily,
Oct. 4, suggests several points of
clarification:
1) The Council's proposal does
not rule out the possibility of a
bicameral legislative body, such as
the one recently adopted at the
University of Texas, allowing rep-
resentation by general campus
election as well as by colleges.
2) Assuming support for candi-
dates in the last SGC election was
based strictly on colleges (a more
likely assumption for LSA than
for Engineering), the competing
engineers would have had to ob-
tain 26.5 per cent of the vote of
their college to win, while LSA
students needed only 7.8 per cent
of theirs. If engineering students
are apathetic, why was the Engi-
neering College overwhelmed with
petitions for its Student Advisory
Boards while SGC was extending
its petitioning deadline, seeking
qualified candidates for the Vice
Presidential Advisory B o a r d s ?
And from where do the 50-plus
members of Engineering Council
come? And who operates course
evaluations at the- end of each
semester? And summer job place-
ment services? And Technirama?
3) The, Daily editorial implied
that majorDissues brought before
SGC do not concern different col-
leges in distinctly different ways.
Certainly the engineers' attitude
toward the Draft Referendum
was completely different from
that of the music students. Course
evaluations, to mention only one
of many such issues, mean some-
thing different to every college.
If representation is to be close
to the individual student, a com-
mon denominator of association
will have to be established, and
the closest available approxima-
tion to such a denominator is the
individual college.
4) THE CLOSE contact of col-
lege representatives with consti-
tuents in daily classes permits
the acquisition 'of a wide range of
opinions rather than a concen-
tration of representation in a
segment of any one college.
5) I appreciate The Daily's
willingness to publicize the Engi-
neering Council's proposal. The
report is the product of an ex-
tensive study, and I feel it will be
strengthened by examination and
criticism on the part of all in-
terested students.
-Wally Rhines
President,
Engineering Council
To the Editor:
If I AM NOT mistaken, the JCC
refuses to uphold certain
regulations because they were
made by people who are not stu-
dents. It has been suggested that
students themselves should make
the rules governing conduct out
of class. Assuming SGC to be rep-
resentativeF of the students (use a
little imagination) would allow it
to make these new student rules.
But since the student body
changes every semester the rules
would have to be changed every
semester to be truly represent-
ative of the will of the whole stu-
dent community. A less frequent
change would disenfranchise new
studerts and force the other stu-
dents to labor under regulations
formed by people who were no
longer students.
A change in regulations every
four months reduce their effect-
iveness greatly and the confusion
that would result makes me won-
der if the childish satisfaction
derived from defying University
authority is worth the trouble.
-James Winters '70
Rev. Cleague
To the Editor:
(oN SEPT. 30, thanks to lec-
turer Heirich of the Sociology
Department, Rev. Albert Cleague
of Detroit spoke on campus. Rev.
Cleague is an effective and im-
pressively rational advocate of
black power and black self-deter-
mination. I had heard his doc-
trines before from other sources,
and so I could listen to it with
some detachment (not a lot).
One of them was the catchword
"Black is Beautiful." A comple-
mentary one was that all white
people are' "beasts." I had heard
both of these expressions before,
but had listened to them only as
symptoms of a Negro pathology-
a pathology towards which I was
highly sympathetic, but still a
pathology. I had seen Negro
speaker-to a degree-as creatures
giving a certain response to cer-
tain stimuli.
This time I reacted 'differently.
I understood that I was being
spoken to by a human being-
that I was required to interact
rather than merely observe, no
matter how sympathetically. This
was a result not of any miraculous
comprehension on my part, but of
Rev. Cleague's style and personal-
ity.
Regardless of its source, how-
ever, it was highly important; it
changed the meaning of the for-
mula "Black is Beautiful, but white
people are beasts" radically. It was
no longer another group's analysis
of a situation-it was a personal
challenge. to me-a dare, along the
lines of "I'm beautiful, white man,
but you're a beast. and if you
don't like being called a beast,
get off my back and prove you
aren't."
That's kind of simple, of course;
but it stings enough to be effec-
tive. This sting is contingent on
one thing-that the listening
white man have enough respect
for the black man who gives it to
feel it as a challenge.
Rev. Cleague seems, judging
from audience response Friday, to
get the necessary acceptance from
his audience; a possible program,
then, is to expose America to men
like him and their challenge,
hoping eventually to break the
cycle of white lethargy and racism
in which we all exist.
Voices like his need to be heard
in this age of ignored emergencies.
-Larry L. Yates,,'71
Rugby Kicks
To the Editor:
LAST WEEKEND the Michigan
Rugby Football Club enter-
tained the University of Toronto
Club to two games of rugby. I
should like to point out the dif-
ferent' support given by the re-
spective Athletic Departments.
In Toronto they provide the
club with a paid part-time coach
who can give some permanence
in the organization and training.
In Michigan we rely on exper-
ienced players to devote their
time in the evenings to this job,
and with no headquarters this
takes a lot of time.
The 30 players came by coach
which cost over $300 to hire-paid
for by their Athletic Department.
Next year the Michigan players
will have to provide their own
transportation when we recipo-
cate in Toronto.
The Toronto club arrived on
Saturday, watched our club play
the Chicago Lions, and the three
teams joined our teams for a
little(?) celebration afterwards in
a private house. One by one they
were, billeted out throughout Ann'
Arbor for the necessary recupera-
tion. The next day all we could
offer them was a half-size, half-
weed and half-baked Wines Field.
One team even had to wait half
an hour for the IM building to
be opened.
WHAT WILL we receive in re-
tyrn next year? We will arrive
tired in our fours and fives, but
beds will be provided in the
dorms. The stadium will be used
for our games, but we are not
used to grass! (Even Tiger Sta-
dium allowed Michigan to play
MSU at rugby last August!)
Afterwards a room will be pro-
vided fo ra party-but we must
be careful, we will still have a
six-hour drive ahead.
Why is ,it that our Athletic
Department is so apathetic? Foot-
ball is a great game, but cannot
Crisler at least recognize that
there are other games? Even the
great football college Notre Dame
allows their rugby club to use
the stadium; an architecture pro-
fessor coaches the team; and a
number of football players play
rugby during the spring, and are
even encouraged to do so.
But here in Michigan, we seem
to meekly accept who is boss. The
seat changes behinds next year.
extramural sports in the new re-
gime. We have the players (45
played last week) and the oppo-
sition (four games were played
over the weekend); but we do not
have the facilities nor the condi-
tions. This weekend we will be
fielding 60 players. Perhaps Cris-
ler might enjoy watching rugby?
-David Mildner
Grad
Scholarships
To the Editor:
I WOULD APPRECIATE an ex-
plicit official reply from the
Office of Student Financial Aids
to the following question: Why is
it that students entering U of M
wing Democrats. from Johnson's
embrace for a more vigorous anti-
war role.
Also, Mr. Shapiro contends that
"any Republican including the
probable nominees, Nixon or Rea-
gan, is preferable to Johnson in
the White House."
THIS LOGIC is of a curious sort.
Admittedly, there will be a more
viable protest movement. Unfor-
tunately, with Nixon or Reagan
and their ilk at the helm, there
will be considerably more to pro-
test. "Vivre" the right of dissent,
but I can not help but feel sorry
for the "masses." While in the
throes of a conservative Repub-
lican administration, I am afraid
44
"... I have not been brainwashed .. .
I have not been brainwashed... "
r'
from high school and junior col-
leges may receive scholarships, yet
students" transferring from state
of Michigan four-year colleges
may not?
I was told that the student has
first to "prove" himself at this
institution. However, isn't a 3 plus
average and a scholarship covering
complete expenses from the trans-
feree's university at least as sub-
stantial proof of merit as the mere
test scores and high school grade
point averages of incoming fresh-
men?
Furthermore, this policy impedes
the transferee's efforts by im-
posing a 15 credit hour minimum
for scholarship consideration and
having to work 'so as to finance
his first year here. (National De-
fense Loans are often inadequate.)
I trust the administration will be
able to clear up my confusion con-
cerning this policy.
-Neila Pomerantz '69
Politics
To the Editor:
HAVING JUST concluded the
L~latest of Walter S~apiro's pro-
vocative political columns (Daily
Editorial; Oct. 4), some impres-
sions from it and his Sept. 27
editorial, "A Modest Proposal: Let
Lyndon Lose in '68," come to mind.
In the latter statement, Mr.
Shaniro has recommended that it
that they will not fully appreciate
Mr. Shapiro's crusade.
Furthermore, I feel that the
serious inquiry into Senator Ken-
nedy's qualifications is not en-
hanced by much of the grandiose
phraseology employed by Mr. Sha-
piro. I am sure that most readers
are capable of forming sound judg-
ments' ont the basis of facts pre-
sented. They can do so without the
stimulus of- cynical purple prose
such as "personal patsy" in de-
scribing Nixon or "children's cru-
sade" in commenting upon Ken-
nedy's political aspirations.
Mr. Shapiro appears positive
that there is no creative alterna-
tive to that nominating Johnson,
dumping him, and handing the
nation's leadership to the Repub-
lican candidate.
If Johnson's defeat is imminent,
why not replace him at the Dem-
ocratic convention with a man who
approaches the radical liberal views
point? As Kennedy is not the man,
consider other,less flamboyant fig-
ures. With the political wheel still
in spin, the outcome of the elec-
tion is far from a fixed fact.
Even in defeat, the dovish Dem-
ocrats would be more, effective by
being self-assertive from the start,
rather than playing a game of
reverse psychology and penalizing
the non-political folk in the pro-
cess.
4
4
A
- ate lil K A7.1 (
.-R ohp.rt S. Fink '69