Seventy-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHI1AN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS ROGER RAPOPORT: This Is Ann Arbor, Please - - - + ,a ere Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Truth Will Prevail NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. Y, DECEMBER 6, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: DANIEL, OKRENT SGC Must Keep Working To Consolidate Student Gains M ILE THE FORMATION of a constitu- tional convention next term to "consider restructuring of student gov- ernment" is 'an 'important matter, the present Student Government Council must continue to work as the official voice of the student body during the interim, This semester has been a vital one in the history of SGC. While last year's November draft-ranking crisis set the tone for increased student decision- making in the University community, it was this year's Council which has con- solidated those goals. SGC has incorporated University rules and regulations into its own, and has then proceeded to alter or correct them one-by-one in favor of the students. Council has recognized the right of fresh- man women in the individual residences to determine their own hours or to elim- inate them as they see fit, giving the power to make other non-academic rules for University Housing residents to Inter- House Assembly. IHA then gave this power to the individual house councils, several of which have proceeded to elim- inate or liberalize restrictions on visita- tation by members of the opposite sex. In addition, SGC. has eliminated all re- strictive University student traffic regu- lations. JOINT JUDICIARY Council has sup- ported each SGC move by refusing to prosecute students who were charged with breaking rules other than those made by students themselves. The battle is far from over, however. Most freshman women continue to have curfews (despite the request by a fac- ulty-controlled Board of Governors of the Residence Halls that hours be elimin- ated.1 Most houses continue to observe the old visitation restrictions, awaiting action by the governing board. Few stu- dents have had the opportunity to take advantage of the elimination of vehicle restrictions and it is uncertain what action the administration might take in light of Student Traffic Court's re- fusal to enforce the old regulations. Resolution of these inadequacies requires the consistent assertion of power on the part of SGC. Even if SGC isn't perfectly representa- tive of the student body, as those who favored a constitutional convention have asserted. Council must, in the interest of the students, follow a policy of vigorous action in the months to come. The voice of the students must be heard clearly by the incoming administration, and there is much that needs to be said. SGC should, as quickly as possible, im- plement the coming report from the President's Committee on Decision-mak- ing to establish/ a firm base for the actions which have been taken this term. Council should work to make the 8-month lease in Ann Arbor the rule rather than the exception. A bill of rights for students must be ratified. FINALLY, in order to provide greater autonomy and greater latitude in the vital area of fund-raising, SGC should proceed with its plans for contemplated incorporation. Student government will continue to exist at the University, regardless of the outcome of the constitutional conven- tion. SGC must keep this in mind and act firmly and swiftly to set the right tone for the comingnterm.Only in this frame of mind can Council be prepared to traverse the uncertain road ahead. -MARTIN HIRSCHMAN THE FRANTIC PACE of events during the past week obscures the fact that this fall has been one of the most constructive periods in University history. During a time of major political upheaval over an un- popular war abroad and a deepening racial crisis at home, when college campuses from Berkeley to Manhattan are being split apart, Ann Arbor has been noticably peaceful. The University has in the short space of three months managed to begin collective bargaining, moved to abolish all women's hours, set up an 8-month lease for student apartments, honored students demands in a rent strike, and begin a thorough reexamination of classified military research. On the side Student Government Council has moved to let students make their own rules, Joint Judiciary Council has refused to enforce regulations that aren't made by the students, and the Board in Control of Student Publications is looking at independence for The Daily. ALL THIS PROGRESS is admirable in itself. But accomplishing it without any significant disruption makes this campus unique. For at major schools like Illinois, Colorado, and City College of New York students are being expelled. At Wis- consin the campus in chaos after police bashed over sixty demonstrators last month. Berkeley is also in chaos as constructive chance is virtually ignored and campus fac- tions haggle it out, while Chancellor Roger Heyns pushs expulsion for key student activists. THE QUESTION THEN becomes this: Why has Mich- igan been able to make so much progress with so little disruption? Why hasn't their been a single protest of a truly disruptive nature here this fall? Why haven't their been any police arrests or tear-gassing? The answer lies in the fact that all factions here seem to deal with change in a constructive manner dif- ferent than other colleges around the country. There is a delicate balance in Ann Arbor that has made progress and peace possible. For their part the students have moved in a rational manner on clearcut issues that are central concerns of the University. And the campus administration has wisely refrained from bring- ing in police or expelling students. Students here have used tactics appropriate to the cause they are promoting. While the burning issue on other campuses has been military and Dow Chemical recruiting, this matter has been largely bypassed here. Part of the thinking is political. Like it or not the University is an open institution and to deny recruiting opportunities to Dow this week is only to invite another group to block the Peace Corps recruiter next week. More important, as militant students on other cam- puses have been finding out, blocking recruiters does not draw the necessary faculty support to prohibit the ad- ministration from calling in the police or suspending pro- testers. NOW CONSIDER THE WAY the biggest campus issue this fall-classified military research was handled. Here the issues were raised in a lengthy series of articles in The Daily based almost exclusively on information pro- vided directly by University officials. At this paint student groups formulated policy on the issues raised. A sit-in which enjoyed the backing of the undergraduate and graduate student government organizations, The Daily, SDS, and a group of 30 faculty members was staged in the administration building. is to raise questions that many faculty are grateful to have a chance to deal with. Administrators as high as Graduate School Dean Stephen Spurr are reportedly against classified research. And President-designate Fleming also has serious qualms about the matter. In view of all this Fleming's major speech at Michigan State University last Saturday seems poorly timed. For he spoke at length on the issue of protesting recruiters, which has not been an issue here, and heckling speakers, which has been a small problem locally. WE RECOGNIZE THAT all this was a major Fleming concern at Madison. And we know that the implemention of his viewpoint (blocking recruiters is "wholly incom- patible with the basic tenents of a great university") has resulted in cracked heads, suspensions, and a divisive Madison campus this fall. But is is not an issue here and may well suggest why Michigan enjoys a better reputation than Wisconsin. A balance built up over the past few years has promoted constructive change without disruption. Indeed President Hatcher can consider this perhaps the most important achievement of his administration. Preserving the balance means that Fleming is' obli- gated to keep the police off campus lest he jeopardize the productive relationship that has existed of late. While Madison may prefer a mediator who sanctions calling in the police to arrest demonstrators and then turns around and bails them out with a personal check, Ann Arbor wants none of that. We would prefer not to have the police at all and just skip the mediation. A second Fleming oblgation has come up during the past week and involves academic discipline. What must be remembered here is that a campus judiciary unit, Joint Judicary Council has been estab- lished to handle cases of non-academic discipline. For its own reasons the Office of Student Affairs has jeopard- ized the balance, bypassed JJC and gone to the academic units to get disciplinary action. While faculty units have traditionally had the final say, they have generally not disciplined students for non- academic reasons in recent years. For example, two years ago the director of off-campus housing tried to get the academic units to block the graduation of students who hadn't paid their landlords. She was unsuccessful. But now the administration is trying to revert to the old form of discipline. It shouldn't because the handling of such cases by JJC has helped to preserve a democratic spirit that has made peaceful change possible here. THE NEW ALL-CAMPUS judiciary unit being set-up by Presidnet's Commission on Decision-Making is'the ap- propriate vehicle for non-academic discipline. Unless Fleming faces up to these facts Ann Arbor may turn out like Madison. 4 From the shadows... From the start it was not a disruptive affair. Vice- President for Research A. Geoffrey Norman attended and answered tough questions for more than two hours. Obviously the administration would have been foolish to try to break up the sit-in with police or try to expell the 300 students. The broad nature of the affair, plus faculty support made it imperative for the administra- tion to let the protest run its course. At 6 p.m. the sit-in ended and everyone went home. Now the Faculty Senate Research Policy Committee is thoroughly investigating the classified research ques- tion. (It has come out with a comprehensive report on the University's activities in Thailand). The literary college faculty is already set to debate the matter of classified research. Other units are moving in that direction. WHAT THE STUDENTS have done in this instance Letters:* Dow Shalt Not Kill The Remnants of Humanity =1, 1IS YEAR'S SECOND Day of Resist- ance Monday was marked by the re- turning of another collection of draft cards--including 7 from the University- and various militant anti-draft demon- strations around the country. If the reaction to last Oct. 16 Resist-5 ance is any portent, the reaction to Mon- day's demonstrations will be the usual shouts of treason by purblind patriots, disgusted commentaries on the disre- gard for law and order by middle-aged moderates, and an advocacy of more rational forms of dissent by leery lib- erals. And by their own revered dictums of respectability, each of these standard voices of the great American conscience will be right. But it is just this very narrow concept of righteousness which is at the root of the American moral failure over Vietnam. These choral voices of respectability are too embedded in the seclusion of tree- shaded lanes and well-trimmed lawns to regard Vietnam as anything more than just another thing to be regretted like-the death of the father of a nodding acquaintance. MEANWHILE neatly-manicured Sena- tor Vance Hartke (D-Ind.) warned that the departure of Secretary McNa- mara provided new supporting evidence for his thesis that a North Vietnamese "invasion plan"-not a contigency plan The Daily is a member of the Associated Press and Collegiate Press Service. Fall and winter subscription rate: $4.50 per term by carrier ($5 by mail); $8.00 for regular academic school year ($9 by mall). Daily except Monday during regular academic school year. Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular summer session. Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 420 Maynard St, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 4104. Editorial Staff ROGER RAPOPORT. Editor MERkDrH 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 JOHN LOTTIER....... Associate Editorial L1rector RONALD KLEMPNER .... Associate Editorial Director SUSAN SCHNEPP............ Personnel Directm NEIL SUISTER-- - - Mna e itor he stressed-is being readied for use within the next few months. And other news indicates that there is now serious discussion in high govern- ment circles of instituting "hot pursuit" of the enemy into Laos, Cambodia and -shades of MacArthur--even China. These statements by Hartke clash vi- vidly with the cries that the demon- strations were irrational, disorderly, and treasonous from those too satiated or in- sensitive ever to be morally aroused. Never, has a war had more rational direction than America's growing con- frontation with most of Asia during which each day's "kill-ratio" is plotted with mathematical precision by tech- nocrats and computers working in per- fect tandem. LYNDON JOHNSON, aloof from all re- straint as the result of his election to a four year term under the orderly functioning of American democracy, is on the verge of again escalating the unspeakable carnage in Vietnam because that is the only route which his con- tingency planners say provides a glim- mer of hope for victory by election day. Patriotic Americans have stood on street corners and cheered as 525,000 "boys" equipped with the finest of uni- versity created weaponry smartly march- ed off to a meaningless war against the non-existent "yellow peril" in the name of an ideology which is only anti-. Those who yesterday risked the right- eous wrath of General Hershey did not flaunt their patriotism. They were far from orderly. And many of them were perhaps motivated by irrational desires for martyrdom. But their actions were a reaffirmation of the moral power of the individual at a time when the power of the state is practically unchecked. As long as there are individuals left who rebel because they cannot tolerate the horror of the technologically perfect war, perhaps one is pessimistic in believing humanity is being phased out. THE RESISTANCE is pathetic and mas- ochistic because any rational man knows the impossibility of fighting the system. Especially a system en route to Armageddon. Yet in a world where only To the Editor: VRESIDENT-DESIGNATE Flem- ming's speech at M.S.U. (The ' y, Dec. 3) indicates that we are ing rid of one corporate-liber- al hypocrite only to be saddled with another. Fleming actually had the nerve to claim that the University's "guarantee" of free- dom of speech gives Dow Chemical the right to recruit on campus. By the same logic, the Mafia must be allowed to recruit gun- men an campus, and theNazis had= the right to recruit mass execu- tioners at German universities- all in the name of freedom of speech. Such absurd conclusions stem from two fallacies: one, Fleming's failure to distinguish ex- change of ideas from conspiracy to commit murder; second, Fleming's claim that economic freedom is part of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is the free- dom to exchange ideas. It includes the right to argue in defense of genocide, but it does not include the right to organize machinery for genocide. I will defend Dow's right to ex- plain and defend genocide, but I will not allow Dow to use this campus in its perpetration of war crimes. Dow recruiters had best be prepared for resistance appropri- ate to the magnitude of their crimes: --Steve Schlosser, Grad The Law To The Editor: IN HIS EDITORIAL of Dec. 1, John Lottier expressed the view that by turning in his draft card to his local board, junior Richard Avery was freely and unequivoc- On the back of every draft card there is a reminder that "the law requires you to have this Notice ... in your personal possession at all times . . ." As with other ,laws, it was and is Ayers' responsibility to be aware of this requirement. Ayers should also take respon- sibility for the position in which he finds himself. There are plenty of ways in which one can clearly apress his views on Vietnam with- out getting into trouble. More than anything else, Ayers has demonstrated his right to freely make a stupid decision. Bill Richards '69 Adolescence To the Editor: I SHOULD like to comment on John Lottier's editorial con- cerning Richard Ayer's draft ap- peal agent's letter. That the letter is filled with specious argument, prejudice, and contradiction is, I think, beyond doubt (although it does seem likewise a bit self-con- tradictory for a person to return a draft card and then appeal for a deferment-the former act re- jecting the difficulties of the sys- tem and the latter expecting its benefits). What is unreasonable in Mr. Lottier's commentary is his clos- ing: "it demonstrates and is rep- resentative of the overall men- tality of the system and of the hypocrisy that is America." It is. an unfortunate aspect of the New Left that it is given to overstatement' and overgenerali- zation. To what end is this blanket condemnation of America? Is it meant only to be inflammatory, to arouse the anger of the old guardists? This it will surely do. the system may have grave de- fects, and thus we have no right to be complacent about it. But let us not eliminate both baby and bathwater. I think it most ill-advised for anyone, and most surely for any respectable, serious journalist, to tamper with the validity and ef- fectiveness of his otherwise good arguments by indulging in adoles- cent name-calling. -Joel D. Hencken '69 The Legal Mind To the Editor: NOW, OF ALL times, is The Daily vital to the students of this campus. Morning finds 100 grim-faced, red-eyed law students eating breakfast below the high gothic roof of the dim Lawyers Club din- ing room. Each worn and cheer- less face bespeaks the pressure upon its morose owner as he hulks over his food. But then arrives The Daily. Thirty seconds later the inevi- table gales of laughter burst from 100 robust throats, as the edito- rials are read. The hysteria is in- terrupted only by shouts of, "Read is again where he says .," followed by new peals of mirth; the readers eagerly turn from page to page in search of more drivel, and compare that of each issue with the drivel of pre- ceding ones. HOWEVER, the editorial of last Friday ("You Sound to Me Like a Mixed-Up Boy . . ." by John Lottier) was too much. Fifty stu- dents lay strewn about the dining hall until noon, spent from their laughter, only occasionally weak- ly chuckling. One poor devil, re- turning to his room, recalled a portion so terrible that he had to be helped upstairs by two passers- by, who thought the helplessly giggling boy to be drunk. So keep up the good work, Mr. Editor, but maybe it would be good to limit Mr. Lottier to, say, 100 words per issue. Even jour- nalistic rubbish valuable as it is, can be carried too far. --Kirk Rider, '70 Law On Braun's Sex To the Editor: THIS UNIVERSITY community includes many different kinds of people that any program seems to be able to draw a sizeable audi- ence. Last week I found this true of two programs as different as any two programs could possibly be; Vietrock and the Campus Crusade for Christ. Yet in both's audience T find the warmth ofm f0 *I "I am the ghost of a tax boost opportunity past.. !" ably expressing his views. If he is not allowed to do this, Lottier BUT IS IT to be taken seriously goes on, " . . then the nation by thinking individuals? I think cannot really be 'free' and the not. America, it should be remem- claim of 'Democracy' is fraudu- bered, includes Mr. Lottier him- lent." self as well as Agent Woodward; that the reinforcement of the deep seated desire to have affirmed for us what we already believe., It is natural of a pluralistic so- ciety and a pluralistic university community to have diverse plat- formsuattempting to tell it like it Is. But there is something tragic about the tendency by . certain platforms to take advantage of a community such as this University in order to manipulate others into their illusory world, or to sustain the illusion if already existent. In particular I am referring to one such platform, The Campus Cru- sade for Christ.5 Through its program of mass deception, distortion of truth, and manpulation it renders the world of pollyanna quite accessible through one of the world's most over-worked panaceas, none other than Jesus Christ himself. YET WHAT has been presented to this University's students is more the egocentricity, rather than the Christocentricity, of Braun. Or else why did he apologize so much for the way everything in his presentation seemed to revolve around him, and then go on to limit his values to God, himself, his wife, and his five children- in that order. We in the audience seemed to matter only in so far as we became like him. And what about the other billions in the situation? Second, he talks about being "saved," yet he never de- scribes it, except to say that in being "saved" we are forgiven for being who we are. Case and point: According to him petting (holding hands, kissing at the door, and putting your arm . around your girlfriend) is bad, but it's okay to do since God forgives us. IMPLICIT IN this attitude is the assumption that those who are "saved" (or think so) are relieved of personal guilt, while those who are not yet "saved" suffer unbear- able guilt and anguish for their social attitudes and behavior. For- tunately or unfortunately, it seems that the quest for such a security blanket as Braun provides in a sal- vation-motivated faith, in which the individual does such and such in order for personal reward, only points up the very insecurity and anguish of those so quick to be saved. On the other hand those who don't even think or act in termed of "being saved," tend to be the people most responsible in their actions, God or no God- No, Mr. Braun, I had to sit out the standing ovation you received, as I had to sit out the standing ovation your New Folk received for their sugar coated distortion of the prophecy in today's folk music. The revolutionary nature of the good news you seek to pre. sent stands in iudgment against U: I .. ~VI// W~ I 4