artr £irt h tan DaUl Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom Edited and mandged by students of the University of Michigan the jaundiced eye Thorndyke goes to class by ron landsman i 0 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express or the editors. This must be n ESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1970 News Phone: 764-0552 the individual opinions of staff writers toted in all reprints. NIGHT EDITOR: NADINE COHODAS Disorder in the court E EXCESSIVE contempt sentences ' levied by Judge Julius Hoffman against the defendants and lawyers of the Chicago conspiracy trial set a dangerous precedent which could, if upheld by the appeals courts, mean an end to even the pretense of justice in the American judi- cial system. It was clear to every witness of the trial that Judge Hoffman's idea of con- tempt - at least when it comes to radical defendants with long hair - involves nothing more than existing. From t h e very beginning, his vindictive treatment of the defendants and their lawyers was calculated to provoke increasingly bitter and vituperous outbursts from the men who are now calling themselves the "Chi- cago 10." Hoffman's intent to vindicate himself by punishing the men who have, in his view, defied him, was apparent from the two-month, 19-day sentence he gave Lee Weiner, the Northwestern University sociologist who spent three-fourths of his time in court reading and the rest of the time asleep. Weiner will be jailed one month for remarks made in court one day, another month for a sentence utter- ed another day. All of his "offenses" were committeed out of the presence of the jury, and between them all of the re- marks he made out loud during the 20- week trial could be read by the judge in less than six minutes. INER IS an unusual man. He remain- ed quiet as he heard witnesses 11 e about him, and he kept silent while the marshals brutalized fellow defendants and the judge utilized a double standard in almost all of his rulings. Others, who could not keep quiet under such circumstances, will suffer more. David Dellinger, whose sentence totals over two years, got 5 months for char- acterizing a policeman's testimony about his actions as "bullshit." Jerry Rubin, with a total sentence almost as long, got six months for protesting when mar- shals were dragging his wife out of the courtroom. Seven months of Tom Hay- den's 14-month, 14-day sentence were the result of his protests at the chaining and gagging of Bobby Seale. It is significant that the most serious sentences were those given the one black defendant and the lawyer who headed the defense team. Hoffman cannot to this day understand the bitterness with which Bobby Seale labelled him a racist nor can he comprehend that his own violent response to Seale's accusation was es- sentially just that. And the chief offense with which attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass are charged seems to be their failure to "control" the eight defendants. HOFFMAN'S TENDENCY to interpret any laughter as aimed at him, and any slightly unusual behavior as a per- sonal affront, is so clear even from a reading of the transcript that it may well be grounds for a reversal on appeal. But there are even more valid legal reasons why the contempt charges should be re- versed. According to Kunstler, Weinglass and their seven-man appeals team, a judge may not hand down a sentence for sum- mary contempt after the completion of a trial. Summary contempt, they argue, was intended to be a device for maintaining order in the courtroom by removing bois- terous spectators, or disciplining unruly parties to the lawsuit. Only in Seale's case - where a mistrial was also declared - were the contempt charges used in this fashion. For all the others, the trial had legally ended before the judge acted. Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruled last year that no contempt sentence set without a jury trial could exceed s i x months. Judge Hoffman has attempted to circumvent this ruling by sentencing each person to a number of sentences of one day to six months each, those sent- ences to run consecutively - but the de- fense lawyers feel they stand a good chance of having him overruled by an ap- peals court. THERE IS A CHANCE, however, that the appeals courts will respond to the changing judicial climate and uphold Hoffman's sentences. Other defense ap- peals have met with little success in the appeals courts of Judge Hoffman's circuit, and the probable presence of Harrold Carswell on the Supreme Court by t h e time the appeal reaches that body just might lead the conservative justices to play politics with the appeal in order to keep the ten dissidents in prison. If this happens, we may expect to see ever increasing numbers of political pri- soners in jails throughout the land. Al- ready, contempt and disbarment proceed- ings against radical lawyers are in pro- gress all over the country, and they can only increase in popularity if Judge Hoff- man's sentences are upheld. Thus the ultimate effect of the Chi- cago contempt citations may well be an end to the freedom of the bar as a pro- f ession, as an increasingly repressive gov- ernment intimidates or imprisons those few lawyers willing to defend "the poor, the persecuted, the radical, the militant, the blacks, the pacifists and the political pariahs." POLITICAL REPRESSION will become inevitable if the poor and the radi- cal are unable to find lawyers to defend them. And when a judge can sentence a defendant for as much as four years for contempt, even if the jury acquits him of the original charge, there is little hope left for justice. Whether or not the contempt sentenc- es are upheld, Julius Hoffman has done irreparable harm to the American system of justice. Eyen if the "Chicago 10" are allowed to go free, the trial itself has de- stroyed young people's respect for t h e system Hoffman represents. And if the sentences are upheld, the fairness will truly be gone from the adversary system of justice, and night will have fallen on the Bill of Rights. -JENNY STILLER Editorial Page Editor HORNDYKE IS a simple type, even for a freshman, so when he heard about Howard Cameron's definition of what a class was, he was confused. Cameron had said, according to T h e Daily, that, "a professor without students constitutes a class. Students without a professor constitute nothing." Now Thorndyke was pretty new to the University, and he hadn't been in all that many classes, but he still thought he knew enough to suspect what Cameron had said. But being obsequieous, besides a little slow, he was sure professors must know what they're talking about. He first went to his Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, which was no help at all. "A body of students meeting regu- larly to study the same subject or to at- tend lectures or recitations," Webster. wrote of classes. It didn't mention pro- fessors at all. He would have to look further. For some reason Confuscius came to mind. "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" the sage had once asked. The thought wouldn't leave his head, but since he saw no connection at all his confusion only mounted. It was clear that we would have to leave South Quad if he hoped to discover what Cameron went, so he meandered over to Angell Hall, where many "classes" a r e held, hoping to discover there w h a t meaning Cameron's words had. THE FIRST THING he saw was a "recitation," and it seemed closer to what Webster had said than Cameron. It was a class full of students, and students only. One student was designated "teaching fellow," presumably because he was the fellow who most looks and acts the way professors say they act, and he taught the class. With everyone, even the teaching fellow, paying tuition to be there, this type of class is the University's favorite. (When Thorndyke gets older and wiser, he will discover just how right this first observation was. The State of Michigan, for example, says such classes are very good, the more students the better. (From the state's view, this was the best class possible, since everyone in the room was paying to be there. All the state has to do is supply a room someplace and janitorial services. This, Thorndyke later discovered, is known as "aid to education.") BUT THORNDYKE was far from satis- field, and he wandered further in search of a Cameron "class." Thorndyke eventually ran across one of Cameron's "classes" - a professor sitting in a room by himself - and so he asked the professor exactly what type of class he was teaching. Barrington, theyprofessor, explained carefully to Thorndyke that he wasn't in a class. He said that by sitting in the room he was creating knowledge, which Smith, who was in charge of that sort of thing, rewarded highly. Thorndyke, having already learned the ways of the state, said that Barrington must be wrong. The state only wants teaching which creates class hours and fiscal year-equated students, and the more of those for the less money, why the bet- ter. Barrington, who had a certain strange affection for slow freshmen, patiently ex- plained that fiscal year-equated students weren't the only measure of what the state wanted. It would settle, he pointed out, for "articles published." This, he said, was known as "research." Research meant that someone else was paying for Barrington to sit in the room, so the state didn't have to pay for it. Of course, everyone doing research has two {offices (the other is always in ISR, IPPS, MHRI or Canterbury House) which costs the University money, but it doesn't mind, being large-hearted as it is. Thorndyke was crushed. It seemed that Cameron was dead wrong. A room with just students is a class, while a room with just a professor isn't. CAMERON'S logic would imply th a t the faculty is the University, and the Uni- versity is the faculty. But they are in- distinguishable. But unpleasant as such perceptions are, they are really no worse than their converse, which says students are the University, and the University is the stu- dents. The State isn't much better. It wants teaching and knows how to measure it- in semester hours, fiscal year-equated stu- dents and diplomas per dollar. The higher the ratio, the better the teaching. That anyone really gets educated here is due to as a Yale professor recently cred- itpd his reputation as a good teacher, "dumb luck." i French students lose spirit of '68 By BILL LAVELY (second of two parts) IRONICALLY, at the time when the French government has de- cided to slice up the university in a massive austerity program, the rebellious spirit of the French stu- dent appears to be at ebb tide. The same students who in May 1968 were crowding amphitheatres to argue and plan the democratic university of the future, are now seen shrugging their shoulders in docile apathy over the university's problems. This dramatic change in t h e revolutionary psyche of t h e French student in the year and a half since the May revolution has been partly the effect of a govern- ment policy designed to confuse and divide students over the ques- tion of reforms. Many students, only shallowly informed on the real structure of the university, were deceived into thinking that the elimination of the mass lecture and the advent of student representation on many advisory committees were sub- stantive changes. THE REVOLUTIONARY cry of 1968-that the university is just a subsidiary of private enterprise - was never really understood by the average student, who none- theless joined the protest for modernization of curricula. Thus, the government was able to satis- fy most of the students by merely changing the facade of study while retaining the centralized in- trastructure and the university's intimate ties with industry. The remaining students who are still dissatisfied with the univer- sity's condition simply lack or- ganization and leadership. There are no leaders. And the organization that was one of the prime movers behind the M a y revolution - the Union National des Etudiants Francais (UNEF)- has been split and largely discred- ited since the grand days of the revolution. T HE CLOSEST THING to a French s t u d e n t government, UNEF is actually a student syn- dicate recognized by the govern- ment as a bargaining agent for the students. After May 1968, UNEF was forced to reorganize because of a faction- al dispute. One faction wanted to sever ties with the government and persue a political line. The other faction wanted to retain its privileged position and use it to bring student pressure directly to the government. The result was two organiza- tions. Official UNEF, t h e more moderate group, appeared under the title "UNEF-Renouveau." The successionists formed an extra- legal organization espousing Mao- ism and revolution, and called it- self the "Comites de Base - UNEF." UNEF - Renouveau was the organizer of a series of strikes last fall across France, practically all of which failed. Caught in the cross f i r e betweenconservative groups and criticism from t h e Comites de Base and other ex- treme leftists, UNEF has clearly lost its ability to unify student organizations and protests. No other organization has ap- peared to take the place of UNEF. Worse still, the complicated front of leftist movements a r e more splintered than ever, and inter- factional conflict has turned ac- tivism into a kind of circus side- show at the university. THE UNIVERSITY of Nice is an excellent case in point of how activist shennanigans have made a mockery of the word "revolu- tion." The Faculte de Lettres et Sciences Humaines of the Univer- sity of Nice is situated on a high bluff overlooking the Mediter- Letters to the Editor Murder in my heart for the judge T1E FOLLOWING is a portion of the statement by defense attorney William Kunstler to U.S. District Judge Julius J. Hoffman before he was sentenced to 4 years and 13 days on charges of summary contempt in the Chicago conspiracy trial- "Neither am I ashamed of my conduct in this court for which I am about to be punished. I have tried with all my heart Iaithfully to represent my clients in the face of what I considered and still con- sider repressive and unjust conduct to- ward them. If I have to pay with my lib- erty for such representation, then that is the price of my beliefs and sensibilities. "I can only hopexthat my fate does not deter other lawyers throughout the country who, in the difficult days that lie ahead, will be asked to defend clients against a steadily increasing govern- mental encroachment upon their most fundamental liberties. If they are so de- fo rn - k " rn .. - --vic ma . .-.wll -.-v try. However, I have the utmost faith that my beloved brethren at the bar, young and old alike, will not allow them- selves to be frightened out of defending the poor, the persecuted, the radical, the militant, the blacks, the pacifist and the political pariahs of this land. "But to those lawyers who may, in learning of what has happened to me, waver, I can say only this-stand firm, remain true to those ideals of the law which, even if openly violated here and in other places, are true and glorious goals, and above all, never desert those principles of equality, justice and freedom without which life has little' if any mean- ing. I may not be the greatest lawyer in the world but I think that I am, at this moment, along with my colleague Len Weinglass, the most privileged - being punished for what we believe in." HERE IS PART of Judge Hoffman's Radical faculty To the Editor: ON SUNDAY night, Feb. 15, at- tended at times by about 80 fac- ulty members, university staff, graduate students, and others met to discuss, among other' things, the developing threat of expulsion from the university of SDS, and the revocation of schol- arships of various student pro- testers. Regardless of the partic- ulars of the case, we consider any more against SDS as itself a polit- ically repressive act, incompatible with basic values on which the University of Michigan should stand. We are observing these events with deep concern-in fact, if these actions are taken we are seriously considering initiating a strike of classes and other func- tions. SOME OF us are motivated pri- marily by a concern for preserva- tion of liberty for protesters on this campus. Others feel that the real criminals-the military, the producers and researchers of wea- pons of genocide and counter- insurgency, and the corporate con- trollers of education - are the ones who should be expelled. In any case, we write now to serve notice to the SACUA, the President, and to our colleagues: the time of a silent, acquiescent faculty is gone. Roy Rappaport Fred Rosen Joe Wehrer Rick Piltz Arthur Mendel Bruce Henstell Marshall SahUns Bobbie Ringwald Joe Ringwald Tom Schunior Craig Morgan Sing-huen Morgan Sharon Rosen Craig Hammond Bob Beyer Bruce Frier David Houseman David Zimmerman Bill Rosenberg Bob Ross Janice Bude Frithjof Bergmann Feb. 15 Rubberstamp To the Editor: I JUST GOT back from t h e Student Mobilization Committee's Anti-War Conference in Cleveland. Like a great number of other stu- dent's there, I couldn't even stick it out through the first meeting where procedural matters w e r e being voted upon. I left because it was distressingly, obvious that as far as Student Mobe's Steering Committee was concerned the de- cisions had been made and the conference had been convenes to rubber-stamp them. We decided that it was ridiculous to partici- pate in a "closed convention in ap opencity" (the Cleveland po- lice were really nice) while ex- pressing solidarity with eight of our brothers who had the courage to challenge the audacity of a similar gathering in Chicago in August '68. What I wish to make clear is snot that Student Mobe is a re- pressive, fascistic organization -- a convention such as the one I just escaped practically has to be run that way - but a few points about the Movement in general. To stick to our ideas we have to scrape nationally-oriented activi- ties - at least temporarily. THUS FAR we have been engag- ed in an anti-war movement rath- er than a true peace movement. What enutdo to have a t*np tical pressure to end one war while doing virtually nothing to pre- vent future wars. We have forced a Johnson-Humphrey out of pow- er so that a Nixon-Agnew - a far more insidious creature - could take its place. In short, we have to get together with the Peo- ple to define the disease and find a cure instead of just talking about how awful the symptoms are. No one will tell you that they want war much less that it's good. Nonetheless, few people can see alternatives and fewer s t il l realize that war's roots are the causes of all social ills. Since the dawn of civilization theologans and philosophers have been rapping about what some of us like to consider the M o v e - ment's philosophy of peace and brotherhood. The world has yet to seera socio-political-economic system that implements peace and brotherhood. It is twentieth cen- tury man's challenge to find that system. If he doesn't he will find, to his severe anguish, that he has at his fingertips the capacity to make for himself a living hell so vile that the desolation following a nuclear holocaust would be wel- come. -David L. DeMarkey '72E Feb. 14 Discrimination To the Editor: EIGHTEEN per cent of the pop- ulation of Michigan is Negro (my source is the Mack Students Un- ion as quoted in the Daily). Then surely eighteen per cent of your Edgars, or, if my arithmetic be quite correct, a full dozen, should have gone to Negroes? ranean. Like most French univer- sities, it is a recent development, constructed in the tasteless but pragmatic university architecture t h a t is standard throughout France. The political trading floor of the complex, a lobby reminiscent of the fishbowl, is daily filled with leftists selling their literature, be it Maoist, Stalinist, or Trotskyist. No less than a diozen bonafide leftist groups circulate their tracts in this lobby, including the French Communist Party (considered re- actionary by the others), the L i g u e Communiste, Humanite Rouge, - G a u c h e Proletarlenne, Comites de Base-UNEF, to name just the major ones. SEVERAL WEEKS AGO a club- swinging rock-throwing .m e 1 e e broke out in this lobby between two activist groups. It was not too exciting, but it is noteworthy be- cause the adversaries were the well - armed cadres of, Humanite Rouge and Gauche Prolitarienne - both strongly Maoist factions. In this atmosphere, where Mao- ists fight Maoists, the possibilities of unified action by students seem remote indeed. Yet the problems that this faculty faces, and which are typical of the problems of all the French universities, continue to beg for a solution. The physical problems are only too evident. The cavernous hole behind the faculty, which is the foundations for a badly needed dormitory, has remained untouch- ed all year. The spacious new li- brary lacks only one thing: books. In fact, their is less than one book per student at the university on the library's shelves. , Professors have doubled up their teaching h o u r s to reduce class size - but in the psychology de- partment classes are still ranging as high as sixty in a class. All this makes work difficult. But a more serious challenge to the university-and' a n u c h greater preoccupation of both students and professors - are the current government moves to in- crease admission selectivity and pare down enrollment. MANY BELIEVE that the phas- ing out of the second language in the lycee (secondary school) - will eliminate the teaching posi- tions that current language ma- jors expect to fill - was only the beginning of a government policy that will reduce and in some cases eliminate, university s u bj ect s which are readily salable to pri- vate industry. Professors of Spanish, German, Italian, and Russian are antici- pating more than 50 per cent re- ductions in enrollment in their departments because of the ruling on' language. And they also see many of their own positions threatened by the cutback. Pro- fessors of oriental a n d ancient languages are uncertain that their departments will even exist after potential language students start to turn elsewhere next year. Other departments are fearful that they will be next on educa- tion minister Guichard's list. Un- official emmanations from Paris this week indicate that the next two casualties will be history and geography. The actual move be- ing contemplated would make those subjects optional in the last twn years noiiud in th lveee. dents in the liberal arts - has al- ways been touch and go. ONE OF TIE ROOTS of the problem has been the traditional admissions policy in the French university which allows practically anyone to enter, and only shakes out the poor students after one or two years. In recent affluent times this policy has caused the university's first year classes to overflow with hopeful students. Eventually many of them gained their liberal arts degrees and went in search of em- ployment in the overpopulated teaching profession. Many others were doomed to failure and dis- appointment. Thus the new policy of high se- lectiveness at the French univer- sity may be regarded as a long overdue change. And the adjust- ment in departmental strengths could possibly be justified under the title of economic planning. But Pompidou's policy is, if any- thing, unplanned. Language stu- dents who were on the road to an occupation now find themselves up d a blind alley. It is the suddenness of the move that shocks them. IT IHAS SHOCKED many of them out their apathy. Ad ad hoc strike committee for languges has stirred more action at the Univer- sity of Nice than this campus has seen in almost two years. De- manding a return to the two lan- guage curriculum in the lycee, as well as the repeal of the Guichard circular of Jan. 2, which will sharply increase the university's selective standards, the movement has caught on In several depart- ments outside of languages. Similar movements are gaining strength at other universities across France. At Lyon the entire literary college is entering its sec- ,ond week of strikes. But even though the strike movement is rapidly gaining mo- mentum, it seems unlikely that strike leaders will be able to gal- vanize any kind of lasting alliance between warring factions, let alone dissuade the government from its plans. Too many students view the strikes as useless and self-de- feating. They argue that it puts no real pressure on the govern- ment-whose main interest seems to be in emptying the classrooms anyway. One strike leader agreed that student interest is in a slump. But he was nonetheless hopeful:, "The problem now is that students are poorly informed. Next year-when they start to see their department reduced because it is "non-rent- able, and when they start to feel the pressure of the tougher selec- tion-then you'll start to see some protest." If Pompidou continues in his austerity drive against the uni- versity, it seems inevitable that the students-who every day are feeling the pinch of increased competition, lack of facilities and an uncertain job future-will be- gin to inform themselves. Another maJor uprising in the French universities seems remote now. But it could happen, and that is a fearful-and perhaps moderating - consideration for Pompidou. For the policies of austerity, while it is justified by politicians 4 i 0 . A -Edward Seidensticker Professor of Japanese 306 Gunn