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why then this restlessness?
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Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
I
Toward a human University community
Y
by Stuiart gamines
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Editorials printed in The Michigan
or the editors. l
News Phone: 764-0552
Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 1970
NIGHT EDITOR: RICK PERLOFF
A question of rep ls:
The striKe must go on
T'HE STRIKE WAS not settled w h e n
Pres. Robben Fleming assured the
University community that ten per cent
of the University will be black by .1973-
74. It was not ended because one very
'important question remained unresolved:
the issue of political freedom.
During the last few days, it has been
made quite clear that someone mnust pay
for the strike. The University refusesto
let a 12-day class strike occur And not
discipline someone.
In keeping with this spirit, mathemat-
ics Prof. Bernard Galler has announded
that charges will be filed with .the dis-
ciplinary board in the literary college and
the graduate school against students who
allegedly disrupted a computer science
class last Thursday.
And, from the inner bowels of the law
school, Dean Francis Allen has gone so
far as to hire an "experienced collector
and evaluator of evidence" to collect
facts for probable disciplinary proceed-
ings.
BUT THE Black Action Movement right-
ly insists that the University system
has demonstrated its inability to deal
with discipline on this issue. Indeed, it
was the very inadequacy of the system
that necessitated a strike in the first
place.
No one can deny that BAM made every
possible effort to pursue their'lemands by
"legitimate channels." A great deal of
time and effort was put into formulating
and documenting the 12 demands, and
then pursuing them through four meet-
ings with the Regents.
But all these efforts brought was a
faint promise from the Regents that they--
would "try" to have a black enrollment
of 10 per cent in 1973-74. That was the
situation whn BAM called a class strike.
The strike was successful. Suddenly-
seemingly f r o m nowhere-appeared
pledges of support. And finally, although
belatedly, Pres. Fleming announced that
the 10 per cent goal was assured and that
negotiations on the other demands would
begin.
It appears from Sunday's ill-timed Uni-
versity press release, that Pres. Fleming
now agrees in substance with most of the,
BAM demands. The various University
faculties have also issued statements in
support of the BAM demands.
It is clear that an overwhelming major-
ity of the University now recognizes the
necessity .of adopting the BAM demands.
But it took a strike for the demands to be
met.
NOW GALLER and Allen want to punish
those who made the strike and its
resultant changes possible. In doing so
they have failed to recognize a central
lesson of the strike', the inability of the
present system to be' responsible to stu-
dent-initiated change.
To assume that the same system that
was unresponsive in dealing with the de-
mands is capable of justly dealing with
the issue of individual behavior during
the strike is incredibly naive. Clearly,
some type of impartial board agreeable-
to both the administration and BAM must
be established.
It is obvious that unless the strike con-
tinues, such an impartial board will not
be established. And with discipline left to
the tender mercies of the very people who
obstructed needed change in the f i r s t
place, accused persons can hardly expect
to find even a semblance of justice.
-ALEXA CANADY
Editorial Page Editor
WHILE THE CURRENT strike of the
University has focused the acceptance
of BAM's demands as the immediate issue
facing the administration, the question of
minority admissions raises larger and more
fundamental challenges concerning educa-
tion which demand a complete reevaluation
of the role of the University as an insti-
tution of higher learning.
Black students have rightly challenged
the existence of this University as an in-
stitution primarily for rich white students.
In its existing form, the University has
been serving only an elite fragment of so-
ciety-rich whites. This influential "frag-
ment" has established priorities for the
University which essentially channel its
function towards their own limited ends.
Thus, one of the major functions of the
University has become that of training
the children of well-to-do parents to take
over the leadership and bureaucratic roles
which are offered to a small number of
"qualified" people. -
UNIVERSITIES H'AVE BEEN given the
role in society of being the arbiter for
determining the criteria or qualifications
for certain important positions in society.
If a. student has mastered - to the Uni-
versity's satisfaction - the criteria for a
specific field, then that person is entitled
to a degree which "qualifies" him, in the
eyes of society, for a position in his field.
Thus, the University serves a legitimizing
role for the established needs. of society.
By and large, the people who come into.
positions of influence and power are not
necessarily those who are most qualified,
but rather the ones who have successfully
managed to fulfill the institutional require-
ments of a university program. Similarly,
those who reject the university as a legiti-
mizing institution are rejected by society-
-at-large as "qualified" people.
As a result, universities have become
training grounds for society's future func-
tionaries. Courses have been established
to prepare students to fit themselves into-
the available slots which society offers.
Consequently, engineers are encouraged to
learn how to design automobiles and high-
ways - as opposed to mass rapid transit'
systems. Medical schools train their stu-
dent to become specialized surgeons - as,
opposed to training large numbers of para-
medical practioners who could effectively
treat large numbers of poor people for
general aiments. Chemistry students are
directed to apply their work toward cre-
atin gthe superfluous and unecological pro-
ducts which are foisted on consumers.
Psychiatrists learn how to treat the neur-
oses of the rich instead of dealing with
the psychological needs of people living in
unban areas. The list is endless; the whole
research orientation of universities directs
students toward dealing with specialized
problems while ignoring the more general,
- but more urgent -the problems which
arise from simply living in the American
environment. There are exceptions to this
rule, of course, but it is all too obvious
that they remain exceptions.
Moreover, universities, as part of the
institutional framework of society, are
usually responsive to the interest of those
people who represent and control that so-
cial framework. To - the extent that the,
existing social structure fails to meet ort
understand the needs of society-at-large,
it becomes destructive to those segments
of the people to which it is unresponsive.
Furthermore, the university, as the training
ground and "legitimizer" for society's lead-
ers, will tend to reflect and .perpetuate any
faults which may exist in the established
social structure. Thus, if the social insti-
tutions of this nation are racist in char-
acter, universities must share the respon-
sibility for the existence and maintenance
of that racism.
HOWEVER, UNIVERSITIES do not
necessarily have to accept the existing
social priorities as either just or relevant.
They can become a force for social change.
The acceptance of goals which more cor-
rectly deal with society's problems can
transform the university from a passive
perpetuator of institutional inadequacies
into an effective power for finding alter-
natives to social injustice.
Currently, there is a great internal pres-
suile from students at this University to
make the University experience more
meaningful. Certainly, it is intolerable, in
the eyes of black students, for the Univer-
sity to maintain an existence which is out
of touch with their needs and which ac-
cepts policies whose effect is to keep black
people from existing on an equal level
with the rest of the nation.
The BAM program for increased minor-
ity admissions speaks to the pressing need
for giving black people the opportunity of
participating in a social superstructure
which historically has ignored them. How-
ever, it would be meaningless to recognize
the need for increased minority admissions
without realizing the fundamental changes
Ih the nature of university education which
the "reordering of priorities" demands.
INCREASED MINORITY admissions
does not mean that the University admin-
istratign should manipulate budgetary al-
locations in an effort to allow for the ad-
dition of a number of black students..
Rather, it demands revolutionary changes
in both the content and form of the edu-
cational system. Change in content im-
plies that the University initiate curricula
which are relevant to the neglected needs
of society. Courses which encourage stu-
dents to confront social injustice must re-
place courses which. teach students how to
handle its effects. Programs which train
students to acquaint themselves with a
broad understanding of social change must
replace programs which push into areas
of specialized esoteric research. An em-
phasis on the needs of people must replace
the creation of needs for people.
Changes in the form of education imply
that the University provide the social at-
mosphere necessary for the socialization
of human values. It is clear that the exist-
ing structure of the University fails to
satisfy the priorities of any segment of
society outside of the small bureaucratic
and academic community whose lives de-
pend on its existence. The concept of the
University as a resource of human experi-
ence must replace the concept of the Uni-
versity as an institution of individualized
research. Large authoritarian lectures must
be replaced by intimate personal contacts.
Learning through cooperation must replace
training through competition, and people
must be seen as human beings rather than
inanimate things.
Finally, the University should be free
and open to all members of society. Race,
age and ability to pay should not be per-
mitted to prevent any person from access
to a human University community.
Thus, increased minority admission must
not be seen as solely an end in itself but
rather the beginning of a movement which
could transform the University from an in-
stitution into a utopia.
Id
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Letters to the Editor
Subsidy
To the Editor: .
WE THREE AVID golfers are
disturbed by the BAM contention
(in a flyer last week) that $90,000
is spent annually by the Univer-
sity to subsidize Radrick Farms
golf course. Only faculty are Al-
lowed to play 'Radrick but, since
one of us has a staff card, we
played the course a couple of times
last summer. Nice place . . . and
practically deserted.
By way of contrast, the Univer-
sity course is continually crowded:
with students, many of whom
would be willing and able to pay
a little extra to play Radrick:
Coiisider A. reasonable projection.
If a student foursome, after pay-
ing $3.00 per person teed off every
twelve minutes, eight hours a day,
seven days a week for four months,
the gross gain would be over
$50,000. If you also allowed the
general public to play for a stiffer
fee, that subsidy could be trimmed
even further.
For some time, we have thought
that the restrictions .at Radrick
were just another dumb athletic
policy. Now, in the light of the
BAM criticism, we also recognize
it as a symbol of grossly misplaced
University priorities: We believe
that the present expense is in-
defensible, and we suggest open-
ing Radrick up or shutting it
down.
-Bryan Avery, Grad
-Daniel Bays, Grad
.-Ira Plotkin, Grad.
March 28
No control
To the Editor:
A FRIEND HAS just sent me a
copy of The Michigan Daily of
Feb. 4, in which Mr. Bruce Levine
comments on a speech I made at
the University in Sept., 1966.
It is flattering to have one's
words recalled so long after their .
utterance, and I suppose I should
be grateful to Mr. Levine for his
tribute to my openness and can-
dor. I cannot accept the tribute,
however, because the frank con-
fession of corporate sins' which
Mr. Levine' attributes, to me i
nowhere to be found in what .
actually said.
Contrary to the major theme of
Mr. Levine's article, I do not be-
lieve and have never said or im-
plied that corporations desire,
have or should have control over
uiversirties. Any reader who may
wish to see for himself what I &
really said can probably find a
copy of my remarks at the busi.
ness school library.
-Dean Arjay Miller
Stanford Graduate School of
Business, former President of i%
Ford Motor Co.
March 24
U and the Legislature:
No allowanee if you're bad
*..taaC.,~t4 .e9^^K'
I Y
WNCE AGAIN Lansing seems ready to
unveil a new financial powerplay in
its continuing game of hide and seek with
the University. State Sen. Gilbert Bursley
and State Rep. Raymond Smit, both of
Ann Arbor, told us all yesterday they are
,contemplating urging the Legislature to
cut back appropriations next year be-
cause the University has acceded to "an-
archists" and because it has more money
than it claims to.
"In its capitulation to demands, the
University has reached into its sock and
apparently found s u r p 1 u s funds," the
legislators assert. "We have always sup-
ported adequate appropriations for the
University in the Legislature, but the
availability of a hidden surplus may have
an adverse affect on our future efforts.."
These remarks are chagrinning for a
number of reasons, most importantly, be-
cause they betray the same lack of un-
derstanding of priorities that has per-
meated this University.
THE UNIVERSITY does not have a
readily available "hidden surplus."
In fact, even if the Legislature approves
the general fund budget for the Univer-.
sity proposed by Gov. Milliken, the Uni-
versity will still have to find n additional
$3 million to balance its' budget -= the
bulk of which is expected to come from
a tuition increase.
Similarly, to obtain the estimated $4.5
million needed to finance 10 per cent
black enrollment by 1973-74, the Univer-
sity will be forced to use funds from with-
in the individual budgets of the schools
and colleges.
And although each academic unit has
not said how they will find each penny
of the needed funds, one can assume that
since about 85 per cent of their respective
budgets go for salaries, a good deal of
the money will come from a reduction in
next year's faculty salary increases.
One must therefore point out to Legis-
lators Bursley and Smit that the money
for the 10 per cent enrollment is not
coming from a mysterious hidden sur-
plus. Instead it will be made available
through a redirecting of what money the
University is given-a redirecting made
possible by the long overdue realization
of the University community that it must
better spend what money it has.
One can only hope -that Sen. Bursley
and Rep. Smit will reach the same stage
of awareness the University has during
the last turmoil-filled week. And, sim-
ilarly, one would hope that the Legisla-
ture can gain this knowledge with less.
"study guides" than Ann Arbor has
needed.
-NADINE COHODAS
"Now, are there any questions .
ceterisA paribus
XAn opes
n letter to Gardner Ac
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DEAR PROFESSOR Ackley,
I read in Saturday's Ann Arbor News an
account of a speech that you allegedly de-
livered to an appreciative LSA faculty
meeting Friday. It surprised me because it
made Gerhard Weinberg sound like the
soul of reason in comparison.
Now I know that we cannot believe ev-
erything we read in the papers these days,
but since a couple of fairly reliable wit-
nesses have substantiated the News' story,
I'll just have to; assume that the reporting
was reasonably accurate. On the basis of
that ssumption I have one or two things
to sa about the sentiments you expressed
in that speech.
To begin ' with, I was particularly im-
pressed with your response to students
wanting to know why there were no class-
es. Reportedly, you told them, "There is
no reason. There is only power."
I assume from the context this meant
that the black students and their sup-
porters h a d utilized untoward physical
force to halt classes.
But there is more to it than that, Prof.
Ackley.
You are, it seems, assuming that the al-
leged use of force by BAM or its support-
ers is contrary to the natural order of
things in this country, or at least at this
University.
Not so, Gardner, not so.
IF WE HAVE learned anything in the
past two years, it is that the basis of just
about everything in this country is raw,
naked power, as manifested in clubs and
guns and gas and jails, Even thececonomic
power of such corporate giants as General
Motors or U.S. Steel is rooted in their
ability to purchase the favors of those who
u'rialrl nnnh 'nnnxn,. nnr hnen ixwhn . ntnl
entering. Plainclothes policemen swarmed.
the floors.
The public, except for selected Daley
supporters, was rigorously excluded from
the convention, while demonstrators in the
streets were gassed, beaten, arrested and
kept at bay' with bayonets.
Even delegates were k e p t harnessed.
Microphones of dissident delegations mys-
teriously refused to work, while bands and
"spontaneous" demonstrations of support
for HHH drowned out any attempt. of an-
tiwar delegates to present their v i e w s.
Humphrey was duly nominated.
Example: Right here in Ann A r b o r,
Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Har-
vey spiced up his summer last year by.
telling the elected city officials and the
president of this University that th e y
could complain all they wanted, but he,
would damn well do as he pleased to con-
trol those radical-hippy-freaks on South
University and in the city parks.
That was after he broke out the gas and
the riot sticks.
Of =course, you might not have been
aware that all this was happening. As I
recall, you were in Italy at the time.
Slightly more subtle is the exercise of
economic power, which - aside from the
traditional definition of controlling\a sub-
stantial portion of the market and thus
being able to behave in an oligopolistic or
monopolistic manner - means having the
ability to buy, directly or indirectly,
enough public officials to be sure the po-
licemen and the judges and the prosecu-
tors carry out their wishes.
This is one reason (and only one rea-
son) for the inequity of law enforcement
in this country. The latitude given to po-
lice and prosecutors - particularly when
these individuals are pressured by their
THIS IS TRUE right here in the cul-
tural center of the Midwest.
On the night of the Chicago 7 verdic,
a crowd of students attempted to march
down to City tall in protest. They were
met with a phalanx of police who warned
them to disperse but gave them no time to
do so bWfore charging the crowd with clubs
swinging.
I didn't hear your voice.raised then, Mr.
Ackley, to protest a vicious attack by the
"guardians of the law" on citizens exer-
cising their constitutional right to assem-
ble peacefully to petition for redress of
grievances.
When you ,mourn that there is o n l y
,"power" which rules the University, you
are right, sir..But, until very recently, that
power has been concentrated totally (and
remains nearly so) in the hands of the
Regents, or their servants, the adminis-
tration.
WHAT IS IT but power, Mr. Ackley --
the power to allocate funds and to call in
the police - which allows the Regents and
the administration of this University to
scoff at student petitions, student referen-
da, and student representatives?
What is it but power which allows a
d e a n summarily to suspend a student
without even a pretense of.due process and
a board of regents flatly to ignore over
half a' list of unbelievably moderate de-
mands for increased b l a c k enrollment,
while temporizing on others?
-IT IS NOT surprising that we students
have decided that power is the all-import-
ant factor in University decision-making.
When we have honestly tried to operate
within the system, we have met only the
arrogance of our entrenched rulers, but
when we have acted outside the system, it
wkley
jenny stiller
Of course, you believe that our exercise
of power was wrong, as was the Univer-
sity's recognition of us and our problems.
"The destruction of the University," you
called the administration's. acquiescence to
our pressure tactics.
I ask you, Prof. Ackley, what would you
have us do, when our votes, our repre-
sentatives, our petitions are ignored?
Should we sit back and accept a status quo
which is discriminatory and antidemocrat-
ic? Or should we try to change things as
best we can?
DO YOU ABHOR violence whenever it
appears, or 'only when a group whose legi-
timacy you question utilizes it?
Or do you believe that thinigs are best as.
they are, that any attempt to challenge
authority is unjustified?
I suspect this may be the case, especially
when I read of your saying, "University
facilities are now available for . . . pro-
moting any cause, no matter how obscene
or revolting."
To what group do you refer? SDS?
BAM? Tenants' Union? Women's Libera-
tion? To nie, sir, nothing could be more
obscene or revolting than the use of Uni-
versity facilities to recruit officers for
service in an ever-widening and still un-
declared war against a people who have
done us no harm.
MR. ACKLEY, I question the seriousness
of your commitment to the cause of non-
violence.
You served on the inner councils of both
the Kennedy and the Johnson administra-
tions. During those years, did you ever
make a public (or even a private) state-
ment condemning the wholesale mayhem
that this Antv ie vinsmmittina in nth-
I
!
Jenny's nightmare
IT IS THE indeterminate future; time:
6:30 p.m. The familiar face of David
Brinkley fills the TV screen.
Brinkley; The Senate today by a cliff-
hanging 52-48 vote defeated U.S. District
Court Judge G. Harrold Carswell.
The defeat came as a shock to the ad-
ministration, which until this hiorning
had tallied up a narrow lead of 51-49 in
favor of Carswell's appointment. The up-
set resulted from the unexpected shift of
the votes of Senators James 0. Eastland
and John Stennis, both of Mississippi and
Hun tley: The White House has just
issued a statement on the defeat of
Harrold Carswell. In a press conference
held minutes ago in the press room of
t h e White H o u s e,' President Nixon
said: ...
(Shot of Nixon at the press conference)
Nixon: . . . It is clear that the Senate
is not going to accept a Southerner as
a member of the Supreme Court.. .
I have decided that it is more impor-
tant to fill the court vacancy than to
quibble over silly regionalism. My next
' "" 1