{ why then this restlessness? 9lr £fir4iganB tait 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 *. y I, N , r i ./ r I 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 $4.5 million needed to finance 10 per cent black enrollment by 1973-74, the Univer- sity will be forced to use funds from with- in the individual budgets of the schools and colleges. And although each academic unit has not said how they will find each penny of the needed funds, one can assume that since about 85 per cent of their respective budgets go for salaries, a good deal of the money will come from a reduction in next year's faculty salary increases. One must therefore point out to Legis- lators Bursley and Smit that the money for the 10 per cent enrollment is not coming from a mysterious hidden sur- plus. Instead it will be made available through a redirecting of what money the University is given-a redirecting made possible by the long overdue realization of the University community that it must better spend what money it has. One can only hope -that Sen. Bursley and Rep. Smit will reach the same stage of awareness the University has during the last turmoil-filled week. And, sim- ilarly, one would hope that the Legisla- ture can gain this knowledge with less. "study guides" than Ann Arbor has needed. -NADINE COHODAS "Now, are there any questions . ceterisA paribus XAn opes n letter to Gardner Ac ..............Mme: e: rrr ".$. ..... . . . . . .... ........... ....v%..,... .......r.. . . ..:.. . . .... . ... .:. .."1"%.. :F::.."::s.;$"""... :3.r:.Fr 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