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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1968
NIGHT EDITOR: MARCIA ABRAMSON
Big Ten
Duckn1
TRUE TO ITS CREED of convenience
before conscience, the Big Ten mis-
placed its emphasis in the investigation
of athletics at Michigan State and
Michigan.
Last February The Daily listed several
special privileges accorded athletes at the
two universities.h
Big Ten officials dutifully called for a
probe, a fine and nxoble gesture. But the
content of the investigation, the last part
of which was revealed yesterday, turned
out to be limited to a systematic run-
down on each allegation, and the intent,
of Big Ten officials was. apparently to
uncleverly whitewash each charge by
pretending nothing happened.
In this context the investigations, were
merely a waste of time. By failing to con-,
front the legality of athletic' privileges,
the conference gives them tacit approval
and thus adds to the growth of inter-,
collegiate' professionalism..
It is clear that the conference has sadly
abrogated its responsibility. The burgeon-
ing business of intercollegiate athletics
has birthed a hypocrisy in which sports
are held up as wholesome education
while the dehumanizing of players and
coaches is concealed.
IDEALLY THE BIG TEN could have
redefined the r6le of college sports by
eliminating the Madison Avenue show-
manship Eand the Wall Street competi-
tion. This would have reduced the signi-
ficance of won-lost records and again
made sports a recreation.
In some perverse sense, there may be
redeeming features to the Big Ten find-
ing of "not guilty."
At least it avoided a hunt for scape-
goats. After the publicity of the infamous
Illinois.slush fund in 1967 the conference,.
had to crucify three coaches to regain
respect in intercollegiate circles.
Nothing except the dictates of cor-
porate economics could excuse the cal-
lousness of the Illinois ?case. Because of
the dollar-and-cents nature of intercol-'
legiate athletics, giving a player extra
spending. money (as at Illinois) has be-
come just as much a function of a coach
as teaching place-kicking.
report:
the punch
O N C E A N ATHLETIC department
awards a scholarship to an athlete
solely because- of physical ability, all of
the other rewards of professionalism are
implicit in that bargain.
And if the athletic departments do not
openly provide those benefits, alumni
and merchants will.
Athletic scholarships, which were the
subject of heated debates in the early
1950's, marked the first juncture at which
the Big Ten departed from athletic
amateurism. Before 1957 the Big Ten had
offered scholarships only on the basis of
need.
Painfully aware of this tinge of profes-
sionalism, the conference has been care-
ful to groom an academics-before-ath-
letics image since then. But the pressures
of bigtime sports have often tempted
coaches and players to bend, if not break,
those rules.
The responsibility for such crass pres-
sures rests clearly with intercollegiate
athletics in general and the conference
in particular. Judging by the crude off-
handedness of its investigations, appar-
'ently the conference has not the courage
or honesty to accept this.
TIE UNIVERSITY'S athletic depart-
ment is now faced with an unnerving
dilemma.J'
Should it continue to ignore the de-.
humanizing effects of corporate athletics
and justify football as an outlet for real
and vicarious aggression?
Or should it acknowledge the cruel
realities of intercollegiate professionalism
and try to engineer a conference-wide
'change?
Certainly few, if any of the other Big
Ten schools would be willing to follow
the second alternative. And the unwrit-
ten consequences 'of such an individual
rebellion would be a lurid prospect for
any University administrator.
But soon the issue will by undoubt-
edly lost among a pile of $6-tickets and
the shouts for the firing of Bump Elliott.
And everyone will have missed the point.
-HOWARD KO1IN
Associate Editorial Director
-DAVID WEIR
Sports Editor
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T ationale for. disruption
MONDAY NIGHT at Rackham.
The freak-out scene finally
moved off of South 'U' and came
onto campus in a bizarre study in
cultural confrontation.
Inside, straight-laced professors
and wives lapped up the drivel in a
a ceremony that was a microcosm
of everything radical students find
disgusting about this University.
And, not surprisingly, the stu-
dents outside lived up to their
reputation as a bunch of do-noth-
ing protesters and "freaks" who
have nothing better' to do with
themselvesithansit around and
j'eer at their elders-
The scene was confrontation
through contrast. Inside, drab
grey administrators spewed forth
verbal baloney 'as they rewarded
drab gray professors for "out-
standing achievement." Outside,
brightly colored "hippies" with
red ribbons in their leair present-
sed baloney .sandwis to the
crowd, merely for being there. And
being people.
We need more of it.
Fleming, glib and friendly as
usual, gave a good analysis of the
state of the University. He talked
about what the University needs:
more money, more facilities. In-
anamate objects.
His speech showed why our rhe-
toric is unnecessary, why we no
longer need to talk about the Uni-
versity as a factory where hpman
needs are subordinated to the de-
mands of a technocratic society.
The half-bemused, half-disgusted
looks on the faces of the faculty
davidI
duboff
as they watched us dancing in the
lobby made the point clearly
enough.
I CAN'T LOOK u p n freeing
yourself as silly. When the powers
inside turn off the power outside
so that harmless students can't
groove to their music, this upsets
me in the gut. Culturally, it's as
brutal as what the University is
doing in Thailand. Stopping class-
ified research and grooving in the
lobby of Rackham are all part of
re-humanizing the University, and
they must go hand in hand.
I have had enough of so-called
"constructive" organizing t h a t
fails to realize t h a t politics is
merely an extension of the way we
lead our lives. Liberating the lob-
by of Rackham was enjoyable, and
therefore meaningful- Because we
did it openly and publicly, it was
highly political. It was only un-
constructive within the constipat-
ed, middle-class value system I
was there to protest.
WHAT HAPPENED at Rackham
was merely a forceful example of
the way in which the University
frustrates every attempt by stu-
dents to liberate themselves. Dis-
tributing free food on the Diag
violates University rules. Chanting
at faculty meetings violates Uni-
versity rules. Drawing pictures on
the walls "of classrooms violates
University rules.
We don't need to make "issues"
out of t h es e absurd rules; we
should just violate them because
they are so absurd. If our actions
seem absurd to those whose de-
humanized culture is destroying
the world daily, we have begun to
make a start toward desanctify-
ing that culture.
After the Rackham freak-out, I
did some "guerrilla leafletting,"
distributing free Resistance liter-
ature and buttons in restaurants
around campus. People stopped me
and asked if I was part of the
Jesse James Gang.
Free food, free music and free
literature go together, and, the
idea turns people on. It reaffirms
my faith in, the value of cultural.
absurdity,
By RON LANDSMAN
JOHN LINDSAY has fallen upon bad days. The one-time and possi-
ble darling of idealistic college youth, the man once not stigmatized
by even the threat of the taunt of "sell-out." is now, if not in disrepute,
at least not in glowing favor in these parts.
He is regarded as a politician, an American politician to be exact,
an epithet not handed out with much kindness. He operates within the
system, he meets its demands, he goes by its rules. "Unacceptable"
seems to be the feeling now.
In a very informal although perfectly random cheek around the
Diag to see what the folks thought, a group of clean-cut, blond and
for all the world respectable Republican-type students was approached
for inquiry. "John Lindsay? Campus hero? Oh, come off it." "Try Che,"
one blue-eyed fellow mentioned, and another suggested Mao.
Not all the students talked to were quite that extreme in their
view.
The dominant view was "He's ok, but who cares?"
The complaint against Lindsay was not aimed at his specific pol-
tics or personality but at the American political scene as a whole. It
was not a function of Lindsay's failings as an ultraliberal or a leader,
but at his membership in a system which is misdirected and uncorrect-
able.
BUT COMPARED against any other liberal American political
leader of any name - from Ted Kennedy to Eugene McCarthy -
Lindsay fares well. No one hasthe same breadth of appeal that Lind-
say does, Not only does he possess
a political philosophy that is
agreeable to the left liberals, but
he commands respec't as well for
his administrative and' practical
skills, for his ability to get the
work done.
Lindsay is knwn and' liked, and
when students return to politics-
possibly four years from now -
Lindsay may well be their man.'
The question of what will hap-
pen in the meantime is difficult, s.ha
to say the least. The path that has
brought Lindsay to prominence
now is a tortuous one, one that the
taker can not always control to
his satisfaction.
What if New York blows its
cool? W h a t if the strikes get
worse and Lindsay must become
oppressive to save the city? What
if he is defeated for re-election as
mayor next year, or can't take the New York senato ial seat away from
Goodell? All of these factors affect John Lindsay's political future.
THE MOST PRESSING issue is the urban crisis,It is there that
John Lindsay has shown his 'greatest success and there that he may
suffer his worst defeat. "What happens," we must ask, "if New York
blows up next year?"
The question can not - and never does - get a, straight answer.
It is treated for the most part with incredulity.
No one who ever had to face a riot had the record Lindsay does
before the riot struck, and so it is difficult to assess by analogy what
he would do. The general, proportional approach - the more liberal
to start with the more liberal to stay, even if there is some kind of
swing to the right - seems to apply.
Somehow, the political effect of a riot does not seem to be as po-
tent* as the heat and violence of the riot itself would imply. Three years
- from the time Lindsay may leave City Hall to when he will probably.
make his strong bid for a presidential nomination"- will turn events
into vague memories and effectively dull the passions that a riot would
arouse.
THERE IS ANOTHER question apart from urban problems that,
in the long run, may be the deciding factor to guarantee Lindsay sup-
port in the future. It is here that John Lindsay deserves, if not praise
to the sky, at least vigorous support for the most liberaland humane
policy of any major political leader. His opposition to military solutions
on both fronts is unexcelled.
At home, his views on militarism are reflected in his relationship
with the New York Police Department. No mayor of any American
city has made the attempt - and succeeded so well - at running his
own city's police department.
It is a strange inconsistency in American politics that while there
is a clear mandate in the Constitution that the military be subservient
to the civilian authority, no such attitude applies to the domestic forc-
es. It is considered an over-extension of a mayor's authority for him
to attempt to control his police department.
Thus, Lindsay has been' forced into making sounds as though Po-
lice. Commissioner Howard Leary were in complete control, while it is
clear to those in the know that the mayor has had a strong unofficial
affect on the department's conduct.
Lindsay's views on Vietnam - as dovish as any senator's - com-
bined with his handling of the police department, should be a reliable
indicator of what Lindsay would do with the Defense Department if
he were President. And it is now he would handle the Defense Depart-
ment that may beone of the most' ihportant measures of the man's
potentialities as President.
THE CONSTANT and increasing role of the military, its growing
domination of the national budget and its increasing role in determin-
ing American governmental policy, is a threat and a question which
must be settled in favor of the American public - and whether the
public always realizes it or not, in the long run increasing militarzation
is not in its best interest.
The precedents Lindsay is setting today both in New York City
and in his speeches on U.S. foreign policy are laying a strong ground-
work for his role as the peace candidate of 1972.
Right now Lindsay's popularity with youth is suffering from their
general political alienation; but were this disenchantment to end, the
latent enthusiasm of the young could propel the New York mayor all
the way to the White House
4
T he
By WALTER SHAP
' Associate Editorial Di
? c
'IRO
irector
UESDAY'S HEADLINES blared,
.Wallacecampaign pulls large
crowds in Lansing. Flint."
There is consensus among the
pollsters that Wallace has the sup-
port of over 20 per cent of the voters.
Yesterday's announcement that
"bomb them back to the Stone Age"
General Curtis Le ay had agreed to
become Wallace's running-mate has
added a-'new respectability to the
third.party campaign and symbolized
its transcendence of its racist origins.'
All these portents indicate that it
is time to begin to take Wallace seri-
ously.
Folowing the tepid Republican
Convention and the trculent Dem-
ocratic rump gathering in Chicago,
many resolved to ignore this year's
election and leave. Humphrey and
Nixon to cavort for the votes of the
knaves and fools.
But as the Wallace tent show has
continued to crisscross the heart-
land' of America, 'it has generated
an upheaval that cannot be ignored
by even those sated. with politics.
THE REALLY frightening thing
about the former Alabama Governor's
campaign is not the,-extremity of hisr
views, but our own total inability to
gauge or appreciate the appeals of
the Wallace movement.
For the past several months news-
papers and magazines have been
filled with accounts by ordinarily
good journalists who have gone to
Wallace rallies and left totally un-
able to comprehend the hidden magic
of this unprecedented campaign.
It's easy to gauge the niotives and
emotions of the growingly pathetic
Hubert Humphrey. There are even
thQP-wn an mm .thiv e, urit th
tilacites. A
Many of the concerned in our aca- haphazai
demic cloisters and liberal enclaves liefs whi
have fallen upon that last refuge of of their
the articulate uncomprehending- complex
. armchair sociology. For y
harbored
THERE IS A CERTAIN patron- the rejec
izing smugness in attempting tol ex- for bein
plain the alleged political deviance moderati
of almost a quarter of the electorate. For in
But it, seems likely that any theory tent we
which attempts to go beyond the "Commu
simplistic "Wallace is a racist" many aN
equation can only bring us closer to that the
understanding this impenetrable po- this omr
litical crusade. there an
Perhaps the best approach is to re- Asia.
gard the Wallace legions as the un- The r
informed and the half-informed re- ng our
volting against an age of deepening new meas
complexity. means
Many Wallace supporters, whose SIMIL
acquaintance with the news - is convince
id a
ch a
inst
eve
ears
[a l
ction
g w
ion.
.stan
ords
nist
veraf
re is
nipot
id w
atris
boys
nint
your
ARI
the
symplathetic
t best, have political be- gle to stretch his paycheck, that there
re merely the summation are important sociological reasons
tinctive reactions to the why the residents of the black ghetto
nts of the times, are worthy of spescial attention. For
these Wallacites have what is often decried as racism is
atent resentment against merely 'a, simplistic, but well-moti-
of their political beliefs vated, attempt to explain the style
ell beyond respectable of life of the ghetto.
It is difficult to be sympathetic to
ice, the emotionally po- looters when you are 'struggling to
"war" "enemy" and keep up the payments on your tele-
s" instinctively 1 e a d vision set. It is hard to understand
ge Americans to believe the cries of "police brutality" when
something wrong when your brother-in-law works 60 hours
tent nation can't get in a week on the force.
in the war in Southeast In brief, what the Wallace cam-
paign representsiisda manifestation
otic cant about support- of some of the inadequacies of uni-
in Vietnam takes on a versal sufferage in a deeply complex.
g when "our boys" really era.
Sson." For after years of political com-
LY, IT IS difficult to placency, the "little people" under
man who has to strug- therWallace banner are trying to en-
force their simplistic perceptions on.
the nation's policy-makers.
BEFORE ONE PLUNGES into a
kind of political elitism as a defense
against the mushrooming Wallace
movement, it is therapeutic to ex-
amine the political history of the
past generation.
Since the Second World War, mili-
tary and social policies have been
- ' formulated in growing isolation from
popular opinion by an emerging army
of technocrats who achieved their
finest flower during the Pentagon
reign of Robert McNamara.
The dangers of this dehumanized
expertise are illustrated by the Olym-
pian prouncement of Defense Secre-
tary McNamara a few years back,
"By every quantitative measure
available, we are winning the war
in Vietnam."
There is something far more
frightening about the calculating
coldness of a defense department
ortra it
kinship remains even when one
realizes that the Wallace supporter
is prosaic at best and quite likely a
thorough-going anti-intellectual.
Domestically it is far easier to re-
late spiritually to the "little man"
who is deeply annoyed by his dis-
covery that.the American dream has
bypassed him long ago than it is to
venerate those high priests of com-
placency-be they Hubert'Humphrey,
George Meany or Roy Wilkis-who
have deluded themselves into be-
lieving that the American system
with their selfless help is on the
verge of creating a utopia.
THE WALLACE CRUSADE is vi-
tally important because its incredible
success in the electoral arena bluntly
informs the leaders of government
and our key institutions that at least
a sizeable segment of the people are
deeply disenchanted with the Amer-
ica of today.
Far more potent than the much-
heralded McCarthy Democrats, the
Wallace campaign provides a way-
although not a particularly palatable
avenue-for these people to express
their fundamental disgust with the
American two party system.
Sympathy with 'the aspirations of
these members of the Wallace move-
ment does not make it possible for
anyone with at least a minimal re-
spect for intelligence and integrity
to be attracted to Wallace himself.
In fact few political leaders in recent
memory have been as singularly un-
appealing as the former Alabama
Governor.
BUT OUR REPUGNANCE with the
man should not blind us to the rec-
ognition that Wallace is articulating
the fears of average Americans about
a world that has grown too complex
to accommodate their own common-
4
A.ClA
Letters:; Heckling
To the Editor:
IT WOULD be unfortunate if the
heckling of' President Fleming
during his report to the faculty is
allowed to represent the majority
of the students by default. We
shall look for the repudiation by
responsible student leaders of this
insult to President Fleming, the
faculty, and the student body.
-Bernard A. Galler
Professor, Computer
and Communication
Sciences, and
Mathematics
Apology
to the Editor:
S A MEMBER of the demon-
strating group who interrupted
Pr'iAn. 'T~Lwy~',, State of the
students, both as speakers and as
audience from this important
yearly event.
To Prof. Liesenring, who alone
of all the guests showed an inteir-
est and sympathy for the stu-
dent's causes; who alone was will-
ing to listen and talk with them,
receiving for his trouble immediate
judgment, condemnation, and in-
sult; and who yet remained calm
and beautifully human; I give my
deepest respect and apology.
Finally, to my fellow demon-
strators, a message of only one
word. . . THINK! Do not let the
momentum of pastel leaflets and
red armbands push you beyond
the point of reason. The issues of
Vietnam, of racism, of capitalism.
of factory-style education are all
in the final analysis "he same is-
Afiamollimallmn : :!)