r4e Mir4igan antl Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications Placement service for displaced activists 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed n The Mchigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. I FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: STEVE NISSEN Scientists' protest: A conscience in the lab ON MARCH 4, many scientists will re- fuse to do research for one day in protest of the government's misuse of science and technology. Researchers at Cornell and Yale are joining the protest being planned by a group of M.I.T. professors! It is hoped that scientists at the University will join the many distinguished scholars support- ing the M.I.T. protest. Much of the scientists' dissatisfac- tion centers around the proposed "thin" 'antiballistic missile system for defense against China, which the President has just announced will be shelved pending high-level review. Critics of the system argue that the ABM system would drain funds from pressing social problems, that it would intensify the arms race, and that it was chosen ptimarily out of poli- tical expediency despite what appears to be strong technical evidence' of its im- practicality. Protests such as these from scientists and others were probably in- strumental in Nixon's decision to recon- sider whether the system should be built. It is encouraging that many of the na- tion's top scientists-including two Nobel laureates, Dr. Hans A. Bethe of Cornell and Dr. George Wald of Harvard-are not content to ignore the consequences and social implications of their search to expand knowledge. FOR TOO LONG, scientists have re- mained placidly unconcerned over the sinister uses of the products of their re- search. Many of them have argued that responsibility for misuse of such things as nuclear weapons lies with political and military leaders-and not with the scien- tists themselves. And while most of the blame for the abuse of science does indeed rest with political and military officials, concern- ed researchers should' make their revul- sion for the prostitution of their search for knowledge known. Protest over misuse of scientific con- tributions can serve as a stern warning to Washington that scientists are becom- ing increasingly troubled over the course that the government is taking, and will be hesitant to accept new research pro- jects designed to advance military ends alone. It is particularly important that the research establishment at the Univer- sity, which ranks third in the nation in defense department research spending, add its voice to the March 4 protest. -JENNY STILLER -STEVE ANZALONE -JIM HECK I Letters to the Editor ROTC revisited THE SLOW-MOVING swell of the anti- war movement has worked its way in- to academia and brought about the re- consideration of the academic status of ROTC. Harvard- and Yale recently joined the ranks of major institutions that h a v e seen fit to withdraw academic recogni- tion from the programs. It is time for the University to do the same. The ROTC programs were accepted by the University at a time when citizen at- titudes were mobilized for war and were quite sympathetic toward the military. But the times have changed, and ROTC programs are not faring well under fire. The literary college has been consider- ing altering or abolishing assignment of academic credit for ROTC s i n c e last spring, and the curriculum committee of the college finally recommended last se- mester that a maximum of 4 credit hours be permitted for corps courses. But the LSA executive committee returned the report to the committee because they felt it was incomplete. THE CRITICISM was well-founded. The curriculum committee did ,not probe ldi/orial Saft MARK LEVIN, Editor STEPHEN WILDSTROM URBAN LEHNER Managing Editor Editorial Director DAVID KNOKE, Executive Editor WALLACE IMMEN ... ...... News Editor CAROLYN MIEGEL ..... Associate Managing Editor DANIEL OKRENT .. ... . Feature Editor PAT O'DONOtiUE............... ......News Editor WALTER SHAPIRO.......Associate Editorial Director HOWARD KOHN.......Associate Editorial Director NEAL BRUSS......... .........Magazine Editor ALISON SYMROSKI-...Associate Magazine Editor deeply into the program because of the urgency of other issues - especially the language requirement. Alter the executive committee action, the curriculum committee appointed a subcommittee to 1 o o k at the program much more closely, with special attention given to the textbooks. Hopefully, t h e subcommittee will a 1 s o observe classes and make a total review of the program. Their conclusion can only be that ROTC offers "cake" courses. But ROTC should be examined from a larger perspective. Considering the University's current shortage of class- room and office space, perhaps ROTC is a luxury the University cannot afford. North Hall, ROTC's present quarters, is no architectural gem, but it does contain office space and is no worse than the Economics Bldg., the Perry Bldg., or Tappan Hall. THE LITERARY COLLEGE and other academic units definitely need and deserve the space more than ROTC. Even the probability that North Hall will be replaced in the 1970's by new buildings does not outweigh the service it can still give by being turned over to the colleges. If the defense department wishes to textbook train officers it should be able to find space at places other than t h e academic camp. And if the University is seriouslydevoted to developing and maintaining quality education, it should immediately resolve to end the allot- ment of credit for the intellectually ir- relevant courses offered by the armed services. -RON LANDSMAN Rent strike To the Editor: HE FOLLOWING is the text of a letter I have sent to the Ann Arbor Tenants Union: Enclosed you will find the text of a statement endorsing the rent strike. It was adopted by the Northwood/Terriace Association, at its last meeting, on Wednesday night, January 15. The Association, through its Executive Board, represents the students who live in married-stu- dents housing owned by the Uni- versity. As such, it is deeply con- cerned with the overall issues of housing for students in Ann Ar- bor, and maintains an interest in, and supports, the rent strike. -Alan K. Cline Chairman, Executive Board Northwood/Terrace Association Feb. 5 Slogans To the Editor: JIM HECK'S editorial in Wed- nesday's Daily attacks Secre- tary of HEW Finch's advocacy of Federal standards for welfare pay- ments. Mr. Heck says that this substitutes foreneeded effortstto provide jobs for the poor, and will only hide the unemployed. I doubt that jobs are a real choice for most welfare recipients. In April 1968, 8,381000 recipients of Federal public assistance pro- grams, 2,028,000 were aged, 81,000 were blind, 660,000 were perma- nently and totally disabled, and 5.6 12,000 were families with de- pendent children (of whom 4,203.- 000 were children). While I don't have recent data at hand, in June 1965, when there were 4,332,000 recipients of aid to families with dependent children, 861,000 were there because of an incapacitated father, 230,000 by death of a father, 2,863,000 by absence or estrangement of a father, and 388,000 because of the unenploy- ment of the father. At that time. of the slightly more than 1 mil- lion adults who were parents of the covered children, 900,000 were mothers, 100,000 were disabled fathers, and there were only 50,000 unemployed fathers. These figures should illustrate the inadequacy of any job pro- gram as a significant aid for cur- rent welfare recipients. It is true, and legislation so provides, that job training and work incentives can be given some of the reci- pients. But for the most part these people are not now in and prob- ably ought never to be in our labor force. We need job programs, certain- ly, but theyare2an additional tool for the other 20 million poor, not a substitute for cash payments to the disabled and fatherless. Slogans about getting people off the welfare rolls and and -onto payrolls seem to ignore just who the people are that are Federal public assistance beneficiaries. -Prof. Robert N. Grosse School of Public Health Feb. 5 Tourist's view To the Editor: IT IS HARD to believe,- unless you have read the article about Spain signed by Stuart Gannes' which appeared on your paper on the Sunday edition of Feb. 2, 1969 -how the real situation of Spain can be completely unknown and at the same time presented with such superficial certainty and partiality. It is not the purpose of my let- ter to tell your readers what is the truth about Spain, but I would not be very honest if I would not warn them that the value of the article amounts only to a tourist's opinion. Any American having only read a normaly good book about Spain,,, could disagree, with much more knowledge, with the opinion of Gannes about the people, their ac- ceptance of everything, the gov- ernment. the improvement he talks about, the jobs available and the situation going on today. After reading the article I was surprised not to see a picture of bullfighting saying that this is their national sport, because such an affirmation is at the same level of the whole article and of itsh pictures. I hope that most of the readers, in case they are interested in the politics, economy and, people of Spain, will look for deepest, higher level and more accurate informa- tion. -Pilar Gonzalez Feb. 4 By DAVID DUBOFF IF YOU REALLY want to make a living changing society, it's em- barrassingly difficult to decide how-and for how much- to do it. Disillusioned members of the SDS generation need jobs too. But George Brosi has come up with an answer. Brosi is director of Vocations for Social Change-sort of a placement service for radicals and students committed to social movements. Each month, VSC pub- lishes a brochure-Vocations for Social Change-available without charge to students, which lists current opportunities to help society. Brosi, who was in Ann Arbor last week, insists his eight month old agency espouses no specific ideology. His brochure reflects this, listing occupations varying from artist, cooks and farmers to city planners, draft counselors and "peace and freedom organizers." . Brosi is convinced that many young Americans are in search of more meaningful occupations, and predicts that "the population as a whole will begin to see anew career pattern emerge. The result could be an eventual shift in the allocation of manpower which can insure us a future determined by the people in quest of humane and democratic forms of cooperation, rather than manipulations by a few experts.' " BROSI CAME TO HIS PRESENT occupation by a circuitous route. His first social involvement came in 1961 when he picketed a segregated laundromat in his hometown of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As a student at Carleton College in Northfield Minnesota, he con- tinued work in civil rights and began to get involved in editing The Midwestern Activist, a publication on student activism circulated throughout the Midwest. In the middle sixties, he spent his time roaming Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina trying to stimulate peace activities. He even went to Czechoslovakia to meet with members of the National Libera- tion Front and the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam. In 1968, Brosi is his own employment service, working from head- quarters in Hayward, California with a staff of 11. Through a network of over 400 "local contacts," Brosi propagates his philosophy. The.contacts spread the message of social change jobs and garner publicity by teaching free university courses, working in community organizing and discovering occupations for the group to list. The response to VSC's work has been impressive. Over 300 people have used the agency during the past eight months. The first six- - . - issues of his booklet contained listings of over 1000 jobs from--- about 200 employers in more than 35 states. AT THIS POINT it is very dif- ficult to evaluate just how well we are doing," a recent VSC pamphlet says. "Since many of those who get in touch with us are planning long-term commit- ments rather than immediate changes, it is likely that most of th eimpact of our present work won't be felt for some time. "It seems that our major effect is catalytic-encouraging people to realize that they can create a job which is personally mean- ingful and giving them a reference point for getting in touch with the people who can help them out." In addition to compiling con- .. crete job openings, the VSC staff tries to keep abreast of job precedents-ways that individuals have carved out new roles which can serve as models for others. Each issue contains articles on job precedents, job ideas, and criteria on which to base vocational decisions. Also included is a special section on educational opportunities designed to prepare people for full-time social action work. Through speaking and consultations with local groups, VSC staff members stimulate dialogue on the problems involved in becoming a full-time worker for social change after college, when professional interests and the need to support a family become important con- siderations BROSI TALKS ABOUT an "income sharing" plan as a means of developing "good interpersonal relations." Groups of people with similar interests in stimulating social change would pool their resources, making living and travelling expenses cheaper while helping each in- dividual rid himself of his "hang-up" toward money. Such a plan is already being tried by at least one individual in Washington, D.C. "People will never be able to understand their relationship to other people until they understand their relationship toward money," Brosi says. 9 * *1 V 4 s ° a VSC has been criticized for the content of its job listings. This only serves to bring into focus the problem that the organization is designed to confront. As de-centralized co-ordinating body, it relies on the initiative and ingenuity of each interested individual. If a student feels that the jobs it offers are "too radical" or "too narrowly political," VSC can provide him with materials on how to create a more meaning- ful occupation for himself. "We don't want to set ourselves up as expert counselors or to channel manpower at our whim," the introduction to the publication says. "So we have created an impartial clearing-house . . . That way it is clear that all we have to offer is a collection of what others refer to us. The Beatles would say that we are "gonna try with, a little help from our friends." "Iraq: Entirely an internal affair." -U N's U Thant Transcending the T-group in search of a true education 0 FOR THE BETTERMENT of mankind, the love of all men, the realization of wordly peace and to escape the draft I came to college. I suppose I did hope at one time to gain a few tiny insights into life, but this as- piration was quickly quelched in the reality of the mass lecture and the stoic counselor who looked at me only through the top half of'his bifocals. I am now trying to understand why a large number of people here are spending a tremendous Samount of energy trying to accomplish what has become a well-fitting button slogan: "Academic Reform." I hail you gentle liberals of the left and the dark- ness. * * * The most important education to each person is the learning process, not the memory process. Arbitrarily, I'll call this true education. It is half-emotion and pas- sion and sometimes irrational, but always beautiful. As Hemmingway once said, it is the art that makes sounds of sights and is known as the T-group. Like Academic Reform, it is a neat aphorism whose high- ly complex titular explanation no one seems to hazard. T-groups are supposed to be the "let-it- all-hang-out" type courses that seek un- derstanding in the spontaneous. But by the simple fact that the courses are accredited and in the docket, the beau- ty of natural simplicity and spontaneity is gone. The T-groups that are m o s t loosely structured - and thus most "reformed" - usually hold an initial three-hour affair of glib doused in w i n e and song and revolution. heck requested to avoid doing here. The feeling that rebellion against the "system" must dominate activities is no longer prevalent. And it is during these more reserved yet highly electric sessions' that the partici- pants reap their awards. If T-groud passes folly, the group may accomplish something greater than any other type of course can accomplish here. But nothing more than two roommates sitting up the night talking. Nothing more than two lovers walking through the arb. The T-group act is most beautiful only when it is not the end result of a tangled process of reform and sanctioned by a bureacratic filing system. BOSTON IS the only city I like and while traveling through there for the first time I met a six-foot five, modly outfitted Boston-type teen-age jet-setter. He carried me through the maze of MTA scuttle bug- gies and we drew others into our party in the hope of a free meal. Finally he de- posited me safely in the hands of a friend. The next morning was the first one I looked at since I came to college. I felt I had gained more insight into the world during the night than I had for a very long time. .* * * The T-group act was probably mechan- ically the same in that incident as it is here in the modern attempts to academ- ically reform. But the context is different and the implications aroused by a course frightening. The beauty of the T-group act is its natural simplicity, spontaneity and sin- cerity. Groups marred by schedule, plan- ning and such formality with their envir- onment t h e y consider themselves "stu- dents" can't experience these things. THUS, THERE IS something ominous about the T-groups. Something dangerous in that they approach the natural true ed- ucation enough, perhaps, to make the par- ticipants believe they are engaged in this true education. 0 U