t ; .; 4 94t r a au Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited arnd managed by students of the University of Michigar under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications Wisconsin: Beckoning revolution 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 al reprints. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: DANIEL ZWERDLING t ROTC and LSA: Less than creditable THE DECISION of the literary college curriculum committee to recommend abolition of ROTC credit was made on solid academic grounds. The careful 'course-by-course study which their spe- cial subcommittee made seemed to do an admirable job of assessing where ROTC courses were and were not of. academic significance. They found that there were only four out of more than 50 ROTC courses that could plausibly be awarded academic credit because of" their content and approach. But even these courses are not assured- ly credit worthy. The subcommittee noted that the quality of the courses depends: on the instructors as much as the texts, and the literary college exerts no control whatsoever over the selection of military personnel. With these limitations, the no-credit limitation recommendation of the com- mittee is entirely appropriate. BY THE COMMITTEE'S own statement, the' ROTC course materials are "con- j ectural, non-analytical, cheaply moral- istic, and often blatantly propagandistic." But the committee left very open the possibility that four specific courses be granted one or two hours of credit, and this does not seem to be a wise move. Students do not take individual ROTC courses because they are good courses, but to avoid the draft or get a commis- sion or get the $50 monthly stipend. For the college to grant credit for the four, courses is to knowingly encourage,, albeit it lightly, students to take the ROTC programs. But with the information the college now has of ROTC, this is clearly unjusti-. fled. In addition to the report submitted at the committee meeting yesterday, the chairman of the subcommittee, Prof. Locke Anderson, described the program and its materials as "atrocious." By granting credit for the good courses, courses that could conceivably receive credit, the college is encouraging students to take all the courses. Students cannot take these 200 and 300 level courses with- out taking the (proposed) uncredited pre- requisites. There is something awry in a situation where students must take un- credited courses-two to four of them-to get to the credited ones. But there is a still wider view. The committee also recommended that the college consider possible alternatives to the current ROTC organization which might utilize University courses for re- lated work within the ROTC program. ON STRICT ACADEMIC grounds this would be unassailable. But if the larger view of ROTC is kept in mind, of its historical origin and purpose, this pos- sible relationship: is questionable. ROTC has its origins in World Waits I and II when the' nation was in less liberal, less humane moods. Army ROTC took its modern form in 1917 (an earlier version originated during the Civil War) and Navy ROTC was added in 1927, when the mood was still little changed. Air Force .. ROTC was added in the wake of World War II, in 1947, when the nation was in a similar state. For the times and their needs, this was, perhaps, acceptable. But the needs today are far different, and while this bastard- ization of the University may be accept- able in times of honest national emer- gency, its continuing practice is unmeces- sary and unacceptable. It is irresponsible and unacceptable for the college to have ROTC in any relation- ship. It should be terminated now. -RON LANDSMAN x By JIM HECK THE DEMONSTRATIONS at Wisconsin are a new kind of disruption. They are well-planned. sophisticated protests that make one begin to say it is the begin- ning of revolution. Only once before-at Columbia -have demonstrations been so successful and gone on at such length. But the radical leaders at Wis- consin and their tactics are much different from those at Columbia. They aren't as sloppy and spon- taneous. They are sophisticated, the likes of which we have iltver seen on American campuses be- fore. It used to be that most campus radicals were shy, reserved SDS'ers who were only able to shout plati- tudes with a megaphone. These elves of revolution were never able to field the problems arising dur- ing a demonstration and their al- legiance to the issues was ques- tionable. But the Wisconsin campus has a clan of new radicals-black ones -characterized by a high sophis- tication, calm perseverance and unalterable 'conviction. THEY HAVE confronted the administration at a justifiable time, for they have attempted to present their demands :,hrough legitimate channels and they have been constantly rebuffed. The de- mands are reasonable and amaz- ingly mild when compared with demands of a similar 'nature at other campuses. Unlike many universities how having problems with blacks, Wis- consin has not been asked to de- velop a segregated, autonimous black studies program. The lead- ers at Wisconsin called such an idea "foolish" after the Milwaukee Journal reported it was one of their demands. The Wisconsin blacks are ask- ing for a black studies depart- ment, but one opened to all stu- dents. They made this request as early as last summer. They have also asked that the expelled students from Oshkosh be admitted to Wisconsin. The students at Oshkosh had taken part in demonstrations asking for a black studies program there. Originally, few of the iaders really hoped this demand wxoud be met. The state university sys- tem and university system are closely tied at Wisconsin-so much so that when one of the systems makes a policy decision the other one usually follows. BUT UNIVERSITY chancellor H. Edwin Young set up an ad- ministrative committee to study the demand about a month ago and the committee, chaired by a vice president, recommended Wis- consin accept the Oshkosh blacks for the semester that began two weeks ago. The University didn't accept them and remains tightlipped as to why. Otherdemands blacks are ask- ing include veto power over the hiring and firing of faculty for the black studies department. Originally they had asked for a vote in the hiring and firing of faculty "at all remotely involved" with the program. The fact they revised this demand was an at- tenipt to show the administraion the demands are negotiable. q But in his short Friday news conference, Young claimed the blacks would not negotiate with him. Seeing as how the blacks aie revising their demands publi'sally the credibility gap falls on Young, not them. The outbreak of demonstrations a week ago was the culmination of this kind of impenetrable bar- rier to communication. The ad- ministration remains extremely quiet. It is this frustrating non- communication for more than a year that led the blacks to decide demonstrating was the only way left. LAST MAY THE BLACKS de- manded a special scholarship pro- gram be set up to recruit inner city -blacks. The request was -ranted reluctantly by admin- Sstrators, mainly because at the Photographs by Jay Cassidy 5....5':F.?':: ..:"{ ::' .* . ?..} Dtime Wisconsin was one of the tfew Big Ten universities that iidn't already have such a pro- vram. ;The blacks had planned io work iwithin this structure-the only nne that officiallyrepresented a~hem-to improve their .nt on pampus. But the university ap- pointed a white director, one who [he blacks claimed they were un- table to work with. So as far back at last summer tthe black began "requesting" their black studies department. Na- tturally, they began the requests jthrough the staff in the special tccholarship program. But the staff nuieted their attempts and the request never really got to the todministration. The blacks regrouped, took the ,request directly to the administra- tion with a postscript: the white ,director had to be ousted. i Logically and perhaps unfor- Itunately, the blacks resorted to ijemonstration. But this time the ,demonstrations would be different. tUtmost in the leaders' minds was t;he realization of their ,lesnands, ;something ironically overlooked in ,1,1 of Wisconsin's past battles. -knd thus, one of the most impor- ;tant criteria was to keep violence 0o a minimum, because in violence bayonets, billy clubs and tear gas win-ideas don't. 4 THIS IS NOT TO SAY they wouldn't later use violence. Vio- lence has been the rabble rouser that in the past has brought the campus out in full force. A week ago Monday the blacks walked into several large lectures announcing the university was shut down until it would begin negotiating their demands. By Monday afternoon the blacks were picketing classes. On Tuesday the Hayakawa gang began retaliation. These 60 or so noble defenders of the status quo and the American Way were far more violent than the demon- strators ever intended to be. Irate at night they ravaged student of- fices and unsuccessfully tried to occupy them. Thursday the Hayakawas began using their fists and classes awere disrupted enough by the fist fights that police moved in. When police come to Wisconsin, students gr-eet them en masse, and that brought out the National Guard. That af- ternoon 5.000 marching students were confronted with bayonets and tear gas. The incident was actually ,lass- ed as a failure in the yeas-long attempt by the blacks to get their demands. THE VIOLENCE WAS USED, though. That night, the blacks gathered more than 12,000 dem- onstrators-more than a third of the campus-to march in a torch- light parade on the capitol. The march was peaceful and the po- lice, realizing they had brought everybody out with their reaction, were restrained. Friday the tactics were rein- stated. In the morning meeting at the union blacks leaders em- phasized to the crowd of near 3.OCO the need to remain nonviolent, to disrupt but, not confront, to run from the Hayakawas not hit them back. THE PICKETS maintained their NixOn's coal mine solution THE LIFE of a c o a l miner is neither pleasant nor long. Long hours in the pit, year after year, mean a deep cut into the average life expectancy. And cutting even deeper' are the frequent accidents which have characterized most mining operations. Mining companies have, of course, shown little sympathy for the conditions under which their workers toil. And the nmine workers own union has become so isolated from its membership that more often than not, union and management are in complete harmony. Meanwhile, the government has tradi- tionally been so lethargic in its efforts to protect the workers that former Secre- tary of Interior Stewart Udall once called the U.S. Bureau of Mines "timorous and almost apologetic." rwtorial Statff 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'DONOHUE ........ ........News Editor WALTER SHAPIRO......Associate Editorial Director HOWARD !KOHN ........ Associate Editorial Director NEAL BRUSS....................Magazine Editor ALISON SYMROSKI...... Associate Magazine Editor AVIVA KEMPNER............Personnel Director ANN MUNSTER ................. Contributing Editor DAVID DUBOFF...........C.ontributing Editor ANDY SACKS.......................Photo Editor TN THE PAST FEW MONTHS, however, there has been one ray of hope for the bitter workers as they stood trapped be- tween management and labor. In office only four months, Director of the Bureau of Mines John F. O'Leary has already begun taking serious s t e p s to- ward improving coal mining conditions. O'Leary began his crackdown after the coal mining disaster in Farmington, Va. last fall. The underground explosion and fire there took 78 lives. In December, O'Leary ordered the bur- eau's 300 mine inspectors to make spot unannounced checks for coal-mine com- pliance with federal safety regulations. True, the bureau has long been empow- ered to make such checks. But the 600 checks made in December alone was more than three times the number made in all of 1967. And, not surprisingly, t h e inspectors found serious violations. With the power to close mines only with evidence of "im- minent disaster," or "unwarrantable dis- regard" of previously reported violations the inspection staff has closed over. 200 mines since November. UNFORTUNATELY, by doing his job too well, O'Leary may have lost \it all to- gether. Reports indicate that President Nixon, under fire from angry mining in- dustrial officials, will soon replace O'Leary with someone less energetic. -MARTIN HIRSCHMAN 44 1i designated composure Friday,; the two marching groups were goon dispersed into even smaller ones: perhaps as many as six. These groups blocked main intersections, but ran when the guard or police marched in, setting up disruption at an intersection further down. This mobility avoided much violence and kept the number of arrets to a minimum. It als? dis- rupted the city's traffic immeas-, urably until police were finally setting up road blockades several miles from the campus -rea re- routing traffic around it. Perhaps the most obvious in- dication of the disruption was the interior of the capitol building it-' self. Though demonstrators never tried to enter the capitol, the in- terior was sealed by three circular, lines of police and barbed wire in- a few places. That day Gov. Warren nowles introduced legislation calling for the expulsion of all demonstra- tors. But the bill went on: any convicted- of the law wouldn't be allowed on the campus area for a year. Such a measure is most prob- ably unconstitutional, but it in- 1 dicates the intense reaction of, the state legislature. FRIDAY NIGHT more le isla- tion appeared, this time by State Sen. Gordon Rosleip (R-Darling- ton) asking for the resignation of. P esident Fred Harrington and an investigation of 150 faculty members. Rosleip got his list of faculty members from those who had supported the strike. There is little doubt. Harrington will be going out as President. He spent both .Thursday and Friday in Washington and disappeared during the weekend. The man on whom most of -the burden now falls is Chancellor H. Edwin Young. Young is tight- lipped, moderately conservative, and many legislators are stalling action in the hope Young will take control. In the scant number of appearances he has made since Monday Young criticized the Wis- son Student Association for sup- porting the strike but refused to criticize the Hayakawa gang, said he would work with legislators in drawing up legislation to deal with demonstrations, and claimed the school already has the programs and policies the blacks are de- manding. It is clear Young is worried about his own status and knows that the state legislatorsnot 'the students or faculty-hold his purse strings. The Madison public is afraid and is more concerned about the goings on of the protest itself than the issues involved, of course. But when newsmen, who are usually themselves college graduates,, spurt out such frrele- vent rhetorical questions as "Did you know Tom Hayden' was on campus?" it can do little but in- furiate the protestors who then very Justifiably feel totally, ignor- ed. The black militants know they have been successful. They have disrupted $he state capitol for a week. But the members of the1 de- monstrations don'treally under- stand this, for there are as yet no visible signs of accomplishment. The accomplishments are there: Harrington, a long-time hawk for putting down anything re- motely militant, will be gone and if the demonstrations continue in- to the week, so will Young. IF THE DEMONSTRATIONS lag for a while; the blacks may resort to violence - perhaps a disruptive sit-in until arrested. If the militia then returns in force, Wisconsin will explode. Even the fraters there hate to see green men with rifles at every street corner. and besides, it jeo- pardizes their sometimes extra- lenal yet-togethers. But if th- administrstion does nootiate, the blacks will be there. The question that would then remain is what does the state gov- ernment do? The probabilities are not encouraging. The men at the lapitol have small minds and a perverse feeling they are the world's best educators. If they are unable to temper themselves. Wisconsin might be closed down - or the students might close down the capitol, '. Banning sit-ins: An unrepresentative SGC stalling the iet citable By ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ THE RECENT clashes between students, administration and police at many of the major uni- versities in thie country have left students here to onder wistfully why nothing "exciting" like that ever happens in Ann Arbor. With this in mind, it seems a bit out of place for Student Gov- ernment Council to bother con- sidering Thursday whether or not they should rescind their ruling banning disruptive sit-ins by stu- dents. With no disruption in sight, the issue seems to lack. relevance. body which Considers itself the representative of the students. For SGC's claiming the Univer- sity shouldn't have such power. while granting itself the same power misses the point. Neither body should put itself in this role. THE PRESENCE of the ruling cannot help but deny Council its much sought after legitimacy as the political voice of the students. However, the rub comes when SGC considers whether in the-long run such action is pramatically in the best interests of its "con- e44+1a_ 9}rr~h .4 a t14 1 1. . t. judgment in setting proper stand- ards of student behavior. In the past the administration and fac- ulty have always reasserted their power when given the opportunity. In September, 1967, SGC sub- stituted its own code of rules for the "University Regulations" is- sued by the faculty and admin- istration. In effect, Council grant- ed itself the power to regulate non-academic student conduct. Al- though the action was taken with- out regental approval, SGC seem- ed to have a pretty air-tight case. Prior to its adoption of the con-7 sumed powers, the Regents de- clared the body "had exceeded its jurisdiction by purporting to abolish existing University rules and regulations." They held that without regental approval, "such legislation is totally, without ef- fect. Previous existing regulations therefore remain in force." The following month SGC and JJC's jurisdiction was once again challenged. In a letter, Vice Presi- dent for Student Affairs Richard L. Cutler asked the administrative board of the literary college to ap- ply "appropriate academic dis- r nli +-"t + frm-rVoire-SnDS bility for the disciplining of stu- dents in this college." NO SPECIFIC ACTION his been taken as yet by either the faculty or the administration to curtail SGC's self-assumed powers over conduct. However, Council Presi- dent Michael Koeneke has ex- pressed his concern that the re- moval of the ban on disru-otive sit-ins would be "an invitation 'r the faculty and the administration to take charge of student condo ct , regulations." With such precedents, this ac- tion becomes more -Whan just a disruption, this will serve to heighten the already anxious zeal of our public servants. It will un- doubte(l1y strengthen ' Lansing's pressure on the faculty and ad- ministration to begin reassuming full control of student conduct regulations and their enforcement. In the end, the state may attempt to force the University to take an extremely harsh stand on student' dissent. Of course, this puts University President Robben W. Fleming in a very difficult position. One of the major reasons this campus has remained auiet in the midst on the University to strengthen its meager control of non-aca- demic affairs, Fleming will have. to choose between students de- manding basic rights and the overlords in the capitol. As SGC Executive Vice Presi- dent Bob Neff put it, "The honey- moon between Fleming and the students may be ending." HOWEVER, IT IS perhaps the end of the honeymoon between SGC and the administration that may be necessary to melt the icy feelings between SGC and its proper constituents.'- This might W