Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan U1ST A SlyNG IN TUE WIND Cops hitting students isn't news -by .Ji- fleck 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. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN Laird and the AB i " * 1 P "Excuse me-I didn't quite catch how this puts me in a nice bargaining position." SHOWING ADMIRABLE RESTRAINT, Sheriff Douglas Harvey had not hit anyone for almost six months. But yes- terday he was back in form when he brought a van of deputies and his twelve costumed riot squad patrolmen to dis- perse outside agitators at Eastern Michi- gan University. It was hard to see their faces through the tear gas masks. It was also hard to tell them apart: bullet-proof vests cov- ered most of their bodies. They all were holding riot sticks and the same German shepherds who had guarded the City- County Bldg. during last fall's welfare demonstration stood immobile in front of them.. Then of course there were Ypsilanti police and state police and all together it was one of Harvey's better shows. Students were injured when struck by police. One witness talking to the Chan- nel 7 ABC Detroit television crew was told by a black reporter. "Cops-hitting stu- dents isn't news. Only students hitting cops." Apparently the Channel 7 crew didn't think students hitting newsmen was newsworthy either, for they left the build- ing very quickly when the blacks started talking about them. THE STUDENTS at Eastern presented demands to a conservative administra- tion who has thus far refused them. It is the classic b u t contemporary farce where neither side gives in, and both sides feel they are right. But the students at Eastern raised sev- eral good points. One is that the blacks there compose only three and a half per cent of the total student population. And there are only seven black professors. The blacks at Eastern requested in- creases in both black student and fac- ulty percentages last semester. But. black enrollment decreased by a half per cent. And for some unknown reason black athletes at Eastern are reportedly thrown off the teams when they get injured. Whites aren't. THE ADMINISTRATION is not help- ing matters. President Harold Sponberg feels it is in the best interests not to say anything and lets his Information Direc- tor, Curtis Stadtfeld, do all the talking. Stadtfeld, apparently enjoying his re- sponsibility, told a gathering of newsmen in his office that it was the governor's decision to bring in police. The governor's office, of course, denied the statement. Further, the student news- paper at Ypsi, the Echo, has announced to the press that Stadtfeld has a very large imagination. Thus we have coming f r o m Eastern only the cartoon animation of what is really going on. THEN THERE IS THE JOY of com- panionship between the whites and the blacks. "Tell them damn newsmen not to put them white demands with them black demands!" one black coed insisted. The white demands, neatly typed by SDS, simply support the black demands but "You know how them white hussies mess our things up." "And when a reporter asks you your name," a black leader instructed, "tell him you're mankind." True, but not very informative. And somewhat confusing. "You can't even trust your own broth- er! Not until you know him well. That's what Eldridge told us it was all about: mistrust, you must mistrust everyone," another black speaker said. "You gotta scare him, brothers! When he asks your name tell him his own, when he asks what you want, don't tell him five states, tell him fifty!". * * * WHY EASTERN AND NOT the Uni- versity? The relative calm of the bur- geoning Ypsilanti campus h a s usually been disturbed only -by students brawling after a beer blast. Until Sponberg's rapid and engineered plan for growth began to take shape about four years ago, Eastern was considered, a "suitcase college" pop- ulated by students only during the week. There w a s little student sentiment or anything resembling a cohesive student body. However, as Eastern has grown, it has acquired a resident faculty-student popu- lation genuinely perturbed by Sponberg's almost legendary and absolute control of the University. Last fall a group of faculty in the edu- cation school began publishing a news- letter, which in its first issue ripped into the president's unchecked power. These faculty have also attempted to set up a union under the limits of Public Act 379. NOW STUDENTS, drawn largely from Ypsilanti a n d surrounding low-income areas are apparently consolidating for an attack on the administration. They feel genuinely repressed by an administration that has overlooked them and rebuffed their requests. The demonstrations there are news- worthy. TV 2 thought it was the begin- 0 ning of revolution - again. The Detroit News reporter left at 1 p.m. telling Stadt- feld, "We travel to disasters. You don't have one, here." No one really knows, anymore, what happens - or its importance - for the dynamics of demonstrations are the news, not the issues; and this kind of news has already been written: "Cops hitting stu- dents isn't news. Only students hitting cops." IT COMES AS no surprise that Melvin Laird is not really serious about halt- ing the controversial Sentinel ABM pro- ject pending a full-scale review. At his first press conference, Laird said that stopping plans for the Sentinel sys- tem would force any American negotia- tors to enter a n y disarmament talks with one arm tied behind their backs. Even after President Nixon announced that the project would be shelved until a complete review was made, Laird made it clear that only the immediate plans for land procurement would be halted; re- search and general planning for deploy- ment of the missile system would contin- ue. Now, many in the Senate - including Edward Kennedy - believe that the only reconsideration that Laird is doing on the Sentinel system is how to proselytze here- tical Senators who oppose the Sentinel project. IT IS VERY DISTRESSING that Laird refuses to heed the widespread dissat- isfaction voiced over the Sentinel project. The very least he could do is cooperate with an intensive study ,before going any farther with the $6 billion project. Much of the criticism has come from scientists who remain convinced that the "thin" ABM project would not even work. Some of these scientists believe that the money could be better spent on pressing social problems. A group from M.I.T. has proposed a demonstration by scientists opposed to the ABM construction. Other objections to the n e w missile system h a v e been raised by concerned citizens in the metropolitan areas of Chi- cago, Detroit, and Boston. These people are genuinely alarmed about the possi- bility of malfunctioning at missile instal- lation sites located in suburbs near the city. And finally, about one half of the Sen- ate is now questioning whether the pro- ject should continue or not. If Laird is oblivious to concern of scientists and the public, surely he can be sensitive to-such significant Senate opposition. JF PRESIDENT NIXON was serious when he said that the Sentinel project would be reviewed, the tiie has come for him to assert his control over Laird's fiefdom in the Pentagon. Melvin Laird should not be given a free reign in making defense decisions. If he is, there need be no worry about going tol any disarmament talks "with one hand tied behind our backs" because t h e r e won't be any. -STEVE ANZALONE, Editorial Page Editor ...:JAMES WECHSLER-... Army reg: No heroes smoke grass ' Supporting the rent strike IN THE PAST, it has been impossible to have any,: sort of negotiations with Ann Arbor landlords. Tine after time, they have refused to respond to collec- tive complaints, even though they are charging rents rivaling those of M a n- hattan and Hollywood. with a backlog of complaints and an inefficient organization, the city's Bur- eau of Housing and Inspection has not been able to either confirm code viola- tions or insist on correction of those vio- lations which they do discover. Landlords are allowed to rent apartments in build- ings the city knows to be defective. And the University has likewise been no help in enforcing the maintenance of adequate student housing or in the development of safe housing on its own. Through the Office of Off-Campus Housing, the University has acted as a passive mediator in landlord-tenant dis- putes. The office, although a good source of advice, has not actively aided s t u- dents in damage deposit cases, disputes over advance payment of the first and last month's rent, the development of an eight month lease, or in pressing the is- size of unreasonably high rents. Furthermore, landlords need not re- cognize the University as a mediation agency. ALTHOUGH THE University would like to think of itself as a mediator, land- Editorial Sta f Searching for a high life in the trenches lords have refused to use its mediation services. And the University shows no willingness to urge landlord compliance with any housing standards. Recently the Office of Student Affairs proposed that all students under 21 live in University registered housing. Both the Student Advisory Committee on Hous- ing and the student operating committee of Barbara Newell, acting vice president for Student Affairs, recommended that this proposal be dropped since it only restricted students and in no way re- stricted the landlords. The refusal to put any demands on the landlords shows the University's hesi- tation to support the students when they most need it, against Ann Arbor's housing cartel. The University could have aided the students by requiring them to live in registered housing and making regis- tration meaningful. THE UNIVERSITY and the city have left the students defenseless. For over three years, students have at- tempted to organize a rent strike to hurt the landlords in the only way they could. By withholding rents, students now hope to get landlords not only to negotiate, but to make substantial changes in present housing policies. Rumors of landlord threats and ten- ant misdemeanors now abound, but the rent strike finally is getting underway, under the organization of competent law students who realize the legal conse- A MAJOR MARIJUNA scandal may be developing in the U.S. armed forces. It involves not the widely advertised use of the stuff iri Viet- nam --- that is hardly news - but rather the prospect of large-scale punitive measures against returning GIs who discovered marijuana dur- ing service in that war and are now being subjected to inquisitthn and threats of court-martial as they count the final days of their tours of duty. Perhaps belatedly shaken by disclosures that marijuana has been the daily diet of many thousands - from ranking officers to lowly en- listed men - in the Vietnam morass, the Pentagon has apparently initiated an irrational retaliatory offensive. There is a spreading round- up of men who failed to kick it when they came back to stateside in- stallations. In this area at this moment the hunt is haunting many men at Fort Hamilton who were scheduled to return to civilian life in a matter of weeks or months. There is no reason to believe that the crackdown is restricted to this territory. It is a poor recognition for men who risked their lives at the front in this desolate war. SP/4 WILLIAM B. RICHARDSON is a slender, blond 21-year-old native of Baltimore who might have appeared as a personification of model American youth on the cover of an American Legion publication. At this juncture he is living in painful suspense as an aftermath of his encounter with agents of the Army's Criminal Investigation Di- vision and of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. " His name has been "flagged" at Fort Hamilton and he has received intimations that' his scheduled honorable discharge in July may be rudely disrupted by a special court-martial. Shortly before his 18th birthday and after graduation from high school, Richardson enlisted in the Army's Security Agency, a force which requires a four-year term. He spent 15 months in Vietnam, in- cluding a period under fire which enables him to wear a combat infan- try badge. Like many others, he learned many things about war, and he also learned about marijuana. HE CAME BACK IN September, 1967, in a condition subsequently described by an Army psychiatrist as "residual depression." Upon his return and assignment to Fort Hamilton, Richardson and another Vietnam veteran took an off-post apartment in Manhattan. At about 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 18 there was a loud rapping on their door. Sp/5 Joseph P. Attanasio, who had stayed overnight in the apartment, opened it and found four men waiting. They initially idientified themselves as representatives of the Highways Dept. and de- - manded to know whether anyone in the apartment owned the car al- legedly obstructing their work in the street below. e When Attanasio said'it was Richardson's car, they burst into the e apartment and shortly thereafter announced that the occupants were d under arrest. The invaders were CID and Narcotics Bureau operatives. 'o I talked at length yesterday with Richardson and Attanasio - a s 20-year-old Buffalo boy who spent 12 months in Vietnam and is slated n.. to finish his Army commitment in what he describes as "112 days - I it count them. it rs HIS WILLINGNESS TO VOLUNTEER his story seemed especially valorous and meaningful because, after the ensuing ordeal of investi- gation, he was assured that he was in the clear, being merely -an over- n night visitor. (Since Richardson's roommate was unable to be present 's at the interview, he will remain nameless for the present.) )t e Attanasio vehemently corroborated Richardsons claim that what - the raiders found in the apartment was a bag containing no more than - 40 milligrams of marijuana. This can hardly be called a "cache." In many long, dismal ensuing hours of interrogation too extensive h to be described here, Richardson and his roommate finally made state- s ments identifying -other marijuana users and describing how purchases were made. They did so in the face of tempting reassurances that their punishment might be mitigated by confessional. But at no point was it admitted or even alleged that they were anything resembling big dealers. They were two of countless thousands n of Vietnam graduates caught in the marijuana trap. OBVIOUSLY THE ARMY HAS A marijuana problem, its serious- S ness dependent on which school of conflicting medical thought one ac- cepts about the effects of the drug. Is 8, That is not the issue here. The issue is whether the Army is trying -e to get off the hook of its own inability to control the marijuana epi- Letters~ to the Editor Discrimination To the Editor: ONE NEEDS MUST apologize for bothering to write a letter on the subject of the Wheel Res- taurant (Daily 2/2/69). The food is so atrociously inedible; t h e management so gratuitously in- sulting to part of its customers-- at least in one known case; and ,the conversation recorded in the article so fatuously banal, that nothingsaboututhe establishment intrinsically inspires one to wish to write about it or to patronize it. No wonder it is invariably em- pty, much to my delight. Yet the issue I wish to write abouthas burned in me for some time and has a much wider signi- ficance as an episode in the trau- matic experience of any black man in the racist context of contem- porary American society, that I welcome the opportunity offered by Miss Abramson to talk openly about it. ABOUT a month ago I walked into the Wheel for a quick lunch -one must indeed be pressed for time to contemplate the ordeal of the emetic fare offered by them. As I entered, I thought I recognized a friend and walked up to her to exchange greetings and I been told not to return, and that he must have the wrong person. I was and remain certain of this. But did he really pick on the wrong person? Is not part of the natural pattern of racism the in- ability- to make distinctions be- tween people of a subordinate group? Historically - racial concep- tions imposed by a hostile and biased world, and into the mould is every black person or member of a non-dominant group fitter. Frantz Fanon has brilliantly de- lineated some of these conceptions in "Peau Noire Masques Blancs" (Paris, 1952), and the effects they have had on the black; who is, as a result, forced to recognize himself in three persons ,held re- sponsible at one and the s a m e time for his body,for hissrace. and for his ancestors. He is not demanded of him to bear him- self like a man; but like a black man, like a Negro - and this en- counter with the irrational fre- quently drives him neurotic. IN ANY CASE, I was insistent on being served and he was equal- ly adamant in refusing to serve me., Finding it awkward to have to evict me forcibly, he threatened to summon the police, and went to the~ telephone. to rally people to demonstrate be fore the Wheel against this out rageous behaviour. What, abov all, I found very distressing w e rt those people in the queue behin me, who dutifully continued t place their orders even as I wa refused service in front of them They did not care to find ou what was the matter nor though it wise to withhold their order until I was served. CAN IT BE, as James Baldwi firmly stated in this morning New York Times (Section 2), tha "the bulk of the country's w h i t( population is beyond and c o n ceivable hope of moral rehabilita tion" so long as the social struc ture which so dehumanizes bot its victims and their oppressorsi left inviolate? -Azinna Nwafor Feb. 2 Correctior To the Editor: I WOULD LIKE -to comment o the article (and the relate photograph) entitled UAC World' Fair etc. of The Daily, Feb. 8 1969. First, let me compliment th *!!