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TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1969

NIGHT EDITOR: HENRY GRIX

T he LSA incident:
Blunders by both, sides

THE ABRUPT adjournment of the liter-
ary college faculty' meeting yesterday
can be viewed as a regrettable blunder on
the part of both the faculty members and
students involved.
It was an opportunity to open more
lines of communication between students
and faculty that failed because of rigid
procedural rules, uncompromising bel-
ligerence and political ineptitude.
Students had entered the room and
seated themselves along with the faculty.
After opening the meeting, Dean Hays
noted their presence and asked them to
leave, citing a college rule which limits
attendance at such meeting to faculty
members. A quick motion to adjourn by
Prof. Martin Gold and an overwhelmingly
favorable Vote ended the meeting.
There was no dialogue between stu-
dents and faculty. None was possible. No
debate is allowed on motions to adjourn
and there was no opportunity for any
other action to be taken. A number of
professors have indicated that they were
willing to offer motions to suspend the
rules and allow somT students to remain,
but with Gold's quick motion, they had
no chance.
THE STUDENTS, on the other hand,
i were uncompromising in their de-
mand for a full and open meeting, pre-
sumably with students allowed to speak.
The demand is not unreasonable, but
the students were frightfully impolitic.
There was apparently little contact with
H.ays or other sympathetic professors be-
fore the meeting, no attempt to seek some
accommodation allowing the students ad-
mittance, and no, effort to handle the
matter with any diplomacy.
Both the Senate Assembly and the col-
lege's,. own curriculum committee have
opened their meetings to the public, and
there is now a motion before the literary
college faculty to open' future meetings.
Clearly, it is only a matter of time before
they take that action.
Like both stubborn children and sensi-
tive diplomats, the faculty refused to take
steps which it would otherwise have been
willing to take, to avoid giving the ap-
pearance of, bucking under pressure. And
the studel ts actions at yesterday's meet-
ing made their response unavoidable.
Student leaders very consciously avoid
looking as though they had succumbed to
faculty or administration pressure for
that would destroy them politically. And
to fail to accord the same consideration
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to the faculty is somehow inconsistent.
THE CYNIC will quickly note that "being
politic" is the refrain of those who
want only to delay and thwart students.
And, of course, this is often so. But this
situation does not seem to fall into that
area.
The demand to be politic' is only a de-
laying tactic when reasonable attempts
have failed. But no attempt was made in
this case at all. Under such circum-
stances, it is hard to be sympathetic with
the students.
This brings up the question of what the
students really wanted. Yesterday's meet-
ing was specifically convened for discus-
sion of distribution and language require-
ments, with sp'ecial emphasis on the lat-
ter, and ostensibly that was why the stu-
dents wanted to attend.
But one of the student leaders, Martin
McLaughlin, said they plan to attend the
next monthly meeting also, which will
probably deal with the issue of open meet-
ings and some changes in Part A of the
faculty code, a subject likely to bore stu-
dents.
The lack of clarity in the students' de-
mands, and their failure to define for the
faculty what it is they seek, makes it
more than difficult for the faculty to act.
However, they can be forgiven somewhat
for their action.
NEVERTHELESS, other options were
open to the faculty. The meeting was
not a regular meeting, it was a meeting of
the "committee of the whole" in form, if
not in fact. No legislation was likely, far
from it. It was meant only to serve as an
indicator for the curriculum committee as
to what action it might consider for later
faculty consideration.
The question of admitting students is
much less critical in this case. It also
avoids the question of all open meetings,
which option the faculty should have
appreciated.
Gold's. motion was a sterile attempt at
following the rules of the college rigidly.
Technically, the faculty could not even
debate the question of admitting the stu-
dents while the students were there be-
cause the meeting violated its own rules.
Such an adherence to the letter of the
law in a situation demanding some flexi-
bility is uncalled for.
But the motion did offer the faculty a
chance to discuss the issue of open meet-
ings by defecting the adjournment mo-
tion and considering the question. But
their uncompromising vote made that im-
possible.
Further, the faculty knew well in ad-
vance what the students were doing and
made little effort themselves to work
something out. They are equally respon-
sible for; the rigidity of yesterday's
meeting.t
The situation was not a particularly
tense one, which is to the good, but it
certainly does not simplify matters in
the long run. A little reasoning by both
sides could do a lot to resolve the issue.
-RON LANDSMAN

Nhot transfer of power ?"
t
11. l
- iii -
"RA -
N-
,, ALERSHAPIRO-
Thoughts on a winter evening

w~m..mJ AM E S EC H SLE R
Just incidental'?
9J OHN MITCHELL, Nixon's selection for Attorney General is known
to have a 'J. Edgar Hooverish' view on law enforcement. Q partner
in Nixon's law firm, he comes highly recommended for his new posi-
tion by several conservative sources, including Sen. Strom Thurmond
(R-SC)"-From the current issue of the right wing news-letter, Human
Events.
New York, Nov. 14-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, after a meeting
with President-elect Nixon, said "justice is merely incidental to law
and order."
ON DEC. 24, 1967, the New York Daily News reported that a
"husky, 27-year-old porter, described by police as suspect in the rape
of more than a score of Queens women," had been held in $75,000 bail,
at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.
Thomas Earl Jones, married and father of three small children,
possessing no history of criminality, was described by then Assistant
District Attorney Rudy Herscheimer as a "menace to society" in
pressing for the high bail. Judge Fred G. Morritt, noting that "the
charges before us are a degree less than murder," agreed.
According to the News, detectives said Jones had been "positively
identified by six women who were raped and robbed and that at least
20 more victims were involved."
A composite sketch of the rapist
shown to "hundreds of Queens
residents," led to his seizure.
NEARLY ONE YEAR LATER-
on Dec. 14, 1968-the New York
Post reported the sequel. At the
request of the District Attorney's
Office, Judge Peter T. Farrell dis-
missed all remaining charges
against Jones, accompanying his
action with several pointed refer
ences to the use of "tainted iden-
tification "-including the use of
a peep-hole prior to lie-ups-in
the proceedings that led to Jones
ordeal.
It was a flagrant "wrong man"
case. It dramatically illustrated
why, the Supreme Court and At-
torney General Ramsey Clark
have exhibited growing concern
about the rights of defendants in
"identification" cases, among oth- J Edgar Hoover
ers. It also suggests why so many
attorneys and civil rights leaders have voiced apprehension about the
"Hooverish" overtones of Mitchell's regime.
After his release Jones was to comment, "I'm just lucky-I had
two good lawyers." In part that was true. Yet, in retrospect, the extra-
ordinary thing is that the case against him ever went so far. How often
do identification methods subject the innocent to comparable harass-
ment, or worse?
JONES' FIRST GOOD FORTUNE, after he was arrested at his job
on the basis of the police sketch, was the intervention in his behalf of
an attorney named Virgil Hervey, himself a former assistant DA. Jones
father, a small property-owner, had known Hervey and enlisted his
services in the first phase of the case. Hervey immediately questioned
some of the identification tactics employed by the police before Jones
had counsel.
On the day of Jones' arraignment another man-one Victor Lopez
-was arrested on a rooftop in the same area ,of the city. Although he
was a Puerto Rican and Jones a Negro, the police sketch revealed a
striking surface resemblance between the two men. But no immediate
connectioi was drawn by the police.
After Jones had been indicted, Hervey found himself unable to
carry on the defense because of other obligations. Caroline Davidson
of the Legal Aid Society was temporarily assigned to the case, but she
had previously become Lopez' attorney and withdrew from the Jones
case because of a possible conflict of interest.
THAT WAS WHEN Mrs. Geraldine Eiber took up the battle for
Jones, and carried it to a victorious conclusion.
As she spiritedly pursued tne inquiry, she managed to obtain an
interview with Lopez, who volunteered descriptions of the apartments
he had invaded. "I became deeply convinced that Jones was innocent"
she recalls.
Steadily the truth fell into place. In the homes of two of the women
who had "positively" identified Jones the fingerprints of Lopez were
found; in the case of a third, loot removed from her home was un-
covered in Lopez' apartment.
THE HAZARDS of police identification measures were pointedly
underlined by one crucial sidelight. While the facial resemblance be-
tween Jones and Lopez was striking, Jones was in fact three inches
taller. None of those who proclaimed their recognition had considered
the disparity in height.
This season Jones spent Christmas with his family, in contrast
to that bleak holiday a year ago when he was behind bars facing
prosecution and heavy punishment for a long series of charges based
on the "certain" visual testimony of respectable citizens.
In the long ruin District Attorney Mackell's office moved ener-
getically to avert a monstrous injustice; there was no diabolism in the
prosecution. But Jones and his family endured a long, irreparable night-
mare. Those who deem justice "incidental" to law and order might

ponder the story and reflect anew on their criticism of Supreme Court
decisions designated to minimize the blunders of fallible police officers.
(C) New York Post
Letters to the Editor

I

1

THERE COMES a point when
there is something unbear-
ably bleak about the juxtaposition
of a desk and a book. There is
something eerie about the quiet of
an apartment long after every-
one's asleep. Some accept this
loneliness as the price for some-
thing indefinable. But most of us
dedicate our lives to fleeing from
these moments when the isolation
and the solitude become unbear-
able.
** *
Set against the stillness of the
snow on State Street, it seemed
almost obscene to be tempted, by
the geometric arrangement of
shirts in a men's store window.
My mood of slightly self-pitying
contemplation was shattered by
the surge of outwardly happy peo-
ple streaming through the doors of
Nichol's Arcade.
I stopped and watched this
group of refuges from Jim Kwes-
kin's last show at Canterbury
House dissipate themselves and
their enthusiasm into small groups
of twos and threes. The remnants
of this group, momentarily united
in their enthusiasm for Jim Kwes-
kin, w o u l d trickle home to
quiet apartments and dormitories,
and a few would struggle earn-
estly, but vainly, to hoard their
happiness until morning.
* * *
I REMEMBERED sitting in a
darkened bar somewhere far from
here where off-duty truck drivers
drink by day and students and
hangers-on join them at night. It
was night.
The place was half-deserted as
we sat in our formica and plastic
booth under a three-year-old pic-
ture of a contender for Miss
'Rheingold, 1965, sipping our drinks
'quietly.,
f The congenial boredom of two
'friends having momentarily ex-
hausted conversation directed our
attention two booths away to a
-graying man In a grimy white
'shirt unbuttoned at the neck with

the tab of his tab-collar dangling
above, his right pocket.
As he harangued his patient
and sad-eyed companion, his voice
was at once too fast and slurred
and the next moment strangely
hesitant, as if he knew he was
just too drunk to say what he
wanted to say perfectly clearly.
He caught my attention just as
he was saying, "There's one thing
these historians and sociologists
with their complicated theories
just don't understand. The real
reasons why people generally do
things have nothing to do with
politics or anything like that.

politics and elections and things
like that. And then people got so
busy arguing and fighting over
politics, that they didn't need to
have as many wars."
"That's nonsense," his small
friend shouted.
"Let me finish. Up until a
couple of years ago, all was going
prettv well, politics was pretty in-
teresting and we only had wars
over important things, like World
War II and Korea."
"But then," and his voice lower-
ed perceptibly, "JFK was shot in
Dallas and suddenly politics
wasn't interesting any more. So

*!

"There's one thing these historians and sociolo-
gists with their complicated theories just don't
understand. The real reasons why people gener-
ally do things have nothing to do with politics or
anything like that. They're just trying to stop be-
ing bored."
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They're just trying to stop being
bored."
"Why do you think we're here
now?" he asked when his com-
panion seemed unconvinced.
"Naa, that has nothing to do
with it," the small thin man with
the traces of a moustache argued.
"We're talking about important
stuff, like politics, not just you
and me going out to a bar."
"POLITICS, POLITICS," the
graying drunk snorted. "Politics is
just the biggest and most expen-
sive way of escaping boredom.
Let's just take a look at how
things were back in the days of
kings and queens, back before they
had political parties and things
like that.
"Before they had politics," he
added, "kings kept having silly
wars over things like flags, be-
cause they really had nothing
better to do with their countries.
But then some smart guy invented

we got into this war in Vietnam
to get our mind off how empty
politics was with JFK gone. And
now that we've discovered that we
can't get out, somehow war isn't
very interesting either." He shook
his head sadly.
"NOW WAR isn't very interest-
ing either."
And the frightening thing is
how little Richard Nixon can and
will do to drive away the boredom.
We're bored with politics and
bored with war. We can't get ex-
cited any more about shirts on
sale in a store window or the
newest cars direct from Detroit
showrooms.
And youth is beginning to dis-
cover that music, sex and even
drugs are just no substitutes for
life.
And Richard Nixon is the only
barrier between us and boredom.
One fears it may be a very ugly
four years.

.. . . .. : .. .:. R .... a. . .. .. . . .J . . ". : .. . CG ,:. S r :. . .. }.

Autopsy of

By MARTIN HIRSCHMAN
NOT TOO MANY years after the
fateful flight of the Wright
Brothers, New York City officials
realized something.,It was a rare day.
The officials realized they should
have panicked not too many years
before, on the day that historic bird-
like, shadow traversed that historic
field at Kitty Hawk.
Now, New York City. officials are
not ones to scoff at history. So, how-
ever belatedly, in their own vapid
manner, they panicked.
The city's population was growing
steadily and so was the air transpor-
tation business. Already the officials
could see the need to construct huge
airports to service the city. All they
had was Newark Airport. And who
wants to give all that business to New
Jersey?

The transpoi
was a very seric
gestion was tak
was hooted down
missed from off
A long silence
the small room i
billowed out int
atmosphere (Th
days).
Suddenly the s
er broke the tw(
don' know nuthi
muttered wistfu
could do somethi
that's been pilin
side?"
THAT DID I1
terminal morrai
of Queens and ti
an the south, ti

an airport: Te
station commissioner morraine was named for the mayor
ous man and his sug- whose great forsight had made it a
en very seriously. He reality.
n and immediately dis- The one on the southern alluvial fan
ice. was named for the illfated transpor-
ensued. Smoke filled tation commissioner with the strange
n Gracie Mansion and accent who had suggested the city
o the fresh New York build subways. Later it was renamed
iose were the good "old for a slain President who had passed
through several times during his life.
anitation commission- Many years passed, and the air
o-hour-long silence. "I transportation business boomed.
n' 'bout airoports," het
illy, "but maybe we More years passed and the people
n' with all the garbage of the great metropolis forgot the
g up on the lower east heritage of brotherhood, the founda-
tion of common garbage on which the
airports were built.
T. Noting the marshy Maybe not. Maybe they never knew
ne on the north shore about it in the first place.
he marshy alluvial fan * * *
he city soon began to IT WAS EVENING and I was wait-
A.rh. qfi1r._ ing for a taxi in front of the main

rminal morraine

ward the city where they would be
able to pick up another fare. They
often refused to take me home since
I livs five miles in precisely the wrong
direction.
The next cab driver also refused to
take the sailor. But instead of driving
off, he beckoned to me and it seemed
like I couldn't get into the taxi fast
enough to suit him. It wasn't until
after we had driven off that I told
him where I wanted to go.
He grunted and asked me how to get
there. The name on the hack license
under his picture was Sam Polansky.
He had a slightly hunched back.
SAM GLANCED at me furtively as
I gave him directions to eastern
Queens. He asked me where I'd come
from and warned me I'd have to pay a
flat rate if we went one block out of

Bronx. I didn't pay too much atten
tion.
Sam chainsmoked. I chainsmoked.
A SMALL WHITE card over the
meter said "This cab will go out of
town on request." That explained why
he didn't seem to care where I was
going. And it didn't leave too much
doubt about Sam's reasons for refusing
to take the sailor.
I wanted to ask Sam about that. I
visualized the question I would ask
him, stated as inocuously as I could:
What could be worse, than taking
someone to eastern Queens?
For Sam, the question would prob-
ably have been rhetorical. He obvious-
ly liked to talk to, or at least at his
passengers. And with the black sailor
in the back seat he would have.
thought it necessary to close the bullet-
nroo findn hbtwnn ront and hack

On the left
To the Editor:
T BASICALLY agree with Daniel
Okrent's assessment of the
current intellectually-debated, po-
litically-authoritarian s ta te of
SDS '(Daily, Jan. 9). I was pretty
appalled by what I heard at a
portion of i t sNational Council
meeting, e.g., defenses of h o w
beneficial it is to engage in vio-
lence against universities, speech-
es couched in a really stultifying,
stilted Maoist or Marxist-Leninist
hack rhetoric.
The purge of the 'Radical Cau-
cus in favor of the new Ann Arbor
chapter is a significant symptom
of a deterioration in the caliber of
SDS thinking and organization.
BUT NEVERTHELESS, Okrent
should not let his despair a n d
frustration with SDS lead him in-
to such unacceptably careless or
soft-minded statements as "we
might as well resign ourselves to
Nixon - and maybe even like it,"
or that Time magazine and TV 2
were "closer to the truth" about
SDS than w e r e the Ann Arbor
radicals.
The SDS problem does not alter

helped to instigate a great deal of
creative and essential ferment in
social and political thought and
action in America.
Time and TV 2 have never been
remotely close to the truth about
this side of things.
FINALLY, by all means there
should exist better alternatives to
SDS, but Okrent should steer very
clear of, any loose talk a b o u t
"abolishing" it. Desert it, yes, but
let's not encourage people to be-
come another generation like
those 195Os liberals who through
fear, apathy and complicity al-
lowed the McCarthyites to engage
in 'wholesale smearing, inhibiting
pnd destroying of a whole spec-
trum of left-oriented thought and
action, good and bad, revolution-
aries and reformers alike.
-Rick Piltz, Grad
Political science
department
Jan. 10, 1969
Vandalism?
To the Editor:
rHE NIHILISTS h a v e finally
gone too far! I am as tolerant
as the next person of protest and
dissent; I am upset by, but I can

I