.. . . I T4r 1Mir ial Dail Seventy-eight years of editor il freedom Edited and ;managed by students of the University of Michigan Closing coffers to college protesters 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in of! reprints. FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: DANIEL ZWERDLING Flemings meddling: Student power i n court PRESIDENT FLEMING'S letter censur- ing students who participated in Tuesday's five-hour detention of a navy recruiter may have dire consequences for the future of campus protest. The President's decision to pre-empt hnraged engineering students and press charges against "a number" of protesters comes as a challenge-to Student Govern- ment Council's legislative legitimacy and Central Student Judiciary's jurisdiction. It is irrelevant to argue that'Fleming (as an administrator) had no business pressing charges against the students. As Fleming pointed out, the pro- test clearly defied civil, University, and even SGC law. Although he was inten- tionally meddling in student affairs, the President was only doing what some en- gineering student would have done sooner or later. However, at first glance, it appears that the President may be running scared, trying to appease the hostile legislature which is denying fiscal favors to univer- sities harboring truantf students. But the University has not been plagued with disruption under Fleming's administration, and the President is not given to bending under legislative pres- sure anyway. It appears his move is aimed mbre at i fluencing intra-mural affairs--specifically, the recent consider- ation by the student-faculty bylaw com- mittee of the validity of students judging their peers.f At this crucial juncture in the consider- ation of how power should be distributed in the University, Fleming's move comes as a challenge to the legitimacy of stu- dent power. IN A DEFT and timely political move, the President has made an issue where Central Student Judiciary would probably rather not see one. He has lodged a legiti- mate complaint against what he con- siders to be a disruptive protest, but has accepted the student judiciary's rightful jurisdiction in the case. Had the President allowed police to intervene and arrest the protesters-as some engin students wished -he would have drawn the official wrath of several student and faculty groups. But by grant- ing jurisdiction to the body where most students seem to agree it belongs, Flem- ing has created an embarrassing and perplexing dilemma for the judiciary. If the judiciary fails to censure the pro- testers, it will be ignoring duly considered student rules and will discredit itself im the eyes of m'any administrators and faculty at precisely the mroment when an ad hoc bylaw committee is considering the validity of investing judicial power in an all student group. However, if the judiciary censures the, students to the limit of the law, it will be endorsing penalty for conscientious acts of protest-even those which involve no personal injury or destruction of property. This would be illiberal and intolerable. THE JUDICIARY must meet the chal- lenge head-on. As a sort of campus Supreme Court, CSJ must of course recog- nize the letter of the valid student-pre- scribed law and convict the students of breaking it. But at the same time, the judiciary should exercise its prerogative to interpret and appraise the sit-in ban. The judiciary body should discredit the legitimacy of a , student rule banning conscientious, non-violent protest by giv- ing protesters light sentences. SGC would then be forced to reconsider the controversial sit-in ban it recently upheld. Those protests which only force secretaries to walk over protesters or which hold up recruiting for a few hours cannot be classed as violently disruptive or harmful. While it may be argued that the recent protest infringed on the rights of stu- dents seeking. consultation with recruit- ers, it cannot be said that the protesters were excessively belligerent in attitude or behavior. Indeed, counter-demonstrators apparently caused most trouble Tuesday. If demonstrators are to be condemned for acting before exhausting existing channels, engineering students' vigilant- ism is to be equally deplored. THE STUDENT judiciary can render little service by yielding to those who wish to completely pardon or harshly punish demonstrators. Rather, CSJ must use its power to encourage reconsidera- tion of the University's recruitment and disciplinary policies. - HENRY GRIX Editor By JOHN ZEII College Press service STUDENTS RECEIVING or hop- ing to receive financial assis- tance from t he federal govern- ment to help pay college expenses and are worried about losing it by participating in a campus dem- onstration should heed recent ac- tion by the federal government. Participation in a sit-in could be grounds for denying aid to stu- dents getting money from the fol- lowing programs: National De- fense Education Act (NDEA) loans, Educational Opportunity Grants, Federally-guaranteed loans, Col- lege Work-Study, government fel- lowships, National Science Foun- dation (NSF) and National Aero- nautics and Space Administration (NASA) grants. The Nixon Administration has formally brought to the attention of college administrators provis- ions of two acts passed by the last Congress. While the President feels the academic community, not the government, should perserve cam- pus peace, he clearly intends to have the laws enforced. The John- son Administration chose to look the other way because of the con- fusion in this sensitive area. THE FIRST Congressional act pertinent to campus unrest is the 1969 appropriations bill for t h e department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), which pro- vides the money for the programs mentioned above. The lawmakers attached a pro- vision that says "no part of the funds .. shall be used" for aid to any student or faculty member "convicted by any court of general jurisdiction of the use of or as- sistance in the use of force, tres- pass, seizure Qf property under control" of the college "to pre- vent officials or students from en- gaging in their duties or pursuing studies." So the school's financial aid of- fice has anobligation to deny aid during fiscal 1969 if you disrupt campus life and are convicted of a crime during the disruption. If it wants to withhold aid or an appli- cation while a case is pending, it can. Aid cut-off is mandatory and automatic only upon conviction of a crime. NIXON'S STAND has for the mo- ment laid to rest the question of direct federal intervention on troubled campuses. But the pro- visions his statement says will be enforced are under discussion in the House higher education sub- committee chaired by Rep. Edith Green 'tD-Ore.). The Green committee has heard testimony for and against aid cut- off. Noted psychologist Bruno Bet- tleheim argued that measures tak- en to ease campus unrest should not be punitive. He warned that undesirable repressive measures might be imposed to prevent chaos and severe counterreaction to campus protests and said the greatest danger of student protest is a possible "fascist-type back- lash," not protest itself. Representatives of the National Education Association and its student affiliate SNEA called for repeal of the provisions because they are "vague, unenforceable, unduly repressive, and unjust." "Rather than trying to put down student unrest," said NEA staff assistant Mel Myler, "we should be searching for student participa- tion in- decision-making of the university a reality everywhere." The committee is continuing its hearings so it can decide what to do with the aid cut-off provisions on the books, 4 4 IF SOMEONE participates in a protest but is not arrested, a pro- vision of amendments to the High- er Education Act of 1968 applies, He can be denied only if his school determines that he "willfully re- fused to obey (its) lawful regula- tion or order and that the refusal "was of a serious nature and con- tributed to a substantial disrup- tion of the administration" of the institution. The school can decide whether it wants to investigate, and could determine innocence by liberallydefining the terms "ser- ious" refusal and "substantial dis- ruption." If it determines guilt, aid must be denied for two years. The amendments also carry a provision requiring aid cut-offif the school determines that a stu- dent has been convicted of a crime such as that under the ap- propriations act. But this section is apparently superceded by the mandatory cut-off in the appro- priations act. When the two acts were passed last fall, educators issued 1 o u d cries of interference with academic freedom and integrity Recogniz- ing their insistence in indepen- dence President Nixon tempered his expected "law 'n order on the campus" statement delivered more than a week after he had promised it. He issued a dire warning with a mild prescription that the uni- versitiesrshould keep their own houses in order. He began by calling the so-call- ed anti-riot provisions of the two acts "moderate . . . and justified" by underscoring the need to pro- tect society from assaults on the processes of free inquiry. But he said there is a second issue "of far greater concern: the preservation of the integrity, the independence, and the creativity of our institu- tions of higher learning." He went on to warn that cam- pus violence is threatening aca- demic freedom in America, saying "the federal government cannot should not, must not," become the nation's campus peace - keeper. "That," he said, "is fundamentally the task and responsibility of the university community." NIXON MADE NO mention of intended federal prosecution of radicals who cross state lines to foment disorders, a possibility that has been ,discussed in the Attorney General's office. He said he has directed H.E.W. to "launch newainitiatives toward easing tensions in our educational community. And the President took note of "depersonalization of the educational experience." "Oth- er institutions," he said, "must re- shape themselves lest this turns to total alienation. There must be. university reform including new experimentation in curricula such as ethnic studies, student involve- ment in the decision-making pro-' cess and a new emphasis on fac- ulty teaching." The President noted that "stu- dent unrest does n o t exist in a vacuum but reflects a growing so- cial unrest affecting much of our world today. Self-righteous indig- nation by society will solve none of this. We must resolve the inter- nal contradictions of our commun- ities." The delay in issuing the state- ment presumably was caused by disagreement over how h a r d a stand to take and deciding just what the federal government can do. Fleig ssesses SC To the Editor:\ WOULD not normally enter into a discussion of the proces- ses of student government, but at a time when students are seeking to impress the faculty, adminis- tration and Regents with the de- sirability of greater student parti- cipation in the governing process, someone needs to point out some of, the glaring weaknesses in the present form of student govern- ment. If 'I take the lead perhaps others, whether they agree or dis- agree, will join the dialogue. In the original election for the current group of student govern- ment officers, less than one-quar- ter of the eligible students voted. In the run-off election, The Daily reports that 1336 students, out of some 28,000 eligible voters, cast their ballot for the winning can- didate. Only 2852 students voted for both of the run-off candidates. All of the talk about "over- whelming candidates," h i g h 1 y satisfactory turnout under the cir- cumstances," etc., does not fool anyone. A much more impressive case can be made for the view that students are largely uninter- ested in their present government-. al structure than that it is repre- sentative of them. A YEAR AGO it appeared that a sufficient number of students were conscious of the deficiencies in the present form of student government to undertake some re- forms. In a referendum vote, it was decided to have a constitu- tional convention to consider re- structuring student government. Such a convention was called, but no progress was made and the ef- fort was abandoned. So far as I know, there is now no conce."red effort to revamp the structure to make it more representative. The students might do well to look at the resolution which the faculty found for a very similar problem. Experience showed that the Senate meetings were poorly attended, that anything like full participation in meeting a'as not possible, and that the "town meet- ing" style of government owlside the college was not viable. Accordingly, a study was un- dertaken which resulted in the present Senate Assembly type of organization. The Senate, which meets only once or twice a year, still consists of all eligible fabulty members. The meaningful faculty action is taken in the Assembly, with some powers of control re- maining in the Senate. THERE ARE, on the Ann AA bor campus 15 schools and colleges. Most of them have student govern- ment organizations in the college. As things stand, those organiza- tions are naturally closer to prob- lems which interest students tho n in SGC. It is hard to see how a centraltstudent government is going to be meaningful, in the sense that it can claim to repre- sent large segments of the student body, until it finds some mechan- ism which draws direct represen- tation from the colleges. There are those who will say that voting patterns in general student elections are no worse than in the larger society, This is not an answer, it is only a com- mentary on the sad state of par- ticipation in other kinds of elec- tions. THE POINT IS THAT students are now trying to convince the faculty and the rest of us that thy deserve a more meaningful role in the governance of the uni- versity. Many of us are trying to view that question with open minds and to find ways in which students can have a meaningful involvement. It does not help to pretend that all the problems are with the faculty and the admin- istration. Students complain that the faculty and the administra- tion react defensively when the status quo is attacked, and that they3 ought to be innovative and imaginative enough to see a nlew era and respond to it. Is it too much to suggest that a real part of the difficulty is that students too frequently react defensively when it is pointed out that their governmental structure is obso- lete? IN THE HOPE that this com- munication will cause others to comment, I am sending copies of it to the presidents of the various college government organizations, SGC, SACUA, and others. I hope they will state their views, what- ever they may be. I do not see a representative student component of an academic community devel- oping out of the present student government structure. -President Robben W. Fleming March 27 Retaining the! war tax Steve anzalone SDS and Che" in quiet desperation YES, VIRGINIA, THERE still is an SDS chapter at the University, and it's gasping for life. Many people had forgotten about SDS until the other day when it was reported that the organization had summoned the vitality to detain a Navy recruiter at the Engit school for five hours. SDS had been practically unheard from since election day, when their aborted student strike enticed almost nobody to boycott classes to protest the election and the war. SDS has gone a long way toward building the kind of broad-based revolutionary movement that its members feel can rebuild American society. A total of 25 peole showed up to harass the Navy recruiter, doubling the turnout at a confrontation with a recruiter from Litton Industries in January. The local chapter has become nothing more than a clandestine bandit clique. Its leadership po- tential on clampus is now virtually nil. Last semester, although the election day strike did not get stu- dents to stay out of classes, SDS did manage to muster large num- bers at the marches, and even at- tracted 2,000 people to President Fleming's lawn to "discuss" mili- tary research. Today, SDS would have trouble getting a large turn- out at an orgy. THE SIGNS OF SDS's demise from a corps of radical leaders to a guerrilla band were seen last fall during the internal fight that split Voice into the Radical Caucus and Ann Arbor SDS. The Jesse James Gang faction that eventually took control of the local SDS chapter demon- strated itself to be really uninter- ested in campus issues, except for the possible exception of disrupt- ing classrooms. The radical leadership function on campus was taken over by the Radical Caucus, which built itself up on the language requirement issue. At present, SDS is trying to recruit support on the issues of militarism, one at which students thumbed their noses by defeating the classified research last year. SDS's lack of sensitivity to campus politics was well illustrated during one of their marathon rap sessions before the election strike. When discussing ways to attract students to the rally at Fleming's house, several members suggested a torchlight march to protest the University's complicity in the death of Che Guevara. There were enough realists to convince their naive brethren that apathetic University students could hardly be rallied to mourn the death of Che Guevara. THE LACK OF INSIGHT INTO campus politics is part of a larger myopic vision of the political realities of the nation. At a debate between local Congressional candidates last fall, Bert Garskof, the New Politics candidate, chided the Socialist Labor Party's candidate because his "following" would vote for George Wallace for President. But it is just this segment of society that SDS expects to attract to its radical movement. Time and again, discussions at SDS gatherings naively and foolishly turn to tactics for radicalizing and organizing the working class. It is really pathetic that SDS, which cannot even radicalize stu- dents, could delude itself into believing that it will never make any inroads into the conservative ranks of labor. * * * * BUT THE LOCAL SDS chapter has other troubles besides its lack of political insight: It is now totally lacking in effective leadership. It is ironic that lack of leadership is paralyzing the old James Gang, which originally clashed with people like Eric Chester and Bruce Levine over the contention that the leadership structure of Voice prevented political action. The Gang only paid lip service to the non-leadership idea of par- ticipatory democracy. People like Bill Ayers and Jim Mellen know well that revolutions are not waged without strong leaders, and they im- mediately took the reins of the Jesse James Gang. But Ayers and Mellen now spend little time in Ann Arbor. They are regional SDS workers and travel to where the action is. Mellen, who has a Ph.D in political science, is rapidly shaking off his local ano- nymity and is acquiring the status of a featured speaker both here and elsewhere. Without the leadership of Ayers and Mellen, the local SDS chapter has been able to handle litle more than an occasional guerrilla theater skit. But even without strong leaders, we can probably expect SDS to produce more small insurrections like Monday's confrntation with the naval recruiter. IT PROBABLY doesn't make any difference whether SDS tries to pv 4' PRESIDENT NIXON'S proposals for an all-out campaign againstI' inflation make surprisingly good economic sense, but they are doomed to failure if the President remains as unwilling as he now seems to pursue singlemindedly the goal of economic stability. It is gratifying to see modern economic theory so enthusiastically espoused by a President whose roots lie in the halcyon era of the good solid Republican balanced budget. Considering that it took the na- tion's top economists almost two years to convince the much more liberal and in- tellectualized President Kennedy to un- derstand Keynsian theory and to accept responsibility for an erlightened fiscal policy, it is cheering to find the Republi- can grocer's son accepting and defending" that same theory six years later without batting an eyelash. Nixon and his advisers hope that if taxes are kept high, consumers will have less money to spend on goods and serv- ices. This will lower demand and take some of the pressure off prices. At the same time, reduced government spending will, it is hoped, also reduce prices by cutting demand. WHETHER OR NOT these policies work depends largely on how able the Administration is to stick to them in the face of political and other pressures. Should Nixon's measures prove effec- tive in combatting inflation, unemploy- Orthodoxy YESTERDAY THE New York Times showed its modernity by calling the success or failure of the President's anti- inflitinn nrno'ram " tst of nrthndn ment is almost sure to increase. And since most of , the marginal workers who will lose their jobs are black, or young, or both, pressures in the already seething ghettos of the nation's cities may make. the next summer even more of a night- mare than the last. Furthermore, as the rate of unemployment climbs, the Admin- istration will be under increasing pressure from the unions to attack the unemploy- ment problem - through relaxing the anti-inflation measures. But even if the President is able to remain firm in the face of such pressures, it is unlikely that the anti-inflation campaign can be truly successful while the major cause of that inflation con- tinues unchecked. THAT CAUSE is, of course, the war in Vietnam. As the Paris peace talks drag on, the Administration gives increasing indica- tions that the war will continue at least the present level for some time to come. Further expenditures in Vietnam, as well as the Vietnam-linked expenditures at home, will continue to aggravate domes- tic inflation and endanger the stability of the dollar in the international mone- tary markets. Even if military expenditures-soon to include upwards of $7 billion to be spent on the misbegotten ABM project-do not increase faster than Nixon is able to direct funds away from vitally needed domestic programs, Nixon's anti-inflation scheme must still be condemned on the grounds that a total reduction of govern- ment spending, occurring at the same time that military expenditures are on the rise, can only mean that a greater proportion of the federal budget is being allocated to the military. 14 ;: !