gi e Mirigan Daihi1
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: DANIEL ZWERDLING
Curriculum committee action:-
Students partly to blame
THE RECOMMENDATION Monday by
the literary college curriculum com-
mittee to seat three students with voting
power is far from an equitable solution to
the problem of determining major literary
college curricular policy decisions.
Such decisions directly affect students
and while expertise and experience must
be taken into consideration when making
such decisions the role of the student as
determined by the student must predomi-
nate any such deliberations.
e20 d men
NEW YORK Democratic representative
Ryan spent more than an hour on the
House floor last Wednesday attacking the
country's role in the Vietnam war.'
Loaded with politically explosive ! evi-
dence, Ryan lambasted -the Nixon admin-
istration for its failure to come to grips
with the war.
"While our cities disintegrate and our
country becomes increasingly disuinted,
a war which was ill-conceived fromn the
beginning rages on with undiminished
fury."
He revealed that one third of the 33,063
Americans killed in Vietnam were killed
since the peace talks began 10 months
ago. Further, 3,459 lives have been lost
since South Vietnam agreed to join the
talks in December. Finally, he' indicated
almost four million refugees are now
homeless'in South Vietnam.
"The blunt fact is unavoidable that this
country has erred tragically in the con-
ception and carrying out of this war."
UNFORTUNATELY, out of the 435 House
representatives only 20 remained for
Mr. Ryan's speech.
Editorial Staft
HENRY GRIX, Editor
STEVE NISSEN RON LANIISMAN
City Editor Managing Editor
MARCIAABRAMSON.....Associate Managing Editor.
PHILIP BLOCK..........Associate Managing Editor
STE VE ANZALONE ....,........Editorial Page Editor
JIM HECK ......,........Editorial Page Editor
JENNY STILLER ....... . Editorial Page Editor
LESLIE WAYNE .... . .................:....Arts Editor
JOHN GRAY.........................Literary Editor
ANDY SACKS. . ...... Photo Editor
Business Saff
GEORGE BRTSTOL, Business Manager
STEVE ELMAN . Administrative Advertising Manager
SUE LERNER ..............- Senior Sales Manager
LUCY PAPP........... ..... .. Senior Sales Manager
NANCY ASIN .. Senior Circulation Manager
BRUCE HAYDON .................. Finance Manager
DARIA KROGULSKI ..... Associate Finance Manager
BARBARA SCHULZ.........:....Personnel Manager
Thus, equity is achieved only when
students achieve sufficient power to de-
termine the environment that affects
and preconditions their lives. The defini-
tion of equity in this case is not clear, but
certainly anything less than parity on the
committee does not solve "the problem.
BUT THE FACULTY cannot be entirely
blamed for failing to achieve a solu-
tion. First, since the problem is one that
directly affects students it seems only
sensible that students should be the ones
most powerfully affecting the decision.
As it stands now, any decisions as made
Monday, are virtually the autocatic rul-
ings of the faculty made almost psychi-
cally as though they can discern from the
amorphous students structures that now
exist what students desire.
As indicated during the meeting Mon-
day, were there any kind of cohesive stu-
dent organization that, in fact, represent-
ed the students in the college, the faculty
would have been much more amenable to.
parity. Bute no such structure exists and
only the fantasy of a possible student
union lent any hope to the faculty that
students do, in fact, desire an aggregate
role in, curricular decision-making:
If students are to gain any power in the
literary college by fall they must now be-
gin to organize into some type of repre-
sentative body.
It is doubtful Student Government
Council could assume such a role. Its
legitimate representation lies throughout
the university and not just in the literary
college.I
The proposed student union has de-
generated so, it seems not only mythical
but almost legendary.
A SPECIFIC and concerted attempt by'
the various organized departmental
forums could prove, to be the answer.
Most all departments already have exist-
ing student forums and those that do not
could certainly form them by fall. To-
gether they could represent at least a
beginning to a true student union.
If such a student group were formed,
not only would the faculty be presented
with a, much more well-defined onus fort
responsibility, but students could begin to
take the .major role in seeking student
power.
In light of this, one is almost encour-
aged to thank the committee for its deci-
sion Monday. For though it fails in its
ability to solve a serious problem, it is
indicative of faculty concern while criti-
cal of student apathy,
-JIM HECK
Editorial Page Editor
Kenneth Coi
By LORNA CHEROT
Ken Cockrel is a revolutionary lawyer,
who is "tired of being shitted upon" by the
repressive forces of the Establishment. He
views those who try to institutionalize con-
flict as his enemy, as well as those who try
to repress it. Ile doesn't know when the
actual revolution will come, but he's in
the forefront, fighting tile skirmishes, that
always precede mass insurrection.
Cockrel, who graduated from Wayne
State's Law school and has been practicing
law since July, 1969, is with the firm of
Philo, Maki, Moore, Pitts, Ravitz, Glotta,
Cockrel and Robb in Detroit.
He works with the Central Committee
of the League of Revolutionary Black
Workers, and their local factions of DRUM
(Dodge Revolutionary Union Members)
and ELRUM (Eldon Avenue Revolutionary
Union Members) in their fight against the
automobile corporations. He is also work-
ing with Black Students Voice, high school
students in the inner city schools.
Cockrel is also in close alliance with
other revolutionary lawyers-Charles Gary,
Arthur Connell and Justin Rabbitts-who
try to use their trials' to make political
statenents against an "oppressive, racist,
capitalistic system."
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is composed of
portions of a transcribed interview with radical Detroit black
lawyer, Kenneth Cockrel. The interview was conducted by Daily
reporter Lorna Cherot and Daily Associate Managing Editor
Phil Block. Cockrel and John Watson, Detroit Black Panther
and editor of Wayne state University's underground news-
paper, The South End, will met with several other radical
blacks at a forum tonight at 8 p.m. In the Union Ball Room
sponsored by the Black Students' Union.)
MOST PEOPLE are often naive concerning the law. I
think most people fail to realize that the law is merely
a codified, structured expression of the way in which pow-
ers reign in this society. The rules have been fashioned es-
sentially by agents of those who tend to run America. The
rules are fashioned in such a way as to facilitate the per-
petuation of those persons in positions of power and to in-
crease the difficulty of persons who are in opposition to
them.,
In a jury-trial situation, the jury determines the facts.
This becomes very important the minute one attempts to
use a trial to do two things: one, to try to liberate persons
from the clutches of the legal system and two, to try to
make a statement or try to use the trial in a political way
in order to-advance revolutionary struggle.
YOU'RE TRAPPED on two levels:/one, you're trapped
by the original law, which frames the issue for the trial
and two, you're trapped by the rules of evidence which say
that certain things are admissible and certain things are
inadmissible because they are irrelevant, immaterial, in-
competent and so on.
REPRESENT DRUM in lawsuits. There are other revo-
lutionary union movement organizations, like ELRUM
(Eldon Avenue Revolutionary Union Members), FRUM
(Ford Revolutionary Union Members), and PRUM (Ply-
mouth Revolutionary Union Members). There are efforts
to organize revolutionary unions among newsmen and the
united parcel workers. Eleven of thee organizations exist
within the structure of the League of Revolutionary Black
Workers.
DRUM was the first, started at the Hamtramack as-
sembly plant. ELDRUM was started at Chrysler's largest
plant.
As a result of demonstrations July 15, the Hamtra-
mack plant was closed down. On Jan. 25 we hit the Eldon
Avenue axle plant-the only plant Chrysler has that pro-
duces axle assemblies.
Since the manufacturing of automobiles is a highly
integrated operation, Chrysler announced - right after
the demonstrators were busted-it would have to stop
all production within 48 hours.
THEY HAD TO SHUT DOWN the whole Chrysler op-
eration because they had to have those parts - and that's
why they responded. It was very serious. We weren't deal-
ing with intermediaries and flunkies anymore, like mayors
and county counselors, who are nothing but hack handy
men for the cats who run this society. Why deal with
flunkies' like Cavanaugh, who can't do anything, or city
councilman ex-short stop Billy Rogell, or ex-police in-
ckrel and
the
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'Revolution'
4
spector Phil Banell, who's a faggot ass honkie. They don't
deserve two minutes of your time. You deal with the cats
at the head of production, because that's the point of
capitalism, racism and imperialism.
So the Man got shaky. He went out and got an in-
junction - a very bad injunction from Judge Burdock.
If you're going to file a lawsuit and get an injunction,
you are supposed to pick a judge blind draw. They prob-
ably made an arrangement whereby they got Burdock. I
haven't -been able to establish whether or not he h a s
Chrysler stock, and if he does I'm going to try to get him
disqualified.
IN ORDER TO PREVENT mob massing they erected
gates around the plant. They alleged violence and intimi-
dation and that we were sabotaging the plant.-
But in the interim between the period of issuance of
the injunction, DRUM organizational activities stepped
up and other plants became involved.
DRUM ran a candidate for the trustee vacancy on
Local 3 of the UAW, which is the local that governs the
Dodge main plant. March, one of the DRUM officials, ran
and he won in the run-off primary. In the final election,
of course, the corporation brought in all the retirees to
vote and March was defeated.
March's backers picked up people and took them to
the polls at the 'union hall where they were stopped and
harassed by the Hamtramack pigs who are henchmen for
Chrysler Corporation. They locked up some of the broth-
ers in the union hall and set up a bullshit meeting and
the DRUM cats were maced.,
POLICE CHIEF Chumkacey and the mayor were watch-
ing the police mace cats and beat them. They charged a
couple of the brothers with assault and battery and with
using obscene language. I represented a couple of them in
the Hamtramack municipal court and we won.
But as a result of this interim activity they are trying
to bust a DRUM organizer, "Jan," which is a dect at-
tempt to break up DRUM. It's a difficult situation, be-
cause we are forced to relate in terms of an injunction
under the law. Irrespective of whether the injunction is
valid, the theory of law is that in order to test the terms
of an injunction you must file a motion to dissolve or
modify it. You can't test it by violating the terms of it.
They also fired 25 people from the Eldon' Avenue as-
sembly plants. So there's action being taken now to force
them to rehire those persons and this time you've got to
go through the union. Now, you're fighting both the union
and the company. But in certain tactical positions it's
necessary to perhaps not fight the union, because tacti-
cally you've got to decide that if you're not in a position to
protect the persons who support your position, then you
are in trouble organizationally.
THE ADC TRIALS in Ann A r b o r involved a simple
charge of tresspass. The violators were not charged
with being poor people who defined themselves as being
oppressed, who are trying to do something about forcing
an unresponsive structure to disgorge more in the way
of benefits.
In that trial there was not an awful lot of success, at
least not in my judgment, in attempting to use the trial
as a vehicle for some sort of serious left, radical, revo-
lutionary, liberal reformist political expression. The issue
was very narrowly drawn, the judge was not a particularly
bright judge. The judge was also wed lock stock and bar-
bel to the jive plantation structure that you have in Ann
Arbor.
The issue was crystal clear. Everybody was "guilty."
I assume that those who participated took the position
that what they were going to do was get busted in order
to demonstrate their solidarity with the mothers.
TO ME it's kind of ridiculous for a person to place
himself or herself in that situation without having made
some prior assessment of what the consequences would be.
It's a very light beef. To me it's kind of like, a bullshit
thing for persons to even be concerned with being extri-
cated.
I had no particular interest in representing anyone
up there, to be perfectly honest, because the situation was
one which was cut and dry. Also, the strategy which was
adopted was,. in my judgment, almost counter-revolution-
ary. I don't think it makes sense for people to get busted
for bullshit. I think that there are more revolutionary ways
to support those mothers.
WE HAVE REPRESENTED people in a whole bunch of
cases, with varying degrees of success, defined in terms
of making political statements. I represented John Wat-
son, for example, who was charged with assault and bat-
tery against TV-2 reporter Joe Weaver. I was able to run
that very effectively and accomplish two objectives. First,
to win, which was very important to me because John is
a brother with whom we are engaged in certain activities.
He's a member of the Central Committee of DRUM. He's
a member on the Central Committee of the Black Pan-
ther Party and a number of other things.
So it was important to me that John Watson be kept
contrast that with the ADC mothers' trial. The whole trial
was run in such a way as to make it crystal clear that in
reality Watson was not on trial.
In our defense, we tried TV-2. We'tried Joe Weaver.
We tried Wayne State University. We tried, by implica-
tion, the Chrysler Corporation and the rest of -the Estab-
lishment that is opposed to the serious development of
revolutionary forces - and we won.,
WE'RE NOW REPRESENTING John Sinclair in re-
lations to his narcotics' cases. Johh is also being tried in
Oakland on assault and battery - resisting a police of-
ficer. Now there are a lot of approache's that can be taken
towards John's trial.
John could decide that in his trial we're going to run
a White Panther thing. We're going to put on a bunch of
witnesses, who got on bells, longihair and all the rest. And
maybe we'll take our dicks out and shake them, you know
what I mean.
But John Sinclair could get busted, like right now he's
got his third narcotics bust coming up, and he's charged
with possession and sale, which has a mandatory sentence
upon conviction of 20 years to life. If John is really con-
sistent with what I regard as being his hip political po-
sition, it would be a gas if he simply said, "Yeah, I use
dope. I think dope is beautiful," which he has, in fact,
said. But then, are you prepared to do 20 years for him?
He has something to say about that.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED in having your lawyer go
in and demonstrate to the world how knowledgeable you
are, politically, that's great. That also might mean that
you're going to lose. And the question as to what kind of
approach is going to be taken in a trial, is not a question
which is resolved exclusively by the attorney.
All of these are political decisions and they are de-
cisions that are made other than by Charley Gary or Ken-
ny Cockrel or William Cumbshil, Arthur Connel or Justin
Rabbits.
What has to be understood is that lawyers don't have
any kind of monopolistic rights to determine what the
strategy of the defense is going to be. That's the position
that Charley Gary took when he represented Huey,
A
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sociology students plan attack
1i
To the Editor:
FOR OVER two months, the Sociology Students'
Union has been working diligently to revamp
and revitalize the undergraduate program in the
Sociology Department. While the participation
by students and the constructive demands put
forth by them have both been very encouraging,
the response by the elite which "represents" the
faculty has been deplorable and definitely a nega-
tive contribution toward improving student-facul-
ty relations.
Last Thursday's meeting of the Undergraduate
Education Committee was typical of the faculty's
intransigence and sorely exposed the dogmatism
which faces the students. This committee, the
lowest in a long line of bureaucratic structures
constituting the hierarchial decision-making sys-
tem, is composed of three students elected by the
Sociology Students' Union and three faculty ap-
pointed by the chairman, of the Sociology de-
partment, Albert Reiss. The meeting was called
to consider the Students' UniolNs proposal to re-
structure the undergraduate concentration pro-
gram. This carefully thought-out proposal advo-
oates a re-organization of the introductory courses
to avoid the present redundancy in them, and
abolition of all course requirements to allow the
individual student to take the courses which
will most interest and best benefit him.
AT LAST Wednesday's Student's Union meeting
it was decided that not only should the three
elected representatives attend the following day's
meeting, but that other interested students should
go as non-voting observers. The meeting room,
the office of committee chairman David Segal,
that 'Segal, a hard-line bureaucratic megaloman-
iac, would run things the 'ay he so desired re-
gardless of the wishes of the student representa-
tives His constant I'm willing" to do this and "I
won't" do that, showed a total lack of understand-
ing of how a democratic student-faculty commit-
tee should operate. Yet this is the only group
which students have any representation on what-
ever. Both the Committee on Educational Policy
(COEP) and the Executive Committee, the ulti-
mate decision-making body, are 100 per cent f a-
culty composed. Such a system makes it impos-
sible for the student voice to be adequately re-
presented.
TOMORROW, the Sociology faculty is holding
a meeting to discuss the students' proposal. As
ludicrous as it may seem, the Sociology depart-
ment still holds closed faculty meetings even
though the literary college as a whole, realizing
the hypocricy in deciding student issues behind
students' backs, opened theirs. Mr. Truzzi, ob-
viously fearing intimidation by students, argued
that "the faculty could get notling accomplished
if students were present."
It is becoming increasingly apparent that per-
haps the reverse is the real case. Segal, trying to
appease us some way said that he would recom-
mend that a few representatives be allowed to at-
tend but, he said, "This is the most you could
hope for." Another example of faculty coopera-
tion.
Tonight (7:30, 3rd floor SAB) the Students'
Union will meet to discuss tomorrow's faculty
meeting. The only course of action, as I see it,
is for all students to attend that meeting and
lowed to continue. If the other faculty members
have not been aware of what has been going on, I
would hope that they now take immediate steps
to rectify the situation. As for the students, they
too must be prepared to take action. The Soc-
iology departments regarded in most schools as
one of the most liberal groups, has remained,
stagnant in the face of changing times. It is we,
the students, who are suffering and it is we, the
students, who must act.
-Marc Van Der Hout
SGC vice president
April 1
A decision on militarism
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter was
sent to President Fleming.)
'WISH TO commend you on your terming the
upcoming trial of the SDS protesters as a
"test" case. But'-is it actually a "test" of "whether
a Student Judiciary is prepared to deal with a
question of this kind" or will it be a "test" of
another issue?
The issue at hand is not whether CJS is an
effective body, nor whether the ban against dis-
ruptive sit-ins is valid, but rather it is a "test"
to see if the university community will allow
military recruting to be continued; and more
broadly, whether the university will tolerate any
type of militarism on its premises.
I for one am opposed to any type of military
activity on campus. Ah?, you say to yourself, ano-
ther one of those left wing radicals. I hate to dis-
illusion you, but I have never belonged to a left
wing organization. In fact, the only organization
that I attest membership to is humanity.
WITH REGARD to the situation at Eastern and Osh-
kosh where black students have been expelled from
colleges because they've been "disruptive" - are univer-
sities more or less an autonomous seat of justice? Is there
any reco'urse for these students in a civil case or before
the administration?
I don't think so. I don't think there's any effective re-
course. We can't fail to recognize that the legal system is
clearly reflective of political realities of this country. The
Supreme Court is backing up.. The Court's being attacked,
for example, in relation to tying the hands of cops. You
know, cutting loose the floodgates of criminals back into
the streets, with decisions like Miranda, Escobedo, etc. etc.
You see President Nixon issuing a statement that the Jus-
tice Department is considering, very seriously, adopting a
policy of pre-trial detention for persons who appear likely
to commit another crime.
THIS IS FACIST shit. Any time they talk about this
shit publicly, all you're really talking about is trying to get
a ratification of a public practice.
I'm representing one of the students at Eastern Mich-
igan University who was charged with inciting to riot. The
other 13 who were arrested - two of them white - are
charged with conspiracy to create a disturbance, which are
misdemeanors as opposed to Smith's charge which is fel-
ony. Harold Sponberg, who's the president of EMU, is not
enlightened enough to know that if he grants amnesty
that would be an effective means of institutionalizing con-
flict - he's not even that smart. But is he smart enough
to have made an accurate assessment of the capacity of
dissident students on that campus to effectively maintain
or sustain a student strike?
I'm inclined to think he made the latter assessment.
Life reduces itself to questions of persons weighing the
amount of power they have to bring against persons who
oppose him. I think he accurately concluded that the
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