Tlr irithgan Daily
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editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN
Feldkaimp tells freshmen,
No room at the inn'
FHE UNIVERSITY housing office's de-
plorable failure to accomodate some
200 freshmen in regular University dorm-
itories must, of course, be rectified im-
mediately. But, equally important, those
responsible must be made to answer for
their mistakes.
Misplanning a n d mismanagement by
the University housing office - headed
by J o h n Feldkamp - has resulted in
those 200 students being placed in a 11
sorts of inconvenient and unpleasant
"temporary" housing, a situation t h e y
may be forced to tolerate for the rest of
the semester.
The fact that they were informed of
the situation beforehand does not jus-
tify what has happened to t h e m. Al-
though the housing office knew as early
as June of the problem, it made no effort
to warn students until the last days of
August. This is hardly enough time for an
experienced apartment-hunter, let alone
a freshman, to find decent accommoda-
tions.
The office works on various estimates
when it makes housing plans for t h e
coming year, and it is inexcusable that so
many mistakes could be made leaving
200 students unaccommodated.
,'HAT IS MOST distressing is the cal-
lousness with which the University
deals w i t h the problem, a callousness
which allows John Feldkamp to deliber-
ately mislead the students as to the pos-
sible solutions. He is willing to talk about
100 spaces available in the Union when
just hours before he was told specifically
that no more t h a n 40 spaces would be
available there.
He and others involved just don't seem
to be aware, or don't care, a b o u t the
problems this imposes on the students.
Coming to the University is difficult
enough for a freshman without the add-
ed burden of having no place to go to be
alone, to study by oneself, to be able to
think.
While those involved enjoy their own
comfortable accommodations, the stu-
dents are forced to live in barracks-type
quarters that provide none of the neces-
sities they have a right to expect..
John Feldkamp's incompetence aside- -
and it is clear from this that he ought to
be removed from office immediately - it
is imperative that t h e University ade-
quately accommodate the inconvenienced
freshmen.
"I"HE CLOSEST and most available f a-
cilities are the Union and the League
-- both owned by the Regents, who have
final responsibility for the actions of
John Feldkamp and the housing office.
Every room possible in the two buildings
should be given over to housing for the
now temporarily housed students.
The previous commitments of the Un-
ion and the League - to alumni coming
in for Michigan's first football game of
the year - are not as pressing as the
needs of the unhoused students. The Uni-
versity must break those commitments
and allow the students now living in the
Union and League to stay there, and must
also move in as many other students as
possible.
The University must bear the financial
burden of its mistakes, making up the
difference between dorm costs and the
price of Union rooms. There is no reason
why students should h a v e to pay any
more than the going rates for their ac-
commodations.
And the University must also see to it
that those displaced from the Union be-
cause of the housing foul-up are given
appropriate accommodations in private
local hotels and motels. The University
is at fault for what has happened and it
must pay for it.
IN THE MEANTIME, the students are
developing some indigenous organiza-
tion, and they must press their case as
strongly and as effectively as possible.
They must not allow the University to
sweep their mistakes under the rug of
bureaucratic complexity.
-RON LANDSMAN
:Managing Editor
asi es I avida
A nostalgic trip to North Hall
marcia abramnson
NOW THAT beleagured North Hall has become the focal point
for campus drama--or perhaps the right word is comedy-all con-
cerned students, faculty and outside agitators should take the op-
portunity to visit. North Hall is a sad, almost pathetic building, strug-
gling to perpetuate its gung-ho "Go ROTC" attitude in an age
of growing disillusionment. Posters everywhere proclaim the many
advantages of ROTC:
"Your grades will be better than those of students do don't
join ROTC."
"You'll be eligible to compete for many scholarships."
"Future employers prefer men from ROTC because they know
9 ROTC gives the leadership training that counts."'
Inside and outside, North Hall is a complete cross between early
frat house and Catch-22. The hallways are covered with pictures of
loyal comrades; photos of last spring's Pershing Rifles pledge formal,
absurd military memoranda, and more propaganda than I ever have
seen collected in one place-including the student organization offices
in the Student Activities Bldg. Trophies and plaques are hung every-
where, and the observer might well wonder if some of them had
been stolen from MSU-ROTC during some golden glorious week
before the big game.
THAT IS THE initial impression North Hall gives. It is a military
Dai1y-Larry Robbins fraternity house, a slightly more grown-up military-style prep school.
Memos inform cadets when and where military regulations require
them to wear their name-tags. A big bulletin depicts the exploits of the
men of the Pershing Rifles (who came to campus-wide attention a
RTn A dwhile back for their daring defense of the sidewalks from radical per-
version.) Space is reserved on another board for standings in the ROTC
By MARTIN- HIRSCHMAN intramural league. Yes, it's a great place, where you not only get all
the inestimable advantages proferred by ROTC, but also have one hell
j)ARE TO STRUGGLE, dare to leaders, that a movement is being pened since, Columbia remains the
win," the Maoist s 1 o g a n built which will help topple the biggest campus movement of its of a good time.
dopted by those pressing the pres- forces of economic and military kind. Over a thousand students Now, I don't believe that, and I'll bet nobody in ROTC does
nt attack on ROTC. is ironically, imperialism in the United States, were arrested in a month of dem- either. I don't know why North Hall tries so hard to give this parti-
seems, a back-handed and even can only be seen as a tired myth. onstrations and building seizures cular impression, but I can guess that the idea must be to snare the
nasochistic admission that the Especially, distressing about the and support for the actions ran uncommitted. After all, signing a contract with ROTC is roughly the
ruggle isn't getting anywhere at' ROTC protest is not, of course, the deep in many corners, equivalent of selling your soul to the devil - or more correctly, leasing
IL apparent abrogation of free speech But when the smoke cleared it to the old boy for eight years of your life.
Not, of course, that the battle and academic freedom involved in over Morningside Heights four
without merit. The existence of the disruption of a class: Those at months later, the movement was Much of the propaganda is directly aimed at recruits. But there is
he officers training program on all familiar with the nature of dead. In the interim, some of the a much more insidious kind of propaganda plastered all over North
ampus, both for its academic ROTC know there was very little more repressive conduct rules had Hall, and those of use who are rational beings can only hope that
acuity and its real and symbolic of either freedom present in the been eliminated and the univer- anyone who reads can see through the shallow facade of super-
upport of the U.S. military estab- first place. sity administration had undergone patriotism.
a
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lishment, is intolerable. Clearly
ROTC must go.
And, given the reluctance of the
faculty to respond to this need, as
well as the apparent interest of the
adminiistration and the Regents in
maintaining the status quo, it is
equally clear that positive action
by the students has been neces-
sary to make sure that the Uni-
versity community faces the issue
squarely. If the University does
sever ties with ROTC in the com-
ing months, it will no doubt be
attributable in part to the events
of the past few days.
BUT BEYOND such a minute
restructuring of the University's
relationship with the Pentagon, it
seems highly unlikely that the
present actions will have any di-
rect. productive effect on the sorry
state of this country and the
present course of U.S. foreign po-
licy.
The idea, espoused so enthusias-
tically by ROTC demonstration
What is upsetting about the
course of radical action on this
campus, however, is the tiredness
of the rhetoric, the staleness of
the tactics and the generalbore-
dlom which the whole p~ageant
tends to provoke.
Simply stated, there is very little
that is new or different about the
pattern of the past week-cer-
tainly nothing which evokes op-
timism about the potential success
of this movement vis-a-vis the in-
glorious failures of the past.
THE EXAMPLE which most
readily comes to mind is spring
1968 at Columbia University--cei-
tainly because it was the first mas-
sive attempt at building a student
movement around societal, rather
than campus issues, but more im-
portantly because if failed even
though the issues involved were
cumulatively so much stronger
than those which face this Uni-
versity today.
For everything that has hap-
a quick facelifting. The students
--except for the hard core van-
guard which fought, on for a while
without the support of its "pro-
letariet "-went back to class some-
what relieved.
More recently, and perhaps more
apparently applicable to the cur-
rent situation were the demon-
strations at Harvard last spring,
where ROTC was also the focal
point. As a result of those protests,
the military officers training pro-
gram has been castrated-but the
only movement which followed was
back to the classroom.
BUT IF THE CASE against the
likelihood of success is impressive,
the need for radical reorientation
of U.S. society and foreign policy
is no less acute. The role U.S. gov-
einment has played in repressing
nationalist movements in places
like Thailand, the economic im-
perialism of American business in
Latin America and the genocide
of the Vietnam War cry only too
loudly of the need for change. It
is the unspeakable tragedy of our
times that the single country most
capable of putting its massive
economy and technology behind
world progress has become the
bulwark of a militarily enforced
status quo.
Given this seemingly unavoid-
able analysis of the appalling mis-
direction of American foreign po-
licy, it is difficult to muster much
invective behind a critique of the
tactics currently being employed
by radicals on this campus.
BUT THE disruption of a few
ROTC classes is simply not going
to bring ,the military-industrial
complex to its knees. Nor is there
a convincing case that the disrup-
tions will lead to something more
successful as the next step.
I would like this criticism to re-
main as blunt as possible, however.
If the past three years have been
frustrating for the left, certainly
the next two or three are likely to
be exasperating. And no one is
walking around with a bunch of
ready-made solutions flowing from
his pockets.
One document, called "Courage," would rate about a C in
English 123 for its platitudes. It tells how an officer must only think
about completing his mission; that is the meaning of this leader-
ship which ROTC proposes to teach. "Patience, persistence, and cour-
age-these three-but the greatest of these is COURAGE," the author
said. He was an officer, and he showed his courage at An Hoi, where
no doubt some other equally courageous soldier fulfilled his own mis-
sion in killing the young writer.
NOWHERE IN THE ROTC propaganda is it proposed to teach
the cadets how to think, how to reason, how to doubt. and if, perhaps,
the young men are learning this elsewhere, they do not seem to be
encouraged to bring their minds along with their bodies to classes in
North Hall.
Another poster advertises the Valley Forge Patriot Award essay
contest-ah, admirable, nothing like essays, professors in the English
department would say. But the topic for the prize essay appeared
rather limited, "My hopes for America's future," seemingly a request
for more platitudes. The 1969 winners of the contest open to all armed
forces members were duly awarded their George Washington medals
by the Freedoms Foundations, sponsor of the event.
The astronauts are held up as an object of pride and reverence,
and the next most popular patriot subject seemed to be the good old
days, the great invasion and victory of D-Day. Nothing was said about
Vietnam anywhere that I could see.
North Hall is apparently also willing to spare just a little wall
space for friends of the military. In my brief meandering, I caught
a glimpse of a colorful ad from the Camellia Hotel, Ft. Bennington,
Ga., indicating that it was a great place to stay for wives and assort-
ed families of America's protectors.
The ROTC classes described in the course catalogue all emphasize
leadership-above all else leadership. In Air Force ROTC, for example,
a total of nine classes are listed, seven include leadership training,
and two ARE leadership, pure and simple.
But when an officer, presumably a product of this training, re-
fuses to lead his men into battle because he knows they are too dis-
illusioned and too tired to go on, he faces the severest sanctions of
military justice. Obviously it is not leadership that ROTC cultivates,
but the unthinking devotion of a khaki robot.
A VISIT TO the ROTC building can only prove that the sole pur-
pose of the organization is to produce automatons for the U.S. mill-
tary by luring students with money, commissions, and the promise of
draft-deferred grad school, as the course catalog boasts. It all sounds
better than the draft.
But it's really the same as the draft, or perhaps even worse, since it
functions not by force but through the most blatant propaganda and
bribery.
North Hall is in reality a relic of a passing age, of Richard
Nixon's vision of America, of "my country right or wrong," of the
unquestioning good-bad ethic of World War II..
It cannot hold out too much longer, no matter what the fate of
this particular protest.
Let us repeat, Mr. Nixon
BJY THE MIDDLE of December, t h e r e
will be 37,000 m o r e troops coming
home. Some 35,000 of these will be re-
turning as part of Nixon's latest troop
cutback; the other 2,000 will be returning
in boxes.
And as Nixon continues to bring the
boys home dead or alive, we f i n d our-
selves again trapped by the futile ges-
tures of a man who yearns for peace only
because he believes that he cannot win
the war.
So again, our response is like it was in
the past: Mr. Nixon, this is not the way
to end the war. We must admit the errors
HEN Y GiRIX, Editor
STEVE NISSEN RON LANDSMAN
City Editor Managing Editor
MARCIA ABRAMSON ....A soclate Managing Editur
PHILIP P>OC7K ..... Associate Managing Editor
CHRIS ST Ir. , . As(o'iate City Ed.itor
SIEVE ANZALONE.. . Editorial Page Editor
JENNY STILLER Editorial Page Editor
LESLI WAYNI2 Arts Itor
JOH INCRAY Litorar; : A1,EC OBI E P ?)Fditor
L.ANIF ILPPINCOTT'1A-i,st.rnto vthe anaiiEdior
WALT ER SHAPIRO Dl' waihinton Corresponden
MANY RADTK ................contributing Editor
that led us to this atrocity; we must with-
draw complete support of the Thieu re-
gime; we must bring all the boys home
now.
Somewhat wearily we must again re-
peat: Repeated justifications of our pres-
ence for the purpose of "self-determina-
tion for the people of South Vietnam"
are based on deceit; our plans for grad-
ual "Vietnamization" of the war are built
on deception.
WXITH GREAT exasperation we k n o w
that Richard Nixon will never come
to understand the realities of the Viet-
nam war and more will die as he blunders
down the road of folly. And we will keep
writing editorials that Nixon won't read
and that the rest of the people are tired
of looking at.
But we'll keep on pounding away with
the very slim hope that some day Nixon
will realize that a belated act of coitus
interruptus will not restore our virginity.
--STEVE ANZALONE
Editorial Page Editor
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War petition
To the Editor:
IN CONJUNCTION with other
anti-Vietnam war activities plan-
ned both locally and nationally
for the following months, a peti-
tion drive to influence Congress-
men from Michigan is to be begun
at the teach-in, Friday, September
19th. The petition will rest on four
basic demands: (1) an immediate
ceasefire in Vietnam, unilateral if
necessary; 2) an accelerated
timetable for the withdrawal of all
U.S. troops from Vietnam, to be
completed by a specified date; (3)
a reduction in all U.S. military
supplies sent to Vietnam, with an
end to all such supplies by the
close of 1970; (4) a massive pro-
grain of economic rehabilitation
for Vietnam conducted under U.N.
auspices and financed by U.S.
contributions to repair damage
caused by the war and the U.S.'s
part in it.
It is our belief that the war is
generally unpopular, both on the
Congressman's votes and speeches
could be monitored and then ad-
vertised throughout this year. We
expect that church a n d citizen
groups throughout the state would
quickly join us in this drive and
that if Ann Arbor 1 e a d s other
campuses will follow.
A complementary action being
considered is to have a congres-
sional resolution sponsored by a
Michigan Congressman asking
that the President effect an im-
mediate ceasefire and withdraw
all U.S. troops. At this vote, all
Congressmen would finally show
their constituents where t h e y
stand.
PLANS FOR the petition drive
will be discussed and the petition
and/or resolution will be drafted
at the teach-in of September 19th
and 20th. All citizens interested
in any phase of the operation are
invited to come and help us ini-
tiate the program.
-Prof. Alfred G. Meyer
-Prof. Rhoads Murphey
litor
over to introduction of new fac-
ulty members.
The introductions were dull
enough (so and so, a poet, so and
so, Ph.D. from Columbia, etc.) un-
til the department of Air Science
provided w h a t might be called
tragic relief. Their new member
was a major whose announced
qualifications consisted in his hav-
ing flown more than 100 missions
over Vietnam, and having won
the Silver Star.
"AT THE conclusion of the in-
troductions, Dean Hays explained
to us that we should be very grate-
ful to have joined an extraordin-
ary group of humanists and sch-
olars.
A humanistic and scholarly
group who admit as a full mem-
ber a man who seems to h a v o
done little more than deliver le-
thal weapons by airplane more
than 100 times is extraordinary
indeed, though peculiar might be
a better word.
-Prof. L. M. Sander
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