Ulier £irIgihym Paihj
Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
1.under the rug
The fraud of University openness
5 by Stev'e *isseu
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 all reprints.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID SPURR
- I
Unifying the movement:
Less bounce, more bang
"HE THRUST of the anti-ROTC move-
ment looked deceptively unified dur-
ing the takeover of North Hall. But after
the building was vacated, the movement
fell back into a state of fragmentation.
Yesterday's proposed action against the
administration in support of a student-
run book store was thwarted because the
small number of students who turned out
for a noon rally could not storm the lock-
ed doors of the administration's fortress.
Nevertheless, there is g o o d reason to
believe that there is significant campus
opposition to ROTC and widespread sup-
port for the student-run bookstore. Why
then has the movement on these issues
become so bogged down?
It is much too easy to find the source of
stagnation in student apathy. Last week-
end's antiwar teach - in, workshops,
march, and rally show that the students
on this campus can be mobilized and ac-
tivated .
'HE SUCCESS of last weekend may pro-
vide some useful lessons for breathing
new life into the ailing movements
against ROTC and the "compromise"
bookstore plan.
It should be obvious that:
- Movement leaders must make great-
er efforts to get in tune with the students
on this campus. This must not be con-
strued as an excuse for inaction; b u t
there has been an unmistakeable trend
toward manipulation of followers, a n d
this must be reversed. Tactics must not
be seen in terms of vanguard action that
students can be forced to accept. The gap
between the vanguard and its "support-
ers" must be closed.
-Longer range planning and more ef-
fective means of communication are ab-
solutely necessary. Students are growing
weary of the endless procession of noon
rallies and the steady stream of leaflets.
There must be more direction to the
movement than tossing an issue from
rally to rally.
--A good way to broaden the base of
anti-ROTC support would be to accept
Fleming's offer for a debate in Hill Audi-
torium. It should be made clear that such
a debate would not be seen as a solution
to the problem, but only as a means of
mobilizing students and at the same time
testing student sentiment on ROTC. If
there is sufficient support for militant
action, it would be more successfully
mobilized from these large numbers than
from an unpublicized building takeover.
-If the movement for the bookstore
sputters, there is little value in fusing
that issue with a string of others to widen
support. Solid support on a given issue
cannot be replaced by a broad move-
ment of lukewarm discontent.
TlHE TIME has come for action on the
issues facing the University. But if
any success is to be achieved, there must
be a greater attention given to planning
and mobilizing wider support. There must
be more to radical politics than calling
a noon rally and waiting for the masses
to convene.
-STEPHEN ANZALONE
W/HENEVER students seriously criticize
the University administration, Presi-
dent Robben Fleming inevitably points out
that his administration is run "openly"
and that he is always willing to discuss
problems and decision with interested stu-
dents.
While Fleming's statement, taken by it-
self, is basically correct, major decisions at
the University continue to be made behind
closed doors by an elite group of admin-
istrators. And, the University still re-
fuses to publicize all significant decisions
while it suppresses large amounts of in-
formation that should be made available
to students.
SEVERAL recent situations dramatically
illustrate this point.
Tuesday, a report was completed by a
University committee which has b e e n
studying drug use among students and
trying to establish reasonable educational
and service programs.
That report is clearly a hot item, for
it contains the results of a very compre-
hensive survey conducted to assess the
degree of drug use on campus, and to
help determine the needs and desires of
students for possible drug programs.
The findings of the report would pro-
bably not be too surprising to most stu-
dents, but for the faculty and administra-
tion they are astounding. The survey re-
portedly shows that about 50 percent of
the students on this campus have smoked
marijuana and that nearly 20 percent are
regular users.
The drug committee. chaired by Dr.
Edward Bordin, head of the University's
psychological counseling program, realized
the need for having the full results of
their survey made public immediately.
They voted Tuesday to release the report
in its entirety.
But the drug survey was not released
Tuesday because of a decision made by
Acting Vice President For Student Af-
fairs Barbara Newell. She says the report
will be suppressed until President Fleming
and Vice President for University Rela-
tions Michael Radock have had a chance
to look it over.
The implication is that if the drug
survey is ever made public, it will be
significantly altered by Radock and Flem-
ing.
They recognize that this report could
attract national attention, and they're
afraid it might provoke a public rela-
tions disaster for the University. The
administration is clearly afraid that the
truth will be extremely embarrassing.
Therefore, the report may never be re-
leased.
It does not seem to matter to the ad-
ministration whether a report of this kind
can be successful in educating the com-
munity or forcing legislators to update our
archaic anti-marijuana laws. Their con-
cern is for the University's "image" and
their own self-security. Controversial is-
sues and decisions are shunned like the
plague.
Thus when a difficult and potentially
controversial decision needs to be made.
it is done secretly.
OFTEN a facade of "openness" and spon-
taniety is used to camouflage the real de-
cision-making process. The Regents, for
example, may appear to be making deci-
sions at public meetings or open hearings.
But in practice, Regental resolutions are
worked out at secret conferences with the
University executive officers.
Last week the Regents voted on a "com-
promise" proposal for establishment of a
University bookstore. It wasa plan that
had been hammered out in private at a
closed session early that morning. Although
the Regents admit this, they nevertheless
went through the motions of debate and
compromise for the afternoon audience.
The Regents' "compromise" on the book-
store wasn't really a compromise at all:
for that implies that the opposing parties--
here the students and the administration
-have mutually agreed upon a proposal
which is satisfactory to both groups.
The Regents' bookstore proposal was
never presented to Student Government
Council for comments and suggestion. It
was simply passed.
The proposal was no compromise, for it
was a matter decided behind closed doors
without the approval or even the knowl-
edge of the rest of the community.
So when Fleming and others claim that
lines of communication between students.
faculty, and the administration are open,
they are being incredibly hypocritical.
ANOTHER aspect of the fraud of Uni-
versity openness involves the administra-
tion's practice of ainnouncing only selected
decisions while suppressing information
about potentially controversial actions.
Several weeks ago, for example, the Uni-
versity received a request for information
from the state Senate's investigation com-
mittee on campus disorders. The adminis-
tration recognized the seriousness of this
situation, particularly in light of the his-
tory of this campus.
They knew that students would be ex-
tremely upset if they thought personal in-
formation about them would be sent to this
quasi-HUAC witchhunt. So the administra-
tion simply decided independently to com-
ply with the committee's request and to
keep the decision quiet.
No announcement was made that Sen.
Huber's committee had contacted the Uni-
versity. No students were apprised of or
consulted in the decision to comply with
the request. No one in student government
was informed of the questions asked by
the Huber committee, nor were they in-
formed of what the University's response
would be.
The first day I returned to campus (late
August) I was walking - by chance -
through the Office of Student Affairs. I
noticed several of the secretaries and staff
members were collecting pamphlets a n d
reports and documents, so I asked what
was going on. They candidly replied that.
they had been assigned to collect this data
to be sent to the Huber committee. That
was the first admission to students of the
request and the decision to comply with
I don't mean to imply that the Univer-
sity has sent any confidential information
to Sen. Huber. In fact, they have b e e n
scrupulously careful to make sure students'
civil rights are not violated. B u t I am
charging that t h e University suppressed
information for an extended length of time
about what was going on.
THIS CONTINUAL policy of selective
suppression of news is a significant cause
of the distrust many students have of the
University administration. It is also inddi-
rect opposition to President Fleming's doc-
trine of "openness."
So the next time the president offers to
debate student leaders "anywhere, a n y-
time" they should tell him that they'll be
glad to discuss the issues at the Univer,
sity's secret executive committee meetings
or at the closed sessions of the Board of
Regents.
books tore
-ANOTHER OPINION-
The over 30 view
U NIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN President
Robben Fleming has a tiger by the tail
but he may have dwelled too long in civi-
lized academia to know it.
His Vietnam speech was just one of a
series of campus developments suggesting
that U. of M. protesters are to be accom-
modated at almost all costs. If not an at-
tempt to "keep the kiddies happy," the
speech was at least an attempt to explore
the antiwar ground which Fleming might
share with the New Left. B u t Fleming
forgot that reasoning with a tiger is fool-
hardy business.
Trhe New Left demands complete capit-
ulation from its "establishment" oppon-
ents. Disagreement or qualification of ev-
en one point calls forth the calumny of
"pig" and "war criminal." T h e r e is no
reasoning with the unreasoning. There is
no respect for intellectual expression
among the intellectually dishonest.
THE U. OF M. no longer offers a forum
in the search for truth; it is fast be-
coming an arena of protest by rote. When
Fleming offers an olive branch "blister-
ing" the war and is shouted at for real or
imagined departures from the "line," we
know full well what kind of reception and
hearing would be accorded former Presi-
dent Johnson, Dean Rusk or Gen. West-
moreland.
It is t r u e that antiwar protesters at
Michigan's opening football game w e r e
"peaceful." And why not? Those who
might have disagreed with their position
made no attempt to prevent the protest.
But what if the protesters had been on
the other side? Would ROTC marchers
have been left alone to express their
opinion? Would Vietnam volunteers be
unrestricted in a counter-demonstration?
SADLY, WE think not. We think the pro-
testers of the New Left now take their
campus coddling for granted. Their rights
are the only rights. Their views are the
only acceptable views. T h e i r outrage is
the only outrage.
How sad to deny these students the les-
sons of reasoned debate and honest ex-
change of views. How unfortunate that
their immaturity is allowed to overshad-
ow the education they might have receiv-
ed. And as Fleming may eventually learn
to his sorrow, how dangerous it is to grab
the tail of the tiger of student tyranny.
-DETROIT NEWS
Sept. 23
Thne P
By ROBBEN W. FLEMING
N THIS PERIOD of controversy
over the proposed bookstore, I
write to endorse the plan proposed
by the Regents, and to argue that
it is both reasonable and construc-
tive. The criticisms of it which ap-
pear to be most significant are:
1 i It does not turn over to stu-
dents all of the so-called Student
Vehicle Fund for use in capital-
izing the bookstore: (2 it calls for
referenda on a college by college
basis: (3) it places management
authority in the Office of the Vice
President and Chief Financial Of-
ficer.
Let me address myself to each
of these criticisms.
THE STUDENT VEHICLE Fund
originated with the payment of a
fee by students for registering
cars on campus. Registration was
discontinued several years ago, so
that there are now few students
on campus who ever paid anything
into that fund. It reached a level
of about $150.000. Of that sum
about 818.000 has been committed
over the course of the present year
for the Nite-Owl bus service. This
service, of course, was designed as
a security measure. The executive
officers and the Regents have had
in mind at least two other de-
mands on the fund, one for other
security measures in the event they
are needed, and the other fo' re-
modeling of the Union to make it
more useful for student services.
If various funds which are avail-
able to the University are labelled
as "belonging" to fixed groups, the
University becomes increasingly
difficult to operate in the interest
of all in a dynamic community.
In weighing the various equities
the Regents thought it fair to al-
locate $100.000 of the Student
Vehicle Fund money to the book-
store. provided the other condi-
tions were met. This is the great
bulk of the money in that fund,
and reserves only about $30,000
for the other demands.
THE SECOND MAJOR question
in student minds is why the Re-
gents called for further referenda
on whether students wished to pay
a special assessment to capitalize'
the bookstore. There are a number
of reasons, none of them invidious.
In the first place, there is some
inconsistency in the student argu-
ment that the bookstore has the
overwhelming support of the stu-
dents, but that no one will con-
tribute to it voluntarily. The Re-
gents have wondered, not without
reason, why if there is such sup-
port, no one wants to contribute
any money. The answers to that
question have notabeen very per-
suasive.1
In the second place, the pro-
posed bookstore could not be cap-
italized on the $1.75 assessment
which SGC proposed in last
spring's referendum. It has to be
higher than that. In appreciation
of this, the Regents authorized an
assessment of up to $5 per student,
with the exact amount to be set
by SGC in pursuing the referenda.
WHY IS IT so unreasonable to
ask that students be given an op-
portunity to vote on this on a col-
lege basis? All of our experience
is that a general referendum will
involve about 20 per cent of the
student population. Moiestudents
can be expected to participate on
a college basis.
The great opposition to refer-
enda suggests that some backers
of the bookstore are afraid of the
outcome. If this is so, is an as-
sessment on all students justified?
Why not hold the referenda and
demonstrate that there is genuine,
wide student support for a book-
store? In my view, there is such
support, but I think it would be
much healthier for all if it were
demonstrated.
FINALLY, THERE IS the ques-
tion of management of the book-
store. Why are the Regents con-
cerned about the financial viabil-
ity of the enterprise? There are
good and sound reasons. Within
the past year the Regents have
had to assume responsibility for
the financial management of two
enterprises in order to keep them
solvent. One is the Law Club.
which always operated relatively
independently, and the other is
the Michigan Union. Both were in
serious financial trouble. A third
is the student-faculty operated
Alternative which functioned dur-
ing the summer, but which now
is defunct and going out of busi-
ness. Against this experience the
Regents were legitimately con-
cerned that a bookstore might not
remain solvent and that the Uni-
versity would then be expected to
take it over. They therefore asked
that it be placed under the
authority of the Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer, with
a student and faculty advisory
committee. .
THIS MANAGEMENT mechan-
ism has drawn criticism without
inquiring into how it is expected
to function. The Regents under-
stood that the wish of those in-
terested in the bookstore was that
it operate on a non-profit basis
so that books could be sold at the
lowest prices possible.
The Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer, Wilbur K. Pier'-
pont, already has indicated that
the bookstore will operate within
the confines of a declared policy
which states that it is the objec-
tive of the store to simply break
even, without attempting to make
a profit. Given this objective, the
policy could also state that books
should be sold at the lowest price
possible consistent with simply
maintaining the store on a break-
even basis.
The store obviously must be
resident confronts the
managed by a professional man-
ager, and Mr. Pierpont has indi-
cated to me that he would expect
a student-faculty committee to
suggest a number of candidates.
Mr. Pierpont would discuss these
candidates and others suggested
by other University sources with
the committee before making a
recommendation to the President
and the Regents.
THERE IS NO question that
under such a management struc-
ture Mr. Pierpont would have the
authority to reject the advice of
the student-faculty committee. He
would do so-within the declared
policy objectives - only when, in
his judgment and that of the
manager, the store could not break
even by pursuing a policy which
the committee had recommended.
A university is made up of
many constituencies. Not all of
them agree. The Regents have the
task of trying to make the best
judgment they can in the interests
of all. In my view. they have done
this on the bookstore issue. I see
nothing uneasonable about the
plan they have proposed.
Letters to the Editor
A iitmw ate
To the Editor:
IT'S AMAZING how people can
view the same events and report
them differently. Mr. Zwerdling
and I were both outside North Hall
Monday night, but I didn't see
2000 supporters of the movement
there. When "the crowd cheered."
it was the pitiful group huddled
together in front of the building
entrance that made as much noise
as it could. The rest of the crowd
was very silent and as far as I
:ould tell, not sympathetic at all.
It's unfortunate that The Daily
is building up an image of support
that isn't there. On Tuesday mor-
ning at 9 a.m. when I asked my
class of 200 students how they felt
about the tactics used, 93 per cent
apposed them, 5.per cent support-
ed them, and 2 per cent abstained.
I wouldn't count that as much of
a mandate.
-Prof. Bernard A. Galler
Computer and
Communication Sciences
and Mathematics
Sept. 23
A discrepancy
To the Editor:
I WAS QUITE disturbed by
the discrepancy between The
Daily report of the ROTC demon-
stration and the news report on
the radio this morning. In your
coverage on the front page I read
this sentence-"When they enter-
ed, demonstrators smashed a door
window and immediately evacuat-
ed all ROTC personnel in t h e
building." Why was there no men-
tion of the girl cadet who at-
tempted to leave by the front door
and got hit in the stomach?
There are many of us who have
been pmotesting the var, working
on petition drives, fund- raising
drives, maiches, and the McCarthy
campaign. Now we're involved in
the Petition Drive for Peace, di-
recting our energies in slower and
less violent, but hopefully, more
effective methods to try and end
the wkar,
Lutrelle E. Smart
Sept. 23
The revolution in Nigeria is really not Biafra's charity fun
d drive
EDITOR'5 COTE:[The foloiwng ana.-
I'.si', of the effects and goals of t he
mafrans' current stri~gge for inde-
pendence was written by a Biatran
gadu~ate st udent in political science. It
is published here as part of Biafra Week,
proclaimed by Mayor Robert Harris from
Sept. T!-28)
By ALOZIE N. WACHUKE
TI'HE PICTURES of hungry women
and children h a v e so dominated
the discussion of the situation in Bi-
afra that. it has sometimes seemed as
if ?he war between Biafra and Nigeria
is a struggle over the distribution of
international charity.
This is far from the truth. The Bi-
a'fran struggle is a fundamental rev-
olution with political, economic, social
and technological ramifications. It is
m attempt by an African people to
inash the forces of oppression a n d
suppression and establish a more
meaningful independent state.
The roots of the conflict c a n be
This assemblage of peoples embracing
over 250 ethnic and linguistic groups
was long held out by the British as
the jewel of their African imperial en-
terprise.
When Britain, like other imperial
powers, was forced to capitulate at the
onslaught of African nationalist stir-
rings in the early 1960's, she cleverly
abandoned her formal empire and re-
placed it with another imperial ar-
rangement, known in "third world"
vocabulary as neo-colonialism.
This meant that she ruled that un-
fortunate land indirectly with an Af-
rican instrumentality of power, t h e
majority of whose members were only
united in their ignorance of the pow-
erful political, social a n d economic
forces that stir the contemporary
world. By this adroit manoeuvre Brit-
ain was assured of an economic stran-
glehold over approximately one-fifth
Biafra on May 30, 1967, was an at-
tempt to resolve some of these basic
contradictions and challenge neo-co-
lonialism and t h e other impositions
which have retarded the progress of
man in Africa.
Principles of the Biafram Revolution
declared, "From the in o m e n t we
assumed the illustrious name of the
Ancient Kingdom of Biafra, we were
rediscovering the original indepen-
dence of a great African people. We
accepted by this revolutionary act the
glory as well as the sacrifice, of true
independence and freedom.
We knew that we h a d challenged
the many forces and interests which
had conspired to keep Africa and the
black race in subjection for ever. We
knew that they were going to be ruth-
less and implacable in defense of their
age-old imposition on us and exploita-
terms that she would not use force be-
cause it would l e a d to a bloodbath.
The destruction of 200,000 migrants
from Europe will be a bloodbath, but
the liquidation of 2 million Africans is
not and perhaps the liquidation of 14
million Biafrans will not be.
SO WE are engaged in t h i s cruel
struggle, and people may ask what are
the forces that generate and sustain
these "stubborn" people against such
odds? What are the goals of the strug-
gle? They are political. economic, so-
cial and technological.
Politically, t h e Biafran revolu-
tion is an attempt by the people of Bi-
afra to resolve our crisis of national
identity. Every individual, every hu-
man collectivity, must at one time or
another resolve this crisis: otherwise
they are not a people but a mere "ag-
legitimacy challenges the statism and
Inmobilism that at present character-
izes the African system.
It is finally an attempt t6 establish
a focus of institutionalized innovation
that will generate concentric waves
throughout Africa. Every civilizational
group at one time or the other must
have their revolution. The Europeans
have had their French revolution and
Bolshevik revolution; the Asians their
Meiji and Chinese revolution; the
Americans, their war of independence
and Cuban revolution; black Africa
must have its Biafran revolution.
Economically, t h e Biafran rev-
olution introduces a new pattern of
economic relationship between an in-
digenous African people and extra-
continental monopoly interests. For
the first time in recent African history,
an indigenous African neople have as-
ple have natural resources and yet
cannot use them without the permis-
sion of foreign interests.
The Biafran revolution is therefore
a mortal challenge to British economic
interests because Britain is getting 10
per cent of her national oil requirement
frm Biafra-Nigeria and estimates that
by 1975, this figure will rise to 25 per
cent.
So when we hear all the rhetoric
of preserving the territorial integrity
of an African country, it is no more
than preserving the integrity of the
economic base of foreign monopolies
and, in particular, the integrity of the
oil pipelines which straddle the ter-
ritory of Biafra and Nigeria.
Socially, the Biafran revolution is an
attempt to rid ourselves of a society
full of ethnic and class antagonism,
to re-emphasized the traditional egali-
tarian structure of our society and re-
Where Nigeria, including Biafra, had
one oil refinery and today still imports
oil, Biafrans have improvised hundreds
of portable oil refineries.
Biafrans now make their own mines,
build their own mortars, and produce
three types of rockets. Their latest
technological device is an unmanned
aeroplane-like vehicle that can carry
the "Ogbunigwe" (Ibo for mass de-
stroyer) far into enemy territory. In
addition, other non-lethal products are
now being produced by Biafran scien-
tists and technologists.
These devices may not be as soph-
isticated as the products of the modern
industries of the developed world and
they are not yet mass produced, but
the myth that black Africans are in-
capable of originality has been torn
down.
THE BIAFRAN revolution is there-