EXTRA L17 r 4jftr 4a3 4I aiIi EXTRA Vol. LXXX, No. 20 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, September 26, 1969 Free Issue Four Pages 6 G 0 An Editorial .. . jJAST NIGHT'S takeover of the LSA Bldg. and the sub- sequent police action ordered by the University administration must be seen as a great tragedy for all members of the University community. We believe the responsibility for this tragedy lies squarely on the shoulders of Robben Fleming. Through his reliance on police action, his unwilling- ness to seriously negotiate student demands and his blatant, baseless threats to students and faculty, he has destroyed the peace that this campus has lived in for the past three years. FLEMING'S actions yesterday are graphic examples of the kind of tactics and positions that force us to condemn him. At the rally in front of the Ad. Bldg. he refused to give straight answers to students expressing their indig- nation over administration and Regental handling of the proposed student bookstore. At an arranged meeting between himself and a rep- resentative of the students holding the building, Fleming said that he refused "to negotiate under coercion" and walked out. University attorneys, presumably acting on Flem- ing's orders, refused to extend even the simplest legal courtesies .to attorneys representing the students. Within hours after students moved into the LSA Bldg., Fleming was in consultation with the police to have them moved out. Never before in the history of the University have police been called in to make mass arrests-- -and Fleming didn't even stop to think about it for a while. [LEMING HAS forced this confrontation, and Fleming has asked for a fight. The fight isn't over the book- store, and it isn't over ROTC. Fleming has created a con- frontation over the issue that the students are best pre- pared to fight for and the issue students have the most right to win: student control over student affairs. "The University has many constituencies," is the re- curring theme of the administration's response to stu- dent demands for a greater share in the decision-making process that controls their educations and their lives. But it is just the fact that the decision-making pro- cess of his University does control our educations and our lives that makes the students- -and to a great extent the faculty-justified in their demands for greater con- trol over this process. The bookstore issue is just one more in the long, long list of examples of administrative rejection of legiti- mate student demands for equitable participation in this process.- WE BELIEVE that the events of last night and of the first three weeks of this semester and of the last three years force us to support more action on the part of the students at this University. We feel that appropriate action for the students to ake would be a call for an immediate and unmistakable indication from Fleming that he is willing to change the way he has been running the University or that he is willing to make way for a president who will. We also feel it would be appropriate, if support can be estab- lished, to call for a general student-faculty strike in support of demands for immediate reforms in the Uni- versity decision-making process. Perhaps it is still possible not only to salvage some- thing from last night's tragedy but to win for students the i'ights they must have. -THE SENIOR EDITORS 7 INJURED IN POLICE CHARGE One hundred and seven students were arrested between 3:35 and 5:00 this morning in the LSA Bldg. by about 250 Ann Arbor and State Police at the request of University Presi- dent Robben Fleming. At least eight persons were injured moments later as po- lice-perhaps Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies-swept the State St. side of the building and staged one charge to- ward Angell Hall. State Police also reportedly injured a number of people when they rushed students in front of the building only seconds after reading an order that they move in two minutes. About 250 students were sitting-in in front of the building at the time. The arrested students have been charged with contention, a mis- demeanor, which carries a penalty of 90 days in jail and or $100 fine. Bail was set at $250 and students must pay $25 bond. At least two students who were arrested and released early- Eric Chester and Mark Hodax-said the city police who made the arrests inside the LSA Bldg. used excessive force, including making the students "run a gauntlet" between a line of officers, jabbing them with nightsticks as they ran. Peter Denton. a Rent Strike leader, shouted. "I was beaten bru- tally" as he was taken out of the building. Chester and Hodax bot.h said police went for Denton first when they entered and beat him. Don Koster. an attorncy representing a number of the arrested persons, was temporarily not allowed to see any of his clients early this morning. Others attempting to bail students out were also not allowed into City Hall until about 8 a.m. City officials had no immediate response to complaints. A University spokesman said Fleming consulted faculty members, Mayor Robert Harris, the Regents and Gov. William Milliken before calling in the police. A temporary restraining order was obtained by the University at 9:10 p.m. enjoining the demonstrators from continuing the sit-in. However, all attempts to serve the order were thwarted by students blocking entrances to the building. No further attempts to serve the injunction were made. Over five minutes after police arrived at the rear of the building, some 100 officers-including state police and deputies from Washte- naw and Monroe counties arrived at the State St. entrance. The time lag was reportedly not in accordance with police battle plans. The police moved quickly up State St. from South University, heading for the front entrance to the LSA Bldg. The 250 demonstra- tors blocking the entrance fled down the street as the police ap- proached. They were pursued about 100 yards. At one point about 15 of the Washtenaw County sheriff's depu- ties who lined the east side of State St. jumped over the chain sur- rounding the lawn and charged people who were standing there. The people fled, and the deputies stopped their charge about 50 yards inside the chain. The students first entered the building around 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon protesting the refusal of Fleming and the Regents to reconsider the structuring of a University discount bookstore, At 6 p.m. Fleming entered the LSA Building and warned those who had decided to remain that the University was seeking the restraining order. Most of the demonstrators then either left the building or moved to the second floor where they remained early into the morning. At 9:30 p.m., those sitting-in on the second floor of the LSA Bldg. received word that Fleming had agreed to meet with one rep- resentative of the protesters. The group discussed the offer and agreed to send Eric'Chester as their representative. They mandated to him to agree that the sit-in would end if F leming agreed to call a meeting of the Regents within 24 hours with the clear understanding that there would be favorable action on the SGC bookstore proposal. Fleming would not agree. Outside the building, crowds gathered during the evening to a maximum of almost 2500 around 11:30 p.m. --ailyIr aramRbbins !',hie Police escor ree ro 11 tC( )1)1s10rs f 11)111 ISA fl3+do' Group pans Diag protest rally By RICK PERLOFF Nearly 150 persons met in Can- terbury House early this morning and voted overwhelmingly to stage a noon rally today in the Diag. The rally will be followed by a march to the Administration Bldg. in protest against this morning's arrest of 107 persons in the LSA Bldg. The group at Canterbury repre- sented a number of radical groups, ranging from SDS and Re- sistance members to Radical Cau- cus and independents. About 50 people originally gath- ered at Canterbury House around 5:15 a.m., but the crowd mush- roomed when a larger group, also discussing possible action at the LSA Bldg,. joined them around 5:40 a.m. The meeting was at times dis- organized as a number of different strategies were discussed by the group in less than an hour. The concensus was at first to call a general strike of classes to- day, but this proposal seemed to die when it became clear that there would not be enough time between the end of the meeting and the start of classes to organ- ize a boycott successfully. 'ihe people at the meeting did, however, seem to favor a general strike early next week, although they made no plans. Other students proposed taking over another building to demon- strate continuing student pressure on the administration. But many feared this would only bring more arrests and others questioned whe- ther there would be enough stu- dents to stage the takeover suc- cessfully. A third alternative was picket- ing the LSA Bldg., while staying far enough away from the build- ing itself to avoid arrests. A num- ber of persons did not want to dic- tate any action---even picketing-- to the crowd. They argued that last night's spontaneity produced what they considered a successful confrontation. Other speakers favored dormi- tory organizing today and expla- nations to students in classes of today's arrests. But this too was informally ie- jected because of the lack of time to plan it. There was much dispute on the goals of any action, but most peo- ple tended to agree that the main purpose was to keep the momen- tum of the movement alive. Some contended the purpose student concern over their lack of power in controlling their lives, while a third group saw a rally as a step in ''attacking t his whole capitalist system." The discussion of goals bogged down. but as the hour of 6 a.m. approached more specific notions were debated. After the meeting ended, a number of persons remained to help print leaflets for the sched- uled rally. Students resolved to take the LSA Bldg. at about 3 p.m. yester- day after they were locked out of the Administration Bldg. They had marched to Regents' Plaza follow- ing a 2:30 p.m. Diag rally protest- ing the regents' action on the bookstore. The protesters were warned by President Fleming that action would be taken against them later in the evening. A court injunction was never read because students barricaded the doors and prevent- ed officials from entering. Beginning at about 3:30 am., police started moving in toward the campus area to make arrests of all those who remained in the- building. Student supporters who sat on the front steps of the building were told to evacuate or action would be taken against them. Several were injured by police and seven went to hospitals. A volunteer first aid station handled minor injuries. Those who manned the station said most stu- dents had not been seriously harmed.