9#~r Sir4iijan &i~ Set enty-nine years t)f editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan On the exploding, collective unconscious 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 EJitorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: DANIEL ZWERDLING On Strike. Shut It Down! 5TUDENT LEADERS have called for a general strike Monday to protest the decision by President Fleming to order mass arrests of students peace- fully occupying the LSA Bldg. and his continued refusal to engage in mean- ingful negotiations over the establish- ment of a University bookstore. But recognizing that the administra- tive decision on the bookstore is only symptomatic of the lack of democracy in University decision-making, strike leaders have called for a wide-spread student struggle for greater participa- tion in University affairs. We applaud this effort. 4TUDENTS must demonstrate unequi- vocally that they will not be sup- pressed by threats and intimidation from Fleming and his police. They must show this University that it can- not deal with student pressure by har- assing student leaders and ordering mass arrests. To back down now, would be to con- done Fleming's dec'ision to break with 150 years of University tradition by employing police-rather than dialogue to deal with student protest. -LESLIE WAYNE Arts Editor -ON LANDSMAN Managing Editor -MARCIA ABRAMSON Associate Managing Editor -STEVE ANZALONE Editorial Page Editor -JIM FORRESTER Associate Sports Editor -DANIEL ZWERDLING -MARTIN HIRSCHMAN -LORNA CHEROT -HAROLD ROSENTHAL --RUSS GARLAND -LAURIE HARRIS -DAVID SODERQUIST -WILLIAM DINNER No. 654 -JI1 McFERSON While conceding that some student actions-such as the disruption of the Regents meeting last week and t h e LSA Bldg. sit-in-make dialogue ex- ceedingly difficult, the students' ac- tions were an obvious result of their powerlessness, of their exclusion from the decision-making process. The issue is one that does not lend itself easily to calm discussion. It is a question of power, and few people give away their power calmly. Students are clearly justified in demanding more than a mere advisory role in this Uni- versity. STUDENTS MUST strike to demon- strate that they will no longer al- low the central administration a n d Regents to make decisions unilaterally for 35,000 students. For the Regents and administration have demonstrated time and again- the bookstore is only one example-- that they represent interests wholly alien to those of students. This oligarchy cannot be tolerated any longer. --STEVE NISSEN City Editor -JOHN GRAY Literary Editor --PHIL BLOCK Associate Managing Editor -CHRIS STEELE Associate City Editor -JOEL BLOCK Sports Editor -JIM BEATTIE -MARTY SCOTT -ALEXA CANADY -DAVID CHUDWIN -CAROL HILDEBRAND -ERIKA HOFF -JUDY SARASOHN -AL SHACKELFORD By STUART GANNES ]HE ONE obvious and overpowering message of Thursday night's occupation and support dem- onstrations at the LSA Bldg. was that the contro- versY over a student-run bookstore was simply not the motivation for this massive outburst. Viewing the carnival of Thursday night's ac- tivities was like watching the collective unconsious of the concerned student community explode through all the past frustrations and failures in a desperate attempt to come to terms with the reality of an apathetic society which ignores the politics of morality. As the afternoon wore on Thursday, the fact that a building was being occupied loomed much larger in the students' minds than the Regents decision on the bookstore, which precipitated the event. Students flocked to the LSA Bldg. to see the oc- cupation for themselves. While crowds supporting the occupiers guarded the doors of t h e building, larger groups gathered on State St. and in Regents' . Plaza to watch the bust everyone expected. The protest became a spectacle. WHILE MANY of the crowd drifted around the building, discussing the pros and cons of the book- store and the occupation, the "hard-core." the peo- ple inside the building and those "protecting" its entrances were caught-up in a sea of comaraderie which exuded waves of songs, chants and unlimited enthusiasm. The hard-core accepted supporters without question, enveloping them into their mass. Simi- larly, when a person made the commitment to join the hard-core, he immediately identified with the group. For those who joined the demonstration, there was the meaningful reward of human warmth. Gen- erosity abounded. The crowd was fed and k e p t warm. Enthusiasm and confidence were bouyed through the singing of old songs which everyone knew. s more than SIGNIFICANTLY, the bookstore problem faded and merged with other sources of discontent. The songs reminded the demonstrators of the war, of the draft. The rumors of a bust reminded them of other confrontations, broken heads and teargas. The bookstore, regardless of its singular impor- tance or relevance as an issue, provided people with an opportunity once again to raise up all the other issues, the "real" issues. To put it bluntly, the demonstrators had a Chi- cago conscience. PEOPLE WONDERED and speculated a b o u t what would happen during the course of the night, but they consciously prepared for the worst. They had no illusions that this time would be any differ- ent, that after this demonstration people would understand. But they had no doubts about the nec- essity of their being there. To deal with an apathetic society, they felt con- frontations must be manufactured, even at the ex- pense of reaction. More than at any other time in the past, there is a movement in this country. Tactics and issues may be debated, but moral outrage is common to all. The gulf between the young an dsociety-at-large grows wider, the credibility of government policies is completely lost, and those who profess a social conscience refuse to accept any continuation or rationalization of the status quo. THE INTENSE determination of youth to com- municate their moral outrage to society-at-large refuses concilliation. Their emotional commitment to human values cannot be bought off with token- ism or even sincerity. They demand an end to inhumaness. They are not willing to just talk. They are not willing to wade through the murky backwaters of "political chan- nels." The raw energy released through constant col- lisions against the wall can no longer be repressed. a bookstore Student power i Friday morning reviewed IT IS remarkable that while o t h e r universities have shown a marked in- ability to accommodate any institutional change without disorder, this University has remained calm during the last several years. Although there had been friction here, an uneasy, productive truce h a d existed among faculty, students and ad- ministrators. The truce has worked. Disruption has been averted and police have been kept off campus. Bylaws which would give stu- dents greater control over their affairs have been drafted and have received much faculty and administrative sup- port. A bachelor of general studies has been Instituted to foster academic free- dom. A Tenants' Union has thrived and a Student Credit Union is beginning. HOWEVER, most observers predicted that the University has been running a collision course of late and that this campus would explode as it did finally Friday morning. Now that police have been dragged onto campus and arrests have been made, it is useless to go about trying to place the blame for the shattered tranquility. No single individual or group of individ- uals can be considered fully responsible for the events of yesterday morning. Rather the cvents of yesterday morning suggest that what happened was a col- lision of various pressure groups: stu- dlents, faculty administrators, govern- ment officials, taxpayers. All are to blame for the disasterous events of yesterday morning, and those which may follow. O ATTRIBUTE the tragic events to the blunders of one man-the Uni- versity president---is naive. This is not to say that Robben Fleming was not guilt-y of s e v e r a I tactical blunders. He probably was. He overreacted to the threat of student disruption and called the police when it might have been better to have done nothing, It would have been better to disturb LSA secre- taries for a day than to call police on campus. But the argument can be made that the irrational actions of some protesters and unnecessary pressure from local police and even from Lansing may have prodded the president to act when he mi g h t ordinarily sit tight. In the context of the past weeks, if; has become apparent many demonstrat- ors are not at all interested in adhering either to the democratic process or to rational behavior. That Robben Fleming did not hear out all complaints yesterday is unfortunate; it may have cost him his reputation as an even tempered ad- ministrator. But there is reason to believe that nothing he could have said or done yesterday could have dissuaded the pro- testers from seeking arrest. IANY OF THE protesters honestly feel that Fleming's behavior toward them was so despicable as to warrant dramatic, militant action. Perhaps they were right;, perhaps nothing can be altered without student pressure. But it is a sad delusion of some that the University's decision-makers c a n easily be intimidated by student power plays. The administration and the Re- gents can, indeed, be pressured, but the militant actions of the past weeks are apt to alienate rather than terrorize them. Since student power and not the dis- count bookstore is admittedly the issue, the students should address themselves to the proposed University bylaw and needed constitutional revisions which would once and for all give students con- trol over their lives and balance dis- tribution of power at the University. DEMONSTRATORS who realize that the real issue here is student power By BRUCE LEVINE THE CAMPUS is going on strike Monday. Most of the speeches have centered on one demand: student control of a student bookstore. But let's face it; there's a hell of a lot more involved and a hell of a lot going on. More, because everyone can see at this point that the bookstore is becoming a focal point for larger discontev. Tha was crystal clear at Friday's rally. We are disgusted with thewa the entire University is being run by an Olympian few. And the way they are running us at the same time. Yes, running us. Because for a student, the nattire and purposes of the University in large measure dente the natnre and purpose of his life while there. If the student cannot exercise a reciprocal control over the Uni- versity, he ceases being a human being and becomes passive grist for a diploma-mill. He is acted upon, but cannot act. He is molded, but cannot mold. The demand for power over the bookstore symbolizes our demand for power over the enti'e University. Curriculum, finances, admissions, housing. You name it. We demand a democratic University. EVERYBODY knows this. Which helps to explain the size of the crowds these days. And which helps to elain the stance of Fleming and his Regents. They know that to give in on this demand--trivial as it might seem in isolation-would threaten them riously in fact. For one thing, their powver is founded on always ha ihe last word, onl being the collective court of last appeal. We are now shaking those foundations. Why do the Regents flatly refuse to reconsider their earlier deci- sion? They are afraid to. It would prove that Regents have the last word only when we students let them. For another thing, this specific decision of theirs stands as a bul- wark against a torrent of demands which could follow a bookstore. Like: University funds for low-cost housing (to break the landlords' stranglehold on the student market i Perhaps student-faculty control over all University finances -an end to priorities which produce "Regents' Plazas." THAT IS vhy we are watching the metamorphosis of a Fleming. Remember Robben the Compromiser? Robben the Mediator? Robben the Sublime? He's nowhere to be seen. And the campus is shocked that he's called in the cops? Fleming wears his happy masks only when they're effective. When they fail, they're discarded and replaced with others. Now we have Fleming of Stern Demeanor, the Cops' Robben. What matter-his purpose remains unchanged: Law and Order! The situation here is similar to industrial disputes. The given de- mand may be small, but the implications huge. Sociologist Alvin Gouldner found in such a dispute that management could not com- promise on every issue just because it was small. "They also required solutions which would be compatible with their status interests. They were. therefore. disposed to resist any solutions which threat- ened their perogat ives and diminished their control over the situation, however much it might improve efficiency. Given management's fear that the workers were out to control the planit, . . . management sought solutions which were safe as well a icient.'' FOR NEED any radicals be embarrassed about 'purely student fights'' in the midst of an imperialist war. The driving ene'rgy behind the bookstore clearly transcends even tle University. That energy can- not be divorced from the history of the student movement. That is, a bookstore demand could never have mushroomed this way six or seven years ago. The accumulated sears from fighting the war, racism, imperialism, and capitalism have made the difference. Anger born of one fight is carried into the next. And rightly so. Because one of the lessons we've learned in the past few years is that the same system-- and even the same men, despite their rhetoric-- stand behind most of the eneies we've been fighting. We see the same institutions that keep down other victims of the American empire keep us down, too. We are broadening the anti-imperialist, anti-racist fight into a total war for liberation, including our own. So this is one time when it is more than fantasy to shout: Bring the war home! We are doing jutst that. i Bookstforeisu "" """"iss"ue To the Editor: THE BOOKSTORE controversy is just another attempt by a spe- cial interest group to get some- thing free from the taxpayers. The only sure financial benefit to the students ithe special in- terest'group involved) will be from the sales tax exemption. It's ob- vious that the taxpayers of this state will have to make up the differ'ence.- it amuses iue that students on this campus, who pretend to take such a high, moral attitude toward the war and other distant items, can so quickly become crass polit- i'al opportunist when they have the chance. -Walter 'i. Broad Sept. 19 )armn g dl To the Editor: AS A PARTICIPANT in anti- ROTC activities, I had to answer in my own mind some of the ob- jections against such militant demonstrations, especially that they violated academic and per- sonel freedom. Maj. Radike's and Pres. Flem- ing's defense of academic and personal freedom as, in effect. absolute values, reminds me of the indignation of 'liberal'' ministers againsti the disruptive tactics of Dr'. King". In a brilliant defense of nonviolent civil disobedience. "A Letter From The Birmingham Jail," he exposed the hypocrisy of liberals who are morally indignant at the inconvenience caused by a sit-in, but who utter impotent cliches when confronted with the overwhelming oppression imposed on the socially disenfranchised. SO. TOO, in isolating the dem- onstrations from thei' social con- text, Maj. Radike and Pres. Flem- ing divinize academic freedom while hypocritically glossing over the military's pervasive disruption of students' personal lives, uni- versity life and the life of the na- tion. The military has disrupted students' lives by forcing them to "volunteer" for ROTC, the service or draft-exempt jobs, as a means of dealing with the draft. How many students have had their academic careers or even their lives permanently "disrupted" by the draft?' In view of the military disrup- tion which affects students, Rad- ike and Flenting 'to use the wo'ds from "Alice's Restaurant") "have a lot of damn gall" to complain about the disruption of an ROTC class. BEMOANING THE militaristic disruption of American lives and society will do little good. The Es- tablishment, from Maj. Radike, to President Fleming, up to Presi- dent Nixon, already knows of America's disillusionment with the war, excessive military spending and militarism. However, because of the mili- tary's political influence in gov- ernment and financial investment on campus, the government and the university will stubbornly re- fuse to follow the mandate of the people. To intimidate dissenters, force, the threat of force, and academic and civil sanctions will be invoked. In Chicago I saw the McCarthy- ites with their "Peace Now" slogan clubbed down by police night- sticks; here I see many "liberals- for-peace" back away because of the threat of arrest, physical fotce or academic reprisals. So that someday we can all "make love. not. war." the war machine must be brought to a halt. The military resistance has only begun to fight. -Chester J. Kuhs, Grad Sept. 20 management of the college and the university. Now all this promising effort has been abandoned. Instead this fall we have been treated to evi- dence of the basic teaching of our cumbersome institution-irrespon- sibility. We have i'r'esponsible re- gents, administration, faculty, and students. --Prof. Sam Bass Warner, Jr. History Department Sept. 26 Peace now To the Editor: An open letter to all University of Michigan students who are currently participating in demon- strations on the campus for any reason whatsoever: As an alumna of the University of Michigan, I am as ashamed to have you associated with the Uni- versitv as I am proud of the in- telligence and decency, the cour- age amtd honor of President Rob- ben Fleming. I applaud his belief in rational discussion and in democratic means for achieving legitimate ends. This country was founded on the basis that all men have a right to express their opinions freely----but not any one group at the expense of all of the rest. Americans do not believe that the end justifies the means: only Fas- cists or Communists act upon this prenise! THERE SHOULD also be priori- ties in national life. You should get youur values straight and real- ize that the lives of American boys and men are more sacred than a little money spent on books or even over-night abolition of ROTC. Go about these projects, if you must, but in a peaceful, orderly manner. And remember always that LIFE IS MORE IM- PORTANT THAN MONEY. Put first things first. Please support. President Fleming in his efforts to end the war in Viet- nam. Look at the Peace Corps plaque on the front of the Mich- igan Union and the medallion on the steps, and turn your thoughts Letters to the Editor i