94e ftir4igan &aily
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: JIM NEUBACHER
The Vietnam mo~rator im:
Faculty action now
The b
(tis artic l e assubitted a',
letter to the editor by Peter Stein-
berger, a 19i graduate of the Law
School. Mr. Steinberger is current-
ly employed at the washtenaw
County Legal Aid Society. Because
of its length, the editors are print-
ing it in aricle form.)
By PETER STEINBERGER
AS AN ALUMNUS of the Law
School I must express my great
disappointment with the Septem-
ber 30th Letter to the Editor sign-
ed by so many of the School's fac-
ulty.
The heart of their letter is con-
tained. in these words: "None of
us perceives a justification for the
use of force to advance these poli-
cies (i.e., abolition of ROTC and
creation of a bookstore), partic-
ularly in the presently-existing
circumstance of an open univer-
sity. Such tactics in such circum-
stances are antithetical to the
ideals of a free society . . . We
believe that President Fleming
has a duty to resist such force
Setting aside the ROTC problem
as deserving of a longer treatment
than this letter can hope to give
it, one must look at the bookstore
question, and the above letter
which speaks to that question, and
stand amazed: how could these 42
members of the School's faculty
have found the above-quoted
words helpful to our understand-
ing of the problem they address?
LET US THINK for a moment
about the sense in which the book-
s t o r e demonstrators displayed
'force.'
They certainly employed phys-
ical action, in addition to words.
But in no realistic sense did they
impose -- or try to impose - upon
the University community a deci-
rHE UNIVERSITY'S faculty is seldom
called upon to make a political state-
ment. Indeed, under normal circum-
stances, one would predict that from such
a diverse and moderate body, it would
be impossible to reach a consensus on
the weather conditions.
But this Monday, the members of the
University's Senate Assembly - the
principle faculty governing body - is
meeting to consider endorsing the pro-
posed Oct. 15 moratorium against the
war in Vietnam.
Radical or liberal students and faculty
back the moratorium without hesitation;
in fact, some dismiss the protest with a
nod, explaining that the proposed action
is not radical enough to warrant much
attention.
13UT IT WOULD be a daring and signi-
ficant step for the faculty body to
cancel University classes as a protest
against the war. The force of a protest
by the nation's leading intellectuals is
undeniable.
To endorse the moratorium, however,
moderate and conservative faculty will
have to hurdle traditional, if false, aca-
demic barriers against "mixing politics
and academics." These same professors
will have to overcome prejudice against
the notion of a "strike" against the Uni-
versity.
Faculty must reconsider both these
widely propagated notions, Professors
who disapprove of "mixing politics and
classes" should re-examine their reading
HENRY GRIX, Editor
ST1EVE NISSEN RON LANSMAN
City Edtor Mn : sEditor
TMI AtBRa,O. Ams e Managing E itor
CuRIS STEELF A.soeiate Ci? Editor
STEVE AN%.ALONE ........ Editorial PaeEditor
JENNY STI ILLLER ........ Editorial Pag e Editor
JOHN GRASY Literr Editor
LESLIE WAX NE Arts Editor
LAWRENCE ROBBINS -.... Photo Editor
LANIE LIPPINCO T A -.1-tant to the Managing Editor
WALTER SHAPIRO DalyV Washingtnn Correspondent
MARY RADTKI ...... Contriuting Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Stuart Gannes Martin Hirschnan,
Jim Neubacher, Judy Sarasohn, David Spurr, Dan-
ce' zwerdln .
COPY EDITORS: Jim Beatti, Lorna Crot Dov
C(udwin, Laurie Harris, Erica Hoff, Rort K
wit."Sv Koppan, Tobe Lev, Rick Perlof Ha r
old Rosernthatl, Sharon weiner.
ASSISTAT NIGHT EDITORS: AlexaCa AA-
son Cooke. Bob Ftsfeld, Rus arand, Caroi Hilde-
brand, Judly Kahn, Patt MT:zacne Bgard otgmr
Marty: ;Scot,, Lynn Weiner.
Bookstore and
the
'use of force'
lists and lecture notes to see if political
philosophy is not projected on the mater-
ial they teach. And preoccupation w i t h
academic purity at th, exclusion of poli-
tical dissent on literally life and death is-
sues is both ivory tower elitism and the
height of absurdity.
FURTHER, FACULTY members should
realize that they are not voting to
strike against the University and "shut
it down." Rather, they are voting to strike
against the United States government
which is flaunting the desires of a grow-
ing number of its people by prosecuting
an immoral and heinous war. They are
striking against an administration which
has promised to end the war but has
failed in eight months to take long range
steps to do so. They are striking against
a President who has said he will ignore
any and all protests of his war policies.
The moratorium for President Nixon
must end. And the University faculty
must realize that a strong, anti-war
stand will compel the President to, pay
attention to anti-Vietnam sentiment.
The force of prestigious universities all
over the country shutting down as an act
of the collective conscientious objection
to American foreign policy is overwhelm-
ing.
It would be deplorable for faculty to
ignore their opportunity to protest the
war. To do nothing when so much is at
stake would be morally irresponsible.
AND IT IS not enough for the assembly
to simply endorse the sentiment be-
hind the moratorium and allow individ-
ual faculty members to behave as they
choose. The assembly must throw the
prestige and influence of this institution
behind the action.
It is true that the Senate Assembly
cannot represent the conscience of each
faculty member; it is true that some
faculty feel obligated to hold class if stu-
dents wish to attend.
But it is equally true that the intellec-
tuals of a society should direct and criti-
cize the sensibilities of that society. The
Senate Assembly must assume its posi-
tion of leadership and strongly endorse
the moratorium.
-HENRY GRIX
Editor
sion they themselves had made,
that "The LSA Bldg. Shall Not Be
Open More, 'Ere McLaughlin Buys
His Books in our New Bookstore."
What they did do was say, that
"Overwhelming armed forces of
the local and state police, and the
National Guard and the U.S.
Army, are able to remove us from
the place we are occupying. But
we can do this: we can make Pres-
ident Fleming choose between ar-
resting us while maintaining his
present position on the bookstore,
and giving us some inducement to
leave, by amending his stand on
the bookstore."
It might be more correct to say
that they required that force be
imposed upon themselves, a a
price Pres. Fleming must be will-
ing to pay, to continue his present
position on the bookstore question.
I MIGHT NOTE in passing
that Pres. Fleming's own efforts
to define 'force' to suit his office's
interests are not restricted to using
the argument in the Law School
letter. He says, in The Daily of
Sept. 30th, 1969, that the 'force'
employed at the LSA Bldg. is
analogous to the force used by
Nazi student gangs in German uni-
versities. If I am correct in be-
lieving that these gangs operated
under the protection, or at least
the benevolent acquiescence, of
their nation's police forces, then
I cannot protest too strongly an
effort to analogize a protected or
authorized violence with a violence
subject to and inevitably defense-
less against overwhelming armed
reprisal.)
I am not suggesting that every
campus demonstration is of such
a self-sacrificial character. But
surely the peaceful occupation
during a night of a campus office
building is a strange examjle of
the Reign of Force.
I think it is also worthwhile to
note that this was not an instance
in which the violation of laws
passed in Lansing or Washington
arguably required an oath-bound
Robben Fleming to uphold the
Law. The applicable statutes
(criminal trespass and contention)
depend upon a decision by the
legal custodian of the public prop-
erty in question that the demon-
strators were wrongful in their
presence and activity in the build-
ing. If Pres. Fleming had pro-
claimed an 'LSA Sit In Eve' on
that night, no basis for a :alid
arrest would have existed.
BUT THESE considerations,
briefly raised above-and others,
equally important - all vanish
within the five letters of the word,
'force,' that the faculty letter uses.
An English word, a thing which
their profession at its best has
used to wrest insights out of cor:-
fusion, is used as a slogan, a club.
Rather than raise questions, as
words ought to do, it knocks them
down. A brass knuckle worm
We can be no happier when we
look at the second basic pro-
position of the subscribers to the
.September 30th letter: President
Fleming's actions defended 'open-
ness' and the 'ideals of a free
society' at the University.
What actually was the problem,
and what did President Fleming
do?
The problem: University Re-
gents (and the President also?)
will not authorize creation of a
student-run bookstore. Whereas
many students desire such a stoe.
University Regents and Pres.
Fleming say: not even a non-stu-
dent bookstore shall come to pas,
except upon the conduct of 16 col-
lege referenda, and upon a sone-
what higher capital levy o:1 stu-
dents. Whereas many students feel,
that previous petitions and refer-
enda should suffice, and that ex-
isting University funds of student-
fee origin should be used in lieu
of part of the Regentally-required
assessment.
What did President Fleming do?
- We know.
WHAT MIGHT HE have done?
He could have said, "There is no
decent reason for not giving stu-
dents a student-run bookstore,
subject to sound auditing proce-
dures. So I and as many students
and faculty as I can get to join
me will strike unless the Regents
reconcile themselves to this pro-
posal.'
Would the Regent not have done
so, had he raised to them even a
hint of such a position?
Does anyone doubt that if he
had offered such a proposal to the
LSA demonstrators, they vould
have left the building?
Many other - and better -al-
ternatives no doubt come to the
mind of the reader, any of which
would, I suggest, have done enorm-
ously more to defend the ideals of
freedom and openness at the Uni-
versity than President Fleming's
actual action. Why do we need a
civilized man to be University
President, if in these situations he
chooses the alternative that any
redneck Sheriff could select?
IN MY OWN notion of what an
open University is, a terrible blow
was dealt it by the President's
action. For a measure with clear
and strong support among stu-
dents--which even as a failure
would be relatively inexpensive,
and which as a success would few
or no attached evils-failed to gain
the support of a man who, if he
chose to give that support, could
have made the measure prevail.
Instead: police actions, hatreds,
and a diminishment in the ability
,of all involved to relate to each
other in a free and civilized way.
If words have souls, which view
us from a Platonic universe of
civilized discourse, what do the
Ideals of a Free Society and the
Open University think, as they
look down at their incarnations
in the faculty letter? Do the Ideals
recognize themselves in the war?
In our factory system? In our
educational system? In our rulers'
allocation of our material produc-
tion into moon-shots and Negro
removal? In the current persecu-
tion of draft resisters and Panth-
ers?
WILL THE OPEN University
smile down on the bookstore ar-
rests, or the ROTC program, or
selective service channeling, or the
unrepresentative, wealthy family
backgrounds of our students? Will
it not blink at the wholly instru-
mental, 'service' image the Uni-
versity carries of itself -an image
which closes, systematically, the
eyes of any who might question
the patron institutions which tilis
one serves?
I think the Ideas will feel ill-
used in the slogan-words of the
faculty letter. And I think that in
time the faculty members will
themselves see this, and build hap-
pier houses for these thoughts -
houses where readers can come for
the questions out of which we can
build the free society and the open
university which we do not have
--which President Fleming, even
if he would, cannot now defend.
,
LET'ERS TO THE EDITOR
The Argus and
the obscenity spectacle
To the Editor:
THE PROSECUTION, u n d e r
Michigan obscenity statutes, of
the editor and publisher of the
Ann Arbor Argus, Mr. Kenneth
Kelley, presents an unhappy spec-
tacle. The American Civil Liber-
ties Union of Ann Arbor - -Wash-
tenaw County announces that it
will support. Mr. Kelley vigorously
in fhes ' legal battles. and wishes
to make its reasons for this posi-
tion clear.
First, the ACLU opposes any re-
straint, under obscenity statutes,
on the right to create, publish, or
distribute materials to free citi-
zens, and opposes any restraint
on the right of free citizens to
choose the materials they wish to
read, hear, or view.
We hold that the freedom of
speech guaranteed by the First
Amendment covers all materials
without regard to quality or con-
tent. Allegedly obscene materials
are not excluded from this pro-
tection. To read such an exclusion
into the Constitution violates its
spirit as well as its literal com-
mand. The inevitable results of
such exceptions are the suppres-
sion of works of literary and so-
cial value dealing with sex, the
stifling of discussion on the fun-
damental subject, and the weak-
ening of the very fabric of the
freedom of expression.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLF ,to define,
and proscribe, classes of allegedly
harmful speech without restrict-
ing the freedom of discussion and
diversity of opinion that the First
Amendment was created to pro-
tect. Obscenity, in particular, de-
fies precise definition, as the re-
cent history of our courts makes
evident. When arbitrary defini-
tions are constructed, local au-
thorities are empowered to enforce
their own aesthetic tastes as mat-
ters of 1 a w. Moreover, because
sexual allusions and pictures now
frequently merge w i t h political
criticism, obscenity statutes pro-
vide some officials a device for
persecuting those whose public at-.
tacks are sharp and biting.
The Michigan statute (28.575
1) ? under which Mr. Kelley and
The Argus are n o w brought to
court in a criminal action is,
therefore. both unconstitutional
and unwise, in o u r opinion. It
threatens anyone who gives, sells.
or distributes tetc.) any b o o k,
magazme, newspaper (etc.) that is
"obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
or indecent." Who is to say what
fits this description? Whose stan-
dards are to prevail, and w h y?
Bitter disagreements over the
propriety of certain words or pic-
tures are inevitable, but they are
not properly a matter for the law,
or any civil authorities, to adju-
dicate. That is what genuine free-
dom of speech and publication en-
tails. It is freedom for everyone,
including those whose tastes we
may find objectionable and whose
political opinions we may think
pernicious. And it is freedom for
the rest of us to buy. read, and
see what we please.
SECOND. EVEN if the Michigan
statute were constitutional, we
think prosecution under it in the
case would not be. The immediate
cause of these criminal proceed-
ings is a photo-drawing in which
a city councilman is depicted
holding a penis. Whatever o U r
judgment of its taste, both t h e
picture and the accompanying
text make perfectly clear that this
is. and was intended to be, a po-
litical rejoiner to that councilman
who had, in his public role, at-
tacked The Argus. The political
issues here are many and obvious.
It is a cardinal principle of our
democracy that political criticism
must not be stifled. The Supreme
Court has held repeatedly that po-
litical debate must be open and
uninhibited. The effort to silence
political jibes or thrusts because
they are couched - verbally or
graphically - in sexual t e r mn s,
must fail. This crimmnal proceed-
ing, whose target is the author of
unpopular political criticism, is
surely unjust and unconstitution-
al.
THIRD. Even if these criminal
proceedings were constitutional
they would be most unwise, in our
judgment. Elected political offi-
cials invite criticism of every kind.
If, when that criticism becomes
intense and unpleasant, those in
office use their power to prose-
cute their critics as criminals, the
spirit of freedom is done serious
injury. The atmosphere of open
debate is thereby chilled; other
potential critics are silenced, or
partly silenced, by fear. Who can
know what words or pictures may
fall into disfavor next? Political
talk becomes guarded, argument
inhibited: critics begin to fear to
speak their full minds on contro-
versial issues. That is the degen-
eration to which such criminal
proceedings directly lead.
-Carl Cohen
Sept. 28
I
Doomsday at 'U': Revolution comes and goes
AN ADVERTISEMENT in Thursday's Daily signed by Andy
White, president of Alice Lloyd Hall, and Jack Myers, Vresident
of Inter-House Assembly, states in part:
"When confronted with this specific point of contention,
President Fleming made it explicitly clear that it was the decided
policy of the Administration, from the Regents on down, that
the bookstore would be run on a no profit basis and with the
goal of offering the highest discounts possible. There was no
question that all levels of the Administration are committed to
operating the bookstore so that students will be given the
largest discounts possible."
"When the Michigan Daily was notified of this conversation
with President Fleming, Martin Hirschman (night editor) said,
"That's no news to me ...If.Fleming said that to you, I'd
wonder why he said it."
I RESPOND on point of personal privilege. The words at-
tributed to me in the advertisements are accurate, but the three
dots represent, I think, a significant portion of our conversation.
During that portion .of our conversation, Myers said Fleming
had told him there would in fact be a discount. I responded that,
to my knowledge, this is not now, nor has it ever been the presi-
dent's position. Fleming has declined to be pinned down on
whether even the no-profit policy would be sufficient to provide
a discount. I concluded my response saying, "If Fleming said
that to you, I'd wonder why he said it." And I still would.
The next paragraph in the Myers-White advertisement says:
"Hirschman gave us the impression that the Daily thinks that this
specific no profit student discount issued needs no further clar-
ification anld public notice. We believe it does."
In the portion of the discussion from which Myers-White
must have gotten this impression, I told them The Daily had
printed Fleming's position before. For example, in a news story
in the Sept. 29 issue The Daily reported:
"Fleming said students and the Regents agreed that the
bookstore should be run by a professional manager and that the
store should be nonprofit, offering 'books at prices as low as
possible consistent with a break-even policy.''
MOREOVER,,THIS point has never been at issue. It was
either implicitly or explicitly stated in both SGC's original pro-
posal and in the plan approved by the Regents two weeks ago.
"In light of these facts," the Myers-White advertisement con-
tinues, "those still in opposition to the Regental bookstore proposal
can not possibly be concerned with the financial benefits of the
students."
This statement, unfortunately, does not logically follow and
would not obtain under any of the following conditions:
---the administration does not need to hold to its stated
policy, which is hardly a "fact."
--management of the store could easily be constructed to
minimize or maximize the chances of a discount, even within the
confines of the stated policy. This would depend on the types of
items (hardcovers, paperbacks, and supplies) which the store
stocked and the proportion in which they were stocked. Myers-
White obviously do not understand the importance of the man-
agement choices in their possible effect on discounts.
-the manager of the store could set up an inefficient opera-
tion and it is just possible that the University administration
wouldn't care or wouldn't do anything about it.
By DREW BOGEMA
ANN ARBOR APA last night announc-
ed that it would present only one
play for the Fall season - "The Sell-
Out" -- an epic spectacle revealing the
outcome of the current political tur-
moil with the aid of the University's
newest computer, the DMSDY 69. Anl
high-placed APA official who wished to
remain unidentified released the follow-
ing act-by-act capsule summary of the
script, herein printed exclusively upon
the pages of the Michigan Daily.
"THE SELL-OUT"
ACT I Radicals - representitig
nearly every ideological faction -- band
together to disrupt the operation of
ROTrC on campus. Disruption provokes a
benevolent response from the Admin-
istration, which, as Radicals quickly
lealize, ieans the ruling elite to co-opt
rhtetoric to forestall possible disorder.
Radicals sidestep the Adimiistration by
seizing North Hall. Their numbers swell
as thousands wait to be alienated by a
order to further mobilize the Moderate
Majority and to await te Inevitable
Administration Blunder (that will lead
truth, purity, and the American Dream
to their side), their oranization deter-
iorates, and returns to the fierce fac-
tional warfare that we all know and
love. SGC and Radical Caucus decide
to do battle with the Ancient Regime
upon the right of students to run their
own bookstore iNo Exploitation With-
out Representation' coies the cry).
SDS stangely camnot be fouid b u t
rumor has it that they're sulking about
lost privileges.
Fleming, growing hourly more fright-
ened by the MEDIA which says that
Michigan is the forefront of the Revolu-
tion, chooses massive retaalliation as
the response most likely to deter aggr'es-
sion, as Regemts Ulrich, Slater, Follett,
and Wahr refuse to consider the mangy
idea of student-niggers exploiting stu-
dent-niggers.
FL EMING, NOW I THREATENED by
terbury House, and Mark's, dominate
campus gossip.
An early dawn finds thousands
amassed on the Diag. Not a fiery speech
nor Demagogic Urging can be found,
only the distribution of orders a n d
scheduled. The tob disperses at half-
past seven as an astonished Adminis-
tratlion finds all offices upomn campus
have bein boarded and tapes of the
MC-5 fill every hallway as to pre-
veIt anyone gaining entry. Not a class
is disrupted yet - Fleminig's elite cadre
of secretaries have been disarmed and
sent husband-hunting in Suburbia. All
janitorial instruments have been con-
fiscated. Angell Hall has three feet of
dust by noon.
THE SEIGE CONTINUES all d a y.
Classes go on as usual though without
notes professors find little to say. Spon-
taneous choruses of "He's A Real No-
Where Man" break out in Political Sci-
ence, History, and English classes. Stu-
dent troops fence off campus. Supplies
versity. As they arrive in the empty
corridors they find to their 'amaze-
ment that all offices are also empty
-empty of students, machines, and
written materials. Only smoldering
caps and gowns hang from the windows.
F-LEMING CALLS FOR AN immed-
iate ce ase-fire amid denmands a meeting
with General "Giap" McLaughlin. Mc-
Laughlin tells Fleming that# coercion
has no place in the Academy. He fur-
ther states that th Bureaucracy will
be returned if and only if the Regents
approve the inmediate creation of a
student-run bookstore. Fleming leaves,
promising to bring and answer within
two hours.
ACT IV Scene: Fleming and Mc-
Laughlin seated in Aud 'A for press con-
ference - both smiling. Fleming an-
nounces that he had supported the con-
cept of a student-run bookstore a 11
along, that the "hang-up" this words'
came about because of faulty commun-
ication an stridemt Regental and stu-
once and for all smashed, that all
streets surrounding the University be
made into malls, that all University
ties with the State and the City be cut,
and that Fleming resign to be replaced
by Eric Chester as President.
FLEMING FAINTS dead away. Har-
vey arrests McLaughlin. McLaughlin de-
mands that the ultimatum be met with-
in txo hours lest by pre-arranged signal
the Bureaucracy be destroyed. McLaugh-
lin is released and spits at suggestion
that lie speak at a Regents meeting.
Act V. At an impromptu press con-
ference, a haggard Fleming announces
tha the Governor, the State Legislature,
and the Regents have agreed to the
atrocious demands. Gleeful merriment
breaks out upon campus. The Bureau-
cracy is returned upside down.
Fleming, the Regents, and fascisti
Faculty steal away from the Festival of
Rebirth that student leaders have called
to celebrate the victory, and secretly
meet with Harvey in the Union pool
hall Nixon offers aid. saving his un'o-
i