LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
jFe ar44P tan Jut
Serenty-nine years of editorial freedon
Ldited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
Student apathy and the SGC
bookstore
- 0 Maynard Si., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
L(Iiorakprint
in The Mic.ig Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN
Ai epilogue to crisis:
1e I)ookstore reviewed
H11JE REUENT'S decision to approve in
prinlciple a faculty-student run book-
store isa comnnendable and well-consid-
ered one.
The decision was a surprisitg turnabout
by a board not given to reviewing its own
actions or reconsidering questions it
deems resolved, That all eight members
of the board were willing to take up the
issue several times in response to stu-
dent protest is highly laudable.
Although it is still unclear whether the
board would have given the question so
much attention had not students staged
such a dramatic protest, it is more im-
portant to realize that the Regents did
strive diligently to obtain a satisfactory
rsolution of the crisis. The Regents did
clearly demonstrate their desire not only
to preserve a calm campus, but also to
respond rationally to the feelings of
faculty and students eager to settle the
bookstore issue.
j NDEED, that the whole bookstore ques-
tion could not be settled less painfully
is regrettable. It is clear that if students
and faculty were to sit on the board, the
communication gap among the groups
would be more effectively bridged.
Although giving students and faculty
a vote on the highest University govern-
lg board is a constitutionally question-
able act, there is much that can be done
in lieu of a state constitutional amend-
ment.
Yesterday the Regents proposed to set
ide a discussion period with faculty and
students at each trip to campus so that
the constituencies could voice grievances.
This could go a long way toward averting
conflict situations in the future..
AND CONFLICT situations are arising in
the immediate future. Chapter seven
of the proposed University bylaws--which
establishes the legitimacy of the student
judiciary for pondering student offens-
hNRY RIX, Editor
STi.EVE NISSEN RON LANDSMAN
City Editor Mana1'ng E Edittor
MARCIA ABSRAM5ON Associate Mlanaging Edit or
CHRiS STEELE Associate City Editor
STEV ANZALONE .....Eioria Pag Edto
JE N IE P RF it er a Fg Etor
LAWRENCE ROBBINS .. Photo Editor
LANIE LIPPINCOTT.Asistant to the Managing Editor
WALTER SHAPIRO .Daly Washingt on Correspondent
MARY RADTKE ........ .... Contributing Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Stuart Iannes, MartIn Hirchman.,
Jim Nnbahcr, Jadyv Sarasol n,a vid Sprr, Dan-
ICi Zwerdllnu,.
IlutiInss S/a/f
es--is being considered by the Regents
now. Action on the bylaws has taken an
excruciatingly long time to come before
the board and seems headed toward more
delays now. Students, faculty and Regents
should all familiarize themselves with
the bylaws and be prepared to work for
their quick passage.
An even more delicate issue is that of
Reserve Officers' Training Programs on
campus. The faculty have already come
out with a report which will, in the words
of one faculty members "modify ROTC
into the ground." Students should back
the faculty in an effort to get the Regents
to accept the Academic Affairs Commit-
tee's recommendations.
Already, the Regents and the Univer-
sity administration are being pressed by
both state and federal government lead-
ers not to abolish the ROTC programs.
Only a convincing presentation by a
coalition of students and faculty will
sway the board and prevent it from suc-
cumbing to outside pressures instead of
the considered opinion of members of
the University community.
BUT IF THE student interest is main-
tained, if faculty concern themselves
with the ROTC question as conscientious-
ly as they did with the bookstore issue, if
the Regents remain open to arguments
and counter-arguments, then there is a
good possibility that much can be ra-
tionally accomplished.
-IIENRY GRIX
Editor
Last hurrah
BASEBALL BECOMES~ more and more
meaningless and increasingly dull
with every passing year. The names of
divisions, teams, managers and players
change with bewildering rapidity and the
game always seems at least an inning
longer than the year previous.
The sportscasters and newsmen of
America can't resurrect the old base-
ball from the dead and put its pieces
back together again, despite their ver-
bose 1920's rhetoric.
11HE METS, are baseball's last hurrah;
one final flourish before the sport'
loses all sentiment. Where now even the
loser comes away rich, the Mets are
closest to fulfilling baseball's -ancient
role as a place for the underdog.
Fans must savor the Met triumph;
an anachronism from an era when ath-
letes didn't sell vitalis or open hamburg-
er stands and occasionally played ball in
the rain.
-TOBE LEV
To the Editor:
BEFORE THE bookstore issue
is tucked away as another smiling
victory for reason and order we
should take another brief look to
see what it really reflects.
One hundred and eight persons
felt frustrated enough by their in-
ability to affect the conditions of
their present situation, to stage
* a peaceful sit-in with the full
knowledge that they would be ar-
rested. The conditions leading to
the bookstore confrontation should
never have existed.
At a time when actual personal
communication is exceedingly dif-
ficult and rare, when rapid change
in society demands constructive
innovation, this University - our
University-gave us vivid example
of how truly "affectless" we are.
THE REGENTS twice reviewed
the particulars of an SGC pro-
posal, each time finding reason to
reject it. In their wisdom, they
offered a counter-proposal, but
one that was clearly unacceptable
to the student leaders. Never did
the Regents consider the real is-
sue: the need of these students
to have some decision-making
powers over their own lives.
The handling of this issue is
significant. Students desperately
need to avoid apathy toward their
own existence. These 108 made a
commitment. The administration,
in turn, offered them the chance
to refute their commitment, i.e. to
leave the building. When this fail-
ed, the overwhelming forces of
society were unleashed upon them.
The blue-meanies were allowed to
demonstrate how much real power
these individuals had, to further
convince them that they can have
no real affect upon that society.
Still the group was undefeated.
With a righteous fury they organ-
ized a mass strike, still trying to
affect someone, something. But
few listened. "Yes, we agree with
you," the crowd cried, "but you
didn't go about it in the right
way"- the right way-the way.
AND NOW many are defeated,
some are slowly dying. This in-
stitution is training the elite, the
future leaders. It's training them
to resign themselves to apathy,
because it's easier that way. Car-
in is too costly (go to jail). Car-
ing is for p e r v e r t s (hippy-
radicals).
Apathy. The next step is vio-
lence, because man cannot bear
the effect of nothingness-unable
to affect, trying to constantly to
avoid being hurt.
There are still some students
on this campus who are trying. At
least a few want to have an effect,
on their closefriends as well as
on society. Why then have we so
inhibited those who want to give?
Why is our campus a breeding
ground for apathy when the so-
ciety desperately needs innovators
to cope with its constant changes?
TEACH FEAR. Teach with-
drawal.
To those who argue that there
are lines of communication I re-
ply: tile presence of communica-
tion lines is not enough. They
must be used. They must be pro-
moted, expanded, and pushed.
To meet tile needs of this so-
ciety, our University needs to pro-
vide many capable young men and
women who deeply believe they
can have a positive effect on their
society, without destroying that
society. Are we doing that?
-Bob Sornson, '71
Chauvinism ,
To the Editor:
RICK PERLOFF'S article "There
Really Was Nothing Else We Could
Do" is an excellent example of the
attitude which women's liberation
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"Under no circumstances will I be affected whatever
by the Vietnam moratorium protest."
groups generally call "male chau-
vinism." First of all, the facts upon
which his conclusions were based
were inaccurate. The action at the
draft board was planned by three
women's liberation groups to en-
courage organized political action
by women. Thus, the fact that it
was not spontaneous was essential
to understanding the entire action.
The sequence of events in the
draft board consisted not of "aim-
less chanting" and "polite secre-
taries." One of our chants (quoted
incorrectly in the article) was "We
are women, we are strong, we are
fighting what is wrong. End tile
war, end the war!", used expressly
because this was a women's action.
We were met by two detectives
and the people's friend, Eugene
'Staudenmeier. The former barred
our entrance into the Selective
Service Office. One of the secre-
taries and at least one police
photographer took pictures almost
continuously. The secretary was,
by no stretch of the imagination,
polite." Our action was accom-
panied by the reading and distri-
bution of a carefully prepared
statement (copy enclosed) ex-
plaining our position as women
against the war, which Mr. Per-
loff neglected to mention.
OUR IMPRESSION of the tone
of the demonstration was not that
"nobodykcared" or that people
were looking to recreate a Wood-
stock atmosphere, but rather one
of tremendous solidarity as women
acting against oppression. We had
no illusions that this action would
end the war or the draft.
. We object to the overall con-
descending and defeatist tone of
the article. One specific example
of the "male chauvinism" men-
tioned earlier is Mr. Perloff's
reference to men who "laugh with
their co-eds." Also, the Daily pre-
sent at the sit-in asked some of
us if we were "enjoying ourselves,"
which would not have been asked
of a male group.
It is true that "there really was
nothing else we could do," but that
is due to the enormity of the
amount of change needed in this
country. This does not mean that
one should do nothing.
-Women's Liberation
Sit-in justice
To the Editor:
LAW AND ORDER is indeed
breaking down in this country, and
the nucleus of its collapse is the
courtroom.
Right now I am being tried for
contention along with 107 others
in connection with the sit-in in
the LSA Building. And I am learn-
ing a painful and frightening
truth: the civil liberties which as
Americans we so cherish are large-
ly a myth.
This is what we encountered so
far:
NO ARREST WARRANT, no
notification of charge or rights,
no immediate release for those
with bail money, no delay in trial
for consultation with lawyers, no
individual trial, no peremptory
challenge of jurors-in essence.
few of those sacred, inalienable
rights (for free, that is).
And, besides this illegal proce-
dure of the trials. there is the
more blatant violation of rational
justice, exemplified by Judge
Thomassen's statement: "the court
would instruct you (the jury) to
find the six (defendants) guilty
as individuals" if they were merely
-Richard Nixon
part of a group of 108 found guilty
of creating a contention. In other
words, if each of us is found guilty
of trespass (merely being there)
we can be convicted of contention,
which carries a penalty three
times as harsh.
A SOCIETY and a legal system
which do not discriminate between
non-disruptive civil disobedience
and disruption; which make no
rom for effective dissent, can in-
vite nothing but more of the same,
or worse.
-Ellen Frankel
Residential College, '73
Ungoldly war
To the Editor:
WHAT TOOK place on Wednes-
day, Oct. 15th should convince
any fair minded and impartial in-
dividual as to the widespread re-
pugnance and opposition of the
American people to the ungodly
conflict now going on in Vietnam.
After a long and bloody struggle
the Vietnamese finally drove the
French out of their country. Al-
most immediately, however, Amer-
icans started to trickle in. Soon
our soldiers were there by the
hundreds of thousands although
no Declaration of War was ever
declared. And with these soldiers
came vast quantities of napalm
fire bombs and other terrifying
and deeply shocking weapons of
death and destruction.
IT WAS an involvement that
never should have taken place. It
was an involvement that was con-
demned in almost every part of
the world and it has been an in-
volvement that has taken our very
lief's blood and created domestic
problems so serious as to be almost
beyond solution.
But after nine long years of cis-
sipating our resources and rev-
enues and bringing tens of thou-
sands of our 18 and 19 year old
boys back in coffins the war
mongers and profit mad war sup-
pliems are still able to keep us in
this unholy and terrifying tummoil.
LET NO PERSON be fooled by
the all important issues which face
us here. The powers that be in
Washington have now been given
a certain and compelling mandate
by a clear majority of the Amer-
ican people. Will they honor that
mandate and end the war or will
they continue their insulting and
autocratic alibis and excuses. The
days directly ahead will give the
all important answers.
-Charles C. Lockwood, '14
Oct. 16
Feldkamp speaks
To the Editor:
THE MICHIGAN DAILY er-
roneously reported that a four-
page report was received by the
Board of Governors from the In-
ter-House Assembly. The report in
fact was submitted by a commit-
tee appointed by the Office of
University Housing composed of
two students and three staff mem-
bers. The Board of Governors took
no action at their meeting of Oct.
16, 1969, but did schedule a meet-
ing for October 30, 1969, to con-
sider the committee's report.
This letter is in no way intend-
ed to indicate whether or not the
IHA supports the report. Jack
Myers was one of the two students
serving on this committee. Jack
and the other members of- the
comittee all contributed to the
writing of the report.
-John Fedkmap, Director
University Housing
Oct. 17
Stadium rally
To the Editor:
THURSDAY'S HEADLINE ar-
ticle by Koppman, Neubacher, and
Jacobs about the Stadium rally
Wednesday was pregnant with
errors. The Stadium was packed
from field to. press box with the
density equal to that of a Michi-
gan-Michigan State game and a
distance along the front running
more than the entire straight side
of the field. This indicates approx-
imately 30,000 people in attend-
ance, not 20,000.
FURTHERMORE, having talk-
ed with Roger Craig personally,
he informed me that he is a Dem-
ocrat from the Taylor area, not
a Republican from Flint. M o s t
importantly, the audience dis-
played its greatest enthusiasm
when it received Senator H a r t
with cheers and a standing ova-
tion, NOT when the SRC started
to play, at which t i m e enough
people left to pack the exiting
streets as if it were a post-game
football Saturday. I sincerely hope
that, in the future, these Daily
reporters discipline their atten-
tiveness so that they might per-
ceive wat exists.
-Gerald N. Rogan M2
Oct. 16, 1969
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Another view on ROTC: Getting the cat out of a neutralii
y bag
By BARD MONTGOMERY
SOME IMPORTANT things are
recognized in the majority re-
port of the faculty committee in-
vestigating ROTC. It does not dis-
pute, for example, that ROTC is a
"recruiting and training program for
the military" with negligible aca-
demic merit.
Even better, the majority feels that
"action of every kind (ought to be)
undertaken to ensure that the power
of the University is exercised against
improper military influence in our
society."
But the 13 professors recoiled from
these initial perceptions, logically
supporting the abolition of ROTC on
campus. By not advocating ROTC's
abolition with its obviously political
consequences, the committee dodged
the Inevitable conclusions of its
"purely academic" analysis.
"One man's moral position," they
say, "is another man's propaganda,"
and every moral argument can be
countered by another. So the com-
mittee declined to choose sides at all
costs.
And the professors also emphasized
the uselessness of commenting "on
fair when recommending revocation
of academic status, credit, and pro-
fessorial titles.
The signatories of the majority re-
port possibly unconsciously adopted
this double standard not from per-
fidy, but from a reluctance to pursue
questions that might threaten one of
their own social supports.
The professor can probe his dis-
cipline independently of established
ideologies. He defends this right by
invoking the convention of academic
neutrality distinguishing its work
from its potential , political conse-
quences. In this way, moral judg-
ments that may attach to the con-
sequences of his work need never
challenge his right to do that work.
Members of the Academic Affairs
committee don't necessarily have
anything to hide. But they must still
preserve the myth that academic
functions are neutral in themselves,
and that academic functionaries can-
not be held responsible for the con-
sequences.
Thus the committee demotes the
ROTC issue to non-academic status
lest it embarrass the myth of aca-
drmie neiiality.
. . within the University as an in-
stitution, apart from the current
political climate."
The University could be attacked
by some critics for training the cor-
porate staff of our economic system,
at least implicitly a political function.
Even the broadly liberal education
emphasized by the ihumanities and
distribution requirements, w h i c h
would not seem to have much direct
social consequence. prepares students
to perform the externally designated
intellectual tasks that they will take
up as members of the corporate staff.
HAVING DECIDED that ending
ROTC or the alternative of just
leaving it alone could only be justified
politically, the committee decided to
modify the program internally, by
stripping its departmental status,
academic credit, and professorial
titles.
The recommendations failed to
take into account, however, that once
this is done, there is no academic
excuse left for retaining ROTC at
all.
The committee even admits at two
points that there were no legitimate
icals who want to limit military
power.
Despite the best efforts of the
majority report, the matter will ulti-
mately be decided on precisely those
public considerations the professors
strained so hard to ignore.
WHAT IS NEEDED is a University
body competent to make such decis-
ions. Some of the current authorities
- like the Regents and administra-
tion - are directly beholden to the
political and social status quo. Others
like the faculty support the status
quo tacitly but effectively from a po-
sition of "neutrality."
A University parliament including
students and perhaps non-academic
employees as well as faculty and ad-
ministration, could hopefully con-
sider more non-academic implica-
tions of University issues like ROTC.
As things stand, however, some of
those who have examined the ques-
tions that the majority report tried
to dodge have concluded that t h e
military is an improper influence on
our society, let alone other societies.
'rh "n -11nn ninritr rnnr f , .
technical and leadership skills in the
custody of the defense department.
The DOD then uses ROTC officers
on their stint of active duty to man-
age the employment of a non-colle-
giate soldiery recruited through com-
pulsion or lack of social opportunity.
This employment often entails such
non-academic pursuits as dying and
killing.
CURIOUSLY THE MAJORITY re-
ports suggests that its mild recom-
mendations could "serve as a model
for other institutions," while aboli-
tion would have no "effective result"
on the role of the military in this
country," since training would go on
anyhow. The committee might also
be reluctant to interfere with a mug-
ger's assault on the grounds that they
couldn't stop crime that way.
This University, however, could
follow Harvard a n d lead other
schools in frustrating, and at best
limiting the DOD's access to person-
nel, and the undesirable effects this
easy access has on t h e personnel,
along with the effects on this and
other societies,