ii Siatian Daihj Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan 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. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVID SPURR Ho dared to struggle, he'llwin "1WAIT UNTIL I'm dead," Ho Chi Minh told the late great Bernard Fall. "Then you can write about me all you want." There was plenty for the perceptive chronicler of the Vietnam conflict to write. Ho was a devious, brilliant leader who seized power from the French imperialists who demeaningly called him Ba during his yuoth. He was an ascetic devoted to seeking independence from the United States and addicted to menthol Salems. But the war obscures the death of an old man and leaves one with less to say about Uncle Ho than about the movement at whose vanguard he served. For Ho was a pragmatic communist engaged in a struggle for na- tional independence not an ideological struggle. In the twenties he abandoned socialism in favor of communism because he felt socialist ideology ignored his nation's plight, "I don't understand a thing about strategy, tactics and all the other big words you use, but I do under- stand one thing: The Third International concerns itself a great deal with the colonial question. Its delegates promise to help the oppressed colonial peoples to regain their liberty and independence. The ad- herents of the Second International have not said a word about the fate of the colonial areas." AND LATER, in the forties, Ho proclaimed himself only "a member of the Vietnamese family, nothing else. During and following World War II, the Vietnamese leader engineered a national movement which first wrenched control from the Japanese and then from the crippled French. He riveted national attention upon himself and helped his people brace for an onslaught from the United States. "You must know of our resolution," he told the last American journalists to interview him in 1967. "Not even your nuclear weapons would force us to sur- render after so long and violent struggle for the independence of our country." Ho was right. America sits at the peace table and can not ensure the "honorable peace" it has shamelessly demanded for so long. It is clear that this charismatic leader's struggle will not expire with his demise. Although the White House declines comment on the man's death, the people of both Vietnams mourn him. Ho leaves behind a fiercely independent nation and a nagging challenge to the United States: "I think I know the American people and I don't understand how they can support their involvement in this war. Is the Statue of Liberty standing on her head?" let's hope I1' I, I I! 1 THE EDITORIAL DIRECTORS Robben and Marty, an unholy alliance '4:19 I1, Ac0,'. ., M)TWW. -meo s3 How the President spent your summer vacation THE PECULIAR, often sad, thing about summer is not that people relax and nothing happens, but that things happen and people relax. While almost all Frenchmen were at the ocean last Aug- ust, for example, their government de- valued the franc, for better rather than worse. For Pompidou's new regime, the move was a well-timed coup, designed to improve the sagging economy and to dis- please as few people as possible. However, in America, more deplorable events occurred. While Americans sun- ned, soldiers died in Vietnam. While ghetto residents sweated, the President proposed a theoretically ambitious, but financially weak, welfare program. While Detroiters went up north, their children's school teachers discussed strik- ing and now one-half million state stu- dents are still out of school. MEANWHILE, BACK in South Carolina, Strom Thurmond sipped mint julip while the President nominated a South- ern reactionary to the Supreme Court. And this act may prove the most far reaching of all. Although 'Haynsworth has received more apologies than the plantation sys- tem, and called a "mediocre slob" in Time by a Yale law professor, he has been denounced by the -AFL-CIO and civil rights leaders as being anti-union and racist. Several of his decisions are questioned, but outstanding is one which concluded that it is enough for t h e courts to declare segregation illegal with- out taking action against school dis- tricts which practice it. Thus in the county involved, whites were permitted to stop funding and close public schools and set up private institutions for their children. Black children went without an education for a year, until the Supreme Court and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare intervened, over- riding Haynsworth. INDEED, THE bleakest thing about the Nixon administration is the way it has conceded to southern demands, in return for promises of southern support, and slowed down government action in the area of civil rights. Next summer may not be so pleasant. -HENRY GRIX Editor By STEVE ANZALONE Editorial Page Editor ROBBEN FLEMING is an unus- ually candid man. The other night he told incom- ing freshmen that the University as an institution was more im- portant than he is or they are as individuals. I have no doubts that m a n y college presidents genuinely en- tertain this thought; I did n o t think that even Mr. Fleming had the candor to say it in public. But he did, and inadvertantly it was one of the most realistic and de- plorable things that he said all night. It is clear that this concern for the preservation of institutions over the more immediate concern for individuals betrays a violation of traditional democratic thought. At its most extreme, it becomes the justification for the existence of the state above all else, and is one of the underlying philosoph- ical assumptions of fascism. I find it necessary to remind Mr. Fleming that even liberals ad- mit that institutions, including the university, exist only to serve individuals. As such, the individ- ual must be considered more im- portant than the actual structure of the institution itself. When in- stitutions no longer meet the needs of individuals, then it is the duty of those individuals to either change the institutions or destroy it. This is not a radical idea by any means: it is at the heart of Jefferson's reasoning in the Dee- laration of Independence. OTHER THAN THIS state- ment, which hopefully was a slip of the tongue, the President's wel- come was more or less typical: the unwarranted standing ova- tions, the anachronistic school songs, and the SGC president as spoiler. The event reminded me of my first days as a freshman when former President Harlan Hatcher locked horns with erstwhile cam- pus 'leader Ed Robinson. Hatcher was decently innocuous and Rob- inson was decently irreverant. And as usual, the audience 'liked both. Three years have passed since then, Fleming is now president and much smarter than Hatcher. Marty McLaughlin has a better grasp on the realities of student power and the structure of the University than Ed Robinson had. So, the outcome was destined to be a temporary stalemate in the battle between administrator and student. The most. important thing that McLaughlin accomplished Wed- nesday night w a s to secularize some student thinking. The ori- entation experience inevitably leads new students to see the Uni- versity in somewhat divine and heavenly t ermins. McLaughlin brought some of these people out of the clouds and back to reality. tIcLAUGHLIN'S address got off to a slow start. Some of his phil- osophical groundwork w a s per- haps lost on the new students. But by the end of h i s address many of them were audibly im- pressed. His best moments came in re- counting the story of how Flem- ing and the Regents killed the bookstore idea. This perhaps did more than anything else to con- vince students that McLaughlin's observations of the decision-mak- ing structure of the University are indeed in need of repair. By the response f r o m the audience it looks like the bookstore could be a good issue this year. But McLaughlin did not need the President's welcome to expand his constiuency. He need not at- tract freshmen to radical politics by oratory. Support will come his way after students begin their ed- ucation and events start happen- ing around them. The President's welcome is clearly for the Presi- dent. It is the moment in time when the class of 1973 w ill be most impressed by him. It was Fleming's night and he was effective. Immediately, he jocularly informed the audience that he kicks his dog and beats his wife. Gross self-deprecation is always popular; humor always es- tablishes one as a man of good- will. THEN FLEMING repeated his usual offer to discuss issues with students and debate anyone at any time. It is a generous offer from a sincere man. But at the same time it is more important as a crowd pleaser than as a device to insure real dialogue in the Uni- versity community. Another way that Fleming wins allegiance is by convincing people that his job is practically impossi- ble. He portrays his job as a med- iator between conflicting constit- uencies - taxpayers, students, alumni, faculty, and (believe it or not) parents. One cannot help but be impressed by a man caught in the ring of such an impossible ar- rangement. But I am sure that most stu- dents would be glad to share some of the decision-making responsi- bility and relieve Fleming of the tremendous burden that rests on his shoulders. NEVERTHELESS, the freshmen left Hill Aud. probably impressed by both McLaughlin and Fleming. But such an unholy alliance in one's mind c a n lead to schizo- phrenia, and it will be soon time to choose sides. Sen. Huber and 'U': Creating a cause for hysteria JOURNALISTIC pejoratives have long been inadequate to describe the dark forces of unreason that are represented in the State Senate by the presence of Robert Huber. Huber's tenure in state government is a constant reminder of how much repression and reaction threaten the University community. Huber's committee to investigate "campus disorders" was forged out of a combination of Huber's right-wing fan- aticism and his personal desires for poli- tical aggrandizement through witchhunt grandstanding. By complying with Huber's request for information concerning campus political groups, the University has failed to take a stand against the despicable anti-in- tellectual forces that consume Huber. Only under order of subpoena should the University ever even consider giving this committee so much as the time of day as long as Huber's motives so clearly in- dicate that he is bent on destroying the University and the civil liberties of its students and faculty. the administration not to breach the codes it has established prohibiting the release of documents which "relate to the student's loyalty and patriotism, his political, religious and moral outlook, or his private life." The University should make these guidelines more explicit and tell the com- mittee that no privileged information will be released. Students and faculty have a right to demand these more concrete guidelines from the administration because the Uni- versity's behavior in the past on such issues has not been commendable. It must be remembered that the University once buckled under during the McCarthy hysteria and silently dismissed several professors accused of communist s y m- pathies. More recently, the University also complied with an order to release information to the HUAC including membership lists of certain student or- ganizations. ALTHOUGH PRESIDENT Fleming's ad- In hebeginning By MICHAEL THORYN Contributing Editor A LOT OF PEOPLE were looking this week. Many were looking for a new drug dealer since Jack felt the heat. About 30 freshmen men were looking for pants Tuesday night in a disappointing raid. They got four at Stockwell Hall as this reporter watched. "We want pants, we want pants," they chanted. Lights went on in the Hall. I grabbed the arm of an apparent leader. "What do you really want," I asked. "We really want pants," he said. Probably they had failed at the giant mixer of the evening. Thou- sands cram into the Union Ballroom, spilling out onto Regents' Plaza. The men eye the women. She looks interesting. No, the nose is too big. Or she's too tall. But maybe the fellow his the strength to stand the heat and the guts to make a approach. The questions. What's your name, where are you from, oh you're a freshman, really? UPPERCLASSMEN CALL THEM cattle shows and stay away. But men do not like to be alone and women are often unattatched on September 3. So people choose a costume and bounce to the ball. Veterans of the pcene spend time looking up frineds. The questions, therefore, are different. How did you like Europe, did you have a nice summer. I didn't know you were dating her. Sometimes it's hard to reach your friend. His apartment doesn't have a telephone yet. And of course you could meet him during one of the-tasks required of returning students. REGISTRATION Sit at a key spot, talk to a pretty checker, count your acquain- tances as they go by frowning. Books. Hear the clerk say, "Your professor hasn't turned in his list so we don't have them. Or, the section was cancelled so there aren't any books. Classes. "I didn't know you were interested in Germany from 1870 to 1871." Almost everyone's roommate tries to avoid crucial jobs. Unpacking and cleaning up. His stuff is laying around. The kitchen is already a mess. Nobody wants to cook and the fellow at the Chatterbox is smiling because his business will finally pick up.