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SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1968
NIGHT EDITOR: STEVE NISSEN
The task before the
ad hoc comnnttee now
DESPITE the well-advised decision of
the Regents to postpone action on the
reorganization of the Office of Student
Affairs, a democratic role for students in
their own affairs is still a long way from
realization.
The ad hoc committee charged with
preparing an alternative structure of
OSA for the Regents has serious obstacles
to surmount before any compromise
meaningful to students is reached.
That committee is presently working
on several proposals for a University ju-
dicial system, but disagreement among
its members rests at a very basic level.
The -question which will cause the
greatest conflict in the committee is who
shall be responsible for the adjudication
of cases involving conduct which is "dis-
ruptive" to the University.
INTRANSIGENT position of the
administration on this point comes
through clearest in the statements of
William Haber, committee-member and
assistant to President Fleming. At one
meeting this week Haber asked student
members of the committee how he could
be sure an all-student judiciary would
enforce University rules.
The comment was not only an insult
to the students on the committee, but a
good indication that any reasonable com-
promise may never be reached. For if the
administration can offer no more trust
to students than Haber expressed, then
further negotiations are futile.
Then there is the question of expul-
sions. The University has been very for-
tunate in the past. No student in recent
memory has been expelled for non-
academic reasons. But it seems the dis-
ruptions of Columbia and Paris have add-
ed a new impetus to the forces who want
a mechanism to oust dissident elements
and therefore rid the campus of disrup-
tion.
THE FALLACIES of using a semi-purge
to control the University seem obvious
enough. Such an action would destroy
any degree of mutual communication and
cooperation between Fleming and student
leaders and plunge the campus back into
the depths of the Hatcher era.
Why then does the administration in-
sist on a mechanism designed to insure
the suspension or expulsion of students
for disruptive activity?
There is no offense for which a stu-
dent should be expelled. Why destroy
the relative calm of the University by
senseless purging of dissidents? It is a
course which can only have tragic con-
sequences, for certainly this campus
would rise to the occasion as it has done
in the past.
But the mood of universities is no long-
er as peaceful and patient as in past
years.
IT IS TIME the administration and Re-
gents realize students will insist on
controlling their non-academic Univer-
sity lives. That principle must be the
starting point for any negotiations in-
volving conduct and discipline of stu-
dents.
Secondly, they must realize that expul-
sions are not the answer to disruptions of
the University by students. Only mean-
ingful dialogue and student participation
in decision-making can avert that kind
of protest.
And lastly, the administration must
show it is willing to trust students with
the responsibilities in adjudicating Uni-
versity rules. Any less sincere action is
courting disaster.
-STEVE NISSEN
Where
By MARTIN HIRSCHMAN
LOOKING OUT OF their third-
story window in Ferris Booth
Hall in the early morning of
April 30, reporters of the Colum-
bia Spectator, the school's stu-
dent newspaper had a birds-eye
view of 1000 police clearing stu-
dents from five university build-
ings, arresting hundreds.
This week several Spectator
staff members were hurrying to
recapture the moment (and the
events that lead up to and follow-
ed it) in what will by a 300 page
book.
But by the time the volume
reaches bookstores in November it
will very likely represent an out-
dated first chapter in the chron-
icling of the revolution at Colum-
bia.
For although a battery of fac-
ulty committees is racing the ca-
lendar to prepare proposals for
reforming the university's- deci-
sion-making and disciplinary pro-
cedures before school reopens, the
odds are weighted heavily against
avoiding a second massive con
frontation between students and
administration.
ON THE administration side,
there has been little indication
of readiness to move away from
the rigid posture towards students
which has been its stance for
several years.
And the resignation, announced
last week, of Associate Dean of
the undergraduate men's division
Alexander Platt gave rise to spe-
culation that thegadministration
would continue to be as intran-
sigent as ever. People's minds
Although Platt would not com- try."
ment on his resignation, it was Rudd, who
reportedly a reslt of his differ- one year for]
ences with the central adminis- demonstration
tration over the school's response continue his a
to student demands. lumbia camp
But even if the administration fact, he receiv
does a quick about-face and ac- confidence th
cepts some or all of the six de- the largest m
mands students levelled last didate in win
spring, f u r t h e r confrontation the strike cor
would still be almost inevitable,
LOOKING F
"WE DON't INTEND to keep university to I
our demands," explains Josie taken over (vi
Duke, a member of the strike com- the Phi Epsilo
mittee which guided protesting adatent to th
students through the spring crisis, a no-tuition
"As revolutionaries our demands School offerin
can't be met." olution.
Miss Duke and her fellow mem- Oddly enoug
bers of Columbia's Students for which houses
a Democratic Society foresee and owned by the
are planning for the reorientation the $1,600 sum
of the university into "a spring- the fraternity
board for revolution." students' prot
To make adirecttconfrontation bia's expansio
with the administration soon after Before retur
the university opens even more of the studen
likely, SDS members now say that some time in
after reviewing the actions of the in jail, this su
past year they find that militant trials of thos
tactics, should be used, not after in the spring
a drive for support, but as a week and quit
means of attaining that support. bers will emp
So, while SDS resorted to the fense. Their al
take-over of buildings last spring that when thi
only after trying such peaceful university bu
avenues of influencing the ad- acting politici
ministration as the petition on the as charged.
gymnasium, there is no indication By offering
they will repeat this procedure in their actionsI
September, members seet
SDS members believe they are ing that actio
now ready for a successful con- the needs of w
frontation with the administra- repressive' s
tion because attitudes on campus But morei
have been "polarized" by events than their coi
in the spring. tablishment o
Columbia. Th
IRONICALLY, the adminis- driving force
tration was pivotal in effecting confrontation,
this polarization. Had they ac- momentum of
ceded to only a few of the stu- pletely dissip
dents' demands, SDS members to take some
readily admit that-support would fireworks coul
probably have fallen off. ond week in O
"It's a funny thing," explains
one SDS member, "if you win MODERATE
you're co-opted and if you lose campus see th
you've won." versity Preside
Instead, over 1000 students were essential if t
arrested between March and chance of pea
June and the movement has be- fall.
come probably the largest in the Kirk has be
history of student power. the administra
But despite their exceptional low students a
success in organizing the campus, sity's decision-
SDS members have made it clear Last April,
that their ultimate interest lies refused to res
outside, not inside, the university signed by 170
community. for the suspen
"We're not interested in win- of a gymnasiu
ning demands," proclaims one of ningside ParkN
she earliest casualties of the school from F
spring uprising, SDS President Lion was late
Mark Rudd. "But in changing not been resum
Columbia
goes
now
y the seCond week of October, there will be another Columbia
in Columb*ia's future.
Boring from within, 1968
'THAT THE END of the two party system
may be upon us now is a fact as para-
doxical as it is imminent.
In no other country have only two
parties been able consistently to encom-
pass satisfactorily the myriad political
views which any dynamic social system
produces. Yet the very strength of the
two parties over so many years is what
now threatens their viability.
For the disaster which the Democrats
and, to a lesser degree, the Republicans,
face as they enter their national con-
ventions comes not from without but
from within their own ranks. George
Wallace's crew of fundamentalists and
the Citizens for New Politics - Peace
and Freedom backers of Eldridge Cleaver
present only a paltry danger to the Re-
publican-Democrat stranglehold. Signif-
icantly, neither the threat from the
rightist or leftist splinters is based so
much on deep-seated ideological convic-
tions as on the belief that they and those
who share their viewpoints within the
established parties will never gain as-
cendancy. That is, there are Democrats
and Republicans who share the substan-
tive ideological preference of Wallace's
independents and Cleaver's new poli-
ticians, but the timeworn ability of the
two major parties to envelop (and neu-
tralize) every conceivable ideological fac-
tion has convinced those on both fringes
that third, fourth and fifth parties are
necessary if the results they seek are
ever to come about.
' t 3ia. OttI
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Summer Editorial Stafg
DANIEL OKRENT ...,....,.......... Co-Editor
URBAN LEHNER ......................... Co-Editor
TET THESE splinter organizations, while
blessed with unmatchable fervor, are
powerless. Were they the only threat,
there would be no threat. What endan-
gers the continued stability of the Re-
publicans and Democrats are the fac-
tions behind Rockefeller and McCarthy
rather than the parties behind Wallace
and Cleaver.
For these have been able to convince
substantial numbers of'backers that "the
people" have been cheated, that Nixon
and Humphrey represent only the ma-
chine and professional politicians. The
seriousness of the very different problems
they see facing the nation coupled with
this felt inability of the two-party sys-
tem to function democratically has pro-
duced a political absolutism among large
numbers of citizens which the two par-
ties, having always banked on comprom-
ise and unprincipled "party loyalty," can-
not tolerate if they are successfully to
continue.
In another country, the dissidents
would have no such potential power. They
would have already done what Cleaver
and Wallace have done, formed or worked
through new political parties to reflect
their visions and hopes. But in America,
with its long tradition of two party poli-
tics, they have decided to work within
the two parties. And they are gaining
support by the hour.
THUS, Nixon's position in the Republi-
can presidential race is no longer so
secure as it was several weeks ago. Rocke-
feller and in the background Reagan are
gathering partisans rapidly. In the Demo-
cratic party, the situation is even more
menacing: The supporters of McCarthy,
many of them, refuse to accept defeat.
Should Humphrey be nominated, there
is considerable doubt that he will be able
to hold the party together, especially if
he is pitted against Rockefeller.
Thus, if Nixon and Humphrey are suc-
cessful in the face of this highly emo-
tional opposition, there is reason to think
that many lifelong Republican and Dem-
ocratic supporters will bolt the party for
one of the sixth or seventh parties that
could conceivably be formed, switch to
Cleaver or Wallace, or go fishing.
in the whole coun-
was suspended for
his involvement tin
s last spring will
activity on the Co-
us nonetheless. In
ved a strong vote of
is week garnering
ajority of any can-
ning re-election to
mmittee.
ORWARD from the
the nation, SDS has
a sublet, not sit-in)
'n Pi fraternity house
e campus and set up
Summer Liberation
g 38 courses in rev-
gh. the very building
the free school is
university (although
nmer rent is paid to
). One object of the
est has been Colum-
)n p~olicies.
ring to school many
ts will be spending
court, and possibly
mmer. Many of the
e students arrested
g have begun this
te a few SDS mem-
loy a political de-
attorneys will argue
Ley were arrested in
ildings they were
ally, not trespassing
political defense for
in the spring, SDS
themselves as mak-
n more relevant to
Phat they consider a.
ociety.
important to them
curt cases is the es-
f a "power base" at
is will be a major
in the expected fall
and before the
the spring is com-
ated, SDS is likely
strong action. The
d begin by the sec-
ctober.
FACTIONS on
e retirement of uni-
ent Grayson Kirk as
here is to be any
ace on campus this
come the symbol of
ation's refusal to al-
say in the univer-
-making process.
for example, Kirk
spond to a petition
00 students calling
sion of construction
m complex in Mor-
which separates the
Harlem. (Construc-
r halted and has
ned.)
Later, Kirk directed the sus
pension of the five student leader
who headed the march indoorst
present the petition (thus break
ing a ban on indoor demonstra
tions which the president himse
had initiated last fall. And an
other Kirk directive later in th
spring led to the suspension of7
more students for protest activit
Rumors are sspreading acro
campus that Kirk, now 65, w
retire this fall. In fact, before dis
ruptions broke out on campus th
president was expected to retir
at the end of the past academi
year after 15 years at the rein
of the Ivy League school.
THE PRESUMPTION is tha
Vice President David Truma
would fill-in until a successort
Kirk could be chosen. But Tr
man has been linked much t
closely with Kirk over the pa
past year to enable him to lea
the university out of chaos.
Furthermore, it is unlikely tha
the university's Trustees, who a
the object of much derision b
students, have either the desiret
recruit someone acceptable to stu
dents, or the ability to get hi:
quickly enough.
There have been two light,
not bright spots so far this sum
mer. The appointment of Cat
Hovde as dean of Columbia Co
lege, is sure to gain favor wit
some students. Hovde has express
ed opposition to the administr
tion's policy of pressing trespa
charges against students arrest
in university buildings.
And the creation of the po
of director of student interes
marks the first time students w
have any direct link with the un
versity's central administration.
But little optimism surroun
these two moves. As dean of C
lumbia College, Hovde will hav
no influence on the Truste
where any of the student
six demands are concerned. An
the appointment recently of Irv
ing DeKoff to fill the newly cr
ated student interests directorsh
drew immediate opposition fro:
students.
THE PROSPECT for a yearo
sober reflection at Columbia see
dim. And just to start things o
with a bang. SDS has plannedi
special treat for the administra
tion.
For the entire week directly pr
ceeding the resumption classe
Columbia SDS will host a world
wide convention of radicals. The
is a strong chance that Germa
student leader Rudi Deutschk
will be in attendance.
"That," says Miss Duke with
twinkle in her eyes, "should se
the mood for the openingo
school."
rs t. JAMES WECHSLER --
.AMESnk-
lf
- Columbia ckadlock:
he
70
sl shoulld Kirk retire?
ill
5-
he IT IS TIME to look beyond the approaching strife of the politica
re conventions to the crucial tests of autumn, including those that will
ns occur on the ancient battleground of Baker Field. The advent of a new
coaching regime, headed by Frank Navarro, recently of Williams,
at evoked many bright hopes among Columbia adherents who have en-
in dured the Saturday suffering of recent years. But soon after Navarro's
to appointment there ensued the campus storms of spring, and uncer-
oa tainty still shadosw the landscape. It is hard to visualize an harassed
st Lion with pickets on his back engaging in effective combat with raw
Princeton power.
at As far as one can ascertain in a surface survey, Columbia's in-
re ternal crisis remains bleakly unresolved. What might have been anotper
by major upheaval was at least temporarily averted last week when Su-
to
u_ preme Court Justice Mitchell Schweitzer intervened to rescue two coed
m trespassers from the 15-day maximum sentences inexplicably imposed
on a sweltering July day by Judge Amos Basel.
if
shaWHEN I READ of Schweitzer's action, I recalled an ordeal we
h by three points with eight minutes to play bu old Eli had the ball
s.. and was moving mercilessly down the field.
a- Judge Schweitzer, a member of Columbia's football addiction
ss
'd society, whispered nervously during a tense timeout: "The next time
I sentence anybody for eight years, I'll remember how long eight min-
st utes can be." Somehow the drive was stopped; the game ended joyously
ts for our side. Conceivably such private trials help judges achieve new
ill levels of compassion and perspective.
ci-
But the basic stalemate on Morningside Heights persists. The
ds prospect of new turmoil in September remains essentially undimin-
o- ished despite so notable a development as the designation of Carl F.
ve Hovde as Columbia College's new dean.
es
's'
d IN MINIATURE the condition confronting Columbia's administra-
v- tion is not unlike the discord which led Lyndon Johnson to step
e- down last March. I have never accepted the devil theory of president
ip Grayson Kirk (or of Johnson). Both faltered into large-scale conflicts
'm out of inadvertence and ineptitude rather than sinister design; both
were to some extent victims of circumstances they had inherited, and
of issues they did not invent; both have been peculiarly vulnerable
in to harsh caricature. Kirk has history on his side in noting wryly that
ff some of his current faculty critics had been conspicuously silent or
a absent-minded until the campus blew up. The charges of "racism"
- leveled at him over the projected new gymnasium in Harlem were as
unjust as they were belated.
e-
s, Moreover, many who have reproached Kirk for his aloofness from
d- campus life choose to forget that he continued a tradition set by Nich-
re olas Murray Butler (whom most members of my class of '35 saw ex
n actly once - at a freshman orientation lecture) an; carried on by
e Dwight D. Eisenhower.
a
et YET AS THE DEADLOCK deepens on such matters as student
of suspensions and procedural reforms, it must be increasingly plain that
there can be no real revival at Columbia until Kirk announce an hon-
orable retirement and a new president is installed. Somewhat like Mr.
Johnson, Kirk has too large an investment in the errors of the past.
He has become a negative symbol, and an easy target for those whose
objective is random disruption at any price; he has no authentic re-
lationship with many faculty members and students who are grouping
for positive reform and reconstruction.
He is not a man afflicted with power-lust or vengefulness. There
is no reason to believe that he would have retired at the end of last
semester (he will be 65 in October) if there had been no violent scenes.
After the blowup he was understandably unwilling to quit under fire;
it required fortitude to remain.
BUT PROLONGATION of his presence into the fall term can only
delay any serious new beginning on Morningside Heights. Whether
he relishes the role or not, he has come to personify a hard line toward
dissidents that can fatally obstruct any early reconciliation. Only a
new president can proclaim that the past is dead, and a fresh start
at hand for all who are unwedded to dogmas of destruction.
Surely all this must be apparent to Dr. Kirk and to those of
Columbia's trustees who understand what has happened in these angry
months. The troublesome question is whether university provost David
Truman, so long visualized as Kirk's successor, must be branded the
Ai1
"No, I will not run for president of Columbia University"
V
lik