by lornia cherot
fit 3idlian Bail
Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
That was the week that was no exception
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: NADINE COHODAS
Bombing North Hall:
Not the answer
THE ROTC bombing accomplished
nothing. North Hall will be restored
by fall - bigger and better than ever.
The bombing will not persuade t h e
Senate Assembly to act any sooner to
suspend academic credit. for ROTC or
force its removal 'from campus. The
bombing could bring a backlash of ROTC
support from faculty members who feel
they must rebuff coercion wherever it
appears.
Even. students who favor removal of
ROTC from campus regard the bombing
as senseless. Many think the bombing
placed the saboteurs on the same level
as the military, whose violence they con-
demn.
If the bombing accomplishes a n y-
thing, it will only heighten the atmos-
phere of violence in the community and
encourage other acts of sabotage a n d
terrorism.
Those who seek to polarize the Uni-
versity community over the ROTC issue
should keep in mind that violent means
are not limited to the anti-ROTC forces.
The bombing may inspire the militant
zealots at the other end of the political
spectrum to escalate the violence by a
similar, though perhaps more grisly retal-
iation.
THOSE WHO REGARDED the bombing
,with cynical nonchalance, ignore the
fact that it will swell the ranks of those
advocating a crackdown on campus dis-
sent by local, state, or federal authorities.
The act will inevitably prejudice many
people against all ROTC protesters. Far
too many will not bother to distinguish
between a senseless act of destruction
and the' bulk of substantive reasoning
why ROTC should go.
The ROTC bombing can only hinder
speedy action on ROTC. And similar
bombings can only hasten the campus
and nation into a quagmire of violence
that lends no hope of solving our vital
problems.
-TOBE LEV
WITH EACH passing week Detroit is
becoming more combustible. Members of
the law enforcement department, namely
the police and DA William Cahalan, con-
tinue to irritate an already over-aggra-
vated issue - the Bethel Church incident.
Cahalan was not satisfied with a tenure
commission investigation of Judge George
Crockett, who dismissed all but 12 people
arrested by the police at the church on
the basis of insufficient evidence and vio-
lation of their constitutional right to a
lawyer during questioning. Cahalan is
moving to indict the Reverend C. L. Frank-
lin, pastor of the Bethel Church, for pos-
session of marijuana.
Cahalan said that he was notified by an
airline that one of the bags Franklin left
on the plane contained marijuana. T h e
airline said they searched the baggage in
order to determine its ownership. But in-
stead of notifying Franklin, the airline
called Cahalan. Cahalan sent the police
and they ran a check on the substance in
the bag. Only then was Franklin notified
- with a warrant for his arrest.
The whole affair sounds too much like a
set up, primarily because the search was
conducted without Rev. Franklin's pres-
ence. It simply is too easy for the police to
have placed the marijuana in his c a s e
themselves.
THE ATTITUDE OF Cahalan and other
city officials amounts to needless abuse of
the black community. The incident began
when police charged into the church and
disrupted a meeting, claiming that some-
one from the church complained to them
about guns in the building. They went in
shooting and took everyone inside to the
police station, where Crockett held im-
promptu hearings. The police didn't even
notify Crockett, it was Detroit Representa-
tive John Conyers who called Crockett and
told him about police actions.
That week and the next, local and na-
tional periodicals published a series of
damaging and distorted articles claiming
Crockett released everyone, many without
listening to testimony from the police.
The following week, self-righteous city
government officials set up a makeshift
tenure commission to investigate Crock-
ett's action. Now, unable to nail Crockett,
Cahalan and the police are trying to pin
Franklin on a dope charge.
White officials in government have done
everything possible to insult blacks and
aggravate the issue. Cahalan tried to usurp
Crockett's prerogative by ordering police-
men to hold some of the people whom the
judge ordered to be released from police
custody. Crockett tried to quell the sen-
sationalism around the issue that was ob-
scuring the legal question by not holding
Cahalan in contempt of court and by dis-
missing the show cause hearing he had set
up for the following day
CROCKETT HAS HELD one news con-
ference - at the end of the first week -
in order to clear up the distorted stories
being published by the press. Members of
the New Republic of Africa, who were the.
target of police action, have issued no
statement concerning the incident, which
was clearly a racist act. Rev. Franklin has
also declined to make any statements to
the press.
This reticence is met by city officials
who seem to be trying to force the black
community into a showdown w i t h the
white power structure. Mayor Jerome Cav-
anagh says he wishes everyone would for-
get about the Bethel Church incident but
yet issues statements saying that although
he is , not certain what happened that
night, he thinks the police acted with pro-
priety. Cavanagh also accused the Detroit
Human Rights Commission of obstruction-
ist tactics when they said they would con-
duct their own investigation on what hap-
pened at Bethel Church while the tenure
commission was holding their investiga-
tion of Crockett.
The Bethel Church incident and police
harrassment of the New Republic of Af-
rica is much too serious an issue to be
swept under the rug, as Cavanagh urges.
But for those truly interested in keeping
Detroit cool for the summer, it would be
safe to ignore it. Unfortunately, Cahalan
and the police are more interested in sat-
isfying their personal egos instead of work-
ing for the good of the Detroit community.
** * *
THE THREE ASTRONAUTS of Apollo
10 are back with some more groovy color'
pictures of the moon. As a matter of fact
Congress is so psyched out that they now
seem willing to consider NASA plans to
spend from $40 billion to $100 billion on
a flight to Mars.
Needless to say the exploits /of our as-
tronauts provoked favorable responses and
helpful suggestions concerning future
plans.-The more interesting letters came
from that illustrious body of lawmakers-
the Senate.'
One senator suggested, that once we get
to the moon we should divide it into 500
acre plots and sell them on the stock
market. Another senator suggested that
the United States make a large enough
flag so that when you look through a tele-
scope, you can see Old Glory flapping in
the breeze.
' * * * *
NEW YORK'S Governor Nelson A,
Rockefeller, our unofficial ambassador to
South America, has finally gotten the gist
of the message "Yanqui ve casa." After
being denied admission into Peru and
Venezuela and precipitating student rioting
in Bolivia, Columbia and Equador, the
Rock is calling a temporary retreat and
is resting up in Trinidad.
Undoubtedly, Rocky's South American
tour - reminiscent of Vice-President
Nixon's fiasco in the 50's - has taken
him down a few pegs in the national
standings, I mean just because he o w n s
Puerto Rico, that's no reason to . .
But the Rock's trip did serve a pur-
pose, it further entrenched Spanish re-
sentment towards Yankee big brotherism,
capitalism with a sugar coating,
,. * * *
THE DUTCH made like the British on
Anguilla, and sent the Royal D u t c h
Army onto the island of Curacao. They
were sent to quell rioting on the island.
The factory workers were protesting for
an increase in salaries. But the disturb-
ances. can be viewed as something other
than a venting of economic frustration.
The islanders are black, and the busi-
nessmen are white.
* * * *
Speaking of white and black, Sam Yorty,
the White Knight, won his third term by
defeating Tom Bradley, the Black Plague,
who reportedly was receiving the backing
of hate-mongering black militants, student
anarchists and known communists.
It appears Sam is trying to revive the
McCarthy era in Los Angeles.
4
Keeping them out of CCNY
CITY COLLEGE of New York has been
consumed by the ogre of politics and
has not been permitted to solve its edu-
cation problems free from the grasping
tentacles of. ambitious politicians who
desire to be mayor of New York.
CCNY, which-was recently rocked by
demonstrations by disgruntled blacks
and Puerto Ricans and by violent alter-
cations between whites and the minority
students, has been swept into a reaction-
ary tidal wave.
The ire of the white majority, who
desire to maintain CCNY as a white en-
clave and bastion of the white power
structure, thundered on the dissident stu-
dents when they proposed a dual ad-
mission plan.
Mayor John V. Lindsay called it a
quota system and threatened to use his
budgetary power by threatening to fur-
ther pinch CCNY's meager funds if the
faculty accepted the students' plan.
Herman Badillo, the Puerto Rican
mayoral hopeful, said the plan was un-
acceptable and that blacks and Puerto
Ricans will have to learn to compete
in a world where only ability and com-
petence count.
OTHER CRITICS - members of the
faculty, white students, and alumni
- say they feel that CCNY's academic
status will be low'ered and the value of
a CCNY diploma will be seriously de-
graded.
CCNY is the poor man's Harvard. It is
a free college and is supposed to serve the
needs of the poor community by provid-
Ing them with a good, free education.
Therefore it is only reasonable that
CCNY reflect the poor population who
attend the public high schools of 1ew
York City. Although the public high
schools are 40 per cent black and Puerto
Rican, CCNY is 85 per cent white.
Burger
CONSIDERING THE enthusiasm that
the Senate whipped up over the Fortas
case, it is surprising how routinely the
Judiciary Committee confirmed the ap-
pointment of new Chief Justice Warren
Burger.
The Senators might take notice of an
article in this issue of L F. Stone's Week-
ly. Mr. Stone reports that Burger upheld
the conviction of a young black who
was overheard making a remark about
wanting to kill the President.
The Supreme Court, fortunately, saw
the foolishness inthe decision of Burger
and the lower court and reversed it with-
out hearing argument. The Court dis-
missed it as nothing more than "political
hyperbole."
Nixon's appointment of Burger seems
to be still another case of "political hy-
perbole.'
-S. A.
Editorial Sta
MARCIA ABRAMSON...................... Co-Editor
STEVE ANZALCNE ....... ................ Co-Editor
MARTIN HIRSCHMAN .. Summer Supplement Editor
Traditionally, CCNY has always ad-
mitted students regardless of their high
school academic record - so long as the
ability to do college work and the desire
to advance himself was present in the
student. It is only because the state and
the city have been negligent in meeting
the financial needs of CONY that the
school has been forced to institute ad-
mission regulations, designed to reduce
the overflow of applications to CCNY. It
does not mean that those students turned
away lack the ability to do college work.
Therefore Lindsay's threat to take
budgetary action against CCNY can be
viewed only as a tyrannical approach
using the cudgel of "power of the purse."
Badillo's attack, too, is senseless and
notoriously short-sighted. The only way
blacks and Puerto Ricans can compete in
our society today is if they do have a
college degree. Badillo himself should be
well aware of the fact that New York
City's public schools have been on the
decline ever since the migration of whites
to the suburbs and the influx of blacks
and Puerto Rican's.
CNY's program would not simply pass
the student through his courses, as is
done in the public schools in a simple
effort to get rid of the student. But
rather CCNY will provide special tutoring
to capable students while they are in
high school, and will maintain their tu-
toring program while the student is in
college.
Also, Badillo is either extremely naive
if he thinks this Society is only concern-
ed with a person's ability and compe-
tence. He is taking a middle of the road
approach in his attempt to woo white
voters in his campaign for mayor.
The arguments of faculty, alumni, and
white students - who fear CCNY will
lose its status or their diplomas degraded
as the result of an influx of blacks and
Puerto Ricans - have extreme racist
overtones as it resembles the same argu-
ment of property owners who feared the
value of their land would decline when
blacks moved into their neighborhood.
It is very important to note that CCNY
gained its reputation in spite of its no
admission policy, not because it erected
admission barriers.
THE PLAN offered by the faculty, which
will probably be backed by the mayor
and the Board of Education, is not dif-
ferent in quality, but rather it differs in
quantity. The faculty's-plan calls for the
admission of 300 students from New
York City's, ghetto areas next year and an
additional 300 the following year. At this
rate it is estimated that by 1975, CCNY
will have a 30 per cent non-white repre-
sentation.
Actually the faculty's plan assumes a
go slow attitude. They will admit minor-
ity students more or less on a no admis-
sion policy basis, but at the white estab-
lishment's leisure.
The faculty's plan is a direct flaunting
of the students' will, a direct insult to the
poor of New York City and a drastic delay
in imnrnvino' ,Pdnation standard in Nw
The
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following
article appeared in the May 20 edi-
tion of the Washington Post and
s reprinted with permission. Sey-
mour Hersh is author of the book,
"Chemical and Biological Warfare:
America's Hidden Arsenal."
By SEYMOUR M. HERSH
A HOUSE Conservation and
Natural Resources Subcommittee
of the Government Operations
Committee recently took up a
question that has gone begging
since the end of World War II:
What are the dangers, if any, of
open-air testing with lethal chem-
ical and biological warfare (CBW)
agents?
Few Americans are aware that
the Army has been routinely test-
ing lethal nerve agents-incredibly
toxic substances capable of killing
in milligram doses-since the late
1940s. Much of the testing has
been conducted at the Dugway
Proving Grounds, an obscure base
80 miles southwest of Salt Lake
City, on the eastern edge of the
Great Salt Desert. It was there
in March, 1968, that something
went wrong and a cloud of nerve
gas killed 6400 sheep.
The Army chose Dugway for
CBW tests largely because of its
isolation; the nearby valleys in
which the sheep were killed had
less than 60 residents.
Yet withinr100 miles to the
north and east lie the State's prin-
cipal cities, forests, vacation sites,
and 95 per cent of its residents;
U. S. A
and U.S. 40, a main highway be-
tween the Midwest and northern
California, is less than 40 miles to
the north.
THERE HAS never been a non-
government review of the testing
procedures at Dugway, a situation
undoubtedly due in part to the
heavy secrecy connected with CBW
research. (Many CBW critics be-
lieve the security is designed to
keep information away from the
American public, and not an
enemy.)
Typical of the safety reviews
was a check made in 1959 by an
ad hoc Pentagon panel headed by
Dr. A. H. Wilcox, deputy director
of the Pentagon's research pro-
gram. Panel members included
representatives from the White
House, the IDefense Science Board,
all three services, and the Penta-
gon's Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA).
After the sheep kill last year,
another ad hoc advisory panel was
assembled, this one less military
but still dominated by the Gov-
ernment.
This panel recommended, among
other things, that nerve gas should
not be released for tests at heights
greater than 300 feet when, in fact,
most tests are conducted at half
that height.
The report, issued last Novem-
ber, also included such curious
language as this: "The (gas) cloud
my turns on the gas
4
shall remain in a sector between
north and northwest of the test
area and ,not cross U.S. Highway'
40 for at last three hours." Staff
members of the Conservation Sub-
committee, headed by Rep. Henry
Reuss (D-Wis), hope to find out
just what that sentence means..
THE ARMY is known to have
produced and stored thousands of
ton's of nerve gases in a variety
of munitions, but little is ever said
---or known--about open-air test-
ing and stockpiling of biological
warfare agents.
Less is heard of the potential
environmental dangers of such
work. Many nongovernment biolo-
gists believe the dissemination of a
lethal biological agent, often pre-
cisely bred to resist antibiotics,
could trigger a worldwide epi-
demic.
IN EARLY March the Army
conducted a classified-in part-
briefing for some curious members
of Congress on "CBW; at least
three biological agents were re-
vealed then to be in the Army's
arsenal-anthrax, tularemia and
Q fever; all highly infectious dis-
eases.
(Anthrax is one of the di'ead
scourges of the Middle Ages; it can
kill up to 100 per cent of its vic-
tims. Tularemia, widely know as
rabbit fever, can kill up to 8 per
cent of those infected, with many
cases later developing chronic
after effects. Q fever is an acute
and sturdy infectious disease that
can linger for up to three months
in victims, although it is rarely
fatal.)
Other sources have revealed that
a fourth agent, Venezuelan Equine
Encephalitis (VEE), is in the final
stages of testing. When it was re-
cently reported that signs of VEE
were found in the Utah desert
near Dugway, the Army quickly
denied it had ever field-tested the
virus there.
The possibility that it has been
tested inside laboratories at the
base was not mentioned in the
denial.
AMERICA'S biological warfare
agents are stored at the Army's
main biological processing labor-
atories at Pine Bluff, Ark., capable
of turning out thousands of gal-
lons of deadly germs overnight.
Safety conditions at Pine Bluff
have never come under public
scrutiny, although private Army
studies show that between 1955
and 1962 there were 719 reported
accidents there, roughly half of
them involving infections.
The Army has never been called
upon to defend the safety record
at Pine Bluff or at any other bi-
ological facility. When queried
about Dugway it has consistently
said tha the area has been care-
fully monitored since 1952 with no
evidence of any permanent con-
tamination or ecological danger. A
similar statement will doubtless be
presented today to the Conserva-
tion Subcommittee.
There is considerable evidence
to the contrary. A group of vet-
erinarians who were involved in
the aftermath of the sheep kill
last year published a study in the
March 15, 1969, Journal of the
American Veterinary Medical As-
sociation in which they reported
that sheep introduced into the
area three weeks after the acci-
dent were affected by nerve gas
poisoning. "The onset of clinical
signs .,.. indicated that the forage
was still contaminated," the au-
thors concluded.
THIE/ARMY may not be con-
ducting open air testing with lethal
or virulent biological warfare
agents in Utah, bit, if not, the
testing is being conducted else-
where. Fieldtesting is a necessary
prerequisite to standardization of
the agents.
Just what kind of biological
warfare research the military is
doing, and where, are legitimate
points of discussion for Capitol
Hill; the possibility exists that
there may not be enough earth for
germs, gases and people.
4
40,7,
r -d A
ca -t g9
" I's sort of traditional here to use a gavel . . . !
Stdeve auizalone
Bombs away -
in quiet desperatio ..
MUST CONFESS that I was not particularly upset over the bombing
of North Hall. Certainly, I am not alone,
It is incredible just how cavalier many of us have become over
destructive incidents like .Sunday night's search and destroy mission
waged by unknown guerrillas against local installations of the para-
military (CIA, IST, ROTC) establishment.
There is a tendency to look at the three explosions as a prankish
extension of school day episodes when anonymous tips about hidden
bombs resulted in dismissal of classes. Everyone knew it was just a
trick by someone not wanting to go to school that day, but it was
necessary to dismiss class any way. I f,ind myself with the same mixture
of disbelief and unconcern now that the bombs are actually detonating.
Most of use are unaffected by a shattering of a laboratory wall. I,
for one, think it might be just as well if the ROTC building were
leveled. And, I believe thebCIA deserves any amount of sabotage that it
is not above commiting itself. It is difficult to worry over minor damage
to things for which I hold such obvious distaste. I am like the school-
boy that is disappointed that a fire drill was not the real thing.
WHEN AN Army car is exploded, it can hardly be termed an
outrageous act. With a military budget that allows for a $200 million
consolation prize to General Dynamics for cancellation of an order
of F-111's, I am sure that the colonel will get a new car. If not,
perhaps it can be arranged for him to get shuttle service to and from
his home in the new C5A transport plane.
As long as it is only destruction of military property covered by
an $80 billion Defense budget and no one is injured, Sunday night's
bombing raid is little more than an act of vandalism. It can hardly
be seen as a heinous crime - nor, for that matter, as meaningful
protest against the presence of ROTC on campus.
The trouble with such petty destruction is not that it destroys pro-
perty like ROTC cars. While the concern over the safety of property
seems to be this society's first concern, the real danger of such indig-
nities against the military is the risk of injuring innocent human
life. Any possible gain by minor disruption of ROTC certainly is not
worth the chance that an innocent janitor in the building could have
been injured in the explosion. Even though the military has little re-
gard for innocent human life, any attempt to check its power must.
I also find the argument unconvincing that the real tragedy of
such incidents is how it offends the moral sensibilities of the Legis-
lature. Certainly, the explosion will not make it any easier for Vice
Presidents Ross, Smith, and Pierpont to muster more funds in Lansing
But it is foolish to intimidate
anyone into docility by not want-
ing to give the legislators excuses.
The Legislature has shown itself
to be continually stingy toward
the University. The money is not
going to be there no matter what
excuse tight-fisted legislators use
to spend money on other things.
I CANNOT say that I condone
meaningless acts of destruction.
And I deplore the unnecessary
risk of human injury. However, I
cannot condemn those people dri-
ven to "terrorist" raids on ROTC
and the CIA. The military and the
CIA have fostered too much vio-
11
W7* *7