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Will the real President Fleming rise?
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FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: JUDY SARASOHN
Abolish ROTC:
A substantive issue
THE QUESTION of whether Reserve
Officer Training Corps (ROTC) pro-
grams should remain on our college
campuses is being downgraded in the col-
lege press and in private gatherings a an
issue that doesn't really merit the atten-
tion it is being given. Student leaders are
calling for increased concern of large
issues such as the draft or the War
Fortunately, the amorphous student
activity that coagulates into this general
protest against ROTC seems to have more
brains than the brains that want to lead
students.
ROTC is one of the most worthwhile
issues concerned members of the univer.
sity. community have been able to deal
with in a long time. It is an issue over
wbich they have almost complete contro
It must be classed with the issues of stu-
dent decision-making in tenure and cur-
riculum decisions. The basic differences
from this type of issue, of course, that
ROTC is an institution of the outside
world - not just within the university
community. Thus, the power that students
have in determining whether ROTC stays
on campus is like the power they have in
determining whether they should have a
say in decision-making structures. But
the effect of that power on the ROTC
issue extends beyond the university com-
munity itself.
FOR THE EXISTENCE of ROTC is one of
the pillars (one of the many pillars)
that supports the Vietnam War. Students
who cannot vote and who are being de-
nied the right to express their sentiment
against the War are now able to affect
change by working to oust ROTC.
It is highly doubtful that the elimina-
tion of ROTC would immediately cause a
necessary pullback in troops. But it is
significant that the fear that ROTC may
be eliminated by students and faculty is
enough to cause the Defense Department
anxiety. This anxiety is the impilicit an-
ticipation that after ROTC goes, so will
classified research (perhaps even as a
reprimand by the government for elimi-
nating ROTC) and that the sentimhent
against the military as a whole will in-
crease.
ROTC IS THE first issue that directly
confronts the military per se The
broad protests of the Vietnam War or
selective service are issues that Congress
and the administration, as well of course
as the military, can directly effect. ROTC,
on the other hand, is almost entirely
Editorial Staf
MARCIA ABRAMSON . ............. Co-Editor
JIHECK............................Co-Editor
MARTIN HIRSCHMAN.. Summer Supplement Editor
JIM FORRESTER...........Summer Sports Editor
PHIL HERTZ:. ...Associate Summer Sports Editor
ERIC PERGEAUX, JAY CASSIDY......Photo Editor
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a concern of the military and as
such, it is the military which must now
answer student charges. Except for a few
senators and congressmen who speak
loudly over any student protest, Congress
has ignored the ROTC issue-simply be-
cause there is little it can really do to
either resolve or inflame the present
situation.
It is foolhardy to suppose students on a
dozen varied campuses who all protest
the Vietnam War by marching down the
middle of campus or turning in their
draft cards significantly inhibit the war
effort, especially in this time of blind
trust in our President. But it is important
that the ROTC issue is able in some small
way to affect an end to the War.
ALMOST HALF of all active duty of-
ficers now in the Army are ROTC
graduates; 65 per cent of our first lieu-
tenants and 85 per cent of our second
lieutenants come from the ROTC pro-
grams. ROTC supplies 35 per cent of all
Navy officers and 30 per cent of all Air
Force officers. The 1968 graduating class-
es contained more than 11,000 newly
commissioned officers who will fill 85 per
cent of the required annual input needed
to provide troop leaders.
Presently Officers Training Schools
contribute only 2300 officers per year and
West Point contributes only 550.
This is not to imply-nor is it intended
as good-that the military will be doomed
if ROTC were abolished. It simply indi-
cates that a new program must be de-
veloped when ROTC is abolished. And a
new program cannot be developed effec-
tively when the program it is to replace
is being depended upon to its maximum.
Thus, while national defense takes sub-
stantial priority over our Vietnam offen-
sive, the threat of abolishing ROTC be-
comes a major point for ending the War.
AND IT MUST be said that the obvious
major justification for abolishing
ROTC is one of academic vacuousness.
And this justification is valid. But there
are many things in the academic com-
munity which are just as academically
worthless as ROTC, and, no doubt, they
too should be attacked. But they, unlike
ROTC, do not substantially aid our mass
immorality nor do they tend to sustain
our individual guilt. Physical education
and Accounting 100 may be void of aca-
demic merit and perhaps do not. belong
in a strictly academic community, but
they are not politically biased courses
that teach people how to kill in a situa-
tion where murder seems totally unjusti-
fied.
Thus, we must not lose any insight for
the grandiose hope of confronting each
issue at itself in order to effect it. There
is no reason to tread silently, for the jus-
tifications for abolishing ROTC are clear
and valid. And the fact that this issue is
finally effecting the direction of the War
-if only by more exactly defining where.
confrontation lies - is something to be
thankful for, not something to be dis-
carded.
-JIM HECK
By JIM HECK
IT WAS A SUBTLE surprise yes-
terday to hear University Presi-
dent Robben Fleming finally say
what all of us thought he thought
all along. His remarks to the Con-
gressional committee investigating
student disorders finally snuck out
the radical liberalism that excited
us just before his term ended as
chancellor of Madison.
But since then Fleming's overt
defense of student protest and his
implicit understanding of why
rocks were thrown mellowed quite
a bit until his television appear-
ances in which he co-starred under
that cutey of the status quo, S. I.
Hayawaka, and his endorsements
of statements such as the one is-
sued by the American Council of
Education caused many of us much
concern. It simply appeared that
the man who was supposed to un-
derstand was succumbing to the
misunderstanding of hasty re-
action thatunow has a tight grip
on most educational purse strings.
But either Fleming felt the
country was too dumb to under-
stand and must thus be fooled -
which is probably ascribing too
much moral radicalism to the
pragmatist-or he was just waiting
for the right time. In retrospect,
we can smile comfortably, knowing
that had anything bad happened
here the quiet steadfastness that
tempered violence and seemed al-
ways to surface at least a hint of
justice in Madison was still with
the man in the Navy crew cut.
NEVERTHELESS, F 1 e m i'n g
seems to have suffered a bit in
maintaining this cool facade for so
long. Fleming equates student
frustration with selective service
with discontent over an inequit-
able draft. While this may be so,
it is not the reason for the extent
of the anxiety that causes students
to protest the draft-this must be
reserved for the feeling that the
Vietnam War is immoral.
The problems with a draft such
as ours are only manifest when
the service is being used to sup-
ply men who feel their activity
would be immoral. If a war were
accepted as necessary, the "guilt"
Fleming observes in the college
student who has a deferment
would not be present, mainly be-
cause the student who would feel
guilt would first feel a moral com-
pulsion to go and fight (unless he
were a pacifist). Also, it is highly
unlikely that local draft boards
would issue college deferments
during a time of declared, accept-
ed war as freely as they do now.
Thus the issue of substantive
discontent as related to the draft
vis-a-vis students is limited di-
rectly to the issue of an immoral
war. One of the frustrating pitfalls
of the rationale such. as Fleming
uses is the casual avoidance of
this very serious and very relevant
point. Obviously, such an explana-
tion sans its basis may be more
appealing to a Congressional in-
vestigating committee than one
that articulates their active, im-
morality, but in the same vein it
may also end up obscuring the is-
sues later to be condemned as the
logistic move it is.
WITH MEN who have been be-
friended by the establishment,
such as Fleming has, and who con-
tinue to nurture an aura of re-
spectful dissent, it seems it might
be more beneficial to honestly de-
lineate the issues as they are.
Surely Fleming, who is so tactful
in being modest and secluded,
could find subtle ways to tell the
whole truth.
FLEMING ALSO alludes to the
demands for black separatist pro-
grams by explaining them away
simply as a trend "continuing to
drift towards separate but' unequal
societies." Without discussing why
this trend .has come about, he
says, "Some black students are
giving up on the possibility of a
society in which they can expect
full participation. Many white stu-
dents either agree, or believe that
we are losing our last real chance
for a society in which we can be
one people."
Unfortunately, this simplistic
and common interpretation of why
blacks are isolating themselves is
rarely the true reason for campus
operations to secure separatist pro-
grams.
As first so well explained in 1968
by Northwestern University's black
leader Jim Turner when he led a
building occupation to secure black
dormitories, the resultant of black
separatism is hoped to be "one in-
ter-related society."
THE MAJORITY of blacks-ex-
cept maybe the Black Panthers--
argue for separatism using the
same arguments the Supreme
Court recently used when it ruled
that such programs are not dis-
criminatory and may be granted
federal assistance because they are
simply not "relevant" to whites.
Taking this as the justification,
the resultant's primary role is to
foster the identity necessary for
any individual who wishes econ-
omic or intellectual parity in our
society today. Because blacks have
been so longed deluged with a per-
sonal misunderstanding of their
own selves (is my action black or
white, am I an Uncle Tom, too?)
the only viable means toward
achieving some kind of ossification
in the question, "Who am I?" is
by a strict, continuous saturation
of one's similarities.
This bombardment of sameness
will hopefully leave the black man
with reference points, memory and
perspectives by which to define
himself. History and heritage are
not enough-even when they are
fully understood. They must be
supplemented with a definitive,
contemporary culture, something
of which many black nien lack.
Only by fabricating such a secur-
ity can a true inter-relation of
people with unalterable differences
come about.
FLEMING'S STATEMENT that
"It is hard to get people to under-
stand that certain kinds of re-
search have both military and ci-
vilian potentials" and that "elimi-
nation of basic inquiry may bring
certain kinds of scientific advance
to a halt" is highly vulnerable to
attack. He has stressed the wrong
value. Fleming later discusses how
the difference between the gov-
ernment's priorities and the stu-
dents' is the most vital factor in
explaining the present turmoil;
and Fleming sides, if not complete-
ly certainly sufficiently, with the
students' priorities.
But on the issue of classified
research he obviously has switched
his belief and form or argument.
His priority of the necessity for
"scientific advancement" takes
absolute precedence over tht prior-
ity that military research has no
plac in an academic community-
even if that means scientific ad-
vancement is inhibited.
THERE IS A s light cop-out
when Fleming appeals to the Con-
gressmen not to stop financial as-
sistance to the colleges because of
the "misbehavior" of a small
group of students. He claims this
"would punish the great majority
for the acts of a few" but when a
few sentences before he says, "I
do not see it (student unrest) end-
ing soon because I believe it is
basically attributable to a reject-
ion by a sizeable segment of our
youth of our national goals . . ."
This hedge is perhaps tactical,
and perhaps Fleming feels it is
necessary. If so, he is much more
radical than I believe he is. He
would be saying it is necessary to
point out there is great widespread
unrest, but when asking for money
that great widespread unrest must
be called "the misbehavior of a
few."
And so Fleming the pragmatist
may now be Fleming the tactician
and Fleming the tactician may
have to be Fleming the radical.
Some may argue that faith
alone cannot sustain trust in
Fleming. And we can be pleased
now that he has publicly reinter-
ated our own beliefs, but should
he appear to vacillate again it may
be difficult to discern exactly
where he does stand. And. this
maybe more dangerous than hav-
ing Hayakawa at our helm. At
least it is obvious what he believes.
Cohen comet
WILBUR COHEN, dean-designate of the education school, is a short,
spry-looking man, with a ruddy complexion and the rhetoric of a
second-rate politician. His forte is administration, and in this area
he has a grave task ahead of him.
According to a ,special blue ribbon study - which only confirmed
what many observers have known for a long time - the education
school is unquestionably disorganized, directionless a n d inefficent.
There has been no concerted effort, for example, to tackle the major
problems faced by American educators today - the problems of teach-
ing black children and utilizing modern technology and techniques to
improve education on the whole.
Educating University students to teach in the ghetto has been
virtually unknown. Only this past year has a student-faculty committee
developed a program for teaching in Detroit's inner city. And the com-
mittee itself was established not because of faculty interest, but be-
cause students in the education school demanded it.
THIS IS THE SAD STATE of the education school as Cohen takes
the helm. He brings with him evident experience in the field of edu-
cation (although absolutely no experience in administering an insti-
tution), apparent determination to face the problems his new job en-
tails, and administrative ability of the kind that made him secretary
of health, education and welfare.
"" .TIiey've got guns ... !!"
i
But for all that, there are strange currents in the stream of poli-
tics and ambition which tend to diminish the wave of optimism which
has surrounded Cohen's arrival.
-In what was probably amnecessary cutback in this time of finan-
cial struggle for the University, the Regents last week ordered the edu-
cation school to phase out University School. But some of the newly-
available funds have already been spent - for the installation of Co-
hen's new offices in the education school.
AND COHEN has made it clear he will be asking for - and get-
ting - increased funds for the operation of the school. Vice Presidents
Ross and Smith have already promised extra money. This was report-
edly one of the conditions which led to his acceptance of the dean-
ship.
Of course, there is little doubt that the school could put additional
funds to good use. But with the vice firmly clamped on all University
expenditures, it is unclear where this money will come from. Presum-
ably the prestigious former secretary of HEW was brought to the edu-
cation school so he could secure new funds from outside the University
- not by robbing the coffers of others, equally needy schools and col-
leges.
BUT MOST DISMAYING is the widely accepted report that Cohen
will not long hold the deanship of the education school, that this post
is only a temporary resting place until a better job, perhaps a college
presidency, becomes available.
At last week's Regents meeting Cohen spoke seriously and at length
about the problems facing American education and his dedication to
solving these problems. Time will tell how deep this dedication runs.
4.
A
Midland Michigan, Dow, and super-patriotism
By LORNA CHEROT
Y ESTERDAY'S PROTEST at
Dow Chemical Co. in Midland
was a pitiable and hideous spec-
tacle of the mighty versus vs. the
weak.,
The 250 protesters from Detroit,
Ann Arbor, Saginaw, and Grand,
Rapids, who were led by Clergy
and Laymen Concerned About the
War in Vietnam (CALCAU), came
not to convert or disrupt, but to
set the stage for meaningful
dialogue. Yet I wonder if their
abortive attempts to persuade Dow
not to manufacture napalm were
nothing more than a tease to
soothe the guilty conscience of
the liberal mind.
This was the second year the
protesters picketed the stockhold-
ers' annual meeting. Also, most of
the speakers were the same as be-
fore, and they delivered the same
message. Essentially, they were
saying, "Dow you must make a
moral decision. Will you continue
to burn women and children?"
FOR THE SECOND time Carl
A. Gerstacker, chairman of the
Board of Directors, expressed the
opinion of all the stockholders,
succinctly and crudely when he
said, "We have made a moral
judgment, but you don't like it. I
think you are absolutely wrong. Of
course napalm harms people;
that's why it is produced."
At this point there was hardy
applause by the stockholders.
Neither did Gerstacker seem the
least bit embarrassed to make
such an inhumane statement.
Indeed why should he or Mid-
land be ashamed?'They can exone-
rate themselves by explaining the
military has asked to be supplied
with .napalm so that it may win
the war and bring the boys home.
Who are we to obstruct the gov-
ernment's duty? We are just doing
what our government has asked.
THERE IS ALSO a practical
economic reason for Midland not
to feel any pangs of guilt. Fifty
per cent of the town relies on
Dow for their income. Dow owns
Midland; and while the green
keeps rolling in, the guilty con-
sciences slip away.
AT A RALLY Tuesday night in
Canterbury House, Rev. Richard
Fernandez emphasized the dem-
onstration must be peaceful. Fer-
nandez said, "Our presence in
Midland will be a big enough
think it was myself. Sheltered in
the isolated . haven of liberal
apathy at Michigan, it was quite
revealing to see a rampart wave
of reaction take over a town when
it feels its economic life threat-
ened.
High school students-who are
the future employes of Dow-
cheered the stockholders as they
emerged from the meeting. They
also made derisive comments and
waved super-patriotic signs:
"Bring our boys home, send
more napalm."
"Burn them! burn the babies!"
"We like our V.C. well done."
"We're Americans, Dow supports
our boys!"
GERSTACKLER e n d e d the
meeting with a dramatic finale,
that brought much enthusiastic
applause, which I am sure is very
typical of a stockholders' meeting.
He read a letter from the son of
a man who works in the patent
office at Dow. The boy is stationed
in Vietnam. The letter closes with
matches, which almost resulted in
sporadic fist fights.
NOT ALL the community was
hostile to the demonstrators. The
very young, those in grammar and
junior high, seem concerned. I
saw a group of them talking to
Jim Anderson, a teacher at Mich-
igan State, who spoke before the
stockholders "and warned them of
the growing disenchantment of
the young with industry's com-
pliance to carnage in the name'of
patriotism.
OBVIOUSLY, Dow is not moved
by the pictures of burned children.
It conveniently vindicates itself
with the findings of a local physi-
cian, that the burnings are the
results of accidents caused by gas-
oline stoves, and there have been
no more than two cases of vic-
tims suffering from napalm burns.
As Dr. Theodore Tapper warned
the stockholders W e d n e s d a y,
"When people cannot deal in
rational dialogue then more dra-
matic acts bypassing violence
mimf 1 ak t'he+aia aV, nla pofn ,'. n inn'
Lornau
Cherot
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