Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan .JAMES WECHSLER Unionism in' the South and in the unions Ar 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. WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: HAROLD ROSENTHAL Drafting by lottery: Gambling with priorities DESPITE THE RECENT intemperate blasts by Defense Secretary Melvin Laird that campus opposition to ROT1 is endangering t h e future of draft re- form, President Nixon h a s asked Con- gress for draft revisions that will include random selection of draftees by a lottery. Nixon's plan for random conscription would mean that a young man would be especially vulnerable to the draft for only about one year- usually at 19 years of age. Undergraduate deferments would not What prie IM funding? THE PROPOSAL to construct additional intramural facilities seems commend- able; the possible-even probable-deci- sion to fund the $10-15 million worth of building from student fees is not. The need for intramural facilities must be weighed against the academic de- mands of the University's various schools and colleges, and the housing and living costs of students. And while expanded in- tramural facilities are sorely needed, stu- dents have not been consulted on the proposal to finance construction with al- ready skyrocketing student fees. The Advisory Committee on Recreation, Intramurals and Club Sports is planning to send an interim report to the Regents this summer with a probable suggestion to increase student tuition to pay for the buildings. Committee members have said they do not intend to ask for a student referendum on funding. Athletic director and committee chairman Don Canham has said, "It isn't our position to initiate or recommend a referendum. We should just try to be as fair as possible." Leaders of various student organiza- tions-including SGC, IFC, IHA and the Tenants' Union-have cried foul and have lashed out at the committee's disregard for "taxation without representation.", They have demanded student opinion be tapped before a decision is made. JNCUDED IN the committee's report to the Regents will be a survey taken by a graduate course in Bio-Statistics par-, tially funded by the committee. However, the survey was never designed to be any kind of reflection of student views and was in fact only taken into. consideration when the committee learn- ed the study would be taken independent- ly. According to survey director Prof. John Kirscht, the survey is simply a teaching exercise for his statistics stu- dets and is by no means a -substitute for a referendum. The primary purpose of the Kirscht study is to delineate student, faculty and staff recreational preferences. Nowhere. in the survey are students asked' if they would ask for facilities if they knew ,construction might involve a tuition hike of up to $30 per year. CANHAM HAS stated that methods other than student funding do not seem feasible at this time, and perhaps students will agree that IM facilities warrant their dollars. But they should be allowed to determine how their money is spent first.. --SHARON WEINER be abolished and students exempted by them would become vulnerable after they finished college. 'Nixon feels that this is a temporary solution to: the problems of draft in- equity and still envisions an all-volun- teer army under "more stable world con- ditions." The new plan, he feels, would reduce the uncertainty in individual lives. by cutting the threat of disruption from seven years to one. WHILE NIXON'S proposal is some im- provement over the deplorable exist- ing conditions, it nevertheless fails to deal with the real objections to the draft. Por one, students who are able to at- tend college will maintain an advantage over those who cannot by having the op- tion of postponing their conscription for four years. At 21, there will be minimum risk of an ex-student being inducted. In other words, under the President's pro- posal, student deferments may mean stu- dent exemption from the draft - an ap- petizing but highly inequitable procedure, even worse than the present selective ser- vice set-up. Moreover, conscription to the army at 19 is not any more appealing than at 25. Nixon is not doing anyone any favors by calling the youngest first, although his proposed measures would undoubtedly function as a deceptive safety valve to de- crease student pressure for draft reform. INDEED, THE striking thing about Nix- on's proposal is that it fails to do any- thing about the draft itself other than change 'the method of selection. The real objection to the draft is not how it is be- ing done but what'is being done: forcing young nen into two years military con- scription. Nixon fails to realize that most people are opposed to the draft because they do not want to be coerced into two years of military services where they face the fur- ther prospect of coercion into American intervention overseas. Just because an in- dividual is chosen to take part in Viet- nam-type foreign wars by a lottery in- stead of by a humorless Selective Service clerk does not make the situation a n y more tolerable., Any real solution to the draft will re- quire a change in American attitudes to- ward the military intervention in the af- fairs of other nations. A meaningful change in the draft must allow a person to refuse induction because he conscien- tiously objects to a particular war. OR BETTER STILL, N i x o n and the Pentagon should divert a little time away from drumming up support for the ABM to consider the prospect of not fighting any m o r e Vietnams and not keeping, a large peacetime army, t h u s eliminating the need for the draft other than in times of national emergency. Nixon rightly believes that a system of compulsory military service is unreason- able in times of peace. But it will be up to him to egin a revision of American policy that will contribute, to conditions of peace. Until then, tinkering with the draft will not make America much bet.. ter. -STEVE ANZALONE IT WAS ALMOST a decade ago-the date was Sept. 23, 1959-when Asa Philip Randolph rose at an AFL-CIO' convention to cry out against the existence of segregated locals in the labor movement and AFL-CIO chieftain George Meany angrily responded: "Who the hell appointed you as the guardian of all the Negroes in America?" Now it was Tuesday night of this week in the year 1969 and in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria and one of those paying homage to Randolph was saying "I consider it a great privilege to come here this evening." The speaker recalled Randolph's long battle against labor's discriminating sins and added: "He is no longer alone." The speaker was George Meany and, while his detractors will say that he was belatedly performing an act of penance (or responding to the pressures of critics), Meany's largeness of spirit is too often de- precated; he is too old to feel any desperate need for a contrived political gesture. But it must also be said that the drama reflected Ran- dolph's remarkable gift for evoking the best impulses in those whom his life touched-including many with whom he has bitterly clshed. THE TURNOUTAT this tribute underlined how deeply Randolph has challenged so many consciences. I know he would regard it as ungracious if I marred the occasion by naming some of those present, including some fancy labor-skates, whose dedication to the rights of Negroes have been less than ardent. Randolph would prefer to believe their attendance was symptomatic of a small moral awakening that he has helped to arouse, and that justifies in some degree the rationality and patience that always ac- companied his most militant endeavors. THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT more than half the membership of AFL-CIO executive council was on hand evoked memories .for one reporter of a melancholy time long before the Meany-Randolph ex- change of 1959. It was the AFL convention of 1940 at which Randolph- without the support of a single white delegate-spoke out passionately against the Federation's Jim Crow practices. I will never forget the deadly silence in which he was heard and ignored. Now many of the elder statesmen who subjected him to that indignity are dead or mori- bund, and many of the survivors were saluting him. It is not Randolph who has changed. WHAT MIGHT HAVE been an evening of rambling nostalgia fortuitously acquired very contemporary relevance because of the strike of hospital workers in Charleston, S.C. For Randolph this must have provided special satisfaction; although ill health has reduced his labors, it has not diminished his sense of involvement, and ceremonials are not his favorite affairs, even when he is the honored dignitary. .Someone other than Randolph might have been dismayed by the fact that, in theatrical terms, Mrs. Coretta King stole the show with her moving plea in behalf of the underpaid, exploited Charleston employes who "are sick and tired of being sick and tired." BUT ONE COULD detect in Randolph's closing response the old scent of battle, an analogy between the oppressed Pullman porters for whom his leadership meant a glimpse of sunlight and dignity and the embattled Charleston Negroes who refuse to be awed by the intrasige- ance of Gov. McNair and the hospital officialdom. There was also the felicitous coincidence that it was exactly 10 years ago this week that New York's hospital workers began the strike that led to a breakthrough against anti-union establishments and the emergence of Local 1199 as a major fact of local life. Randolph was a large figure in mobilizing support for that victorious upsurge. NOW CHARLESTON HAS beconie .a convulsive battleground for unionism in the South, and especially for Negroes whose pay, in Mrs. King's words, is "not a wage but an insult." And now Philip Randolph, Mrs. King, Roy Wilkins and Bayard Rustin were saying in unison that the Charleston conflict could herald a revival of the labor-Negro coalition that has disintegrated so omin- ously in the face of blue-collar backlash and black separatism. Perhaps the hope is beyond realization, and one wonders how many of those in the audience who cheered the sentiment are prepared to act out the commitment. Yet it is conceivable Charleston may be a new turning point, and that some history was made on the night when Coretta King, with her rare blend of grace and gravity, joined hands with George Meany and Phil Randolph. Whatever the outcome, it was surely Ran- dolph's triumph that the news of this alliance went out to the be- leagured strikers as a sequel to the singing of "happy birthday." (C) New York Post cinema Monterey Pop' *1 Letters to the Editor Dow now To the Editor: READ WITH interest Lorna Cherot's editorial in Friday's Daily on Wednesday's demonstra- tion at Dow Chemical. As the one designated by Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (CAL- CAV) to speak first in the meeting, I must sadly concur in Miss Cherot's judgment that the CAL- CAV speakers and demonstrators had little apparent effect on Carl Gerstacker, the other directors and the stockholders or Dow. Ger- stacker's dismissal as half-truths and untruths of thefacts cited on CALCAV's Fact Sheet on Dow, all of which were attested by publica- tions such as the U.S. Department of Defense Technical Abstract Bulletin, was a sorry performance -as was this shrewd, successful effort to reassure the stockholders of Dow that the company was quite right to make napalm; either he is not very bright, or his scale of values is defined by what bene- fits Dow - probably the latter. I agree with Miss Cherot that if a demonstration occurs next year it should not be like the one held last year or this. FOR THE RECORD, I enclose a copy of the remarks I made, which were apparently so signally unavailing. I say apparently, for in speaking at St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland three days be- fore the demonstration, and at the meeting itself, I got the impression that a minority does exist, even in Midland, even of- Dowstock- holders, who are troubled by na- palm; unfortunately, they lack the courage to speak out on the mat- ter. -Prof. John A. Bailey Near Eastern Studies May 12 Nudes 'n prudes To the Editor: THIS LETIER is concerned with one of the most significant symbolic issues of our times : the public exposure of the unclothed. or nude, human body. There have been many expatia- tions on this issue both in your paper and elsewhere, and there seems to be a strong i concensus afoot that the naked human form, is in fact not obscene, as has been the current of opinion during most previous periods of human his- tory. This odd new opinion seems to me to be merely an emotional and unreasonedsreaction of today's youth against Puritan and Vic- torian ethical strictures-which they apparently consider to be too binding for a free expression of the soul. But we mustn't let such emotional -reactions cloud our esthetic judgment about the mat- ter. Indeed, the nation looks to us, the intelligentsia, to' evaluate and solve this divisive social issue. We cannot fail them now. AN INTELLIGENT esthetic judgment about the undraped male or female human body is actually quite simple-childsplay, in fact, for truly sagacious persons. I have endeavored such an evalua- tion, and present it here for your and the public's approval. The body has little, if any, func- tional beauty when undressed. The absurd distribution of body hair, the scant musculature, the oddly elongated legs, and the color fin Caucasians)resembling that of a dead fish's belly are-even if regarded as exceedingly beautiful in themselves - indications of functionless or disfunctional at- tributes. The body is not well' adapted to any environment, it would seem, except perhaps for that found beneath several layers of cloth. A decorative esthetic analysis of the body, of homno sapieps is even more disastrous than the functional analysis. There is no decorative or attractive coloration; the skin reacts in an arbitrary and unlovely way to prolonged ex- posure to the rays of the sun; bi- pedal motion has an uneven and jerking effect; and the body is disturbingly elongated in the ver- tical axis-such that its center of gravity is far too high for appro- priate decorative effect. CERTAIN PRACTICAL con- siderationsdmust also be niade. A will-trained,,athletically fit, and goodly proportioned body may not be wholly repulsive, especially if one' enjoys the pale-brown or pastel blood color of large stretches of undifferentiated flesh; but the large majority of people (as any statistician will tell you) are ill-. proportioned, badly developed, and highly blemished and scarred. Such shortcomings are well-dis- guised among other members of the animal kingdom, but we seem to have made an evolutionary stress upon certain distinctive mental tendencies-aspects which are of no concern to us here-at the expense of the corporeal as- pects. Now that I have completely analyzed the topic, let me throw off the cloak of objectivity to re- veal my own opinion on the mat- ter. In view of what I have said, it might be thought that I am totally opposed to exposure of human bodies, and would favor, perhaps,badpermanent coating of some kind for it. But this is most certainly not true, for I myself can recall times when I have de- sired most strongly a more undis- guised look at certain bodies. But it must be added that my concep- tions at these times were both tainted with personal emotions and applicable only to certain private situations, and not to such activities as acting, singing, or dancing. THUS, I AM FORCED to admit that--while exceptions must be made for such occurrances as physical examinations' and show- ers and baths-I do not strongly desire to be surprised with a look at some public figure's navel, his rolls of fat, his appendectomy' scar, or other features of his ana- tomy which are, in keeping with the Victorian ethic, normally cov- ered by clothing. Perhaps it will be objected that my views are due to my lack of true exposure to the naked body, and that time would foster in me a full'er appreciation of its finer aspects. In answer, I will allow that my exposure (thank good- ness) has been minimal, except for brief and harried excursions into nublic showers and such. And it poop-zzz 600! 1 By DAN BEItMAN IT'S VERY nice to see the dream-like stage performance of the Who, the gross acrobatics of Jimi Hendrix, and close-ups of Janis Joplin on film; it's fun to watch Mama Cass flow around while standing still on stage, and touching to watch the late Otis Redding sing. Yet sitting through the 72 minutes of Monterey Pop, is boring. Eve1y song and every group is good, but although the film has recorded moments dear to the heart of any pop fan (the Who smashing their instruments and Hendrix's erotic guitar routine), there is an im- portant dimension missing. The festival is never really "present" be- cause director D. A. Pennebaker has not integrated his shots of the audience and of the performers with the proper balance that could in some sense place us at the scene. Monterey Pop is a documentary which has missed the finer touches. At the end of the movie, the festival audience gives Ravi Shankar a standing ovation. This is somewhat of a surprise because throughout the rest of the film there does not seem to be an audience at the festival; there are the usual cute shots of individual members of the audience reacting, but rarely are there shots to show the enormity of the crowd that was' present. A contrast between loud sound and the surrounding quiet is made by an irritating jump from the end of the Who (singing "My Generation") to people resting in a field, and also by cutting directly from the end of a song by Canned Heat to a softer number by Simon and Garfunkel. Yet, not once between the 13 acts does Pennebaker show anyone setting up their instruments, which could have helped create a realistic atmosphere while at the same time pointing out the contrast in sounds. And maybe close-ups of instruments being played is a cliche in films of *musical performances, but it is without question one of the most valid cliches in this type of movie and one that is sadly lacking in Monterey Pop. Many of the acts are filmed and edited perceptively. The familiar first notes of "Ball and Chain" are heard before we see close-ups of Janis Joplin doing her wailing overwhelmingly intercut with views of her communicative dancing feet and with her view of the crowd. There are lingering shots of Grace Slick for which everyone should be grateful, and the spirit of Jimi Hendrix is amply conveyed simply by recording his puckish singing and his usual antics. 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