runniig wild
94C AMid~bgan Dail f
Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
What's
it like to be poor?
by lr ika cuevot
'1
'4,
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 muit be noted in off reprints.
SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1969
NIGHT EDITOR: JUDY SARASOHN
------ - -- - 3
Sheriff Douglas Harvey
rides again
MAY 10, 1969 - Ray Chauncey, a staff
member of the Human Relations
Commission, was arrested by city police-
man Wade Wagner for disorderly con-
duct at a local bar being tested for racial
discrimination. At t h e police * station,
Chauncey was struck twice by Wagner,
requiring medical treatment at Univer-I
sity Hospital. Following an 8 day inves-
tigation by City Administrator Guy Lar-
com and City Attorney Peter Forsythe,
charges were dropped against Chauncey.
Patrolman Wagner waived his right to a
formal hearing and resigned from the city
police force.
Patrolman Wagner - where is he now?
Wagner started work Thursday night for
Sheriff Douglas Harvey as a county dep-
uty. Wagner will continue to patrol the
same area and Will have similar powers to
that he had as a city policeman. Virtually
nothing has changed, except Wagner's
boss. The city's charges have gone un-
heeded and. Wagner is back on the beat.
But the real issue in this episode goes
beyond the man of Wade Wagner. Once
more, the issue is Sheriff Douglas Harvey.
This time it's his hiring practices t h a t
are questionable. Again Harvey shows
that he's accountable to almost no one
and that he can hire whomever he pleas-
es.
Besides Wagner, Harvey has hired sev-
eral other Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti po-
lice who resigned or were fired from their
city police forces because they were guilty
of "harassing tactics." As Dr. Albert
Wheeler - state chairman of NAACP -
said, Harvey has become " a haven f o r
this type of policeman."
ANN ARBOR and Ypsilanti city officials
must have found good cause to either
fire or encourage these men to leave, be-
cause it is not an easy job to convince the
police department that some of their law
officers are irresponsible. So, following a
city investigation which substantiated the
charge that the policeman indeed struck
a man tiwice within the police station -
although Police Chief Krasny has incred-
4bly claimed, " a blow in the face does not
constitute a beating" - Harvey hired the
man and put him b a c k on Ann Arbor
streets.
It isn't clear why Harvey hired Wagner
and the other policemen rejected by the
city. Perhaps Harvey sees it as a power
play against the city of Ann Arbor. Or
maybe it is Harvey's perverse way of de-
fending the "honor" of law officers who
have been "handcuffed" by recent Su-
preme Court rulings. In any case, Harvey
has shown himself eager to hire police-
men that have questionable records with
other law enforcement agencies.
Harvey's behavior in office leads us to
believe that this is the type of man that
Harvey wants for a deputy, in the best
tradition of "law and order." After all
Harvey himself said he would have struck
someone too if he was swung at. Would
Harvey d e e m it "necessary" to strike a
prisoner who is a good deal smaller than
himself and who is in the police interro-
gation room?
But, men likeex-patrolman Wagner are
not the kind the city wants with a badge
and gun. As Deborah Grubs, former HRC
chairman,, said the other night, "If we
don't want t h e m (policemen guilty of
mistreatment) on the city police, we don't
want them in the city as county depu-
ties." However, u n 1 e s s the state civil
rights commission rules against Harvey,
probably only legislative action could pre-
vent him in the future from overturning
city decision on whom they want patrol-
ing their streets.-
EVEN THE county board of supervisors,
which has been in conflict with Har-
vey in the past, appears to have no sanc-
tions against this appointment policy,
unless they decide to put stricter con-
trols on his budget.
Harvey is an elected official and as long
as the people of Washtenaw County re-
turn him to office he will continue to ex-
ercise unchecked power. ,One of the few
ways to insure a minimum of protection
against Harvey is for new legislation in
Lansing to keep Harvey from hiring irre-
sponsible deputies.
-JUDY SARASOHN
EVER GET THE FEELING that because you're poor you're auto-
matically ignored?
Do you think President Nixon would refuse to meet personally with
the captains of industry, or the bosses of labor like he did with the folks
of the Poor People's Campaign?
Do you think New York's governor Nelson Rockefeller would have
retorted to a mother, "You don't look undernourished to me," as she was
telling him how welfare supplements weren't feeding her kids-if
she hadn't been poor?
Do you think Senator William J. Ellington (D-La.) would ever
demand that Rockefeller apologize to a welfare mother and then pro-
ceed to lecture him on the rudiments of manners like he did that In-
dian woman? Hell no! Mrs. Gian is poor-Rocky's rich.
DO YOU THINK the bosses of labor are concerned that blue collar
workers are banned from organizing into unions by many states. Unh-
unh, man, they're poor !
Do you think the Ann Arbor Housing Commission would have
drafted a list of "recommendations" the length of your arm on how
not to do this and how to do this if they leased apartments to anyone
other than the poor? ,
Do you think a commissioner of the Ann Arbor Housing commission
would have nothing more to say other than "that's too bad" if the
woman complaining about her children's clothes being taken while the
maintenance men were repairing her flooded apartment, if she had
been anything but poor?
Do you think New Yorkers would have raised a stink against a
group of people organizing into a union if they had been anyone else
other than welfare recipients?
DO YOU THINK Secretary George Romney of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development would have snarled, "You can't
threaten me" to anyone other than a group of poor people dissatisfied
with the government's plans for urban renewal and who were trying
to offer their suggestions?
You said that your people
Never knew the full spirit of
Western Civilization
To be born unnoticed
Is to be born black,
And left out of the grand adventure.
Miseducation, denial,
And the faint cool kiss of sensuality
Lingers on our cheeks.
The quiet terror brings on silent night,
They are driving us crazy. And our fatherls
Religion warps his life.
To live day by day
Is not to live at all.
-Conrad Kent Rivers
TO BE BORN ignored is to be born poor,
A01
MSU balances the books
Denying student franchise
By MARTIN HIRSCHMAN
ESPITE THE elimination last
week of Michigan State Uni-
versity's income-graduated tuition
system, the last laugh in the con-
troversy is on the State Legisla-
ture, not the university's Board of
Trustees.
Legislative pressure did indeed
succeed in forcing the trustees to
abandon their unique tuition sys-
tem, but the school has lost little'
if anything, in its financial aids
capabilities as a result.
Under the old system, in-state
students paid between $552 and
$369 per annum depending on
their parents' income. With those
guidelines, tuition revenues ap-
proximated those receivedby this
University (in-state tuition $480).
BUT INSTEAD of setting a flat-
rate tuition of close to the $480
figure, the trustees set the new.
tentative tuition of $552--the old
maximum.
The only problem now is what
the trustees will do with the in-
creased revenue. But a large part
of the answer to this question is
self-evident: they will increase
budgetary allotments for scholar-
ships.
At present, MSU general fund
budget (which includes money
from state appropriations and
student fees) allots $980,000 for
scholarships and student loans-
This sum, of course, is added to
considerable revenue from state
and federal scholarshipassistance
and endowment earnings which
together provide the bulk of MSU's
financial aids monies.
But a comparison of the gen-
eral fund contribution to finan-
cial aids at MSU to the corres-
ponding figure for this University
reveals that $980,000 is a paltry
sum, indeed. The University pres-
ently allots over $2.5 million in
general fund money to scholar-
ships and loans, despite the sim-
ilarity of the size and student
population of the two schools.
The difference between the two
figures is explained by the "hid-
den" scholarships which the grad-
uated tuition had provided. And
with-the graduation now gone, the
trustees will undoubtedly increase
the general fund contribution to
financial aids.
THE MAGNITUDE of this con-
tribution is fairly easy to predict.
The average per-student increase
in revenue will be about $70. Th
the total will be about $2.4 m
lion. Added to the present $980,0
contribution, the total gener
fund allocation, the total gener
fund appropriation would be co
siderably higher than the simil
contribution made by the Regen
And for MSU's financial ai
program, there will be little su
stantive difference now that gra
uated tuition is gone. Tuition f
some will be higher, but compe:
sation will be available in the for
of increased financial aid.
Thus, legislators who were it
censed by the graduated (or sli
ing scale) tuition system - t
state's entire Republican Party
have won an empty victory.
And in the light of the fisc
realities of the graduated tuiti
it is difficult to understand w.
conservatives have opposed ti
plan so vigorously since its incei
Lion less than two years ago.
True, existence of neat graduE
tions as tuition varies with incon
does contain overtones of socia
ism. But it is certainly the mo
familiar variety of socialismi
this country - precisely the kin
upon which our income tax h
been based for over 50 years.
UNDERSTANDING the mach
nations of the conservative min
has never been a simple task, Per
haps these legislators feel the
the graduated income alread
takes too much from the ric
This feeling would be exacerbate
by the graduated tuition, esp
cially since, under the MSU pla
every student whose parents mad
less than $12,300 paid the min
mum fee.
Conservatives have never ex
plained their opposition to th
graduated tuition in these term
however. Rather, they tend to cit
inequities arising from a tuitio
system based solely on parents
income-without consideration c
factors like the number of colleg
students in the family.'
They fail, of course, to realizE
that such inequities can still b
ameliorated through other finan
cial aids-loans and scholarship
are not available solely to thos
who pay the lowest tuition in th
graduated system.
Meanwhile, the attitudes of th
moderate legislators who cam
out against the graduated tuitio
only recently is equally incompre
hensible.
WHAT TURNED them agains
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Letters to the Editor
Ferris and 'U'
'HE STATE SENATE'S action last week
to bottle up a bill which would at last
permit students to vote in the city where
they attend college evoked in most stu-
dents a mixture of boredom and distaste.
In referring the bill to the appropria-
tions committee, the Senate surprised no
one. Indeed, the entire history of the
voter registration controversy in Ann
Arbor and the rest of the state can be
seen as just another predictable episode
in the time-worn drama of he Myth of
Our Republican Society.
The broad ,issue of repression by deny-
ing 'franchise tends toward the cliche.
But amidst the ever-increasing manifes-
tation of the greed of the nation's power
elite, and the corresponding impotence of
the few who try to check this power, it
becomes impossible to keep a seetningly
local malaise like discrimination against
students separate from the broader ills of
society.
Needless to say, the presence of such a
bill brings out the worst in a group of
shaky city governments and a. fearful
legislature. There's the profound fear
that the passage of the bill, which would
enfranchise thousands of 21 year-old
students, would affect the balance of
power in the state, and more specifically
the tenure of the Bursley's and the
Kuhn's in the legislature.
ACTUALLY, THE changes in the state
and city governments brought about
by the passage of the bill would only be
an indication of what should have existed
in the first place. The students' liberalism
has been held in check mainly by a state
law that denies students the right to
vote regardless of the fact that they are
21 years of age, live in Michigan for most
of the year, and are subject to other state
laws they have no say in making.
The statute, which simply says "no
elector shall be deemed to have gained or
lost a residence by reason of being . . .
nor while a student at any institution of
include: Do you live in private housing?
Where do you spend your vacations? Are
you self-supporting?
The present bill is a commendable
attempt to end once and for all such dis-
criminatory disenfranchisement of stu-
dents, which has been maintained too
long through the power of aging party
backs. It is no wonder that these politi-
cians have caused the bill to be bogged
down in the appropriations committee,
which has no jurisdiction whatsoever
over student voting.
THE SENATORS defend their action by
arguing that the bill could affect out-
of-state tuition payments because it
involves residency requirements. But
this is a deception. The residency require-
ment for tuition has absolutely nothing
in common with the voting residency re-
quirement. The first involves only the
issue of who should benefit from taxes
paid to the state. But the second is con-
cerned with a citizen's constitutional and
moral right to enjoy equally with others
a most important control over govern-
mental decisions which affect him-the
vote.
Clearly, the Senate's action was just a
tactic to delay passage of a bill with ad-
verse, implications to the continued power
of many legislators. It is a common tactic
-one that carefully disguises true mo-
tives. Undoubtedly, they will use more
before the bill is finally voted on.
For instance it can be foreseen with
some assurance that some legislators will
ask that various phrases be deleted from
the bill as a payment for their vote, such
as the important clause which allows a
student to register in his college town "if
he is not registered to vote at any other
place."
Such action would make the bill essen-
tially worthless and the state would
continue its intentional disenfranchise-
ment of this large segment of the popu-
lace.
ra To the Editor:
on
by ALMOST AS disturbing as the
he actual war at Ferris is the of-
p- ficial silence toward it here. While
President Spathelf and his admin-
a- istration condone and even en-
ne courage violence to blacks, the ad-
1- ministration and faculty in Ann
it Arbor say nothing. There seem to
in be two standard excuses: one, that
d we're not in Big Rapids and there-
as fore don't know all the facts; two,
that while the situation at Ferris
looks bad, we can't and shouldn't
i- busybody in another school's af-
1d fairs.
r- Yet without leaving Ann Arbor,
at many administrators and faculty
ly quite voluntarily denounce mili-
h. tance and protest at other univer-
d sities.
e- Why won't those in power here
n speak against the violence of the
le Ferris administration? I think
i- there are two reasons. First, the
Legislature came v e r y close to
x- passing a resolution praising Spat-
7e helf for calling the pigs in Feb-
s, ruary.
te Thus, to denounce Spathelf
n would be to denounce h a 1 f the
al Legislature and risk the Univer-
)f sity's appropriation. Second, Spat-
e helf and his administration and
the administration a n d faculty
e, here are all professionals. It would
e be unprofessional for an adminis-
- trator here to publicly denounce
s one of his fellows at Ferris f o r
e something so unscholarly as rac-
e ism.
e THIS IS SOMETHING which
e has happened again and again in
n the past few years: professional
- courtesies, whether intentionally
or not, have served racism.
Twelve of the black students at
t Ferris already have been arrested
Conrad,
THE ROLE OF the church in so-
ciety has always been one of
contradiction and paradox.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit"
but the financial operations of the
church inherit much of the earth
and do not render o n t o Caesar
that which is Caesar's, as a tax-
free institution.
Man's way of thinking toward
the church has contained many of
the same riddles. The two car-
toons by the eminent cartoonist
Conrad published just a week
apart seem to show such a con-
tradictory attitude toward the
church.
One cartoon refers to a recent
demand by black militants for a
$500nmillinn navment in "ren..
the graduated tuition was the
"disclosure" that MSU forced all
recipients of non-university scho-
larships (i.e. state higher educa-
tion scholarships) o pay the max-
imum tuition. The effect of this
restriction was to add about
$500,000 to MSU coffers.
But these moderates, too, have
been foiled. Now every Michigan
State University student pays the
old maximum.
for violating Michigan's new anti-
riot act; all of the black students
there are in danger.
The least the University could
do is to publicly offer to admit
and guarantee the personal safety
of anyone who qualifies by the U's
own professionally established ad-
missions policies. What it should
do, however, is ignore "profession-
al" standards and offer to admit
and guarantee the safety of any
black student from Ferris w h o
wants to come here.
-Bill E. Bachmann, Grad
May 21
Ferris and Africa
To the Editor:
IN THE FIRST column of an
article about Ferris State Col-
lege in the May 20 issue of The
Daily a student is quoted as say-
ing that in South Africa the blacks
are treated like animals and hunt-
ed down as such. Where on the
entire continent of Africa does
such brutality, in fact, exist? I
should think that the answer is
patently obvious to even the most
casual and uninformed observer-
the Congo, the Sudan, Nigeria-
but certainly not in the Republic
of South Africa.
One could recite all the relevant
facts about South Africa-such as
that the Africans there enjoy
health standards fully equal to
that of Western Europe, that they
earn the highest -wages in all of
Africa and that their brethren
from neighboring countries are
continually falling all over each
other trying to "escape" , into
South Africa. If South Africa is
a huge concentration camp, it
surely must be the only one in the
world where hundreds of thou-
sands are forever clamouring to
get in,
in.
Yes, of course there is separate
development of the disparate
races within the Republic but this
exists solely for the protection of
the blacks who cannot yet compete
with the European "long culture."
Indeed, the most cedicated sup-
porters of separate development
(apartheid) are at the same time
the most insistent in their de-
mands for absoluterespect for the
Africans. It would not even occur
to a white South African to burn
an African church, to lynch an
African or, for that matter, even
to insult a black man in any way.
-George H. Brown, Jr. '69
May 21
Berkeley
To the Editor:
WE the undersigned faculty
members of the University
condemn the unprovoked and
unprecedented use of firearms
against students and others in
Berkeley, "California, on May 15,
1969. Since the students were en-
gaged in peaceful protest against
the university's plan to convert a
community playground into a
university playing field, the use of
firearms. seems particularly out-
rageous. The result of the brutal-
ization of the students can only
be to destroy the universities and
to destroy the faith of our youth
in the possibility of bringing about
change by non-violent means.
-Prof. Clifford Bloom
-Prof. Joel Smaller
Mathematics dept.
May 16
'' '
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Cont radiction,
and the church
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