i
w £Atitan Dahij
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Registration: On
using the power
t
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
To vote in the April 3 City Council elec-
tions, one must have registered in the city
by Friday, March 3, and all three of Ann
Arbor's major parties are making last-min-
ute efforts to register new voters.
With this deadline in mind, The Daily
asked representatives of the three parties for
relevant comments concerning such ques-
tions as their party's stand on registration,
on registering to vote in the upcoming elec-
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in oil reprints.
tions, especially on the implications of voter
registration for the youth of Ann Arbor.
The three very different statements ap-
pearing on this page resulted. Each concen-
trates on different aspects of registering to
vote in this city, especially in regard to the
upcoming elections.
This will be the first year that students
and youth have a chance to greatly effect
the council that governs Ann Arbor.
Use the power-is there any excuse not to?
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: LINDA DREEBEN
M Making the city's decisions
Republican representative
j FOR THE FIRST time, the youth com-
munity of Ann Arbor has the power to
; affect its'environment, but if newly-en-
franchised 18-21 year olds do not regis-
ter within the next three days, they
might lose that power for themselves and
for their peer group.
Ann Arbor's City Council elections take
place April 3, and the deadline for regis-
tering to vote in that election is Friday.
For those who in the past have said
voting does not make a difference, that
w the Democrats and the Republicans are
the same, there is now an alternative -
the Human Rights Party.
For those Who have been frustrated
with the City Council this year - four
Democrats, five party-line Republicans,
one swing-vote nominal Republican and
a Democratic voting mayor with veto
power - there is a chance to change all
those stalemates.
VERYBODY going through the Ameri-
can public school system learns about
sacred Democracy and the equally sacred
Right-and-Duty to vote in their fourth
grade social studies class, and continues
being' told for years after that.
But in the axiomatic repetition, the
message is glossed over - and that mes-
sage is important in Ann Arbor here and
now. Thus, it bears repeating once again,
in context.
One vote does not count that much -
several votes do. By not registering ard
voting in Ann Arbor, therefore, a citizen
is not only losing an individual voice in
the electoral process, but is denying oth-
ers who support the same goals a seg-
ment of their needed base.
Given the demography of the city, with
students, non-student young people and
blacks concentrated in the first two.
wards, bloc voting can be very effective.
Youth and black voices cannot be lost
among the masses this year, if there is
a strong vote in those wards.
THE CITY is at a crisis point in its his-
tory-problems usually considered urban
are crowding the college town. What hap-
pens in the next year is of vital import-
ance to everyone living here, whether-for
four years or forty.
Decision-making for this city, as has
often been said, can best be affected by
the choice of council members. And the
first step in that process is to register
now, before the Friday deadline.
-TAMMY JACOBS
Editorial Director
Women and the law school
WOMEN'S admission "policy" in
the law school is that all qualified fe-
male applicants are accepted.
The outgoing assistant dean for admis-
sions explains that "until somebody
makes -a showing . . . that women are in
some way treated inequitably by grading
or standardized tests, we wouldn't be jus-
tified in discriminating in favor of wo-
men."
This notion, however, does not square
with the often discussed but unfortun-
ately obscure, University affirmative ac-
tion program against sex discrimination.
Helen Forsyth, a law student and mem-
ber of the women's commission, has pin-
pointed the nonsense and ineffectiveness
of this "all qualified )women" approach
to enrollment.
"'Affirmative action' means results in
terms of admissions to law school," she
says. "It means you acknowledge that
there probably should be more women in
the profession."
War rights?
SELCTIVE SERVICE Director Curtis
Tarr has warned that granting am-
nesty to Vietnam war resisters could
wreck the induction system, set a dan-
gerous precedent of selective acceptance
of laws, and be unfair to men willing to
enter the armed forces when drafted.
He didn't discuss whether or not the
resisters were right.
But when you think about it, Tarr may
have .a point. Perhaps Congress should
take a good look at all the little wars in
the world and consider involvement - to
avoid any prejudicial selective acceptance
of wars. And Congressmen ought to sup-
ply wars for those that want them - to
avoid denying the civil rights of young
men who like to go to war.
Tarr continued that the move "might
some day be an unwelcome tradition."
War, Tarr must feel, is a fine old tra-
dition.
--ART
NO LAW SCHOOL in the country has
moved significantly toward sexual in-
tegration without a specific pro-women's
admission policy.
With such real affirmative action, the
law school at Rutgers has 40 per cent wo-
men students, Northeastern University 50
per cent and New York University 25 per
cent. At Notre Dame, after vigorous re-
cruitment and the appointment of a fe-
male dean of admissions in the law
school, enrollment went up to 25 per cent
from almost zero the last year.
The University's law school has 10 per
cent female enrollment, 15 per cent in
the most recently admitted class, and
lags far behind.
NOW IS AN especially opportune time
for the law school to lead in women's
admission efforts to the degree it pro-
claims national leadership in legal edu-
cation generally.
Presently, the admissions deanship is
open, and Law School Dean Theodore St.
Antoine has expressed interest in the ap-
pointment of a woman or minority group
member to the post.
The law school should seriously con-
sider appointing a woman for the admis-
sions position, in conjunction with a spe.
cific, more productive, women's admis-
sions policy.
The school's faculty should press for
active recruitment of women, and grant
admission to the woman when male and
female applicant credentials are the
same.
Such an affirmative move would not
only fulfill the need for more woman
lawyers, who are presently a miniscule
three per cent of the profession, but will
help dispel the hostile environment fe-
male law students now face.
THE STUMBLING state of the move-
ment toward sexual integration of law
practice and the distressing pressures on
today's women law students are nothing
that a real push for affirmative action
won't cure.
-MIKE SLAUGHTER
Human Rights Party
The following article represents the views of the Human Rights
Party of Ann Arbor.
WILL A VOTE FOR HRP BE WASTED?
No! People who want real change in the system this year can
really elect their own candidates. Young and black voters especially
can control who is elected in the first and second wards.
If you help HRP win here, it will give incentive to similar efforts
throughout the country.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS?
Just look at the record. In just the past few months, a. coalition of
Democrats and Republicans has :
-Approved the Packard-Beakes bypass which will route a high-
speed highway through the middle of the black community for the
benefit of downtown merchants;
-Refused to punish landlords who are violating the rent freeze;
-Approved the Briarwood shopping center even though it was
opposed by conservationists throughout the state;
-Given carte blanche support to the city police department which.
some Democrats admit, still brutalizes poor people and arrests drug
users. (Latest figurts show that marijuana arrests nearly tripled last
year.);
-Ignored conditions in the jail which should be, at least partially,
the responsibility of the city health department; and
-Set up the Dial-a-Ride bus system that does not service either
the black or student communities.
HOW IS HRP ANY DIFFERENT?
HRP is a real alternative. The major parties are not. These
are some of the clear, crucial differeces:
OPEN METINGS. Our candidates have pledged to vote on city
council according to political decisions reached in open party meetings.
We invite anyone to attend and vote on those decisions. So, in effect,
you will be electing yourself if you elect HRP.J
COMMUNITY CONTROL. Our party believes that necessary serv-
ices like health, care, law enforcement, etc. should be controlled by
people. Therefore, we are proposing a system of neighborhood clinics,
a civilian review board for police, etc.
PEOPLE AND ECOLOGY AHEAD OF BUSINESS. Our people
do not believe that business interests should dictate how land is used.
People should be placed ahead of a highway like Packard-Beakes, and
the environment should be placed ahead of a shopping center like
Briarwood.
AN END TO ALL DISCRIMINATION. In contrast to the other
parties, our party is not filled with empty rhetoric. Three of our five
candidates are women. Many minorities, including blacks, gays, work-
ers and youth liberationists, helped decide our platform in an open
convention.
WHAT WILL HRP DO ON COUNCIL?
Work very hard.
We will bird-dog bureaucrats at City Hall who run various city
agencies, just as some good Congressional members might patrol the
Pentagon.
We will raise issues for political debate that have never been
discussed on city council before.
We will also pushto enact certain programs. And we will succeed
in some cases, especially if we end up with the "swing" votes on
council.
OUR PRIORITIES WILL BE:
-Order the police to set the lowest priority on "victimless" crimes
like curfew; abortion, drug use, etc.;
-Enact stricter consumer, environmental and housing laws. And
enforce them;
-Support community groups like Drug Help, Ozone House, and
other groups dealing with the problems of women, ecology, tenants,
students, gays, blacks, workers, welfare mothers and other minori-
ties;
-Set up pre-paid health clinics, free drug maintenance programs,
child care centers, food co-operatives;
-Build scattered site low-cost housing;
-Revamp the city's transportation system and set up an efficient
mass transit system that is available to all people; and
-Lobby for tax law reform to permit a steeply-graduated income
tax that specifically taxes the rich to pay for necessary services.
IN CONCLUSION, registering to vote means you can become part
of an important radical change in the way this city is organized
and run. -
Tom Burnham, a representative
of the Republican Party running
for Second Ward Councilman,
wrote the following article for The
Daily.
SHOULD ACTIVE registration
policiesbe followed with re-
gards to the new student vote?
When one considers the na-
tional defense responsibilities of
the 18-21 year old age group and
the guarantees which this group
has under the fourteenth amend-
ment, the most obvious conclusion
is that enfranchisement was long
overdue. In fact, the Supreme
Courts' decision in United States
v.Arizona, which led to thedvot-
ing; rights of the 18-year old, is
based on unusually sound and lo-
gical arguments.
From this background it is quite
clear that tlis age group should
not be prevented in any way from
registering to vote. In fact, con-
sidering the size of the n e wv
group, new procedures which ac-
commodate massive registration
are a necessity. An opposite con-
clusion could only be reached by
a glaring hypocrite.
WHAT METHOD of registration
should be used and what have
I done to support my views?
Unfortunately, the method of
!registration became another of
Ann Arbor's infamous bi-partisan
political issues, which resulted in
City Clerk Harold Saunders being
swamped with proposals as to how
to best approach the problem. The
first attempt made by Saunders
was to put registration booths up
in the dormitories. At this point
it became clear to me that the
approach being followed was far
too narrow for the massive results
which I saw as necessary.
With the door-to-door yet to be
ruled on by council, I was able
to convince Saunders to include
in his "booth program" all the
various schools on campus, indi-
cating to him that not everyobdy
lives in dorms. To this end I hust-
led up thirty persons including
myself to become deputies and
help out with all the new fixed
sight locations.
I certainly approve of the door-
to-door program but I would qual-
ify- it to this extent: an attempt
should be made to thoroughly can-
vass the entire city before each
election. If equal registration is to
be available to all residents then
every neighborhood should be cov-
ered regardless of what possible
political thought an area tends
toward. We must not forget the
hundreds of high school seniors
who are eligible and most certain-
ly qualify to vote.
WHAT KIND OF voters are the
newly enfranchised?
I have been accumulating a
great wealth of information on this
topic from two main sources: the
door-to-door campaign which I ,am
currently engaged in oncampus
and the telephone survey being
conducted' by a segment of my
campaign staff of every young
voter in tht Second Ward. The
results so far indicate several in-
teresting factors:
--Students are interested in a
candidate's views on both national
and local issues;
-Nearly 85 per cent classify
themselves as independents with a
scattering of party affiliation;
-Students say they will vote on
the issues alone and are not con-
cerned with party labels;
-Most students think the elec-
tion should be non-partisan; and
--Nearly 95 per cent have in-
dicated that9they think a young
person could serve well on the
council.'
Thus, my conclusion is that the
new voters will tend to be inde-
pendent, interested in issue stands,
and will vote on the basis of what
the candidates say as individuals
ignoring to a great extent party
labels.
WILL THE NE* group actually
vote?
I am truly concerned about an
apparent aura of apathy which
exists on the campus. I forsee that
it will take a great amount of
work to get the "conscientious
vote" out to vote. I hope to see
as much effort going into voting
drives as has gone into registra-
tion drives.
If they don't turn out, we all
face the risk that the opposition
to the student vote will blast us
again with their old war cry,
"Since the student doesn't give a
damn about the 'city, why let him
vote." I have heard that state-
ment enough and don't plan on
hearing it again. If we don't all
want to appear as hypocrites our-
selves, then the student vote must
be much stronger than it was on
the income tax.
IF ThEY VOTE, what will be
the effect?
Assuming a strong showing at the
polls, the student vote will have
a dramatic impact on the second
and third wards. Judging from the
latest figures ' available from
Saunders, the impact in the other
three wards will not be as great.
r
And the Democrats
The following article was submitted by the Ann Arbor Democratic
Party Executive Board.
THERE IS ONLY one party in Ann Arbor that represents all segments
of the community without being dominated by any one of them
- the Ann Arbor Democratic Party.
It includes students, workers, men and women, blacks and whites,
community leaders and those who don't care to lead, long-time Ann
Arbor residents and some who've lived here only a few months.
The Ann Arbor Democratic Party is not the Michigan Democratic,
Party nor the national Democratic Party. It is a group of people who
believe in progressive, humane and compassionate city government.
The Democratic Party platform adopted last week calls for:
-A governmental reform commission to consider changes in the
executive structure of city government;
-A committee on the status of women to be appointed by city
council;
-An ombudswoman to serve the girls and women in our com-
munity;
-Low-cost 24-hour child-care facilities;
-"Greatly increased" representation of women on city commit-
tees and commissions;
-More effective police patrolling in the university and inner
city areas for the purpose of reducing crimes which victimize persons;
-An end to selective ticketing of parked vehicles;
-:-An end to the police practice of wearing riot helmets in routine,
day-to-day patrolling;
-Legalization of the use and sale of marijuana;
-A better socio-economic mix of population in the Ann Arbor
schools, by any reasonable means necessary, including pairing of
schools;
-An affirmative action program for the recruitment and advance-
ment of handicapped, minority and female human beings by Ann Arbor
businesses;
-A review of the city charter to insure that 18-21 year olds are
not excluded from full legal participation in city government;
-An amendment to the Michigan State Constitution to allow cities
greater flexibility in tax base structures;
-Taxes based on income;
-An end to the use of public funds for the development of arterial
traffic routes through any existing neighborhoods in the city;
-A city ordinance barring all non-returnable beverage containers;
-Curb side pick-up of recyclable materials along with regular
trash collection;
-Development of facilities to meet the needs for parks and other
recreational activities in the central city areas of Ann Arbor;
-An increase in the supply of public housing;
-State legislation allowing collective bargaining rights to tenants;
-An investigation of the differential between student and non-
student rents;
-Legislation requiring landlords who receive reductions in property
taxes to reduce their rents by an equal amount;
-Amendment to the building codes so that all public buildings
can be accessible to the handicapped;
-An end to unsanitary conditions, unfair merchandising, deceptive
advertising and discriminatory collection procedures by Ann Arbor
business firms;
-An ordinance specifically prohibiting/discrimination on the basis
of marital status or sex in the issuance of credit; and
-Continued support of drug treatment centers and re-activation
of the mayor's Commission on Drugs.
THE PLATFORM was developed in open meetings, to which everyone
in the community was invited. Democrats in their eighties and some
in their teens participated.
Five human beings, four men and one woman, are running for the
city council on the Democratic platform. If two or three of them
are elected, the nearly-even split on tht council will end, and the
*
Letters: Alive and living in Martha Cook
A"
To The Daily:
A4 MARTHA COOK residents,
we object to being considered
anti-male "elitist snobs". We en-
joy living in the building because
it is convenient, attractive 'and
quiet.
Jan Benedetti, in her February
25 editorial, wrote, "The girls say
they like wearing skirts to dinner
and being served by waitresses."'
The emphasis here is misleading;
git-down dinners are maintained not
to boost our egos but to give resi-
dents waltressing jobs. Also, Ms.
xtonadf1ti. ctu4 p'Dt'hQ 4
building's location, privacy, and
time-saving services offers great-
er freedom than any other cam-
pus housing. Because it is small,
and takes an interest in itself, we
avoid thtfts, muggings, fires, and
the personal infringements of the
average undisciplined Mi c h i g a n
' student.
-Karen Lachenauer, '72
Nancy Harris, '72
Feb. 26
Co-op definition
To The Daily:
co-op. The authors show a mis-
understanding of just what FHA
housing co-ops are.
At some points, the suggestion is
left that these co-ops are a part
of government, and thus should
act as welfare agencies to house
people who have no source of in-
come. At other times, the auth-
ors seem to imply that some busi-
nessman owns the co-op, and is
exploiting the poor. I would like to
^larify what the government con-
nection is, 'and how co-ops a r e
owned and controlled.
Federal Housing Authority
ing one share and one vote. This
control is exercised by a Board
of Directors, who are elected each
year and receive no pay.
The Board hires a management
company, at a fixed fee,' to run
the day-to-day affairs
I completely support The Daily's
attack on a society which leaves
some of its members unable to
provide housing for themselves.
But it makes no sense to attack
housing co-ops like Pontiac
Heights. On the contrary, they
should be supported as one way in
which people who can't afford a