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t £ir4igan Daa
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inc'ividuaopinions of stuiff writers
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THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: GENE ROBINSON
Assessing the Florida vote
'HE FLORIDA primary was a victory
for, George Wallace. It was a breeze
for President Nixon, a disappointment to
John Lindsay, and a flop for Ed Muskie.
But to jubilant second place Hubert
Humphrey it supplied welcome "momen-
tum.
He is joined by left-leaning Democrats
encouraged by media frontrunner Mus-
kie's bad slip, which has opened up the
race. The voters, however, who rejected
the blandishments of Muskie, also dis-
regarded flashy granddad Humphrey,
media-slick John Lindsay, George Mc-
Govern and the other Democrats.
The beneficiary of the voters' disen-
chantment was George Wallace - not a
progressive candidate who could supply
"a dime's worth of difference." Except
for their desire to tax the rich, the Wal-
lace voters did not align themselves with
progressivism in any form.
The mixture of populism, racism and
know-nothingism that comprised Wal-
lace's tally is not the stuff from which
either George McGovern or Zolton Fer-
ency can grow.
The majority, including the Republi-
cans, has in fact voted on the right in
New Hampshire and Florida. Between
them, Nixon and Wallace have taken
more votes than all their opponents com-
bined.
NEVERTHELESS, Hubert Humphrey was
encouraged and "felt good" after
Tuesday's primary. He even chortled that
"among the progressives, I am the lead-
er." If indeed he were a progressive, he
might indeed be in the lead.
But leftist Democratic caucuses, and
traditional liberal organizations are ig-
noring Humphrey, favoring McGovern,
Lindsay and Chisholm.
An effervescent Humphrey did come
up with some of the bubbly logic Tuesday
for which the media labels him a mar-
velous politician; but which also clari-
fies his 1972 centrist, non-progressive
politics.
Humphrey boasted that "Florida has
been a testing ground, both on the issues,
and for myself. In both instances, the
test has been successful."
BALONEY. Floridians overwhelmingly
passed a straw vote referendum to al-
low prayer in the public schools and
swamped three to one their Democratic
governor's efforts to block an anti-busing
referendum. Certainly, not very progres-
sive, and contrary to Humphrey's Con-
gressional voting record that dates back
to the forties.
If those aren't the issues Humphrey
was talking about, maybe he meant the
voter's 17 per cent to nine per cent de-
cision on the issues dividing him and
Senator Muskie. But if so, he has yet to
say what those issues are.
Or did he mean that Florida voters
have passed the test by giving more votes
to George Wallace than to Humphrey,
McGovern, Lindsay and Muskie all put
together?
HUBERT CAN prattle all he wants about
"momentum" and "a good start" for
his personal campaign, but the Florida
vote smacks of a much larger defeat.;
-ARTHUR LERNER
Editorial Page Editor
.TAMMY JACOBS. ..
Shapiro: To gain a
corner in Congress
WALTER SHAPIRO looked up from his fifth cup of coffee. "I think
I'm going to run for Congress," he said.
It sounded pretty stark. People just don't look up from cups of
coffee and say things like that.
But it's three months later and Shapiro is definitely running for
Congress-he announces it formally at a noon press conference today.
A natural first reaction would be "he hasi't got a chance." But
Shapiro is not announcing a symbolic candidacy-he doesn't want to
be a futile figurehead for The Youth Vote.
"Symbolic candidacies are bullshit," he says. "I don't really think
they teach anyone anything."
Depending yon how the Congressional district is bounded-an
issue in the courts right now-he has a chance. However, he needs
the youth votes from both the University and Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity, and he knows it. That's part of the reason he's running, he
says.
This congressional district, he points out, with its over 50,000
students, has one of the largest concentrations of college students In
the nation.
"The youngest Congressman seated now is a 31 year old reaction-
ary Democrat from Georgia," Shapiro, himself 25 plus one month, is
fond of saying.
SHAPIRO TRIES very hard to have you understand he doesn't
want to get trapped into traditional party politics. "It's proablya
one-term thing," he says. "I want to write a book afterwards. I'll be
very disappointed with myself if I don't."
Of course, not worrying about re-election, he feels, can also
broaden the amount of "playing against the rules" he can do. "To
get along you go along," he quotes the late Sam Raeburn as saying.
Shapiro shows no intention of going along if he's elected. "One
more liberal vote out of 435 doesn't mean that much," he. says. "Of
course it's better than not having it, but it doesn't much matter if a
war appropriations bill passes 287-22 or 286-23."
"I trust myself to'creatively disrupt, if necessary," he adds. "I also
see the need for a national youth omsbudsman, someone who can
bring up youth issues in Congress, and give them that legitimacy.
Congress is a great forum."
THE ISSUES he wants to bring to this forum are, for the most
part, radical. A major part of his platform will be a nationwide man-
datory deferred tuition plan for all students, which he feels will open
up colleges to student control.
"I realize the folly of running a totally-student oriented cam-
paign." he says. "But I feel the populist issues I want to bring to the
rest of the district are in no way contradictory to the campus issues 'm
focussing on now."
However, one thing Shapiro does have is the credentials of a
youth-centered candidate.
He's an almost-Masters in history, the assistant resident director
of Alice Lloyd's Pilot Program, where he teaches two courses.
His course on Politics and the Media has been fairly popular-
the readings are a bit too abundant, perhaps, but the papers are easy
to do and he tells good stories. He knows his stuff.
He ought to. After graduating from the University, where he was
an Editorial Page Editor on the Daily staff, he went into the "real
world" for a year-long stint on Congressional Quarterly, a specialized
news operation focussing on Congress.
There, he learned enoughvabout Capitol Hill residents. to write
a trivia book on the lives, loves and voting records of little-known
Congressmen.
He came back to Ann Arbor for graduate work, but spent last
summer being a Nader's Raider, which makes him perhaps the first
of that band of muckrackers to run for Congress.
SHAPIRO IS NOT a party man-his so-far mostly non-existent
ties with the Demicratic party will probably be his biggest drawback.
And with that handicap, it is left to the future to show whether
any one, however qualified, can simply look up from a coffee cup and
announce he's running for Congress.
5i
"Why not a simple constitutional amendment
declaring the courts unconstitutional?"
r -'
Letters to The, Daily
Fleming: Showing sexism
PRESIDENT ROBBEN FLEMING has
once again shown his true colors on
affirmative action to end discrimination
in hiring -/ this time unwittingly.
In response to a Detroit News reporter's
question earlier this week, Fleming said
the University would "vigorously resist"
federal measures which would force -fed-
eral contractors to hire women and mi-
norityapplicants with lower qualifica-
tions than white male applicants, when
discrimination against such applicants
exists.
"To say we must hire someone whose
qualifications may be only slightly bet-
ter than the lowest qualified current
member of a department is absurd,"
Fleming said.
Fortunately for Fleming, but unfortun-
ately for women and minorities, the new
federal order that contains that require-
ment exempts public institutions such as
the University.
Instead, it is subject to the "spirit, not
the letter" of the law, according to the
federal official in charge of monitoring
the University's attempts at affirmative
action.
]BUT FLEMING'S misguided statement
does give these federal officials a ba-
rometer reading for where too many
University officials stand on providing
more job opportunities for women and
minorities.
The Unversity can start numerous file
reviews to allegedly achieve salary equity,
set nice-sounding-but not-yet-realized
goals and timetables for increased hiring
of women, and put some women on as
advisors to give assistance, but not much
heeded advice.
But it apparently is not willing to go
out of its way to seek applicants with
fewer qualifications, but perhaps better
potential - which is, after all, the es-
sence of affirmative action.
What Fleming and other administra-
tors fail to realize is that in order to get
adequate numbers of blacks and women
into top level positions, the University
may have to lower its qualifications.
For more often than not, these groups
have been discriminated against through-
out their professional careers - and may
not have been able to build up an im-
pressive backlog of credentials or degrees
from prestigious universities because of
that.
IT IS TOO BAD that when the Depart-
ment of Health, Education and Wel-
fare comes to review the University's af-
firmative action plan later this month, it
will be looking at statistical data on hir-
ing rather than at prevailing attitudes
like Fleming's.
Because as long as the University is
not willing to take the truly positive
steps that are needed to end sex and
racial discrimination in hiring, the Uni-
versity affirmative action plan can hard-
ly be considered an affirmation.
--SARA FITZGERALD
Managing Editor
SGC reaction
To The Daily:
IN YESTERDAY'S edition of
The Daily (March 15) a statement
was made in the SGC editorial by
Rose Sue Berstein that I, as a
member of the Research Policies
Committee, "felt it all right to
permit defense department secret
contracting."
This statement was totally incor-
rect. My position on the matter, as
explained to SGC, was the same
as was put forward to the Re-
gents -- that research contracts
which do not permit publicationl
within one year should not be per-
mitted.
Furthermore, I hold the posi-
tion that no work with 'direct m li-
tary applications should be con-
ducted by the University.
In addition, my position of de-
fense department funding of re-
search is that no blanket prohibi-
tion against such funding should
be made, since up until the last
few years the DOD was playing
the role of benefactor for much
basic scientific work in this coun-
try.
True, it would have been better
if the United States had found a
different source of money for its
scientific research, but this was
the reality of the situation, a n d
could easily become reality again.
My opinion is that the University
should keep its options open, with-
in the constraints of strong stu-
dent scrutiny.
-David Klein, 74E
March 15
More on SGC
To The Daily:
I SEE The Daily is back on its
anti-SGC kick again. It's hard to
believe, but this Rose Sue Ber-
stein editorial is even worse than
the one she did last election!
Her one partly-valid point is in
her suggestion that SGC ought to
co-operate with existing co-ops ra-
ther than establishing one of its
own. I say partly because her sub-
sequent comments about co-op
membership point up the first
problem with her suggestion.
These co-ops are intended eith-
er solely or primarily for the serv-
ices of their members, while an
SGC co-op would inevitably in-
volve every student. It would.
therefore, be expensive. It would
also require a more rigorous or-
ganization.
I might also remind her that
SGC has a rather limited budget.
The same people who voted for
the SGC co-op voted againist the
money which might have helped to
start it.
The comments about student re-
presentatives may be valid. There
is no way to know, because,
among other things, Berstein does
not say how many positions were
open, or what, if any, time limit
was set for selecting representa-
tives.
The complaint against the Re-
search Policies Committee candi-
date was priceless. Am I to as-
sume that only those students
whose position agrees with yours
have the right to be represented
on student-faculty committees?
If Berstein is so upset by SGC's
inaction she might consider run-
ning herself. One advantage to the
paper would be that she would no
longer have time to write inane
editorials like this one.
--Charleen Cook, '72"
March 15
Letters to The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to M a r y
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily building. Let-
ters should be typed, double-
spaced and normallyshould
not exceed 250 words. The
Editorial Directors reserve the
right to edit all letters sub-
mitted.
4
Black convention: Stressing unity
By GAYLE POLLARD
THE NATIONAL Black Political
Convention recently held in
smoggy Gary, Indiana really ac-
complished more than most ob-
servers realized. Despite the con-
fusion, disputes, and Michigan de-
legation walk-out, the assembly of
some 4,000 delegates and alter-
nates, united to initiate national
black political strategy.
The adoption of the National
Black Agenda and other resolu-
tions such as the anti-busing
stance showed the militancy of the
group.
And militancy was not anticipat-
ed from the delegations comprised
of black democrats, black repub-
licans, old line Civil Righters such
as NAACP members, a smattering
of students, UAW members, and
elected officials. But regardless of
the philosophical persuasion, t h e
common denominator according to
Rev. Jesse Jackson of People
Unitedto Save Humanity (PUSH)
was blackness.
Another prominent figure at the
conclave, Imamu Amiri Baraka,
chairmen of the New Jersey dele-
gation (formerly LeRoi Jones)
opened the parley by calling f o r
"Unity without uniformity," a n
'apt theme for the session.
Because that's exactly what hap-
pened in this steel town last week-
end. Blacks from all political per-
suasions attended the sessions -
pan-Africanists, assimulationists,
integrationists, separtists, and na-
tionalists - the whole spectrum
came.
NATURALLY there were has-
sles. Some delegations such as
Michigan's, contained older black
people and established represent-
atives as opposed to some states'
delegations, which were dominat-
ed by students.
But the conflicts were not al-
ways students versus older dele-
gates. Barake described the dis-
putes as "family arguments."
Although different leaders sug-
gested diverse strategies, a 11
agreed'that the political power of
the some 7.5 million registe.'ed,
and 6 million unregistered black
voters needs strengthening.
Plans for national black poli-
tics included Jackson's calling for
a third party - an independent
national black political party. But
while the country preacher as
Jackson is often called argued in-
dependent politics, Gary's mayor
Richard Hatcher argued for giving
the Democrats one more chance
although "the price will be high."
While some delegates wished to
retain their party and orgainiza-
tional loyaltiesaothers favored the
independent party, but no decis-
ion was made.
The majority of black people
have been enfranchised a short
while - specifically since the ted-
eral Voting Rights Act of 1904.
Regardless of the type of stra-
tegy, some effort is definitely
needed to make the black vote
more potent.
FOR YEARS, national Civil
Rights organizations such as the
NAACP have been trying to em-
power black folks. Groups 1 i k e
these should be respected because
they laid a foundation.
At the convention, however, the
NAACP opposed the preamble to
the National Black Agenda, find-
ing " the document a "doctrine of
racial superiority." The staid or-
ganization also attacked the as-
sembly's anti-busing stance.
But the majority of the dele-
gates overruled the old c i v i
right's organization's position as
they tentatively but enthusiasti-
cally accepted the militant round-
ing preamble and the National
Black Agenda.
And as the nation, ranging from
the White House to the ordinary
Americans, took note; the dele-
gates from 43 states and. Washing-
ton D.C. set about mapping out
black political strategy and trying
to better the black American's
way of life.
A steering committee of dele-
gates from all 50 states and the
District of Columbia will meet in
two weeks to finalize the national
black agenda.
HOPEFULLY the outcome will
illustrate black potence. At least
now many politicians realize that
lots of black folks don't favo. bus-
ing for integration and black
children consistently the minority
at school.
But the convention's success de-
pends on the black turnout this
election year. If the unity estab-
lished in Gary permeates the
black black communities across
this country - if more blocks
vote - and in a maner which
increases our power - thien the
convention will have surely been
successful, and the session sched-
uled for 1976 in Philadelphia prior
to the next national presidential
election will be worth attending.
9
-. ROSE SUE BERSTEIN...
For a serious St. Patrick's
. 0.0
Quest ioning STRESS' value
UCH OF THE criticism that has re-
cently been levelled at the Detroit
Police Department's STRESS program in-
dicate problems which are far more seri-
ous than is evident from that criticism.
STRESS has been blasted most recent-
ly for the involvement of four of its of-
ficers in the March 9 shooting of five
Wayne County sheriff's deputies, and has
also come under fire for a $50,000 lawsuit
filed against four STRESS officers in-
volved in a shooting death last November,
The STRESS unit was formed little
more than a year ago in response to in-
creased crime in certain areas of Detroit.
STRESS agents work in an ' undercover
capacity, acting as decoys in the city's
high crime areas.
This fact is significant because it gives
into acting in a criminal manner. Entrap-
ment is an illegal police action.
BEYOND ENTRAPPING a potentially
dangerous individual so that he may
be arrested there is also the possibility
that STRESS agents can take advantage
of their particular situations for the pur-
pose of settling personal vendettas,
The STRESS program lends itself well
to this type of behavior, since its under-
cover operations are veiled from public
view.
Another disturbing feature of the
STRESS operation is the fact that the
officers involved are placed in situations
where they are either forced to shoot
first or can do so without excessive fear
of being prosecuted for it.
THE TRILLS of "My Wild Irish
Rose" and "When Irish Eyes Are
Smiling" will probably float alosg
with 300,000 Irish people on New
York's Fifth Ave. tomorrow in the
annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.
But this year the music will be
strictly civilian, because the Pen-
tagon has denied military bands
permission to play in the parade,
deeming its theme too controver-
sial.
And this year's theme - a pro-
test of British involvement in
Northern Ireland - could certain-
ly be construed as controversial
by the Pentagon.
Despite the hope of parade chair-
man and retired judge James
Comerford that the parade n o t
carry political overtones, but
merely honour St. Patrick, various
groups in New York have mobiliz-
ed to make clear - especially on
St. Patrick's Day - their view
that Britain should withdraw from
TTl efor~
tentially a. very powerful weapon.
In adition to the boycott, Irish
Republican Army (IRA) sympa-
thizers have asked marchers in to-
morrow's mammoth parade to
wear black armbands in memory
of the 13 Irish victims of British
gunfire last Jan. 13.
Both of these suggestions are
sound ones, representing dignified
ways to observe a holiday mmve
often noted for drunken brawling
than for solemn protest.
THE STRIFE in Ulster is ad-
mittedly clouded with ambiguity
and misunderstanding. But, as
with other controversial conflicts,
a clear majoriy of those affected
would like their country to dis-
sociate itself from the mess.
Polls indicate that Britons want
out of Ireland, and IRA guerrilla
actions against British troops in-
dicate that they too want Britain
out of Ireland too.
IRISH RESISTANCE 1 e a d e r s
such as Bernadette Devlin hope
for a unified socialist state of Ire-
land, with increased economic t op-
portunity for all the Irish, Pro-
testant and Catholic alike.
But no progress can be forged,
and there can be no pea-e in
Northern Ireland, while campaigns
of terror rule the streets, while
British troops patrol Belfastand
Londonderry, while British r u 1 e
governs the Irish spirit.
The British government must be
made to realize that although Ul-
ster cannot bear much more havoc
and destruction, the fighting will
continue indomitably until t h e
British troops - who even the
British people do not think should
be in Ireland - leave.
SO, WHEN YOU r u m m a g e
through your closet tonight in
search of the bright green shirt
that commemorates St. Pat.rick's