Eighty-one years of editorial freedom ' Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan If XV t.XY Q~UESTlo& TAe TFIOTSN OR ;IkJCEPUUY~t ' ThIOS iC UG flAC-P&E KIT Mi AFOC(6S To E ;IiGPACE- 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. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1972 NIGHT EDITOR: LINDA DREEBEN M1)YHO QE-rHA& T,{ U65Tc(ua PATP TUM 6p5Rk9N l MhOSS W rLA wp fLav C5Gi2 T9f M&l1k) HMYSVQT OF 7hE4)AR- THAT /f''Ak.''.)YEOMU §U6K'' ij6 7N6j{. WiS4/t 47ATUI-1 U AP6E(,R I - CEPIl 70 T(U$U WZO1 -4$CWL Jal)30$ TA.P'!?JT -%V ,5 3 K TWUTLJ W )T HAVE TO MCVA -TW6 MAH 5 fS O7W9 WUGsC P\TLMHAMI W 1WU!(TYr Z FO) W~T QU)5T(ok)'. #i Women's rights--finally IN A DECISIVE action, the Senate Wednesday swept aside fifty years of inaction on the Equal Rights Amend- ment (ERA) and completed the bill's congressional approval. The constitutional measure - if ap- proved by at least 38 state legislatures - could strike down all protective laws for women and finally establish exact equal- Ity of men and women before the law. The fifty states presently maintain a checkerboard of laws which distinguish between the sexes. Enactment of ERA is sure to cause havoc in courtrooms as scores of commonplace laws are chal- lenged. While Ohio women may seek to strike down a state prohibition against female pin-setters in bowling alleys, a more widespread movement will most likely arise among women across the country in order to revise all laws which distin- guish between the sexes, including laws on dower rights, property rights, and name rights. FURTHER, the laws which "protect" women from the jobs or hours which they seek are all likely to be tossed about and changed beyond present recognition. Hopefully, the pressure women will now apply to their state legislatures for ap- proval of the amendment will cause each state to move toward internal adjustment of discriminatory laws concerning women. State legislatures have been given a lengthy seven years in which to act on this amendment. In light of the strong congressional approval of ERA, it is likely the legislatures will take no more than a few months to complete ratification of the bill. After ratification is completed, how- ever, a two-year waiting period must lapse before enactment of the amend- ment. Presumably, these will be two years of planning toward complete eradication of laws which unjustly distinguish between the sexes. THE CONSTITUTION has been main- tained for 200 years as the foundation of democracy - for American white males. Optimistically, under three years sep- arates women from taking their places as full citizens before the law. -CARLA RAPOPORT Executive Editor OR AW$4OfE T$ T Q 0eis- Efl3)617 W PT ME5HOP s&c6mR N m[ wu 3-It' I Aviniz w OA 0m;;-, Dist. Publishers-Ballsyndicate Reverend Jesse: Preacg and PUSHing ITT: Tip of an iceberg AS THE ITT case continues to unfold, it provides solid evidence for some- thing that many people have long sus- pected - the Nixon administration is less than honest, if not thoroughly corrupt. The original charge by columnist Jack Anderson that the Justice Department halted an anti-trust suit against the com- pany in return .for a pledge of up to $400,000 for the Republican National Convention, is no longer a central issue in the matter. Of greater significance is the peculiar reaction by the administration and ITT officials to the charge. ITT spokesmen started off by trying to picture Dita Beard - the ITT lobby- 1st who allegedly authored a memo con- necting the anti-trust settlement and the convention pledge - as a sometimes irrational incompetent who was not in possession of her reason when she wrote the memo. However, three weeks after the memo was first made public, Beard called it a "forgery" and denied writing it. ITT of- ficials immediately jumped to her de- fense, - this same person who a few days earlier they were actively trying to dis- credit. Justice Department officials, mean- while, were stumbling all over their con- tradictions as they first denied, then ad- mitted, various meetings with a variety of ITT leaders. WHAT IS MOST disconcerting about the whole case is that the evidence indicates only the tip of a giant iceberg of corruption is visible. For example, although ITT officials are now claiming the Beard memo was a fake, ITT Senior Vice President How- ard Aibel ordered the Washington staff to destroy "documents which, if put into Mr. (Jack) Anderson's possession could be misused and misconstrued by him so as to cause embarrassment to the people mentioned therein." These precautions, however, failed to stop Anderson from publishing early this week an accusation that ITT together with the CIA plotted an army coup that would prevent Salvadore Allende from becoming president of Chile. One wonders what else this company is trying to hide. Then, too, an investigative report into the politics of San Diego-the city where the Republican convention will be held- by Life magazine showed that the White House interceded on behalf of certain wealthy San Diego citizens who were faced with prosecution for income tax evasion and violations of the Corrupt Practices Act. These wealthy citizens just happened to be large contributors to the Nixon campaign. IT SEEMS that as far as justice under the law goes - at least as interpreted by the Nixon administration - you only get what you pay for. -LINDSAY CHANEY Editorial Page Editor By GAYLE POLLARD PEACOCK PROUD, preaching pugna- a ciously, Reverend Jesse Jackson dom- inates Chicago's black community, as more blacks and whites around the nation are noticing the "Country Preacher," and his young organization - People United to Save Humanity (PUSH). PUSH power permeated the country re- cently as some 15,000 blacks and whites paid twenty-five dollars a plate to eat typical soul fare - ham hocks, redbeans, and rice, cornbread and sweet potatoe pie at Jackson's "It's a Family Affair." Moreover, presidential hopefuls Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern mingled at the March 10 banquet, held to support the organization which works for "econom- ic, political, and social liberation for blacks and minorities." Other illuminaries included Harry Bela- fonte, several Black congressmen, and a host of black elected officials from across the nation, but patrons ranged from the poorer members of the black community on to the very rich. And although Jesse didn't do much preaching that night, it was evident that he had done a whole lot of planning, as people packed Chicago's McCormack Place. OPERATION PUSH's program seems in- itially involved with the economic strategy of the black nation. The organization's first plan of action is implementing t h e "Economic Bill of Rights," which calls for -"A floor on incomes for all Americans at a level which provides for a modest but decent standard of living; -"Creation and maintenance of an op- timum environment for employment and investment in activities which enhance the marketable job skills of the poor; -"Elimination of racism and discrimin- ation in all areas of American life; -"Maintenance of maximum opportuni- ties for voluntary free choice decisions made by the poor; and -"Establishment of the right to a" job at the level of one's ability as a national commitment." BUT THE organization will expand be- yond economic concerns. Operation PUSH resembles Operation Breadbasket - the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC) - which the afro-coiffed. Jackson spearheaded from 1966 until his resignation last winter. "Country" as Jackson is called, organized Saturday morning church-like Breadbasket meetings complete with a gospel choir as he moved for more black economic via- bility. His cultural and economic trade exposi- tion - Black Expo - attracted some one million visitors to Chicago's International Amphitheater last October. And although he appeared successful, the SCLC hierarchy became leary of the young leader. A f t e r the SCLC leadership questioned Jackson on several of his actions - es- pecially concerning the establishment of an independent Black Expo organization and other activities - they suspended him for sixty days, charging him with "re- peated violations of organizational policy and discipline." AFTER RESIGNING from SCLC, a move some blacks considered politically devas- tating, the charismatic character kept right on stepping as he organized PUSH last Christmas. But although the new organization had a national board of directors, ranging from Howard University's president James Cheek, to mayor of Gary, Indiana, Richard Hatcher, no one was certain of PUSH'S strength. Many of, Jackson's followers moved with him from SCLC to PUSH. Most of his Breadbasket meeting patrons readily swit. ched their allegiance to a new place but the same format at Saturday morning PUSH gatherings. Often over 2,500 attend to hear Jesse preach, but could Jackson's power spread outside of the windy city? THE BANQUET proved that the "Coun- try Preacher" can attract national. atten- tion. Moreover, Operation PUSH's east coast branch opens Sunday at a picnic in New York city. And an exposition similar to Expo -- the Black World's Fair - is scheduled for September 27 to October 1 in Chicago. But even as PUSH pulls it all together, many black folk wonder where Jackson will go next. Presently his appeal is wide- spread, ranging from the admirers who find Country handsome and sexy to these who dig him politically, or his family way of 'life with wife Jackie and four cliildren. The native South Carolinian shines in Chicago's' black community, although he ain't everybody's favorite. As he leads chants of I Am Somebody- I may be poor.- but I am. Somebody -- I may be uneducated - but I am Some- body, and "It's Nationtime," the Country Preacher has at least started many blacks thinking. WHILE SOME blacks distrust him, oth- ers compare hiim to Mardus Garvey, as a messiah, and naturally to, Jackson's .igent, or, slain civil., rights leader Martin-Luther King Jr. Whether 'he's dashiki-clad or fashion-plat- ing, Jesse wears a large gold medallion of King. King tapped the politicking young man for action within SCLC. From there Jackson gained national attention as he began demanding that black folks be in- cluded in the economic mainstream of life. But even if you're one who hates the thirty-year-old "Country Preacher," he must be admired. REGARDLESS of the range of, feelings revolving around the young Rev'rend Jes, most folks, black and white, pay attention to him, and many expect both the dude and his organization to keep on PUSHing. 4,i f4 Letters: Garden's not ite in the green U '4 M. .r- L 1 * ~U~lENr f P1 -O 4 II To The Daily: WE WOULD LIKE to correct several points in what was other- wise an informative article on the Community Organic Garden by Diane Levick (Daily, March 18). Despite the fact that "money still remains in a Department of Health, Education and Welfare grant received last July", the garden is not "financially . . . on firm ground" as stated in the ar- ticle. The grant expires this June. Most of the money has already been committed to programs which have been completed and to materials that will be available on the subject of organic garden- ing; but these funds will not sup- port the actual operation of the garden this summer. The Ecology Center, which co- ordinates many of the garden ac- tivities, recently mailed requests for donations to a number of in- dividuals who worked at 'the gard- en last year. Hopefully the re- sponse will help provide a source for petty cash needs at the gard- en site. Harvest." The picture of the sun- flowers appears to have been idk- en after the first frost. --Mike Schectman, director Carol Cole, garden staff member The Ecology Center of Ann Arbor March 22 Women and U' To The Daily: THE CURRENT fracas over HEW's misdirected directive does, as Sara Fitzgerald points out (Daily-March 16) uncover s o m e serious problems in the University administration, b u t Fitzgerald should be careful not to apologize when apologies are not in order. Women cannot always be linked appropriately with m i n o r i t y groups; there are more females around that males are happy to admit and in 1972 they comprise over 50 per cent of the population. Fitzgerald's statement that ". in order to get adequate numbers of blacks and women into top level positions, the University may have to lower its qualifications," is not quite true. We do not argue that the pre- sent educational system is the best of all possible systems; we must call the current standards them- selves into question because no one can continue to condone a system that brutalized minority groups and leaves them both without the tools to compete in the present ed- ucational set-up and without the clout to make changes. However, - women cannot afford to throw themselves back 50 years and demean their own achieve- ments while they rail against this system. Although women are still sorely oppressed, .they have at least beeui allowed to go through the white- male educational system success- fully for the past 50 years. They have tested splendidly on w h i t e male-devised -IQ tests; they have attended white male-run grammar schools, high schools and colleges and received grades commensur- ate with or higher than those of their male classmates; and fin- ally, many of them .,ave battled their way through the hidebound miasma of graduate scaool to walk off with the white man's holy grail: a Ph.D. In other words, if there is one thing that women Ph.D.'s can say for themselves at. present, it is that they are eminently "quali- fied" to perform .with excellence as pnfessors'in the nresent educa- Of course, women still tend to concentrate their studies in certain "acceptable" areas; nationally, they make up only .7 per ivnt of the Ph.D.'s in engineering and a formidable 31 per cent of the Ph.D.'s in English and. literatures. . Despite the high percentages of women in these areas, however, the University's English depart- ment has less than 7 per cent women faculty members with t h e rank of assistant professor or higher; the psychology depart- ment has 7.6 per cent women in the same category while 22 per cent of the nation's psychology Ph.D.'s in 1969-70 went to women; and the history department has only one woman professor, or 1.6 per cent of the faculty, while women earned 13 per cent of these Ph.D.'s two years ago. Even making allowances for can- didates who attended inferior schools. mediocre scholarship, and limited turnover within depart- ments, these figures are appalling. Somewhere in the percentage dif- ferentials there are a hell of a lot of qualified women whom this U~niversty r rmuld hire 4without I 11k 4 I H H ~t w ( 4 A R vUJW AM W I1 E§m'>.7 o :r'r .. ... a OWW"