t 9 i tirlygan an'Ill
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
futures past
Making the sexes more human
I
by dave churdwin
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, ich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editforials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: HESTER PULLING
New anti-war focus needed
DURING THE Cambodian invasion of.
1970, campuses all over the country
exploded in protest. Thousands of stu-
dents angrily denounced the Nixon Ad-
ministration, and these denunciations
had a substantial effect.
No longer could the U n i t e d States
government commit open atrocity and
proclaim it to the world as a victory for
the forces of freedom. The next U.S.-
sponsored invasion, this time in Laos, was
blacked out to the press so even now we
know little of the devastation of that
country.
Whatever one's political outlook, it is
difficult to challenge the fact that anti-
Politico hippo
"H EN THE Human Rights Party
(HRP) filed petitions to allow it
a place on the state - wide ballot, they
also filed their symbol - the hippopota-
mus - taken from the emblem of the
Ann Arbor HRP faction, the Radical In-
dependent Party.
Asked, "why a hippo?" HRP member
Zolton Ferency, former star of the Demo-
cratic Party, replied:
"It is an animal that believes in living
and letting live. It is extremely difficult
to arouse, but when aroused is very de-
fensive about what it believes in."
OTHER HRP MEMBERS disagree with
what they call Ferency's "bull." They
offer their own reasons for adopting the
hippo.,
"The hippo," they maintain, "is a na-
tural predator of the pig."
-T.J.
Nixon on
equality,
PRESIDENT NIXON has consistently
preached that we must strive f o r
"fairness and equity for all Americans."
In his address to the nation last week,
however, Mr. Nixon's real view on
the status of a majority of Americans was
blatantly exposed.
"For example," the President said, "in
the past six years, workers have received
big. wage increases. But every wife of a
worker who has to do the family shopping
will tell you that those increases h a v e
practically all being eaten up by rises in
the cost of living."
It seems that Mr. Nixon's regard for
women as "wives of workers," ignoring
the fact that women may be workers
themselves, points up his real conception
of women -as second class citizens.
-G.S.
Editorial Staff
ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
Editor
JIM BEATTIE DAVE CHDWIN
Zxecutive Editor Managing Editor
STEVE KOPPMAN .. Editorial Page Editor
RICK PERLOFF :. .: Associate Editorial Page Editor
PAT MAHONEY .... Assistant Editorial Page Editor
LYNN WEINER........ ..Associate Managing Editor
LARRY LEMPERT . .. . Associate Managing Editor
ANITA CRONE... .....................Arts Editor
Business Staff
JAMES STOREY, Business Manager
RICHARD RADCLIFFE .......Advertising Manager
SUZANNE BOSCHAN.... ..A.Sales Manager
JOHN SOMMERS............ Finance Manager
ANDY GOLDING ..... Associate Advertising Manager
war demonstrations have had a major
effect on policy implementation in this
country. And most of these past demon-
strations have occurred through a "spon-
taneous combustion" - an eruption of
outrage at a particular course of action.
Yet there are many weaknesses with
this approach.
FIRST OF ALL, it leaves the anti-war
movement in a state of virtual rigor
mortis when there is no conspicuous im-
morality to protest. Thus, we have seen a
mood of apathy prevail over the campus-
es during the last year, with the profile
of the war dropping lower and lower.
The Administration has learned that a
purely visual "winding down" of the war
can be as effective in stifling dissent as
would a virtual end to the hostilities.
With fewer American casualties and more
soldiers coming home, the Administration
can throw up the facade that the war is
drawing to a close.
More than anything else, this has il-
lustrated the problems of spontaneous
demonstrations, yet the fact that U.S.
atrocities are not quite as blatant now
should not serve to thwart the anti-war
movement. The movement must be an
ongoing activity, which constantly points
out the interconnections of governmental
policy. It must, for example, link the war
to economic stagnation at home, and
show the connections between overseas
expansion and domestic poverty.
Although a demonstration may be tem-
porarily exhilarating, when it constitutes
the only-focus of the anti-war movement
there is something definitely wrong.
THUS, WE MUST concern ourselves with
developing a larger perspective. Right
now, there are a great multitude of groups
working on progressive causes - women's
liberation groups, anti-war groups, wel-
fare rights organizations, people working
for the rights of prisoners and any num-
ber of others.,
However, there is no unity between
these groups. Occasionally, they may
come together for short periods of time,
but they do not have any common ap-
proach.
It is quite obvious that a unified group
of people - working on particular issues
because they have been judged as im-
portant, and cooperating with each other
to the fullest extent - can accomplis.
many times as much as scattered sects.
A unified analysis, taking into account
the mistakes of the past and the realities
of the present,, can provide the key to
eliminating the apathy both on campus
and in the community.
IT IS IN this context that one should
support tomorrow's moratorium. In-
volving a broad spectrum of organizations
- ranging from Vietnam Veterans
Against the War to the Clergy and Lay-
men Concerned - it will bring many new
people into the protest, and will widen
the scope of the movement to include
more than just young people and academ-
icians.
The moratorium focuses on the war,
but connects to it the related issues, of
the wage-price freeze, the fate of Ameri-
can prisoners and political repression.
Workshops on these issues will show how
they are related, and hopefully will pave
the way toward providing a broad per-
spective for the American movement as
a whole.
-ZACHARY SCHILLER
"MAY YOU live in interesting
times," reads an Oriental
blessing. And in the last few de-
cades we have all been q u i t e
blessed in this regard as a num-
ber of social and political revolu-
tions have permeated our society.
One of the most striking aspects
of these upheavals has been bur-
geoning movements by social
groups oppressed by law, custom
and personal prejudice to regain
their pride and to assume t h e i r
rightful place in the world.
Blacks, Indians, chicanos homo-
sexuals, Middle Americans - all
are realizing the discrimination
they face, regaining a group pride
and identity, and then banding
together to free themselves from
the constraints society has put
upon them.
PERHAPS THE MOST import-
ant of these movements, over the
long run, is Women's Liberation.
Considering that a majority of
people in this country, and in the
world, are females, the implica-
tions are tremendous.
Furthermore, both overt and co-
vert discrimination against women
is so pervasive in our society that
when women and men become
aware of it there will be an enor-
mous burst of awareness and re-
action.
It is difficult for a male to un-
derstand Women's Liberation be-
cause of the layer of sexism that
our culture paints over all of us.
We have been conditioned to think
of women as passive housewives
and of men as dominant producers,
of women as weak and emotional
and men as strong and rational.
This sexism is even apparent
in our speech patterns with words
like chairman and spokesman and
the use of masculine pronouns
when refering to occupations such
as lawyers, doctors, and politic-
ians. The University, for example.
recently sent out invitations to
professors and "their wives," lead-
ing some faculty women to wonder
whom they should bring along to
the event.
DESPITE THIS inherent sex-
ism, it seems to this male writer
that the women's movement has
three thrusts - legal, economic
and interpersonal changes. While
most men can support the first
two areas of change, many a r e
Le
To The Daily:
I WOULD LIKE to offer two
observations about Student Gov-
ernment Council's latest political
crisis - one is procedural, and
the other is more substantial.
It would be very wrong for the
Council itself to attempt to fill
as many as four vacant seats.
What SOC needs is now blood
from the outside and a robust
debate by its constituents as to
who should be on SGC and why.
Leaving the seats open until the
election, which is a mere 4-5
weeks away, ise the best way to
accomplish this. Since the quorum
and voting requirements do not
include vacant seats, the absence
of 4 members (although certainly
not desirable) will not really im-
pair Council's operations for so
short a time.
On the other hand, since in-
cumbents, even appointed incum-
bents, tend to get reelected, the
effect of appointing 4 members
now would be toamake Council
self-perpetuating, and this is just
what the campus doesn't need. In
the election, the voters in general,
and The Daily in particular,
should start insisting that candi-
dates become responsible and an-
nounce that they will serve out
their terms, insteads of using re-
signations as just another atten-
tion - getting political device.
Meanwhile, Council should re-
solve and announce that it will, in
the future, not fill vacant seats
(even though it will have the pow-
er to do so). This will end the
musical chairs attitude which has
ferences, the majority are cultur-
ally determined.
Women are supposedly: recep-
tive, submissive, dependent, sensi-
tive, gentle, emotional, non-intel-
lectual, weak quiet, intuitive and
virtuous.
Men are supposedly: aggressive,
competitive, power-hungry, asser-
tive, violent, independent, intel-
lectual, insensitive and rational.
THE ESSENCE OF Women's
Liberation is rejecting these rigid
sex roles in favor of a more flex-
ible view of masculine and femin-
ine characteristics in which ag-
gressive women would not be
shunned and emotional, gentle
men frowned upon.
It is precisely this aspect of
Women'snLiberation that is most
threatening to males (and females
for that matter) whose identities
are largely based on the old ster-
eotypes.
Yet these roles are inexorably
changing annd we had all better
get used to .it. The soft, submis-
sive dumb blonde is becoming an
object of the past as is the mus-
cular Herculean he-man.
AS THESE STEREOTYPES fade
away, it might be appropriate to
sound t leas tone coutionary note:
It would be a shame if in casting
off traditional sex roles women
lost some of the more desirable
characteristics usually attributed
to females and took on some of
the les desirable male character-
istics.
A hard, cold, super-intellectual
female is no improvement over the
submissive woman of the past -
these are unfortunate traits in
anybody. The same is true for any
changes that might come about in
the roles of men.
Furthermore, while women
should continue to become-more
self-sufficient one can hope that
they will also learn that independ-
ence need not. prevent emotional
attachments or relationships in
which two people are dependent
on each other.
And finally, while women a r e
justified in developing a group
identity and pride, they should
perhaps be more concerned with
people as people and not members
of a specific sex. What is needed
is that we all become a bit more
human and let our sex roles take
care of themselves.
I
4
I
wary - perhaps because they feel
threatened - of any changes in
sex roles.
In the legal sphere women are
demanding an end to the last 'ves-
tiges of archaic laws that m a k e
women second-class citizens. They
are seeking changes in property
laws, divorce regulations, tax
schedules and social security bene-
fits that discriminate against wo-
men.
A major. battle in this fight for
legal equality has been in the area
of abortion reform, with women
asking an end to government re-
gulation over their bodies..
There are not only compelling
moral reasons to support t h e s e
changes, but also constitutional
ones. The 14th Amendment re-
quirement for equal protection and
the 19th Amendment giving wo-
men the vote indicates a general
thrust toward sex-blindness in the
law.
The Equal Rights Amendment.
now before the House of Repre-
Sexism and the single girl
sentatives, is an attempt to make
this explicit by stating that
"Equality of rights under the law
shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or any state on
account of sex."
BESIDES REVISING LAWS, a
major goal of Women's Liberation
is changing the economic patterns
that have contributed to discrim-
ination against women.
In the past, women were in fact
dependent on men because of eco-
nomic considerations - the wo-
man needed to stay home a n d-
take care of large families with-
iout any modern conveniences
while the man was the breadwin-
ner.
Today, however, the working
woman is a common phenomenon
as family size has decreased, the
number of non-factory service oc-
cupations have increased and the
stigma against working mothers
has ended.
Along with this trend, the con-
cept of child care centers for the
children in families where b o t h
parents \vorked has arisen.
There has been, and continues
to be, widespread bias against
women in hiring, promotions, pay
scales and responsibility. Clearly
the concept of equal pay for equal
work should apply to both men
and women but such a standard
will be hard to achieve because
discrimination is built into a sys-
tem that keeps women in second-
level service jobs and men as de-
cision-makers.l
Most men would probably sup-
port attempts by women f o r
equality under law. A slightly
smaller number would, agree with
efforts to end economic sex bias.
The changes that will come the
hardest are in the area of inter-
personal relations.
Our society has shaped certain
characteristics into the psyche of
men and women in general. While
some of these characteristics
might be rooted in biological dif-
Dv
tters: Leave SGC vacancies unfilled
become so prevalent on the Coun-
cil.
More substantially, the problem
with SGC is that much of what it
does for 25c per student is a col-
lection of low visibility highly-
contingent services that are taken
for granted (the same problem as
most state governments have).
Only when SGC has taken on
such tough, difficult, long-term
projects such as the bookstore, or
the issue of sending grades to
draft boards has it arousedwide-
spread support and interest of its
constituency.
What SGC must decide to do
is to take on more of these dif-
ficult, large projects that really
affect the lives of its constituents.
Naturally that takes money, and
lots of it. The sad thing about last
spring's election is that after put-
ting the funding question onto
the ballot, virtually all the coun-
cilmen, presidential candidates,
other candidates, and school gov-
ernments who supported funding
quietly abandoned this issue as a
lost cause.
The Right's intensive and mis-
leading campaign was left virtual-
ly unanswered. Even so, 42 percent
of the9300 students voting gave
SGC lthe benefit of the doubt and
voted for adequate funding. It is
obvious to me that the student
body is quite willing to give SGC
a chance to do good things is only
the Council will seize its own op-
portunities.
SGC should therefore leave the
vacant seats unfilled, ask again
for the money that everyone
knows it needs, and go into the
election with a list of signifi-
cant projects to really benefit
its constituents.
The Council would also do well
to put this list on the ballot itself
in order to give the student body a
choice of directions, and also in
order to focus this next election
around the question of what SGC
should be doing. The outcome of
the election would then be new
blood on the Council, a clear di-
rection to move in, and the money
to do it with.
-John Koza, Grad
Oct. 8
Beach Boys
To The Daily:
I NEVER thought The Daily
would give so much space to the
real giantsof American rock inu-
sic - the Beach Boys. Neal Gab-'
ler's article was very well done,
Surf's Up is a classic album, and
after seeing them in South Bend,
last weekend, I can say that no
Beach Boys freak should miss
them next time they come around
because their concerts are just
about the happiest thing you'd
care to hear.
-Steve Marovich
Oct. '7
Asian group
To The Daily:
WHILE WE APPRECIATED
the front page picture spread of
o u r guerrilla theatre (Daily,
Sept. 29), the caption was highly
misleading. While the soldiers
were played byl Vietnam veterans,
the caption failed to mention that
the victims were played by mem-
bers of Issho Yigong (One Life
Together), an organization of
Asian-Americans. Failure to men-
tion Issho Yigong comes too close
to the kind of racism that we
saw so much of in Vietnam, and
that we wish to fight back here.
One of the major purposes of our
guerrilla theatre is to remind peo-
ple that whatever else may be
happening, Asians are still dying
at American hands.
-Vietnam Veterans
Against the War
*
Well what do .you know=
It's moratorium time
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An open letter to New Mobilization:
OKAY. IT'S moratorium time again. The war
is still going on, and as good liberals, we all
have some sort of obligation to do something about
this wai. So, dear people, I want you to know
that I did something. But in the process, I also
learned that as the war progresses and continues
and goes on, our interest in ending it is waning.
How many moratoriums have been called? How
many thousands have given time and effort to
see what they can do to end the war? And this
year, just yesterday, when I brought up the idea
of cancelling a class, I was met by ambivalence.
Not even an "oh boy, we don't have class tomor-
row" but complete ambivalence.
There was no discussion. There can't be. Every-
thing has been said, and so many times that I'm
getting sick. We're beginning to sound like a
broken record. End the war, free the prisoners,
dump Nixon . . . everything is an extension of a
continuing existence . . . a re-release of a, good
record, that somehow just doesn't seem to make
it this time.
WHY DO YOU put me in this position? Why do
you make me do something that I no longer get
excited about doing? If you feel a necessity to jog
my memory and remind me that the War is
continuing, do it gently, do it softly. I can't feel
confronted.
I remember the first moratorium, I remember
the Pentagon in '67, and the March on Wash-
ington in '69 and the March against Death and
April 24 and Mayday and so many other times.
anything left to grab. My body is tired, and it is
becoming wasted. You can only resurrect an old
body so many times, and then it begins to die,
and there's.no miracle medicine left toscure the
disease.
I know, you tried to stop' it, but apathy has
spread to become a plague. When plagues run
rampant over the country, the only thing left
to do is isolate it. Don't let new and young
people come in contact with it. They too will
succumb to the disease. It's too late for the
old people. But please save the young.
l
*
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