Ely ir 4 ipun Datll
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
futures past
Behind the classified research conflict
by dave ehuwin -
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.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: HESTER PULLING
Amchiitka: Playing with fire
THERE WAS a certain lack of justice in
Sunday morning's headlines.
"N-Blast A Success." A success, be-
cause we hammered the earth's crust in
an earthquake zone with the force of five
million tons of TNT - and got away with
it.
"U.S. triggers bomb test without serious
effects." Without serious effects, because
no radiation appeared to leak to the sur-
face immediately, although leakage could
occur any time in the future.
Nothing went wrong, at least nothing
we could point to right away - no earth-
quake, no tidal wave. Then what was that
strange feeling lingering in our minds
at 5:01 Saturday afternoon, one minute
after the Atomic Energy Commission de-
tonated its massive nuclear warhead?
It was not disappointment that taint-
onspiracy
A DASTARDLY plot has been discovered
among wild-eyed madmen - people
even more dangerous than the Berrigans,
Angela Davis, and the dozens of "con-,
spirators" locked into jail on weak charg-
es, in order to get them off the streets.
Where the ordinary extremists o n 1 y
intend to subvert sections of one nation
--these people intend to blow up the
world.
And so we urge an indictment of the
"Conspiracy Government" - on the evi-
dence of the Amchitka test - for they
possess the intent and the weapons to
eventually destroy the earth.
-MAYNARD
ed our sighs of relief. How could we be
disappointed at the absence of a disaster?
Nonetheless, the sense pervaded that
something shoud have happened, t h a t
our escape from punishment was unde-
served. There was a certain sense of in-
justice in those headlines boasting of suc-
cess.
SHAKING OUR heads, we're faced with
countless questions. Who did, we ex-
pect to applaud this latest flexing of our
nuclear muscle? Japan, because we didn't
engulf it with a massive tidal wave? Can-
ada, because an earthquake didn't shake
its shores after all?
Did we hope to awe other countries by
our disregard of internal and external
outcry, to impress the people of the third
world, who are more concerned with food
than with bombs?
The government met these questions
with only one answer - national secur-
ity - as if prolonging the arms race will
make us more secure than a strict ban
on all these carriers of megaton murder.
When a child plays with fire, he usually
gets burned. And that pain will keep him
from the temptation of brighter, hotter
flames.
We played with fire Saturday - as we
have played 520 times since a now-primi-
tive bomb exploded in the desert of New
Mexico in 1945.
And we didn't get burned - this time.
A mixed blessing, indeed, for without that
pain, can we ever learn not to play with
fire again?
-LARRY LEMPERT
Associate Managing Editor
A S THE POWERS that be with-
in the University grapple with
the question of a new policy on
classified research, there's moie
beneath the surface than meets
the eye.
A whole series of Machievellian
maneuvers by forces opposed to
and in favor of classified research
was triggered by the vote of the
Senate Assembly, the faculty re-
presentative body, to recommend
to the Regents that the Univer-
sity generally bar research the re-
sults of which cannot be publish-
ed.
While not much has been hap-
pening in public since the vote,
behind the scenes there have been
moves to overrule the Assembly
action, attempts by both sides to
influence key decision makers.
confidential reports plus a lot of
private meetings andquiet poli-
ticing.
As news of these events filter
out, the elements that might lead
to the denouement of the con-
troversy are slowly becoming more
apparent. These center around the
faculty, President Robben Flem-
ing and the Regents.
Within the faculty, despite the
overwhelming Senate Assembly ac-
tion, there is vehement opposition
to further restrictions on classified
research on the part of a small,
but influential, minority.
The opposition, which is center-
ed in the engineering college,
seems to be using three strategies
to either defeat or delay adoption
of the Senate Assembly policy.
FIRST, LAST Friday, t h r e e
4
Pres. Fleming
year to 18 months duration of the
contracts.
To postpone an early cutoff of
contracts, the engineering college,
has sent a resolution to Fleming
asking for time to study the ef-
fects of the proposed policy on the
college's operation, despite the fact
that they have had several weeks
already for such a study.
Furthermore, opponents of the
Assembly policy are demanding
that the question of classified re-
search and proprietary research-
projects done for industrial firms
-be considered together.
Assembly members point out
that the two are separate questions
V.P. Norman V.P. Smith
Dean Van Wylen
Fleming, under pressure from both sides,
will shortly release a statement, and the infor-
mation section is expected to oppose the As-
sembly policy on the grounds that the Univer-
sity would lose a significant amount of money.
Nixon s nominees and the law
WV HAVE BEEN told by our president
that the men nominated for t w o
open positions on the Supreme Court
have impeccable credentials. One is the
president's "lawyer's lawyer," as Nixon
puts it, while the other is a former presi-
dent of the American Bar Association.
But who are the men behind the legal
facades? Does their confirmation have
any implications for the American people
as a whole?
THE ELDER Nixon appointee, Virginian
Lewis Powell, is one of the wealthiest
men ever nominated to the Supreme
Court. He owns shares in 30 corpora-
tions, amounting to well over $1 mil-
lion. These include such diverse holdings
as General Electric and Xerox, Standard
Oil of New Jersey and International
Business Machines, Phillip Morris and
International Telephone and Telegraph,
Sperry and Hutchinson, in which Pow-
ell owns over $300,000 of stock, came be-
fore the court as recently as last year.
We know that a justice is supposed to
disqualify himself in cases involving his
own financial interests - but what does
this stock ownership bode of Powell's
overall political outlook? Can one expect
him to be unsympathetic with the inter-
ests of other stockholders? What kind of
attitude will he take on the constitu-
tionality of the wage freeze, a case he
might very well have jurisdiction over?
Generally, what stance will he take in
cases involving business and labor? It
should be obvious what that stance will
be.
Powell, commenting on the arrest of
12,000 anti-war protesters in the nation's
capital last May, says that, "The vast
majority of those arrested were released.
as evidence adequate to convict a parti-
cular individual is almost impossible to
obtain in a faceless mob."
In other words, the 'mob' as a whole
is guilty, and never mind the rights of
each individual. The 'mob' has to be lock-
ed up en masse, and later we can worry
about whether this act can be justified
legally.
- "America is not a repressive society,"
says Powell, adding that "There is in
turn no significant threat to individual
freedom in this country by law enforce-
ment."
When hundreds of people are held in
prison simply because they cannot afford
to pay their way out, w h e n tens
of prisoners are murdered because
they demand basic humandecency, and
when espionage and spying of citizens
grows unchecked, Powell gleefully points
to the Left as "the greatest danger to
human liberty in America."
DOES THE OTHER nominee, William
Rehnquist, promise 'us better t h a n
Powell? What has his stance been on
questions involving civil liberties?
When the Phoenix City Council was
considering an ordinance in 1964 to make
all establishments serve everyone regard-
less of race or national origin, Rehnquist
opposed it in the name of individual lib-
erty..
Writing on a move to eradicate de facto
segregation in Phoenix schools, R e h n-
quist said, "The school's job is to educate
children. They should not be saddled with
a task of fostering social change which
may lessen their ability to perform their
primary job."
The law is an objective force, which
need not and should not concern itself
with "the task of fostering social change."
What does it matter to Rehnquist t h a t
thousands of black children receive mis-
educations even he would frown upon?
Rehnquist also said that, "We are no
more dedicated to an 'integrated' society
than we are to a 'segregated' society. We
are instead dedicated to a free society,
in which each man is equal before the
law, but in which each man is accorded
a maximum amount of freedom of choice
in his individual activities."
WE WILL HAVE to agree with Rehn-
quist's pronouncement that all peo-
ple are equal before the law. T h e weal-
thy white man with a feather bed in a
warm house and the poor vagrant are
equally prohibited from finding a place
to sleep under a bridge. The law is
neutral in either case,
But, says Rehnquist, there are some
times when even this neutral law must
be suspended - such as during 1 a s t
May's anti-war protest in the capitol. Po-
lice officials "have the authority to de-
tain individuals during the period of an
emergency without being required to
bring them before a committing magis-
trate and filing charges against them."
The statements of Rehnquist and Pow-
ell speak for themselves. Neither has
much concern for the basic freedoms pro-
vided in the Constitution, and both have
been vigorous opponents even of mild
civil rights legislation.
But these men must not be condemn-
ed personally; they are simply represen-
tatives of the highest echelon of our legal
system. As members of the highest court
in the land, they will surely allow wire-
tapping, further extended rights of the
professors engaged in classified
research filed a request to appeal
the Assembly vote for "the con-
sideration and review" of the Uni-
versity Senate - composed of all
faculty members and some librar-
ians and research assistants. This
move is unprecedented since the
full Senate rarely meets and then
only for ceremonial functions.
By trying to pack the meeting
of the Senate, scheduled for Nov.
22, opponents of the Assembly ac-
tion hope to overrule or emascu-
late the Assembly resolution. Be-
cause of the exact wording of the
request by the three professors, it
would take a two-thirds vote of
the Senate to overrule the action
of Assembly, its representative
unit.
To counter this move, support-
ers of the Assembly policy hope to
conduct a "get out the vote" cam-
paign to urge those faculty mem-
bers on their side to attend the
usually deserted Senate meeting.
In addition, there is a provision
in the Senate rules for a mail vote
of the entire faculty. Both sides
could use this provision if they
see themselves going down to de-
feat,tbut no one is sure what the
result would be.
THE SECOND strategy employ-
ed by the opponents is to delay a
decision on the matter for several
months. In the meantime, t h e
University is receiving millions of
dollars in new and renewed con-
tracts for classified research that
would keep secret research here
going at the same level for the
involving different principles and
conditions and policies concerning
each should be discussed separ-
ately. To this end, an Assembly
committee is studying proprietary
research, but the committee will
not finish its report for several
weeks and Assembly action on it
could take months.
THE FINAL effort by support-
ers of classified research is to in-
fluence important University of-
ficials to kill or drastically modify
the Assembly policy.
President Fleming, the Regents,
and some of the deans have been
the targets of a persuasion cam-
paignrbythose in favor of classi-
fied research both by mail and
in person.
In this effort they have out-
spoken allies in engineering college
Dean Gordon VanWylen, Vice
President for Research A. Geof-
frey Norman and Vice President
for Academic Affairs Allan Smith,
among others.
Each of these men is influential
with Fleming and provide him
with much of the information he
has on the subject; each is vehe-
mently against the adoption of
the Assembly restrictions on class-
ified research
Supporters of Assembly's action,
however, have also been active in
discussing the subject with Flem-
ing and others. Some key deans,
department chairmen, and highly-
respected faculty members are op-
ponents of classified research and
presumably will make their views
known.
Other expressions of support for
restricting classified research will
probably be expressed at a -ublic
forum before the Regents rched-
uled for Nov. 18.
In the meantime, the Senate
Advisory Committee on University
Affairs (SACUA) Assembly's ex -
ecutive unit, privately met w i t h
Fleming last week to push t h e
Assembly resolution.
Psychology Prof. Warren Norm-
an, SACUA chairman, has also
reportedly discussed the question,
apparently unsuccessfully, w ith
engineering college representatives
The man caught in the middle
of this faculty wrangling isdFlem-
ing, and for good reason. His
views on controversial questions
carry significant weight with the
Regents end may be the deciding
factor when the matter is brought
before them.
UNDER PRESSURE from both
sides, Fleming is still hopeful "the
issue will be handled satisfactor-
ily to the great majority on cam-
pus." He met. privately with his
vice presidents to discuss the ques-
tion last week.
Fleming himself has mixed feel-
ings about the whole classified re-
search issue. While he believes the
freedom to publish is quite im-
portant, he quickly dismisses ar-
guments concerning the military
aspects of classified research as
"no basis on which to make a
policy decision."
On the other hand, Fleming
is a skilled politician and realiz-
es that it would be dangerous for
him to buck the majority of fa-
culty members and students who
either through their representa-
tives or in a referendum have in-
dicated opposition to classified re-
search.
Sources who have heard Flem-
ing on the subject are of mixed
opinion as to what his views on
Assembly policy are. The answer,
however, will probably come later
this week or early next when
Fleming will release a statement
on the subject.
The first part of this statement,
according to Fleming, will contain
previously confidential informa-
tion on how much implementation
of the Assembly policy would cost
the University.
Believed to be prepared by Smith
and Norman's office, the informa-
tion section is expected to oppose
the Assembly policy on the grounds
that the University would lose a
significant amount of money, es-
pecially in the form of govern-
ment reimbursement for indirect
costs of research.
THE SECOND PART will con-
tain Fleming's own questions
Concerning the truth
o Taylor's testimony
By BRIAN SPEARS
The author is a former member of Student Government Council and
an organizer of the People's Peace Treaty Conference last winter.
BRAD TAYLOR, a member of Student Government Council, testified
before the House Internal Security Committee (HISC) on July 14
and 15. His testimony concerned the Student and Youth Conference
on a Peoples Peace, held in Ann Arbor last February. He presented
to the Committee volumes of "facts" about the speeches, the people;
the literature, the decorations, and the conversations of the Confer-
ence. Because of his "testimony" he is now the subject of .a recall
campaign.
The campaign involves a number of issues. One of the most im-
portant issues is that of Taylor's aid to the subversive HISC. Last
May and July, the HISC carried out investigations into anti-war or-
ganizations, and the Peoples Peace Treaty. HISC is the direct descen-
dant of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). HUAC
became famous in the 1950's through the action of such men as Joe
McCarthy and Richard Nixon, who helped generate a red scare of
witch-hunt proportions throughout our society.
about the Senate Assembly resolu-
tion. The best guess is that Flem-
ing, an arbitrator by profession,
will support some compromise ver-
sion of the Assembly plan.
There is speculation that Flem-
ing will do this by proposing eith-
er wider loopholes in the Assembly
resolution or delaying the effec-
tive date of the policy until chang-
es have been made in the status
of University laboratories engag-
ed in classified research.
Whatever the content of Flem-
ing's statement - his views will
serve as a basis for further nego-
tiations among the faculty with
the Regents, who ultimately Have
the authority to make any chang-
es on classified research policies.
The Regents first public oppor-
tunity to enter the controversy
will be at the public forum on
Nov. 18. However, the issue has
come up in a related way several
times over the last few years as
the Regents have privately dis-
cussed with Fleming the future of
Willow Run Laboratories, the
home of most of the University's
classified research.
In public, the Regents d e n y
much knowledge about the con-
troversy, waiting for the faculty
and Fleming to make their opin-
ions known. They are expected to
discuss the question privately at
their monthly November meeting,
but Fleming discounts the po s-
sibility of any public debate by the
Regents before December at the
earliest.
With a clear majority of the
Board either liberal or moderate,
the Regents would likely approve
changes in policy endorsed by
Fleming and the faculty if the
negotiation process is kept low
key and without an anti-military
theme.
-41
HE USED HIS opportunity be-
fore the committee to make false
and misleading statements, pro-
tected by the fact that laws
against perjury do not apply to
"testimony" in Congress. He
charged that I placed the flag of
the National Liberation Front of
South Vietnam on the stage of
Hill. Aud. Taylor's testimony was
a fabrication, clear and simple.
And Taylor's testimony directly
and senselessly undermined the
security of Robert Williams, a
black teacher in the Chinese Stu-
dies Dept. Williams, a former
NAACP organizer, still faces pos-
sible extradition to North Caro-
lina. The more adverse publicity
directedagainst him, the greater
the chance he will be returned to
North Carolina. Taylor made par-
ticular mention - and false men-
tion - of Williams in his testi-
mony. He claimed that Williams
conference, when in fact Williams
0;
AO
Brad Taylor
M
was booed when he spoke at the
received an ovation.
Letters to The Daily
TAYLOR HAS EXPOSED HIMSELF as the opposite of a person
who wishes to insure the rights and independence of students. He
allowed himself to play with the lives and rights of others.
Another issue involves the effect of Taylor's action on the work-
ings of Student Government Council. SGC always consists of people
of differing political philosophies. In order for SGC to remain a vital
organization, the members of SGC must act in ways which bring the
political issues they face to the student body. Brad Taylor's use of
HISC to attack anti-war SGC members is an example of the politics
of competition and destruction. That kind of political activity will
result in an embittered and torn SGC.
THE RECALL CAMPAIGN has brought to the fore the issue of
Taylor's effect on the Peoples Peace Treaty. Taylor "testified" on the
National Student and Youth Conference on the Peoples Peace Treaty.
The students of the University ratified a Peace Treaty referendum
last spring.
The Peoples Peace Treaty was subject to governmental attack
from the time of the Conference in February until the HISC investi-
gations this summer. The committee had its own investigator collect
information about the Conference. And later it called on Brad Taylor
to add to its collection of miscellaneous allegations. The question
now becomes-will an electorate which supports the Peoples Peace
Treaty allow itself to be represented by a student who aids the govern-
ment campaign against it.
WITHIN THE PRESENT STRUCTURE of SGC, the obvious and
legitimate response to Brad Taylor is a recall campaign.
Schenk
To The Daily:
IT WAS WITH an acute sen-
sation of nausea that I read Sun-
day's profile of "Becca" Schenk.
It is becominkyincreasingly o b -
vious that today's campus poobah
enters into campus politics pri-
marily for the sake of his or her
self-image. Miss Schenk's exag-
gerated sense of her own import-
see you and those of your ilk as
the conceited prigs you really are,
-Patrick McLain '72
Nov. 1
Income tax
To The Daily:
I WAS GREATLY disappointed
at the Human Rights Party's re-
cent statement of the opposition to
the prononed city irnmetax.
parties never think of. In t h i s
case, they propose a lobbying ef-
fort to remove the state prohibi-
tion of a progressive income tax
being passed in a Michigan city
Apparently they are aware that
such efforts are being carried on
by the city's Democrats. They are
also naive to think that such ac-
tipn will be imminently rewarded.
Optimistic observers feel that the