100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

January 08, 1971 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1971-01-08

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Eli f~dtgnDaily
Eighty years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

Super-spy strives for Order under Law

Maynord St., Ann Arbor, Mich.

News Phone: 764-0552

Editorials printed in The Michioan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

AY, JANUARY 8, 1971

NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ

rU' plan to end sex bias:
Rhetorie or commitment?

IT IS QUESTIONABLE whether the com-
mitments offered by the University
to the Department of Health, Education
and Welfare for ending descrimination
against women in hiring practices will be
achieved on more than a theoretical level.
After three months of dispute with
HEW, the University agreed last week to
follow a list of proposals designed to rec-
tify sex bias in employment. The Univer-
sity yesterday named a commission of ten
women and two men to work with Vice
President Fedele Fauri to supervise the
implementation of the proposals.
However, there are several vague pro-
visions within the University's "affirma-
tive action plan" which could greatly
limit the impact of its enactment. These
aspects must be further clarified by the
University before it can begin to achieve
equity in hiring methods;
The University commits itself, for ex-
ample, to "achieving salary equity for
males and females in the same job classi-
fication." This proposal neglects to deal
with a more fundamental problem - the
problem of women consistently being
hired for positions beneath their training
and abilities.
FURTHERMORE, this provision will not
effect the secretaries employed by the
University since there is no substantial
group of male secretaries with whom to
compare salaries. For the provision to ,be
meaningful, then, there must be a mech-
anism to insure that women and men are
hired on a' completely equal basis.
Another problem with the University
plan concerns the provision to compen-
sate women who "have lost wages due to
discrimination by the University because
of their sex." The provision extends 'to
the date of ascertained discrimination,
but not prior to October 1968, when the
Executive Order forbidding sex discrim-
ination in hiring was enacted.
However, it is difficult to ascertain
the date from which a woman is discrim-
inated against until "discrimination"' is
adequately defined. For example, is a
woman hired into a lower position than
she is qualified for or a student wife
hired as a "temporary employe" discrim-
inated against?
'HE UNIVERSITY must establish un-
complicated procedures for women who
wish to present complaints against the
University. Women at the University have
so far been hesitant to appear before
HEW investigators for fear of losing their

jobs. Some leaders of the groups which
spearheaded the investigation maintained
anonymity for this reason. Dozens of
replies to a questionnaire sent out by a
women's group to University women em-
ployes have been returned unsigned,
presumably as a result of this fear.
The University must make the griev-
ance mechanism an easy one, with strong
assurances to the women that there will
be no penalty for presenting a complaint.
THE UNIVERSITY plan further states
that qualified women in clerical or non-
academic positions seeking promotion
will be given priority consideration over
men for higher positions. While this in
theory is admirable, it ignores women in
academic positions. Will women profes-
sors continue to occupy positions as lec-
turers and assistant professors while their
male counterparts move up more quickly
to full professorships?
Throughout the dispute with HEW,
the University until now has displayed a
belligerent attitude toward compliance
with HEW requests. For two months, Sci-
ence magazine has reported, the Univer-
sity tried to enlist the support of other
universities in an effort to resist the HEW
demands. Their first plan, which was re-
j ected by HEW, glossed over the issues
without promising specific programs or
results. Throughout the controversy, too,
women at the University were kept in ig-
norance of the situation until its settle-
ment. In light of its past foot-dragging,
the University must now prove its sincer-
ity in ending job discrimination.
THE COMMISSION which was appointed
to implement the proposals will report
to Vice President Fedele Fauri and hope-
fully, its recommendations will be carried
out without being weakened by bureau-
cratic manipulation.
The dispute over the affirmative ac-
tion plan has served to sensitize the Uni-
versity community to the problems of
discrimination in hiring. And like open
housing ordinances, the plan looks good
on paper. But whether the plan succeeds
in actually affecting employment prac-
tices and in becoming more than a list
of paper platitudes depends upon both
the sincerity of the commission and upon
continued support and pressure from wo-
men employes at the University. Affirma-
tion alone is not enough; the commitment
must be followed through with action.
-SARA FITZGERALD
-LYNN WEINER .

LAST SEMESTER I began hear-
ing rumors about a huge sur-
veillance network operating n e a r
Ann Arbor. The rumors didn't
specify who was doing the sur-
veilling, so keeping in mind re-
cent disclosures about Army and
FBI spying, I set out to find out.
I contacted the police, sheriff,
Army, Navy, Air Force, FBI, CIA,
and IRS, but all to no avail.
It was therefore a pleasant sur-
prise, when, shortly before Christ-
mas, I received a telephone c a 11
and the muffled voice on the other
end of the line told me to be at
the corner of Williams and State
at 10 'p.m. the next evening if I
wanted to learn about the sur-
veillance operation.
At the appointed time a n d
place a black Volkswagon arrived
to transport me to "headquarters"'
as the driver called it. I was blind-
folded both going and returning
and we drove around for t h r e e
hours each time, so I cannot say
where this headquarters is locat-
ed.
WHEN MY BLINDFOLD was re-
moved, I was facing an ordinary-
looking man who appeared to be
about 60 years old.
"Hello Mr. Chaney," he s a i d
curtly. "My friends and neighbors
know me as a meek, mild-manner-
ed, retired Army Colonel. But be-
hind that facade lurks the soul of
a man dedicated to the preserva-
tion of Truth, Justice, and t hi e
American Way. A relentless guard-
ian of the public's right to Order
under Law, I am known to all at
Headquarters as The Major."
"That's very nice," I said.
"I understand that you think
Headquarters is the nerve center
for a surveillance operation that
includes Ann Arbor," continued
The Major. "Well, you're abso-
lutely correct. We believe that the
best way to protect the p u b i c
against possible outbreaks of law-
lessness is to be fully informed of
current developments and to be on
top of the situation at all times.
This necessitates surveillance
methods."
"I see." I said. "But just who
is 'we?' That is, are you part of
the Army, the FBI or the Wash-
tenaw County Sheriff?"
"We include elements of all
three," The Major replied. "But I
can't give you any more informa-
tion than that - security reasons,
you know."
WE WE WALKED into a large,
brightly lit room, the walls of
which were lined with computers
and other assorted equipment of
the same nature.
"This is the heart of Headquart-
ers," beamed The Major proud-
ly. "We have five IBM 360/67
computers and additional memory
banks. All the names we collect
are stored here on magnetic tape,
and can be retrieved at the push
of a button."
"I see," I said. "How m a n y
names do you have?"
"Hundreds of thousands," re-
plied The Major, "all cross-re-
ferenced by name, place of birth,
height, skin color and brand of
toothpaste used."
"Very impressive," I said.
"Where do you get the names
from?"
"Well, we have many ways," said
The Major. "There's a store in
Ann Arbor that sells the so-called

toothbrush could have been sabo-
taged." The Major said matter-of-
tactly.
"That's all a lot of work for a
toothbrush," I said, rather sur-
prised.
"IT'S TIllS TYPE of meticulous
attention to detail that will en-
able us to turn the tide against
the forces of lawlessness." replied
The Major.
"I se.," I said. "But tell me, do
you deal much with organized
crime?"
"Do you mean thlieMafia?"asked
The Major softly.
"Yes." I said.
"We don't mess with them at
all." he answered. "Don't you real-
ize that if we start fooling around
with them, they could put us out
of business like that?" and he
snapped his fingers to emphasize
the point.
"I see," I said.
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 normally should
not exceed 250 words. The
Editorial Directors reserve the
right to edit all letters sub-
mitted.

4

"underground" newspapers. We "Major! Major! Your toothbrush
have a hidden camera that takes is on fire!"
a picture of everyone who stops The Major mumbled a curse and
in front of the newspaper rack. ran out, shouting back at me,
Our men then trace the people in "Stay where you are or you'll be
the pictures, learn their back- shot!!"
ground, and enter this information After about 15 minutes The Ma-
into the computer. That's just one jor returned. "It's all right now,"
way." he said. "I had my toothbrush
hanging over a candle to dry, but

fire. It's completely ruined, but
we stopped the fire before it
spread to the tile walls."
"Quite heroic of you people," I
observed.
"I've got seven men going over
the whole bathroom and the
toothbrush to check for finger-
prints. We'll feed all the informa-
tion into our computer and see if
there's any possibility that the

"WHAT ARE some of the other
ways?" I asked.
"We also collect the names and
investigate the backgrounds of
every person who is arrested for
any felony or misdemeanor, and
every person who is arrested for a
traffic violation or given a park-
ing ticket." said The Major.
"But why keep names of people
who get parking tickets?" I wanted
to know.
"That's quite simple to explain
and involves one of our proudest
discoveries," said The Major
proudly. "A survey showed that of
people arrested in left-wing build-
ing takeovers in 1969, 93 per cent
had previously received parking
tickets. There's a definite correla-
tion there."
"Do you have any other methods
of collecting names?" I inquired.
"We have one other main way,"
explained The Major. "We have
undercover agents who infiltrate
radical groups and take pictures
of the people they meet. Other
agents then trace down the people
in the pictures, just like we do
with people who stop at the under-
ground newspaper rack."
"All this must take a lot of
money," I observed.
"You better believe it," rejoin-
ed The Major heartily. "But we
believe the taxpayers in t h i s
great country want the best pro-
tection possible against the forces
of lawlessness and anarchy."
AT THIS moment a man dress-
ed in a brown uniform rushed into
the computer room shouting,
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who wishes to submit
articles. Generally speaking, all
articles should be less than
1.000 words.

it fell into the candle and caught

&.
~;
.rI

1c
( 4
7 I

193,The RR'
and TnbW'C syndicae .

A

r ?
y ai
gi _,!, .

L5%W.A,.S'1

"I don't know about food, but bomb deliveries
only take 30 minutes!"

The decine of

innocence,

the death

of an

age

By RICK PERLOFF
OURS WAS AN AGE of innocence, a play-
ful bask in the froth of our affluence., a
look to the quixotic: to peace, equalil y. hap-
piness; a vision, an ideal, a hope, a dream
of a decent, compassionate America.
It lasted a decade, but now it is over. We
are no longer children; we h a v e neither
flowers nor a crusade. We've tarnished a bit;
frustrated and cynical. We grow old, we grew
old and our era of romantics is closed.
We'll protest less and when we do, it will
be at a lower pitch. Campuses will be quiet-
er; students will no longer identify as a
movement, with the idealism that all could
be solved in a joyous crusade to change
America.
We have more patience now. Idealistic,
but we watch the clock. We won't be alive
forever, the time we have to help is finite
before our eyes. It is winter, the second of
the '7Os. Innocence has 1 e f t the student
movement; it will not return.
ONCE IT WAS bright, full of spirit - the
pilgrimage South of the early '60s - hopes
were clean a n d goals could be achieved.
With organization and dedication. they could
open schools, restaurants. neighborhoods;
blacks would be registered to vote: w i t h
work and a little hope. it could be done.
It would be done too - came the bursting
open of youth with the Beatles and rock to
surfing: and in Berkeley began the picket-
ing, leafletting. then demonstrating, occupy-
ing for student rights, to stop the war, to
hit back at the bureaucracy - activity al-

lence was a shimmer of change, a new hope
after the failures of softer tactics.
It all was. We are no longer what we once
were.
NOW FRUSTRATED with politics, cyni-
cal, run out of movement, tactics, strategies.
Electoral politics, a bright hope with Mc-
Carthy is dismal, changes little. Mass pro-
tes s have proved unsuccessful and after
five years, we tire. Finally violence - we
see its horrid potential to backfire; Weath-
ermen killed in New York with their own
arms. Kent and Jackson State and Wiscon-
sin staring behind us - frightful examples.
What then is left?
You expect to s e e significant changes
within a decade, I i k e ending a war and
changing national priorities since you were
brought up with computers that give an-
swers within seconds, and technology that
produces new foods and drugs within years.
When you don't, there is frustration, the
situation in May when North Hall was taken
over. There were so many issues floating
around that building then - Gay Lib, Wo-

men's Lib, low-cost housing, ROTC, imper-
ialistic recruiting. One didn't know where
to start. So one didn't start at all. North
Hall was left quietly one Friday evening
with some property wrecked, but no closer
to the goals 1 a spectacle of helpless stu-
dents, something from Kafka.
WHERE DO YOU start, to change a sys-
tem, an entire system, of dirt farmers in
Nebraska and secretaries in HEW, all be-
hind the government and business. T h i s
frustration charred our innocence.
We know now that building a movement
is no simple crusade of romantics, but hard
work, difficult work, perspiring and sweaty
work - involving dirty consequences like
deaths, and it isn't going to be solved as we
innocently thought, in mere years. People
used to speak only half in jest - they do no
longer - of days "after the revolution" as
if the revolution were a fixed point in time
that we all would witness.
No, it isn't a matter of simply ending a
war or registering blacks to vote, we know
now there is more to the System than that.

It isn't a matter of gathering as many of
our generation as we could, for electoral pol-
itics and mass protests aren't about to free
the millions of Americans from the habits
of the past. We've grown, lost that glorious
naivete, of changing their minds by.shouts
or flowers or arguing rationally or protesting
irrationally. No, we doth protest too much.
We know that now.
So it will not be a revolution, but an evo-
lution, yet it took a while to realize that.
WHEN A GIRL ran after one of the sol-
diers marching in Ann Arbor's Veterans Day
Parade last term and began talking with
him, perhaps handing him a flower, what
could one do but smile on the old spirit, of
the Haight and those funky-dressed, spooky-
smelling hippies on a crusade to be good
and gentle.
One could smile, then look to the Haight
now, infested with junkies and heroin and
the freaks sick on the drugs, then at the
tragedy at Altamont and the communes with
so many selfish grabbers and bored peo-
ple,
One could recall the feeling that we could
change it all, if we acted as a group and now
one sees the group spirit deteriorating. Not-
ing the self-righteous indignation of so
many radicals, no better than anyone else,
the rampant conformity, the chauvinism,
the laziness. What can one feel but that this
generation is, after all, human, that it is
not a group so good and different from its
parents, but a group, with weaknesses too.
but perhaps a little better because so many

4

Movement. As they better the group, they
better themselves.
But this is not the same for ecology, low-
cost housing, opposition to university war
research. So after a time they lost their
spirit.
A RETURN to individual pursuits. The
freshmen this year, at places like Columbia.
Yale. Reed, M.I.T. and here are concerned
with self-knowledge more than work f o r
change.
Thev ae much 1lss radical t h a n last

what they can do as individuals to improve
the country a little.
But all this is much different from the
past. and is evident in the widespread pop-
ularity of Charles Reich's book, "The
Greening of America." Reich maintains
that the way to bring about change is not
through political organizing, simply by liv-
ing and doing the credo of the new culture,
by spreading the life-style of community,
honesty and spontaneity.
"Last year." says Frank Rich, the chair-
man of the Harvard Crimson in Time, (stu-

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan