Eighty years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan The breakdown of criminal justice 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michiqan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1971 NIGHT EDITOR: LARRY LEMPERT Controlling recruiting at 'U' T0MORROW THE Regents will hold an open hearing with a view toward formulating a University-wide corporate recruiting policy. Students at the hearing should realize that despite the University's apparent lack of interest in dissociating itself from corporate evils, it can nevertheless be prodded to force the corporations with which it deals to be more socially re- sponsive. Through carefully enforced uniform recruitment guidelines, the Uni- versity can help sensitize the corporate conscience., Presently in force, and facing regental disapproval on Friday, is a policy form- ulated last October by the Office of Student Services (OSS) Policy Board. The OSS unit's guidelines, operating with- out regental authorization, ban from OSS facilities any corporation having offices in countries which legally enforce dis- crimination. Thus far, after they were informed of the guidelines, five com- panies with operating units in S o u t h Africa have agreed not to use the OSS Placement Service Office (PSO) facilities. The OSS rules have serious faults, how- ever. For one thing, enacting the OSS recruitment policy has so far taken the form of dispatching to each corporation using the placement facilities a copy of the guidelines. Thus the companies sup- posedly barred from placement service merely compiled voluntarily with those new guidelines. What would occur if one of the participant corporations were re- luctant to comply with the policy? How completely would the placement service reinforce its own guidelines? And, how, by an exchange of letters, is it possible really to evaluate a company's policies With regard to discrimination? For example, precisely which countries discriminate legally? Assuredly S o u t h Africa and Rhodesia fit this description. But what of Switzerland? Or the Unit- ed States? To what extent does corpor- ate operation in such "discriminating" country disqualify it from using place- ment office facilities? It seems almost as if it lies within corporate discretion to recruit at PSO. Consider the corporation with branches in countries which do not, under OSS definition, legally discriminate. But sup- pose that this same corporation has salesmen in a discriminating country, suppose further that it sells its products in that country or that it deals in any way with that country's government. Should not that corporation too be barred along with its more overtly discrimina- tory colleague? ADMITTEDLY THE OSS guidelines are vague,,difficult to enforce, not com- prehensive enough. But the guidelines apply only to the OSS sponsored PSO Which serves primarily students in the literary college and the school of educa- tion. What of the rest of the University? The School of Business Administra- tion, the Law School, the College of En- gineering, the chemistry department, all have their own autonomous placement offices not controlled by OSS. A corpora- tion which is unable to recruit from PSO, hence, can easily transfer its recruiting program to another placement office on campus. Clearly the University needs a uniform policy on corporate recruiting. To main- tain separate standards for the several departments is a moral travesty. Is dis- sible among engineering students, for crimination considered less reprehensible among engineering students, for example, than arliong history students? Yet the OSS has no authority over the outside placement offices. Were the policy board given the power it rightly reserves, as a truly representative unit, to set University policy, then it, and not the Regents, would be able to formulate the new uniform recruiting policy. ' Since the OSS policy, while a welcome beginning, is admittedly deficient, a more comprehensive set of guidelines should be drafted as the University's official state- ment on recruiting. IN BARRING discriminatory corpora- tions, race cannot be the sole deter- minant. No company which maintains sexist hiring practices can be tolerated on campus. Nor should a company be granted approval merely because it can document the lack of positive discrimina- tion in hiring and its non-operation in discriminatory countries. Each corpora- tion should be made to verify that it has enacted an affirmative action plan to achieve equitable employment ratios for minority group members and women. Corporations should further be made to attest to their non-participation in eco- nomic imperialism or in war materials production or contracting. But chances are slim that the Regents will ratify a recruiting police as progres- sive as that one outlined above. Chances are almost as slim that they will extend the OSS guidelins to encompass the en- tire University community. In fact, the Regents may well strike down the OSS guidelines entirely, sources have said. 'wO EXTEND the OSS policy, despite its weakness, as a University-wide state- ment on recruiting, makes good sense. It is ironic that only one portion of the University now has a conscience. It is even more ironic that those placement services accommodating the most dis- criminatory and imperialistic corpora- tions are unchecked by any guidelines. Last year many students reacted in- dignantly to protests of GE recruiting. They asked why their fight to be inter- viewed by GE was being abridged. Now as then it is true that by allowing corporations devoid of social responsibil- ity to recruit on campus, the University lends its tacit approval to their immoral- ity. Assuredly the Regents will not, in one two-day regular monthly business ses- sion, reorder entirely the University's priorities, nor will they make it a socially responsible institution, but they can help work towards this goal by approving the OSS guidelines and then extending them throughout the University. -ROSE SUE BERSTEIN By JOHN C. LYNN Daily Guest Writer AM A teacher at the Federal Correc- tional Institution in Milan, Michigan and before getting to the heart of this I would like to relate a story - a true story told to me by two people not unlike someone you know. They could tell the story better than I can because it happen- ed to them, and they are prisoners and I am not. Two two people are in their early twen- ties, both are juniors at the University ,of Michigan. both come from "good"~ families, both had never been in trouble with the "law" before, both are friends and both smoke grass. Essentially then, both of these men have very similar back- grounds; please keep this in mind while reading their story. Last June, Jeff and Mark decided that they would take a trip south for the pur- pose of seeing the sights and for the pur- pose of picking up some cheap marijuana for their use back home. It sounded not only pragmatic but simple and innocent; who would bother two young college stu- dents (not hippies mind you) just out to have some fun and tour the countryside. Sticking right to the point, Jeff and Mark decided on the "grass-in-the-gas" trick and cautiously stashed the goodies in Mark's car gas tank just in case they ran across some non-hip dogooders. Jeff had his car along too and he proceeded to re- enter the U.S. just outside of Laredo where he planned to meet Mark. Jeff met Mark alright, but Jeff and Mark inadvertently met up with the local police who were very wise as to what was happening (what would you think if a college-type kid came hustling up from Mexico with Michigan license pates - after all, if you're not from Texas, you're a foreigner!). WELL, THE police had no difficulty finding the prize and quickly busted the unfortunates on four charges: possession of smuggled property, conspiracy to smuggle the smuggled property, smuggling and violation of the Tax Act (declared uncon- stitutional by Supreme Court in Timothy Leary vs United States). Each of the first three charges carries a 5 to 20 year sen- tence and the Tax Act carries a 2 to 10 year sentence, thus a total of 17 to 70 years behind bars for transporting mari- juana across the border. Jeff and Mark were totally ignorant of what was happening to them for neither had been charged with anything before, so, by means of some neat legal manipula- tion, they both agreed to plead guilty to the one charge of Tax Act violation waiv- -Dail-Jim Judkis Milan Federal Correctional Institution ing their 5th Amendment right to keep their mouths shut. Consequently, the pro- secutor had an open and shut case in- volving only minimal court expense and due process procedures. Although Jeff and Mark had the same conviction, the same lawyer and the same judge, an incredible disparity emerges. Mark, who owned the car and was driv- ing it alone when the grass was found, received six months of imprisonment with five years on probation while Jeff receiv- ed six years under the Youth Act (one can be paroled at any time under the Youth Act). In other words Mark gets out after six months while his sidekick, Jeff, could do the routine 15 to 24 months in prison and then be on parole for a couple years. Jeff's one consolation is that a crime is reduced to a misdemeanor if the sus- pect is convicted under the Youth Act. As it turned out, Jeff will be paroled soon which is highly unusual for six-year sen- tences. AFTER THE sentencing, Jeff and Mark spent a month in the Webb County Jail waiting to be taken into federal custody. The conditions under which they lived were typical of county jails throughout the country. Eighty men slept in a large cell- house that had 40 bunks and 27 mattresses. Food consisted of coffee, beans and bread everyday. No salt or vitamins were provided. Colds and other sicknesses were rampant, but blankets and heat were un- available. One day there was a plumbing problem resulting in a flood. At any one time, there were at least 100 federal prisoners in the jail. For each one, the .federal government paid the county $7 per day, or at least $4900 each week. Whot do you suppose was the cost of feeding those men with coffee, beans and bread? Mark and Jeff were lucky, in a way, for after a month in Laredo they were in the protective custody of the federal govern- ment in Milan F.C.I. There is one hitch. LIKE MOST SUCH institutions, Milan F.C.I. has nothing to offer Mark or Jeff but wasted months. Most of the prisoners can be "programmed" which means send- ing the man to school and teaching him a saleable skill. But Mark and Jeff are clerks and unless they prefer janitoring there's nothing else available. The story of Jeff and Mark only shows what is happening daily in county jails and correctional institutions and the inhumanity of the tradition of treating criminals as so- cial deviants unworthy of our compassion. Rehabilitating anyone in the context of a prison is impossible. How can we change someone's attitude and life-style by throw- ing him in a cell with dozens of others who think the same way he does? The word "re- habilitate"has no meaning in prisons today. Consequently, prisons exist primarily to either punish the offender so he will learn a "lesson" or to confine the individual so he will be separated from "good" people. The punishment function does awaken some individuals to the awesome power of the law. However, a short stay of two or three months is more than adequate to show these people what kind of life lies ahead if they continue to break law. Trou- ble arises when first offenders are incar- cerated for several years, ending up so bitter and lonely that they have only learned how to hate more. Imprisonment means total segregation from their women for long periods; depriving young men of sex en- genders unimaginable perverted behavior that leaves scars for life on many. Prisons and reform schools literally make criminals out of juvenile delinquents who come back into society with a kindled hatred of it. REHABILITATION ENCOMPASSES three things: restoring dignity to the human psyche, bringing into focus the community of men and teaching the skills necessary for self-sufficiency. These things can be brought about, not by taking the man away from his society, but by using many, community- based facilities which allow the man to work and spend part of his day in society while returning each night to undergo individualiz- ed treatment that meets his particular prob- lems and needs. I stress the importance of the word "indi- vidual" which is another word of non-mean- ing in today's prisons. When a prisoner ar- rives at a prison anywhere, he is imme- diately stripped of any individualism and required to regiment his behavior and re- press his attitudes just as' if he belonged in a cavalcade of ants. Most emphasis in corrections institutions, especially in prisons is on custody, that is, keeping track of the bodies. The top jobs in corrections are political and the top men demand that the "lid" be kept on and the "heat" be kept off their particular power sphere. Therefore almost all institutional operations are custody-oriented. Treatment serves only to take up so many bodies each day and to convince the public that all is well inside the jailhouse. Consequently, there is great pressure to resist implementation of new programs that could undermine the status quo: the status quo, in turn, shuns excellence, punishes failure and fosters the mediocre. Finally, mediocrity leads to a staff that doesn't know enough about human behavior to be effec- tive or care enough to be of any help: too many rigid life-styles fail to tolerate some- thing new or untried; too many inane minds have fallen victims to peer power games losing sight of the services they should be providing; and too many have sacrificed their own creativity for the easy way out. Prison officials refuse to recognize that risks must be taken with criminals if they are ever goingeto become a part of society- All of this process does a grand job of keep- ing the public in the dark. There are good people working for the Bureau of Prisons, but they live with frustration. The new war- den at Milan F.C.I. has planned some new and long-overdue reforms, but unless he can muster up enough cooperation, he will come and go like others who couldn't dent tradi- tion. PERHAPS THE most striking aberration in American justice is the law itself and how it is interpreted. The insensitivity of the law to changing social values is beyond excuses. Men are sentenced by judges who are veritable monarchs holding the fate of others in their hands. There are three major problems when talking about criminal justice in this coun- try: unresponsive laws, inconsisteht sen- tencing and inadequate jails-all of these things work nicely to foster confusion, bit- terness and disrespect among those who are firsthand witnesses to an ever decaying crime problem If these ills could be cured, we would no doubt alleviate much of the problem, but this won't happen because people are ignorant of crime and want to stay that way; it's much easier to hire more police equipped with better gius and listen to no-mind politicians talk about "cracking down"; but these crude solutions only serve to enlarge the vicious circle. We can no longer trust our institutions to solve our problems because they just don't work, and it is our responsibility as individuals to demand those measures necessary to bring problems like crime and poverty, out of the Dark Ages. Turn off the television for awhile, open your eyes and ears to the many cries for help; cries like this one: I can't understand why I was turned down on parole what so ever. I am no hardened criminal. I never done any- thing real bad I may need help in a hospital. But to be locked up in a place like this is not helping me one bit. And if you people can't see this by now seeing I been in rand out almost all my life and not helping any then must be something wrong. And I won't find help in places like this. I'll first get worse every time I get out. Until I end up doing something real bad. Then it will be too late to do anything for me. ,V ,A -Daily-Jim Judkis Prison tower overlooks childrens' playground Letters: Boycotting A &P for fairness To The Daily: THIS AFTERNOON at the doors of the Huron Avenue A&P, two longhair employes told me that they and any other store workers who refused to have their hair cut short would soon be suspended or fired. The manager of the store, Mr. Hartman, claims that this pol- icy was set at regional level and that he cannot exempt his em- ployes from it except at the risk of his own job.. Since his store employs a lot of women whose hair looks no less long, or more tidy, than the men's, it seems inescapable that the "health" reasons cited by the com- pany are no more than evasions of the real reasons. In order to bolster A&P's frail sense of fairness, and to counter- vail the pressure of death-culture hostility, I suggest that we spend our food dollats elsewhere a n d send plenty of letters to the A&P regional office. 5470 Hecla St.. De- demic offices. On the other hand, there is a serious misunderstand- ing about another matter, the amount of teaching a n d cnher work done by the faculty. I don't think all the facts were available to Mr. Kraftowitz t h a t should have been, and I would like to give a different perspective here. The stated "six-to-ten-hour a week load," to begin with, dogs not take into account the large amount of additional teaching that must be carried on outside of the formally scheduled meeting times of the classes. This becomes particularly -m- portant with large classes, out of sheer numbers, and with advanc- ed graduate courses, including di- rection of doctoral research. The actual face-to-face teaching load may easily be double the amount quoted. The time required to pre- pare for a class, especially a large one, is also large, and from my own experience I can vouch for the fact that the time may be field. This clearly varies with the discipline, but in many, and cer- tainly in my own, this is a grcedy factor indeed, which will consume as much time as one can spare and still not consider it enough. And as the rate of advancement of knowledge increases, the task of keeping abreast of it in zn un- derstanding way, without becom- ing either superficial, or narrowly specialized, becomes even more demanding. I think it is apparent that there is not much time remaining in a normal work week f o r research (more accurately, we should use the term "scholarly activity," to include s u c h things as literary and musical composition, artistic creation, etc.). But we have not yet considered "administration," under which ru- bric all manner of demands on faculty time appear. To use my- self as an example, I find that I am putting in six to ten hours a week on committee w o r k: two available and approachable, and in. an unhurried, relaxed -itmos- phere. This function is more im- portant today than at any earlier time in my experience, but I know that even now, many faculty members cannot spare the time for it. Altogether, these matters plus occasional public service and pro- fessional activity add up to a week of over 50 hours. I do not ,.esent it; there are non-material rewards that compensate for the loss of personal time. So w h a t mould happen, if, under pressure of a "budget crisis," I were asked to teach more classes? The time re- quired would have to come from somewhere, and there is no more to give in personal time if we are to be fair to our families. The time will have to come from keeping up with the field, class preparation, informal contact with students, a n d scholarly activity. The latter, including all research, is nowhere near enough, and a t when he wrote that increasing the teaching loads would "make it all the easier to separate those who are devoted to teaching from those who view it as an obstacle to overcome," as the m o r e re- search-oriented professors leave us for other institutions. However, it can be viewed dif- ferently - might not the effect instead be to lose those with the enthusiasm for the subject that motivates research and the quest for the highest quality in teach- ing, while keeping those who are m o r e content in a comfortable nest that makes no demands on their creativity, imagination, and openness of mind? Would you pre- fer devoted but uninspired teach- ing of yesterday's knowledge, training by persons with o n 1 y second-hand contact with the sources of new knowledge, com- pared to what the University now offers? A great university. as opposed to a four-year teaching institution, - 'I ~ ~