tI fdBiwu Baily Eighty years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan 420 Maynord 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. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1971 NIGHT EDITOR: DAVE CHUDWIN Child-care center for the 'U' To0Q PA PW0 KTLO LL0A ABOUT IT- 50R)G 8C ,IJ 1 5 T0 ' IT 10 W ~SCw- IT AiT L-J A T *ak1G6 0(7f{I IT. FCRe5 MOTH WIti I, WHEN STUDENTS face the Regents to- day and tomorrow, it won't be the first time that the demand for a child care center has come before the Uni-, versity administration. Nor will it be the first time the Re- gents admit to the importance of a child care center. Should the Regents act substantively to implement the plan, however, it would mark the first time in the University's history the Regents have recognized the child care center as a high priority. This is a step forward which must be taken. The need for a child care center has been pointed out continuously during the past year, but the intensity with which support has been expressed in the com- munity has varied greatly. When support was high last spring, the University decided that it could allow a child care center to operate on Univer- sity property - open only to families with some connection with the Univer- sity. A group of University women operated the center in Mary Markley dormitory last year, and this year it has been pro- vided with three efficiency apartments in University Terrace. However, the present center is neither free nor 24-hour. Because of obvious financial problems, it currently operates, only eight hours a day and must charge 50c per child per hour. This hardly squares with the child care section of the six demands a group of' students is discussing with the Regents today - which calls merely for a "24- hour child care center" - and the need, in fact, goes farther than that. WHAT HAS BEEN continually asked of the University, and what must now be implemented, is a free, 24-hour child care center under parent-child and com- munity control. Last October, during an open Regents hearing, 200 people once again demand- ed an expanded child care center and were told vague things about the "tight money situation." Last week, the Regents only repeated the same message. Certainly there is a tight money situa- tion. Yet when a tight money situation is closely examined, it really may be re- duced to a question of priorities, and the long demanded and often compromised child care center should certainly be a high University priority. The University, with its heralded "af- firmative action program" for women, should see the creation of a free 24-hour child care center as a necessary part of eliminating discriminatory practices against women. Although the demand for a child care center from Local 1583 of the American Federation of State, County and Munici- pal Employes failed to become part of the union's new contract, the need for free child care for University employes was pointed out by its inclusion in union demands. For example, University employes - especially those at the hospital - work unusual hours during which babysitters are not available, and work for wages that automatically preclude the possibility of hiring babysitters. Students also put in unusual hours, and the vast majority of students with child- ren cannot afford babysitters. TRADITIONALLY, care of the children has been delegated to the mother. As a result, women with children, if they want to work or attend school, must be prepared to arrange their hours and be able to afford to pay for a babysitter or for nursery school. That is a virtual im- possibility for many women who have to work, or who want to continue their edu- cation. Ideally, society should change to give the father more voice in raising the child, and ideally, society should arrange to have children cared for while their par- ents are occupied. This obviously is a long way from happening. More realistically, the University - Ann Arbor's largest employer - and the city itself should arrange for child care cen- ters funded jointly by the University and the community. Although there have been groups'lobbying for such action, this too is a long way from happening. Yet, the existing child care center is not enough. The University's responsibility is greater than merely allowing rooms to be used for such a center. And this re- sponsibility can be adequately fulfilled only if the University finances a center that can run for 24 hours a day and can offer child care free of charge. This could be done perhaps most easily by expand- ing the present center. This should not be done only because the University feels pressure, but because an extensive child care center is a neces- sity if the University wishes to offer edu- cation and employment to women in a non-discriminatory manner. THE UNIVERSITY has already stated by its affirmative action plan that an end to this discrimination is its goal. If it does not give the child- care center the kind of high priority action that is needed, it will be clear just how seriously the University regards its supposed prin- ciples. -TAMMY JACOBS B~ T O M~ ~Lc E 'i~eF A tM-i!6 1-1ST To HAVE Y2)9 PHOE TAI'CKJOCT Dist. Publishers-Hall Sy ndicate SIXP f THS a L ME I (+AVF.NT CHAS M O I O r .zaz I 4~r - 4, 4 A conservative view: To stop the Movement By TED HELD Daily Guest Writer FOR SOME TIME now there has been an unusual political sil- ence on the nation's campuses and in its cities. This is largely due to a halt in agitation from the Left. Silence and inactivitycan be very ambiguous things and many peo- ple of the conservative commun- ity have felt that somehow the discontent concerning the war (among other things) has been assuaged. This is true to a large extent. Many people have been convinced that Richard Nixon's policies are at least an acceptable way to end the purported great wrongs and lead us back to prosperity, peace, and t h e other American ideals. But to think this is the whole ex- planation for the calm is to be dangerously fooled. The Left is not dead. Recently in Ann Arbor the Left gave the country notice that it was still alive, still dissatisfied, and still ready to mobilize t h e people to put an end to the war in Indochina, "racism," "repression," and so on. The occasion was the 2000-delegate Student-Youth Con- ference on a People's Peace. Sup- erficially it was the s a m e old New Left. There was the usual late start to an only somewhat or- ganized plenary session to kick things off. There was the day of caucuses and workshops which were exceedingly dull capped by a nighttime "cultural event" which was not very cultural. Finally there was the day of consolidation marked by petty dis- putes over the agenda, confused speakers out of order, and a cha- otic politicaladiscussion display- ing severe factionalization. B u t out of all this came a hesitant solidarity behind the peace treaty which was the object of the con- ference, Also, there came a pecu- liar feeling as to the true nature of the movement. That these people c o u 1 d lay dormant so long and still rally in the numbers they did is awesome. It is clearly a threat of which con- servatives should take heed. It was evident that the base of support had expanded. The delegates came from all over the country during an abysmal political lull. T h e y were the people who were to or- ganize around the treaty which implies a peripheral support that is considerable. It is a periphery which was driven to quiescence by cynicism born from compromise. co-optation and fatigue rather than logic. Most importantly, it is a perip- hery which can be moved to ac- tion unlike Nixon's "Silent Ma- jority," should a political or eco- nomic crisis develop. And should such a crisis occur, the American people will naturally be more in- clined to listen to an alternative than usual. It is because the peo- ple might take them seriously that the establishment should be frigh- tened for its own existence. THE NEW LEFT h a s always been an appeal AGAINST some- thing. It is very unclear w h a t "peace people" are FOR in the way of government. The confer- ence showed that the p e a c e movement had undergone a siz- able leftward drift. It was evi- dent that the mood was advocat- ing victory for the NLF and a revolution at home. But what after the revolution? Peace? Freedom? What do these mean? Abbie Hoffman says that they'll get rid of all the pay toil- ets. It's an attractive phrase for a slogan-movement. It seems t h a t very few of these people h a v e much idea of what they want to do. Dismaying to the conservative is the thought t h a t there are Marxists and quasi-Marxists who would not hesitate to offer a sug- gestion should a revolution find itself without direction. So the challenge to the con- servative is to stop this movement which certainly threatens him. The press, radio, television, and the schools have worked against the right to create a climate where people, mostly young and mostly intelligent, can be explosively or- ganized to a the leftist ideals. Alarmingly, the Nixon people have used ignorant methods to combat this danger. News blackouts, sec- retive war actions, reliance on the "Silent Majority" and blindly nationalistic workers, bumbling manipulation of the economy, trials for elaborate conspiracies, a n d selective marijuana arrests are not only convincing liberals, and leftists, but are losing the sup- port of enlightened rightists. This strategy seems to be work- ing now because nothing signi- ficant has gone wrong for a while. One can hardly expect this happy situation to continue much longer. Obviously a safer and more de- sirable approach would be a per- suasion campaign which would present logical, fundamental, and convincing reasoning totsupport the conservative view. Although there is extant some material of this type, it'is very little and very poorly publicized. IF CONSERVATIVES are ever going to have a large and worth- while base of support, efforts should be directed to this area. Sometimes I wonder if conserva- tives care enough about their pol- itics and personal liberty to con- duct this type of appeal rather" than the dull and repressive tac- tics now used to control fanatics. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The author is a member of the campus chap- ter of Young Americans for Free- dom.) L Letters: Confron ting the Regents Garris' victory JACK GARRIS' victory in M o n d a y' s mayoral primary is not necessarily an indication that the conservative wing of the Ann Arbor Republican party is gaining strength. Rather, it reflects the success of the tactic of "switching over" employed by many members of the local Democratic electorate. "Switching over" is an old political trick in Michigan. It works because Mich- igan law does not require citizens to register a party affiliation before vot- ing in the primary. Frequently, one party's candidate runs unopposed, and is assured nomination. Thus, members of that party will often vote for the weakest candidate of the other party in order to weaken the op- position to their own candidate. This is exactly what happened in Mon- day's primary. Many Democratic voters apparently realized that a vote for Gar- ris would be the most effective way of helping to re-elect Mayor Robert Harris, and voted accordingly. THE EVIDENCE of this tactic is quite clear. In Monday's primary election the three Republican mayoral contenders garnered a total of 9,333 votes. Two years ago in the city's -April general election the Republican candidate for mayor re- ceived only 10,399 votes. The turnout in primary elections is generally well under 70 per cent of the general election turn- votes, in the culmination of a hard fought campaign. The most reasonable assumption there- fore, appears to be that Democrats "switched over" to vote for Garris. This is lent further credence by the fact that Harris only got 3,243 votes. OBVIOUS EXAMPLES of switching over occurred in the Second Ward. Garris won in both the first and second pre- cincts. These precincts are roughly bounded by Hill St., Huron, Washtenaw, and Main, and are primarily inhabited by students. These are the wards that gave the greatest support to Democrat David Bloom, a radical candidate for C i t y Council., Garris' nomination will undoubtedly help Harris. Garris ran a campaign based on "law and order", exploiting mid- dle-class prejudices, and promising to alleviate fears of radicalism, drugs and crime that he himself was largely re- sponsible for instilling in the community. He has no support from moderate Repub- licans, and offers a much less significant threat to Harris than Louis Belcher would have posed. Belcher is a moderate Republican who has the support of most local party lead- ers. He is conservative enough to ap- peal to the mass of the Republican elec- torate, yet sufficiently moderate to draw some Democratic votes away from Harris. Tn thie mlih+. ~ris' voirv seems: a To the Daily: THE REGENTS are having an open forum today at 4 p.m. in the Union Ballroom to discuss the de- cision of the Office of Student Serv- ices policy board to ban recruiters representing companies who do business in South Africa, and Fri- day there is an open session at 2 p.m. in the Administration building. It is important that people be at these meetings, and it is more im- portant that they understand why, and what can be gained there. We all know that the Regents do not represent, as they claim. the desires of the majority of the Ann Arbor community, or of the university community. The Univer- sity still is, and always has been, involved in war research; allows i'ecruiters from racist and sexist companies on campus, and gener- ally assumes a role of complicity with the goals, values and inter- ests of a life destroying society. The University and its illegiti- mate sons, the Regents, have to be stopped. But it is crucial that we understand their true role in the destruction of humanity, in order that we can deal with them in per- spective, and in a way that will also keep a mass movement grow- ing. Disrupting any specific functions of the University, will not by itself stop the war. And stopping the war won't cure the sickness of society, but rather deal with only an espe- cially painful symptom. These iso- lated reforms in the policies of op- pressive structures are only bene- ficial in the context of real social change; when the power to make decisions flows from the people who are affected by thetdecisions. WE ARE RIGHT to act against the illegitimacy of the Regents in their attempts to control and influ- ence the lives of the people in this community, and their willingness to perpetuate and support the de- structiveness of corporate society. We must react militantly to a so- ciety that is violent in its oppres- sion of people; we must react to an aggressive enemy. We should not look upon any ac- tion on Friday as an isolated act of frustration against the crossing of an arbitrary border in Indochina, or even something that can solve any specific problem in the univer- sity as it exists now. But Friday But it will be successful only if you are there to help make those decisions. -The Steering tee for the Group to End Feb. 17 Britain To The Daily: EVEN THE MOST chauvinistic of Britons could not fail to see the point of Jonathan Miller's rather jabbing article on "British cur- Commit- Ad Hoc the War ic community will answer for the present state of math teaching in British schools, but at least this Briton is able to affirm that pre- cisely because of 1,200 years of ex- perience with a duodecimal system we are in excellent shape to han- dle just about anything. The col- umnist's previous suggestion that we should have adopted a system of dollars and cents was partic- ularly insensitive. With a g a o d part of our economy already in hock to American capital, the tra- ditional British stiff upper lip is Daily last week. While I was cor- rectly quoted, my sympathy is nit with the views expressedl publicly by the "U. of M. Action Commit- tee to Protest Japanese Aggres- sion Against Tiao Yu Tai Islands." Typical language alleging "i ecent Japanese aggression on Chinese territory" and "exposing the Japa- nese militarist aggression in re- gard to Tiao Yu Tai" not only is without any basis in fact. It mocks the pretensions of this group in its Committee. Specifically, neither by*, the terminology of the Japanese surrender declaration nor through subsquent peace treaties signed with various Allied aowers, includ- ing on separate occasions the Re- public of China and the United States, has the territory of Taiwan, the Pescadores, or any other asN sociated islands formerly held by the Japanese Empire been formally and finally ceded to the Republic of China. The sole legal consequence of these actions and documents has been to divest Japan of ownership. The Republic of China continues to administer Taiwan and the Pesca- dores as an occupying regime ex- ercising de facto but not de Jure sovereignty. There one major pre- mise of the argument collapses. Moreover it is questionable what international legal consequence follows from a municipal court rul- ing. Without determining this one* can hardly assert that uninhabited islands 120 miles northeast of Tai- wan necessarily are part of Tai- wan. Finally, whether the continental shelf principle according exclusive exploitation rights of ownership on the basis of continuous depth ap*4 plies indefinitely, regardless of the distance from coastal territory (in this case more than 200 miles from the Chinese mainland) is again sub- ject to legal interpretation which must include principles of comity or practice as well as of treaty language. THIS IS NOT to deny or affirm either side's claim in this dispute. It does, however, suggest that any one sincerely interested in "peace with justice" would seem better advised to abandon insulting, pro- vocative, and inflammatory lan- guage in favor of demanding that" such matters be taken by both sides to the International Court of Jus- tice. Both the Republic of China and Japan are members of the United Nations and both have pledged their support to its Char - ter and its bodies. The Court is nor so overworked as to be unable to take up this case in prompt order. While its ruling would be compli- cated by the lack of legal sov- ereignity over Taiwan, an adv sory' ruling couldat least d"spose of the question concerning J'pan's claim as part of the Ryukyus. -Prof. Allen S. Whiting Department of Political Science Feb. 8 "..Guam.. Okinawa ..San Fernando Veterans Hospital" rency: Chaos over Coins." Alas, we fast thawing. Please, Mr. Miller, I-sr rnr .nndn Rrrig._ake ia or appeal for public support aimed at "neae with justice."