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Eighty years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
deep greens and blues
'lam not responsible'
Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-05521
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
HURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1971 N IGHT EDITOR: CARLA RAPOPORT
Mlilary research and t
THE SURGE OF interest in military
research following the Laos invas-
ion indicates that significant numbers
of students and faculty are prepared
,to challenge once again the co-opera-
tion of the University with the mili-
tary.
That invasion spotlighted the con-
tinuing w a r in Indochina, in which
American technology plays such a cru-
cial part - and for which American
universities, by developing m u c h of
that technology, bear a heavy respon-
sibility.'
To what end should students a n d
faculty demand an end to military re-
search on this campus? To prevent an
institution of which we are a part from
continuing to aid in the execution of
what American foreign policy - a pol-
icy clearly opposed by the majority of
students and faculty - has become.
The United States has become the
center of a virtual empire struggling
against revolutionary .change.
Throughout, the world, our allies are
the wealthy and powerful classes and
our enemies those who articulate the
aspirations of the lower classes for a
better life.
The continuing opposition of our
government to movements for social
change was most recently symbolized
by its refusal to allow an American mil-,
itary ship to dock in a Chilean port.
The extreme reserve of t h e govern-r
ment's relations with Chile comes de-;
spite the Chilean radical government's
accession to power by election and its
continuing adherence to parliamen-
tary process.
TrHEU.S. MILITARY is the enforcing
arm of this foreign policy - and.
this military depends on the Univer-
sity to do more than $10 million worth
of its research a year. In view of this,
can we, as parts of this University, per-
mit it to continue aiding the execution
of policies which today suppress revo-
lution in Indochina and which have
long opposed revolution in other parts
o' the world?
The argument is frequently m a d e
that military policy in this country is
formulated by d u 1 y elected officials,
reflecting the will of the people, and
that it is therefore wrong to obstruct
it.
Certainly it is true that all modern
governments must somehow convince
the bulk of their populations to at least
temporarily acquiesce to their policies.
But the fact that successive American
governments have been able to per-
suade the American people to acquiesce
to their national policies, does snot ab-
solve us of responsibility f o r acting
against these policies, both in the na-
tional arena and through the institu-
tions of which we are a part.
It may be recalled that before their
acquisition of dictatorial power in
Germany, the Nazi party was by far the
most popular party, finally garnering
over forty per cent of the vote. Does
this in any way render immoral at-
tempts by conscientious Germans to
prevent their institutions from co-op-
erating with the foreign policies of the
Nazi government?
The argument is also made that the
United States needs a military, a n d
that the University - created and sup-
ported by that nation - must aid it.
We do not argue that the nation needs
no military - we argue that what the
military has become today is uncon-
scionable, and that we will attempt to
end the "co-operation of our University
with it.
Senate Assembly, the faculty repre-
sentative body, will meet Monday and
Tuesday to consider i t s position on
classified and military research. Stu-
dent Government Council has called .a
mass meeting for tonight on the issue,
and has tentatively set a referendum
on the question.
While those students who have been
active in radical activities on campus
in the past have been able to raise is-
sues, they by themselves can have lit-
tle impact .-- as was m o s t recently
demonstrated in the sit-ins of the week
before break.
. The mass meeting tonight provides
an opportunity f o r previously unin-
volved students to discuss the issues in-
volved in military research and to de-
cide what efforts can and should be
made toward ending it.
THE CRUCIAL QUESTION is thus
whether that great number of stu-
dents, and faculty members who strong-
ly oppose t h e direction of American
foreign policy and sympathize with the
campaign to end military research on
this campus will involve themselves in
efforts to that end.
-STEVE KOPPMAN
Editorial Page Editor
-JIM BEATTIE
Executive Editor
PERHAPS IT WAS the harshness, the brutality of war
that first jarred the lieutenant from his position in
time. And perhaps it was the shock of that event that dis-
lodged the prosecutor, the judge and the rest of the people
there.
At any rate, like Billy Pilgrim, traveller to the planet
Tralfamadore, a courtroom in Georgia has "come unstuck
in time" and is now sliding restlessly through present, past
and future.
We are informed by Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-
Five that Billy "is spastic in time . . . he is in a constant
state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows
what part of his life he is going to have to act in next."
We too are disoriented, and confused, and frightened.
The date was Feb. 23, 1971. The lieutenant was testifying
in a military courtroom, where he was on trial for the
murder of 102 people in a small Vietnamese village. He
admitted directing a mass execution of unresisting men,
women and children, but said:
"It was a group of people who 'were the enemy, sir. I was
ordered to go in there and destroythe enemy. That was
my job that day. That was my mission.
"I felt then and I still do that I acted as I was directed
and that I carried out orders I was given. And I do not
feel I was wrong in doing so, sir." The lieutenant halted
and looked down at the floor.
"I realize you're under tremendous strain," said the
judge.
"Yes," said the defendant, "I have a clear conscience
with respect to the indictment. My entire life was spent
in the service of my people and my fatherland. To them
I have devoted the best of my strength in the loyal ful-
fillment of my duty."
THERE WAS A murmur of agitation in the courtroom,
for the defendant who had just spoken had a different face,
a different voice.
"I am convinced that no patriotic American or citizen of
any other country would have acted differently in my
place, if his country had been in the same position. For to
have acted any differently would have been a breach of
my oath of allegiance and high treason," the defendant
continued.
Newsmen exchanged worried glances and military per-
sonnel shifted uneasily in their seats. Weren't they in
Georgia, in 1971?
"In fulfilling my legal and moral duties, I believe that
I have deserved punishment no more than have the tens
of thousands of faithful German civil servants and officials
in the public service who have already been detained in
camps for over a year merely because they did their duty."
Or was it Nuremburg, 1946? The judge hammered for
order, then told the prosecuting attorney to go on with
the cross-examination.
"What were your troops firing at?"
"At the enemy, sir?"
"At people?"
"At the enemy, sir."
"Were they men?"
"I don't know, sir. I would imagine they were, sir . . .
I wasn't discriminating."
"Did you see women?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Did you see children?"
"I don't know, sir."
Letters: lb
by larry lempert - 1
"If I have made mistakes in my work through a false
conception of obedience, if I carried out orders, all of
which, insofar as they are alleged to be cardinal orders,
were issued before my time of office, then they are part
of fate which is stronger than myself and which is carrying
me along with it."
THE COURTROOM was reeling They had jerked be-
tween present and past until the two had merged. Then
the ultimate merging took place. On a dizzying shock
wave, the spectators found themselves barreling both
backwards and forwards, they heard words of the past
addressed to a courtroom of the future.
"May it please Your Honor," said the, chief prosecutor,
"the privilege of opening the first trial in history for
crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave
responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and
punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devas-
tating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored,
because it cannot survive their being repeated."
The prosecutor pointed to a row of defendants. They were
not lieutenants - they had stars on their shoulders -and
medals on their chests, and there were cabinet members
and a president seated in the dock as well.
"The common sense of mankind'demands that law shall
not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little
people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of
great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it
to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world
untouched. It is a cause of that magnitude that the United
Nations will lay before Your Honor."
The courtroom was in chaos. A defendant cried out, "Un-
til the time of this trial, I did not know and did not suspect
that among the assets delivered to the Reichsbank there
were enormous quantities of pearls, precious stones,
jewelry, gold objects, and even spectacle, frames, and -
horrible to say - gold teeth. That was never reported to
me, and I never noticed it either.
"I never saw these things. But until this trial I also
knew nothing of the fact that millions of Jews were mur-
dered in concentration camps or by the 1Einsatzkommandos
in the East. Never did a single ;person say even one word
to me about these things."
THE PROSECUTOR'S voice grew louder. "We will show
them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism
and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power.
They are symbols offierce nationalism and of militarism,
of intrigue and war-making . ..
But the spectators had suddenly been jolted to a small
village in Vietnam. They stood at the edge of an irrigation
ditch filled with bodies of men, women and children.
And they heard gKurt Vonnegut reading from his book
about the fire-bombing of Dresden:
"It is so short and Jumbled and jangled, Sam, because
there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Every-
body is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or
want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be
very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for
the birds.
"AND WHAT do the birds say? All there is to say about
a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?'"
A SENSE OF relief swept over the courtroom, as it be-
came clear they were in Georgia after all. The trial pro-
ceeded. The lieutenant's attorney began to question him.
The lieutenant related that he had ordered one of his
men to move the villagers to an irrigation ditch. "I told
him if he couldn't move them to waste them." The lieu-
tenant then had returned to find four or five of his men
firing at the Vietnamese, who had been herded into the
ditch.
"What did you do?"
"Well, I fired into the ditch also, sir."
"Why did you give the order?"
"Because that was my order, sir, that was the order
of the day."
"And who gave you that order?"
"My company commander, sir."
The courtroom blurred once again.
"If, however, I am asked, 'Why did you remain even
after you knew that your superiors were committing
crimes?' I can answer only that I could not set myself
up as their judge . . .
"I know only," the defendant said, "that in my belief in
Adolf Hitler I put all my strength at the disposal of my
people. As a German soldier I could only put myself at
the service of the defense against those destructive forces
which had once brought Germany close to the abyss ..."
For several minutes the judge could not quiet the uproar
in the courtroom. Finally the defendant continued.
4A
nderstanding The Daily
Confusion on marijuana law
ITH THE passage of the city's new
o r d i n a n c e reducing penalties for
the possession and sale of marijuana, the
city has for the first time an alternative
to prosecuting under the grossly inap-
propriate state statute covering mari-
juana use.
However, recent statements by County
Prosecutor William Delhey make it clear
that further and stronger action by the
city will be necessary before the city can
assure that its ordinance will have the
effect which the City Council intended.
For Delhey, by threatening a continua-
tion of his old policy of prosecuting all,
marijuana arrests under the state law,
could conceivably prevent the city from
handling any of the oases and thus
render the new ordinance totally inef-
fective. The issue is not entirely settled
yet, however.
In the past all cases of arrest for pos-
session of marijuana have been taken
by the police to the county prosecutor for
prosecution t under the state's felony
statute. Until the passage of the city
ordinance, this was absolutely necessary
since there was no relevant city rule un-
der which the city could handle the cases.
When the council passed the new ord-
inance, however, it presumed that cases
would continue to be referred to the
county prosecutor by Ann Arbor police.
But it also believed that when the al-
leged crime did not involve persons out-
sidethescity, the prosecutor would refer
the case to the city attorney's office for
prosecution under the local misdemeanor
refer defendants to the city attorney,
the new ordinance might just as well not
exist.
FOR THE LAW to become ineffective for
the lack of co-operation of one man
would, however, constitute a mockery of
the democratic process in Ann Arbor.
For the people of Ann Arbor have, through
their elected representatives, expressed
the desire to see the penalty for posses-
sion of marijuana reduced to a misde-
meanor.
If Mayor Harris was sincere in his
promise that the law would eventually
come into use, therefore, it is inpera-
tive that he now back his assertion with
a definite plan to assure the integrity of
the law. And clearly, this is not im-
possible, despite Delhey's position.
When the ordinance goes into effect
in 10 days, for example, city administra-
tors could make an agreement with the
Ann Arbor police department to treat
marijuana possession arrests in the same
way they treat other ' violations of the
city code - by referring them directly to
the office of the city attorney for pro-
secution.
Nor should Krasny be allowed to refuse
such a request from the city council or
the city administrator, for it is not the
police chief's function to make the law
-only to. enforce it according to the will
of the community.
At this point, it is not clear just what
the intentions of the city's administra-
tors are, as they have scheduled a meet-
ing for the end of the week to consider
To the Daily:
I SUPPOSE that its just that
I'm stupid that prevents me from
understanding half the things the
Daily prints.
I can't understand how delet-
ing six sections of a political ac-
tion course is "politically motivat-
ed and infringes on the academic
freedom of the participants",
while ending ROTC classes is not
politically motivated and does not
infringe on the academic freedom
of people wishing to take their
courses.
I can't understand why the LSA
government has students on t h e
board for control of the course
mart and then threatens to remove
those students from the board be-
cause they don't think the same
way as the people on the govern-
ment.
I CAN'T UNDERSTAND why
trial by peers means students jud-
ged by students, faculty by facul-
ty, but not policemen by police-
men.
I don't understand how SGC
can vote $50 for Off the Wall St.
Journal and then turn down $30
for ZPG. Or how J. DeGrieck can
vote NO on $30 for ZPG and then
vote in favor of $250 for the poli-
tical party upon whose slate he
runs.
And finally I can't understand
how Rose Berstein can make such
a crud statement as "only o n e
portion of the University now has
a conscience." By accepting her
own omnipotence she sounds like
the general who says the North
Vietnamese have no conscience,
while the South Vietnamese do.
When do different ideas make one
wrong and one right?How does
Berstein have the only correct
view on what iz good and what
is bad.
I JUST DON'T understand. The
logic used by the left is just as
unreasonable and irrational as
that used by the right. I'd really
like to know just what the hell is
going on.
-Robert Petty '72
Fasting
To the Daily:
OUTRAGED BY the continuing
death and destruction inflicted on
in effect at Berkeley, Brown, Har-
vard, Iowa, MSU, Oregon, Prince-
ton, Stanford, an'd Yale.
In witness of our fast we shall
gather for an hour each day at
12:00 noon in the "Fishbowl"s We
invite everyone to participate in the
fast in any point in the week, to
support us by joining in the daily
vigil and discussions, and to sign
our petition.
THE FAST
March 10
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editor, this man, president of the
Black Student Union, says, "We
want our men to be men, to be
warriors. We want our women to
bear our children and to give us
love and inspiration to fight on-
for this is as Allah intended."
It's pretty evident to me that
in both these situations men are
climbing to power over the backs
of women. Black men or white
men - it is the same line, the
same story. The philosophies of
terested in sitting in the grand-
stands and waving our handker-
chiefs as you joust. We are not
interested in merely watching men
live. "Won't you join the ladies'
auxiliary of the human race?"
One conclusion I can draw
is that the ROTC ad is a put-on,
and that Dave Wesley is CIA. This
would explain a lot of things.
It is Dave Wesley who is "setting
one oppressed community against
another," by implying that only
k
it
Arrogance
To the Daily:
DAVE WESLEY'S letter.(Daily,
Feb. 24) which was in response to
an editorial by Jonathan Miller in
which Miller mildly reprimands
Wesley for his irresponsible use of
"faggot proposals", should be
viewed with concern. Not with-
standing his callous disregard for
homosexuals, Wesley further aug-
ments his error by replying in a
most arrogant manner.
By taking the editorial as a "defi-
nite insult to me as well as to the
homosexual community", instea d of
admitting a mistake as a responsi-
ble leader should, Wesley refuses
to concede his error. Indeed, if
Wesley shows such concern for the
homosexual community as evi-
denced by his letter, why did he
feel necessary to call the propos-
als "faggot proposal."
However, he attempts to place
blame upon Miller for writing the
editorial. Wesley's statement that
Miller is attempting to create an-
other "faggot issue" (his words,
not Miller's) is misleading and
draws attention away from the fact
that it was Wesley who said "fag-
got proposal."
In regards to Wesley's statement
that "We want our men to be men,
to be warriors," I can only view
with contempt, for it is precisely
this idea, a misconception of man-
hood, that is a leading cause for
much of our troubles today.
FINALLY, it is obvious, to me
that Miller does. have "the balls"
to deal with the truth and that it is
Wesley who indeed refuse to ac-
knowledge it.
--K itchll Botney '
Feb. 25
Oakland
To the Daily:
THE Feb. 17 issue of The Mich-
igan Daily carried a front-page
story by J. Irwin on the AAUP poll
on faculty unionization at the The
University of Michigan. The article
misrepresented the situation at
Oakland University by stating that
the organized faculty here had
achieved greater salary ncreases
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"Perhaps you'd like to step over to our
credit loan department"