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Eighty years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Re-ordering student priorities____I
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Supporting 'C
ITH THE OPENING of the academic
year, the nation's campuses renmain
enshrouded in the spectre of violence and
confrontation that descended upon them
last May when U.S. troops entered Cam-
bodia and Ohio National Guardsmen
killed four students .at Kent State Uni-
versity.
President Nixon has been told by ad-
visers of his own choosing that several
campuses will probably not be able to
open this fall. Quite possibly they are
Scorrect. Increasingly over the past few
years, college campuses have joined the
nation's ghettoes as the battleground of
our society. And there is nothing in the-
national policies of the United States or
in the mood of the nation's youth to
indicate- that- the situation will soon be
reversed.
On the contrary, both sides seem more
intractable than ever. While U.S. troops
have left Cambodia (for the moment at
least),air strikes have been initiated and,
seem likely to reach the levels used to
devastate wide areas of Vietnam in the,
late 1960s. Likewise, the Chicago Con-
spiracy trial is over, but will soon be .
replaced by the trial of Black Panther
Chairman Bobby Seale and, very likely,
the retrial of Panther Minister of De-
fense Huey Newton. And, more than ever,
co'lege students seem prepared to r.e-
spond to these provocations by their own
display of force.
CONFRONTED by the widespread acts'
of rage on the nation's campuses last
spring, the response of white middle
class Americans was predictable. Tied to
a "don't-rock-the-boat" philosophy which
repayed them 'so handsomely during their
economic rise in the forties, fifties and
early sixties, middle America felt threat-
ened by the disorder college students
have so, successfully created. That the
rioters and disrupters looked very similar
to :their own sons and daughters in both
skin color and societal background made
the situation only less comprehensible.
Recently, for the first time, polls showed
American adults felt "campus unrest"
was the nation's most pressing problem.
More astute political analysts have
attempted to locate the sources of unrest
in the political and social ferment of the
times. -For example. scores of college
'presidents,, including University Presi-
dent Robben Fleming, have pointed to
the war and the draft as major causes of
campus disorder.
': Certainly there, is something to be
said for this liberal analysis of the dis-
ruption of U.S. higher education. Certain-
ly the draft has forced many students to
confront the realities of U.S. society. But,
on the other hand, the superficiality of
this analysis is rather striking.
AT BOTH the paranoid conservative
reaction to campus disorders and the
liberal analysis have in common-and it
is their major fault-is the insistence on
dealing with dissent and violence as The
Proble
Even .Fleming, while arguing publicly
that the Indochina War was a "collossal
mistake", has instituted new disciplinary
procedures--which ignore some very
basic civil libertarian principles-in order
to more efficiently repress dissent.
The real problem is not the disorder
in our society, but the societal order it-
self, an order which serves the well-to-do
at the expense of the poor, and whose
institutions are numb to the needs of
the people; a system which thrives on
the basest of human emotions and relies
on the grossest methods of social control
for its perpetuation.
For those who were 12 or 13 years old
when the United States initiated massive
military intervention in Vietnam, the
war has become more than just an iso-
lated, eaily correctable mistake-it is
the status quo.
Similarly, those who are entering col-
lege this year were seven or eight years
old at the beginning of the civil rights
movement. Yet race relations in this
Editorial Staff
MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN, Editor
STUART GANNES JUDY SARASOHN
Editorial Director Managing Editor
JIM NEUBACHER ..News Editor
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x1mpUS unrest'
country have only deteriorated over the
past ten years, the U.S. legal system re-
mains stacked in favor of the white man,
and blacks, whose relative economic
position remains unchanged, have been
abandoned to live and die in the filth
and dispair of our nation's cites.
After 10 years young people have
come to perceive racism as more than just
a "problem" for America. It is a way of
life.
THE RICHEST 500 corporations in the
United States control 75 per cent of
the nation's wealth. The power of these
corporations in controlling the lives of
the American people and the policies of
the U.S. government is staggering.
The decisions about what to produce
and where to invest excess productive
capacity largely determine what kind of
nation 'we will have. For example, the
major means of transportation in this
country is the automobile rather than a
more coherent, safer mass transit system
because the automobile and gasoline in-
dustries have been able to prevent gov-
ernments from creating such systems.
That thousands die on our highways
every year and that cars are the prime
polluters of our environment is irrele-
vant, because dependence on the auto-
mobile means higher corporate profits.
What's good for General Motors and
Ford and ESSO may not be good for all
Americans, but almost by definition, it IS
America, nonetheless.
Foreign policy is a key concern of the
nation's economic kingpins. Surplus pro-
ductivity in the United States makes it
essential for American corporations to
find friendly markets and new places to
invest abroad-especially in countries
where workers earn one-tenth of what
they do in the United States.
THE GROWING WAR in Indochina
should be seen in thislight. If South
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia fall to the
communists, these countries will no long-
er be available for exploitive investment
by the U.S. corporations.
It matters not that communist gov-
ernments in these countries would in-
stitute land reform and other measures
aimed at lessening the plight of the
poor. It matters not that the U.S. feels
forced to support fascist regimes in these
countries to prevent takeovers by popular
nationalist forces. American men will
continue to fight in the underdeveloped
countries as long as the American eco-
nomic empire is threatened.
' Just as U.S. corporations maintain
their colonial control of the Third World,
so, through the perpetuation of racism in
our society, do they colonize the black
people of this country, making them pay
higher prices, paying them lower wages
and, as much as possible, stifling their
upward economic mobility.
Like blacks, women too are victims of
the fiercest kinds of channelling and dis-
crimination. It's-a-man's-world, not be-
cause women are any less fit or d'eserving,
but simply because men, with male chau-
vinist assumptions, control the economy,
as well as the mass media necessary to
perpetuate their ideas.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, like
the government, is largely run to serve
the needs of American industry in pro-
ducing trained personnel and the re-
search needed for technological advance-
ment. Anyone with money can give it to
the University with instructions on how
it is to be used.
U.S. corporations have done this very
effectively, as has the Department of
Defense, the ready-willing-and-able en-
forcer of the American empire (VUniver-
sity researchers do about $14 million of
work annually for the DOD). The Univer-
sity also reflects the racist and male
chauvanist nature of the surrounding
society-the preponderance of the non-
secretarial, non-janitorial staff is com-
posed of white males.
Those seeking in the University some
spiritual salvation from corporate Amer-'
ica are bound to be disappointed. As U.S.
institutions go, the University is about
average. in its repressiveness, its racism,
and its unresponsiveness to the needs of
the people.
VARIOUS STUDENT groups, each armed
with its own issue or group of issues
will vie for the support of the student body
this fall.
The relationship between the University
administration and the student body will
undergo revision as the issue of dis-
ciplinary rules and the rights of the Gay
Liberation Front are discussed, and, hope-
fully, acted upon.
The relationship between the University
and the war will be evaluated as once
again students try to investigate the Uni-
versity's extensive participation in war re-
search.
Continued University support, through
stock holdings, of such corporations as
General Motors will come under increasing
challenge from student groups.
And the war in Southeast Asia will con-
tinue to aggravate the relationship between
students and government, no matter how
much President Nixon tries to change his
image.
BUT OTHER than the war, University
students will generally keep hands off
many of the problems that, are of para-
mount interest in the world that extends
beyond the campus. Poverty, racism and
human dignity will be. generally ignored by
the student body.
In response to criticism for not dealing
with these issues, the student will reply
that those issues are indeed important, but
that they can learn more about the ways
of political action by mainly dealing with
issues that can be handled on the Univer-
sity level. And that later, armed with this
political knowledge, they will be able to at-
tack the country's major problems. And so
students spend a, great deal of time and
energy on disciplinary rules and fights
over student bookstores.
BUT TWICE LAST year, students had
an opportunity to deal with the real prob-
lems without even, leaving their campus.
In one case they used the opportunity, the
other case they turned down flat.
In the Spring Student Government
Council elections there was a referendum
dealing with the construction of low cost
housing in the Ann Arbor area. Although
the students voted in favor of the con-
struction of the housing, they showed a
very narrow view of the housing situation
in Ann Arbor when they also voted to
exclude low-income people who were not
students from the housing.
The students refuse to be concerned that
many low-income people who work in the
city cannot afford to live here because of
the exorbitant cost of living-a cost that
is to a large extent due to the presence of
large numbers of affluent University stu-
dents. The students chose only to seek re-
lief for themselves.
A 19 70 primer of
By ROB BIER
REPRESSION IS LIKE fighting an en-
raged lion with water. A few buckets
will only make him madder, but enough
of it will drive him away, maybe even
drown him. So it goes with repression,
and right now de are somewhere beyond,
the bucket stage, on our way to the deluge.
Last spring was undoubtably one of the
stormiest on record for the nation's cam-
puses, and governing bodies at all' levels
have retaliated with a wide variety of
measures aimed at choking-off student
protest.
But repression does not stop at the cam-
puses. One of the most blatant examples of
repression, political and social, is found
in the history of the Black Panther Party.
Any Black Panther leader,-If you can find
one who is not in jail, can recite an endless.
I litany. of trumped-up charges, violent at-
tacks by police, mysterious shootings of
Panthers and fire-bombings of Panther of-
fices and similar harassments. But the
trials of the Black Panthers is a story
in itself, a long one, arid the concern here
is what repression means to the University,
and colleges in general.
Repression can be defined as the elim-
ination by legal means of any group which
is offensive and ostensibly dangerous to
the ruling class. In speaking of "legal
means" it should be remembered that all
the repression and other atrocities of Nazi
Germany were done within the, "law,"
however perverted that "law" may have
been.
LISTING ALL THE repressive legislation
pending and on the books is basically futile.
Even the most inoccuous law can be used
repressively if the police apply it ex-
clusively to certain groups for the purpose
of harassment. Other perfectly reasonable
laws can become repressive when used
in conjunction with more blatant ones.
Finally, there is the growing list of legis-
lation which is repressive in itself, so a few
typical examples will have to suffice.
Repressive legislation is fairly easy to
spot. For instance, when people like Atty.
Gen. John Mitchell speak glowingly of
pending"'anti-crime legislation, but do not
mention student protest, take a second
look.-
The Controlled Dangerous Substances
Act, which is waiting for Senate approval,
has been boosted by Mitchell as "giving
police the weapons they need to fight the
suppliers of heroin and other drugs," which
does not seem too bad on the face of it.
But the bill's "no-knock" provision does
not limit its use to pushers.
NOW, IN A COMMUNITY like Ann Ar-
bor with its pervasive use of illegal drugs,
there is no way the police can go around
breaking down every door in town every
night, no matter how much 'they want to.
Forced to pick their targets, they will al-
'most alawys choose groups which are of-r
fensive to them, such as the White Pan-
thers. At the very least; it can be a matter
of harassment and with luck, they might
even be able to get some people locked
up. John Sinclair, chairman of the White
Panthers, is doing 10 years for possession
of two marijuana cigarettes.
It is legal, and on paper sounds at least"
half-good. But in practice' the result is
selective application-repression.
That "giving the weapons" phrase is an-
other good tipoff. When the higher edu-
cation appropriations act of 1970 was pass-
ed by the State Legislature, voices in Lan-
sing were saying that the amendments
A LITTLE LATER in the spring how-
ever, the students did become involved in
the Black Action Movement (BAM) strike
to increase the number of minority stu-
dents at the University to at least 10 per
cent by 1973.
But although, the students did partici-
pate en masse, one couldn't help thinking
that the participation was motivated not
by a sense of what is right, but by an ex-
treme sense of white guilt. '
But regardless of how the students have
dealt with the issues before, there is now
an opportunity for the students to define
another very important relationship-that
between the students, the University and
the University's non-academic employes.
WHILE THE STUDENTS sit idly by
wrapped up in, their. own problems, the
University is doing its best to take advan-.
tage of its non-academic employes.
The situation is clearly visible among
the workers in t h e University hospital.
There; workers are forced to live as far
away as Willow Run, Inkster, Ypsilanti
and even Detroit because the University is
unwilling to pay a wage which would al-
low them to live in Ann Arbor. And the
attitude of the University toward these
workers is no better than its pay.
This spring, it got so bad that the Uni-
eggsla fivei
to the bill "give the universities the wea-
pons they need to deal with student pro-
testers." Sure enough, the bill included:
-a measure requiring expulsion for stu-
dents who damage university property;
-a prohibtion against paying any Uni-
versity employe for the purpose of edu-
cating a student found in possession of an
unregistered firearm on University prop-
erty;
-a measure cutting off state aid for any
student convicted of breaking a civil law
or university rule while involved in a pro-
test; and,
-a provision requiring all faculty mem-
bers to spend 10 hours a week in "class-
room contact activity."
The first three are fairly obvious 'Is to
their intent, and although legislators spoke
of "increasing professor productivity," they
meant the last measure to prevent profes-
sors from taking part in class boycotts
such as the Black Action Movement (BAM)
strike last March.
REPRESSIVE LAWS are usually vaguely
worded.
Take the language of the anti-disruption
bill signed by Gov. William Milliken last
June. It allows a judge to impose a jail
sentence of up to 90 days and a fine of
between $200 and $1,000 on persons who:
-"Intentionally constitute a clear and
substantial risk of physical harm and in-
jury to other persons";
-"Intentionally constitute a clear and
substantial risk of damage to or the de-
struction of the property of th institu-
tion"; or
-Participate in the "unreasonable pre-
vention or disruption of the customary and
lawful function of the institution by o&u-
pying space necessary (for carrying out the
versity hospital workers staged a b r i e f
wildcat strike.
In some places in the University, work-
ers are so afraid complaining will 1 o s e
them their jobs that they continue work-
ing in rooms where the summer tempera-
ture is regularly about 90 degrees.
TIllS IS WHERE the students should
concentrate their energies. In dealing with
the University over its treatment of non-
academic employes - secretaries and lab-
oratory technicians included - the stu-
dents could gail a very practical know-
ledge of how to solve the major problems.
the unit of operation is small enough so
that the students would not be swallowed,
and the issue is important and universal
enough - decent wages and decent work-
ing conditions - to merit the students'
time.
This is not to say that other issues are
not a 1 s o important, but if meaningful
change is going to lie instituted, then pri-
orities have to be established.
And the problems plaguing the non-
academic University employes - which
are economic and racial are the most
important issues facing this countrytoday.
If students are sincerely interested in
bringing about meaningful change, then
they s h o u 1 d become more involved in
helping to improve the plight of the Uni-
versity's non-academic employes.
4ep"ression
institution's functions) by use of force or
by threat of force."
Let your imagination run wild on this
one. You cannot go far wrong, since each
new maneuver by the forces of law and
order evokes renewed expressions of amaze-
ment from all concerned over its ingenuity.
The provisions of this act either taken in-
dividually or in combination, could be con-
strued unreasonably to outlaw virtually
every existing form of protest, excluding
letters to your congressman.
Lying somewhere between selective ap-
plication and overtly repressive lawsis the
exercise of what is called "judicial dis-
cretion." The finest local example of this
practice is the case of 14th District Judge
Henry Arkinson and the Eastern Michigan
University disruptions of last May. Arkin-
son has been accused of placing excessive
bonds on some students and denying the
usual right of posting 10 per cent of the
bond to gain release.
CLOSER TO HOME are the interim
conduct rules adopted by the Regents in
April. They take the judicial system entire-
ly out of the University community, l'eav-
ing it up to an "impartial hearing officer,"
appointed by President Robben Fleming.
The rules themselves, are somewhat similar
to the ones already listed under the state
bill, and, if anything, are even broader and
more vague.
To go back to the analogy about the
lion, it should be understood above all that
repression works. Enough of it will scare
off all but the most determined radical
and he will not remain on the scene very
long. Meanwhile, the vast majority of peo-
ple will c h o o s e inaction when action
threatens ,their education, their freedom
.and their future.
4
4
4~
quixotic quest
Notes from an undergraduate
rick perlof
By RICK PERLOFF
ANN ARBOR as Om, as the union
of all into one: of sideburned
students, devoted professors, life-
searching freaks; of existential
patterns, protest-parties, of sex,
of wisdom, of fun. Two years ago
the University was introduced
to me and those were my thoughts,
The University was mine to be
conquered and the spoils of vic-
tory promised freewheeling en-
joyment, easygoing misadventures
and perhaps some knowledge along
the way. Four self-sufficient years
separated from time-fraught
reality.
I have 'been at the University
two years now, have reflected on
its purposes and absurdities, and
I sadly must conclude that my
vision as a freshman was correct,
Not, of course, in the holy terms
I portrayed things, but in the con-
cept of the University a a place
where pleasure is the password
and insouciance the byword.
Universities, I learned, are not
places where curious people. find
easy, friendly assistance with their
questions. They are the s to r e-
houses of information geared to
train students for service to their
employer, dedicated to producing
things which fill jobs. The job of
the University is to certify.,
All revolves neatly around that
goal. We are tested in every
course we take, no matter whether
an exam is relevant to furthering,
the person's understanding of the
concepts.
We are required to pass-fulfill
is too generous - certain require-
ments, and it is unimportant if the
student believes the courses ir-
relevant to the education he, him-
self, wishes to pursue.
And well-rounded one may be-
come, but not necessarily around
knowledge; rather one may be a
knowledge; rather one becomes a
for aceing the tests, securing ,the
grades, in short submitting to the
expected that enables society to
measure and assess one's perform-
ance.
When you're done, the Univer-
sity certifies you with a diploma',
and you are expected to use the
information you've garnered in
college, not to fulfill yourself, but
to perform efficiently in society.u
ALL THIS is attributable to this
country's belief that life revolves
around a job, working 9-5 a day,
and the duty of a university is to
:prepare you for that.
The problem is compounded by
the very reason that most stu-
dents attend college.
We do not ask whether a uni-
versity, in today's society or in
any society for that matter, con-
stitutes the best method to be
educated. We do not query whe-
ther, given individual differences,
.irhr~ T..% a.A...id'.& VIi+
one anthropology course. To boot,
one is urged to take the required
courses first and then there's the
pressure and mechanization of
g r a d e s and tests. As a result
one's first years here are often
filled with insipid nonstimulation.
One soon finds that much of
what one learns is not coming from
classes, but rather comes from
raps with friends, from protests,
from squeezing in Cleaver between
calculus and French.
As a result, the stimulation one
awaits is no longer \classes-t h e
University quickly loses the initial
awe and respect it may once have
had. Students must look elsewhere
for ways to fulfill themselves.
You have to stay because you
need the degree for the future,
but you develop other reasons to
persuade yourself that your pre-
sence here is valuable. Your
friends are here, so you won't
drop out, you are enjoying t h e
year; it would be a hassle to work
and read on your own at home.
SO WE remain here, because
there is no better place to be. We
spend our time freely; we needn't
attend classes because they're bor-
ing and we're lazy.
Who wants to live in the cities
and deal with the Establishment?
It's much easier this way, so we
persist. We become Dobie Gillis,
trapped in the contentment of
Ann Arh.nr 1Whe n *4VQ n,,ar nr
reading courses. He can, through
such independence, secure the
personal attention and freedom
one needs to develop one's abili-
ties. He can spend his four years,
if he really wishes, in constant
contact and stimulation by the
decent professors we do have here.
Or he can speak with no pro-
fessor during his time here. He
can become discouraged easily,
and accept it all: accept the lec-
tures, the requirements and adopt
a fatalistic view toward education
here. He can waste much of his
time muddling through the stand-
ardization and incompetence in-
herent in any major network, like
the University.
He can lose sight of the educa-
tion that, with effort, can be at-
tained and essentially escape into
easy wisps of pleasure and con-
tentment that he will sometime
find'stagnating.
Stagnating because it is only so
long before people, students in-
cluded, can e x i s t on hedonism
alone, before one yearns for more,
but doesn't find it, before the self
gropes for challenges, for new
satisfactions and finds none.
THE tragedy is that many stu-
dents, by the time they reach the
university level, are so accustomed
to accepting that they are unable
to explore and try the new meth-
ods, outside the normal univer-
sity channels, that will lead to an
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M31LU" A I U .PJF 7 Jkl* III