I
1
igr, irgilxan Daily
Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Viet
Thursday, October 3, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Newsreel sends bill to Dad
:NCE AGAIN, . the now-defunct
Friends of Newsreel film group
has attempted to cloud the issues in
the continuing saga of its feud with
the University.
Last spring, when the administra-
tion proposed that all student or-
ganizations be audited by the Uni-
versity; Newsreel was the first group
to kick up a fuss, and they have been
raising the dust ever since.
Although the University's plan to
establish financial accountability of
student organizations has not been
implemented up to this point, News-
reel has periodically held meetings
with other student groups to protest
the "forced auditing."
Newsreel, of course, had good rea-
son to object to University auditing.
Sources estimate their unpaid bills
"easily total over $1,000." Because
part of this debt is money owed the
University for auditorium rentals, the
administration has prohibited News-
reel from leasing campus facilities
until its debts are cleared up.
NEWSREEL, HOWEVER, has indi-
cated no willingness to meet its
debts. Consequently, two national
movie distributors, the New Line Ci-
nema Corp. and Warner Bros. have
indicated that they plan to sue the
University to collect Newsreel's debts.
Although University General Coun-
sel Roderick Daane says the Univer-
sity has no obligation to take News-
reel out of the red, the film group
clearly expects "the corporation" to
pay its debts.
Friends of Newsreel, which at one
time hollered out for "financial inde-
pendence" and loudly resisted any at-
tempt to audit its funds, now expects
the University to cover the film
group's outstanding debts.
"WE ASSUME that the corporation
(the University) is going to pick
up the tab, and pay those commer-
cial distributors," a Newsreel state-
ment said. "Let the corporations fight
it out; they can well afford it, how-
ever it turns out."
The film group offered to assume
its financial obligations only if six
pre-requisites, including the resigna-
tion of all University executive offic-
ers, were met.
Clearly, this is a ridiculous demand
and serves only Newsreel's interest
in presenting itself as revolutionary.
But the only thing the film group's
members have truly succeeded at is
talking out of two sides of their
mouths at the same time.
Newsreel, which has so vehement-
ly resisted any form of parental con-
trol, is now sending the bill to Dad.
-ChERYL PILATE
By The INDOCHINA PEACE
CAMPAIGN
SEVEN SOUTH Vietnamese students
brought to the U.S. to study by the
U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment (AID) are now facing deportation
to Saigon. The students have all been
active in the U.S. in denouncing the
war and would be in grave danger if
forced to return to Saigon. The deporta-
tion proceedings were initiated by Secre-
tary of State Henry Kissinger, whose
once-sterling public image is now, fin-
ally, beginning to flake away.
The students have requested political
asylum in the U.S. and express con-
fidence that Americans who want peace
in Indochina will help them stop the
deportations.
The Saigon administration, on the oth-
er hand, is increasingly alarmed about
the effect these students are having in
keeping the issues of war and repression
alive in the United States. The students
have reached thousands of people
throughedemonstrations,spoetry read-
ings, Vietnamese dinners, and cultural
events.
THE LOS ANGELES district office of
the Immigration and Naturalization Ser-
vice (INS) denied the students' initial
apeal for asylum and began deportation
hearings. A State Department advisory
opinion claimed: (1) The students will
face no repression because of their poli-
tical beliefs in South Vietnam if they
use the "legal channels" available to
them; (2) The students don't want to
return to South Vietnam and rebuild
their country, they simply want to stay
in the U.S.
The students dispute both assertions.
They point to Saigon's laws which make
advocating peace a crime (New York
Times, August 20). They explain that
their demand is for temporary asylum
until the Peace Agreement is implement-
ed and they can return home safely.
At the initial deportation hearing,
Nguyen Hoang, 31, testified that his re-
liance on the Paris Peace Agreement
would lead the Thieu government to
tudent,
VIETNAMESE STUDENTS (left
Hoang, Vu NgochCon and Nguye
to discredit the Thieu regime andt
charge that he was only a tool of
communists. Since being a comm
is a crime in Saigon, Hoang woul
thrown in jail if he returned. H
been an ARVN (Army of the Repub
of Viet Nam) soldier when he can
the U.S., he might be executed fo
sertion. "Those expressing anti-war
timents have long been targets of p
smrutiny, both because such views
regarded as communist . . . and for
that they will spread among a
weary population" (New York T
August 18).
Even the Senate Appropriationst
mittee supports the students' conten
"The existence of political prisone
beyond reasonable dispute . . .
substantiated accounts of cases of
treatment and torture of such pris
has been authoritatively reported"
por on FY 1974, the Senate's fo
aid bill).
THESE DESCRIPTIONS are prt
Sexis m
seek
usylim
to right) Bui Van Dao, Doan Thi Nam Hau, Cao Thi My Loc, Nguyen Huu An, Nguyen
n Dang Yen Truc face deportation by the U.S. government after participating in efforts
f the ly the legal requirement for granting
unist political asylum. Article 243(h) of the
.d be Immigration and Naturalization Act
aving states: "The Attorney General is authdr-
lican ized to withold deportation of any alien
ne to . . . to any country in which in his opin-
r de- ion the alien would be subject to per-
sen- secution on account of . . . political
?olice opinion."
are In the deportation hearings presently
fear underway the Immigation Judge and
war- District Commissioner of INS are ex-
imes, ercising the power of Attorney General
and can grant asylum. Also, Article
Com- 33 of the United Nations Convention on
ition: Refugees, ratified in 1968, states, "No
rs is contracting state shall expel or return
(and) a refugee where his life or freedom
mis- would be threatened on account of - . -
oners political opinion."
(Re- The legal struggle around this case
reign may take some time to complete. The
students are urging their supporters to
utilize the delays to write letters of sup-
ecise- port, mentioning the asylum demand and
pervades
describing the repressive conditions in
Saigon. Such letters should be sent to
Joseph Sureck, District Commissioner of
INS, 300 N. Los Angeles St., Los An-
geles, Ca. 90010.
WE VIEW this case as being of vital
importance to the domestic anti-war
struggle, because if the U.S. government
is forced to grant asylum to the stu-
dents, that action will imply recogni-
tion on the part of he Executive that
the Thieu regime is, in fact, a repressive
police sate in which the lives of dis-
senters are not secure.
Such an admission would be a drastic
reversal which, coinciding with foreign
aid votes in Congress, would be a severe
blow to U.S. imperial foreign policy.
The Indochina Peace Campaign's local
chapter includes students and commun-
ity members who work to raise public
awareness of anti-war issues.
business
Nixon sponges off public
On
WHEN PRESIDENT FORD granted
former chief executive Richard
Nixon a full and unconditional par-
don, he did so, he said, in the name
of healing the wounds of Watergate.
He felt that any prolonged trial would
cause undue suffering to both the
nation's morale and his predecessor's
well-being.
Though Nixon has experienced
some physical suffering, it has not
been without recompense.
According to a report released by
Sen. Joseph Montoya (D-N.M.), chair-
man of a Senate Appropriations sub-
committee, Richard Nixon has cost
the taxpayers $7,350 per day in the
first five weeks since he took a fast
plane to California.
A quick calculation reveals that
this will accrue for the San Clemente
resident some $2,682,750 per year.
Who would have thought Richard
Nixon, of all people, would turn out
to be the nation's leading welfare
chiseler?
UFFICE IT TO SAY this is an ex-
orbitant amount to pay any man
Sports Staff
MARC FELDMAN
Sports Editor
GEORGE HASTINGS
Executive Sports Editor
ROGER ROSSITER ..., Managing Sports Editor
JOHN KAHLER......... Associate Sports Editor
as a pension, much less a man who
has betrayed a nation's trust.
But what makes this payment of
funds possible, is tantamount to an
admission of guilt in the Watergate
cover-up and related matters.
If the government actually believed
Nixon's criminal guilt, then the Gen-
eral Service Administration, which
oversees Nixon's payments, would be
stripping Nixon's lucre to the bare
minimum. But the watchdog agency
is solidly controlled by Nixon ap-
pointees, who still maintain a fierce
loyalty to their former boss. In testi-
mony before Montoya's committee,
government witness after govern-
ment witness wiped away a tear as
he proclaimed that not an ounce of
fat could be separated from the re-
quest.
THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, Ford
has constantly argued that per-
missiveness in high places has de-
stroyed the confidence of the peonle
and torn at the moral fabric of the
nation, If he is sincere in his pledge
to heal the wounds of Watergate, he
can make amends for his intemper-
ate permissiveness with his predeces-
sor by ending the scandalous pay-
ments and removing the men respon-
sible for them.
-DAN BORUS
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Dan Biddle, Cindy Hill, Andrea
Lilly, Mory Long, Jo Marcotty, Judy
Ruskin, Sue Stechenson
Editorial Page: Bill Heenan, Backy
Warner, David Warren
Arts Page: Ken-Fink, Jeff Sorensen
Photo Technician: Steve Kagan
job:
By SARA RIMER
SECLUDED FROM the real world on a college cam-
pus, it is easy to be fooled into thinking the rest
of the country is struggling to raise the status of
women. There are women's studies courses, women
on city council, a women's crisis center, and a bevy
of consciousness-raising groups to complete the de-
ception.
Students rework their vocabularies with terms like
freshperson, chairperson, and councilwoman. When is
the last time you heard someone say, "I know this
girl . . ?" Either a sophisticated veneer or genuine
concern for the derogatory nature of the term "girl"
prompts most students to say "woman."
The illusion that women's liberation is on the move
everywhere was shattered on the first day of my
summer job at a large firm in New York City when
one executive informed me, "You should do pretty
well if you're looking to get married. There are a lot
of single men around here."
STRANGE PHENOMENON - there were no women
in the office. It was peopled by "girls" from the
ages of 20 to 65 who typed for the men in the gray flan-
nel suits. Even the secretary who had left her job
as a financial writer to take her chances in public
relations was reclassified as "my girl." It began to
sound like an old Temptations tune - "My girl will
type this for you," 'My girl can run downstairs and
get us some coffee," or "My girl will make us a
lunch reservation."_
The "girls" were not rallying for equality either.
They gathered for brief sessions in the ladies' room
(surprisingly not called the girls' room) to discuss
the price of meat, the latest sale at Macy's, and
their husbands. The game was hooking a man to
take you away from the dull job or trying to b-
cheerful for your husband and kids after a boring
eight hours of tapping the keys. There wasn't the
time, the energy, or the push to question one's status.
Women's liberation was burning bras, lesbians, and
that "awful term Ms."
THERE WERE exactly six women executives bat-
tling for equal pay and promotions among an army
of 100 men. The story was often repeated of the
single woman who catapulted from secretary to execu-
tive when it was discovered that she was acing the
job of four incompetent men. The bigwigs on Execu-
tive Row finaly put their heads together and decided
to "give the girl a chance.", As is usually the case,
she proved superior to most of the men, a prerequisite
for her "chance." In meetings and at lunches they
never let her forget her feminine status. She learned
to smile prettily when they told her she had "nice
legs for an executive."
One woman executive became enraged anew in
repeating the story of her attempt to buy a briefcase
in Saks Fifth Avenue. The impeccably dressed sales-
man she approached rebuffed her icily, saying, "Ma-
dam, the steno pads are over there."
The executives pulled business deals over three
martinis and steaks at an exclusive dining club that
turned women away, no matter what their title. Presi-
dent of the bank, senior editor or executive art di-
rector; it was still "sorry, miss, no dames." The
club was one enclave Gloria Steinem never managed
to crash.
OF COURSE, some men, seeking to keep up with
the times, rechristened their secretaries "administra-
tive assistants." In rare cases, the title carried a few
added responsibiliies, but in most it was a fancy
name that meant you typed, answered the phone,
waered the plants, made coffee, and gave back
rubs. In return you got a bunch of flowers for your
birthday, a Christmas bonus, and maybe the boss him-
self after hours.
While the men moved up and were shuttled out of the
city to glamorous jobs on the West Coast or the Hill,
the Secretaries were strait-jacketed to their cubicles in
the secretarial pools. A bachelor's degree might mean
10 grand more a year, but it didn't move you a step
up or away from the keyboard and the coffee pot.
Sara Rimer is a staff reporter for The Daily.
Letters
to
The Daily
Arab oil
To The Daily:
ONCE AGAIN we are amazed
at the arrogance, ability to
selectivelyrperceive and count-
er-productivity of gunboat diplo-
macy, this time in the form of
the blast by the Ford-Kissinger-
Simon trinity at the oil produc-
ing countries. In the short space
of a week, we have been bar-
raged by the "doomsday lang-
uage" of President Ford at the
United Nations General Assem-
bly and at the energy confer-
ence in Detroit, of Secretary of
State Henry Kissinger at t h e
General Assembly and of Treas-
ury Secretary William Simon
in Detroit.
To hear them tell it, OPEC
(Organization of Oil Producing
Countries) in energy crisis,
world-wide inflation, political
iblackmail and utter selfishness,
and are no less than the direct
cause for the political demise of
civilization as we know it.
We have been treated to
the laughable phenomenon of
witnessing Ford and Kissinger
pleading the case of the poor
and developing countries of the
world for food and resources.
And we have watched S mon
take advantage of the resultant
hysteria whipped up to break
the back of the environmental-
ists by pleading for a reassess-
ment of environmental re-
straints.
WHERE, WE might ask, did
Arabia could not go it alone, and
suggested that the U.S. try its
hand directly.
The speeches have repoat-
ed the notion that the increase
in oil prices have led to world-
wide inflation. It is in',o:inative
to note, however, that prior to
the 1973 oil price increase, the
rate of world inflation amount-
ed to seven to ten per cent per
year, and continues unabated.
Indeed it was precisely this high
rate of inflation for industrial
good and foodstuffs, combined
with the super-exploitation of
the multi-national oil companies
in holding ridiculously low the
oil income accruing to the oil
producing governments that led
to the increase in oil prices in
the first instance.
PRESIDENT FORD admon-
ishes the Arabs to seek to in-
crease production according to
their ability and warns of "the
disastrous consequences if na-
tions refuse to share nature's
gifts" for the benefit of all
mankind."
Such admonishment "to share
nature's gifts" from the Presi-
dent of the United States, a so-
ciety which constitues six per
cen of the world's population
and which consumers one third
of the available energy supply,
can only be perceived as hypo-
crisy. The hypocrisy is cm-
pounded when we realize that
the U.S. has hardly sought to
increase production according to
:.. .1:1:. ---4..-.- C wr."e r 1
WHEN WE see the treament
accorded the Western oil com-
panies, we are convinced of
American hypocrisy. While
OPEC and the Arabs are ad-
monished to lower prices, the
Western and particularly the
U.S. oil companies have come
into unprecedented windfall pro-
fits .from the beginning of the
Arab boycott until today.
Suddenly forgotten in the heat
6f the present challenge to
)OPEC and the Arabs, is the
vastness of these windfall pro-
fits. Just as suddenly it is for-
gotten that, for example, Mo-
bil's acquisition of a controlling
interest in the Marcor Oil Corp.
for more than $500 million shows
that the U.S. oil industry is gen-
erating more revenue that it
can reinvest in the oil business.
All the while, proposals for tax
changes, including a five-year
phase-out of the oil depletion al-
lowance as well as a temporary
sliding-scale excise tax, are
bottled up in Congress. The
U.S. government seems .o be
more willing to bully sovereign
nations than to maintain con-
trol over its own companies.
A DOUBLE standard is also
clearly visible when we sea the
uproar raised in the U.S. over
the possibility that Arab oil dol-
lars could be used to buy into
and perhaps control American
industries. The irony here is
that the OPEC countries and the
Arab states are still in the pro-
ury Secretary Simon has in fact
succeeded in attracting p e t r o,
dollars from Europe to the U.S.'
as well as commitments to buy
special issues of U.S. treasury
notes for billions of Arab oil
dollars. Saudi Arabia alone has
bought $8 billion worth of these
notes.
SOME ARAB governments,
therefore, have been, willing to
pour billions of dollars into U.S.
treasury notes, to push for low-
er prices at the expense of their
own people and to increase pro-
duction to force the market
price down according to the law
of supply, and demand.
It is interesting to note, then,
that in spite of such coopa:ation
with the United States, the main
thrust of this newest campaign
has been directed against the
Arabs, while other OPEC states,
notably Iran, have pushed for
higher prices and yet have re-
mained relatively exempt.
When we look at the role Iran
plays in the area, it is not dif-
ficult to understand such differ-
ential treatment. Pursuant to
the Nixon Doctrine of avoiding
direct involvement in policing
the world by sustaining local
powers in strategic areas to do
the job, has chosen to allow it-
self to be used in his fashion
in the Arab-Persian Gulf area.
THE QUESTION remains as
to why the U.S. government has
struck out at the Arabs at this
time and in this manner. The
TT Q a- - - - - - - .,ct m r.n. ti.
life has posed a challenge to the
continued control exercised by
these corporations, particular-
ly the oil companies in tie area.
This challenge is by no means
complete and, indeed, as men-
tioned before, there morinues
to be athigh degree of caopera-
tion with them by some Arab
governments.
The aims of creating this
atmosphere of confronta+ion at
this time are both short-range
and long-range. In short-range,
the U.S. government, at best,
would like the Arabs to believe
that the industrial world would
be willing to take military ac-
tion against them if they are
not willing to lower the price of
oil or at least keep it where it
is. At worst, it is an attempt
to prepare public opinion for an
actual and direct takeover of
these resources.
IN THE long range, this
week's campaign, preceded and
facilitated by Kissinger's poli-
tical and diplomatic moves be-
tween the Arabs and I rnelis,
has as its ultimate aim the
sheathing of the Arab economic
weapon. It could help regain the
usurped rights of the people of
Palestine, as well as raise the
standard of living in the entire
region.
Since both Israel and the U.S.
seem to perceive a victory for
Arab national interest as being
less legitimate than their own,