I

Mtc Str iun a Ik1iI
Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

Rape:

The victim pays

for the crime

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104

News Phone: 764-0552

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1973

A little more deception

PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY Rose Mary
Woods sat down at her desk and
started transcribing the tape. Suddenly,
her phone rang. She picked it up, pushing
the "record" button on the machine-
and erased 18 minutes of the taped con-
versation.
This, in essence, is the latest sad sack
story the Administration would have us
believe in its current installment of the
Watergate comic serial.
Nixon Administration officials say
Woods "inadvertently" erased a key 18-
minute section of one of the most im-
portant Watergate tapes when she was
preparing summaries of the recordings.
A conversation between the President
and his then chief of staff H. R. Halde-
man has thus been permanently lost.
Woods herself testified Monday that
through some "terrible mistake" she had
pushed down the record button instead
of stopping the machine. Ironically, Pres-
ident Nixon assured her that her untime-
ly erasure did not matter.
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS main-
tain that, because of an ambiguity in
the subpoena, they thought the tape was
not one of those required by Judge John
Sirica, and hence their unconcern over
the erased tape segment.
The White House issued a 22-page
document Monday in which executive
privilege is once again asserted as a rea-
son why one of the President's conver-
sations should not be given to the judge.
According to the White House statement,

"There is no discussion or comment
which related, either directly or indirect-
ly, to the incident at the Democratic Na-
tional Committee offices at Water-
gate . .
There is obsolutely no reason to believe
this statement, or for that matter, vir-
tually any other emanating from the
Pennsylvania Avenue residence these
days. The hoodwinking of the American
people has become all but a deliberate
policy.
THE CONSISTENT deception practiced
by the Nixon Administration did not
begin with its "inoperative" statements
this year, nor did it end with the Presi-
dent's pledge to bare all about Water-
gate.
One of the more recent examples of
this deception was the statement of
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger at
the time of the U. S. alert of all its armed
forces that the documents and informa-
tion leading up the alert would be made
public within a week. Now, Kissinger says
he regrets making that promise-and has
refused to make the information public.
Furthermore, he stated that we must
have some modicum of confidence in our
leadership, and believe therefore that it
would not be in the nation's best interest
to release the information now.
This is not a time for confidence of
that sort. For there is no way that we can
be confident, except of the fact that we
will continue to be victimized by a de-
ceptive administration.

By BETSY BUNN
IN ONE TRIAL for rape, the defense law-
lawyer spun a bottle of pop around in
front of the jury while attempting to poke
a pencil in it. His point? You can't thread
a needle while it's moving and you like-
wise cannot rape an "unwilling" victim.
So may end this society's treatment of a
sexual assault, a treatment which on all
levels is both irresponsible and criminal.
In the first place, rape is the most un-
reported of all crimes. Estimates vary from
3 to 10 times the number reported to
police or hospitals. This means, for in-
stance, that in Ann Arbor (which incident-
ally has the highest incidence of rape per
capita in Michigan and eighteenth highest in
the nation) that rather than the 23 forcible
rapes reported as high a number as 230
may actually have occurred. This 1972
figure, furthermore, represents an increase
of approximately 33 per cent over that of
1971 (18 forcible rapes reported) making
rape the fastest growing of all violent
crimes.
THE REASONS that so few rapes are
reported is made clear by the treatment ac-
corded the victim. Social attitudes from
Victorian morality are glaringly obvious
in police procedure. The original investiga-
tion emphasizes the woman's role in the
crime, playing especially on irrelevant his-
torical information. It is not uncommon, for
instance, for the police to question the vic-
tim about her past sexual activity, cloth-
ing she was wearing during the assault, and
the nature of her assailant's advances (e.g.
whether or not he ejaculated).
Police are often skeptical; the female vic-
tim is treated as the dissembler, the Mo-
dern Eve who, if assaulted at all, brought
the evil on to herself and her assailant
through her own weakness and/or wiles.
Again, Victorian morality dictates that a
"chaste" woman would not be raped with-
out sustaining substantial physical injury
to prove her unwillingness. In a word, "nice
girls don't get raped; bad girls shouldn't
complain."

POLICE personalities are only one as-
pect of the problem, however. As it pre-
sently exists in Ann Arbor, as in most
places, police procedure in handling, rapes
is itself shamefully archaic. First of all,
there is no standard procedure in question-
ing the victim. Often times she may be in-
terrogated several times, at the scene of
the rape, in the police station, and in the
hospital waiting room, each time by dif-

not include any follow-up treatment be it
psychological or physical. Birth control and
VD information is not even necessarily dis-
pensed. It is ironic in this regard that the
city of Ann Arbor pays for injuries incur-
red by a criminal in the act of being appre-
hended but not for the victim of rape.
The rape trial, as mentioned, is only the
culmination of the victim's dealings with
the American criminal system. As in no

"The law of rape can be seen as a patina of sexual psychology
as interpreted by police, lawyers and judges, virtually all of
them men."
-Washington D.C. Task Force on Rape
., .....":........r.:".: ".........: : ...,v:1::".:r:."::. ::A ":.:.::":..". X':: r n......: ". 1 :.... . L....:.. }.:;: J.: :.::.:.i :.;":::;. :,:::;

ferent officers. Secondly, in the case of
rape the decision whether or not to pro-
secute is a difficult one; an arduous trial
with its personally debilitating effect on the
plaintiff may be the result of prosecution.
Yet, police procedure does not include re-
lating information to the victim that would
help in assessing her situation.
Related to the decision to prosecute is
that of whether or not to have a medical
investigation. The exam costs $50 in Ann
Arbor and since the physicians administer-
ing it may very well not be trained in
forensic medicine, he/she could miss val-
uable information anyhow.
FURTHERMORE, the medical form itself
is not designed from the point of view of
the victim. The head of the New York City
All-Female Sexual Assault Squad has re-
peatedly emphasized the importance of de-
signing a form which will be most useful
in substantiating the victim's "story" in
court, in showing that a rape has occurred.
Finally, physicians, often reluctant to tes-
tify in court, have been known to falsify
their reports.
Most important from the victim's point.
of view, of course is the $50 fee which does

other crime, a Washington D.C. Task Force
on rape pointed out, it "is the victim -
the accuser -- who is made to 'run t h e
gauntlet' from crime to conviction in rape
cases."
THE REPORT further notes that the law
of rape can be seen as "a patina of sexual
phychology as interpreted by police, law-
yers and judges, virtually all of them men."
It is important to see the rape trial in the
context of other criminal trials. The victim
must prove not only that she was in fact
raped (doctrine of corroboration) but that
she resisted as much as possible before
submitting. In no other crime is the accuser
required to show that a crime was really
committed or that he/she was not to blame
for it!
This is not to recommend, of course, that
our judicial system bear down more string-
ently on the person accused of rape. In
fact, historical attempts to deal with rape
have resulted in greater injuhtices that
have in no way benefitted the female vic-
tim.
The main reason, for instance, that the
penalties for rape are so'harsh is that it
was a convenient crime for which to con-
vict black people. It would be impossible

to estimate the number of blacks accused,
convicted and sentenced for rape by white
men in defense of their white women. The
liberal solution to overly harsh penalties
has been to protect the accused from the
law entirely.
THE POINT IS that nowhere is any re-
gard accorded the woman, the victim of
rape. It is with the victim or potential vic-
tim in mind that real solutions must be
sought.
Firstly, the myths surrounding rape must
be dispelled. It should be considered pri-
marily a violent (not a sexual) crime - an
act of domination and hostility perpetrated
by one person against another. It usually
occurs inside, the assailant and the victim
generally are at least nominally acquainted
and most (85 per cent) of sexual assaults
include other acts of force.
Secondly, the community should bear the
costs and the responsibility that result from
sexual assaults. All medical costs should
be paid, 24-hour transportation provided,
and lighting should be made adequate. The
police department should include an all-
female unit to handle all aspects of rape,
self-defense courses for women be offered
free of charge, and finally, the state crim-
inal procedure be investigated and re-de-
signed with the victim's best interests in
mind.
MUCH OF THIS has already been start-
ed in Ann Arbor (by the Women's Crisis
Center and other concerned women) and
in the state (through the Traxler Bill) and
it is essential that it be continued. It seems
clear that rape is the direct product of
a sexist and violent class society and that
it shall be eliminated only when the social
system has been altered drastically. The
first step, however, is placing the respon-
sibility of the crime onto the society and
the community where it rightfully belongs.
Betsy Bunn is city committee co-chair-
person of the Human Rights Party.

I

Meet your next guy nah, Bobby Crim

And a little less credibility

[N A SPEECH to the Seafarers.
tional Union on Monday, P
Nixon assured his audience that
ergy shortage is only temporary,a
matters will be much improved:
a year, "depending upon whatl
in the international scene."
In addition, Nixon suggested
real hardships will be Involved
that it might take a little longer
"to see your mother in law."
Meanwhile, various critics have
the President of sugar-coating ti
ity of the situation even while ad
that his proposals such as Sund
Ings of service stations will not f
set the predicted fuel shortage.
Many government officials, in
some Presidential advisers, belie
gasoline rationing is inevitable, ye
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Dan Biddle, Andy Lilly,
Robinson, Stephen Selbst, Paul
ger, Rolfe Tessem

Interna-
?resident
the en-
and that
in about
happens
that no
, except

almost refuses to bring the subject up, as
if to hold everyone in suspense.
OTHER CRITICS, including former Sec-
retary of the Interior Stewart Udall,
have pointed out that the greatest prob-
lem for the future is America's ever-in-
creasing and often wasteful use of energy
sources.

By FRANK SHOICHET
LOOK OUT, Y'ALL! Here comes
Bobby Crim! Our next gover-
nor!
Who?
Bobby Crim. And George Wal-
lace is gonna get him elected. Oh,
George don't know it yet, but thas'
all right, he'll find out. And Bob-
by, he knows it already.
The Democrats are thinkin' they
can knock off Smilin' Bill Milliken,
but they can't find a candidate,
which is a hell of a fix to be in
when the election's less than a year
away.
Jerry Cavanagh wants to run.
But everybuddy keepin' their eyes
open these past six or eight years
wouldn't buy a used car from ol'
Jerry. Some city-slicker commen-
tator pinned a Mafia label on him,
and he ain't been able to shake it.
And ol' Sander Levin. Well he
nearly did it last time. But nearly
ain't good enough. And it's close
between Sandy and a bowl of
Cheerios for which is more excit-
in'. But a few of the UAW big
shots took a likin' to Sandy a few
,years back, and he's countin' on
that eternal friendship with them
UAW guys to see him through the
primary. Eternal friendship ain't
one of the more noticeable quali-
ties of politics in these or any
other parts, but ol' Sandy, he went
to Harvard and probably got it all

figured out.
NOW BOBBY, he came north
from Missouri a few years ago.
Taught high school in Davison,
Michigan - where them Sinclair
boys grew up. Lotsa other Missouri
folks live 'round Davison, which is
what they call a "suburb" of Flint
- they came north to work in the
automobile factories that's there.
Lotta black folks came too, which
was all right with the folks in
Davison, long as they kept their
asses out of .Davison.
Bobby, he got on the town coun-
cil for a couple of years, then ran
for the State House in 1964 as a
Democrat. Democrats did pretty
good in 1964, and so did Bobby, who
went off to Lansing and worked his
ass off bein' a good Democrat lib-
eral. That impressed a lotta folks
in Lansing. But the folks in Lan-
sing, they don't vote in Davison.
So Bobby lost in 1966, even after
I put all them bumper stickers
up. And he went back to teachin'
school for awhile.
But ol' Bobby, he'd seen the big
city, even if it was only as big as
Lansing. So he finally got hired
by the Speaker of the State House
to be part of the Democrat staff.
And Bobby went back to legislatin',
even though he hadn't been elected
to nothin'. Did the usual liberal
Democrat legislatin'. Folks said he

was "real effective", 'cause he'd
learned to compromise pretty good.
An' he kept workin' his ass off.
Started joggin' and everything.
Everbuddy had figured out ol'
Bobby was a damn smart young
man. His boss, the Speaker, he was
named Ryan. And he got Bobby
to doin' other stuff like pushin' for
money for Catholic schools, and
stoppin' them crazy abortion ladies,
and other good stuff.
SO WHEN Ryan and the boys
in Lansing redrew the distact
boundaries for the State House,
damn if ol' Bobby didn't have him-
self a real nice Democrat-type
district to run in! But he didn't try
any of that fancy liberal stuff this
time.
"I'm Bobby Crim," he'd say
on the radio, "and I'm against bus-
in'." Bobby, he'd taken a look at
the results from the Presidential
primary from 'round his district
and found out that 62 per cent of
the Democrats voted for G e o r g e
Wallace. So he was against busin',
and gun control, and abortion, and
communism, too. And even though
that McGovern fella got his ass
whipped in Davison (which wasn't
anything special for him), Bobby
did alright and got elected back
to his old seat.
Went back to Lansin and got
himself elected Democratic Floor

Leader. That's number two, next to
the Speaker. Did all the usual
Democrat things. Some other stuff,
too. Put his name on a bill to
bring back capital punishment.
That was for the folks in Davison.
But Bobby, well shit, he didn't
really want all that electric chair
stuff, so he just helped to make
sure his bill didn't get rep arted
out of committee. Tihe way eve-y-
body was happy.
ANYWAY, the Democrat big-
wheels been talkin' about a " mew
face" for Governor And Bobby
he figures he's it. Oh, he ain't a
new face to the big-wheels, but to
the folks outside of Davison he is.
So now he's what's called a dark-
horse.
He got himself appointed Chair-
man of a committee to inves+ig re
all of this corruption goin' on in
Lansing. "Just like Watergate," the
Democrats keep sayin'. Sonic of
the Civil Service folks hired some
of their friends and some State
Senator's wife, aad other unusual
big scandalous stuff like that. And
Bobby, he's a regular Sam Eevin,
just layin' into all them crooks.
Then a couple of days ago a
"Draft Crim for Governor Com-
mittee" announces itself. And
Boby says he's honored, but he
ain't made his mind up yet. But
most folks ain't as dumb as they

look, and they see who's on that
committee. Art Cullers, who's the
Chairman of the Wallace folks in
Michigan. And Tom Roach, a big
money-raised from Grosse PoiNte
Farms who the Democrats ran for
Regent at the University of Michi-
gan last time. And ol' Neil Staeb-
ler, who's the grandpa of the whole
Michigan Democratic Party and
the Hubert Humphrey man in
Michigan. And some UAW buys
from Davison and Flint. And even
a few liberals. They say they want
Bobby to unify the party.
SO IT LOOKS like Bobby's gonna
run all right. Probably get some
support from those AFL-CIO folks,
too.
I'm willin' to stake all my Roy
Clark albums that ol' Bobby will
beat hell out of Levin and Cava-
nagh, 'cause Bobby's smarter than
them and besides Levin and Ca-
vanagh couldn't even win an SGC
election, which are pretty hard to
lose these days if you know what
you're doin'. He might even beat
Smilin' Bill and sit in the Gover-
nor's chair. 'Cause Bobby, he may
by real liberal way deep down in-
side, but he knows how ,to get
along.

to drive In addition to recent dire predictions
of an economic recession to come many
private economists now predict that un-
accused employment will reach six per cent by
he gray- the end of 1974, and only partly because
dmitting of the energy crisis.
ay cos- There is also considerable suspicion
ully off- the crisis is a creation of the oil com-
panies and the government, and perhaps
ncluding has only been trumped up as a diversion
ve that from Watergate.
et Nixon It will take more than reassurances
from Nixon that things "won't be too
bad" to deal with this problem of "en-
ergy credibility."
Before the Arab boycott, the United
Eugene States imported a rather small propor-
Terwilli- tion of its petroleum needs from Arab
countries. It would seem that reasons for
Marnie the shortage go beyond the boycott. In
addition to effective programs for eas-
ing the present crisis, a more candid ex-
planation of the causes of the shortage
y are in order.

Frank Shoichet,
at the University.

is a law student

i

Letters:

Sue Nixon

for negligence

Editorial Page: Ted
Heyn, Zach Schiller

Hartzell,

Arts Page: Jeff Sorensen
Photo Technician: Terry McCarth

0 IM WOr A<

1Vc*! E EA'WiVES£eRS QQ * : e T-
x .. 0

To The Daily:
RECENTLY, IN A class in hos-
pital law, a student asked, "If a
hospital is liable for the negligent
acts of its employees why isn't the
President liable for the negligent
acts of his staff, his advisors, and
his reelection committee?" The
professor responded that because
the President himself is not the
employer of his staff and reelection
committee, and he does not pay
their salaries, it is the federal
government that is responsible for
the negligent and criminal acts of
the President's staff and the Re-
publican party which is theore-
tically responsible for the acts of
the President's reelection campaign
committees.
Furthermore, he added, the Pre-
sident himself is an employee and
the doctrine of respondeat superior
(the employer is liable for the neg-
ligent acts of his employees com-
mitted within the scope of their
employment) cannot be used to sue
an employee for the negligent and
criminal acts of other employees.
Though it seems clear that t h e
President and the Republican par-
ty cannot be held vicariously lia-
ble for the acts of the respective
staffs there seems to be sufficient
evidence that both the President
and the Republican party were per-
sonally negligent in failing to exer-
cise due care in hiring, controlling,
and supervising their staffs. Thus
it would seem logical that the Pre-
sident and the Republican party
are personally liable to the Amer-
ican people for the damages caus-
ed by their failure to properly su-
pervise the individuals responsible
for the Watergate Affair. T n e

controling physicians behavior even
though the hospital was not pay-
ing the physician's salary.
Perhajs it is unrealistic to ex-
pect the American people or their'
elected representatives to sue the
President and the Republican par-
ty for personal negligence.
However it would be interesting
to see the results of such a course
of action. Furthermore, Congress
might consider passing legislation
holding the President and the poli-
tical parties responsible for the
negligent acts of their staffs. This
would result in a much closer
scrutiny of staff behavior and avoid
the pleas that are currently being
heard that the "higher-ups" were
unaware of what the "lower-downs"
were doing. Future Presidents and
future reelection committees would
not be so lax in supervising and
controlling their staffs if they
could be held liable for the dam-
ages and illegal acts of those staffs.
The immunity of the government
for the official acts of its officers,
agents and employees rests upon
the doctrine that "the King can do
no wrong." This doctrine has stood
too long in the way of the Amer-
ican people seeking redress from
the President and his party for
injuries sustained through the im-
proper conduct of their respective
staffs. Judge Frankfurter refer-
red to this as "having a privileged
position of legal irresponsibility".
Certainly as the American people
have a right to expect a high level
of performance from physicians,
nurses and hospitals they should
have the right to expect high lev-
els of performance from the Pres-
ident and other elected officials.

tion of democratic liberty is be-
coming a daily occurrence in our
so-called "Free World." Chile wit-
nessed the military overthrow of
Allende followed by a reign of ter-
ror in which dissenters were killed
or imprisoned. Newspapers were
banned for unfavorable criticism of
the new government and free elec-
tions were withheld.
For several years now Greece
has followed a similar series of
events in which even the illusion of
democracy has been wiped out.
General loannides, the new strong
man, has recently been quoted by
the New York Times as saying that
"the new leaders would not toler-
ate criticism." Hundreds of citi-
zens have been imprisoned or kill-
ed because ofntheir disapproval of
government policies toward demo-
cratic elections and their request
for withdrawal of American sup-
port for the dictatorial regime.
In 1971 President Nixon assured
Papadopoulos that he was ready to
override any Congressional ban on
military aid to Greece. This an-
nouncement came a few months af-
ter 15 Western European govern-
ments denounced the Greek junta
for "the torture and other ill treat-
ment" of its political prisoners.
The new Premier A. Androutso-
poulos, anAmerican trained law-
yer, is well known for his con-
nections in the United States.
The hypocrisy of the Nixon Ad-
ministration in relation to a "Free
World" is appalling. Their ignor-
ance of the popular sentiment of
the Third World for democratic
liberties is an insult to every man's
intellvigence. Thevconnstantly chidea

To The Daily:
I AM WRITING to the student
newspapers of the top 10 rated foot-
ball colleges, to determine which
of you will rate number one with
me by sending me the most letters.
Anyone is eligible to write. I'll at-
tempt to send a prompt, cheerful
reply to every person who writes
me.
I am 44 years old, single, and a
graduate of St. Bonaventure Uni-
versity. I was elected to Who's
Who in American Colleges and
Universities. I expect, to become
president of the U.S. on January
20, 1977.
My conviction in 1970 was not
for a violent crime, and no weap-
ons were involved.
I am running for president on a

platform of complete honesty and
openness in government. I favor
the legalization of marijuana, pro-
stitution, and gambling, and t h e
concentration of legal forces on
reducing real crime.
-John Desmond, Jr. 19491
U.S. Presidential
Candidate
Bow 1004)
Steilacoom, Washington
98388
Nov. 1
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who w i s h e s to submit
articles. Generally speaking, all
articles should be less than 1,000
words.

- P 1P611 N' itlGt4. JULY', 19i S
.74
-40e

-! f 'iii pg