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Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
The world sucks... I
feel
lousy
I1
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students at the University of Michigan
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his must be noted in oil reprints.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1972
Assault on freedom
STUDENTS IN Chemistry 227 were sur-
prised Monday when Acting Chemis-
try Department Chairman Thomas Dunn
told them that Prof. Mark Green would
no longer be teaching their class.
But tile shock waves went beyond the
Chemistry Bldg. when Dunn openly ad-
mitted that Green was suspended for de-
voting class time to an anti-war slide
presentation.
Neither Green's academic qualifica-
tions nor his dedication nor his effec-
tiveness-the commonly accepted cri-
teria for evaluation - were ever ques-
tioned.
Instead, Dunn was offended that class
time was taken up in a demonstration of
how the chemistry and technology that
students study is being applied by their
government in Indochina. By approving
such a demonstration in his classes,
Green had allowed class time to be "mis-
used."
Dunn's suspension of Green is repre-
hensible in a community of scholars
which values the right of an instructor
to teach his students free from the shac-
kles of administrative or governmental
control.
DUNN'S SERIOUS action (it is the first
suspension of a faculty member in
over seven years) is singular in Its lack
of justification.
First, as any faculty member or stu-
dent knows, many other University pro-
fessors do not conduct their classes
strictly within the narrow confines of a
course description. And for this flexi-
bility they are lauded as innovators,
even if the new approaches do not seem
directly related to the course of study.
Second, if "misuse of class time" is a
punishable crime, then there is need of
a purge of the far worse offenders who
cancel classes or waste far more time
than the 30 minutes it took to present
the slides.
Finally, the simple fact that nearly a
dozen -other professors have shown the
same slide show to their classes without
Editorial Staff
SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
PAT BAUER ............Associate Managing Editor
LINDSAY CHANEY ...... ........Editorial Director
MARK DILLEN................... Magazine Editor
LINDA DREEBEN ........Associate Managing Editor
TAMMY JACOBS .................. Managing Editor
LORIN LABARDEE ................Personnel Director
ARTHUR LERNER ......... ... ,....Editorial Director
JONATHAN MILLER ...............Feature Editor
ROBERT SCHREINER ...............Editorial Director
GLORIA SMITH .............. ........... Arts Editor
ED SUROVELL ... .....................Books Editor
PAUL TRAVIS ..........,.Associate Managing Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Robert Barkin, Jan Benedetti,
Chris Parks, Gene Robinson, Zachary Schiller, Ted
Stein.
COPY EDITORS: Diane Levick, Jim O'Brien, Charles
Stein, Marcia Zoslaw.
DAY EDITORS: Dave Burhenn, Daniel Jacobs, Jim
Kentch, Marilyn Riley, Nancy Rosenbaum, Judy
Ruskin; Paul Ruskin, Sue Stephenson, Karen Tink-
lenberg, Becky Warner.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Susan Brown, Jim
Frisinger, Matt Gerson, Nancy Hackmeier, Cindy
Hill, John Marston, Linda Rosenthal, Eric Schoch,
Marty Stern, David Stoll, Doris waltz.
Photography Staff
TERRY McCARTHY .............Chief Photographer
'ROLFE TESSEM ....... ...........Picture Editor
DENNY GAINER .... ............ Staff Photographer
TOM GOTTLIEB ...................Staff Photographer
DAVID MARGOLICK ..........Staff Photographer
threat or intimidation from their depart-
ments, makes Dunn's decision seem all
the more a personal political attack.
If class time can be deemed "misused,"
who can really make that decision? The
department chairman? The vice presi-
dent for academic affairs? Why not the
professor?
Further, how is the distinction to be
made between class time that is used
appropriately and that which is not?
As Green himself points out, the issue
would not have been raised if he had
shown a promotional film put out by a
chemical company. Is he suddenly guil-
ty for demonstrating some of the more
negative applications of the same sci-
ence?
IT IS EXTREMELY narrow-minded to
view the educational process as a
series of facts to be memorized, a series
of skills to be learned. Green will ac-
knowledge that the slide show probably
did not help his students learn organic
chemistry laboratory techniques, 'the
main topic of the course. However, Green
fortunately believes that technical ex-
pertise should not be "imparted in a
vacuum," that it is the teacher's job to
suggest the relevancy and potential use
of such skills.
Green 'didnot foist his own anti-war
views on his students-an outsider made
the presentation and Green did not com-
ment on the presentation. Instead, he
was simply informing them of what tech-
nology can do-defoliate and bomb.
President Robben Fleming posed the
problem in his State of the University
address this year when he said, "How
then do we put together pure informa-
tion-which is essential if one is to un-
derstand the history and culture of our
society, or to work meaningfully in a
specialized area-and a capacity to apply
that information thoughtfully in a cur-
rent context?"
The presentation of the slide show
seemed to be an answer.
FOR THE PRESENT, the chemistry de-
partment is graciously allowing
Green access to the Chemistry Bldg. and
paying him a salary - as long as he
doesn't teach his students.
LSA Dean Frank Rhodes has told Dunn
to set up a committee to conduct a
hearing and review Green's status in its
entirety.
Dunn should immediately reinstate
Green since there is no justification for
the suspension. At the same time, stu-
dents and faculty should demonstrate
their support for Green in whatever ways
possible - perhaps by showing the slide
show in their classes to demonstrate a
professor's right to conduct his or her
class as he or she sees fit.
In commenting on the Green case,
Vice President for Academic Affairs Al-
len Smith told The Daily, "It's only a
cause celebre if you make it one."
Smith, however, is wrong.Students
and faculty haven't made it into a con-
troversy. Dunn, and the administration
which backs him, have.
-THE SENIOR EDITORS
By CHARLES STEIN
JEFF CRUISES into my room a n d
drops down into the chair as he so
often does. "Life sucks," he comments
matter-of-factly.
"Life sucks," I answer.
With our ritual greeting out the way
we settle down to a conversation which
generally focuses on the sucky, the
adjective form of suck, experiences
we've had during the day.
NOW WHEN we say life sucks we
don't mean its particularly harsh or
cruel or unbearable. We always h a v e
enough to eat, a place to sleep and all
of the other essentials generally re-
quired for a healthy existence.
Neither do we mean thatwe've had
any tragic emotional problems - no
heart-breaking affairs, near-suicides or
the like. Rather its just been one of
those days that approached mediocrity
from below and didn't quite make it.
If you had to define suckiness, you
guessed it, the noun form of suck, it
would probably involve a combination of
boredom, sexual frustration and gen-
eral disillusionment with everything.
TO BETTER illustrate the concept, the
old fill-in-the-blank technique might be
more helpful. For example, you know
life sucks when:
- You're ready to go to sleep and
you can't remember what you aid dur-
ing the day.
- You can't wait for summer vaca-
tion while you're in school, but once
summer starts, you can't wait to come
back.
The list could go on indefinitely.
Yet the most significant thing about
suckiness, I think, is the fact that some
form of the condition seems to afflict a
vast majority of people, especially col-
lege students.
Such a conclusion would probably come
tion that he goes to the University.
"Hey, you go to school in Ann Arbor,
man?" they ask with obvious jealousy.
"There's a lot happening in that town,
isn't there?"
Implicit in this statement is 'the no-
tion that simply because there is a lot
of political and cultural 'activity go-
ing on, the residents of Ann A r b o r
must have fun. But in my travels around
the country I have come to the conclu-
sion that suckiness knows no boundaries.
LAST SPRING, for instance a friend
invited me to join him on a trip to
Chicago. "Chicago", I said enthusias-
tically, "hey, there's a lot happening
there!"
After spending a few days in Chicago
we managed to discover a great many
people who seemed to be as unhapy as
we were. Imagine that, not happy, and
with so much happening.
At this point, the obvious question to
be raised is, what does it take to make
people happy? Answer - it beats the
hell out of me.
Actually that's not completely true,
because at times I have a feeling I
really know. But this column is not the
place for such a lofty philosophical cis-
cussion.
Rather it is designed to reach those
of you who feel as I do, and reassure you
that you are not alone in this world.
SO NEXT time you meet a fun-loving
student on the street, and he approaches
you with a monstrous grin on his face
and hits you with a 'Life is really won-
derful, isn't it?", step up confidently and
tell him the truth.
You will be a better person for it.
Charles Stein is a Daily night editor.
I
"Did you read in this morning's paper about the wonderful
and exciting time we students are having?"
as a shock to most middle-aged Ameri-
cans who have visions of college stu-
dents as fun-loving freaks reaping the
benefits of the sexual revolution.
While there certainly are people who
do fit this description, I would argue
that they are merely a vocal minority,
whose strident cries have muffled the
voices of the silent sucky majority, and
captured the imagination of the aedia.
ONE CAN'T blame the press for this
distortion, however, for what suburban
businessman wants to pick up his morn-
ing paper and read about college stu-
dents who go to class in the morning,
the library in the evening and have wet
dreams at night.
That businessman has to think t h a t
someone out there is having fun be-
cause he knows that he certainly isn't.
By reading about liberated college stu-
dents he can at least have the vicarious
pleasure of dreaming about the life of
action he is missing.
The degree to which this myth of
the fun-loving student has pervaded our
thinking is truly astonishing. One often
encounters it when he happens to men-
LI
The realAmericans
rally round the flag
By LORIN LABARDEE
FOR A radically minded student
F from Ann Arbor, attending the
American Independent Party (AIP)
rally last Saturday in Dearborn
was almost as big a rush as smok-
ing a quarter gram of Primo hash.
My only previous experience with
conservative politics was conserva-
tive politics as presented by the
likes of Archie Bunker. I had
never before attended a meeting
where people actually believed "all
that garbage."
They came in droves, six hun-
dred strong, to hear their favor-
ite rightwingers enlighten them on
the "right" way to vote on Nov.
7.
There they were in all their
glory, singing "America the Beau-
tiful" and dressed in red, white and
blue. I desperately sought an in-
conspicuous place to hide should-
er length hair as I notice head
after head of neatly cropped locus.
And then there was the "flag-
waver." I mean she really wasn't
waving a flag, but the dress she
was wearing was as much of a flag
as anything could be. The white
stars on the blue background trail-
ed beguilingly around the liberally
scooped neckline while the red and
white stripes stopped short well
above her knees. "Yes," I thought,
"this must be a real American."
ALSO AT THE rally were a large
contingent of "right to life" peo-
ple congregation behind a h u g e
black banner adorned with white
letters and a white skull and cross-
bones. The slogan on the banner
cried out, "ABORTION IS MUR-
DER."
One of the anti-abortion people
was a slick-haired character in a
greasy mechanic's jacket. He could
have been the pickup driver in
"Easy Rider" with the rifle rack
mounted on the rear window of the
truck. Another real American.
Candidates were also on display.
There are candidates on the AIP
ballot for everything from Drain
Commissioner to President.
For the reporters it was a field
day. Quotable quotes abounded. I
wondered to myself, "Are these
people really saying these things?"
Yes, and worse yet they actually
believe what they're saying.
When AIP presidential candi-
date John Schmitz came out with,
"When guns are outlawed, only out-
laws will have guns." he was re-
warded with a standing ovation
from the crowd. "God," I thought
to myself, "these guys are really
sick."
Although it is
hardly a pressing
)I
issue, Schmitz also thought it ne-
cessary to expound on Arthur Bre-
mer, "the man who shot Governor
Wallace." He told the people how
Bremer wasn't alone and that the
attempted assasination of presi-
dential candidate George Wallace
was part of a huge plot to snuff
out the AIP in America.
SCHMITZ ALSO accused t h e
media in America of a conspiracy.
This one he referred to as a "con-
spiracy of silence." Schmitz claim-
ed the media is so controlled by
the Republican and Democratic
parties that they were prevented
from giving coverage to the AIP.
The two main conspirators which
Schmitz named in the "conspiracy
of silence" were John Chancellor
and Walter Cronkite.
I wondered if Schmitz consider-
ed Al Ackerman an accomplice in
the "conspiracy of silence" for not
reporting the football scores of
every podunk university around the
country.
Yes, it was all clear now, these
were real Americans, every one.
Lorin Labardee is Personnel Di-
rector of The Daily.
'' r i~2 ai JACKADESO
WASHINGTON - Congressmen
are playing so fast and loose with
their free postal privileges this
year that misuse of the mails is
becoming a major campaign is-
sue in political races around the
country.
The Fair Campaign Practices
Committee reports it has already
received twice as many complaints
about congressional abuse of the
mails in this campaign as it re-
ceived during the entire 1970 cam-
paign.
Formal complaints have been
filed against James Howard, D-
N.J., Hamilton Fish, R-New York,
John Moss, D-Calif., Bob Mathias,
R-Calif., George Shipley, D-Ill.,
John Asbrook, R-Ohio and Albert
Johnson, R-Calif.Inraddition, the
committee says there are dozens
of other cases in which congress-
men have allegedly abused the
mails but have not been challeng-
ed formally by their opponents.
Under the law, congressmen can
use the mails free of charge for
official business, but incumbents
have become so ingenious at dis-
guising political puffery as official
business that the Postal Service
has given up trying to enforce the
law.
CONGRESSMEN have perfect-
ed all sorts of ways to circumvent
mailing restrictions. Frequently,
they insert self-serving material
public expense.
These practices, among others,
have so exacerbated postal au-
thorities that they now refuse even
to send advisors to Capitol Hill to
caution congressmen not to abuse
the mails. "It simply would do no
good," one insider said,
Why have congressmen shifted
so dramatically to massive direct
mailings this year to get them-
selves re-elected? Besides the
Postal Service's reluctance to en-
force the law, political watchdogs
cite new restrictions on political
ads in the media and the reappor-
tionment of numerous congres-
sional districts as the major fac-
tors contributing to Congress's
latest assault on the U.S. mails.
-Pension Reforms
Rebuffed-
The U. S. Chamber of Com-
merce has reached into the Senate
and effectively squashed legisla-
tion that would protect older citi-
zens from being cheated out of
their pensions.
The Senate Labor Committee,
which has spent years investigat-
ing pension abuses, has establish-
ed that citizens who lose their
jobs before retirement often re-
ceive no pensions at all even
though collectively they contribute
millions of dollars to pension
funds.
bers are furious and have pro-
mised a big battle on the Senate
floor.
Meanwhile, a TV network has
dramatized the great pension
scandal in a nationwide television
documentary. But we have learn-
ed that corporate powers are put-
ting quiet pressure on the TV net-
work not to make the document-
ary available for private showing.
-Around the U.S.-
Space Are Convenience - The
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration has proudly an-
nounced in a press release that it
has awarded a contract to a pri-
vate firm to develop the world's
most expensive toilet. The com-
mode under contract will be
launched into space for use by
astronauts in the space shuttle pro-
gram. The pricetag for a proto-
type toilet is staggering: $238,000
. . . Meanwhile, back on earth, the
government is spending hundreds
of thousands more dollars for the
convenience of its employees. This
year, for example, the government
estimates it will spend $350,000 for
smoking stands. If public money
isn't going down the .drain, it's go-
ing up in smoke.
Union Strikes in '73-President
Nixon's Wage Board has held sal-
ary increase to about five-and-a-
half ner cent a year. But after the
Tom Anderson, left, the AIP vice-presidential candidate and Rep.
John G. Schmitz (R-Calif.) at the party's convention in Louisville,
Ky.
Aserious matter of
By JAY RISING
THE BASIC GOAL of the College as it is stated in the first page of
the LSA handbook is to encourage each student to study within
their classes not only those areas needed by all educated men and
women, "but those as well that lead to effective integration of human
values, ethical commitment, and individual responsibilities." In this
past week the college has flagrantly disregarded its own principles
and taken a step backward in terms of relevant educational values.
We, the LSA Student Government, strongly condemn the action ,toward
Mark Green, and urge all groups of the University, students, faculty,
and the administration, to join together in support of what we feel
are the basic rights of each faculty member and to bring reforms
to this institution which would prevent future authoritarian reign in de-
partments.
Aside from the omnipotent issue of academic freedom which
remains as a central concern for all involved, the initial concern of this
matter lies in the question of what is determined as relevant to each
particular class and who's responsibility it is to decide. We of the
LSA Student Government feel that each individual faculty member
must be given the responsibility for this matter. The college, in this
instance, and the university, in principle, must prevent future political
decisions which abuse the rights of each faculty member.
There is, in our minds, no question of the political implications
surrounding this event. Given the primary responsibility of teaching
his students laboratory techniques, not solely in the vacuum of the class-
room, but in view of the consequences of their implimentations (in this
case the Vietnam War), the slide show is both relevant to the class
specifically and to the overall educational views promulgated by the
University.
We reject the idea that education can or even should be value-
free. The question that has arisen here is who is deciding the relevancy
of materials in each class and on ghat basis are these decisions
made. Clearly the case here is that relevancy was determined on the
basis of Prof. Dunn's views toward the- Vietnam War.
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