Eighty-two years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Judge Green by
'students
per ormance'
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1972
Bannig thenomreturns
THE HUMAN RIGHTS Party members of
City Council are introducing pro-
posed ordinances which would ban non-
returnable containers and bottles from
the city.
The ordinance to ban the non-return-
able bottle scourge is one of four con-
sumer protection ordinances which HRP
has proposed. The other proposed ordi-
nances would add regulations to the sale
of meats and other foodstuffs within the
city and require the labelling of the nu-
tritional content of all foodstuffs where
the consumer can clearly see it.
The attempt to ban non-returnable
bottles, however, is the most dramatic of
the four proposals. The import of the
ordinance hits squarely at the consump-
tion habits of not only the city as a whole
but students in particular.
THE BAN would effect products of
whicih students are primary con-
sumers. It would alter the way every-
thing from coke to beer to fruit punch
is sold and it would mean that an awful
lot of students who drink an awful lot
of beer, wine, pop and fruit juice will
end up spending more time than they do
now returning their returnable bottles.
There will undoubtedly be a great hue
and cry from some businessmen who wish
to continue offering their customers,,
many of whom are willing students, the
convenience and indeed the irresponsi-
bility of purchasing non-returnable
beverage containers.
The ordinance would undoubtedly
cause some disruption as retail outlets
throughout the city alter the way they
sell nearly all beverages. A further bur-
den would be placed on those the ordi-
nances defines as dealers, those who
would sell the returnable bottled bever-
ages. They would have to provide a
stand where the bottles could be return-
ed by the customers and where the cus-
tomers would claim their deposit.
THE RECEPTION which this proposal
receives 'will truly test the ecological
sentiment in the community - and the
great many people who say that they're
for cleaning up the Great Lakes will be
somewhat taken aback by the sacrifices
which the ordinance to regulate non-
returnable bottles would call upon them
to make.
That is precisely why the ordinance as
well as the other HRP consumer protec-
tion proposals should be put into effect
by City Council.
THE LONGER such moves are delayed,
even if simply on the local level, the
harder it will be to ever bring them into
effect. As more people become more
accustomed to tossing beverage contain-
ers away to be piled in junk yards or
dumped in the oceans the harder it will
be for them to change those conditioned
habits. The longer non-returnable bot-
tles flourish the greater the number of
children who will become used to planned
wastefulness, dooming the next genera-
tion to the, same self-defeating lifestyle.
It is a much wiser and moreover an
easier thing to make the change now,
even if just for the city of Ann Arbor,
than to wait until we are all living in
that oft predicted garbage pile of af-
fluence.
--FRED SHELL
By RICHARD SROGES
ALTHOUGH PAYING taxes is my only
connection with the University of Mich-
igan, I would like to comment on the
suspension of Prof. Mark Green. However,
because of their nature, I think I should
first outline some possible sources of bias
in my viewpoint.
I taught for six years at another univer-
sity. Earlier, I spent two years doing re-
search directed toward the development of
chemical weapons - although I am an
experimental psychologist, not a chemist.
While I taught, I tried scrupulously to
avoid injecting my ethical, moral, and poli-
tical views into my teaching. I consider
myself a libertarianuradicaltpacifist; my
political activities outside the classroom
led to dismissal from my teaching post,
and I have been unemployed for the last
fifteen months.
PROF. GREEN was suspended for pre-
senting an anti-war slide show to an or-
ganic chemistry class; his department chair-
man contends that the slides were irrele-
vant to the subject matter of the class.
Prof. Green "is reported to have said that
he wanted his students to know that the
material taught, in part, is atsed by . . .
corporations to produce the weapons
shown on the slides."
The issue is whether information, or per-
haps propaganda, regarding ures of science
is relevant to the teaching of science. Pre-
sumably, both Prof. .Green and his chair-
man are competent scientists; both a r e
also experienced teachers. Yet they dis-
agree. How is the issue to be resolved?
I suggest that since Prof. Green teaches
organic chemistry, th most "relevant" ques-
tion about his teaching performance is,
"Do his students learn as wuch organic
chemistry from him as they would from
another instructor?" That they also learn
something else is both inevitable and no
concern of the University's.
If Prof. Green's teaching performance is
to be reviewed, it should be reviewed by
comparing the terminal performance' of
Prof. Green's students with that of stu-
dents taught by other instructors. If the
performance of Prof. Green's students is
significantly inferior to that of otherstu-
dents, he should be dismissed; if not, he
should be retained.
Incidentally, should it happen that the
performance of his students is markedly
superior to that of other students, he should
be promoted. If valid data on the relative
terminal performance of his students can-
not be obtained, he should be rtained be-
cause there is no case against him.
MANY PEOPLE hold that decisions. about
the uses of science are non-scientific, that
scientists have no special competence in
ideological and political matters, and that
these matters are therefore irrelevant to
the teaching of science. But, even if such,
limits to the competence of scientists are
acknowledged, it is not certain that class-
room discussion of these matters is neces-
sarily detrimental to the teaching of sci-
ence. We have no adequate theory of in-
struction; we cannot specify many of the
variables in such a theory with any de-
gree of certainty.
However, it is at least possible that
ideology, political beliefs, and the uses to
which science may be put are relevant to
the motivation of some individuals to learn
science. It is also possible that discussing
such matters tends to make better citizens
and better people, if not better scientists. It
is even possible that discussing these mat-
ters in as many classroom contexts as pos-
sible would help to depoliticize universities.
While scientists may have no special com-
petence in such matters, they also have no
special incompetence, and there is no good
reason for them to promote such special
incompetence in their students. Any teach-
er should be free to discuss or not to dis-
cuss any subject, both in his classroom and
outside of it, as long as he also does an
adequate job of teaching his putative sub-
ject matter. Universities are not intended to
be models of totalitarianism - even in
small ways.
It may be objected that I am defending
Prof. Green only because his views on war
and weapons are similar to mine. In fact, I
don't know his views, and I consider them
irrelevant to the issue. If he were an ardent
militarist who had used a slide show to pro-
mote military uses of chemistry, my argu-
ment would still hold - and I hope I would
have suficient integrity to present it.
ON A PERSONAL level, however, I must
say that of all that I regret having done,
what I regret most deeply is having spent
two years doing chemical warfare re-
search. Had I encountered an instructor
like Prof. Green when I took organic
chemistry, I might not have that regret
- even though I encountered passionately
militaristic instructors in 'other courses.
Jacques Barzun once wrote that "it is
a proud thing to say 'I taught him'-and
a wise one not to specify what." He was
right.
Richard Sroges is an experimental psy-
chologist who calls himself a libertarian
radical pacifist.
M
Anti-trust and I.B.M.
AFTER THREE-and-a-half years of in-
action, the justice department an-
nounced its goals this week for the pend-
ing government lawsuit against Interna-
tional Business Machines Corp. (IBM).
If the government wins this anti-trust
suit, the entire IBM Corporation will be
divided into several independent, com-
petitive companies, each with equal ac-
cess to the domestic and -international
computer markets.
As it stands now, the computer market
is practically stifled under the influence
of IBM, the world's largest manufac-
turers of computers.
From this vantage point, IBM does
not hesitate to flex its muscles. A justice
department investigation (which began
in 1965) revealed that the corporation
has taken drastic measures to discourage
competition. It has severely cut profit
margins and has often preferred to take
a loss in order to monopolize the com-
puter market.
As the country's fifth largest corpora-
tion, IBM has dominated the computer
sales to schools and universities. Thus,
even the educational system is prey to
this computerized giant.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION is long
past due, but the, justice department
can hardly be commended for its speed
and efficiency. What progress has been
made since the initiation of the suit? If
it takes three-and-a-half years to an-
nounce the goals, how long will it take
for the court to hand down a decision?
The government is obviously dragging its
feet, but for what rational reason?
The department apparently does not
realize the urgency of the situation.
While it is conducting the investigations,
IBM is getting bigger, and the "little
man" is subtly being pushed out of the
market. Who will salvage these bankrupt
companies if and when the IBM monop-
oly is broken?
IT IS HOPED that the IBM case will set
a precedent for all other "influential"
U. S. corporations. Perhaps the anti-
trust law will finally be enforced, and
IBM will no longer be the foremost, and
virtually sole, name in computers. This,
however, is doubtful considering the gov-
ernment's typical disinterest. Let's keep
our fingers crossed. Maybe AT&T will be
next.
-DENISE GRAY
Le tter
To The Daily:
I'M DISAPPOINTED and angry
that The Daily has apparently end-
ed its long-standing opposition to
victimless crime legislation. I
hope that after the excitement of
the scoop has died away you'll all
spent some time rethinking the
implications of the role you took
in this whole affair (Daily stories
on massage parlor arrests, Oct.
18).
Victimless crime laws are b a d
enough. I don't like knowing that
it's against thelaw for me to
smoke dope, that it's against the
law for me to fornicate, that it's
against the law for me to commit
sodomy, that it's against the law
for me to pay someone to have sex
with me.
Any one of these acts may be
wrong for me, any one of them may
harm me physically or psycholo-
gically. But none of these acts
harm anyone but me and other
people who engage in them.
It's one thing to force someone
to smoke dope at gunpoint, or to
pressure women into becoming
prostitutes against their wills -
but The Daily didn't even imnly
that any of these women or men
were working at the massage par-
lors against theirtwills. As far as
I can tell from the skimpy stories
The Daily ran, the women w r e
willing employes who had been told
fairly clearly what their jobs would
entail before they were hired.
Ms. Fitzgerald, for examnie,
found out very quickly what was in-
volved in the business and refused
to accept the job. Who was harm-
ed? Is the implication that t h e
mere thought of sexual relations
for money is so repulsive that we
should all jump up and throw the
perpetrators in jail?
Who was being exploited in this
situation? Was it Ms. Fitzgerald?
Was it the women who worked
there? If it was, why didn't The
Daily talk to them about t, m-
stead of the police? Or is it that
they aren't capable of judging for
themselves what's exploiting them
and what's not? Are you sending
these women to jail for their own
good? I certainly hope not.
SCOOPS ARE all around v o i,
people. How many Daily s t a f f
members break the marijuana laws
every week? How does The Daily
justify sitting on news like that if
it feels an obligation to expose
"panderers" and "prostitutes?"
Why not go out after the "dope
pushers" and "drug fiends?" Or
is The Daily now deciding for us
all which victimless crimes are
OK and which are evil and exploi-
tative.
I sincerely hope that there's
more to all this than some kind
of moralistic crusade or journal-
istic hotdogging. Maybe there's
some truth to The Daily's (or the
police's) unsubstantiated innuen-
does about "organized crime" and
"blackmail." But if there is, why
the hell isn't The Daily out getting
those stories instead of sitting back
on this one?
One last question, which might
be the most important one of ail:
When did The Daily start manag-
ing its news coverage to fit the
schedules of the police? If the"o's
one thing I've always been proud
of about my former association
with The Daily as an editor, it's
been that The Daily never tail-
ored its coverage to suit anybody's
needs - or at least, we never did
it on purpose.
I'm deeply disappointed t h a t
The Daily has broken itself off
from that long tradition.
-John Gray
Literary Editor, 1969-70
Oct. 19
To The Dailv:
R 0
o
1
z
t
1
s
1
i
t
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9
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4
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c
the letters contained the most ir-
responsible and insidious encour-
agement to what was assumed to
be my fervor against the mixing
of race and social class in t h e
schools. Most of the moderating
language of Griffin's public p r o-
nouncements was missing in these
ingroup letters.
Perhaps the crowning blow was
that he used my tax money to send
me this political material. The
letters were sent with the con-
gressional franking privilege.
-Walt Scheider
Oct. 6
Thanks, Dick
To The Daily:
THE FOLLOWING is a letter
I felt needed writing:
Dear Mr. Nixon:
Thank you so much for prolong-
ing the Viet Nam war so that once
again your Air Force jets can fly
the "missing man" formation
above our football stadium. Last
Saturday was very impressive with
103,000 people standing and sing-
ing "The Star Spangled Banner"
while the flag was unfurling in the
wind and the symbolic jet forma-
tion was passing overhead as a
tribute to those fallen in the war.
How many more people did it
commemorate this year than last,
Mr. Nixon?
-K. M. Iven
Oct. 15
Edgar Awards
To The Daily:
WHEN THE DAILY presents its
annual Edgar Awards in a few
months, I hope you establish a new
category. It will be known as the
George Meany Presidential Neu-
trality Award and it will be pre-
sented to the Human Rights Par-
ty for its distinguished non-support
of George McGovern.
Through this action, HRP h.as de-
monstrated that its commitment to
ending the war, elimination of rac-
ism, and making major changes
in America's economic system is
secondary to its commitment to
ideological purity.
HRP offers no candidate of i t s
own on its Michigan state-wide
ticket, rather it devotes energies
to sniping at McGovern. HRP
knows that a candidate on its ticket
probably couldn't get enough votes
for HRP to remain on the ballot,
yet its members slander McGov-
ern for not being as radical ash
they are.
I don't much care about HRP's
self-imposed rule against backing
candidates of other parties. To
take no. stand in 1972 is to ab-
dicate all political responsibility.
-Carolyn Epstein
Oct. 17
Elden's house
To The Daily:
ONE MAY certainly think what
one wishes about Judge S. J. El-
.den's court decisions. Those whose'.
image of Judge Elden's house is
formed only by a reading of The
Daily, have, however, the right to
know that it, "today" notwith-
standing, is nothing approximat-
ing a "mansion". Rather it is a
modest but attractive ranch lo-
cated in a nicely integrated neigh-
borhood.
-William Zimmerman
Director, Center for
Russian and East Euro-
pean Studies
Oct. s
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.
4
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4
Daily's role i*n#v
bust cr tici~zed
"Is Paris burning?""No, just the
French mission in Hanoi!"
'I
1'
Today's staff:
News: Debbie Allen, Pat Bauer,
Benedetti, Bob Burakoff, Dave
henn, Meryl Gordon
Editorial Page: Fred.Shell
Arts Page: Richard Glatzer
Photo technician: Karen Kasmauski
Jan
Bur-
then it should apply equally to oth-
er repressive laws, including laws
forbidding prostitution. Although it
may offend The Daily's middle-
class double standard of morality,
if a woman chooses freely to be-
come a prostitute, then no one, in-
cluding The Daily, has the right
to prevent her from doing so.
--Mary Williams
Wendy Willence
Oct. 18
Relevancy
To The Daily:
MUCH TO MY surprise I find the
question of "relevancy" in the
classroom, to be a hot issue. Isn't
it the duty and, indeed, the obli-
gation of every teacher to bring
into the classroom the relevancy
of the material he teaches? This
should be especially so in the sci-
ences (biology, chemistry, and phy-
sics) since it is by virtue of our
own technology that we are screw-
ed-up.
By understanding how our tech-
nology has been misused we can
help prevent future blunders. In-
deed, the same technology that
messed us up can be used to help
rectify the problems. Therefore,
a discussion of these problems in
our classrooms seems to me to be
an essential feature of the educa-
tional process.
For the three years that I have
been teaching at the University, I
have assumed that part of my
"charge" as an educator was to
teach students the essential facts
and concepts of developmental biol-
ogy, as well as the "relevancy" of
the subject matter to the "real
world." Indeed, such topics as
fertility control, environmental pol-
lutants as teratogens, drugs and
the placental barrier, and anomal-
ies of sexual differentiation are all
topics with particular socio-biologi-
cal significance.
I would hope and urge that other
professors at this university bring
appropriate relevant material into
their classrooms. Indeed, there is
no scientific discipline in w h i c h
clear and unmistakably relevant
material can not be taught effec-
tively.
-Michael Berns
Asst. prof of Zoology
Oct. 19
Court packing
To The Deily:
SGC's CREDENTIALS & R u l e s
Court is sunnosed to be a "judi-
cal reliability. "Traditionally," said
SGC Administrative Vice President
Curt Steinhauer on Oct. 15, "SGC
has always staffed C&R with mem-
bers' political cronies."
In this case, C&R is packed
with GROUP/'"Integrity" depend-
ents. Incredibly, SGC appointed
Dave Schaper to C&R. This is the
same gentleman who conducted the
most incompetent election in SGC
history last winter, if in fact he
was not personally responsible for
rigging it. As Steinhauer s a i d ,
Schaper "knows a lot about elec-
tions." Indeed, he may be the only
one who knows who really won
the last one. ,
SGC also appointed Lee G i 11,
founder of the "Integrity" party
which he has since provided as
GROUP's latest alias. The third ap-
pointee, Bridgette Kehoe, is co-
ordinating vice president of SGC
and, like the others, has no judi-
cial experience. All three "judges"
are paid political appointees of
SGC (Schaper is treasurer, G ill
and Kehoe are vice presidents) who
serve at the pleasure of the presi-
dent, Bill Jacobs of GROUP.
-Sandy Green
Thom Gillis
Bob Black
Community Coalition
candidates for SGC
Oct. 17
Griffin mail
To The Daily:
YOUR BOX on the editorial page,
titled "Get involved - write your
reps!" with the addresses of sena-
tors and representatives, has pro-
vided me with an experience
which has been educational, even
though not exactly in the way it
was intended.
Some time ago I wrote a letter
to Sen. Robert Griffin expressing
dismay at the rather cynical way
in which he has made school bus-
ing a national political issue, en-
couraging those who were using the
issue to inflame racial feeling, and
making the efforts of those who
want to deal with the issue on its
merits and somewhat rationally,
really quite impossible.
What I fully expected in response
was the usual sort of thank you-I-
read-your-messages-I-appreciate-
your-comment kind of letter which
is standard.
Instead, I had the good fortune
-- or the misfortune =- to have had
my letter put in the wrong pile by4
the secretary who sorts these out-
I faculty comment I
Welfare and spacecraft:
U.S.cn afford both
By JAMES LOUDON
DAVID FRADIN'S otherwise excellent article on the value of the
U.S. space program (Daily, Oct. 17) was marred by his perpetua-
tion of the "either-or" mythology which sees space expenditures as
somehow in competition with welfare. The fact is that we can easily
afford both.
Our GNP is over a trillion dollars a year (a stack of a trillion dollar
bills would reach halfway to the Moon!) ; we spend huge amounts
for luxuries with no feeling of pain '(twice as much, per year, for
cosmetics alone as for the entire NASA budget)3; and our population
is large enough that we could double NASA's funding, if we felt it desir-
able,,'by taxing each U.S. citizen less than the price of a pack of cigar-
ettes per week.
THIS NOTION (that we we can afford space or social programs
but not both) has already done irretrievable damage to our space
program when used the other way-against NASA by its opponents-
and I'm distressed to see someone in favor of the program employing
it. For example, this decade contains an opportunity for a Grand Tour,
in which a single spacecraft could fly past all five of the unexplored
and extremely important outer planets (Jupiter to Pluto) plus many
of their moons.
Such a chance occurs only once in 175 years. This year we threw
it away rather than increase NASA's budget)my a mere 10 per cent -
the amount we spend on chewing gum in a single year. Fradin men-
tioned the cancellation of Apollos 18, 19, and 20, forced by similar budget
cts several years ago. Since each Apollo flight has returned about
as much information as all its predecessors put together, this amounts
to slashing the total Apollo data return to one eighth of what it could
have been - to save five per cent of the amount already spent, an
amount smaller than any football season's gate receipts. E
WE SPEND one percent of the federal budget on space and 52
th -m.nt e_ se_ _ncheinggu in a n tha dye ar raina te-
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