Thursday, September 7, 1972. THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven actve, ncapus veterans unite to end the war most a complete bust" and that it was "stagnating and disinte- grating." But Reade, undeterred, said that he plans to expand VVAW's activities. "We will be doing more guerrilla theater, and real- ly get going this fall." For the national VVAW, post Christmas activities last year included the taking over of the Statue of Liberty in New York and the barricading of the Bet- sy Ross House in Philadelphia. An injunction filed against the veterans by the government succeeded in routing them from the statue, while 25 arrests were made in Philadelphia. These symbolic protests, ac- cording to the Ann Arbor vet- erans, were meant "to put the war on the front page where it belongs and tell people that it is still going on." In absolute terms, there have been more people dying in the war under Nixon than un- der Johnson," stated Reade at the time. "There may not be so many Americans dead anymore," noted another VVAW member, "but there are more Indochinese be- ing slaughtered than ever." The members believe that as long as the bombing continues American POWs will remain inaccessible. "The air war is escalating," explains, Mike Lewis. "It's the mass killer. It's more important to drop a certain amount, of bombs than to find out that you're firing on Laotians who live in caves and who could care less about the war." By DAVID STOLL "Last year membership was a disgrace - about 55," says Bob Edgeworth, grad, member' of the Executive Board of the local chapter of College Republicans (CR). But this year "I'm shoot- ing for 500, and I think we can make it." Edgeworth, who is also vice- Chairman of the College Re- publicans National Comnittee, -attributes the low membership to uninspired leadership, but thinks that an election year and an active effort to inform stu- dents of CR's existence will swell its numbers. Although the club is affiliat- ed with the Republican Nation- al Committee, CR does not run candidates for office itself. The' 'club invites speakers. to cam- pus, encourages members to work for candidates who are to their liking and to run :for of- fice themselves. In November many CR mem- bers will work for the re-elec- tion of President Nixon, U.S. Sen. Robert Griffin (R-Mich.) and Congressman Marvin Esch (R-Ann Arbor), says Edgeworth. Mike Renner (Law), a former president of the club, is run- ning unopposed in the August primary for the Republican nomination to the seat of State Rep. Ray Smit (R-Ann Arbor). On campus CR members have run for Student Government Council under such labels as that of the Responsible Alter- native Party and the Student Caucus. Four CR members cur- rently sit on SGC, as well as five on the LS&A Council and two on the Rackham student 'government. Nextnspring Edgeworth ex- pects that CR members will run in the Republican primary for Ann Arbor City Council seats. Tle club occasionally makes issue stands. For example, CR publicly opposed the funding proposals for the Public Inter- est Research Group in' Michi- gan (PIRGIM), not because it opposed the goals of the organi- zation, but because it question- ed the compulsory nature of the assessment upon students. At the same time, three club members ran for and won places on the PIRGIM Board of Directors in order, explains Edgeworth, to provide a "va- riety of viewpoints." When members are seriously divided in their opinions on an issue, the club will often set up machinery for each side to work, for what it feels best. Commit- tees both for and against pas- sage of the abortion referendum on the November ballot may be set up, according to Edgeworth. the enigma of student go0v't. "The club used to be more liberal, now it's is more conser- vative," he says. When the Chi- nese ping-pong team came to Ann Arbor in April, CR and the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) organized a demonstra- tion to protest the visit. As Alan Harris (LS&A '73), sum- mer director of CR, explains: "we were opposed, not to the ping-pong players themselves, but to the general air of accom- modation with the mainland Chinese government that sur- rounded the visit." Edgeworth notes, however, plicity of governments," Koza warned. But then, while SGC was striv- ing to attain more power, they suffered several internal prob- lems that brought their claim to power into question. Early in the fall, left-wing stu- dents circulated . a petition to recall SGC member Brad Tay- lor, '74. They managed to gather enough signatures to place the issue on the fall all-campus elec- tion ballot, but Taylor won by a closenmargin and remained seat- ed on the council. The effort to recall Taylor was significant in illustrating even deeper problems that loomed within SGC. The council was split between radical and con- servative viewpoints, and deci- sions were difficult to come by because of this political division. A referendum appearing on the fall, election ballot asked that SGC receive an increased student funding. Students approved continuing, but refused to increase funding. SGC allocated $1500 last fall to help establish a Washtenaw County print cooperative. The money fell into the control of the A m e r i c a n Revolutionary Media (ARM) and it became questionable whether or not SGC would play an important role in the cooperative. This and many other SGC al- locations to student organiza- tions received severe criticism from students. In addition, both SGC and .RSG encountered accusations that their elections were invalid. that the "opinion stance of the club is not fixed. It's determin- ed by the members, and if new members join, you can expect the opinion stance to change." He feels that it is neither the political boss nor the masses who have the most influence on the political process today, but rather the activist in the mid- dle. "These are the people who determine who the nominees will be and which campaign will be able to get its message across to the voters. This is the reason for joining a group like HRP or the Young Democrats or the College Republicans." inpublic interest By JIM O'BRIEN "Give yourself $1.50!" is the slogan used this fall by the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) in an attempt to enroll new members during registration at the Uni- versity. PIRGIM is a student-run, non-partisan organization with a staff of full-time professional researchers to investigate con- sumer frauds, dangers to the environment, racial and sexual discrimination, and all areas which concern public welfare. The method PIRGIM used to solicit memberships here is call- ed a "positive check-off": stu- dents who wish to join, and re- ceive voting privileges in the group must sign an authoriza- tion for the University to add the $1.50 membership fee to their tuition statement. The organization at this Uni- versity began more than a year ago at the urging of Ralph Na- der, head of a national group of public interest investigators. In an unprecedented decision, By ROBERT BARKIN As one of the few remaining activist organizations left at the University, the Vietnam Veter- ans Against the War (VVAW) hold a unique position in com- munity life. The organization consists sole- ly of veterans of the Vietnam conflict that have returned to the United States and are op- posed to the continuation of the fighting there. The members are not exclus- ively students. Many are work- ers who are not attending school. The organization started 1 a s t year when four veterans met at a demonstration in Washington. Today there are 80-100 members that correspond on 'their activi- ties. Mike Reade, speaking for VVAW, said that the purpose of the group is "internal reinforce- ment among the members. We want to show the people that even the guys that fought it (the war) are against it." He said that the group "does not sponsor demonstrations, but rather works with other groups." The main activity of VVAW is educating the people, he said. One of the more spectacular events of the group was an anti- war demonstration performed at campus organizers for PIRGIM gained the approval of the Re- gents last winter to include membership fees in student's tuition statements. Next fall, this money will be used to open a state office in Lansing with a staff which may include doctors, attorneys, economists a n d engineers. There will also be a campus of- fice, located in the Student Ac- tivities Building. Past areas of PIRGIM inves- tigators include a survey com- paring prices at city grocery stores, compiled weekly by stu- dents. Members of PIRGIM on this campus will be able to share in- formation and resources with similar groups forming at Mich- igan State University, Wayne State University, and other area colleges. A joint study on the problem of abandoned houses in the De- troit area has already been planned by members at Wayne and this University. the halftime of the Homecoming game last September. The demonstration was part of the theme of last year's homecoming: "Bring all the troops home now. Let's have a real homecoming." The crowd of 75,000 observed a moment of silence then as the VVAW and Veterans Against the War (another anti-war group) released 100 black balloons - each representing 15,000 Asian and American war deaths - to the accompaniment of Taps. Another activity of the group is performing guerrilla theatre on the Diag rallies. The group, according to Reade, plans to ex- pand theirtguerrilla theatre ac- tivities. Reade said that the basic pack of activity in the anti-war move- ment last year was due to "de- featism and resignation" among the students. "The students don't realize that the war is just one part of American imperialism," he said. "It is not enough to just move the troops out of Vietnam while the bombing of Asians contin- ues." He also said the students were not "as apprehensive about be- ing drafted and subsequently don'tdgetas riled about the war." He admitted that the move- ment itself last year "was al- 52 DELICIOUS VARIETIES THE DIFFERENCE IS FRESHNESS! The perfect Snack for Parties-Meetings-Luncheons -SPECIAL DISCOUNTS TO- CHURCHES, CLUBS, GROUPS, FRATERNITIES, SORORITIES, ETC. DUNKIN DOONUTS 300 S. Main 761-7532 Ann Arbor AND PACKAGE PRICES Z ~~AT a.., GREAT SAVINGS KN EISSL OLIN HOURS ROSSIGNOL 2455 S. STATE M, W, Th, F: RG Lmite South of Campus 10-9 p.m.K662-7307 T, Sat.: 10-5:30 -2 Pkone OPEN 24 HOURS By GLORIA JANE SMITH Supplement Co-Editor By their performance last year in the arena of University poli- tics, student governments proved themselves questionable as via- ble student voices. Strewn with disputes and suits, the year yielded little in terms; of meaningful . accom- plishments, by student govern- ments. . Until last fall, the University had two major student govern- ments, the Student Government Council' and the Graduate As- sembly (GA). Although officially the alb campus student govern- ment, SOO has traditionally s p o k e n for undergraduates, while G 'sought to speak for graduates. Graduate, professional, and undergraduate colleges also all have their own small govern- ments. GA, a cumbersome body of over 120 representatives from various c o 11 e g e departments, voted last fall to dissolve, re- linquishing their powers to a then-forming Graduate Federa- tion (GF). Meanwhile, a new government with potential for power had emerged. The Rackham Stu- dent Government (RSG) had been approved by students in the Winter '71 all-campus elec- tion. It was then widely thought that RSG would replace GA, since m o s t graduate students are enrolled in the Rackham college. With the formation of RSG and the subsequent dissipation of GA, a battle began over the power to nominate students to University faculty-student com- mittees of academic and general concern. While this power had in the past been divided between SGC and GA, it now seemed ap- parent that SGC would fight to gain it all. This would have been rela- tively easy if it were not for the attempted formation of GF, a coalition of graduate student ,governments which was to claim GA's right to nominate. students to committees. GF put up a hard fight to or- ganize. Numerous lengthy and tedious meetings were held to resolve problems of constitu- tionality. And a counter-campaign to stop the organization of GF emerged, led by John Koza, Grad, who was later to be seated on SGC. The campaign criticized GF for its failure to adhere to SGC rules for forming student gov- ernments. Koza said that: -A plan for the formation of GF had not been filed; -The proposed constitution for GF was not distributed to the constituencies involved; -Adequate time and opportu- nity for debate and modification by the interested parties in the constituencies was not allowed; and -The constitution was not taken to the students for a vote. Federation organizers argued, however, that GF was not in- tended to be a government and was therefore not subject to SGC procedures for forming a government. GF nonetheless did purport to represent graduate students and did claim rights to the respon- sibility of appointing student -members to faculty committees. And SGC President Rebecca Schenk vowed that "SGC will fight for the rights of students to appoint." SGC voiced .a concern that it was counter-productive to stu- dent power to provide the Uni- versity with too many alterna- tives for seeking student opinion. "It is not students who gain from the playing off of a multi- 4+ __ .... . ....® __ _ __. .^ __ ____. i GIVE LISTE to PANASONIC' USII) USED '1'E X T IIOOKS UPTO 1OFF ANN ARBOR'S FRIENDLY BOOKSTORE R-70 EA T PEANUTS RF-541 RC-7021 RQ-222AS SALVATION RECORDS THE STORE THAT LOWERED ANN ARBOR'S RECORD PRICES SA LV ATION, With a Complete Selection of GET LOT AM Radio R-70 . Unique Design " Battery Operation 0 Full Range Dynamic Speaker 0 Available in 5 Decorator Colors . 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