i
Iihe £id$ian aitij
Eighty-tivo years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Swami Kirtanananda:
Setting souls free
420 Maynard St.; Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
Y
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1972
By PETER LAFRENIERE
"Religion, morality, and knowl-
edge being necessary for good gov-
ernment and the happiness of man-
kind, schools and means of educa-
tion shall forever be encouraged"
S0 SAY THE words inscribed
above the lofty pillars of our
own Angell Hall, an explicit state-
ment revealing the real function
of this university, in theory at
least. A week ago last Thursday,
this theory was actualized as the
University provided Swami Kirt-
anananda (kirtan: congregational
chanting, ananda: bliss) with a
lecture room in which to hold an
intimate discussion on the Bhag-
avad Gita and the path it gives us;
Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of love
and devotion.
Kirtanananda, the leading dis-
ciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupda (Master of Mas-
Baton Rouge: The aftermath
I
ters) and the first American
Swami, travelled by van from his
rural ashram community in the
hills of West Virginia to Detroit for
the installation of the Radha
Krishna Deities and the celebra-
tion of an ancient Hindu festival,
Govardhana Puja. The turnout at
the Detroit temple reflected the
growing interest Americans have
for the Eastern philosophies and
religions. There were about 500
guests and devotees from Cleve-
land, Chicago, Bloomington, and
W. Va.
Here in Ann Arbor the word
went out by the grapevine and a
small ad in the Happenings col-
umn in The Michigan Daily that
Kirtanananda had decided to
speak here. About 50 interested
young adult listeners turned out
to hear the Swami. He opened
with a quote from one of our own
great American transcendentalists,
Henry David Thoreau, who said
regarding the Gita, "Every morn-
ing I bathe my intellect in the
stupendous and cosmological phil-
osophy of the Bhagavad Gita, by
which our modern world and liter-
ature appears puny and trivial."
AFTER ESTABLISHING t h e
Gita as one of the world's fore-
most and most widely Scriptures,
the Maharaja went on to describe
in general the process of acquiring
knowledge. He said. "The bona-
fide path cannot be concocted by
mental speculation, but can only
descend to us. There is no doubt
about it. With our imperfect senses
making limited observations how
can we, with our tiny minds, ex-
pect to reason out the absolute
IN THE AFTERMATH of * the killings
Thursday at Southern University in
Baton Rouge, students around the coun-
try are trying to decide how and if they
are going to react. As this editorial is
being written, members of our community
are meeting to plan actions appropriate
for Ann Arbor and the University.
Whether local groups decide to support
a national student strike, or some other
action, we affirm that students must
make clear our rejection of the police
tactics that have led to the unwarranted
deaths of two young blacks. Moreover, we,
must vocally insist that there be no Kent
Statish whitewash of the Baton Rouge
affair.
Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards has re-
fused the students' academic demands
and will not resume negotiations until
the students renounce violence and re-
turn to class. He has utilized the dema-
gogue's trick of linking the peaceful
demonstration and sit-in tactics used
prior to the shootings with violence, and
in that way deflecting criticism of the
state's heavy-handed response.
ALREADY EDWARDS and other Baton
Rouge 'authorities have desperately
released contradictory accounts of Thurs-
day's tragedy.
The East Baton Rouge Parish County
sheriff suggested the two had been
trampled, and insisted that the officers
shot nothing but tear gas. He also noted
that he did hear two pistol shots. The
coroner announced the deaths were
caused by buckshot wounds in the men's
heads. And students and police differ
on who released tear gas first.
Then yesterday the governor specu-
lated, "It's perfectly logical and reason-
able that one of the officers could have,
in all the excitement, fired the wrong
kind of ammunition."
The governor made sure to note, how-
ever, that one of the dead men was still
unidentified and therefore could have
been an "outsider," whatever difference
that makes. It is manifestly unclear how
Edwards plans to quickly check if the
alleged "outsider" was a student, since he
has shut down the campus till after
Thanksgiving, banned students from the
dorms, and booted the student govern-
ment out of the student union.
NOW BOTH the governor and the FBI
have announced pending investiga-
tions. And we fear a dead end. We are
doubtful that any concrete findings of
responsibility for the shootings will be
made public. Nor, frankly, do we trust
the U.S. Department of Justice.
The evidence, the governor and our
hunch suggest that the police did fire
the fatal shots. The evidence and our
hunch also suggest that what for the
average citizen would be manslaughter,
may turn out to be, in the governor's
own words, "perfectly logical and reason-
able" for a trained law enforcement
officer.
N0 MATTER how unheeded are our
cries, it is our responsibility to let
our voices be heard.
-THE SENIOR EDITORS
SGC GROUP-Integrity bloc.
A growing political monopoly?
truth? How can we be so foolish
to think that we can arrive at the
perfection of perfection by piling
on imperfections one after anoth-
er? No, it must come to use from
an already perfect source, Krishna
or God, who is residing in the heart
of every living entity.",
The Bhagavad Gita (Beautiful
Song of God) was spoken directly
by Krishna himself to Arjuna on
the battlefield of Kurukshetra 5000
years ago. This was the first dis-
ciple - Master relationship. Yet it
was not spoken for Arjuna, but for
all men who desire to free them-
selves from the nescience of ma-
terial entanglement. Basically, the
Gita can be described as dealing
with five topics and their interre-
lationships: Isvara (supreme),
jiva (living entities), prakriti (na-
ture), kala (time) and karma (ac-
tivity). That about covers it. As
Gandhi said about it "If it is not
found in the Gita, it does not ex-
ist."
IT IS THE inquiry into spiritual
science that distinguishes man
from the animals. Kirtanananda
went on to say that "human life
begins when we turn from the il-
lusory problems of material exist-
ence (eating, sleeping, mating, de-
fending) to the real problems of
life (birth, diseaise, old age and
finally death). To begin we must
understand that we are not these
bodies, we are actually spirit, part,
and parcel.of the One."
Immediately the question arises
that if we are indeed spiritual,
with the qualities of Sat Chit An-
anda (eternity, knowledge, and
bliss), why do we think we are
suffering? This is the illusion that
George Harrison -(who is another
of A. C. Bhaktivedanta's disci-
ples) is speaking of when he sings
"Beware of darkness."
IT IS OUR illusion that causes
our suffering and when it is re-
placed with knowledge we natur-
ally bc ;ome eternally blissful.
That is our birthright, our true na-
tire. In our own body everything
is dependent on being connected
with the rest of the body: if a mem-
ber is separated it is useless. That
is the function of Yoga; to link or
unite. Yoga can be defined as a
systematic discipline which aims
to unite us with the absolute by
disentangling us from the relative.
The culmination then of Yoga is
liberation from the wheel of Sam-
sara (birth and death).
The Swami further said, "that
the only favorable connection with
Krishna is through love, there is
no other way." Yet there are
many ways to develop this uial-
loyed love of God, what is import-
ant is that it is being developed,
that is the true test of adreligion.
Basically this love is developed
by associating with those who are
overflowing with love. Meditation
is also effective in this age of Kali.
Kirtanananda then answered ques-
tions about the actual practiceof
Yoga. He stated firmly that A-
tanga Yoga is much too difficult
to practice in this particular time,
In response to a question about
steadying the mind and eventually
controlling it, the Swami replied,
"Chant Hare Krishna and hear it."
OTHERS WISHING to enquire
further about how to make ad-
vancement were told "There is
nothing else, no other way. You
must take to this chanting (medi-
tation) of the Lord's names - He
has many. That is the recommend-
ed process in this age of Kali. It
will purify all your desires and set
your soul free."
Peter LaFreniere is a local resi-
dent who will be teaching a Course
Mart course on Indian philosophy
next term.
.}/
'I,
4.
4
A nearsighted review
By BOB BLACK
PAUL TRAVIS' article (Daily,
Nov. 15), on the new S G C
marks a welcome change from re-
cent Daily neglect of campus poli-
tics. His 'analysis, though, is hope-
lessly at variance with the real
political situation - and its de-
fects play right into the hands of
the spurious "leftists" who still
control SGC.
Essentially, he argues that there
is a "new left-wing coalition on
Council" consisting of Sandy
Green, Bill Dobbs. Dave Hernstein
and the GROUP/Integrity bloc. At
leasttthere will be, he says, if mem-
bers "vote their politics rather
than their emotions." The issues
dividing the "leftists," such as the
conduct of Treasurer Dave Schap-
er, are just a problem of "dis-
trust,"ethat is, of the "emotions"
previously mentioned. By implica-
tion, few differences of principle
divide GROUP/Integrity from the
others.
Nothing could be further from
the truth. There is no left-wing ma-
jority on SGC because most of the
GROUP/Integrity members are in
fact "moderates," moderate liber-
als, fiscal-responsibility conserva-
tives or simple hypocrites. The is-
sue in the last election was not
whether GROUP/Integrity had a
liberal platform, but whether their
platform ever had or ever would
bear any relation to their behav-
ior on SGC. The issue was n o t
GROUP/Integrity's principles but
their lack of principle.
It is probably true that on many
issues the real democratic leftists
will succeed in shaming GROUP!
Integrity into supporting progres-
sive measures. But the crucial po-
litical struggle of SGC is likely to
be on more fundamental questions
than money for a grocery co-op:
In the election just past, GROUP!
Integrity ran 21 candidates and
distributed 100,000 leaflets.
FROM THEIR position in control
of the SGCadministration, t h e y
turned the Elections issue of the
Michigan Student News into their
private propaganda vehicle. They
have rewritten the rules to make
voting more difficult than it has
ever been, practically disenfran-
chising the disenchanted majority
Bob Black, class of '73, was a los-
ing candidate on the Community
Coalition slate in the recent Stu-
dent Government Council elec.
tions.
which would probably have voted
them out. They have created a
genuine machine.
GROUP/Integrity has systema-
tically subverted the other student
institutions that might have hamp-
ered their power drive. An exam-
ple is the Credentials & R u 1 e s
Court which conducts elections.
Three SGC officers previously ap-
pointed by the GROUP/Integrity
majority on SGC serve on this
court, including the famous Mr.
Schaper (disqualified for bias on
one pending case). PIRGIM se-
lects a fourth member, and PIR-
GIM cannot exist without SGC's
recognition of 'it as a student or-
ganization. UAC provides a mem-
ber, and UAC is under SGC pres-
sure because ofiSGC's partial con-
trol of the policy board for t h e
Michigan Union. And GROUP/In-
tegrity is well-represented on UHC
and on the Rackham and LSA Stu-
dent Governments which provide
the other members.
What GROUP/Integrity cannot
control, it bullies or buys. The
Tenants Union was expelled from
a part of its office on avowedly po-
litical grounds: Bill Jacobs t o 1 d
them that they should stay out of
student politics. Central S t u d e n t
Judiciary, whose members are ap-
pointed by SGC, no longer at-
tempts to justify its repeated vio-
lations of its own binding Manual
of Procedure. GROUP President
David Smith has told Daily s t a f f
members that "if you destroy us
we'll take you down with us."
THE AMBITIOUS Lee Gill is al-
ready being groomed by GROUP'
Integrity as their next presidential
candidate: minority and black or-
ganizations cannot gain SGC fund-
ing except channeled through Gill's
Minority Affairs Committee. Both
Dave Hernstein and myself were
offered places on the last GROUP/
Integrity SGC ticket in return for
our cooperation.
On the fundamental question of
re-democratizing SGCand break-
ing up this formidable political
monopoly, the real democratic left
may well have to work with the
conservative RAP group instead of
the undemocratic Center. No sin-
cere "leftist" or "liberal" or "radi-
cal" would support the kind of
moves, like the elimination of dis-
sent from the Michigan Student
News, which the entire GROUP/
Integrity bloc has consistently sup-
ported. It is a serious disservice to
the students for The Daily to leave
the impression that, after all,
GROUP/Integrity really is just
another right-on left-liberal ballot
party.
IF IN FUTURE issues of The
Daily people read of struggles be-
tween GROUP/Integrity and a 11
comers, this should not be stig-
matizedias "emotions" overcom-
ing "politics." They will probably
involve questions of basic political
principle, as well as straightfor-
ward attempts to remove the en-
trenched incompetents in and
around SGC. The Daily should cov-
er these controversies more thor-
oughly that it has in the past, since
the only other all-campus student
publication is (at least for the time
being) under GROUP/Intergity con-
trol.
:t
I
-t
THE REGENTS yesterday took a re-
freshing turn from their usual policy
of rubber-stamping executive officer de-
cisions. And though the vote to approve
an annual membership in a nationwide
organization of nursing deans was not a
crucial one, it showed what might hap-
pen if the Regents were asked to approve
every dollar the University spent.
Regent Gerald Dunn (D-Livonia), who
has made spending such funds a person-
al pet peeve in recent months said, "Since
I have been keeping track, the University
Today's staff:
News: Angela Balk, Jan Benedetti, Dave
Burhenn, Beth Egnater, T a m my
Jacobs, Sue Stevenson
Ediotorial Page: Bill Heenan, Martin Stern
Arts Page: Gloria Jane Smith
Photo technician: David Margolick
Sports Staff
JOHN PAPANEK
Sports Editor
ELLIOT LEGOW
Executive Sports Editor
BILL ALTERMAN ............Associate Sports Editor
BOB ANDREWS ....... ....Assistant Sports Editor
SANDI GENIS............Assistant Sports Editor
MICHAEL OLIN ..........Contributing Sports Editor
RANDY PHILLIPS ........Contributing Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Chuck Bloom, Dan Borus, Chuck
Drukis, Joel Greer, George Hastings Bob Heuer'
Frank Longo, Bob McGinn, Rich Stuck.
has spent $5,000 on memberships in pro-
fessional organizations. In this time of
tight budgets, isn't that $5,000 we could
devote to something more worthwhile?"
President Fleming and other executive
officers eventually convinced Dunn and
the other Regents of the propriety of this
expenditure, and the membership was
approved in an unanimous vote.
But that isn't the point.
THE REAL MESSAGE is that the Re-
gents now seem prepared to do some
budgetary winnowing-to question on
what the University is spending money
and whether it should be. This was seen
in their decision two months ago to cut
back the University's request for state
funds for salary increases, and it was
seen again yesterday.
Regrettably, the Regents only try to
come to grips with the problem of prior-
ities when they are asked to make a de-
cision on a single item such as profes-
sional memberships. And unfortunately
they never get a real chance to consider
whether the University needs as many
frills and features as it has.
For when they are handed a volume
at the beginning of the year entitled
"Budget" and shouting "Approve Me!",
what else can they do?
-SARA FITZGERALD
Editor
i
1
c
ST
1
7
.
,
,,
f
WW
*NT r *#
"With every passing day, peace comes perceptibly nearer."
-Win. Porter, Chief* US Negotiator
Le tters: Redist(nc ting comprom ise needed,
IT WOULD BE unfortunate if the
members of the city's Ward Bound-
ary Commission launched into a
series of written attacks of each
other, prior to making a decision
on a recommendation for new ward
boundaries. This letter is only writ-
ten to clear up several misleading
impressions left by Frank Shoich-
et and Dave Cahill in the Nov. 16th
Daily.
The "tentative approval" vote
and the vote for a public hearing
came only after vigorous objections
by the Democratic members to the
proposal by Republicans and sup-
ported by HRP megbers to "vote
now"' on approval ' of the GOP
plan to go to council for passage
last Monday, Nov. 13. The HRP
members were influenced by the
arguments that a public hearing
was necessary prior to any re-
commendation to City Council and
that approval of a plan before the
public hearing was the type of
maneuver in the tradition of the
GOP and not those who are seek
ing meaningful citizen participa-
tion.
The Democrats have not chang-
ed their position that the plan re-
commended by the commission
must meet the requirements of
state law and the city charter. The
commission plan has been the only
Democrat's refusal to accept a plan
which does not meet the charter's
requirements did help establish
each of our positions. I believe a
plan is possible which fits the
HRP and Democratic position. The
public should not, however, be mis-
led to believe that such a plan
exists now. We are working hard
towards such a solution.
-Ted Beals
Chairman, Ward Boundary
Commission
Nov. 17
Intramurals
To The Daily:
IT WAS a pleasure to see The
Daily focus its attention on the
plight of the Intramural and re-
creation program. I hope that your
interest will not end with the pre-
sent series because there are many
questions about the relationships
between intercollegiate sports and
intramurals that ought to be ex-
plored. Why, for example, shouldn't
we expect intercollegiate sports to
pay for the Intramural program?
I for one would feel a good deal
better about buying football tick-
ets if these funds were eventually
used to improve the facilities for
the vast majority of students and
stadium to the Intramurals and re-
creation program on a second pr-
iority basis.
We were told that if we contri-
buted by building one field we
would get two and that the two
fields could be used for recreation
save only when needed by the foot-
ball team. That is, no other inter-
collegiate sport would have prior-
ity over their intramural use.
At that time we were critically
short of fields that could be used
by intramural teams. The ones that
we had were mud holes during a
good portion of the spring and
fall. Neither Ferry field nor t h e
stadium could be used by non-var-
sity sports groups. The intramural
staff urged our support of Mr. Can-
ham's request, and so far as I
know continue to see the decision
as a positive one for the intramural
and recreation program.
We may have decided unwisely
but we were genuinely trying to do
something positive for the intra-
mural program. It is unfortunate
that the terms of the agreement
between ACRICS and the Athletic
director have not been made ex-
plicit before now. Students h a v e
every right to use both of the
Tartan turfed fields on a regular
basis when they are not being us-
finity with the views of HRP. It
seems obvious to me that there are
common goals that the HRP and
Democratic Party should and can
work together to achieve; an end
to racism, tenant rights, and abol-
ishment of discrimination because
of sex, among others.
However, it appears obvious to
me, as I am sure it does to other
members of the University com-
munity that HRP and the Demo-
cratic Party are in a power strug-
gle. One of the two parties may
win, but the loser will be the citi-
zens of Ann Arbor, who want to see'
progressive change occur.
The IRP is justly concerned
about their perpetuation as a via-
ble 3rd party, but this concern
should nol be put above their
strong ideological base. If they fail
with that base, so be it.
The Democratic Party is obvious-
ly worried about losing the con-
trol of a major constituency, b u t
the Democrats must remember it
is service, not power plays that
enlarge your appeal at the polls.
The fall elections were a good ex-
ample of this.
Therefore, before the spring
campaigns are upon us, how about
the HRP and Democrats growing up
to serve the community, and not
more important: How is he going
to end the political football of dan-
gerous reactionary politicians?
Remember the powerful motion
picture "Z"? Remember why the
colonels seized control of t h e
Greek government? To save t h e
people. To restore the great order
of "Christian" Greece.
And now we have Richard Mil-
hous Nixon predicting an end to
social (r)evolution. To restore a
"great order"! To strengthen the
family! To bring authority back to
where it belongs.
But more and more brothers and
sisters are realizing the "sick"
character of Richard Nixon's
America. There's no turning back
history. People are realizing that
Nixon can't be trusted. Unfortun-
ately, the election showed that two-
thirds still trust him.
But beware! The rights that we
still have will slowly and ulti-
mately die unless the people are
aware of the Nixon tyrany. Again I
emphasize the slowness of our
rights' erosion. Grand juries, no-
knock, wire-taping, secrecy, and
lies. We all know what they mean.
Seize the power before it seizes t,.
-Bob Firth '75
Nov. 15
L4