Page Eight

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Thursday, September 7, 1972

I

the big

'U'

and the big war

By GENE ROBINSON
Supplement Co-Editor
Two years ago, during the
height of student opposition to
the Vietnam War, controversy
flared on campus over whether
or not the University should con-
duct war-related research pro-
jects contracted by the federal
government.
The debate was fueled by re-
ports that the University was
conducting research on anti-
personnel devices then being
used in the war, such as heat-
sensing units. Opponents of fed-
erally - sponsored classified re-
search argued that University
researchers were becoming little
more than soldiers on the elec-
tronic battlefield.
Continued p r o t e s t s against
classified research led to a sit-in
and fast by some 60 University
professors to demonstrate their
opposition to such research pro-
jects.
Meanwhile, the University op-
erated under research restric-
tions approved in 1968. These t
weak restrictions prohibited any
research which would directly
result in injury to human life.
The restrictions, howefer, were'
seldom enforced, and until early
this year, classified research op-
erated at the University as in the
past.
During a time of relative calm
last January, far removed from
the student activism of the late
60's, the Regents approved a new
set of restrictions on University
research.
The new policy stated that the
University would not accept any
research contract or grant which
restricted the publication of re-
search findings for more than
one year. This would theoretical-
ly rule out all federal classified
projects, since the federal gov-
ernment never sets definite lim-
its on when research material
collected is to be declassified.
We Don't Care
What You Do
With the Money
You Save on
Student Supplies
at
FOLLETTS
Just Spend
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However, the Regents exempt-
ed from this new policy the Wil-.
low Run Laboratories, site of a
vast majority of University-con-
ducted classified research.The;
University hopes to divest itself
of control of the labs by the end
of the year; until that time, most
federalsclassified research at the
University will continue.
The plan approved by the Re-
gents was a watered-down ver-
sion of a proposal submitted
earlier by the faculty, a group
who has played an integral role
,in the controversy from its be-
ginning.
Late last fall Senate Assembly,
the faculty representative body,
approved a policy prohibiting the
University from accepting any
federal contract or grant for
research which would be classi-
fied for any amount of time. The
faculty plan however ran fnto,
opposition by UniversityPresi-
dent Robben Fleming as well as
several of the Regents.
Fleming and the Regents ask-
ed.that the policy contain some
sort of special provision for Wil-
low Run, and that it deal with
proprietary research - research
done for private contractors, the
results of which are also often
kept secret.
At 'that time Assembly Chair-
man Warren Norman -said that
the faculty would delay presen-
tation of the plan to the Regents
for approval until the adminis-
trators' complaints w e r e con-
sidered.
On last Jan. 24 the faculty
body approved a blanket re-
search plan incorporating a re-
port from a proprietary research
committee. The plan called on
the University to refrain from
entering any research , agree-
ments, federal or proprietary,
which would restrict the publi-
cation of the results of research
for more than one year.
The one-year grace period was

inserted to allow proprietary
contractors time to secure pa-
tents and other legal rights to
the research they contracted be-
fore the findings were released.
The Regents at their February
meeting, however, rejected the
faculty plan. They reversed their
decision on proprietary research,
asking this time that the policy
refer only to federal classified
research.
The Regents provided no other
substantive suggestions except
that they wanted some provi-
sions made for Willow Run.
Some members of the facul-
ty considered the regental re-
jection of the research plan lit-
tie more than a -direct slap in
the face. Saying that the Re-
gents should not have inter-
fered in what they called an
academic affair, they consid-
ered opting for a collective bar-
gaining plan to deal'with the
administration in the future.
After subsequent discussion
between students, faculty and
administrators, the Assembly
plan was modified to conform
to the wishes of the ' Regents.
The Regents approved the new
plan'- calling for no change
in policy toward proprietary re-
search and exempting all clas-
sified .research -done at Willow
Run - at their March meeting.

Thus the classified research
struggle went through three
distinctgphases and eventually
lost sight of its primary goals.
The entire controversy arose
over war-related research. It
then became a question of aca-
demic freedom: Does a suppos-
edly free academic community
like the University have the
right to conduct censored re-
search projects? And finally, it
degenerated into a power strug-
gle between faculty and the Re-
gents.
In the end no one has emer-
ged the clear winner. The fac-
ulty remains bruised by the re-
gental confrontation while the
Regents' image has been tar-
nished by their constant rever-
sals of position.
Opponents of classified re-
search have eliminated some o
federal projects, but for the
present Willow Run remains ac-
tive. Supporters of classified re-
search succeeded in exempting
Willow Run, but once the labs
are gone' few federal projects
will remain.
Thus a once-vital controversy
has ended in a sea of apathy.
The campus community no long-
er seems to care about war-re-
lated research. And as the elec-
tronic air war continues, so does
the University's contribution to
the war effort.

(Continued from Page 5)
have turned out had she been
in a chair all her life.
Whether or not the University
administration has been sensi-
tized into action is still doubt-
ful.
Some improvements have been
made during the past, year.
Blind students have been given
reading rooms in the Under-
graduate Library. Meetings were
scheduled with the University's

handicapped
voices

maintenance department to dis-
cuss access priorities.
But many of the suggested
changes-more curb cuts, more
building ramps and elevators,
wheelchair lifts for buses, vol-
unteer drivers recruited to
chauffeur handicapped students
from their homes to class, and
a Handicapped Advocate hired
to promote reform - still re-
main only partially implement-
ed.

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