I1t Ur4i4ttUn Da4ly
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1972
Dem: Division or solidarity.
YESTERDAY'S DEMONSTRATION pro-
testing the killing of two black stu-
dents in Louisiana last week was, for the
most part, what one would have expected,
although not hoped for-about 300
people, some speeches, and the usual
faces pressed against the insides of Ad-
ministration Bldg. windows.
It is unsettling that the crowd num-
bered only 300-the issue related to, or
should have related to, every member
of this community.
Blacks demanded that the University
wake up and "react" to the shootings;
that the University organize an exchange
program with Southern University; that
the Southern University president and
vice president resign, as the Louisiana
protesters had demanded; and that com-
munity members "sensitize" themselves
to the issues and act accordingly.
These demands are valid and should be
supported wholeheartedly, as should the
aim of yesterday's action-to strongly
protest the events at Southern University.
HOWEVER, THERE was one noteworthy
factor which set this demonstration
off from others in quite a disturbing
manner. That was the all-black march
to the North Main Street Community
Center, which began at the predom-
inantly white People's Plaza rally.
Black speakers, both before and after
the split, explained the reasons for the
segregated march. But the explanations
seemed to gloss over the tragedy those
killings were for the whole community,
both black and white, and the need for
solidarity within the entire community-
not just among those with the same racial
background.
The killings, said the black leaders,
were the result of racism, and were
typical of an oppression which is becom-
ing "both traditional and rampant."
This is perhaps true, but others besides
blacks are fighting racism, although it
is blacks who must and should lead that
struggle.
Moreover, not only were blacks shot at
Southern University-they were black
students, and it must not be only blacks
who are appalled at what happened. The
'black speakers at the People's Plaza
rally appeared to realize this.
But to realize it and not to arrange
for a joint demonstration, a show of
people-solidarity, is disturbing. If blacks
felt it necessary to act as a bloc, perhaps
a black section in a joint march, a black
faction marching alongside white broth-
ers and sisters, would have been a moving
demonstration of a stricken subset of the
stricken whole.
THE KILLINGS were an attack on
everyone who believes in the Bill of
Rights, with special relevance to students
and to blacks. It is disturbing, and some-
how very depressing, that yesterday's re-
action could not represent that unified
emotional horror.
-TAMMY JACOBS
Managing Editor
Nixon and amnesty:
Leader or panderer?
By JAMES A. WECHSLER
Tf HE HARSH, intransigent campaign words on amnesty spoken by
President Nixon and Vice President Agnew will swiftly haunt
the Nixon second term. They may well have produced some easy (and,
as things turned out, unneeded) dividends at the polls. But if and
when peace, or some semblance thereof, is finally achieved, the
amnesty issue will assume new dimenstns. The beginnings of the
debate could be heard this week - and the voices raised can hardly
be dismissed as suspect or extremist.
Thus the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, meetixig in
Washington, adopted a resolution declaring that "all possible consid-
eration must be given to those young men who, because of conscientious
belief, refused to participate in the war." It added:
"This war will leave a residue of bitterness which could poison
our national life for years to come. This must not be allowed to
happen. We must instead seek to resolve our differences in a spirit
of mutual understanding and respect."
LEADERS OF other religious denominations have issued comparable
appeals. It is grotesque to visualize a president brought up in the
Quaker faith engaged in an uncompromising, last-ditch conflict with
those imploring respect for young men whose crime was principled
adherence to conscience.
Yet that is exactly what is in prospect if Mr. Nixon remains faith-
ful to the text and spirit of his campaign verbiage, rather than to the
more moderate view he had expressed earlier in the year. Because of
his previous remarks, one is tempted to hope that his strident autumn
statements reflected a cold political thrust at George McGovern's vul-
nerable jugular rather than an irretrievable'commitment.
It must also be sadly noted, however, that in his exclusive Election
Eve interview with the Washington. Star-News (to be held for release
until after the balloting) he included proposals for amnesty as a symp-
tom of the "permissiveness" he vowed to combat during his second
administration. He sounded like a man who had been overwhelmed
by the passion of his campaign rhetoric.
Nevertheless, once any peace arrangement is sealed, he will have
to confront the problem anew.. Even minimal statesmanship would
suggest that the aftermath of the war - in the words of the Catholic
bishops - "could poison our national life for years to come" unless
/our leadership is capable of inspiring magnanimity and reconciliation.
And the treatment of the war objectors will be a crucial test.
UNFORTUNATELY, through much of the first four years, Mr.
Nixon has exhibited a larger gift for appealing to the less attractive
and more aggressive instincts of the country in domestic matters than
for invoking those "better angels of our nature" of which he spoke
in his 1969 inaugural. The amnesty debate will offer ample chance
for inciting vindictiveness and discord, and many demagogues will join
the hard-line chorus. If the President continues to lend his own voice
to the punitive cry, a long, cruel and clamorous battle is assured.
Mr.tNixon may argue, of course, that a more tolerant view will also
precipitate sustainedrargument, and that the election returns have up-
held his stand. There may well be a measure of truth in that claim.
But it is precisely in such realms that the Presidency can be decisive
in shaping the moral - or amoral - climate of the country.
Indeed, for once it might be a welcome note to hear the President
say (as he has so often) he was taking a position that "I know
may be politically unpopular" - and mean it. He might even discover
he had underestimated his capacity to elevate the national discourse,
to lead rather than to pander.
* * *
THERE IS no simple amnesty formula that resolves all dilemmas.
But Mr. Nixon and his vice president have denied - at least during
the campaign season - the existence of any distinctions. The epithets
"deserters and draft-dodgers" have been applied with equal fury to
those who have gone to jail in affirmation of their beliefs and those who
fled under fire to those who have gone into self-imposed exile and
those who became fugitives after committing crimes.
The highest priority of concern should be extended to those who
have been willing to risk prison as the price of their principles; in a
sense, they were exhibiting the courage of what have become the con-
victions of millions of Americans. But whatever scales of compassion
may. be deemed fairest, it is time to begin determining them. One
might even audaciously - or wistfully - suggeet that a commission
headed by former Chief Justice Warren should be entrusted with the
task.
The alternative is drift, rancor and new alienation - assuming,
of course, that when Henry Kissinger said "peace is at hand," he was
not talking in terms of years.
James Wechsler is the editorial page editor of the New York Post.
Copyright 1972, New York Post Corporation.
Reckon nost .?verybody believes in amnesty for
deserters from the war on poverty.'
Letters to The Daily
If -ur 1 -40 -
ToIilitcal purge' at UD
STUDENTS AND faculty at the Univer-
sity of Detroit (UD) are experiencing
administrative action strikingly similar to
the Mark Green suspension.
A week ago four faculty members in
the UD sociology department were fired,
and the department chairman demoted.
Concerned faculty and students, who are
staging a marathon sit-in to protest the
dismissals, consider the discharges an
obvious political purge.
The UD, case serves to point out a num-
ber of differences between the political
climates within a large state university
like ours and within a smaller, Catholic
institution.
The UD administration is clearly on
the offensive, the deans of faculty and of
the College of Arts and Sciences have
steadfastly refused to reveal reasons for
the firings. The issues that have sur-
faced revolve around "substance" (course
material treating racism, for example)
and "style" (sociology faculty members
were sometimes addressed by their first
names).
Student response appears rather mild-
mannered, but is persistent. Protesters
Toda y's staff:
News: Robert Barkin, Pat Bauer, Laura
Berman, Dan Blugerman, Sue Steph-
enson, David Stoll, Rebecca Warner.
Editorial Page: Arthur Lerner
Arts Page: Gloria Jane Smith, Jeff Soren-
son
Photo technician: Denny Gainer
Photography Staff
TERRY MCARTHY .......... Chief Photographer
ROLFE TESSEM .................... Picture Editor
DENNY GAINER ................ Staff Photographer
TOM GOTTLIEB ............. Staff Photographer
KAREN KASMAUSKI .........Sttaff Photographer
DAVID MARGOLICK ....,... Staff Photographer
have restricted their sit-in at the admin-
istration building to regular office hours,
avoiding any confrontation with uni-
versity officials.
Meanwhile the UD student newspaper,
the Varsity News, is reluctant to come out
against the dismissals, remarking that
the sociology department was "way out
of line with the rest of,the University".
HERE IN ANN ARBOR it may seem
quaint that a neighboring university
should still be firing faculty members
for wearing their hair long, fraternizing
with students, "talking liberal," or act-
ing generally like "hippy professors."
A more basic issue in the UD case, how-
ever, is the complete lack of due process
involved in the dismissals. The five UD
teachers were not allowed to respond to
the accusations made against them;
they weren't even told what they were.
Perhaps universities are not as en-
lightened as we and our faculty would
like to think when professors are subject
to dismissal actions prohibited by the
most basic labor protection principles.
UD STUDENT protesters believe their
own purge is indicative of a national
trend. Since the wave of student activism
has subsided, students all over the coun-
try are finding out that gains are in fact
dependent on continued activism; much
change in the universities was never in-
situtionalized, but only tolerated by ad-
ministrators.
Before we separate the UD case from
our own situation, we should consider the
shaky ground on which we stand as ad-
ministrators everywhere observe a dis-
couraged and passive student population.
-REBECCA WARNER
Shocked by Southern
To The Daily:
THE MURDERS at Southern Un-
iversity have shocked, disgusted,
and terriblysaddened me. I am
shocked and disgusted that an in-
cident all too similar to Jackson
and Kent States could occur again
and that the authorities involved
could make so blatant an effort to
whitewash it.
More important, however, I am
sad. Sad that two black students
lost their lives so brutally, and yet
I am mad, even sadded at another
loss .. the conscience of t h i s
University.
For years the University of
Michigan was recognized as a cen-
ter not so much of radicalism, but
rather of great student involve-
ment and concern. What has hap-
pened here? Why does a massive
leaf-letting campaign fail to bring
about even a ripple of response at
the Purdue game? Why is it that
the students throw snowballs at
the one lone student playing taps
during the time the peaceful chant-
ing of "Stop Student Murders" was
to have taken place?
Why is it that the once liberal
administration of this University
could not even make a token effort
of recognition for the tragedy that
took place at Southern University?
Couldn't there have been at least
a moment of silence at the foot-
Te r
By MICKEY MATUS
ONCE UPON A time, in a place
called Asu, there lived a people
of many heights. They were named
according to their heights, and
their names were the smallest peo-
ple, the little people, the average
people, the tall people and t h e
giants. The majority of the people
were the little and average people,
but the leader of Asu was one of
the tall people.
He was known as King Dick, and
his period of rule began in the
year nineteen hundred and sixty..
eight. The people liked it when
King Dick became ruler because he
told them many things that they
liked. The country of,Asu had been
in turmoil and King Dick promised
to return the country to stability
and that through him, all the peo-
ball game and certainly the flag
should have been at half-staff?
Admittedly these are nominal
efforts, but there were millions of
people watching that game w h o
could have seen that the University
of Michigan cares about two mar-
tyred students and the cause for
which they died.
And what of that cause? Why is
it that a demand by so called rad-
icals for greater representation
should be received so poorly?
Why is it that student murders
only gain notoriety when they oc-
cur at a white middle class school
like Kent State? Why it is that the
students of this University are
simply so goddammed complacent?
Yes, I am sad. I grieve for two
lost souls, and I grieve for a far
greater loss . . . the conscience of
this once great University.
-Jed Mandel, '74
Rob Fields, '76
Nov. 20
Sad song
To The Daily:
I MUST take exception to a
careless statement made by your
reviewer in the Nov. 15 article
about Christopher Parkening's re-
cital, that Debussy and ;navel
?'overlooked" the guitar, which
would have supposedly been better
suited to their music than the
"percussive and mechanistic"
piano.
This, I think, betrays a common
misconception about both the "Sm-
pressionist" musical style and she
nature of the piano itself. Though
the piano indeed contains an ela-
borate playingmechanism, t h i s
mechanism must be activated and
controlled by a human being. Me
does not have direct contact with
the source of sound, but he is able
to manipulate an almost limitless
range of dynamics, tone colors,
and sound combinations.
It is this multi-faceted quality
that intrigued Debussy and Ravel
to write their greatest works for
the instrument, rather than employ-
ing the more restricted dynamic
and sonorous range of the guitar.
Indeed, they often relied on many
of the piano's percussive qualities
which Mr. Chernus apparently re-
gards as deficiencies.
Anybody who really thinks this
music is supposed to be "haunting"
and "dreamy" is dreaming!
-Lawrence Goldman
Nov. 16
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who w i s hes to submit
articles. Generally speaking, all
articles should be less than 1,000
words.
z_ I
*1
reign of King DOick: Asu s saga
4
ple would once again be happy.
King Dick stated that his rule
would be one of democracy, and
that all the people would be heard,
even the smallest people and t h e
little people. This made the people
rejoice even more.
They had heard of democracy be-
cause this is what the battle across
the river was about. The people
didn't know too much about the
battle across the river, but they
had been told that the battle was
necessary, and that without it the
coutnry would be swept off the map
by the enemy, and that the world
would laugh and laugh at Asu if
it became peaceful.
King Dick had made the people
happy. Living didn't change much,
though. The giants continued in
their greedy and self-centered life
l --
style, and the smallest and little
people had not yet become accus-
tomed to their new privileges. The
average and tall people were not
affected by King Dick's policy, and
they remained quiet. All in all, Asu
had only changed in one way .. .
the people were now happy.
THIS HAPPINESS didn't 1 a s t
long. The battle across the river
was still the same. Until this time,
the people had accepted the bat-
tle, but now they could voice their
opinions. So they started asking for
the reasons behind the battle across
the river.
King Dick continued to run Asu
as he wanted. When the smallest
and little people complained, they
were ignored. And the battle across
the river continued. The number
of smallest and little people dying
in the battle was becoming too
great for the smallest and little
people to take. They started gath-
ering in large groups and telling
the average and tall people what
was happening. They didn't tell the
giants . . . the giants never listen-
ed.
NOW KING DICK started to take
notice of what was going on in
Asu. He told the people not to wor-
ry, that he had everything under
control and that Asu was return-
ing to stability. Once again t h e
average and tall people were satis-
fied, but this time the smallest
and little people were angry and
mad, and they felt that they had
been cheated.
"We'll have to show him that
we have a large number and are
very concerned." This the small-
est, little and even average people
set out to do. They started organiz-
ing, not into small, local groups,
but into large national groups.
Then they agreed on a date to
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THE GIANTS could make things very unpleasant for King Dick.
They knew this, and so did King Dick . . . His armor rusted a
bit, ... but he kept the giants happy.
W&~C ~bl, A WA 5
AU PATh C T
Cl/cX) 66i0R t..-
MRR1gor!
smiled. They knew that King Dick
wouldn't dare upset them. They
had too much invested in the bat-
tle. They had too much power for
King Dick to fight. They could
make things very unpleasant f o r
Kming Dick. Thev knew this .aI
bolic coffins in protest of the bat-
tle.
They came and after three days,
they went home, hoping for a
change. They were confident that
King Dick would :have to follow his
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