i©ge 4-Thursday, October 20, 1977-The Michigan Daily
br £ici n i
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Space shuttle could be
base for real star wars
Vol LXXX VIlI, No.37
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
4~ousing
SINCE 1968, when the I
~)completed, Regeni
pessed University effort
ng numbers of students
~mount of housing spaces
SThey have seen single
lIoubles, doubles to tripl
to quads. Year after ye
vWatched more and more
~ed out into the crowded
~ity housing market by d
~And this fall, Regents
~space turn into permane
71 freshwomen.
~:Dorms are currently
~400 more students
fheoretical capacity leve]
for Regents to quit watcl
~doing something about it.
SThe University Hou
~(UHC) will present the F
resolution tonight urging
~the University housing s
:priority. While this reso
propose any specific pro
kIed housing, it is vital
ake it seriously and ack
the housing shortage is s
must be top pr Vorit
last dorm was can no longer ignore.
is have wit- ND IGNORING is what they have
s to fit grow- A been doing. Regents for years
into a limited have stated that new housing construc-
. tion funds just don't exist. But that
s converted to .doesn't explain why, in known instan-
es, and triples ces, Regents have'turned down multi-
ar they have million dollar HUD loans. Or why ap-
residents tur- plications weren't filed for what were
and expensive likely loan possibilities.
form lotteries. Regents have also voiced their con-
saw lounge cern with long-range demographic
nt housing for trends indicating the college-age
population will sharply decline in the
housing over next decade. This isn't a valid concern.
than their Even if the number of students attend-
1, and it's time ing college does decrease, adequate
hing and start housing would be a major factor in at-
tracting students to enroll here and not
tsing Council at other schools.
egents with a Tonight the Regents should break
them to make their decade of watching the Univer-
ituation a' top sity trying to find space which isn't
lution doesn't there. They should acknowledge
posals for ad- UHC's resolution and do something
that Regents about it, unless they want to see the
nowledge that nightmare of students sleeping in
omnething they corridors come true.
By JOHN MARKOFF
Space war - now only a movie
fantasy - could add a frightening
new dimension to global conflict
as early as the mid-1980s.
The Pentagon has quietly be-
gun using the National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration's
(NASA) new Space Shuttle pro-
gram as a stepping stone to build
a capability to fight a war in
space.
-MILITARY SPACE projects
are now taking up a significant
portion of NASA's planned Space
Shuttle missions. lfore than 100
of these first 560 Shuttle flights
will carry U.S. military satellites
and weapons experiments into
orbit.
Congressional critics like Wil-
liam Proxmire (D-Wisc.) have
charged that through the Space
Shuttle program, NASA - the
civilian space agency - is be-
coming an arm of the Depart-
ment of Defense, increasingly
subject to military priorities.
Publicly, most U.S. officials
are on record against expanding
the arms race into space. In a
press conference this month Sec-
retary of Defense Harold Brown
stated, "I would hope that we
could ke p space from becoming
an area of active gonflict."
BUT SOME military planners
are excited about possible star
wars.' "Space is a dandy arena,
actually," one Department of De-
fense (DoD) scientist was quoted
as saying in a recent issue of
Aeronautics and 'Astronautics.
"You've got to attract strategic
war off the planet. The notion of
abhorring war in space is just
plain wrong."
The Pentagon is concerned that
the U.S. is falling behind the
Soviets in key portions of the
"space race.". One Air Force
General summarized the mili-
tary's view of the situation:
"There has never been a trans-
portation medium in the history
of man that has not been ex-
ploited for economic and military
advantage. Space is not going to
be an exception.",
The Space Shuttle, now being
tested in Southern California, will
allow scientists, private industry
and the military to send large
payloads into orbit on a weekly
basis during the 1980s. The Shut-
tle system will include a reusable
orbiter that will be boosted into
space by giant rockets and then
glide bacl to earth landing like
an airplane. The first spaceflight
for the Shuttle is ngw scheduled
for 1979.
PENTAGON involvement in
the Shuttle program began short-
ly after the Nixon Administration
- in a cost-cutting move - can-
celled the Air Force Manned Or-
biting Laboratory in 1969.
The DoD subsequently decided
to rely exclusively on NASA's
Space Shuttle for routine access
to space. By 1984, all military
spaced missions will be carried
by the Space Shuttle.
The Pentagon's first ten shuttle
missions will include the
following satellites and weapons:
*Air Force DSCS-3 - com-
munications satellites for
military use.,
*Defense Meteorological
Satellites.
"Laser weapons developed
from the Space Laser Ex-
are studying the use of lasers and
space-mines, and some defense
officials are worried that such
Soviet satellite killers could be a
threat to the Space Shuttle.
On the U.S. side, NASA com-
missioned a study last year on the
feasibility of placing a huge
array of mirrors in orbit to
reflect the energy of ground-
based lasers and shoot down
enemy missiles. The think-tank
envisioned an advanced version
of the Space Shuttle to put the
mirrors in orbit and estimated
the cost of such a system to be
$105 billion.
NASA/DoD cooperation in the
Space Shuttle program was
called into question recently by
the New York-based Council on
~
'
\'!.
"-
i
f
.
increased and other technical
changes made in the program at
the military's request.
IN AN INTERVIEW last week
Gordon Adams, a researc
associate at the Council, said tha
NASA has been placed in
position where it must indirectl
subsidize many DoD costs. Ir
1976 the AireForce refused to par
ticipate in funding the fourth an
fifth Shuttle orbiters. "In effec
NASA is carrying the charge fo
what they had originally an
ticipated being able to share tith
the Air Force budget," Adams
stated.
But proponents of NASA's ne
military role argue that it
cooperation with the DoD spac
program is both cost-effectiv
and vital to national security.
Major General Richard Henry
vice commander of the Air Forc
research and development ager
cy for space systems, says "Th
Shuttle represents the nex
threshold for using space for vita
military and scientific missions
If military space technology cai
provide reliability and global in
formation, then our nation car
cope with those forces that ar=
upsetting the globa
equilibrium."
John Markoff is a freelance writ e
and frequen t contributor to ho
Pacific News -Service specializing i
mi/htary affairs.
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periment Definition (SLED)
studies intended to counter Soviet
ICBMs.
'Teal Ruby, an infra-red moni-
toring system to detect low-flying
aircraft.
'High. Altitude mrge Optics
(HALO): a huge camera de-
signed to monitor Soviet sites.
MILITARY PLANNERS are,
currently at work on more exotic
and potentially more deadly
research to be carried out by the
Space Shuttle. Last month the Air
Force contracted with the Vought
Corporation to build a test ver-
sion of a satellite killer.
American intelligence agencies
have reported that the Soviets
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Economic Priorities. The Council
warns that Congress' ability to
control the U.S. space program
will be complicated by the in-
clusion of the military in the
Space Shuttle program.-
"Because the DoD will be en-
tirely dependent upon NASA's
transportation system for space
launches," a Council report
states, "there is a danger that in
the future NASA programs will
be oriented toward military,
rather than civilian and scientific
purposes."
Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis,) has
claimed that NASA increased the
payload of the Shuttle from 25,000.
to 65,000 pounds to satisfy the Air
Force and that Shuttle thrust was
0
'D
Letters to
The Daily
The basketball ticket fiasco
R EGGIE JACKSON was kind
enough to euthanize baseball.
Football season is at the mid-point.
That means it's time to worry about
basketball. True to form, Athletic Di-
rector Don Canham's ticket allocation
policy offers the student basketball fan
thousands of would-be ulcers.
University ;students have been
granted just 5,100 (37 per cent) of Cris-
ler Arena's 13,609 seats. This would be
quite generous if the basketball team
were made up of Ann Arbor ,mer-
chants, alumni and Michigan residen-
ts. Peculiarly enough, however, the
Michigan basketball team is composed
of students.
While it is nice to see the athletic
department operating in the black, we
can't let the pursuit of the dollar keep
us from fulfilling the students needs.
After fine performances by the cagers
in the last two years, it is very possible
that more than 5,100 students will want
basketball tickets this year. And the
fact that Crisler Arena only holds some
13,000 persons means, inevitably, that
a limit must be set on the number of
student, cut-rate tickets. But 5,100 is an
unjust, unrealistic limit. The team is
mainly for the students, and we deser-
vP hftar than 37 ner cent of Crisler's
and these tickets go on sale before'
tickets are made available to the
general public. Then, if less than 7,000
students desire basketball tickets, they
can easily be sold to the general public.
While this would lose some revenue for
the athletic department -- student
tickets cost much less than general
admission tickets - it would, at least,
be as equitable as possible considering
the construction of playing in an arena
vhich only seats 13,609.
PATHETIC distribution policy
compounds the ticket disaster.
The present lottery more closely
resembles Russian Roulette than
equitable rationing. Under the new
plan there is no guarantee that a
student will be able to see even one
basketball game during his or her four
years in Ann Arbor.
If more than 5,100 students want
tickets, the names of all those students,
regardless of class rank will go into a
lottery. The first 5,100 chosen will then
receive tickets, with seniors getting
first choice and so on. The problem is
that since there is no priority system
for the lottery, even a senior can't be
assured a ticket. Thus a student could
actually lose out in the lottery all four
vars here ,ndn never mt In attgnr a
leach cartoon
To The Daily:
I was very disappointed in
Keith Richburg's editorial
drawing that appeared in The
Daily last week. His depiction
of a blind Rick Leach throwing
the football was not entertain-
ing and was in very poor taste.
I don't think the artist is at all
aware of Rick's talent.. Last
year Rick finished first in the
Big Ten in both yards-per-pass
and passing percentage. He
also finished 14th in the ballot-
ing for the Heisman, and was
chaser} as the best quarterback
in the Big Ten by the coaches of
these schools.
This year Rick has been
given more of a chance to show
his passing skills, and he has
performed quite well. Football
News has been quoted as
calling him "the best quarter-
back in the country" this
season:.
Also, by the end of his junior
year Rick will have accounted
for more offensive yardage and
more career touchdown passes
than any other athlete in the
history of Michigan football.
His agility, quickness, ability
to read and adjust to defenses,
mastery of the option, and
leadership role makes him
crucial to our team.
It seems very unprofessional
to publish a half-page personal
insult against someone who has
too much class to retaliate, and
(in the eyes of the experts) who
has proven the insult to be
falsely based. I would hope that
in the future neither the artist
nor the writers of the editorial
sectionwould stoop to such
cheap shots. I have come to
expect much better from your
publication.
--Don DiPaolo,
Head Football Mgr.
quality / equality
To The Daily:'
I have always felt that the
mainsgoal of the medical and
law schools of this country
should be to turn out qualified
doctors and lawyers. Affirma-
tive action programs lower the
admission's standards of pro-
fessional schools. This results
in the acceptance of lessquali-
fied students and an ultimate
lowering of academic stand-
ards. While it is true that one.
cannot expect a poorly educat-
ed minority to compete on
equal academic terms with a
well educated majority on ad
missions tests, is this any
reason to lower the standard
for those few with appropriat
skin color and surnames? I ii
right to sacrifice quality for the
sake of equality? Or would it b
fairer to all concerned to insur
that minorities received a
equal education prior to re
questing admission to profes
sional school. Regrettably
equal education for all is not ye
a reality. However, I feel i
would be more reasonable t
attack the problem at this leve
than with a quota system. After
all, a medical school should be,
foremost, a place for the edupa-
tion and training of people into
the medical profession, and not
simply a tool used in the
interest of social change.
-James Eridok~:
15 A)
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