A1-e £ 4Mid gan Bai
Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Ford's speech sign
of
activism's death
Wednesday, September 22, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Veto day care ordinance
WE ARE SHOCKED and dismayed
by the action of City Council's
Republican majority in forcing pas-
sage of a discriminatory and ill-con-
ceived day care ordinance Monday
night.
The ordinance, which requires new
child day care facilities to obtain ap-
proval of the city Zoning Board of
Appeals (ZBA), in effect gives "citi-
zens' groups" the power to forbid day
care centers in their areas on almost
any pretext.
While we sympathize with the need
for citizens to have a say in the af-
fairs of their neighborhoods and rea-
lize the necessity for regulating day
care centers, we must nevertheless
take issue with the Council majority
on two points:
First, an "open-ended" ordinance
such as this one alters the entire pur-
pose of the ZBA. Formally, that
body's task has always been to judge
how a land use adheres to certain
specific standards; now it is being
told to rule on matters which lie be-
yond the scope of Its authority.
IT IS NOT the ZBA's business to be
swayed by angry neighbors; nor was
it ever I n t e n d e d to "legislate
aesthetics."
Second, we believe that in singling
out day care centers for this pecu-
liar form of control Council Republi-
cans have shown something less than
concern for the broad principles of
citizen input. They have, in point of
fact, taken up the sword of the law
on behalf of one group of voters and
used it to slash at a group whose
members are too young to defend
themselves.
We urge Mayor Albert Wheeler to
veto this destructive and inequitable
measure, and we ask the voters of
Ann Arbor to support him. The power
of veto, it is true ,should be used
rarely and judiciously -- but if ever
there was a piece of legislation de-
serving a veto, it is this one.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Elaine Fletcher, Ken Parsigian,
Bill Turque, Pauline Lubens, Barb
Zahs, Pauline Toole
Editorial Page: Michael Beckman, Rob
Meachum, J o n Pansius, T o m
Stevens
Arts Page: Lois Josimovich, Karen Paul
Photo Technician: Alan Bilinsky
By TIM SCHICK
-tRESIDENT FORD spoke Wednesday night
at what just a few years ago was called
one of the three most radical campuses in the
nation, and did not have to acknowledge a single
demonstrator. Few men with Ford's record
have manipulated crowds as well as the Presi-
dent did.
The University of Michigan appearance will
probably be the most hostile reception given
Ford during the campaign. But the demonstra-
tions were poorly organized and many non-sup-
porters got wrapped up in the spirit which the
Ford stratigists carefully generated.
The first reason for the warm reception was
the careful managing of the event. Ford sup-
porters were given seats close to the stage and
in many of the lower sections. It was clear as
the evening progressed why the original plan
of an all-student audience was abandoned. Ford
wanted some friends in the crowd.
But a warm reception cannot be pinned on
the organization alone.
A large part of the student crowd was made
up of people interested in seeing and hearing
Ford. They aren't Ford supporters, but at any
reference to the football team or the University
itself, they would wildly cheer, not realizing
that they were falling in to the trap of inadver-
tant support. While they may not have intended
to demonstrate backing for support, they failed
to realize that Ford attempting to say "the
University is good, I as a product of the Uni-
versity, therefore I am good."
EVEN THE BAND was caught in the trap.
While they were not there out of support of
Ford, they were giving inadvertant backing
to the man who had made "Victors" his cam-
paign song.
One of the most shocking sights at the speech
was to see students with shoulder length hair,
and jeans, once the symbol of dissent, cheering
Ford on several occasions.
At one point a hip looking guy told a heckler
"I didn't come hear to listen to you."
Though this was not an action in support of
Ford, it is an abandonment of the principle of
vocal dissent. Ford should have been forced
to face up to the points being raised by the
hecklers, including amnesty, the Pardon of
Nixon and his frequent use of the veto.
It was stunning to hear students shouting at
hecklers to be quiet.
But what of the hecklers. Only a few times
did they do anything audible. The major prob-
lem was that many of the campus radicals
were either too apathetic to come to the speech,
or were part of the demonstrations outside,
which due to lack of fore thought failed to get
in the arena before the doors were shut.
THE END RESULT was that the people most
hostile to Ford were on the outside and those on
the inside were friendly.
While the heckling attempted to bring im-
pirtant issues to the forefront, one act of dem-
onstration was clearly out of line. It is unfortu-
nate that someone was so immature as to set
off a firecracker during the speech.
It would have been very easy for a nervous
cop to open fire on what he thought was a
sniper. The idea of having bullets bouncing
around 14,000 people is not amusing in the
slightest.
The speech ended up a victory for Ford and
the last gasp of activism.
Ford had much to be happy about as he flew
back to Washington.
Presidenit IFord
Illiterate risoner education
definite A-i plus for society
letters
To The Daily:
After reading The Michigan
the past week, I am more th
disappointed. I felt that your f
erage and editorial comments
the Ford visit to Ann Arbor
cions.
I feel that criticism wheni
righteously can be very effectiv
ating various proposals and p
to criticize things widely withou
any sound alternatives leadst
lieve that you are criticizing j
sake of criticizing.
A MAJOR TREND in the wi
is to criticize and cause dissenti
out of that may come someth
That is pure bullshit! Criticism
just cause more turmoil and d
My biggest complaint lies with
basis of the paper. The Daily
the voice of the students on c
it should represent the entirety
dent body, not just the inter
minority. Even though I can't
figures exactly, a Universitys
ministered to entering stude
that the majority of students ar
in their political beliefs, and1
characterize themselves as far l
than five per cent of the studen
seen these surveys for the last
entering classes.
I don't know the internal wv
The Daily an dthus I can only
evaluation based on what I re
paper. What I propose may s
simplistic, but it might alleviate
lem of what I would call "unrep
journalism:" that is to actually
recruit people to write for the p
be have a "Ford supporter" wri
1v column. Don't worry, every
cancel their subscriptions.
Last week I heard one Daily
mark, "If you don't like thing
staff and change it." I laughed.
obvious to me that a person of
political beliefs just couldn't b
in that atmosphere.
Another personal observation t
had is that the majority of peo
knok who subscribe to The Da
more for its notice of events (p
certs, etc.) than for its news it
laugh and joke about the jour
put.
.Mike Roney
Sentember 18
To The Daily:
During President Ford's ad
week at Ann Arbor I was disturb
the booing and catcalls, but fe
was due mainly to an immatur
polite minority: also that the ch
or firecracker was set off by a
little brain could not comrehe
tential for tra'edy of such actio
But tod y Iread (Wshington
Readers slam
Ford coverage
sider the editorial writer(s) no more than
Daily for cheap and reckless politicians, inciting
aan a I t le others to riot and violence to further their
actual cov- own interests of an "education" without
concerning earning it.
were atro- I suggest cherry bombs under their edi-
torial chairs to blast them out of their
it is used positions and out of the University. I have
e in evalu- always been proud of the University of
eople. But Michigan, and supported it - now I won-
t proposing der.
me to be- Harold D. Hoekstra
ust for the 1929 Aerospace Engineering
September 16
Editors' response:
orld today THERE HAS BEEN much said about
.n ba recent Daily editorial that appeared the
ing better. morning President Gerald Ford spoke in
n like that Crisler Arena. The sentence in question
ivisiveness. stated "Ford kicking off his presidential
the whole campaign at a college campus is some-
should be .
ms suldand thing akin to Hitler making the first do-
ofmpusstn nation to the United Jewish Appeal."
of the st-
It seems that initial reaction to the
statement was keyed to "Hitler" and the
quote the full context of the comment misinterpreted.
survey ad-
survey as In no way did we attempt to compare
tse shmoderate Gerald Ford to Adolph Hitler; we were
those who instead emphatically drawing an analogy
eft are less to what we believed was a hypocritical
ts. I haove by Ford to open his campaign here
s couple hov in light of his dubious stand on higher
couple of education.
Rob Meachum
or kngsyofMichael Beckman
make my September 21
ad in the
eem over- To The Daily:
the prob-
resentative I AM A Democrat myself, but I think
go out and your 'editorial went too far in saying that
aper. Mav- President Ford was "highly out of order"
te a week- in coming to Ann Arbor to launch his cam-
one won't paign. It is quite traditional for candidates
to select some place with youth ful asso-
chap re- ciations for an initial campaign speech;
s join the very many candidates for office have done
It seemed the like, and I think I would too in their
moderate place, (granting that highly improbable
e welcome event.
Your own position is far from clear, since
:hat I have you say both major candidates are "un-
hatIthav trustworthy. I take itayou are then sup-
ple that I porting some third party. Which?
ily do so Preston Slosson
days, con- September 18
ems. They
alistic out-
To The Daily:
I MUST TAKE exception to the mention
of "2000 persons whose late arrivals could
not be accommodated" on page 10 of the
Sept. 16 issue referring to President Ford's
dress last visit. A large number of those "late" ar-
ed to hear rivals, with "reserve tickets" in hand, were
,t that it in line at 6:10 waiting for the doors to
e and im- open at 6:15 for the scheduled 7:00 speech
-as announced.
erry bomb Please don't misrepresent us - we were
nut whose not late, just left out and misinformed.
id the po- Somebody goofed, but it wasn't the early
n. "latecomers".
Pnst ani Ann Schlitt
By SUSAN HILDEBRANDT
A GROUP OF Ann Arbor resi-
dents and University of
Michigan students have taken
on a big task - they are try-
ing to educate illiterate prison-
ers of southeastern Michigan.
They make up a collective or-
ganization known as the Inmate
Project (IP) which helps in-
mates pass Graduate Equivalen-
cy Degree (GED) tests and of-
fers them friendship, under-
standing and contact with "the
outside world."
Prisoners are forgotten and
ignored behind bars and need
help reintegrating themselves
into society, IP contends. Conse-
quently, its members tutor and
counsel inmates in various pe-
nal institutions to show their
concern and help prepare them
to successfully function in an
educationally oriented society.
"Prisoners are subjected to
very inhumane conditions," sta-
ted Paula Weinbaum, a U-M
student and three-year member
of the five-year-old collective.
"Regardless of the crimes com-
mitted, people should not be
treated like animals as they
are in prisons across the coun-
try. We in the Inmate Project
feel a responsibility to our com-
munity and to bettering it. One
way to do this is to work within
the criminal justice system, es-
tablishing constant communica-
tion between the inside and the
outside."
THE INMATE PROJECT pre-
sently serves imprisoned juve-
niles and adults in Adrian,
Green Oaks and Maxey Boys'
Training Schools, the Washte-
new County Jail and Juvenile
Residential and Detention Cen-
ters, Milan Federal Penitentiary
and the State Prison of Southern
Michigan (Jackson State Pri-
son.)
Most inmates are from low
socio-economic backgrounds and
have failed in the American edu-
cational system, according to
the IP. They have been unable
to obtain decent jobs and have,
therefore, resorted to illegal
means of sustaining themselves.
"When these people leave pri-
son they are returning to the
same society they left - a so-
ciety based on unequal distribu-
tion of wealth," stated Wein-
baum. "Statistics show most
are going to commit other
crimes and return to prison.
While an education doesn't solve
many of the problems confront-
ing inmates, it may at least
give them a little help in stay-
ing out of prison in the future.
Let's face it, you need an edu-
cation or at least basic literacy
skills to get almost anywhere
in this country."
BY ASSISTING with weekly
homework , assignments and
GED studies, the IP attempts
to increase institutionalized ju-
venile delinquents' literacy
skills. Word games such as
"Scrabble" and "Probe" are
taken into juvenile training
skills by collective members and
are used to "motivate young-
sters and to make learning
more fun."
Community organizations such
as the Ann Arbor Women's Cri-
sis Center, which teaches self-
defense, and an Ann Arbor
mime troupe are occasionally
taken to the institutions by IP
members who tutor several
hours weekly for U-M credit.
"Juveniles are much more
vulnerable than adults," Wein-
baum said. "Unfortunately, once
someone has been labeled a de-
viant, he or she continues to
act accordingly. Imprisonment
reinforces a person's concept
of him or herself as a criminal
and orisons are the best place
to learn new 'tricks of the
trade.' We can be relatively
certain that many of the kids
in training schools are just be-
2inning their 'careers of crime.'
We hope to give them some con-
structive inputs to show them
they are important people and
that they are cared for. Maybe
this little attention at a vital
time can begin to steer them
in a profitable direction."
ADULT AND adolescent in-
mates are crying out for atten-
tion and compassion, according
to IP members who work with
them. These are readily ex-
changed between prisoners and
tutors during personalized tutor-
ing sessions.
Games are absent from the
adult educational programs and
tutors rely on prison reading
materials to teach.
"The majority of the tutors
in the adult " prisons - Milan
and the State Prison of South-
ern Michigan - were initially
very surprized by the extreme-
ly low literacy levels of the in-
mates. Many of them read only
one and two syllable words and
some don't even know the alpha-
bet. Of course, we only teach
those who need help; there are
some who have college degrees
but they are a minority. In fact,
those with an education above
the tenth grade are probably
a minority," assessed Wein-
baum.
Tutors provide post arrest
counseling and necessary ser-
vices, such as telephone calls,
to recent arrestees in the Wash-
tenaw County Jail, while recent
parolees in Washtenaw County
receive job, housing and school-
ing assistance from IP's Ex-of-
fender Contact Center. These op-
portunities are narmally very
difficult to find since few peo-
ple want to deal with ex-con-
victs, according to the collec-
tive.
HELPING INCARCERATED
people is not the Inmate Proj-
ect's sole intent, however.
"We try to enlighten student
participants to the atrocities of
prisons," asserted Weinbaum.
"They are continually amazed
and angered by witnessing the
overcrowding, the inadequate
personal, educational and occu-
pational facilities, and the se-
vere repression inherent in pri-
sons. The act of placing one in
prison and taking away his or
her freedom is intended to be
punishment. Instead, inmates
are sent to prisons and are con-
tinually punished while there by
the horrid conditions and by
such obvious punishments as
solitary confinement, extra dif-
ficult and timely work duties,
and added sentencing time for
inappropriate behavior," Wein-
baum continued.
"Until you actually talk inti-
mately with someone who has
been deprived of his or her free-
dom, you can't begin to imagine
the effects imprisonment has
on an individual. We hope to
make as many people as possi-
ble aware of that," she con-
cllided.
THROUGH A court-watching
program involving courtroom
observance and statistical rec-
ord gathering, participants learn
of many justice system opera-
tions and of some factors which
inf lence the outcome of a court
case, such as race, sex, age, ap-
pearance and the nature of an
alleged offense.
While Inmate Project mem-
bers don't expect to lower Mich-
igan's recidivism rate or change
prison operations themselves,
they hope to motivate enough
people to assure future prison
reforms.
A film and speaker series is
conducted each semester to
awaken interested persons to
"the faults of the prison busi-
ness."
"We hope to soon become a
clearing house for prison infor-
mation," declared Weinbaum.
"We will be able to supply any-
one with desired resources or
anoropriate references. The
only way to even begin to
change prison conditions is to
obtain inside knowledge and
spread the word."
Several students gather infor-
mation through IP's Legislative
Research pIrogram to fill the
files which are the foundation
of the future clearing house.
THE UNIVERSITY of Mich-
igan-affiliated Inmate Project is
funded largely by foundafon
grants and is considered the
first of its kind in the coun-
try.
Initially, the collective con-
sisted of one project with ap-
proximately 20 student tutors.
Today, however, nearly 150 stu-
dents per semester serve hun-
dreds of incercerated people
through 14 IP programs.
Despite the security restric-
tions placed on tutors inside the
institutions, the collective mem-
bers consider their programs a
success and say inmates, stu-
dents and administrators re-
spond enthusiastically.
"We don't feel that offenders
are necessarily innocent or that
anyone should be able to blank-
etly harm others," admitted
Weinbaum. "We just feel that
there are socially induced rea-
sons for committing crimes and
that those who have perpetrated
crimes should be given every
chance to exist in society as
we know it.
"TODAY THAT society says
offenders must go to prison, but
we know the prison system to
be a failure and degrading be-
yond human tolerance. We are
not controlling the causes of
crime, but are vainly striking
out at the symptoms," she con-
tinued.
"Perhaps with out help those
in prison can be released just
a bit better equipped to handle
the outside or can have a little
more bearable stay within."
The Inmate Project is a com-
ponent of Project Community
and Community Services and is
located in 2204 Michigan Union.
Ralph's Universe
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