THE
Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Wednesday, June 5, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
Bos against the ire
OIL COMPANIES ARE RESPONSIBLE for many of the
minor and major hassles which face Americans in
their daily lives. For example: it comes from Ralph Nader
that the energy crisis shortages have been fabricated by
oil giants, while statistics show that oil company profits
have been skyrocketing for the past 18 months. Oil slick-
ers, along with their soul mates the auto companies,
have steadfastly been lobbying in Congress to prevent
pollution controls from being instated. Petroleum com-
pany tankers have been spilling oil onto ocean surfaces
for decades. And gasoline advertisements are at least as
obnoxious as any other ads on the airwaves, the bill-
boards, or the printed page.
If oil corporations were to gain control of coal, gas,
and uranium reserves, their already awesome power to
influence our economy, and culture would mount to even
more outrageous levels.
For this reason, the call on the part of the District
Attornies of Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Denver, and Philadel-
phia urging their counterparts in cities across the coun-
try to investigate major oil concerns for possible restraint
of trade and fraud was a commendable gesture.
SYLVIA PLATH'S THE BELL JAR movingly shows how
devastating electroshock and drug therapy can be to
mental patients.
A law permitting people to be committed to mental
institutions for as long as four months on the say-so of
two physicians can easily be used in such a way as to
violate the right of due process for unwilling patients.
But electroshock and drug treatment against the will
of the patient, and forced 120 day confinement on the
recommendation of two doctors, have been standard pror-
cedure in Michigan's mental hospitals.
Thus, a recent ruling by a panel of three federal judges
which allows people to be committed to the state's mental
hospitals against their will only when the potential pa-
tients are dangerous to themselves or others, and which
prohibits treating patients with drugs or electroshock
when the patients do not want this treatment, is a wel-
come decision.
It is unfortunate that the ruling is the first of its
kind in the country. Hopefully, similar restrictions will
be put on other state mental institutions across the na-
tion.
--STEPHEN HERSH
On amnest
By BETH NISSEN ask us to forgive the foolish actions of these
"For we must remember that among this geeration frightened youth and mercifully allow their re-
of Aeri ca thr arehunres whhave buered turn in exchange for their apologies and the
Canada and Sweden to sit out the war. To some remorseful tucking of their liberal political tails
Americans, these are the true ien ofe conscienceIn between their legs. And some consider these poll-
the coming generation. volem ary anad wi bmontinme
to be raise asking that amnesty be presided for ical migrants the real war heroes, deservig
these young and misguided AmereonU bOrS-" of our highest admiration and heaps of verbl
-spire T. Agnew, Nov. 21, 1" laudatory ticker-tape.
AMNESTYIS AN ISSUE of forgotten actions Only in a technical legal sense is draft-dodging
and forgotten men. Along with Agnew we criminal. Does it require our sanction, mercy or
must remember the many whose lives have been forgiveness to allow the return of those who re-
blackened by the ashes of their burnt induction fused to button khakis and commit murder for a
notices and hollowed by the leaving behind of good cause? If someone values life over death-
home, family and country, even if the life they preserve is their own-does
These lost men, many awaiting official pardon not that action hold a distinct honor in itself?
and entry back home are the single biggest left- Heroism is not easily defined. To be a hero
aver of the stew of the Vietnam war. War does requires both courage and principle, Acting on
not end with inky diplomatic signatures on water- the basis of a held belief, especially when the
marked bond; it never ends for those who have resulting action requires the loss of home and
lost a life to its violence or for those who continue nearness of family in exchange for a fugitive
to await the return of a missing son or husband and wandering uprooted life, takes a conviction
or father. firmly founded in courage.
Hundreds of families still have gaping holes
left by our most recent warring. There are dif- AGNEW AND MANY others conveniently
ferent degrees of loss. Those who have received drawer these men as "young and misguided."
the black-edged notifications of death have had to .They can not be judged as misguided solely be-
try to natch their lives and deal with a sorrowed cause they chose to follow the call of their con-
reality. Those with soldiers listed as missing science instead of the call of their local draft
balance blindly and precariously between despair board. Slow much more true direction a man
balnceblidlyan prcarousy etwen espir must have to travel upstream propelled by a
over loss and patient hope coupled with their
memories.WIbelief and manage to survive the battering of
THOSE SONS in exile in foreign coun- the country's definition of his duty and the de-
tries have lost their children as well. These mands that he fulfill it.
ytng men walking the streets of Toronto and Yet whatever argument there is concerning
Stockholm are part fsgitive,tpart martyr and their motives or morals, those who are displaced
patnational nrodigal sons. because of their opposition to the war are
part ofjurice csns.i Americans by right of birth and by rite of acting
No amount of justice can return the buried men acrdntoherbies
to their families or give tangible comfort to according to their beliefs.
those vigilantly waiting for MtA men, but we These men are as captive as any of our re-
have both the opportunity and the duty toallow turned and welcomed P.O.W.'s were. Instead
the return of those who are still alive and waiting of being held by the Asiatic enemy, they are
for our permission to come home. instead the victims of their own consciences, a
The single most inpenetrable barrier to that relentless force not easily bargained with.
homecoming is our national attitude. By leaving THESE MEN ARE our sons foremost, and our
the country in moral and personal opposition to welcome should be as unconditional as our re-
the war, the young men involved did not entirely spect for what they have suffered and what they
succeed in getting themselves out of the line of have been denied. They are the products of our
fire. The moral exiles have had to dodge bitter country and are too valuable to export or deport.
and disapproving criticism as well as the draft. It is said that war does not determine who is
DRAFT DODGING is a highly explosive issue; right, but only who is left. Whether or not we
it encompasses duty versus conscience, tradition can nod a national head in agreement with the
versus individual ethics, and legality versus political views of those requesting amnesty, we
morality. The fleeing men are often seen as can appreciate the fact that they are left alive
selfish moral lepers with a highly visible yellow- amidst the smoking rubble of a blurred and
tinged spine. questionable war.
Charges of cowardice are frequently aimed and Amnesty is a question of both conscience and
fired at those with pronounced ethical allergies consciousness. Conscience is not merely a con-
to war. The attitude that refusal to place oneself venient cover for jelly-kneed reluctance to put
in front of a bullet constitutes lack of courage :meself in personal danger, but is instead the
and sense of patriotism is cultured in our nation's force behind the right actions of a moral person.
aggressive military conviction and stored in The consciences of those driven by our foreign
dusty trunks in American attics filled with moth- policy from their homeland were not the sole
balled uniforms from several wars, engraved causes of the final good-byes to tear-eyed
tributes to graved aen, and remnants of used- mothers; it was instead a nagging consciousness
up lives. of individual conscience that caused physical mi-
For many who hold this attitude, the return of gration from intolerable demands.
the forgotten survivors of the war is not as WE CAN NEVER justify our latest war, nor
primary as the amount of honor we will accord can war itself ever be justified. Yet we can find
them when they -earrive at our national door- justice in the fragments of war. And in the
step. name of highest fairness and what is morally
SOME FEEL that those who have left should right we must make every effort to reclaim all
forfeit their citizenship and their pasts. Some the lost.
North Campus parents plan for vote
By FRIDL GORDON
Many of you readers have by now
become aware of the infamous "Plan F"
which was adopted by the Ann Arbor
School Board on March 19. This plan
was to relieve the overcrowding at
Huron High School. It solved it, the
problem, but did so by shifting the
school population downward into the
elementary grades, and creating the
space by reassigning North Campus
elementary school children and a hand-
ful of "rural" children to distant new
schools. Next Fall, North Campus child-
ren will be dispersed over five different
schools: King, Lawton (which is clear
across town), Bader, Angell and Thurs-
ton. None of these schools are in walking
distance. There are 400-500 school child-
ren on North Campus. They have never
had a school in walking distance. They
have been singled out for reassignments
seven times in the last ten years.
WE FEEL THAT the rationalization
for this treatment is understandable to
an extent, but unfounded. There has
been a long-standing animosity toward
the North Campus "parasites" (as Board
member Ted Beusel has called us; he
is a veritable fountain of epithets; just
a few days ago he referred to us as
"limousine liberals"), by a handful of
homeowners resentful of our tax-exempt
status. Obviously, it is the Michigan
Legislature rather than the students who
set tax policy. We are paying a monthly
6 school assessment fee. To date, more
than $367,000 has been collected for aid
to the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The
money is presently held in escrow,
pending a court decision on the legality
of University payments to the Ann Arbor
school system. The North Campus School
Committee would welcome a negotiated
settlement with the University and
School System which would assure the
use of this money for a new Northeast
Area school. In addition, we would like
to point to the recent rent-control'data
which indicates the large extent to which
University students without children who
live in off-campus housing contribute to
the Ann Arbor property tax base. Ap-
proximately 18 per cent of your rent
dollars go toward the schoolsl
THE NEED FOR a new school in the
northeast area of town has been clearly
established. In 1971, a bond issue was
passed by the voters for a new grade
school in this area of town. A site has
not yet been decided on. The University
has promised to give a piece of land to
the Ann Arbor Schools. This should be
accepted and would save the School
System a large sum of money-and a
school should be built and available to
both North Campus and non-University
children. Such a school could provide
service to all people living in the north-
east area of town and would eliminate
much of the hostility some townspeople
feel against North Campus and the
University.
A NORTH CAMPUS School Committee
formed in vigorous response to the highly
discriminatory Plan F. Committee mem-
bers have pursued several lines of ac-
tion since last March: meetings with the
School Administration, testimony before
the School Board, letters to the editor
of local newspapers, a presentation and
plea for help to the Regents and meet-
ings with University officials, explora-
tions of legal avenues, and research into
the feasibility of a new Northeast area
school+
In spite of all our efforts, Plan F was
implemented. It is only logical that our
interests have led us to an active role
in the upcoming School Board election.
On June 10, three School Board members
will be chosen from a field of twelve
candidates. We are endorsing three ex-
cellent candidates who will support
North Campus children's interest as
well as a humane, enlightened approach
to the entire community's education.
TWO OF THE candidates, Tanya Israel
and Will Simson were chosen and have
the support of a city-wide caucus of
liberal-progressive townspeople. The
third candilate we are endorsing is As-
trid Beck, a resident of North Campus.
Astrid has lived in Ann Arbor since
1971. Her two sons attend King Elemen-
tary and Clague Middle School. Educa-
tion is a way of life for Astrid: a doc-
toral student in Compartive Literature,
and a teaching fellow, Astrid has taken
an active role in community concerns.
She was deeply involved in the cam-
paign against Plan F, and is well known
among and respected by many residents
of North Campus.
MANY NON-PARENTS among students
and staff of the University have tradi-
tionally ignored School Board Elections.
This is one reason why the present
Board is constituted so very conserva-
tively; there are presently only two
progressives on the Board (Pat Pooley
and Vice President Johnson). We would
hope that this year the University com-
munity will come out and vote in full
force-the children of fellow students
need your help! Please vote on June 10.
Fridl Gordon is chairwoman of the
North Campas School Committee. She
is a stady skills counselor in the School
of Nursing.