Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Tuesday, May 14, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 Leash on life for Justice Department '7 F 1iM1 Nil ONE OF THE MOST blatant violations of civil liberties during the Nixon administration-and the Johnson administration as well--has been the indiscriminate use of illegal wiretaps. For that reason the decision yesterday by tle Supreme Court that the Justice Department violated the law in the placement of many wiretaps while John Mitchell was attorney general was a welcome change of pace for a Supreme Court which has steadily placed law enforce- ment fiat above individual liberties in the last several years. The use of wiretaps, whether legally or illegally, is always a threat to individual privacy especially because its inherent secrecy increases the possibility for abuse. In this case, it was clear that the power to tap was abused. The Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968 states that requests for taps must be approved by the attorney general or a specially designated assistant attorney gen- eral, while Mitchell had allowed his executive assistant to give blanket approval to taps while Mitchell was not in Washington. THE LAST SEVERAL administrations in Washington have all nurtured a growing belief that, in the pro- cess of combatting crime, it is not necessary for the government itself to stay within the law. The Watergate revelations have documented this belief most clearly in the Nixon administration, which has had a drive to use illegal wiretaps that can only be described as manic. As was demonstrated by the placing of telephone wire- taps on journalists in an attempt to discover the source of news leaks, the government does not have to obtain the signature of a judge to place a telephone tap if it so desires. Thus we find ourselves in a situation in which only the check of the courts can provide restraint when officials with the capability to use electronic eavesdropping will do so without regard for the niceties of the law. And when wire taps are placed in secret and kept secret, there would seem to be no restraint at all. -ERIC SCHOCH Spring Staff REBECCA WARNER Editor MARNIE HEYN Editoriai Director KEN FINK Arts Editor G ORAONATCHESON .............................Night Editor JEFF DAY ........................................ Night Editor CHERYL PLATE ... . . . .. Night Editor JUDY RUSKIN ....... ..... ........ ..... Night Editor JEFF SORENSEN. ........ ... Night Edito BARBARA CORNELL . ..... Ass't. Night Editor JANET HARSHMAN Ass't. Night Editor ANDREA LILY ............ ......... ..Asst. Night Edito STEPHEN HERSH.. ...... Asst. Night Editor DAvID WITiNG........ Ass't. Night Editor MARC FELDMAN Sports Editor MARK SANCRAINTE Business Manager CLA RKE COGSDILL ............Contributing Sports Editor GEORGE HASTINGS ...... Executive Sports Editor JOHN KAHLER.. . . . . . ..... Associate Sports Editor ROGER ROSSITER ..........Managing Sports Editor JOAN ADES ...Cu Manager -we CoiMMrrrgEE TO LWUMiAPECaM W PRoEmar -Vi lT 'Refreshing to have an (expletive deleted) leader who has the (inaudible) to be Candid, ain't it?' SGC function examined By JEANNE FOX LAST FALL, a number of incidents raised ques- tions in many students, faculty, and admin- istrator's minds about the effectiveness and quality of student government at the University of Michigan. The accountability and methods of the current president, Lee Gill, were under attack. Voter turnout hit a new low with only 3 percent of the student body voting in the November election. A new system of representation, called to 10-10-10 plan, put over 40 representatives into office at the same time, but many soon decided that this did no better job of representing the different student groups and interests on campus than did the old method. Others questioned SGC's seeming inability to handle its money respon- sibly, and the fact that SGC seemed to go into debt each year. Henry Johnson, vice president for student serv- ices, went to the Regents with a proposal for a committee to study student government at Michi- gan which would eventually.suggest plans for the reorganization of SGC. The Regents agreed, and a 22-member body, called the Commission on Student Government, was formed. ONE OF THE biggest concerns has been the decreasing percentage of voters in recent elec- tions. At first it was assumed that SGC's inef- fectiveness and low credibility were to blame for the low student interest, but now it seems as if the answer is more complex. According to Vice President Henry Johnson, one reason for the low voter turnout is that "the ma- jority of students have a greater allegiance with their department or professional school than with some central monolithic body." Johnson also feels that SGC is not representa- tive -enough, "not in terms of representing the different colleges and schools, or in terms of rep- resenting large constituent blocks." Another fac- tor is that SGC has not addressed itself to the is- sues that students are really interested in, he added. SOPHOMORE KATHY KOLAR, co-chairwoman of the Commission, feels that because of the 18- year-old vote more students are interested in local issues and politics, and consequently par- ticipation in student government has lost some of its appeal. Kolar said that one of the most important find- ings of the Commission, based on a survey of more than 70 colleges and universities, is that "low voter turnout is not necessarily indicative of how important or effective the student govern- ment is. "But voter turnout is indicative," she con- tinued, "of how important students judge the is- sues they are to vote on in a student election. Students vote when their vote affects some change of issue they have control over, such as the assessment of student fees.' 'LAW STUDENT RONALD HARRIS, co-chair- man of the Commission, agreed with Kathy and pointed out that the schools surveyed had reported that usually less than 20 per cent of their stu- dent body vot'd in each election. Doug Reith, Commission member, suggested that the Commission should look at what the Uni- versity is not doing for students that student government should do. Then they can decide, he said, on what structure of government would work best on Michigan's campus. Reith also believes that the representatives elected in all-campus elections under the current system really are not responsible or accountable to the students who elected them. He thought that if students were to elect representatives from their school or college, the representatives would come under greater scrutiny, and be more re- sponsive to their electing body. CERTAIN SGC ACCOMPLISHMENTS in re- cent years have called for a change in SGC priorities and activities, according to Harris, but SGC has not made this change. "Several years ago SGC was very successful in getting the Uni- versity to be less concerned with loco parentis (when the University assumes the responsibility of being parents away from home through such things as dormitory curfews) and to be more con- cerned with educational issues," he said. "This has caused a change in the function of student government, Harris continued. He now feels that SGC should become more involved in political and fundamental issues such as the nature of University research, and availability of low cost housing. The effectiveness of SGC will increase when it begins to deal with more substantive issues of in- terest to the students, says Johnson, such as re- creation facilities, and how students should be involved in the student governments in their various schools. ACCORDING TO JOHNSON, another function of SGC should be to "maximize student input into the overall University structure." One issue he would like to see SGC tackle again is the possi- bility of student representation on the Regents' through an ex-officio student member. Harris also believes that SGC should concen- trate on "increasing the number of students on decision making bodies (such as curriculum committees) and that SGC should have exclusive control over the selection of those students." Carl Sandberg, the current SGC president, said that "SGC has done well in providing services, such as low cost student insurance, and recog- nition of student organizations," but agrees that "SGC has not handled its finances we'll or done adequate future planning." "SGC's relationship with school and college governments should also be tighter than it has been," he added. Sandberg considers the cam- pus too fractionalized, and would like to see SGC have regular meetings or consultations with the different college governments. "We should also explore the possibility of joint financing for some activities." IN GENERAL, Sandberg believes that SGC should concentrate in the future on "a stronger structure than we now have, tighter controls, better programming, and better control of fi- nancing."