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May 29, 1970 - Image 4

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Michigan Daily, 1970-05-29

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. 10

SST:

* ~~rSi~ian Rai~t
Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by'students at the University of Michigan

Some more money down

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.

.News Phone: 764-0552

Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

FRIDAY,;MAY 29, 1970

NIGHT EDITOR: NADINE COHODAS

LSA dean must be
approved by students, faculty

By EDWARD ZIMMERMAN
THE DICTIONARY defines dodo as a
large, flightless bird; this week, critics
of the supersonic transport plane (SST)
dubbed it the "flying dodo" after the House
approved $290 million in additional fund-
ing for the development of the plane.
The added funds wil bring the total fed-
eral appropriation to almost one billion
dollars. A billion dollars that the critics
charge is destined to grow to over four
billion dollars, maybe even five.
THE PLANE is being brought to you by
the same people who brought you Vietnam,
Cambodia and ABM. Isn't that a coinci-
dence? They use the same worn out ar-
guments in favor of their product : if an
American firm does not build the plane,
billion of dollars will be lost in potential
sales to foreign airlines, and our balance
of payments will suffer.
-'Rep. Henry Reuss (D-Wis), a leader in
the flight to clip the wings of the SST,
pleaded with his colleagues to deny funds
for the plane because, "The taxpayer's re-
volt continues. There is inflation at the
rate of 7.2 per cent. An extra million per-
sons are unemployed. Interest rates are

the highest in 100 years. Wall Street is in
shambles. Yet the taxpayers are mocked by
this 'flying dodo' that will add $290 million
to taxes this year."
NOT ONLY is the plane costly. but it
also has severe physical disadvantages. It
creates a sonic boom when it reaches a
speed of 700 miles per hour-a sonic boom
that breaks windows and pops ears.
Supporters of 'the plane say that the
noise level will be restricted over populated
areas so that 'the windows will not break.
But then they also say that the noise gen-
erated by the takeoffs and landings favor-
ably compares with present supersonic
planes, a point which the critics of the
plane can not quite believe. The critics say
that the 'noise level will be' at least four
times greater than at the present time.
THE SUPPORTERS of the "flying dodo"
are the, same people who have come to be
recognized as the military-industrial com-
plex supporters in Congress. They are the
ones who can be held responsible for such
gross travesties as the ABM, the Cheyenne
helicopter, the faulty F-ill jet and other

waste that this country spends almost $80
billion a year on.
What is the purpose of the SST? To fly
the jet-set from New York to Paris in
three hours less than it takes presently.
The supporters contend that we are
"going to lose the magnificent lea1d we
have in the production and sale of aircraft
around the world" if the SST progra.m is
stopped.
That is where the typical faulty as-
sumption on the part of the plane's sup-
porters lies. While this country is on the
verge of emotional collapse, these people
are worrying about profits from a plane
that is still on the American drawing
board.
THE QUESTION HERE, as with many
other isues is one of national priorities.
And we have left it up to an inept Congress
to decide our fate for us. And we have al-
lowed Congress to buy weapons of war in-
stead of tools for the health and better-
ment of the country.
Rep. Henry Reuss and the 162 other
people in the House who voted to cut off
funds for the SST are by all means correct
in continuing to try and harness the im-

the drain
mense defense budget that burdens this
country heavily. Not only is such a large
budget unnecessary, but it is also extreme-
ly foolish. Instead of building faster jets
and better missiles, we should be designing
prospects for peace in the world now. The
critics of the administration realize that if
we do not stop now. we may never stop.
They recognize the fact that the SST and
other related objects of interest do not
even approach serving the interest of the
public.
The final decision on the future of the
SST has not been made yet. It has to go
to the Senate for further approval and it
vill be up to them to decide. However, the
"flying dodo's" critics are not too op-
timistic.
Probably sometime within the next eight
to ten years, we will be able to look up
into the sky-if it's not too smoggy-and
see the SST in operation. By then it will
have cost this country somewhere in the
neighborhood of four to five billion dollars.
And journalists will be writing about a
proposed'plane that will fly at three times
the speed of the SST. Maybe by then Con-
gress will say no.

A3

THE DEPARTURE of William Hays from
the deanship of the literary college
gives the University's largest academic
unit an opportunity -to begin the long-
overdue process of democratization.
For in its status as the chief adminis-
trative office of the college, the deanship
is of critical import to any effort aimed
at removing the inequities of a decision-
making process which operates with mini-
mal student participation.
While the ultimate authority in gov-
erning the college resides with the LSA
faculty, the duties delegated to the 'dean
allow him to make decisions which can
have considerable impact on the student
body.
For e x a nip 1 e, Hays' suspension last
March of SDS member Robert Parsons
pending a hearing on charges that Par-
sons struck a faculty member threatened
to set a precedent ;which could have been
used to r e m o v e sources of unpopular
dissent.
Hays 1 a t e r rescinded the suspension
amid the pressure of a sit-in outside his
office. But the demonstration of his
power as dean to discipline any student
without allowing him due process should
not be forgotten, particularly as the tenor
of-dissent at the University becomes more
militant.
AND IT IS clear that the Regents, who
will have to appoint a successor to
Hays, will be pressured to choose a dean
willing to apply his disciplinary powers
to the fullest extent.
Their fear of what would occur if the
student body was given an effective role
in the governing of each academic unit
makes it unlikely that student input into
the dean's selection will be given much
weight.
.To be sure, w i t h i n the next few
months, a ,search committee composed of

students and faculty will be named, and
asked to come up with a list of nominees
for the position. But this oft-used pro-
cedure for "involving" all segments of the
University community in key ' appoint-
ments has been shown to be no more
than a ploy.
For six m o n t h s, Pre'sident Robben
Fleming has sat on a list of five nominees
for vice president for student affairs
which were submitted to him by a stu-
dent-faculty search committee. And he
has admitted that his reasons for delay-
ing the appointment include his opposi-
tion to the views espoused by four of the
candidates, who favor granting student
representatives the ultimate authority in
the vice president's office.
TURNING TO the appointment of a new
LSA dean, it seems clear that the use
of a student-faculty search committee
will far from assure the selection of a
person acceptable to students in the lit-
erary college.
In fact, the only viable method for
bringing students into the selection pro-
cess would be a regental agreement to
only choose a dean which has received the:
prior endorsement of the LSA student
body, as well as the faculty.
No doubt, the Regents would be re-
luctant to enter into such an agreement,
fearing that they would be forced to
appoint a dean whop might institute re-
forms they adamantly oppose.
BUT THE Regents should understand
.that a refusal to grant LSA students
an effective role in the selection of the
chief administrator of their college will
only contribute to the student body's
frustration over its token role in govern-
ing the college.
-ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ

4

Dksbooksbooksbooksbc

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New papers on

pot: A smoke of words

A4

A.Fd. commander closes base,
But Self ridge picnic still on

THE BASE COMMANDER at Selfridge
Air Force Base has cancelled the tra-
ditional "O p e n House and Air Show"
planned for Memorial Day because of the
"Picnic for Peace."
Col. Kenneth Gunnarson explained the
cancellation saying, "information has
been received that indicates some of the
protest organizations that were planning
a "peace picnic' during this aerial show
were of a militant nature with a long
history of violence."
He refused to define which groups he
meant.
"Therefore," he continued, "it would be
imprudent to risk possible injury to civil-
ian guests or damage government prop-
erty."
It did seem strange that the military
would allow a picnic for peace to take
place on an Air Force base. It 'did seem
strange that the brass haven't been com-
ing down as hard on the anti-war GIs
at Selfridge as had been happening at
other military bases.
Well, now it is easier to understand. It
is easy to ignore the American Service-
men's Union (ASU), the military's anti-
war organization when they stand alone
with little visible support from civilians
First axioi
JAR DOES not always give democratic
societies over to military govern-
ment, but it must invariably and im-
measurably increase the powers of civil
government; it must automatically con-
centrate the direction of all men and the
control of all things in the hands of the
government. If that does not lead to
despotism by sudden violence, it leads
men gently in that direction by their
habits.
"All those who seek to destroy the free-
dom of the democratic nations must
know that war is the surest and shortest

and other military personnel. But all of
a sudden, when thousands were expectea
to attend the peace picnic; and with ASU
support from within the military is
growing rapidly, it was not so easy.
ASU chapters are springing up all over
the world as soldiers begin to voice their
opposition to the war in Indochina.
Thousands already belong to the ASU,
and the national office in New York es-
timates that 100 new GIs join every week.
But the ASU group at Selfridge is rel-
atively' new and quite small. The brass
never quite took t h e m seriously, and
when they first heard about the peace
picnic, they ignored it totally. But last
week, as support for the protest began to
become obvious, word leaked out of the
base commander's office that the gates
would be locked about four hours earlier
than usual, about noon, so that the pro-
testers - most of whom would be first
attending the rally and march in De-
troit - would be locked out.
But as it became more and more ob-
vious that people would come before the
gates were locked and that the anti-war
protesters would probably include "mili-
tant groups" which had"a long history of
violence," t h e brass decided to cancel
their air show completely to avoid hav-
ing thousands of people on base talking
about how war is a bad thing. Maybe
some more GIs would join the ASU and
strengthen it even further. Such things
could be very bad for a military base.
So, to avoid the possibility of peaceful
long hairs poisoning the minds of crew-
cutted, all-American boys, the military
decided to completely cancel the big day.
But they did it. So now, the brass are
going to find out that closing the base
will only make more obvious the repres-
sion of the ASU by the military. And
don't think that closing the base means
no peace picnic. Now, everyone will just
be outside of the gates, including t h e
"militant groups" that are supposedly the
reason the base has been closed.
The "militant groups" possibly was on-

JOURNAL OF PSYCHEDELIC
DRUGS, Editor, David E. Smith,
M.D., M.S., "Current Marijuana
Issues," Volume II Issue I, Dis-
tributed by Science and Be-
havior Books, Inc., $2.75.
By JOHN C. POLLARD, M.D.
When, oh when dear Lord, can
we hear something new, something
important about pot?
Some days before the Daily
asked me to review this journal,
I received a flyer about it in the
mail. It announced "Only an in-
dependent journal can rise above
popular fears and fury to bring
you reliable reports on the latest
research in the field of psycho-
active drugs . . ." I was puzzled by
the term 'independent,' as I didn't
know what it meant here. Did it
mean that since it wasn't the of-
ficial organ of an organization
like the AMA or the APA it would
not be biased or prejudiced? But
then it is an official organ-"The
Haight-Ashbury Clinic presents
..."-and the Haight-Ashbury
Clinic does stand for something.
It is, perhaps, the most famous
of the free clinics.
In a way one might even sup-
pose that the HA Clinic represents,
in many respects, just the opposite
of the AMA; to some, the idea of
anything being free and exclusive-
ly service-oriented at least hints
of creeping socialism. Maybe by
independent it means that anyone
can present whatever they want
without fear of being censored be-
cause it disagreed with an editor-
ial policy. Somehow I have the
feeling that if anyone had said
anythingrthat Dr. Smith, the edit-
or, disagreed with, then it would
have been presented, but since the
papers were read at a symposium
on marijuana co-sponsored by the
Pscycho - pharmacology S t u d y
Group of the University of Cali-
fornia Medical Center and the
Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic,
one can only assume that the se-
lection of speakers was not
random.
I am not accusing anyone of
deliberately stacking the deck, just
of naivete. How can anyone really
claim an "independence to rise
above popular fears and fury"
about drug issues that are really
neither chemical, pharmacological
nor medical-issues that are for
the most part not even rational.
Pot is symbolic. It's all about pop-
ular fears and fury. Depending
upon where you're at, it is the
disillusion of the American way
of life, it's a Commie plot. It's
Kent State and troops in Cam-
bodia. It's dissipation or it's free-
dom. It's young versus old. The
establishment and the alienated.
It's all about liberal professors
and Chicago police. It's Jerry Rub-
in and Judge Hoffman. It's Viet-
nam and it's Woodstock.
The journal makes excellent
reading-I found little new, may-
be Shulgin's paper "Recent Devel-
opments in Cannabis Chemistry"
which, no doubt, chemists will find
very interesting. Maybe because
HA is (was?) such a special area
the drug-use surveys are partic-
ularly interesting. But with 97
per cent of the people surveyed
taking drugs, I cannot help but
be intrigued by the absteminous
three per cent.
In the editorial introduction, Dr.
Smith summarizes briefly the pre-
sentations that are to be made, in

parently containing Sernyl. Uhr
and I used Sernyl in our experi-
ments here in 1960. Peace Pill!
For Heaven's sake, that is the
vilest chemical and, unlike some
other hallucogenic substances, in
my opinion has no redeeming
features.
Also in the first section is a
splendid cross-cultural analysis of
worldwide marijuana use by Dr.
Joel Fort. Dr. Fort was the found-
er and former director of the Cen-
ter for Special Problems in San
Francisco. "Former," because "the
fears and fury" often make people
intolerant of integrity and honesty
particularly if these politically un-
fashionable qualities are related to
contemporary issues. Dr. Fort cov-
ers the last 5000 years of world
Cannabis use. Starting with 2723
B.C. and the Emperor Shen Nung's
pharmacopeia he brings us right
up to the present date. Not that it
really matters a fig or a hop (both
related to Cannabis incidentally)
but it appeared that Emperor
Nung is but a legend. For the most
part Mr. Harry Anslinger, the
former head of the Federal Bur-
eau of Narcotics, is held respon-
sible for misleading and misin-
forming the American people
about the so-called evis of pot.
And maybe he should be respon-
sible. After all that is. no doubt,
what he thought his jab was about.
I personally feel that Mr. Anshng-
er did not maliciously misinform
people. He was just wrong. Strange
that people listened.so readily, and
still do.
In this opening paper, truly a
keynote address, Dr. Fort tells us
why Cannabis has been considered
evil, and one by one dismisses
each of the usual indictments
against it. It doesn't lead to crime
(other than the fact that the use
of it is 'criminal'), it is non-ad-
dicting (check), it is not a cause
of heroin use (check), it does not
cause sexual excesses (check, what
are sexual excesses anyway?)-
and alcohol is worse than pot.
Many people are constantly trying
to convince me that pot is harm-
less, if so where does this argu-
ment put alcohol? These various
points initiated by Dr. Fort are
repeated several times in the sub-
sequent papers.
Section Two deals with the is-
sues of marijuana use and abuse.
I never did find out what the dif-
ference was between use and
abuse. There are several brief case
histories about toxic reactions but
I'm not sure whether these were
supposed to indicate that mari-
juana really did cause a toxic re-
ation or illustrate that it was in-
nocently accused. The word games
we play are sometimes quite fas-
cinating: if we 'toke' and feel
high, ergo, it's pleasant and there-
fore not toxic. If we feel unpleas-
ant, maybe a little scared and
paranoid, it's toxic! There's a sec-
tion in this paper entiled "Mari-
juana. Induced Flashbacks." On
reading it we find there's no such
thing as marijuana flashbacks.
Now I think that's sloppy paper-
writing. In this day and age when
we're all overloaded, we tend to
scan. I can just imagine sooner
or later this paper being quoted
as evidence for the existence of
flashbacks because someone didn't
bother to read beyond the title of
this section.
Section Three, "Marijuana as a
Social Issue," is opened by Gilbert
Geis. The pot history is briefly re-
peated as are the various laws in

ports Mayor LaGuardia's study.
What a tragedy that after 26
years this still remains the most
comprehensive study, unfortun-
ately year by year becoming less
relevant.
Roger Smith's paper opens Sec-
tion Four: "The Issues of Mari-
juana Regulation." Again there is
abundant repetition and the read-
ing becomes ponderous. The basic
premise of what pot-does-not-do-
despite - what - has - been - said -
for-years, is gone over again. The
journal is concluded with a de-
lightful-do all sociologists write
well? - paper by Mark Messer.
John Calvin, Tim Buckley and Bob
Dylan are all in this epilogue.
I started reading the journal on
the way to Chicago to a Governor's
conference on youth. The panel I
was on attempted to discuss drugs.
A young, no doubt brilliant at-.
torney-politician gave a fire and
brimstone, the - law - is - the-law-

kids-should-be-kicked-into - shape
talk. He was cheered, not jeered,
cheered, at a youth conference-
that was the same day as Kent
State. Somehow I -couldn't read
anymore the next day on the way
home. The whole marijuana thing
seemed such a sad political sop;
like an occupational therapy to
keep people busy-a phony coun-
ter-issue to obfuscate real ones.
I began this review with a ques-
tion. Maybe I can answer it my-
self: We'll learn something new,
and something inportant when it
matters enough for us to do so but
at this moment there are more
urgent matters. I shall conclude
with a final paragraph from Dr.
Fort's paper.
"Surely there are more im-
portant things and higher values
in life than this preoccupation
with drugs. I have the "strange"
belief that people can lead
meaningful and purposeful lives,

Baudelaire: No early spleen

Charles Baudelaire, LETTERS
FROM HIS YOUTH, translated
by Simona Morina and Fred-
eric Tuten, Doubleday, $4.95.
By ANN L. MATTES
"Genius is nothing but child-
hood clearly revealed, endowed
with all the virile powers of
maturity for its expression."
-Baudelaire
In 1966, workmen discovered,
underthe floor of a house bombed
during World War II one hun-
dred letters written by Baudelaire
during his youth. This carefully
preserved packet covers the cor-
respondence missing from the
previously published Conard vol-
umes, which contain over 1100
letters dating from the time Bau-
delaire was 20. The new collection
is especially important because it
documents the changes that oc-

there a year, he never sat in for
an examination.
At this time Baudelaire decided
to pursue a literary career. His
parents disapproved of this de-
termination and persuaded him to
embark on a trip to India, which
he never completed. Several of
the letters that passed between
members of his family in this per-
iod appear in the anthology and
reveal the reversal in the youth's
life style. No longer was he the
charming, affectionate boy who
excelled in Latin verse. Now the
tone of his letters became im-
modest and accusatory. Evidence
of the eventual rift with his older
brother arises, as wall as indica-
tions of his extravagent spending.
In one letter he refers to his con-
tracting a venereal disease.
While the six Canard volumes
offer a much more thorough ex-
ploration of the mature Baudel-
aire, only three letters from his

had been dead nearly two years.
During this time, mother andrson
had developed an extremely close
relationship. G e n e r a 1 Aupick,
however, decided i twould be best
to . separate the child from his
mother and so sent him to board-
ing school. Although in many of
the letters Baudelaire expresses
the loneliness 'he felt at being
away from his family, the full
resentment did not appear until
his maturity.
Aside from clearing up certain
biographical disputes, Baudelaire's
early letters are also stylistically
important. Evan at the ;age of
twelve, the poet-to-be wrote ex-
tremely well and phrased careful-
ly. An emotional restraint marks
the beginning of a classical sense
of form and a skill in choosing the
most appropriate word. For ex-
ample, in a letter written to his
step-brother in December of 1838,
Baudelaire wrote:
No matter how serious I try
to look, mother and father in-
sist on considering me a child.
Speak to them in my behalf,
convince them that I am reason
itself personified; make them
see me a real Cato, ready to
begin my law studies. If you
succeed, it will be no small
thing, and I'll love you even
more, if that's possible.
Unfortunately, we do not learn
from these letters much about spe-
cific events. Many of the letters
are little more than apologies for
not having written sooner or lists
of grades, footnoted with promises
of scholastic and behavioral im-
provement. Most of the biographi-
cal information=is supplied by En-
id Starkie in her Introduction and
Afterward. Baudelaire seldom
mentions any reactions to liter-
ature, although he often asks that
certain books be brought to him
at theschool and mentions what
work he has just completed.
At times, Miss Starkie's explan-
ations supply even less satisfying
material than the letters them-
selves. Her attempted refutation
of the Oedipal theories that have
been published with regard to
Baudelaire is weak and naive.
Starkie also suffuses her commen-
tary with such truisms as "the
child is father to the man" in an

socialized with others, and be
happy without depending on
mind-altering chemicals. A s
people turn more and more to
drugs the less likely they are
to attack the roots of our social
problems that are being pro-
duced at a much faster rate than
we are solving them. It is high
time (no pun intended) that
people move beyond marijuana,
and beyond alcohol to dropping
into changing and improving
their society. So let us certain-
ly reform the laws, but let us
bring to bear some concept of
humanity and rationalism at
the same time so that we are
loot a nation of sheep riding on
a ship of fools."
Sajd Edward Spenser, the Brit-
ish poet, "A foggy mist had cov-
ered all the land, and underneath
their feet, all scattered lay dead
souls and bones of men, whose
lives had gone astray."

4

4
4

curred in Baudelaire just after he
received his baccalaureat and
while he was attempting to select
a career.

childhood are included. Until the
discovery of these earlier letters,
the only information concerning
Baudelaire's youth came from the

f

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