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94r Efriijan Raij
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1970
NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ
Disciplinary policy: Regents
try to coopt the faculty
CO-OPTION is a grand old word. It used
to be hurled with great venom at lib-
erals who found themselves sucked into
supporting the system they claimed to
abhor. But it wore out through overuse
and lost its meaning. Now it has a chance
to make a comeback at the University, be-
cause nothing else so aptly describes
what is going on in the battle with the
Regents over discipline rules for students
and faculty.
On Monday, Senate Assembly passed a
resolution telling the Regents they did
hot believe a specific policy for dealing
with striking faculty members was "nec-
essary." The resolution cited present rules
and procedures as "appropriate" for
dealing with such problems, rejecting the
idea of a separate and new mechanism
for docking the pay of faculty members
who take part in class boycotts.
The proposed policy was drafted by a
committee of two deans and two Assem-
bly members. If passed by the Regents, it
wl dock the pay of faculty members who
voluntarily join class boycotts and are
found guilty of "withholding their ser-
vices."
One of the committee members, Prof.
Gerald Abrams of t h e medical school,
said , "It was our understanding that
there will be a policy and we worked to
make the best one possible." However, he
denied the suggestion of some Assembly
members that the committee had simply
been carrying out the wishes of the Re-
gents.
"The Regents gave us no idea of what
they wanted," Abrams s a i d. Well, per-
haps. But certainly, they sent the com-
mittee no detailed memo on the subject,
on the other hand, a person would have
to be blind, stupid or both not to realize
what ' the Regents were looking for. In
the words of a professor in the audience
at Monday's meeting, "They want to
crack down on us mutton heads." Cer-
What a surprise
RECENTLY, IN search of truth, Presi-
dent Nixon sent eight young White
House staff members-I wonder how he
found so many-out into the savage col-
lege campuses to find out how the stu-
dents really feel about the U.S. invasion
of Cambodia and the killing at Kent State
University-he isn't too interested in the
murders at Jackson State.
But too his great surprise, the staffers
did not find that the majority of students
supported their President. Rather, the
excursion only demonstrated that the
President had not only alienated! the stu-
dents who opposed his election, but that
he had somehow, also managed to alien-
ate those students who supported his
election.
As one of the bright young staffers
summed it all up, all they found was
"Total hostility to the Administration
among young people."
tainly the mood both of the Regents and
the public was not lost on the committee
members, especially in light of the strin-
gent "interim" conduct r u e s recently
passed by the Regents for students.
But that committee should not be sin-
gled out for special criticism. Assembly,
at least tacitly, recognized the s a m e
thing the committee did - the Regents
are determined to pass some kind of pol-
icy. Therefore, their resolution also stat-
ed that "if such a policy is to be promul-
gated, it is strongly recommended that a
committee representative of t h e entire
University community be formed to study
the issue." And so, Assembly itself is go-
ing to be co-opted.
Education Prof. Claude Eggersten, the
only person who has been an Assembly
member since its formation four years
ago, opposed the idea of a study commit-
tee.
"It's just playing the game the way the
Regents set it for us. If we do that we
have repudiated all we have done toward
a role in policy-making over the past few
years. Tell the Regents, 'We'll implement
a policy or allow you to help implement
it.'
The battle over a student judiciary has
already gone down the same road. Re-
ports, recommendations and negotiations
all failed to come up with a discipline
system for students which would be ac-
ceptable to the Regents. Now, the Re-
gents have established "interim" rules to
their liking and another committee is
studying the problem. If they f a i 1 to
come up with an acceptable proposal for
the Regents, as all their predecessors have
failed to do, then the "interim" rules can
go on forever.
THE SAME COURSE is opening up now
for the faculty, and it could be a rude
awakening. Soon they may discover the
same frustration so familiar to students
who have tried to deal with the Regents.
And the consequences of that could be
similar.
"If we allow the Regents to make their
own policy by taking no action ourselves,
we could have a strike over this issue with
a large number of faculty taking part,"
Prof. C. William Castor of the medical
school told Monday's Assembly meeting.
But before that happens, Assembly and
the faculty with it will probably have to
go through the futility of advisory com-
mittees which can only recommend what
they believe is right and be ignored, or
follow the Regents' predilictions and be
accepted.
The Regents have the p o w e r to do
whatever they please. In the past they
have allowed the illusion at least of stu-
dent and faculty participation. But that
facade is beginning to slip. First it was
the unilateral action taken in passing the
student conduct rules. Now there is the
very real threat of the same treatment
for the faculty.
As long as people will play their game,
the Regents will go right on, yes the word
is right, co-opting the opposition.
By ROB BIER
Nobody rides the trains any-
more. At the time when the need
for mass transit is greater than
ever before a major form of mass
transit is rapidly disappearing.
But passenger rail service, except
on heavily used commuter runs.
is unprofitable for the railroads.
The outcome is a forgone con-
clusion: the people need the
trains; the railroad companies do
not need the people; the people
lose, beaten again by increased
corporate earnings.
Of course, getting rid of the
passenger lines is not all t h a t
easy. Any discontinuance of rail
service must be justified before
the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion (ICC). So, the railroads need
more of a case - not much -
than just saying, "We aren't
making enough money." The so-
lution is to drive people a w a y
from the trains.
There are a number of ways to
do this, and the railroads are us-
ing all of them. Indifferent and
rude employes are onlythe be-
ginning. To see what might be,
one only has to look at airline
ads which measure one company
in smiles a n d tells of another
company which offers incentives
to employes who please the cus-
tomers. But they don't just rely
on the human factor. Most of the
passenger cars now in service
were built shortly after W o r i d
War II and many do not seem to
have been repaired or fixed-up
since then. Toilets and drinking
fountains do not work. Seats are
threadbare a n d interiors dingy.
But to experience that ordeal, you
have to get on the train - a
trick in itself.
PASSENGER TRAVEL by rail
is hardly ever advertised and
schedules a r e notoriously diffi-
cult to obtain and read. What is
more, they are only printed for
individual lines, system schedules
are virtually unheard of.
Next, if you do manage to plow
through the schedule barrier,
there is the problem of t r a i n
times themselves. Local arrivals
anid departures are being increas-
ingly shifted to the early morn-
ing and late night hours for in-
convenience sake. Then there are
situations like in Chicago where
the eastern lines meet the western
lines. In bygone days, the sch-
edules were arranged so that it
was no problem to make connec-
tions between trains. Now, t h e
schedules have been gradually
shifted so that a transcontinental
traveller is guaranteed a several
hour holdover in the Windy City.
THE ELIMINATION OF pas-
senger rail service w o u l d be a
tragedy for several reasons. Des-
pite all its faults, rail travel has
the potential for becoming con-
venient, comfortable and econom-
ically advantageous.
For instance, trains pollute the
air less per passenger mile than
any other form of common car-
rier, including airplanes. They de-
liver their passengers to the heart
of the city, avoiding air and traf-
fic Jams alike, run in all weather
and are 23 t imes safer than auto-
mobiles.
Businessmen who regularly take
the train say that far from being
a liability, the additional travel
time is great for catching up on
work or sleep, depending on which
is farthest behind. For those who
are still leery of air travel, the
train can be the answer. If sight-
seeing is your thing,sthe train can
free you from the cramped quar-
ters of a car and carries you at
an altitude which allows you to
see the country.
Forrapid transit, there is the
example of Japan's famous "bul-
let trains" which travel at speeds
over 100 miles an h o u r. On a
smaller scale is t h e fabulously
successful Metroliner, r u n n i n g
down the East Coast from New
York to Washington and Balti-
more. It is fast, new a n d you
practically have to get on a wait-
ing list to get a seat.
But the Metroliner is an ana-
moly and no one has plans on the
drawing board for any bullet
trains. The few specials operating
out west. with their observation
dome cars and gracious dining,
are becoming fewer yet each year.
BLACK AS THE PICTURE may
appear, there is some hope. Mich-
igan's Democratic Sen. Philip
Hart introduced a bill in April
which would table all stoppage
requests for a year while a study
was made to find a solution to the
problem. One suggestion is t h e
setting up of regional boards
which would identify vital trans-
portation corridors a n d recom-
mend ways of saving and improv-
ing rail service on them. Implicit
in that is the necessity both of
government control and subsidy.
Abhorrant as that may seem at
first glance, it has several advan-
tages over other possible methods
of easing our transportation cris-
is. One such solution might be to
build more expressways and jet-
ports. Aside from adding e v e n
more to pollution, such projects
are expensive and on a cost-com-
parison basis, railroads come out
f a r ahead of either. Upgrading
existing tracks for the 226 miles
of the Metroliner run cost $50 mil--
lion. Building an expressway
through the same highly urban-
London: People can still laugh
By STEVE KOPPMAN
LONDON is a recollection, some-
thing one recalls though he
never has been there-a memory
from some earlier incarnation on
a more serene planet.
Nothing is so terribly urgent.
One can relax, reflect, speculate.
The tension and conflict which
envelop American life today seems
distant-reflected only in press
dispatches. Racial and class divi-
sions appear far less menacing and
immediate.
In New York, where the role of
the police is to repress a continual
and mounting violence with which
they have no chance of coping,
sucessfully, policemen are per-
petually angry, carry gun and
nightstick, appear foreign to the
hostile streets they must patrol. In
London, where the primary role
of the police seems to be giving
directions to tourists, "bobbies"
look happy, carry no weapons, ap-
pear the same as other young
men.
African and European spar with
zest in Hyde Park, but their argu-
ments lack the life-and-death
quality which attends to similar
confrontations in America. The
crowd can laugh.
ENGLAND PREPARES for gen-
eral election June 18. Public con-
cern seems most moderate. It's too
bad it's coming same time as the
World Cup games, says one.
The big issues in the papers in
recent days have been the cancel-
lation of the Springbok cricket
tour with South Africa-apparent-
ly in response to the threat of
demonstrations. and the arrest of
the captain of the national soccer
team in South America.
The election-about which the
consensus seems to be that Labour
will win in a close vote-appears
to hinge on the questions of in-
flation and wages and the record
of the Labour government. There
appears to be no single issue which
is attracting a great deal of public
interest.
The government has serious
achievements to its credit - the
balance of payments problem has
temporarily been solved to Brit-
ain's advantage, wagesdhave lept
steadily ahead of prices, the tax
system has been reformed so 'hat
income tax is more heavily grad-
uated and capital gains are taxed,
the '11-plus' system in education,
where children were placed in one
of two tracks at age 11 is being
eliminated-funds for the health
system, unemployment and sick-
ness insurance have been sub-
stantially increased.
The Conservatives can point out
the increasingly serious inflation
which has followed the devalu-
ation of the pound, and note that
Labour 'planning' of the economy
has resulted in a growth rate of
only two per cent annually even
less than that which the Conserv-
atives had had during their last
tenure in office.
These questions often get drown-
ed out in the steady flow of in-
vective - chiefly, directed, this
time,' by the Tories against the
government. There are the ideo-
logical questions which seem to
have only peripheral relevance to
actual performance of the parties
in power-Labour has some com-
mitment to some form of 'social-
Ism.' but has little intent of doing
much about the predominant see-
tion of the economy in rivete
hands or about the enormous in-
equalities of wealth which :emain
in capitalist Britain. The Con-
servatives rail against rising costs
and exalt free enterprise, but
won't tamper with the pop3ular
Welfare State features which La-
bour governments have introduced.
An Englishman remarked that
the election appeared to be taking
on an American quality because of
the great importance of the lead-
ing personalities-Labour may win
in the end, because most people
here think Harold Wilson is a
nicer man than Ted Heath.
OF COURSE, London isn't really
a foreign place. The people all
speak our language, more or less,
and seem to hold the same basic
assumptions about life that we
would find in America. "We'd like
to still be singing 'Rule, Britan-
nia' but we can't" said a man
visiting from Lancastershire. The
cars all go on the wrong side of
the street, yes-but the air still
smells like it does in New York.
And finally, when you visit
Westminster Abbey, and look at
the British Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier, you realize you've never
really left home at all.
Thus are commemorated the
many multitudes who during
the Great War of 1914-18 gave
the most that man can give
life itself for God
for king and country
for loved ones home and
empire
for the sacred cause of justice
and the freedom of the world.
'WOODSTOCK'
ized area would cost $1 billion, at
least.
Closer to home is the extension
of the Chrysler Freeway, being
constructed at a cost of about $11
million a mile. It parallels an ex-
isting rail line.
The , argument for government
control is a good one, too. The
railroads are reneging on a deal
made with the American people.
Back when our nation was ex-
panding westward, every state
bent over backwards to lure rail-
roads into their hinterlands. The
usual incentive was land grants.
Usually these took the form of
large right-of-ways and some-
times, even options on land far
from the actual railroad.
Even today, the railroads still
make fat profits off those grants,
usually from abandoned rail lines
sitting right in the path of the
mushrooming suburbs.
The original deal was for pas-
senger and freight service in ex-
change for free land and prefer-
ential legislation. As other forms
of transportation have grown pop-
ular, the railroads have chosen
not to compete and are going back
on their original agreement.
The immediate problem facing
the American public is not how to
solve the problem, however. The
problem right now is having any
problem to solve, because each line
that closesbdown means that noth-
ing will be left in that area to
improve. With the disappearance
of rolling stock, trained workers
and in some cases the tracks
themselves, the cost of re-estab-
lishing rail service goes up astro-
nomically.
TIS THURSDAY in the Com-
mercial Fisheries Bldg. on Green
Rd. a small skirmish in the war
to stop the stoppages will take,
place. ICC commissioners and
Penn Central lawyers will be in
town for a "public" hearing and
despite the efforts of Penn Cen-
tral and the ICC, the local troops
have managed to mount an offen-
sive.
Mark Hildebrand, a local pedia-
trician, and Sam Breck, manager
of sales promotions at a local
firm, are two train buffs who
have been following the increasing
stoppages with growing alarm.
They say the ICC notified them
of the local hearing three days
after the deadline for filing legal
briefs on the matter. A protest got
the date moved from May 21 to
tomorrow, giving a little more time
for the local people to prepare
their case.
But Breck points out, "The rail-
roads have had years to prepare
their case while the people have
had virtually no time at all."
Those years have given the rail-
roads experience in handling ICC
hearings, while Hildebrand frank-
ly admitted a month ago that they
had no idea of what would be
expected of them.
Since then, the situation has
changed somewhat. Both the Ann
Arbor City Council and the Mich-
igan Public Services Commission
have come out publically against
the closing. The city attorney's of-
fice has been helping to co-ordi-
nate the drive. The Commission is
sending one of its members to pre-
pare the witnesses and an assist-
ant attorney general to run the
show at the hearing.
Originally the h e a r i n g was
scheduled for 9:30 in the morn-
ing, a time when many potential
witnesses would be unable to make
it, assuming, of course, they could
even find the place. However, City
Attorney Jerald Lax made a phone
call and wrote a few letters and
to the surprise of many, an eve-
ning session was added at 7:00.
MOST OF THE cards, never-
theless, are still stacked in Penn
Central's favor. They still have
the edge in experience and the
advantage of being able to ex-
amine the local group's brief,
while their's remains secret.
The main hopes-of the local
organizers lie just as much in pre-
senting convincing arguments as
in impressing the commissioners
by sheer force of number's.
If those people can present con-
vincing testimony in addition to
being present, then the ICC could
be swayed, Breck says. To that
end, C. E. McGoon from the Public
Services Commission whil be in
town tonight to help prepare wit-
nesses to testify. The session is at
7:30 p.m. in the city council room
of City Hall.
Bruce Laidlaw, of Lax's office,
explains that ICC hearings are
more like a court of law with its
formal rules and procedures than
like a city council meeting. Be-
cause of this, it is important that
witnesses give "proper testimony,"
otherwise it might be thrown out.
Breck says, "Anyone interested in
saving passenger service is wel-
come to come to the hearing and
if he wishes to testify, he should
make the strategy meeting, as
well."
THE BATTLE to save the rail-
roads so they can be saved has
begun. As usual in such struggles
of the consumer against the cor-
poration, the odds are on the side
of the money. And with that ad-
vantage, plus a considerable head
start, the railroads could win. If
that happens, the railroads with
their unique advantages and po-
tential for helping our environ-
ment will be lost for a long time,
if not forever.
To put a meaning into Wally
Shirra's r a i1r o a d commercial
which the sponsors certainly never
intended, "Who needs America's
railroads? You do."
"i
-A. C.
-ROB BIER
The persistence of memory:
John Sinclair is still in jail
It has spirit,
but that's not enough
WHAT DIFFERENCE will what Presi-
dent Nixon spews out tonight, make
to John Sinclair? As the eternal summer-
time games continue on the diag, so too
does John Sinclair continue - in jail.
For 912 -10 years he is forcibly excom-
municated from political activities, love
and music. And it is painfully repetitious
to note that Sinclair is not really chained
in a cage for the ostensible sin of letting
narcotics agent Warner Stringfellow bait
him for two j o i n t s of marijuana. Of
course, he is serving time for turning on
people to the alternatives to the pseudo-
democratic American death culture.
So all right already, the crucifixion of
drug users is merely a manifestation of
the repression of a counter-culture, as
are the purges of any blacks, and now
whites, who are at all effective in stim-
ulating change. But America is not all
right yet, and it will never be all right to
forget the true patriots who are being
squashed by the preservers of the status
quo until it is all right. Nixon does not
mind the educated "bums" laughing at
his speeches. Their laughter is but an-
other impotent release of their feelings
of futility. And those who fall into the
trap of giving up entirely in the face of
the very possible ultimate futility of the
liberal and radical movements in Amer-
ica, are blessed in the eyes of our Presi-
By NEIL GABLER
Woodstock is It. It is the groove movie,
the closest films have come in their Cine-
rama, 3-D, Smell-o-Vision history to filling
the theater with something more than
sound and image. That is why Woodstock
is It. It has great sound and fantastic
images, but it has more. It has spirit.
Spirit is a very rare thing. If we're lucky
it comes along once every few years at
Washington peace marches of 500,000 peo-
ple and at music festivals. Spirit binds. It
seizes the body and fuses it with the mass.
It creates community, concern, love, ex-
hileration. It is the stuff real revolutions
are made of, revolutions not merely chang-
ing institutions but changing souls.
But spirit isn't a marketable commodity
so individuals must find it for themselves.
ping. Love-making. Sharing the travail of
thunderstorms and the misery of mud-
caked clothes. And yes, there was even
good music.
One of the reasons Woodstock happened
was because it had become apparent to
many young people that the pluralistic
system we so Bally-hoo in America was a
bloody mess. Pluralism isn't big enough fo'
construction workers and peace marchers.
for Southern whites and Southern blacks,
for old and young. Nor does pluralism have
a place for freaks. There are no freak poli-
ticians, freak laws, no-fire-on-freak zones.
Maybe we were a together country once.
Maybe we will be again. But in August
1969, as today, freak apartheid was more
appealing.
The same kind of apartheid will prob-
ably still be with us at most theaters where
society,
for the
solution
festival
a kind of Miami
under-twenty set.
to the problems
necessary in the
Beach vacation
But is is not a
that made the
first place.
I have nothing against mass therapy; I
rather like it. Though it does us some good,
when we drive home from the peace
marches or when Woodstock ends, we feel
the contrast between daily life and the
brief moments of community. And we find
out that we're not better off than we were
before. Maybe I'm asking too much of
Wodstock. I see it as an event with revolu-
tionary potential; but as event it doesn't
last. I want Woodstock to be more than
three hours or even three days. I want its
spirit to keep on going. I know it won't--
not even until the next festival, as Alta-
mount shows,
There's Joe Cocker shaking his head and
his hands, strumming an invisible guitar
and making you believe it's there with a
little help from his friends. Very strange.
There's Crosby, Stills and Nash powering
through "Judy Blue Eyes." Someone ex-
claims, "We must be in Heaven!" Even in
the theater it seems that way.
There's Jimi Hendrix playing a cock-
eyed rendition of the "Star-Spangled Ban-
ner' complete with fuzz-tone bombs burst-
ing in air. This is what it's all about-
Hendrix groving on Francis Scott Key.
The music attacks, overpowers. grabs
something in the gut that is uniquely its
territory. Woodstock, however, is not just
another Monterrey Pop or Festival-act
folowed by act followed by act. The truth
of its cinema verite is more profound than