Seventy-nine years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Problem at
EMU:
Sponberg won't listen
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone : 764-0552
By EDWARD ZIMMERMAN
THE OVERALL condition of to-
day's colleges and universities
is one of desperate confusion. Stu-
dents who protest government
policy in Southeast Asia are shot
and killed. Students who protest
the killing of students are fined,
suspended or put in jail.
A typical situation where this
conditioin exists is on the Eastern
Michigan University (EMU) cam-
pus.
Violence breeds violence; one
has to expect some window break-
ing and some fires after four stu-
dents are murdered by National
Guardsmen. EMU is not atypical
in this respect. There, students,
like students everywhere, were
aghast when they heard of the
Kent State murders.
SCHOOLS WERE CLOSING all
over the country in memoriam of
the four Kent State students, but
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1970 NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN
hicago Black Panther raid:
SPolice should be charged
it took two fires, 200 restraining
orders and six suspensions to con-
vince EMU President Harold Spon-
berg that he had better close his
school.
Sponberg, in a speech in memo-
riam of the four Kent State stu-
dents, used the presently popular
"Agnew" style of speaking; he
said nothing about everything and
everything about nothing.
I talked to students the day of
that speech and they said that he
was always "too busy" to see them.
They wondered what he could be
doing because the school sure was
not improving.
The next week, 5,000 students
voiced their disapproval of the six
suspensions by causing $9,000
worth of damage a night for the
next four nights. Still Sponberg
could not be reached for comment
on the situation.
THROUGHOUT THE four "days
of rage" at EMU, an amazing fig-
ure of 171 students were arrested
for such offenses as curfew viola-
tion and creating a disturbance.
The really shocking aspect is that
bail was set at $1,000 for violations
of curfew, unreasonably high bail.
Well, some really good lawyers
in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
area are going to make Judge
Henry Arkison, the judge who set
the bail, answer for his actions in
court. Arkison, who once said that
his only job is to "keep peace in
the commusity," should read a few
books on fairness and justice.
fellow "protectors of libeitv'' were
more than happy to bust a few of
"them radicals heads."
By Friday of that w-eek tere
had been 41 suspensions. i,, addi-
tion to the arrests, a curTew im-
posed by the Governor for tlree
nights, four students shot in the
back with buckshot and a judge
who had levied excessive bail on
some, and denied hail to titers.
But still no comment from Spon-
berg.
Late Friday afternoon, I finally
saw President Sponberg. He was
with some of his friends at a town
meeting to discuss what action the
town's vigilantees should take. His
friends included Rep. Roy Smith,
who termed Sponberg "the best
university president in the coun-
try," the esteemed Sheriff Harvey,
EMU Regents George Stripp, Manor
Richard Boatw'ight of Ypsilanti
and a few others.
IF ANYTHING CAN be called
a burlesque, indeed, this was it..
The only trouble is that the peo-
ple who attended the meeting were
serious. These people were similar
to the head-smashing fascists in
the movie "Z." They seem to be-
lieve that student "anarchv" is
communistic but that their vio-
lence is as American as the flag.
A few.of the "organizers" prom-
ised to have 5,000 others like them
to go to the EMU campus and
"clean it up." But when Sheriff
Harvey stated that he and his
"men" could handle the situation.
there was applause and loud cries
of "let Doug handle it" and
"amen."
IN AN UNUSUAL and partially commen-
dable report, a special federal grand
jury in Chicago made known last week
several counts of seriously exaggerated or
completely erroneous "facts" in the po-
lice account of the r a i d on the Black
Panthers that killed two people last Dec.
4. In their summation, however, the jury
somehow reached the conclusion that
perhaps "revolutionary groups simply do
not want the legal system to work."
, It seems that perhaps justice really is
blind.
The four irreconcilable disparities in
police testimony and physical evidence,
specifically detailed by the grand jury,
have forced the Chicago police to drop
their charges against the Panthers.
Rather than dismissing the case on these
charges, however, the court should order
the Chicago police to be tried.
-The Chicago officers! who had rid-
dled the Panthers' apartment w i t h at
least 82 shots, testified that they w e r e
shot at 10 to 15 times - later investiga-
tion has revealed that only one bullet
hole, one shell and one projectile can be
identified as having been fired by the
occupants;
--D u e to police investigators leaving
behind "at least 80 projectiles and cas-
ings and at least as many other items of
evidence,' and because "the police lab-
oratory did not test fire or fingerprint
the policemens' guns, police officials at-
tributed several of the officers' shots to
the Panthers - as a result of these "ser-
ious and repeated errors" seven Panthers
were indicted for attempted murder and
other crimes - the charges were dropped
last week;
-The police officers testified at two
coroner's inquests that the Panthers had
opened fire first as the lawmen forced
their way in after the occupants refused
to open the door - these charges were al-
so dropped last week for lack of evidence;
and
-The police officers i n v o1 v e d in
the raid, were coached in advance about
the questions that would be put to them
- suggesting, the report states, "purpose-
ful malfeasance."
SPONBERG LOOKED v e r v
much at home at this meeting.
This is the same man who de-
scribed the University as "com-
mnitted to humane, rational and
intellectual behavior" and then
lets "Doug handle it" when trouble
erupts.
The meeting ended with Re-
gent Stripp, who also looked like
he was enjoying himself, saying
that he hoped there would be no
more violence on the EMU cam-
pus. That statement brought re-
plies of "God help this state if
there is any more," from the audi-
ence of about 70 people. Applause
naturally followed.
At the meeting, I felt inclined
to ask why this group wanted to
go on to the EMU campus with the
intent to do bodily harm while the
students only broke windows. How
can they squate the cost of a' piece
of glass with that of a human life?
Seeing the mood of the audience,
my fellow reporter advised me not
to ask.
The situation at Eastern would
not. have grown to violence if
President S p o n b e r g had not
chosen to ignore the students and
depend on the police when trouble
did break out. It is a travesty when
a university president is more
adept at shutting students up than
in communicating with them. Yes,
it is really a shame that a univer-
sity president has to rely on guns
and backlash to quiet students be-
cause he lacks the capability or
desire to reach and to be reached.
By the way, Sponberg left the
meeting before I could reach him
for a comment.
4
THE JURY REPORTS t h a t, although
there exists irreconcilable, disparity
between police testimony and fact, these
discrepencies are insufficient to establish
probable cause to c h a r g e the officers
with a willful violation of the Panthers,
civil rights.,
Certainly it is possible that the five
counts of police errors, put forth by the
grand jury itself, were simply instances
of human inefficiency.-
More plausible, however, as suspected
by one member of the American Civil
Liberties Board, the grand jury was party
to a "deal" by which it agreed not to re-
turn indictments against the, police in
exchange for the dropping of attempted
murder charges against the seven Pan-
thers who survived the raid.
In any c a s e, to charge the Panthers
with "political posturing" in their refus-
al to testify within an either inefficient
or an unprincipled legal system borders
on the absurd. It is the Chicago police
force which is guilty of misuse of both
law enforcement tactics and the courts
of law. Rather than dismiss the Panther
case, the police should be tried for as-"
sault and for murder.
ONCE AGAIN, it is not the defendants
who are on trial in Chicago but the
institution of the law.
Those who abhor the Panthers' goals
and tactics will condone the crimes of
t h e Chicago police, will condone any-
/thing of the'sake of law and order. But,
when order is permitted to overrule jus-
tice, any remaining semblance of a legal
system is merely pretense.
The Panthers' refusal to testify is real-
ly a refusal to give credence to the law
as practiced by the police and courts in
iCpicago.
If this is political posturing as the jury
report contends, it is so only to call at-
tention once again to the incredibly poor
posture of the Chicago law enforcement.
It is so only to prevent such a stance from
becoming standard in America.
-ANITA WETTERSTROEM
ALTHOUGH
were saddened
Sheriff Douglas
MANY
by the
Harvey
students
violence,
and his
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We
need the middle class
To the Editor:
A FEW DAYS AGO during the
Kent State tragedy, I felt strong
feelings of hate and .vehemence
toward the g u i lt y National
Guardsmen. Since then, however,
I've talked to several people and
read many different articles and
viewpoints concerning the situa-
tion. The answers I heard amazed
and appalled me. I didn't realize
that so many people were com-
pletely opposed to my 1 i n e of
thought.
Consequently, I've t h o u g h t
things out. Here in Ann Arbor, the
beautiful little college community,
we are living in sheltered cacoons
-shields from theoutside world.
During o u r marches, shouts of
"Off the pigs" and "power to the
people" are greeted by jubilant
support. Yet Ann Arbor is no ex-
ample of the average American
City.
A good friend of mine humour-
ously refers to himself as the
leader of t h e "Revolution." He
handed out assignments to close
friends and my job was to alien-
ate the Middle Class. At the time,
I thought that was a big joke.
Why do we need the Middle Class?
We can handle this ourselves
without aid f r o m a generation
that has left this country in the
greatest period of anguish a n d
turmoil it has ever known.
I WAS WRONG. We've certain-
ly alienated the middle class -
against us. Many of them agreed
with our stands onSoutheast As-
ia, the Draft, and other problems.
Yet we've turned them against us.
We need the middle class. Like it
01' not, we can't go it alone. Our
protest marches are destroying
any hopes of salvaging these peo-
ple who make up the majority of
the country. Our marches are
filled with a conglomeration of
violence, obscenity, wrath, and in-
dignation. The people in this
country are turned off by our "ef-
forts." They've seen enough.
And so has Nixon. I was irked
when I read that he watched foot-
ball games on television the after-
noon of the Washington march
back in November. But he is not
ignoring us - in fact, he's cap-
italizing on our errors. He and his
sidekick, Spiro Agnew, have used
our marches to turn the nation
against our views, our efforts, our
universities, and our entire gene-
ration. He is purposely and suc-
cesssfully creating a void between
youth and the rest of the country.
We have to logically evaluate
the situation. We m u s t change
our methods in order to get par-
ticipation and active support from
the whole nation. We can't shut
ourselves in Ann Arbor and ach-
ieve success. We must reach out
and get outside support.
People will n e v e r believe our
cries for peace w h e n we can't
have peace in our own protests.
-Fred Jacobs '73
May 11
Letters to the Editor should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to Mary
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
licationsnbusinessboffice in the
Michigan Daily building, Let-
ters should be typed, double-
spaced and normally should not
exceed 250 words. The Editorial
Directors reserve the right to
edit all letters submitted.
*l
How many will be hurt
before abortion legalized?
FOR THE SECOND time in as many
weeks, the State Senate has defeated
efforts to r e f o r m Michigan's archaic
abortion law.
While other states, such as Hawaii and
New Yorkrand other countries such as
England are moving to institute long
overdue abortion reforms, Michigan has
chosen to stand still.
But unfortunately, its decision to stay
with the status quo will be a costly one.
The number of women who will be
maimed or killed by back street abortion-
ists before Michigan decides to debate
abortion reform again is almost impos-
sible to predict. The p e o p 1 e who seek
Abortions do not do so lightly, and as in
the past, are not likely to be deterred by
the fact that abortions are illegal.
And, as always, it will be the poor and
Ruby slippers
THE RUBY slippers Judy Garland wore
in "The Wizard of Oz" were bought
for $15,000 by an unidentified millionaire
Sunday as movie finery of yesteryear was
auctioned at MGM studios.
The Cowardly Lion suit worn by Bert
Lahr in the same movie was bought for
$2,400' by 'Dr. Julius R. Marini who said
he dreamed of owning the costume since
seeing the film as a boy.
The Wicked Witch's peaked black hat
from the movie brought $450, from an
unidentified bidder.
.. and people go hungry.
-A.C.
Summer Editorial Staff
ALEXA C ANADYl
the lower middle-class people who will
suffer most. The more wealthy will be
able to t r a v e 1 elsewhere to get their
abortions, or will be able to pay the ex-
horbitant fees of the doctor moonlight-
ing as an abortionist, the poor must settle
for what they can get.
THE ARGUMENTS for abortion reform
are numerous. Certainly, the number
of people injured by illegal abortions must
come high on the list. Control of the
population growth is another factor that
deserved considerable weight.
That many of the same state senators
who espoused their deep concern over the
environmental crisis, would also oppose
abortion reform, does not speak well of
their understanding or their depth of
concern about the problem. Like Presi-
dent Nixon, they have tried to separate
the environmental crisis from the popu-
lation explosion, and that cannot real-
istically be done.
In a situation where the population is
already expanding at an extremely un-
healthy rate, and p e o p 1 e are talking
about imposing limits on family size, it
is not reasonable for any government to
force a woman to bear a child that she
does not want. The resultant psychologi-
cal effects on the child, as well as on the
mother cannot be dismissed lightly.
BUT, ASIDE - from the rejection of the
merits of abortion reform itself, an-
other disturbing factor was clearly evi-
dent during the recent debates on abor-
tion reform - the malapportionment of
the State Senate,
It is not accidental that the people who
are mainly hurt by the existing abortion
law, are also people who are grossly un-
der-represented in the State Senate.
Tl^,, tin. _-- w4 _n> _t>_, ._, r.>. _ - t - -ti
"Much of it depends on which side of the bed he gets
up on in the morning .I
Conversion to peace economy will be 'hard
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The author is an industrial
engineer professor at Columbia.)
HE END OF the Vietnam War will bring
immense relief to most Americans, but
for 1 million U.S. citizens, peace in Viet-
nam will mean the trouble of finding new
work. Since 1965, about a million men and
women have been working in industry on
the extra military orders generated by the
Vietnam war. In addition, several hundred
thousand Americans work in and around
the far-flung network of military bases.
Cutbacks in military work are also in
the offing as a result of international
agreement. The international disarmament
discussions now taking place in Europe be-
tween the U.S. and the USSR could result
in agreements that would cancel the re-
quirement for the antiballistic missile de-
fense (ABM) system and similar weapon
systems. About 3,000 firms are involved in
ABM production alone.
FOR THE NATION as a whole, these
moves mean more money and manpower
available for productive civilian work of all
sorts. This is what is required to make a
reality out of the talk about "re-ordering
national priorities." It's also obvious that
there is a lot of work to be done if we are
to take care of many aspects of our nation-
al life that have been allowed to fall into
ically depleted. In fact, this effort would
create a shortage of skilled labor until the
year 2000.
ALL THESE possibilities, however, re-
quire a conversion operation on a large
scale-conversion of job skills and conver-
sion of military bases, factories and ma-
chines from military to civilian work.
Unlike the end of the World War II, the
conversion following Vietnam would not be
the relatively simple turn-around that was
once called "reconversion." That meant
going back to the civilian work that had
once been done in a particular factory or
enterprise. Typically, U.S. military industry
is now concentrated in factories that were
specially constructed and equipped for this
work, and the people working in them have
often spent their entire working lives in
these and related enterprises.
On the face of it, this would not seem to
pose a special problem. After all, they have
been doing work that has been valued by
the defense department and have been
reasonably well paid for their efforts. The
trouble is, however, that the defense
department and its requirements are
very different from civilian markets
and civilian products. For example:
it is altogether agreeable to the Pen-.
tagon to take delivery of a Polaris sub-
#1
tary products are often inappropriate for
civilian work. This means that not only
the organizations, but the skills of the
people working in them will have to be
"converted" if they are to be useful in
civilian industry.
THERE IS ANOTHER aspect of the con-
version problem that is critical. It is called
From a technical standpoint, all this
can be made into a workable set of opera-
tions. The trouble is that it requires think-
ing ahead, and that kind of planning has
hardly been done, either in the government
or in military industry or in the com-
munities that are dependent on military
bases. Except for a scattering of exceptional
effort, most of the communities and firms
working for the Pentagon have relied on a
4'