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1XC, No. 94
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, January 25, 1980
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
' women pond
By STEVE HOOK
with wire reports
Among the controversial by-products of President
*arter's draft registration proposal Wednesday night
is the possibility that women will be required to
register for the draft along with men. According to a
White House spokesman interviewed yesterday, this
is an "open question" being discussed in Washington.
"The administration's position will become known
shortly," Defense Department spokesman Thomas
Ross said at the Pentagon yesterday. He refused to
reveal the administration's thinking on the issue, but
recalled that Defense Secretary Harold Brown had
previously warned of the legal problems in
registering only men.
"The secretary said if the draft were revived there
would be a serious legal question of registering just
one sex," Ross said.
ON CAMPUS, female students generally seemed
ready to accept draft registration-under one very
specific circumstance: The passage of the Equal
Rights Amendment (ERA).
"To hell if I am going to w.Ar until I get equal
rights," said LSA sophomore Susan sValla. "This
country, that doesn't guarantee equal rights to
women, wants to send them to war. Until the ERA
passes, that will be my way of saying 'no way."'
Valla explained that if women are asked to register
ter draft1
for the draft, ERA backers will get a shot in the arm
because "it would do away with much of the op-
position's arguments." In this respect, she said, "this
might be a good idea.
"WE'VE (ERA supporters) said all along that if
there ever were a war, women would be drafted,"
Valla commented. "But until I'm fighting as an equal
citizen, I will resist being drafted."
Under the Selective Service Act, President Carter
has the authority to resume registration of men bet-
ween the ages of 18 and 26-but Congress would have
to provide funds to finance such a move. Also,
Congress would have to amend the act to include
women. Presumably, the question of obligatory
See 'U' WOMEN, Page 2
registration
Students and draft, registration
Do you agree with President Carter's proposal to revitalize the Selective
Servic6system?
Yes ............................................ 42
No ...................................... .... 52
Undecided ..................... .............. 6
The above results were based on an informal Daily survey of 100 Uni-
versity students, both male and female.
Draft registration
opponents mobilize,
promise long fight
AP Photo
THE LEFT-OVERS from the last draft lottery in 1973 wait stored in acardboard box in the Selective Service System
office in Washington. The capsules were used-in the drawing of names for military service.
oviet Union: Persian
Gulf not 'vit al' to U..
WASHINGTON (AP) - Opponents of
President Carter's plan to register
draft-age youths vowed yesterday to
"picket, teach-in, protest, and demon-
strate" in every major city, but
acknowledged they will have a hard
time stopping the program.
As student groups and others mapped
campaigns to rally public opinion
against registration, several members
of Congress denounced Carter's action
and promised to try to block it.
MEANWHILE, employees of the
Selective Service System have been
sent scrambling in an effort to
reorganize the office after six-and-one-
half years of virtual silence. All 18 lines
on the switchboard have been jammed
since President Carter's speech, with
just one receptionistattempting to
carry the load.
The agency has 98 employees, a
budget -of $7 million, and a continuing
mandate to be ready to institute a draft
in a hurry if conditions warrant. Much
of that money was used to train 715
National Guardsmen if a national
emergency dictates raising an army
quickly.
With an increased budget and"
enlarged staff, the Selective Service
System would begin the arduous task of
organizing the draft registration.
The president has strong backing on
registration from key congressional
leaders, including Senate Democratic
Leader Robert Byrd and House
Speaker Thomas O'Neill, and it ap-
pears now that his plan would be ap-
proved.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN Leader John
Rhodes of Arizona said Carter has
"overwhelming support" among
Republicans on the issue and that he
sees no effective opposition to it from
any quarter.
Even so, representatives of various
groups opposing registration went to
Capitol Hill and declared they would
fight an admittedly uphill battle.
Most of the spokesmen predicted that
registration would lead to a draft. In his
speech, Carter said he hoped a draft
will not be necessary but that "we must
be prepared for that possibility."
BARRY LYNN, spokesman for a
coalition of 42 peace, student, civil
rights, and religious groups, said it "is
U.S. Olympic boycott
wins House support
absolutely committed to an all-out ef-
fort to prevent draft registration from
being reimposed in this country now."
He said the coalition - the Commit-
tee Against Registration and the Draft
- would lobby against funds for an ex-
panded Selective Service System, laun-
ch a public relations campaign i every
state, and would file court challenges
against any legislation approved by
Congress.
From AP and UP!
-WASHINGTN-President Carter
won swift House approval yesterday for
his stand on the Summer Olympic
Games in Moscow, but his hope for
speedy action by the full Congress was
stymied by the chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
By a 386-12 margin, the House adop-
ted a resolution urging the U.S. Olym-
pic Committee to honor Carter's
request that the Games by postponed,
moved, or canceled unless the Soviet
Union withdraws its military forces
a From The Associated Press
The Soviet Union yesterday scoffed at President Carter's
claim that the oil-rich Persian Gulf area is vital to the United
States. Britain announced a tough package of measures to
protest the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.
Responding to Carter's State of the Union address Wed-
nesday night, the Soviet news agency Tass said "the absur-
dity of Washington claims that the Persian Gulf area is a
sphere of U.S. 'vital interest' is an axiom which needs no
proof ..
"EQUALLY GROUNDLESS is the president's assertion
concerning mythical threats to the movement of Middle East
oil from any side . ..," Tass said in a Washington-dated
dispatch.
Tass said the only major "outside force" in the Persian
Gulf area - was an American naval force - "the biggest
armada of naval forces" and said Americans were the only
ones blocking the gulf and the Hormuz Straits, and boycot-
ting oil shipments from Iran.
It said Carter's definition of U.S. interests was an an-
nouncement "for all to hear that the United States regards
nearly the whole world as its sphere of 'vital interests'
without being interested in the least how the countries, which
his administration intends to include in this sphere, will react
to this."
IN LONDON, meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Lord
Carrington announced Britain would suspend "for the time
being" high level and ministerial contacts with the Soviet
Union, cancel military exchanges between the two countries,
and beam more radio broadcasts into Russia and
Afghanistan.
He added that Britain also will not renew the trade
agreement with the Soviets negotiated by the previous
government. The agreement granting credit facilities to the
Soviets expires next month.
"The Russians must understand that there can be
no . .. relationship so long as they behave as outrageously as.
th'ey have done in Afghanistan," Carrington said.
from Afghanistan by Feb. 20.
Almost all of the debate in the House
was strongly in favor of a boycott and
decidedly anti-Soviet in tone.
WITHOUT A SOVIET troop with-
drawal, and in the absence of any other
action against the Games, Carter has
said, he will ask U.S. athletes to boycott
the competition.
The White House had urged
congressional leaders to approve the
resolutions before the U.S. Olympic
Committee's executive board meets
See BOYCOTT, Page 2
BULLARD, SAMOFF SPEAK FOR DIVESTMENT:
Workshop pushe
By MITCH STUART
Three local pro-divestment groups
held a workshop last night to increase
awareness about apartheid in South
Africa and to teach lobbying skills to
divestment advocates.
State Rep. Perry Bullard (D-Ann Ar-
or) spoke in favor of legislation which
will be considered by the state House of
Representatives next month. The
proposed legislation-as many as three
bills-would prohibit investment of
"nearly $5 billion" from state pension
funds in corporations that do business
in South Africa. Pension funds affected
would be those of school employees,
judges, and other state employees.
The workshop at the Michigan Union
was co-sponsored by the Michigan
Student Assembly (MSA), Washtenaw
County Coalition Against Apartheid
(WCCAA), and Public Interest Resear-
ch Group in Michigan (PIRGIM).
BULLARD SAID the legislation has a
realistic chance of passage. "I'd say we
start with 40 votes," of the 56 required
for passage in the state House, said
Bullard. "I think we can do it."
University Afro-American and
African -Studies Prof. Joel Samoff
outlined current South African racial
policies. He said many South African
laws which decide what people may do
"based on their race . .. rather than
their accomplishments."
"There is no hidden corner in which
~s obbingeffort
people can hide from this legislation," of the lobbying skills sessions that
Samoff added. followed the speeches. He listed several
SAMOFF ALSO discussed the suggestions for would-be lobbyists:
strategy behind divestment in " look neat;
Michigan. "What we're talking about is " make an appointment with your
an escalation of pressure on South home legislator;
African officials. Our eventual goal is to " work in pairs.
force a change in South African (apar- He also suggested, "If you're uncom-
theid) policy." fortable with a question (asked by a
Samoff also cautioned the prospec- legislator), don't try to bullshit your
tive lobbyists: "Recognize that South way through."
Africa is not static. Concessions can Bob Stechuk, WCCAA member, also
exist in margins of policy, rather than criticized South African policies. "All
the core." He urged people not to be societies are held together by varying
fooled by these "highly visible, sym- degrees of coercion and cooperation. In
bolic changes." South Africar... the coercion side of the
Dave DeVarti of PIRGIM taught one equation is much larger."
California earthquake AP Photo
Two Livermore, Calif., residents sit outside their mobile home after it was
damaged by an earthquake yesterday. The quake, which measured 5.5 on
the Richter scale, shook much of Northern California. Several casualties
were reported.
p Y
leading to nowhere. Before coming to Washington State,
Gebhardt served as an audio-visual coordinator for the
Department of Defense. Did you ever wonder what they put
in those training films? Q
Poor Paul
Paul McCartney is spending much of his time in a Tokyo
jail meditating, according to his wifeLinda, who has been
allowed to visit the rock star three times since he was
Writing award for 'U' lecturer
Joan Blos's "A Gathering of Days; A New England Girl's
Journal, 1830-32" has won the Newberry Award for
Children's Literature. Blos, a lecturer at the University's
School of Education, was named the winner at the
American Library Association's conference in Chicago
yesterday. The award is one of two citations given by the
association every year for the best children's novel and the
best illustrated work for children publishedin America. 11
On the inside . .
The editorial page features a look at the world hunger
problem . . . coverage of the Michigan State basketball
game is on the sports page . . . and the arts page has a
review of 1941.
On the outside .. .
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