The Michigan Daily-Friday, April 18, 1980-Page 5
Apathy cancels divestment
protest at Regents meeting
SIR JOHN VANBRUGH'S
Ticke,
pm o
E_ 6-8 p:
0450
The U-M Department of
Theatre & Drama
Guest Artist
KEVIN O'LEARY
POWER CENTER
TONIGHT through
SATURDAY at 8pm
SUNDAY at 2pm
r PTP, 10-1 and 2-5
at Power Center,
onight. Call 764-
63-3333 after 6.
BY DAVID MEYER
Coordinators of a Diag rally calling
for University divestment from cor-
porations doing business in South
Africa were forced to cancel their
scheduled march on the Regents
meeting yesterday because of a shor-
tage of support.
Although the rally's coordinators
blamed the poor attendance on rushed
organization and a lack of publicity,
some divestment activists said the lack
of support was exemplary of a national
fading of interest in the issue.
Yesterday's rally followed a similar
rally one year ago, in which divestment
activists stormed and occupied the
Regents' monthly meeting, forcing the
Regents to eventually move to another
room before continuing its business.
ABOUT 50 students, some carrying
signs and posters demanding Univer-
sity divestment, gathered.on the Diag
for yesterday's rally, which tied into
nationwide activities surrounding "Big
Business Day 1980". After listening to a
number of speakers who warned of cor-
porate abuses of power and called for
University divestment, the crowd
dispersed, instead of marching on the
Regents' meeting as had been planned.
In place of the scheduled protest of
the Regents' meeting, rally co-
coordinator Rob Leighton spoke to the
Regents during the time normally set
aside for public comments during their
meetings. Leighton criticized the
University for continuing to hold stock
in corporations dealing in South Africa,
for threatening to cut the Women's
Studies program, and for what he said
was a reputation as "a union-buster."
The Regents, however, did not ad-
dress the divestment issue, which was
not scheduled for discussion on their
agenda. After the meeting, Regent
James Waters (D-Muskegon) said that
the University would continue to follow
"the same policy that we have had in
the past."
ATTENANCE AT some of the
workshops associated with yesterday's
"Big Business Day" rally was also low.
No one showed up to at least one
workshop and less than 10 persons ap-
peared at two others.
Bob Warren, a rally participant and
former activist with the Washtenaw
County Coalition Against Apartheid
(WCCAA), said yesterday's low atten-
dance was, in part, due to the growth-of
other issues that had a more direct im-
pact on students. Specifically, he poin-
ted out the anti-draft movement, the
anti-nuclear power movement and the
"Save Women's Studies" movement.
Warren also said interest in the divest-
ment issue was dwindling on campuses
all across the country.
Leighton agreed that interest in
divestment is on the decline. "I think if
you trace the history of divestment, it
seems to be sort of an interim issue," he
said, suggesting that activism in the
issue alternated in a surge-and-decline
pattern.
"The problem with it (divestment) is
that it doesn't bring the issue home,"
Leighton said. "Divestment is
something people catch on to for a little
while."
Debbie Duke, a member of the
WCCAA Steering Committee, conferred
that divestment activism is slackening.
"Most of the people that got involved in-
the anti-apartheid movement ... were
new to political activism," Duke said,
explaining that they often became
frustrated with slow progress and
abandoned the issue.
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Daily Photo by PAUL ENGSTROM
TWO PARTICIPANTS in yesterday's Diag rally applaud as a speaker calls
for University divestment from corporations in South Africa. Rally co-
ordinator Rob Leighton, left, said interest in the divestment issue is declin-
ing, both locally and nationally.
Join The
Daily
House committee approves funds
for peacetime draft registration
EditorialStaff!
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an impor-
tant victory for President Carter, the
House . Appropriations Committee
yesterday resurrected his embattled.
plan for peacetime draft registration of
young men.
By a three-vote margin, 26-23, the
committee approved spending $13.3
million to, start registering an
estimated four million men, aged 19
and 20, at post offices throughout the
country, beginning this summer.
Proposals to register women along
with men, as Carter proposed, were
shouted down twice without a recorded
vote.
CARTER'S PLAN has been stalled in
Congress since Feb. 27 when an ap-
propriations subcommittee approved
only enough money for a standby
registration program that would not
start until the president ordered
mobilization in an emergency.
The subcommittee vote had been a
sharp setback for the administration,
and resulted in an intense lobbying ef-
fort by the White House and Pentagon
to reverse the outcome.
The vote by the full committee
nullified the subcommittee decision and
cleared the way for a debate over
registration on the House floor next
week, probably Tuesday.
"I would be surprised if it were
defeated," House Speaker Thomas
O'Neill (D-Mass.), told reporters.
HE SAID A White House survey
shows 206 congresspersons supporting
registration, 86 opposed and the
remainder of the 435 members un-
decided.
Carter announced his registration
program in his Jan. 23 State of the
Union address, calling it a sign of U.S.
strength and resolve to protect
American interests after the Soviet in-
tervention in Afghanistan.
Rep. Edward Boland (D-Mass.), said
registration is "more timely now"
because of a possible need for military
action in Iran if the sanctions announ-
ced by Carter -and perhaps a naval
blockade - do not result in the release
of the hostages.
CANTERBURY LOFT presents
STATEMENTS AFTER AN ARREST UNDER THE
IMMORALITY ACT and THE ISLAND
by DENNIS BRUTUS-Poet
April 10, 11, 17, 18 and 19-8.p.m.
as part of the
FESTIVAL of SOUTH AFRICAN CULTURE
For further Festival Information call 665-0606
These productions are for mature audiences, nudity is
involved.
CANTERBURY LOFT-332 South State street, second floor
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