OPINION
Page 4
Tuesday, September 30, 1980
The Michigan Daily
die mbtuig an 46,
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Confessions of a sell-out
Vol. XCI, No. 23
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board
The faculty is grieving
I had almost been able to forget about it. It
was more than two months ago, there has
been little mention of it in the press, and my
family and friends have not broached the sub-
ject lately.
But yesterday, my Selective Service
Registration Acknowledgement came in the
mail.
IT WAS WAITING for me when I walked in-
to The Daily offices-where I get most of my
mail-yesterday morning. A co-worker, cat-
ching me quickly shove the letter into my
notebook, couldn't resist a crack about my
"selling out."
And that started all the guilt, bitterness,
and fear I had managed to suppress for two
months flowing into the open.
I did sell out. And though I hate myself for
having done it, I have tried not to rationalize
Then too, I had to contend with my own
worries. I was terrified of living every day in
fear, expecting federal agents to arrest me at
any moment. Certainly that fear was
exaggerated, but it was nevertheless
legitimate. If the government chooses to
crack down on resisters, I reasoned, it will
search for those who will make good exam-
ples. And I, in my position as editorial page
editor of a major student newspaper, would
have been a good example.
millions of other 19- and 20-year-old men
across the country who trooped complacently
to their post offices last summer because the
president told them to.
WHEN I TRY to lift myself out of my
depression, I allow myself to believe that I am
not like those others, because I thought long
and hard about registering and let the
decision torment me. I let myself think I
somehow purged myself of culpability and
guilt for selling out by suffering in the process
W HEN JONATHAN MARWIL lost:
his suit against the University
last week, the entire faculty lost right
along with him.
The fact that Marwil had to go into a
court of law to plead his case for a
tenure review because no effective
grievance procedure exists within the
University was the first defeat for the
faculty.
And the legal precedents established
in the wake of the University's victory
could prove a devastating blow to
junior faculty who expect a review of
their ,qualifications to receive tenure
after six years on the faculty.
The details and merits of Marwil's
case are not important here. Suffice it
to say Marwil expected a tenure
review in his sixth year as an assistant
professor in the engineering
humanities department, was denied
that review by department ad-
ministrators because he was con-
sidered a divisive influence, appealed
the department's denial through all
available University channels, and
finally lost his bid for a review, in
federal district court.
What is important is where the
faculty goes from here.
Faculty leaders have indicated that
creation of an effective grievance
procedure to replace the impotent Senate
Advisory Review Committee is among
their highest priorities.
SARC is supposed to be the faculty's
grievance board. But it can issue only
advisory decisions, which in recent
years have been consistently ignored
and discounted by administrators.
SARC unanimously supported Mar-
wil's request for a tenure review; the
engineering department did not concur
with SARC's opinion and
diplomatically ignored it.
Only a faculty grievance board with
some authority to enforce its decisions
can ensure due process in the Univer-
sity's justice system.
Yet, a creation of such a board is not
simple. The individual faculties of the
University's schools and colleges
cherish their autonomy; they have
traditionally resented attempts to for-
ce decisions upon them. Therefore, a
general faculty grievance board with
clout to effect its decrees would
necessarily step on some faculty toes.
The faculty must eliminate this
problem before it can create a power-
ful grievance board.
We hope the difficulty is solved
quickly. To allow University grievan-
ces to be settled in the legal system
means that the courts can continue to
disrupt accepted University customs.
One Marwil case is enough.
a SE
u
SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM
REGISTRATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Witticisms
By Howard Witt
Mixing art and politics
my decision to register. When I filled out my
form in July, I included my social security
number. I did not scribble "conscientious ob-
jector" across the form; I did not affix a
sticker indicating that I was registering un-
der protest.
THOSE ALL WOULD have been feeble,
guilt-assuaging attempts to deny the surren-
der of my will. You can't half-register, I
realized. Once you've crossed the moral line
and given your name to the Selective Service,
you can't turn back with half-assed protests.
The only true protest against registration is
not registering.
I sold out, and I am paying a heavy
emotional price for it. It hurts me deeply
every time Ihave to write an editorial
decrying this country's renewed
militarization, knowing that I have played a
part in it. It's demoralizing to work with Daily
staffers who no longer respect me because I
did not stand up in opposition to this giant step
toward war.
Of course, none of the pain comes as any
real surprise. I began agonizing over whether
to register shortly after President Carter an-
nounced the insidious program last January.
As registration week approached, I grew in-
timately acquainted with the repercussions of
either course of action.
ON THE ONE hand, I knew that a decision
not to register could be the most important
choice in my life. It would have tested me in
ways I had never before been tested, forcing
me for the first time to risk severe punish-
ment for what I honestly believed.
I honestly did (and do) believe that the suc-
cessful registration of millions of compliant
men will make a return to the draft, and then
an actual war, dangerously possible. A strong
military, I am convinced, leads to the tem-
ptation to use it.
My conscience dictated that I refuse to
register. And the activist buried somewhere
within me demanded that I publicize my
refusal to register and try to urge others to
resist also.
But on the other hand, my philosophically
pure desires to resist were cluttered with
selfish considerations.
FIRST; I HAD to contend with the sadness
and worry in my father's eyes. I have never
seen him as concerned as he was the night I
told himI was considering not registering and
risking a prison sentence. The two weeks
during which I was pondering my decision
must have been the worst two weeks of my
parents' lives.
Dear Registrant:
Thank you for registering with the Selective Service System. This letter is your record of
evregistering with SelectiveService and you should keep a copy of this acknowledgement as
evidence of your registration.
Your Selective Service record contains the information shown below. Please check this
information carefully, especially any information with asterisks ( *) next to it. If you find any errors in
your record, you should enter the right information on the change of information form provided and
return the form to Selective Service. It is your legal responsibility to notify Selective Service of any
errors in your record within len (10) days of receipt of this letter.
There has been some confusion about the requirement that each registrant provide Selective
Service with his social security number. Failure to do so is a violation of law,. and could result in
legal action. If you withheld your number at registration, you must enter it on the change of
information form and return it to Selective Service within ten (10) days.
If your Selective Service record has no errors, you should keep the enclosed change of
information so that you may notify us of any future change in your record.
The law requires you to notify Selective Service of any changes in your current or permanent
address or any legal name change within ten (10) days of the date of that change. To notify
Selective Service of changes in your record, you may use either the change of information form
enclosed in this letter or the change of information forms which are available at any U.S. Post Office
or overseas at an American Embassy or Consulate.
Thank you again for registering with the Selective Service System.
Bernard Rostker
Director
Si usted desea que esta carta u otra informacion le sea enviada en espahlol, marque el
encasillado en el formulario incluldo.
Selective Service Registration Record
Selective Service No Social Security Nb Sex Date of Birth Telephone Number Date of Record
NAME f, t
Gave permission for Name. Ad-
dress and TelephoneNo. to be
given to Armed Forces Recruiters.
CURRENT MAILING ADDRESS PERMANENT ADDRESS
Number and Street Number and Street
r f r ri FiF S(41 a; :{;4 d cii' 4£ I .-Iy . ai Fz i.d
City State Zip Code Cit Stale Zip Code
91
TT HAS BEEN 30 years since Senator
Joseph McCarthy and his cohorts
went on a rampage against individuals
and organizations they believed were
Communists or "fellow travelers." In
Hollywood, actors and writers who had
ever taken part in any progressive
cause or been associated with a left-
leaning organization were subject to
blacklisting.
This notorious period in history has
been evoked quite recently as the
screening date for Playing for Time, a
television movie, has approached.
The film airs tonight.
Actress Vanessa Redgrave has been
cast in the film's leading role. She
plays a Jewish inmate in a Nazi con-
centration camp during World War II.
Off the set, Redgrave has avidly sup-
ported the Palestine Liberation
Organization, a group that has
repeatedly called for the destruction of
Israel.
Many members of the film com-
munity and numerous Jewish
organizations have protested the
casting of Redgrave, whom they see as
an enemy of the Jewish people, in the
part.
Most of the protesters deny that their
efforts can be described as
blacklisting. They say they only object
to Redgrave playing this particular
role; they are not attempting to keep
her from earning a living in other films
or television projects.
But any attempt to curtail an artist's
professional activities because of his
or her political beliefs is certainly
equivalent to the treatment doled out
en masse 30 years ago. Then,
blacklisting kept some of the most
talented people in Hollywood out of
work during what might have been the
most productive part of their careers.
That the effort to squash Playing for
Time is of a smaller scale does not ex-
cuse the small-minded enthusiasts who
participated.
SSS Form 3A (JUN 80)
Keep this copy for your records.
Finally, I weighed my potential value out of
prison against my value in prison. What little
ability I have to stir others toward action
would be lost in jail; at least in a daily
newspaper I can contribute something,
however small.
I WOULD BE lying, however, if I did not
admit that fear of prosecution was the
primary motivation for my decision.
Although I am deathly afraid that a draft and
a war is just around the corner, and I fear I
will someday have to explain to my gran-
dchildren that I played a part in allowing that
war to occur, I have chosen to embrace the
thin hope that I am wrong. Perhaps there is
no real link between registration and a draft,,
inwhich case resisting registration and going
to jail would be a sacrifice for nothing.
I'll make my stand when it's absolutely
necessary, I tell myself. I'll go to prison when
an actual draft begins, I promise myself. I
hope I never have to test that resolve.
So now I am #60-1712669-6. I have joined the
of doing it. As if writing a column about my
guilt can have some magically cathartic ef-
fect.
But that relief from depression does not last
long. It's a lie. I am no different than those
few of my peers who also agonized over
registration and those millions who didn't.
Now I just wait for the Selective Service to
tally up its figures showing a successful
registration program. I wait for Carter to
point to this successful registration as a man-
date from the country for greater military
spending, more nuclear weapons, a
peacetime draft, and a war.
I wait. AndI despair.
Howard Witt is the co-editor of The
Daily's Opinion Page. His column ap-
pears every Tuesday. Two anonymous
women have asked that he include the
word "llama" in his column this week,
so here it is: Llama.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Cheerleader article insulting, worthless
To The Daily:
We are writing in response to
your insulting article entitled,
"Cheerleaders-The American
Wet Dream" (Daily, Sept,. 9).
In your article you state that
"Cheerleading is perhaps
the most worthless and
degrading of human activities."
In our opinion your article should
be considered the most worthless
and degrading article we have
ever read.
We are a group of high school
cheerleaders and found your ar-
ticle not only insulting but very
one sided. Who are you to decide
what profession is worthless or
degrading? In our opinion your
entire article was sickening. You
make it sound like all
cheerleadersarenothing but
brainless, sexually-exploited in-
dividuals. That may be your
opinion, but it is not ours and it is
not fact. Needless to say, there
may be some individuals who fit
your description, but that gives
you no right to stereotype all of
skill-we beg to differ with you.
She learns coordination, how to
work as a group (not just as an
individual), and how to dedicate
herself to something she is proud
of-her school and her squad.
At least we are becoming in-
volved in our school and you con-
demn us for involvment-for
trying to create spirit and
devotion to our school. We're
sorry, but we see nothing wrong
with this. We do generate spirit
and enthusiasm and most
athletes would rather hear the
crowd cheering them on than
compete to silence.
Next time you decide to write
such a disgusting article, we urge
you to get your facts straight-all
Critic takes
To The Daily:
Maybe the people who attend
events for your paper should be
called reviewers and not critics.
It seems too many of your
the facts. Ask athletes, coaches,
teachers, students, etc. whether
they would rather hear spirit or
silence. Ask us why we cheer (our
answers might surprise you), ask
us how hard we practice, find out
what is really involved; but don't
make judgments on a few in-
dividuals. We are proud to be
cheerleaders and not even your
degrading article can change
that fact.
Oh, by the way, we are not
urged to "stick out those
bosoms" as you indicate, but we
are urged to smile. However, we
didn't realize there was a law
against smiling. Maybe you
should try it-it's good for the
"spirit"-which we have. School
spirit.
-Wayne Memorial High
School Cheerleaders
Doris Blanchard
Cheryl Bologna
Joanne Brumlow
Dianna Carroll
Ingeborg Fuchs
Lynette Guch
R. Lynn Hadrian
Mary Martin
Nancy Norton
Lora Oliphant
Amy Rakotz
Angela Rakotz
Terri Reighard
Wendy Reinink
Penny Schlamb
Robynn Thomas
September 22
01
his position too seriously
I don't think it would be fair to
dispute Mr. Coleman's opinions,
but as to certain facts that he
alleges, they just aren't true.
"The only time these Bees
showed any extra enthusiasm
they had on, nor is it terribly im-
portant.
Now this may seem like a small
point to quibble about but it gets
to the point of the whole snot-
nosed attituded expressed in the
um - -s -.