4

OPINION

ige 4

Saturday, November 8, 1980

The Michigan Daily'

Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
KCI No 57420 MaynardS
XCIAnn Arbor, MI
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

Stranger than fiction?
What the King may have said
about the hazing incident .. .

Vol )

St.
18109

Thurmond: A fearsome

Reagan henchman

[ F THE SPECTRE of Ronald Reagan
in the White House is the most fear-
ome image to emerge from last
uesday's debacle, certainly the
sought of Senator Strom Thurmond as
le chairman of the Senate Judiciary
ommittee is a close second. The South
arolina Republican has spent more
ian thirty years in politics (most of it
i the Senate), and virtually all of his
nergies have been devoted to the most

There are other glorious moments in
the Southerner's past: As a Democrat
in 1948, he was one of the leaders of the
Dixiecrat walkout from the 1948
Democratic convention. The reason?
The party, led by a forward-looking
Northern mayor by the name of Hu-
bert Humphrey, had adopted a plat-
form with a pinko plank encouraging
civil rights for all, even-dare we say
it-blacks. Thurmond wouldn't stand
for it.'
Sixteen years later, he was still
fighting the good fight. When his party
had the gall to pass the Civil Rights Act
in 1964, Thurmond was so disgusted he
took the opportunity to abandon ship
and swim over to the Republican side
of the aisle.
Of course, Thurmond has perfectly,
good explanations for his backward ac-
tions in 1948 and 1964. He claims that
his goal was to protect "States'
Rights," that old reactionary battle
cry. We think he was more concerned
about protecting the lily white folks
back home, whom he perceived to be
his only true constituency.
With his background in mind-which
he has yet to fully dis-
avow-Americans have good cause
to be concerned about what Thurmond
might do in his powerful Senate
Judiciary post in the Senate. He will be
the chairman of a committee that han-
dles constitutional amendments and
the federal judicial and penal systems,
all areas that have a great deal of im-
mediate effect on the nation.
Thurmond has indicated that he sup-
ports a Constitutional amendment that
would mandate a balanced federal
budget. One needn't be a seer to figure
out which expenditures would be cut
under Reagan to achieve that balance:
social and welfare programs, of cour-
se.
In what for Thurmond amounts to a
major concession to the left, the.
Senator has said he will not accept a
Constitutional amendment banning all
abortions. He insists that victims of
rape and incest be made exceptions.
Unfortunately, that's a compromise
the "pro-lifers" would probably be
willing to settle for.
But then again, there is the
Republican's staunch support for the
rapid deployment of the death penalty
as a remedy for our problems with
crime. There could be no more
seriously mistaken act.
Will no one save us from Strom?

In the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth . . . and the University
Athletic Department.
And the Department was without form,
and void; and darkness and secrecy was
upon its face.
And God said, "Whoops."
"The Royal Order of the Much Revered
Athletic Department will now come to order,"
screamed the secretary. "First on the agenda
is a discussion of the Puckscam issue. Your
Excellency, we don't like to bring this up,
because we know how silly it is, and how you
manage to pack the stadium every Satur-
day..."
"Please go on," sighed the King, who ap-
peared inconvenienced by the proceedings
and was intensely involved in filing his nails.
"And 'Your Highness' would be fine."
"I'M SORRY, YOUR Highness. Well, the
incident involved a student, a hockey player,
who against his will was forced to consume
large amounts of alcohol, was stripped,
shaved, abused, flung to the elements, then
left there to recover by himself. Your
Highness, we need to have the facts. What
exactly happened that night?"
"Really, it was nothing," he said.
"But why did those players do such a
thing?" the secretary pressed.
The King looked up from his nails. He
stared blankly ahead, pondering the question.
Then, returning to his nails, he responded
with a shrug of his shoulders, "Ego trip, I
guess. I mean, I don't know. Boys will be
boys, I say. If they can keep winning for the
Maize and Blue, then let them be boys."

By Nick Katsarelas
"BUT THE HUMILATION that poor kid
suffered," the secretary interjected. "And
the profanity of the whole incident, not to
mention the bad P.R., Your Majesty."
"Your Highness," corrected the King.
"Your Highness."
The King pointed his nail file at the men semi-
circled about him. "You call it humiliation,"
the King said. "I say, 'What~tsa matter, can't
take a joke?'
A board member rose. "Your Highness, I
want to congratulate you on your courage in
suspending three of the players involved."
THE KING SHOOK his head. "It wasn't
easy, you know. Those boys would love to be
taking slapshots right now. Instead, they have
to go to class full-time."
"Image the hell those three players are suf-
fering right now," mused a board member. A
roomful of heads shook in unison.
"But Your Highness," stammered another,
"don't you think you owe some sort of explan-
ation for what has happened? This Depar-
tment has a reputation of cloaking everything
in secrecy: the football players suspensions
last spring, our budget, our meetings, and
now this hazing incident."
"Hey," exclaimed the King, waving off the
questioner. "Internal affairs! Nobody else's
business!"
"BUT THE ACTIONS of these players and
the stubborn refusals of the Department to
discuss it have enraged large portions of the
student body," argued another. "Aren't you
accountable?"

The King leaned forward. His face red-
dened, his eyes grew scornful. "I'm respon-
sible for winning," he replied sternly. "Win-
ning is money, and money is everything. The
University wouldn't be what it is today if it
weren't for our athletic teams.
"Look at Northwestern," he added. "They
can't win a football game. Bunch of sissies.
But you take a guy from here, he goes for a
job interview, and you know what they say?
'Wow! You guys got a great football team!'
HE CONTINUED: "I GOT guys who
spend their day stopping pucks with their
faces, and what kind of respect do they get?
They go out one night, try to build some moral
character in a new player, and everyone
screams 'Hazing!'
"I'm not gonna defend hazing,' the King
concluded, "at least not in front of you. But
can you think of any other way to instill in a
young fellow the will to win?"
The room grew deathly silent. The King rose
from the table and strutted from the room.
His machismo was genuine. The board mem-
bers sat there, stunned by the thundering
reverberance of his absence.
And God said, "Let there be man,"
and there were men, one of whom
thought he was God.
Former Daily staff writer Nick Katsa-
relas is now working for a newspaper in
Pennyslvania. Nick admits he can't skate
very well, but then again, says he doesn't
really care.

.and what Canham did say,

Strom Thurmond
abysmally backward sorts -of
legislation imaginable.
Thurmond's years-77-are ex-
ceeded only by his ratings from three
of the most conservative political
-groups in Washington. The National
Association of Businessmen, which
.worries itself sick about spending for
social programs, gave Thurmond a
hefty rating of 80 (out of 100) for his
stingy ways. The Americans for Con-
,titutional Action, a lobby so reac-
tionary Hermann Goering might feel
-at home in its offices, gave the good
senator an 87. And from the National
'gecurity Index of the American
Security Council, Thurmond was able
to squeeze out a solid 100 for his un-
,wavering support of major defense ex-
.penditures and military programs.

The following communique was
sent to the Daily by a University
alumnus. According to Athletic
Director Don Canham's office, the
letter was sent to several people
who had written Canham about
the hockey team hazing incident
of October 12, 1980. The words set
in italics were underscored in the
original.
October 31, 1980
MEMORANDUM
FROM: Don Canham
SUBJECT: Hockey Hazing
I have heard from a number of people con-
cerning the story that appeared in the Detroit
Free Press and The Michigan Daily about the
hockey hazing at an initiation party. I am not
only amazed, but greatly disturbed that, to
date, we have seen no clarification or an
accurate presentation of what actually
occurred. I guess it is the age old story of the
first falsehood never being correctly retrac-
ted. Frankly, the situation as reported in the
Free Press and The Michigan Daily was not
what actually happened. The hockey team it-
self has tried to set the record straight with
very little success. All players, including the
hazed athletes, signed the correct version.
Some of the terms in the stories that were
used were simply fabricated and uncalled for
(words like fbarbaric, tortured, assaulted,
etc.). In brief the young man was not put in
the trunk of an automobile, he was laid in the
back of a hatchback and there is a difference
between a trunk and an automobile hatch-
back. He was driven from the party to his
dormitory in a period of 7 minutes, he was not
driven around the campus for an hour as the
story stated, nor did he lay out in freezing
weather (as reported) for an hour and a half.

mates did.
No one is trying to defend hazing or
initiations or things of that nature. Virtually
all of the players were wrong, and the
hazing got out of hand as it often does. I
know of no institution in the United States
that has not had problems with initiations and
hazing, and I know of no institution that has
not expressed distaste and dissatisfaction in
the practice. I thoughtrthat young people
today had more- maturity than they have
shown in this particular" case. We knew
nothing about hazings that have evidently
been going on for several years or we would
have done something about it.
What bothers me as much as anything are
the letters I have been receiving from so-
called responsible people who obviously
(when they were young) never made a
mistake and who show no tolerance what-
soever for the young, in this case, who did
make the mistakes. I know of no way to
help youngsters or to guide them if you cut
off all connection with them.
The brilliant solutions that I find in my mail
are that they (the players) should all be ex-
pelled from school immediately; they should
all be held up to public ridicule and be listed
by name; we should cancel the hockey
season and if- not that, bar the offending
athletes forever from playing hockey at The
University of Michigan. Whatever became of 4
fair play and due process?
I assure you that we will take none of these
actions. Instead we are making every effort
to straighten out the matter and to help and
guide the young people who were involved
and who, incidentally, are absolutely
crushed by the hostile reaction of their
own student newspaper, and who see me
almost every day searching for a way to
right their wrong.


Don Canham

While the hazing or initiation is uncalled for,
it did not take place as it appeared in the
newspapers. The athlete himself has signed a
statement attesting to that.
What disturbs us is that the young man who
called the Free Press from the dormitory ex-
pressing his "great concern" might have
been a little more humane (if he felt the way
he said he did) by calling the boy's mother
(who happens to be a nurse), the coach or me.
Of course, if he had done any of these his
name would not have appeared in the
newspaper and his subsequent statements
would have gone unnoticed as well.
I met with the young man who was hazed
the next morning and when I talked to him he
seemed to be feeling normal. He returned to
practice the next day when all of his team-

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To the Ilaily:
The Daily's editorial comments
on Ed Clark's Libertarian
program (November 2) show that
the writers understand neither
his philosophy, his programs, nor
the problems we face. This post-
election analysis may shed some
light on libertarianism and the
Daily's shortcomings.
The Daily says Clark's "overall
philosophy (is) unsound." I gave
the two Daily reporters to whom I
spoke some brochures, but no
one of sound mind would have
thought of them as treatises.

LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Shedding light on libertarianism

could be done much better volun:
tarily by free people-if the
government would get out of our
way. Too many people want to
get the government into
everything.
Next, the Daily says "Clark
would legalize victimless crimes,
totally deregulate industry and
the economy, and eliminate
government welfare programs."
Fat chance. He would certainly
try to move in these directions,,
and might have had some suc-
cess, had he been elected. But the
"readily apparent problems"

of poor people, mainly nonwhite,
unskilled, dependent on gover-
nment, and without hope. "Im-
provements" cannot be made;
government welfare is a cruel
machine that benefits middle-
class bureaucrats most and is
meant to do that, to keep the poor
"in their place," and to defuse
resentment against its Siamese
twin, the warfare state.
No threat of starvation has
been solved by welfare; the num-
ber of poor pebple here has
decreased by less than a million
in over a decade, despite hun-

solutely unreliable street drugs?
The laws and the state of our
economy only make things wor-
se, and enforcement of the laws is
impossible-and very costly.
Believe it or not, with low-priced
and high-quality products, "ad-
dicts" can function in life like
everyone else.
For people with "open minds"
the editors certainly show a
reluctance to look 'deep, to go
beyond fashion or "common
knowledge," or to seriously con-
sider any real alternatives.
Libertarianism offers a f~n-

.

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