0 OPINION Page 4 Sunday, November 14, 1982 The Michigan Daily Decline and fall of black enrollment 0 IN 1970, THE University set a goal of 10 percent black enrollment by 1973. In 1982, the University released yet another in a series of disappointing statistics on black enrollment. This year, the percentage of blacks on campus dropped from 4.9 percent to 4.7 per- cent, a decline of 100 students. University administrators offered nothing tially profitable ideas that come from the faculty. The University would be a minority stockholder in the company by putting up $200,000. That money could pay for a board of directors, staff, and president, who would in turn try to draw money from business, private investers, foundations, and the state. Some faculty members, however, have lingering doubts concerning the University's control over the proposed corporation-a cor- poration that might find itself marketing products that are contrary to the University's established goals. Others believe that the corporation would provide the perfect medium for selling Univer- sity ideas. James Duderstadt, dean of the College of Engineering, says that the Univer- sity's concern with appearances limits its, ability to aggressively market such research, thus the need for a separate company. The University's executive officers may make a recommendation on the MRC by the end of the month. But in the fickle world of sup- ply and demand, who knows when the Univer- sity will begin to see a profit? the conference? "All they had to do was ask," he humbly said. "I haven't been doing very much lately." Singing the blues * T HE SONG they hum at graduation may be "get a job," but many of next spring's graduates will soon change their tune to the "out of work" blues, according to a Michigan State University study to be released tomorrow. "The class of 1983 is probably going to have as difficult a time as any class in the last decade," claims Michigan State Placeme4 Services Director John Shingleton. "The large majority will find jobs, but it will be tougher." Openings remain available for students in technical fields such as engineers, computer science, and accounting, he said, although even these lucrative fields are becoming more and more crowded. Graduates with social science, education, and communications degrees will find themselves increasingly squeezed out of a tightening job market, the study reports. More good news. The fortunate who do fir4 employment will receive salaries only one three percent higher than last year (also known as several points below the annual inflation rate). Shingleton's advice to students is bleak and to the point. The more than one million job- seeking baccalaureate graduates next year, he urges, should start looking early. more in the way of explanation than the same old excuses they've been handing out year af- ter year. They expressed dismay at the drop, but professed a continuing commitment to the 10 percent goal. "Clearly our efforts are not sufficient to date. We're looking for new ideas," said Harold Shapiro. The ideas, however, are there. Suggestions for bolstering black enrollment range from reorganizing the 30 recommendations sub- mitted last year by a faculty committee. The real problem, many black student leaders fear, may lie not in a lack of ideas, but. a lack of commitment. "Anybody can be com- mitted when it's easy," said Patrick Mason, a minority peer advisor in West Quad. "You show your commitment when the times are tough by what you put your dollars into. And the University is not putting its dollars into the problems of black students." But unlike the 70s, when blacks organized a campus-wide strike to protest their situation, current statistics are breeding more resignation than anger. "It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Michael Haig: Not much to do Blacks on campus: Frustrated Sudarkasa, a Black Student Union member. "I could have predicted this (year's) fall, and I expect to see another fall next year." University, Inc. C OMMERCIALISM is alive and well at the University. According to Vice President for Academic Affairs Billy Frye, several deans have given their cautious support to a plan for starting a private research corporation with University funds. The Michigan Research Corporation would be used to develop, finance, and market poten- In the flesh QUESTION: WHAT do you get when you put former President Gerald Ford, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, and a host of other ex-government experts together in the North Campus Ford Library? Answer: A confusion on U.S. foreign policy, a student protest, and a big-time media event rolled into one. On Wednesday and Thursday, Ford, Haig, former Secretaries of State Dean Rusk and William Rogers, and former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski lent their weighty words to a University conference on the foreign policy struggle between Congress and the president. That's what they were here to talk about. But what everyone really wanted to hear them talk about was the juicy stuff-comments on the recent elections, speculation on Brezhnev's successor, gossip on Haig's suntan. Everybody, from local news to Detroit news to national news, came to gawk at the celebrities- in-the-flesh spectacle. Some students, however, preferred protest over ogling. Two hundred marched from the Diag to the Ford Library in a loose coalition of anti-military, pro-freeze sentiments. But many felt glad that such movers and shakers had deigned to come at all. After all, these folks go for big bucks on the lecture cir- cuit. But maybe they never visit because they never get asked. How did Haig get collared for The Week in Review was compiled N Daily staff writers Richard Campbell, Julie Hinds, and Ben Ticho. Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Russia: 65 years of Vol. XCIII, No. 58 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 -Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Samantrai for LSA-SG IN RECENT years, LSA student government has suffered from persistent low turnouts in its elections and from generally low student in- terest in its projects. To the average student, it undoubtedly appears to be just another benign appendage to the University bureaucracy-another useless committee with little power or potential. Fortunately, that perception isn't accurate. Despite its troubles, despite the student indifference, LSA-SG remains the best avenue for LSA students to promote their interests and work for improving the University community. To do that, LSA-SG needs strong leaders; it needs a president and vice-president who are willing to persevere in the face of apathy, who are able to be effective despite their election to one of the University's more thankless posts. We think Rajeev Samantrai and Tammy Goldman of the SAID party will come closest to meeting these needs. As president, Samantrai would have the knowledge of the workings of the University to effectively present the students' case to the administration. He has clear-cut ideas on what programs he would like to see modified, and his arguments are suf- ficiently forceful to get administrators to pay attention. Samantrai is opposed in the election by two candidates: Barry Powers, of the LEED 83 party, and Mike Jones, an independent. Jones, though well- intentioned, doesn't seem to have a firm grasp on either the structure of the University or on his own opinions. While we support many of his positions on specific issues, Jones' ignorance on how to use student government effec- tively would, we feel, ensure a year of LSA-SG inaction. Powers, to be sure, is enthusiastic; boy, is he enthusiastic. But for what? His platform seems to emphasize bringing the students together by im- proving the social atmosphere at the University-politicizing the student body seems to concern him only peripherally. And Power's position on minority enrollment is very disturbing. Gran- ted, he values minority enrollment and wants it to increase, but his primary motivation for taking that position is a desire to broaden the diversity of the student body. The goal of fighting the effects of generations of discrimination by bringing blacks into the mainstream of society is, at best, only a secondary consideration for Powers. On most issues, all three candidates agree. All three want student representation on the LSA Executive Committee; all three want to keep budget cuts in LSA to a minimum; all three want to increase interaction bet- ween the student body and LSA-SG. Yet, even on these relatively non- controversial issues, we feel Saman- trai has the greatest ability to bring about progress. While he may be in- flexible on some of his positions, and while some of his goals may be idealistic, we feel his aggressiveness gives him the potential to lead the student government effectively. By Vera Politis Sixty years ago last Sunday, Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power in Russia. To mark the event, Soviet leaders held a huge military parade on Sunday. Here in the United States, the anniversary went largely unnoticed. We view the Soviet Union differently these days. Today, Americans no longer think about the Russian Revoluton and what it has meant. Instead, we take the existence of the Soviet Union for granted; we tend to think of the Soviet Union merely as a military adver- sary. WE SHOULDN'T, of course. By forgetting what has happened to Russia-by forgetting the crimes of the Communists who seized power-we forget what we're up against. We come perilously close to forgetting what it is that makes us different from Homo So rio" fj(.jg The "October Revolution" (it actually oc- curred on Nov. 7, by our calendar) marked the beginning of international totalitarian communism. The Bolsheviks overthrew the democratic provisional government of Russia and, two months later, dissolved the freely-elected Constituent Assembly, in which they had polled less than 25 percent of the vote. As the best guarantee for staying in power, unlimited terror was officially instituted in the form of the Communist secret police-the forerunner of today's KGB. ONCE, IN THE early days of the regime, Lenin made his position on terror clear when he commented on the death penalty, which had previously been outlawed. Outlawing capital punishment, he said, was "a mistake, an inadmissible weakness . . . a pacifist illusion. . . Do you think we can be victors without the most severe revolutionary terror?" The death penalty was subsequently reinstated. Sixty-five years later, terror still remains the sole means for the survival of com- munism wherever it is in power. From the very advent of Soviet rule, their leaders made clear that Russia is of no concern; it is the Marxist ideology that guides their interests and policies. "As for Russia, I spit on her," said Lenin. He added later, "Let 90 per- cent of the Russian people perish, so long as the remaining 10 percent will live to see communism." The present rulers are not much different. None of the Soviet governmental publications ever refer to "Russia." AMONG SERIOUS scholars and historians, it is common knowledge that Marxism is an- tagonistic to the national aspirations of anv nation. In Russia, for example, Marxism is totally alien to the Russian national character and the traditional Christian values of the Russian people. The difference between the international Marxists in the Soviet Union and the Russian people are fundamental and irreconcilable. When they took power, the Bolsheviks tried to ct.:- th Rnccin:- -'s cof ir ha im ntr Union. "RUSSIA" was no more. Throughout the Soviet regime, the toll on Russian life was catastrophic. An especially heavy blow fell on the ancient Russian Or- thodox Church. Embracing militant atheism, Communists saw religion as a dangerous rival, detrimental to their survival. They loathed Christianity in particular. Preaching brotherly love, compassion, and forgiveness were toally alien to the propagators of class struggle, atheism, and intolerance. The eradication of anything "religious" was con- ducted with atrocious fury. CATHEDRALS, CHURCHES, and monasteries were desecrated; priceless, irreplaceable relics and icons were looted. Some 50,00 churches and monasteries were destroyed or burned to the ground, many of them gems of ancient Russian architecture. Most of the remaining churches were turned into stables, warehouses, or anti-religious museums. But the wanton savagery did not end there. The gruesome holocaust continued with the sadistic extermination of thousands of priests and millions of innocent believers. No other Christian church experienced such bestial atrocities with tortures, mutilations, and live burials. The adherents of "scientific" Marxism promised economic equality. To bring this about they preached the doctrine of "class struggle," which is supposed to pave the way to the so-called "classless society." To destroy the existing economic order, the Communists provoked one group against another, brother against brother, children against parents. "STEAL THAT which was stolen from you" was the Marxist cry for deliverance from the old order. Thus, seven million peasants were starved to death in the process of collectivization of their farms. Centralized control brought the country to a complete economic bankruptcy. Chronic disorganization, lack of goods, food, and living accommodations, and generally sub- standard living conditions became synonymous with the word "communism." The despotic state monopoly resorted to inhuman methodsto produce the quotas designated by the party. To liquidate the "un- desirables," slave labor camps were founded in which millions were detained under inhumanconditions and from which many millions never emerged. The hypocrisy of those who preach Marxism and its "classless society" is evident by the creation of the Soviet party elite, a class of "privilegentisa," who alone reap the fruit of their dictatorial power. BUT FOR THE ordinary people of the Soviet Union, the road to this elusive "classless society" has been thorny and paved with millions of corpses, No aspect of life in the Soviet Union has been spared Marxist-Leninist intrusion. Composers are ordered to compose symphonies glorifying the revolution; movies extoll the "glorious" Red army and its readiness to "crush all enemies. Ideological programs in schools, beginning in the nurseries. indoetrinate oppresson system which cannot tolerate any oppositio Once a clique has seized power, it can usurp for an indefinite time, because there is no built-in mechanism to enable the people to express their will and replace their rulers regardless of how unjust, irrational, or inept the rulers may be, - I believe we must no longer allow the Soviet Union to remain immune from external effor- ts directed towards bringing about a long overdue change in its political system. We must explore and use all means available to us, short of military action, to support t legitimate desires of the people of the Sovi Union to control their own destiny. When a government is established in Russia whose purpose and actions truly reflect the will of its people, only then will the world be safe from the irrational obsession which has relen- tlessly driven the Soviet state toward world domination. ADMITTEDLY, THESE objectives are dif- ficult to achieve. But in the light of many sup- porting facts, I believe that they are definitely attainable. Inthe 65 years which have passed sinc the revolution, the Communist regime has represented the hated establishment. Despite all the efforts of the Soviet government to isolate its people from the rest of the world, Soviet citizens are acutely aware of how much they lag behind the free world in material possessions, in freedom, and in human dignity. Naturally, the people (par- ticularly the young) see no reason why this condition must persist indefinitely. Many dissidents among the writers and intelle tuals have been resisting the Communisp system despite harsh prison terms and other vicious government tactics. The monumental mountain of crime and in- justice which has been committed by the Soviet government has bred a commensurate amount of hate and resentment. Even in the face of brutal repression of believers, the Soviet Union is experiencing a mass return of people to God. The resurgence among the young reflects their search for moral value" and a purpose in life-neither of which thep find in the secular religion of Marxism. IN ADDITION, Soviet scientists-who, like most scientists, have questioning, inquiring minds-have begun to reject the obsolete, irrational, inflexible, and inhuman theories of the Communist Party. In its efforts to subvert or win over the min- ds of uncommitted nations, world public opinion has become extremely important to the Soviets, despite their cynical outlook on ethics and morals. Continual mobilizatio. of world opinion against the Soviet Union' crimes will help alleviate the task of those courageous people struggling within the Soviet Union to bring an enlightened gover- nment to Russia. The tears of the suffering peoples living un- der Communist domination everywhere should serve as a reminder of the constant and mortal Communist threat to our own liberties and our democratic institutions, which we so often take for granted. On this anniversary, all of us who cherish - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --.... .....v. \............. ....."..::";v':::i::::::::":L:::"i::>;i4iii4:i:: ::"i:::"}:t .4,. . ..- -'+. - - - - - - - - - - - --tvv.vv 4.1i::.v . :-::::::- - - - - - - - - - ,:. v .,.. .,v:.~n:-- - - - - - - - - - x;:i':'"'i.. i.. T'7 _7 *-A -! -1 -- - - _ - --0_-1 7 1 R*. 0 1 1" r.