OPINION Page 4 Thursday, April 11, 1985 The Michigan Daily p q bRi CIttbia iaiI Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Working against nuclear war' Vol. XCV, No. 152 S42AOMaynard St. Ann Arbor; MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Sign of crisis ECRETARY OF Agriculture John lock's current financial woes are per- haps as clear an indicator as anything of the hardships facing the country's farmers. By almost any standard, Block has been a successful farmer. In little over 20 years he enlarged his family farm from 300 acres to 3,000 and embarked upon a series of investment partner- ships with other farmers from the region. He was a mere 46 years old when he was appointed Secretary of, Agriculture, and many observers felt he represented a new model of success within the industry:- the en- trepeneurial farmer who nonetheless knew and worked the land. Recently, however, several of his partnership ventures have failed and, although his home farm continues to yield a profit, many speculate he is losing a great deal of money. The situation is not so much a per- sonal tragedy, however, as it is an in- dictment of the Reagan ad- ministration's handling of the farm crisis. Sandwiched between rising interest rates and diminishing value of far- mland brought on by the strong U.S. dollar, farmers throughout the country face bankruptcy. The small family farmers have been most threatened and have received the most attention for their plight, but Block's situation suggests that the problem extends to all farmers-not just small ones. The trend in the Reagan ad- ministration has been to reduce price subsidies and eliminate target prices thus causing many farmers to spend more in raising their crops than they receive in selling them. Although far- mers should not be entirely immune to the rules of a market economy, they do deserve some support from the gover- nment because many of their troubles spring directly from government policies. In the early 1970s,' for instance, the government encouraged a rapid ex- pansion in agricultural output to facilitate grain sales to the Soviet Union. With the Soviet grain embargo, however, a major market was eliminated and the demand for U.S. grain has never recovered. Reagan's veto last month of the emergency farm aid bill demonstrated the president's resolve not to im- plement a full-scale federal aid program, but there is still a possibility of significant aid on a joint federal and local level. A glimmer of hope comes from a proposal in the Senate by several farm state senators which would extend federal guarantees for loans to far- mers from the current $630 million to $4 billion and would allow farmers easier access to government-backed loans. The government itself would not be supplying the loans, but would be encouraging local savings institutions to issue the loans themselves. Ironically, the revelations over Block's finances suggest an urgency that may convince the Reagan ad- ministration to free up the funds that would guarantee local loans and finally help assuage the plight of the farmers. When noted anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott was in town last month, Daily staff writer Jody Becker spoke with her about the abilities of private citizens to effectively work against nuclear proliferation. The first part of their con- versation appeared yesterday. Dialogue Daily: You are specifically interested in arousing women to oppose nuclear proliferation. The women at Greenham Common might best illustrate the intensity of commitment you feel. How effective do you think the peace camp has been, taking into consideration the fact that the Cruise (missile) has been deployed there and military exercises have gone on despite the women's presence? Caldicott: Well, it's very frustrating. They haven't stopped them, obviously. But they're keeping a continual watch. And every time the missiles are taken out for exercises, as they call it, from Greenham Common, it means that the Russians are seeing Cruise missiles moving and they could be being taken out for deployment and launching, and that is a very provacative thing to do. And- then they (the Greenham women) alert people across the country in networks. And so they've educated a large percent of the American people about the danger of the Cruise missile, they've made it uncomfor- table for the government, so they've done a wonderful thing. And they've made them- selves very uncomfortable living out there day and night in the mud and slush and the cold and rain. It's absolute commitment and it's wonderful they're so committed. D: Do you feel at this point that the Peace Camp is still the best instrument for education? Or might the Greenham women be more influential in effecting change in some other ways? C: I really can't comment on that, I haven't been in Britain for about three years. D: Two members of the undergraduate student body at the University of Michigan were recently released from jail after being convicted for trespassing while staging a sit- in protest in the lab of a University professor conducting military research. While this act might be called a noble act of civil disobedience, the research continues. How can concerned students and faculty most ef- fectively protest the use of university resour- ces for military research? C: Well, they learned how to do it in the Vietnam era didn't they? They took over the labs. I think you don't have the volume of students here now. It is absolutely immoral for (military) research to be taking place on a student campus-where we're educating our young people, to blow them up-it's ab- solutely immoral. It's much worse than Hitler building his gas ovens which killed six million people, because this is about to destroy four and a half billion. D: The New York Times and Newsweek magazine among other media agents have recently been heralding what they call a new wave of American "campus conservatism". Here at the University of Michigan, when Walter Mondale came to make a campaign speech in October, he faced a coalition calling themselves "Frats Against Fritz". How do you account for this trend in view of the ever growing nuclear threat? C: Well, you have to know that much of the organization forbthat sort of rallying comes from the Republican party. They are or- chestrated by the Republican party. They ship students in. They bus them in. They train them how to demonstrate. So that the studen- ts are being used as pawns. Because if they knew the truth, they wouldn't be participating in it. And I know that, because I speak at a lot of campuses that are these conservative places, or so-called conservative campuses. And the students stand up and weep when they hear me. Just weep. So they're uneducated. Why aren't the American students being taught the history of the United States? Why aren't they being taught what nuclear war would mean for them? Why aren't they being taught the truth about American History? Why aren't they being taught about European culture and history? You can graduate from 75 percent of American colleges with a B.A. without having taken American literature or history and 70 percent of the colleges without having learned European history. I give a lot of commen- cement addresses and the majority of studen- ts, it seems to me, get their degrees in business administration or computers. That's not education! That is a perversion of education. What has happened to this coun- try? What are you being taught if it's not how( to use a democracy? You're doomed if that continues. Si nclair W 46 Speaking up I rH THE rising April tem- peratures, students at college campuses across the country simultaneously raising their voices are to call for divestment of University funds in South Africa and to protest CIA recruiting on campus. At New York's Columbia University, 50 students and non-students have blocked Hamilton Hall for eight straight days. Pete Seeger, singer Bono Vox of the rock group U-2 and Brooklyn Assemblyman Al Vann have all lent their support to the protesters. Currently, Columbia has $39 million invested in companies that do busines with South Africa. A few hours down the parkway, at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., representatives from 6 collegesplan to meet to support the 6 Yale students faced with a disciplinary hearing for their protest of CIA recruitment on their campus last March. University activists have joined ac- tivists from eight other schools in sen- ding encouraging letters to the studen- ts at Yale, who also plan to discuss a national movement against the CIA. Activism is an important method for individuals to affect policies they feel have been implemented without regard for moral or idealistic con- siderations. Individual members of society, students in particular, are rarely a significant part of the decision making process in their governments or administrations. By voicing their criticisms of official policies in innovative and sometimes illegal ways they claim a share in those decisions. In recent months the University has provided several instances of effective civil disobediance, which carries ac- tivism to its extreme, and have publicized issues of military research on campus, sexism in local advertising and the administration's disregard for women's safety. Obviously, the goals of all civil disobediance actions will not be met, but the more examples of student ac- tivism there are, the more likely ad- ministrations and governments across the country will begin to pay greater heed to student input in decison- making. The students at Columbua, Yale, and the University should be commended for having the convictions to act upon their beliefs and other members of the University community should use those actions as an impetus to become informed about the issues and then choose whether to support or oppose them. c~z < V '' his L NEIL' K ? F TAE FAT r H OF LAS " 1 le I Letters Daily irresponsible in headline use _ _.__ ... ,, ... .,. ., ..n . __..,_ -- ._ ___ T2I To the Daily: I think it's time that you become more responsible in your use of headlines. As an officer of LSA Student Government, which works hard to promote the in- terest of the LSA student body, I am appalled that you have per- sisted to tarnish our image by printing misleading headlines, which do not accurately portray the contents of the stories. First, I was angered by the January 31 headline, "LSA heads may throw private parties for graduates," which seems to make a farce of our efforts to improve graduation ceremonties here 'at the Univer- sity. Then, I was again angered by the April 4 headline, "LSA-SG protests Dean Steiner's rehiring," which suggests that we do not think he has been a good dean. And now, worst of all, today's (April 7) headline, "Students condemn LSA dean," is simply an outrage! For the record, my fellow student government members To the 1 The ID strong sexism billboa however sexism. sexismi practic than a Please, in the future, refrain from mocking on constructive ef- forts and potentially harming our relations with the administration by immaturely sensationalizing campus issues through inac- Sports coverage in Daily )aily: are now on board. This new staff )aily rightly has taken a would not be so one-sided. stand against overt Yet, last, week we were as expressed in a local provided with a large section rd. The Daily itself, devoted to baseball but nothing r, is likewise guilty of for the women's counter- In the Daily's case the part-softball. I decided that in- is one of omission. Such a deed the new Daily staff was as e is obviously less visible sexist as their predecessors aid I large billboard, but is did not need to bring this on- nevertheless as pernicious. I refer in particular- to the Daily's practice of publishing pre-season supplements on men's athletic teams. I read with great interest the section on basketball last fall but found oversight on the part of the Daily staff and in any event a new group of editors BLOOM COUNTY Letters to the Daily should be typed, triple- spaced, and signed by the individual authors. Names will be withheld only in unusual circum- stances. Letters may be edited for clarity, gram- mar, and spelling. by Berke Breathed curate, misleading headlines. -Michael L. Brown April 7 is sexist trage to their attention. But, having taken a stand on sexism in advertising, this staff must put' into practice a non-sexist ap- proach to sports reporting or ex- plain to the readers the reason for" the inconsistency. -Bob Beattie, April 2; PAMAwiON! TOPAY 15 1A7R'6tAY ANP 11MIT7 hf/rRAFL RIA&FlYVMI'/A/ UL'wY. ffl6HFWW6X5 AMCU ///V 1Zdo /N FACT L/f£ IM~F 15 £OA W"r1 MF.AA1IA1 FW4 4 °H1LL STF 4