0 OPINION Page 4 Thursday, September 12, 1985 The Michigan Daily E anm b tta nr Michig an Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Defense dollars head west Vol. XCVI, No. 6 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Computer accessibility As part of an effort to increase computer accessibility to students, the University has an- nounced the initiation of request accounts which gives students "free" time ($50 worth) on MTS. It's about time. For anyone who has nightmarish memories of congested terminals and seemingly endless lines the thought of more people waiting on lines for access to MTS is nerve wracking. But overcrowding the terminals isn't this year's new ad- ministrative goal-rather the aim is to increase the number of workstations from 225 to 2,000 by 1988. The University's goal is to have computer workstations available within five minutes of every student on campus. The -mere fact that the goal exists illustrates a commitment from the University to increase computer literacy and retain the University's leadership position in the field of information technology. The compulsory charge will go toward offsetting the high cost of instituting and operating the ad- ditional terminals and so it seems appropriate that students should be asked to pay it. Nevertheless, that charge should be limited because the personal computer revolution has progressed to the point that many students have already pur- chased computers. Also, it seems conceivable that some students would be able to purchase com- puters adequate for their needs for the same amount of money that they pay in fees to system. the Unviersity The importance of computer literacy cannot be overstated. While computers have long been a tool for "hard science" disciplines such as mathematics and physics, they are becoming increasingly important to disciplines such as history and political science which can now make unprecedented use of statistics and information sharing through computer technology. By 1988, the number of Univer- sity workstations should amount to one terminal for every 15 students. Only private universities are plan- ning projects on the same scale but it is imperative that the University not fall behind other peer in- stitutions. The University has also made a judicious decision in making workstations available in residence halls. The current plan calls for 60 workstations in seven residence halls by the end of the term, and 150 by the end of the year. The dorm concept is not only convenient for all students but is particularly con- siderate of female residents as the computers will be safely accessible 24 hours a day. In making its commitment to ex- panding computer accessibility, the University is acting to meet an important educational need without making excessive financial demands on students. The entire University community should be the stronger for it. By John Markoff SAN JOSE -- Silicon Valley, where losses' and layoffs hint at a state-of-art ghost town, is also home to a boom town. Companies here that depend on military business are enjoying unprecedented prosperity. The Pentagon, under the Reagan administration, is increasing the flow through a pipeline that last year pumped more than $4.6 billion into the valley - up more than $500 million from the previous year - for development and production of sophisticated electronic weapons. Only six states received more defense dollars in 1984 than did Santa Clara County alone. And funding is expected to swell dramatically in several years. "The horses aren't even out of the gate yet," said John Pike, a research analyst for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington D.C. Some signs of contrast between the defense and commercial sides of Silicon Valley: While some 600 workers lost their jobs in Santa Clara's National Semiconductor Corp. in June, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. of S 'inyvale plans to hire almost 4,000 people and create 1,500 new positions before year end. . While revenue for the March-June period at chip-maker Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, which performs no direct military business, fell 12 percent, the Pentagon in 1985 is spen- ding more than '500 million' - or more than $400 for every Santa Clara County resident - on Silicon Valley research for the Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars" missile defense system. n Whilemmany consumer-oriented microelectronics companies have been building facilities outside Santa Clara County to escape the congestion and expensive work force, more defense contractors are moving in to benefit from its engineers and scientists. Today 20 of the top 50 U.S. defense electronics contractors have headquarters or divisions in the valley. Silicon Valley is like a mine field - there are craters where companies used to be," said Chris Quackenbush, president of Santa Clara-based Q-tech, a high technology recruitment firm. She said the booming defense industry is picking up much of the slack created by the recent recession in the microelectronics in- Markoff is a technology writer for the San Francisco Examiner. dustry. "There's a battle going on for the hearts and minds of Silicon Valley. The military is trying to regain leadership over technology," said Randy Schutt, an analyst at the Center, for Economic Conversion, a research center in Mountain View, California. Schutt, who recently completed a study of the subject, said about 15 percent to 20 per- cent of valley manufacturing - roughly 50,000 jobs - is tied up in national defense, and that a decade-old trend away from dependence on military spending has rever- sed. Some fear the shift may ruin this region's entrepreneurial and technically innovative character. They say that government-funded military research is less efficient than privately funded projects. But defense backers say a major research effort - one that only the government is willing to fund - is needed to bring military chip technology abreast of the civilian sec- tor's. "The most advanced chips still get into video games first," says Jim Courtice, spokesman for local military contractor Dalmo-Victor. The bonanza for high tech defense firms stems from the changing nature of modern warfare. Since Vietnam, microelectronics has emerged as the key component in weapons design. While overall military spen- ding has leveled off in recent years, the por- tion devoted to electronics is growing about 15 percent annually, according to Dave Russell, editor of Defense Electronics magazine. This year it could reach 146.6 billion, he said. Silicon Valley, meanwhile, has become the center of the nation's electronics warfare in- dustry. For military aircraft, for example, the valley designs microelectronics-based "black boxes" used to guide missiles within enemy territory without detection. The Pentagon plans to spend more than $500 million in the next five years to create a generation of "brilliant" weapons - such as a robot-controlled tank - that can remove much human decision making from fighting systems. Many of those projects are in Silicon Valley. "Star Wars" funding already helped push Lockheed's profits up 30 percent in 1984. If the Reagan administration wins a go-ahead to build a complete system, it could create a high tech gold rush throughout the valley. The current Pentagon estimate for the first five years of the "Star Wars" research program is 126 billion, but the cost of a full system could be much higher. This region's two high tech economies exist in stark juxtaposition not only in the nature of their work, but in their temperament. The commercial side, an open community of technical innovators and venture capitalists, is characterized in part by what some wryly call Apple Computer's "fruit- juice-and-Friday-back-rub work ethic." But the defense side traditionally is closed, regimented, and dependent on federal sup- port. The commercial side of silicon Valley has successfully fought unionization, primarily by offering skilled workers stock incentives and prerequisites. The largest defense contrac- tors here are heavily unionized. "There are no beer parties on Friday after- noon," said Jerry Chubb, a project manager at the defense systems division of FMC Corp., the area's second largest military contractor. "We don't have the creative energy of the personal computer industry. We're old- fashioned. You put in eight hours of hard work a day and you get paid well." Silicon Valley's commercial side has produced Computer Professionals for social Responsibility, an organization that argues rising military funding for new technology is counterproductive and will hurt the United States' ability to compete against the rest of the world. And distrust for the Pentagon remains something of a tradition with several prominent Silicon Valley companies. Firms such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard have been willing to sell standard equipment to the Defense Department, but have refused to be enticed by major "cost-plus" contracts that defense manufacturers usually sign with the government. In a cost-plus system, a contractor reports costs to the government and is guaranteed a high percentage above profit. The higher the costs, the higher the profit. In private in- dustry, by contrast, competitive pressures forcemanufacturers to hold down costs. "They're totally different work environ- ments," said Robert Noyce, vice chairman and co-founder of Intel. In his view, defense spending "is a poor way to support science and technology." This article was adapted from an Examiner story for the Pacific News Ser- vice. %5M RWAY oF P~OJCTioN 5 'Tfji APAJK ". yolJIQ VERSIorOFIhVoTIN6 P46RkT5 ASHA f- CALE(,DBY TF Holy writ? C\Ay O4P.,9 . ft *i ni PE*'LG WNO WRTFE IT. y THE ETHICS of publisher Rupert Murdoch have fomen-. ted what might be called a holy fracas. When the Australian media magnate began acquiring American publications and dominating the newscopy with sen- sational banner headlines, serious news consumers were offended and dismayed. Murdoch's latest venture, a syn- dicated column "based on the writings" of Pope John Paul II has been met with "amazement and disapproval" among top Vatican officials who question the "professional ethics" of the column. The Pope's byline gracing a weekly column in newspapers is apparently not what He's all about, according to Vatican spokesmen. While making the thoughts and policy statements of the Pope is a valid democratic notion, Mur- doch's latest enterprise is undoub- tedly more a reflection of his capitalistic rather than democratic convictions. Beyond the philosophical questions, is the matter of whether the material being published under the Papal byline is indeed clearly representative of what the Pope has written. The column is "edited" by a Dr. Albert Bloch who compiles excer- pts from Papal speeches and writings. Bloch claims to have the approval of several Vatican of- ficials. Vatican spokesmen deny that any authorization for the column was ever given. Last Sunday's column, the first of the series, rather predictably condemned South Africa's policy of apartheid and called for peaceful resolution in the racially divided nation. The piece is most likely an accurate reflection of the Papal at- titude, but the manner of disseminating the commentary is at best unusual. The Detroit Free Press ran the initial column last Sunday, but has since decided to "review our com- mitment" to using the column, ac- cording to a top editor there. The Pope's column will not ap- pear in this newspaper, which some might call an inappropriate forum, anyhow. The more prudent editors here advocate that readers get it free - Daily. PaNPYouR ACCOUNT OF EVNTS IN SoUTk AFRCA WRS tOWN~t6Fk~T '0I. \NoN& F - - . ommoft-,% . 1 } I 5) ON To ARMs CONTRoU fz4 K. LETTERS MSA I w .............., 0 works but not for students To the Daily: The University of Michigan is, it is to be hoped, above all an educational institution. If, as Steve Kaplan implied (Daily, Septem- ber 10), the vice-presidency of MSA is a full-time job, then somewhere along the line the proper perspective on the place of student government as an in- tegral part of the educational community has been lost. Unfor- tunately, Mr. Kaplan seems to share the mentality, almost fer- vor, of the MSA hierarchy, which sees student government not as the servant of the student but as president. How did we, the students, benefit from his magnanimous and self-sacrificial efforts? During his term of office, MSA did nothing to fight rape on campus. MSA took nothing but token actions against the code (threats of lawsuits should have been flying!). Of course, we can all thank Mr. Kaplan for presiding over the gross misap- propriation of student funds in the settlement of Rose vs. Student Legal Services. Why was this incident whitewashed? Didn't Mr. Kaplan's hard- working MSA think the loss of tens of thousands of dollars deserved at least an in- vestigation? In short, Mr. Kaplan's termf in MSA falls proudly in line with the great American political traditions of Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower-nothing useful was done. I have to applaud anyone who, like Micky Feusse did yesterday, would prefer to leave .a public office than to stay and do what she knew would be an inadequate job because of time constraints. But the fundamental question of what to do about MSA remains unresolved. I would cer- tainly prefer a full-time student representing me in MSA than a full-timesecretary.I honestly believe that MSA would gain back some, if not all, of the force to influence student affairs that it once had if we elected more of- ficers like Micky Feusse and fewer like Steve Kaplan. -Allan Rosenberg September 11 - - - a .. . .. "' }LJ14 1' C " " ".. }....i : .:*i{".ti" ..... . " }}...... Th PMirhi'an fDaflv Penfnurae innut from WSW M lk Am /rtAW VIlLT/!tV