FEBRUARY 1988
U. of Kansas prof
teaches students
how to stage a
nuclear attack
By Michael Carolan
University Daily Kansan
U. of Kansas
John O'Brien, professor of systema-
tics and ecology, teaches students how
to kill millions of people.
O'Brien's class, "Ecology of a Nuclear
War," is planning a nuclear attack on
the maior cities of the United States.
"We're simply playing a game on pap-
er with 2 percent of the Soviet power
and wiping out 10 percent of the U.S.
population: that's not even including
missiles under development," said class
member Eric Ratzlaff.
Using a population and density list of
the 100 most populated cities and a list
of Soviet and U.S. weapons specifica-
} tions, students calculate the greatest
number of people they can kill using
different configurations of weapons.
The course begins by explaining the
nuts and bolts of nuclear technology
and capabilities. The class discusses
nuclear winter, fallout, how radiation
affects food supply and the medical
aspects of radiation.
O'Brien said that he wanted the class
to think in what he calls grotesque
terms.
"I really want to drive home what peo-
ple mean when they say 'overkill,'"
O'Brien said. Overkill denotes the use of
weapons whose destructive capacity far
exceeds what is needed to kill all the
people in a given area.
O'Brien asks his students to plan two
major nuclear attacks on the United
States, getting as many civilian casual-
ties as possible with a small percentage
of the available Soviet arsenal. Projects
later in the semester include bombing
the Soviet Union's ground-based nuc-
lear arsenal and organizing an arms re-
duction treaty.
O'Brien explained how to kill millions
of people effectively, how submarine-
launched ballistic missiles work in rela-
tion to satellites, and how the chain of
command for nuclear attacks operates.
"There is a strange sense of humor in
the class, a kind of demented sarcastic
humor that makes the class interest-
ing," senior Benjamin Frey said. "It's
the kind of class people drop in on to see
what's happening."
'U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 5
Abbie Hoffman speaks out against "drug hysteria" while Timothy Leary looks on.
Activists, proponents
trade drug testing jabs.
By Janet Naylor
The Diamondback
U. of Maryland
A boisterous crowd welcomed
Timothy Leary and Yippie founder
Abbie Hoffman during a two-hour lec-
ture/debate at the U. of Maryland re-
cently. The two activists traded jabs
with Guardian Angels founder Curtis
Sliwa and former Drug Enforcement
Agency director Peter Bensinger.
Drug testing "is the most serious in-
vasion of our privacy since the loyalty
oaths of the 1950s," said Hoffman, au-
thor of Steal This Urine Test.
The book, with a title that plays on
Hoffman's 1971 pro-drug, anti-
government Steal This Book, criticizes
the accuracy and effectiveness of the
four most commonly used drug tests
which he called "chemical McCar-
thyism."
"You are being led like blind sheep tc
drop your zipper for the Gipper," Hoff-
man said of President Reagan's pro-
urine testing stand. "Just say no."
Bensinger, who heads a security con-
sulting firm that advises companies
considering testing programs, advo-
cated mandatory random testing,
adding that companies and agencies
that do so are not "going on witch
hunts."
Companies use drug tests to mini-
mize safety hazards, increase produc-
tivity and promote their workers'
health, Bensinger said, not to cure soci-
ety's ills.
"Drug testing is no magic wand," he
said. "It's best value is as a deterrent, as
is the metal detector at the airport."
Leary, 67, criticized drug-testing
proponents, saying the current "drug
hysteria" could be attributed to "mille-
nia madness" as Western society counts
down to the year 2000.
Leary, who was banned from campus
in 1966 while under impending crimin-
al sentence, echoed Hoffman's concerns
about drug-testing as an invasion of
privacy.
But Sliwa, who formed the Guardian
Angels in 1979 to patrol New York's
crime-plagued subway system, said
during his hellfire-and-brimstone style
address, "What do you tell my class-
mates ... who for years were dropping
acid and suddenly they were swinging
from a rope-suicide? How many other
intelligent, young creatures of the inner
city and the suburban and rural areas
have we seen devasted, turned into
walking Mr. Potato Heads, and you're
all here cheering that kind of genocide?"
Convict
Continued From Page 4
man that he could hide in the bedroom.
Storz answered the door. It was a girl
that Storz and Armstrong knew.
Chastman came back in and Arm-
strong introduced the two.
Armstrong asked if anyone wanted a
gin and tonic.
"I knew we were out of tonic water,
but I pretended we might have some,"
Armstrong said.
Armstrong went downstairs and
loaded the gun.
"I was shaking pretty bad when I was
loading the gun," Armstrong said.
"When I was coming up the stairs, I
thought to myself, 'What if he had re-
trieved the gun from under the couch?'
"So I laid the gun on top of the stair-
well and went back into the living
room."
Armstrong explained that they were
out of tonic water.
After asking if they would like to
drink it straight, he fixed everyone a gin
on the rocks.
"By this time, he was feeling pretty
comfortable," Armstrong said. "When I
went to make a second drink, I leaned
down into the stairwell, picked up the
gun and took it into the living room."
Chastman wasn't looking at Arm-
strong as he entered the living room. He
had already cocked the gun before he
came up the stairs earlier.
"He was looking away and didn't see
me pointingthe gun at him," Armstrong
said. "I told him he had fucked up, and
to get his ass on the ground, face first."
Chastman said it wasn't loaded.
"I told him the hell it ain't," Arm-
strong said.
After telling the girl to leave, Storz
called 911.
"I had a little trouble with 911," Storz
said. "I called once and it was busy."
Chastman got up slowly deciding
whether to fall to the floor or just walk
out.
Chastman slowly made his way to the
door.
"He never did turn his back on me. He
kept looking at me the whole time,"
Armstrong said. "He said, 'Go ahead
and shoot me.' I just told him to get on
the ground. I really couldn't shoot him."
Chastman stood outside until he saw
the police coming.
"After the first cop arrived, there
were police all over within a matter of
30 seconds," Storz said.
A QUESTION EVEN
STRAIGHT"A"STUDENTS FIND
TOUGH TO ANSWER.
You're probably going to need
help filling in some of the blanks
about your future.
That's why there's Cooperative
Education. A nationwide program
that helps college students get
real jobs for real pay, while they're
getting an education.
Write Co-op Education, Box 999,
Boston, MA 02115 for some
answers to how to pay your way
through college. And afterwards.
Co-op Education.
You earn a future when you earn a degree.
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