Page 4-Friday, July 11, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Is the 'U' really the
Harvard of the west?
GOP's stance on
ERA unfortunate
HE REPUBLICAN Platform Committee
Wednesday renounced its 40-year pledge to
en orse the Equal Rights Amendment.
The ERA is a necessary legislative step to help
eradicate sex discrimination. The Republican
delegates ostensibly ignored this grave injustice,
and the lopsided 90-9 vote supporting the more con-
servative language adds insult to injury.
The out-going co-chairwoman and highest
ranking member of the GOP warned that the om-
mission of ERA support would hinder the party's
chances of winning the presidency in November.
We are in no position to predict how accurate she
is in her admonition. But we do observe that the
Republicans are now pursuing a futile mission in
attempting to appeal to more moderate voters af-
ter approving reactionary planks to their party
platform.
Here was an excellent chance to demonstrate
to those independent voters-a group which has
swelled manifold over the past several years-that
the Republican party is ready to embrace a wide-
range of interests, concerns, and ideologies. But
they blew it.
We realize that party platforms-Democratic or
Republican-are often nothing more than exercises
in carefully-worded murkiness and fence-strad-
dling. Yet couched in recent Republican platforms
was an affirmative response to ERA and a positive
message to voters on where the Republicans stood:
"The Republican Party reaffirms its support for
ratification of the equal rights amendment."
By repudiating this four-decade old position and
approving a more conservative stance, the
Republicans have done two things: They have
angered those moderate voters who may have been
on the verge of voting Republican. But they have
pleased those who believe that 1980 is still not the
right time to extend full equality to women.
This article first appeared as
an editorial in the October 19,
1930 issue of The Daily. It was
a response to a feature story
on the. University written by a
reporter for the Purdue
student newspaper.
Following the Purdue-'
Michigan football game, a writer
on the "Exponent," daily univer-
sity paper at Lafayette, told of his
impressions of Michigan and Ann
Arbor in a feature article which
appeared on the, day after the
game. He called Michigan the
"Harvard of the west" and was
quite shocked with the eastern
atmosphere which he found at the
University.
"They have," he said, "a pep-'
py, semi-sophisticated body of
students, professing to be atten-
ding the Harvard of the Middle-
west. Dressed about as many
college students are dressed,
they assume a calm indifference
which they believe is in keeping
with the Harvard idea."
WE ARE GLAD to hear that
someone realizes that Michigan
isn't, after all, a typical rah-rah
middle-western university with
"frats" and close-cropped hair
and Harold Teen clothes. We
pride ourselves on being our-
selves, and not the college type
which pervades many of our con-
temporary middle-western in-
stitutions who seem to think that
they must act like collegiate
movie actors in order to be
distinguished from those who
don't go away to college.
But why did Michigan give the
Exponent's feature writer an im-
pression of borrowed Harvar-
dism? There are several reasons.
Perhaps he saw at Michigan a
quieter, less high-schoolish sort
than he has seen before. Perhaps
he realized that here, at least,
other things than football and big
stadia count for something. It is °
possible that he saw a more con-
servative eastern group of
students mixed pleasantly with a
mid-western jollity than any
other group he ever met. Perhaps
he was impressed by the
"haphazard manner of the cam-
pus buildings" which he
described so accurately in the
Exponent.
Michigan isn't the Harvard of
the west by any means. Michigan
is just eastern enough, however,
to overcome the superficial
collegialities which are to be
found at almost any other univer-
sity in the Great takes Region.
Michigan hasn't the He-Man of
Notre Dame nor does she want
him. Michigan hasn't the tea,-
hound of the typical East or the
Beau Brummel of Princeton, for
Michigan is herself. Men and
women may come to Michigan
with ideas of type, whether they
be eastern or western, but it
doesn't take long to combine
these qualities into something
which even other Big Ten
universities notice as unique.
The Exponent is right, after all.
We ARE the Harvard of the mid-
dle-west because we're part
eastern and part western and the
result is a very pleasant com-1
bination.,The Exponent, whether'
it knew it or not, gave Michigan
quite a compliment the other day.
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Registration key to
a prepared mlitary
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"And if anyone wants to complain about rising tuition...
-here's a number where we can be reached."
Why register?
Too late with too little has been
the downfall of many a per-
son-and sometimes nations.
First, this is not a- draft, but
rather a necessary step toward
whatever danger may threaten
this country. The loss (if we have
'lost it) of a sense of integrity in
our leaders has caused many to
think the worst-that is, that the
next step is war.
HELL, THE philosophy of
conquest has changed somewhat.
Today our enemies nibble at one
country after another, as they did
in the days of Neville Cham-
berlain, with no one willing-or
more correctly, able-to tell
them "enough." That pudgy gen-
tleman who pounded his shoe on
the table at the U.N. and shouted
"We will bury you" meant just
that. r
President John F. Kennedy"had
the guts to cal the hand of the'
By George Harms
enemy when it tried to fill'
Cuba-75 miles from our
shores-with killer missiles. The
missiles were withdrawn..
But at that time, we were
dealing from a position of
strength. That is a way of
life-dealing from strength-The
money market, raffles, guest ap-
pearances by artists, super-stars
on professional teams, auctions,
checkers, poker, gambling in
Las Vegas, control of organized
crime, Labor Unions, vote of'
Congress, decisions of the
Supreme Court and yes, owner-
ship of newspapers or the
majority of those who
predominantly read it are all
examples of dealing from a
position of strengt4. The B y
.9016 qw
Scouts have had a long-standing
excellent saying to cover it: "Be
Prepared."
THERE ARE other nations
which have a draft-which we
are not talking about
here-which had not necessarily .
made them bloodthirsty
conquerors. But they do appear
determined not to be the
'conquered!
In fairness to their position,
women too should register. This
would be in full keeping with the
pronouncements of ERA.
Time is something that can
never be reclaimed.
The author of this article is
adjutant of the Ann Arbor
American Legion, Erwin
Prieskorn Post Number 46,
and is a 1942 alumnus of the
,iniverslty.
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