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Opinion

Page 8

Wednesday, August 5, 1981

The Michigan Daily

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The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 55-S
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"Recent events at the University of
Michigan and elsewhere emphasize the
pressing need for members of the University
community ... to reaffirm their deep and
lasting commitment to freedom of speech." Ae
Harold Shapiro, the University's vice-
president for academic affairs, 1977.B
For weeks, the mysterious circumstances By June Taylor
surrounding the death of University alumnus WASHINGTON, D.C. - Public
Chen Wen-Chen have been explored by many and congressional frustration
groups--the U.S. Congress, Amnesty Inter- over the mounting problems of
group-theinternational drug trafficking
national, students and administrators of Car- snd illegal immigration have
negie-Mellon University and the University of resulted inmunprecedented
Minnesota. Accompanying their inquiries has proposals to use federal troops in
been mounting evidence that Chen's death traditionally civilian law enfor-
may be related to on-campus spying activities cement areas.
Key amendments to the House
sponsored by Taiwan's Kuomintang gover- Defense Authorization Bill would
nment. permit military troops to provide
While now-President Shapiro was high- surveillance, information,
mindedly defending free speech in 1977, the equipment, and training to local
FBI included Taiwan with a group of six coun- and state law enforcement
authorities. In some instances,
tries believed to be involved in the surveillan- the bill would permit military
ce of American institutions. personnel to make arrests and
Clearly, the assertion by Jon Heise, director seizures, overturning federal
of the University's International Center, that statutes which prevent military
such activity may be taking place on this involvement in domestic police
activities.
campus was not revolutionary. SOME OFFICIALS believe
Strangely enough, the University ad- such military involvement would
ministrators believed Heise's speech was ex- violate a central constitutional
cessively "free," so they shut him up. No principle which separates
longer will he discuss his views with the Daily military and civilian authorities
in the United States.
or any other news organization. Vice- While it remains unclear
President for Student Services Henry Johnson whether a reluctant Pentagon
will handle these calls from now on, and he's would even be willing to
being purposely evasive. cooperate in civilian police ac-
And President Shapiro? He chose to elude tivities, the degree of
congressional support for the
the issue as well, unlike the Presidents of Car- proposals is a clear signal of the
negie-Mellon and Minnesota, who have not public frustration over federal
only addressed the matter but have forced it and state efforts to control drug
into the political spotlight. smuggling and illegal im-
The result of this bureaucratic run-around is migration.
Rep. Thomas Harnett (R.-S.C.)
that confusion, rather than dialogue, prevails, termed illegal drug use "the most
The University has shown a deplorable indif- insidious cancer that is preying
ference to this problem, and has skirted a on American society ...." He
critical chance to assist in a thorough in- added, with no hint of irony, that
drug use within the military itself
vestigation. "threatens the very survival of
Perhaps our administrators are too preoc- this nation as a free nation and
cupied with making the University smaller our capabilities of being able to
but better. Lucky for us, the leaders of other defend ourselves."
schools and the federal government are taking Due to the last minute haste
with which the law enforcement
the responsibility. Their conclusions about piso of the lweremat
provisions of the bill were at-
possible spying on this campus will be very tached, several apparent over-
useful. sights left what some believe


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may be gaping holes in the
legislation. For instance, during
the Judiciary Committee review
of the law enforcement amen-
dments it was noted that while
the bill authorized "members of
the armed forces to assist in drug
seizures or arrests," it did not
allow for searches. As Rep. John
Seiberling (D.-Ohio) asked in the
floor debate: "How are you going
to determine whether a person
should be arrested; how are you
going to determine what should
be seized if you do not make a
search?"
Constitutional objections to the
proposals were raised at the
hearings by the American Civil
Liberties Union, among others,
which noted: "The past has many
examples of the dangerous con-
sequences of military par-
ticipation in law enforcement.
The massive army surveillance
of civilian anti-war protests
protected by the First Amen-
dment and the military oc-
cupation of'the campuses of some
of our universities a decade ago
are two recent examples of the
importance of the Act."
Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.),
who still harbors bitter memories
of the federal troops called in to
quell riots in his home town
district in 1967, led the
congressional opposition to the
proposals. As the emotional
pitch of the debate rose, Conyers
appealed to his colleagues "to
examine what this could
ultimaely lead to. It would
routinely authorixe the armed
services to intrude into the
civilian laws of the U.S. That is
the beginning of a police
state ... Already we are talking
about hitting the aliens at the
same time. Already we are
talking about knocking out
terrorists along with drug
pushers. Where does it end?"
SUPPORTERS of the
proposals countered that the con-
stitutional argument did not ap-

ply and that expediency dictated
attaching the measures to the
defense bill. Said Rep. Dante
Fascell (D.-Fla.), whose state
faces major drug and im-
migration problems: "Frankly, I
am so frustrated at the failure of
the federal government to come
to grips with the crime and drug
problem, and with the inability to
enforce our immigration laws, I
am ready to turn it all over to the
military. They have the
budget ... "
As the House bill passed into
conference committee to iron out
differences with a similar ver-
sion of the massive defense bill,
the strongest opposition to the use
of the military in civilian law en-
forcement appeared to be coming
from the Pentagon itself.
The Department of Defense
made it clear that it does not
want the new law enforcement
responsibilities. As Departmen-
tal general counsel William H.
Taft IV, testified in the House:
"First, the mission of the Depar-
tment of Defense is military
preparedness. Assistance to law
enforcement agencies should be
provided only when incidental to
the performance of the Depar-
tment's mission. Second," said
Taft, "the Department is sen-
sitive to the historic separation
between military and civilian
spheres of activity . . . Preser-
vation of this distinction is one of
the most fundamental precepts of
our form of government."
Asked about possible Pentagon
lack of cooperation, even if the
measures are approved and
signed into law, Rep. Shaw com-
mented: "We'll have to get a
change of attitude from the
military, and this is going to have
to come from the White House."
June Taylor, former
executive branch employee,
wrote this article for the
Pacific News Service.

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