OPINION
The Michigan Daily
40 19 tti o g
Friday, May 31, 1985
Changes in activism
Page 5
movements for a lot
Vol. XCV, No. 9-S As a student at the University of start and when
95 Years of Editorial Freedom Michigan and Editor-in-Chief of The something mysterio
Michigan Daily in the early '60s, Tom to a very subjec
Managed and Edited by Students at Hayden co-founded the student activist someone to do s
The University of Michigan group Students for a Democratic Society create a spirit and t
(SDS).DAILY: So does 1
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the (SDS).DAL:Sdost
P Now a state assemblyman in Caifornia, of yuppyism?
Daily Editorial Board he spoke with Daily reporter Kery HAYDEN: I see
Murakami about the recent surge of ac- journalism in the w
tivism on the nation's campuses. don't mean anythi
-label started with su
Diverse viewpoints er wees
Then it was applied
Mercedes-driving,
Californian, of whic
M AYOR ED PIERCE has announced that his office DAILY: I'm sorr
wiladvertise publicly all non-elected openings on say was that the met
the various city commissions. These commissions include vative and apatheti
the Human Rights Commission, the Mayor's Energy Ad- over?
visory Board, and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Notices of DAILY: Do you think this recent HAYDEN: Tha
openings will be given to local news media for publication surge of activism will be able to sur- problem with label:
vive a summer of inactivity? it's already begu
and broadcast and also to the Ann Arbor Public Library. HAYDEN: There aren't many rules something else. I
about changing social movements. I the label that stu
Many of the boards and commissions have a wealth of think it's real. I think it's genuine. I vative. Students
power to shape the city of Ann Arbor. A perfect example of think it's morally based. I think legitimate worries
this is the Zoning Board of Appeals. The Board deals with students want to express idealism they'll get a job tha
issues concerning zoning for residential and industrial combined with practicality. If they sister graduated in
asres. Thencentng znix ofr eslo entind hedwstrn have some effect, they'll be back. Not with a nursing de:
areas. The recent influx of development i the downtown without an occasional identity crisis friends were unsu
area reflects the current trend of the zoning boards. It and debate about where do we go jobs. That was unh
doesn't look good for low- and moderate-income housing. from here, but I think the days of It made it easier fo
students classified as self-centered demonstrate. It do
Ann Arbor is a diverse community and the commissions and apathetic are over. that students
and boards of the city should reflect this fact. Students, DAILY: Did you face similar academically in or
both undergraduate and graduate, constitute nearly one- problems during the summers of the ceed after college.
third of the population of Ann Arbor and should be en- 60's? vatism, that's comp
. . t o rHAYDEN: I don't think com- a totally different s
couraged to become more involved i city government. parisons can be made accurately. I free of economic pr
Many times in the past, the members of the commissions don't even see it (the summer) as a DAILY: There's
and boards were friends of city council members or of the problem if students have a commit- being presented, t
ment to a better world. The form of America, divestme
mayor. In turn, they often rubber stamped the ideas of the action may change. They may read education cuts. Is i
mayor or certain council members. They did not consider more and do less, but the issues will see as particularly
what would be best for the city. be still alive in September. The you see anything
students will be out then. There's a together?
"In the past," says Pierce, "citizens were not aware of danger of comparing it to the 60's HAYDEN: All th
the upcoming opportunities to serve on boards and com- though; in trying to decide what portant as well a:
missions unless they had close ties to the mayor or city mistakes were made, what things to which I think you
council members. There are too many able and qualified repeat.. There are too many prisoners will find a way to ta
of the past. That's the main these issues. What i
people in the community to limit the selection process to a thing-not to compare it to the past. is a growing restless
few insiders." We should take it (the surge of ac- growing restlessne
With thss new process, Pierce has taken an inexpensive tivism) as a sign of new-born taking constructive
andWimpl sthis owrdess Painrcit h govenrnennxoensf idealism. Receive it as a new phase. problems of the wo
and simple step toward making city government work for Nothing that's new can be fully un- years-a decade-
the people of Ann Arbor and not the special interests of the derstood by looking at the past. These apathy, students are
politicians. students have had more impact on After a decade o
- South Africa than anyone else in the protests were futile
whole history of apartheid. They Students are beginn
TrRE IA Vl.I* Gw E i4 -SOLVlN9 &Jl0l t ought to be very proud. disagreements (wi
- DAILY: Why do you think this has want to play some
FLy I Eoup * started all of a sudden? What ties it togethe
HAYDEN: I've been a part of social of a lack of social d
BLOOM COUNTY
c RiP .PEifisf WEt UIIAT$
P.~ -~~ A C EVERPEVICEf
NICE JOB, AR. JONS!
P~oeltois C: + ° NEc ARS Off IN A
!t5 AlR L -lR Few lMV5 PIP APIRaNTy
. a IE
you MY 50
_____________________ /f,:
rg time. Why they
they start is
us. It comes down
tive decision by
omething. They
hen it begins.
this mean the end
you've started on
orst sense. Labels
ng. The "Yuppie"
>upporters of Gary
ulte progressive.
to some kind of
, quiche-eating
h there are few.
y, what I meant to
edia has portrayed
as being conser-
c. Are those days
at's a common
s. It's applied and
n to change into
never believed in
dents are conser-
s have more
s about whether
an in the 60's. My
Ypsilanti recently
gree. Most of her
ire about getting
eard of in the 60's.
.r us to go out and
esn't surprise me
compete hard
der to try to suc-
That's not conser-
mon sense. It was
ituation. We were
essure.
a lot of issues
the CIA, Central
,nt, Reagan and his
there any one you
significant, or do
that ties them
ese issues are im-
s the arms race
left out. Students
ake action to all of
ties them together
sness to apathy; a
ass with society not
e action with the
rld. After several
of being told of
e tired of the label.
f being told that
it was inevitable.
ting to assert their
th society), they
role in the future.
r is an uneasiness
irection on dealing
with the issues. The nuclear arms
race being out of control, the destruc-
tion of the environment continuing, a
very uncertain economic future in
which you might not do as well as
your parents. You feel like you've got
to do something. Students are a
barometer. If they're apathetic it's a
sign of the times. When they wake up
with idealism and begin challenging
society then life gets a little more in-
teresting. I'm tired of being the old
liberal relic. I want some new blood to
replace me.
DAILY: I know you don't like these
comparisons but I have to ask you. Do
you have any words of wisdom for
these students?
HAYDEN: No, I think they're doing
just fine. Trust your hearts. Don't get
caught up in side issues.
DAILY: Side issues?
HAYDEN: You get a thousand
students marching; off in the corner
people are debating,.where do we go
from here? People get mentally
paralyzed by that question. They
don't let it develop naturally. If today
there's a demonstration, go to it. If
they have some impact, they'll feel
secure and their morale will go om.
That's the worst crisis, if nothing-
happens they'll either become more
radical or else they'll drop out of
school. I hope that the authority in
this country-the university ad-
ministrators-will be more respon-
sive to students than in the 60's. You
wouldn't have seen a Perry Bullard
(D-53rd District), or a Lana Pollack
(D-Ann Arbor) in office as you do
these days. As a student in the 60's I
saw that as a possibility. But I
couldn't vote. The blacks I was trying
to register couldn't vote without
taking their lives into their own han-
ds. In the 60's you wouldn't have had
all these resolutions directing cities,
states, and counties to divest. The fir-
st national demonstration Iever went
to was against Chemical Manhattan
Bank's interests in South Africa. We
were alone. Now you have
Congressmen getting arrested for the
same cause. All this means that the
movement will be different. The
movement in the 60's grew out of ex-
cluding blacks, students, and others.
The only alternative was a movement
on the outside. Because of the work,
today -it's more. complex. The
movement has more alternatives to
follow than in the streets-city gover-
nment, state government, the Board
of Regents. We didn't have that.
by Berke Breathed
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