Nebraska Newspapers

    THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Editorials
Commentary
Thursday, November 16, 1967
Page 2
Napalm
Editor's Note: The following editorial
from the Iowa State Daily sums up the
actions and reactions against Dow Chemi
cals recruiting on the Iowa State campus.
Dow is scheduled to recruit on the Uni
versity campus Nov. 20.
"Dow Shalt not kill."
Yesterday's demonstration against
Dow Chemical was highly, successful ac
cording to some, a disappointment to oth
ers. The protestors were few, the signs
many. But that's not the point; the point
is, this was a demonstration of intellect
ual rather than of force. No one was physi
cally prevented from interviewing with
Dow.
The demonstrators handed out leaflets
called Napalm Newsletters. The copy was
rational. The last statement on one page
read: "Can you tell these families (with
sons in Vietnam or with members burned
by napalm) in your own words not in the
official phrases that you read in a maga
zine or hear in a Presidential address but
In words that you really believe why their
families must die? If you can't, then how
can you do anything but oppose this war?
Pictures on both sides of the one page
leaflet showed persons burned by na
palm. One was of a child whose face and
body had been distorted by the chemical,
the other of a mother and child "roasted
to death." "Sure, it's emotion; people don't
even look at stuff about Vietnam other
wise," one of the sign carriers said.
"Eichmann only followed orders; Dow
only fills them."
The reactions of the passers-by were
varied. Many ignored the demonstrators.
"Not interested," said one; another shoved
a Des Moines housewife aside when she
tried to give him a leaflet, commenting,
"Just look at the child." Several crumpled
the Newsletter and threw it on the ground
before they had passed all the demonstra
tors, two burned theirs.
"Yes, I'm Interested in what you have
to say," said a white-haired woman whose
two companions flatly refused to look at
them.
"Does a company's final responsibili
ty lie with its stockholders or with humani
ty?" The demonstration was successful,
not in physically preventing Dow inter
views, but because it was small enough
that students stopped to be convinced or
to argue. Maybe someone learned something.
Our Man Hoppe
By DAN DICKMEYER
The other day in my senior seminar
class somebody started talking about
"graduation with distinction." A phrase
from an old information catalog I had
read as a freshman leaped across the
boundaries of my mind and I realized I
had done little toward bringing the glories
of such a graduation upon myself.
"I must do something about bringing
the glories of such a graduation upon my
self, for think of the profits I will reap
in that big-wide-world when my first em
ployer asks, 'Ok, Son, let's see the Gold
Star on your diploma."'
"Oh, the pride that shall be mine when
I say, "But, Sir, I had them permanently
emboss it behind my left ear lobe so that
it would always be near me. Like my draft
card.' With a flip of the lobe I'll always
have that Star for all to see."
Pondering all these great thoughts I
rushed over to the Dean's office to see if I
could get my name on the top of his dis
tinction list.
"Oh . . . yah . . . sure," he said with
a questioning look. "Very important." Un
der his breath he muttered something
like, "Will do you a lot of good in the rice
paddies."
"Yes, please, Sir, the honor you get the
Star for. Like we used to on our spelling
tests and for 4-H champion hogs," I said.
The Dean pulled open his middle file
drawer of red tape and began unwinding
it on the floor. "I know what you're talking
about but I seem to have misplaced my
box of Stars. But listen. You don't want
that anyway. We've opened a new honors
category here at Nebraska."
"Well I really did want the "distinc
tion Star" but I guess I'll have to settle
for what I can get," I said.
"Oh, this is much better," he said
gleefully. "You'll be in a much more se
lect group of graduates. By signing this
little paper (He pulled open his bottom
drawer of red tape.) and agreeing to stay
in Nebraska for 10 years after graduation
you will receive the honor known as 'grad
uation with extinction.' There were only
a handful of them last year."
"That's wonderful," I said, rolling in
the sound of those syllables 'tink-sion.'
"And I'll get to wear a Gold Star on my
left ear lobe too?"
"Of course," he beamed. "Why, Son,
you'll have the sorest ear lobe in the coun
try by the time you get through flipping
it to each and every employer in Nebraska
you thought might have offered you a de
cent job. After a few years of flipping you
will be more extinct than when you grad
uated." "Great, Great," I said. "Sounds better
than a graduation with distinction."
"Oh, it is," the Dean said. "Those dis
tinct people who almost always leave our
fair state hardly ever get to flip their
lobes. But here in the state of opportunity
(after opportunity after opportunity . . .)
you'll find you are always getting a chance
to show your Nebraska diploma and Gold
Star and see how much it means to Ne
braska employers. They aren't interested
in those distinct people."
"What do I have to do to get this?"
I inquired.
"Just as I said. Sign here on this pa
per there's plenty of room and don't
leave Nebraska for 10 years." he said.
Because if you ever do you might end up
like those distinct people Distinguished.
And then we'd have to cut off your left
ear lobe which in most other states dies
from atrophy anyway."
Pvt. Drab Issues
A Challenge
-Arthur Hoppe
"Hey, there, you Viet Cong," Private
Oliver Drab, 378-18-4454, called out into the
surrounding darkness during a lull in the
fighting. "I got something I want to tell
you."
Captain Buck Ace scuttled quickly
along the drainage ditch where Baker
Company was. pinned down and angrily
grabbed the private's arm.
"Damn it, Drab," he said, "are you
launching your own peace offensive
again?"
"Oh, no, sir," said Private Drab, sur
prised. "I wanted to issued them a chal
lenge." "A challenge?" asked the Captain sus
piciously. "Yes, sir. I saw where General Hay
of the Big Red One issued a personal
challenge to the enemy the other day
to come and attack him again. There
he was, besieged in Loc Ninh, where
ever that is. And he tells them personal
ly that he and his men are downright
eager to take on another human wave
assault. 'Come and get us,' he says,
'and we'll show you thing or two.' "
"You were impressed, soldier?"
"Yes, sir! I said to myself right then
that I was going to keep the General's
words in mind next time I got in a tight
spot. And here I am."
"I suppose even you couldn't help but
be stirred by an example like that," said
Captain Ace, his iciness thawing. "The
General's challenge at Loc Ninh will go
down in military annals along with 'Damn
the torpedoes!' and 'Send us more Japs.' "
"I suppose so, sir," said Private Drab
thoughtfully. "They're all of a pattern."
"A glorious pattern," agreed the Cap
tain, his voice rising in enthusiasm. "Glo
ry is the spur, soldier. What makes a
good officer, a great leader of men?
What distinguishes him from the common
herd? He thirsts for glory."
"Yes sir."
"Oh, you can talk about flag and
country and Commies, but it's glory that
drives him on. For a chance of glory
he'll willingly lay down his life and the
lives of his men without batting an eye
lash." "I've noticed that, sir."
"And though he may die in the at
tempt he sets an example for the com
mon soldier like you."
"You're sure right about that, sir."
The Captain paused and put his arm
around Private Drab's shoulder in fath
erly fashion. "By God, Drab, I'm proud
of you," he said. "Go ahead, issue your
challenge in the name of all the men in
Baker Company. Tell 'em how we feel."
"Thank you sir," said Private Drab.
And, cupping his hands he shouted into
the darkness. "Hey, there. I challenge
you guys to go find Loc Ninh and at
tack General Hay instead of us. It's okay,
he wants you to."
CAMPUS OPINION: Who's ASUN Minding?
Dear Editor:
Perhaps the reason that ASUN is so ineffective is that
it does not know why it exists. Some of its members seem
to think its duty is to tell the residents of Lincoln how to
vote.
I am referring not only to the billboard cn 14th and
S Sts.. but to the letter which ASUN sent to Lincoln stu
dents' parents urging them to vote for the Minimum Hous
ing Code.
There are a lot of Lincoln students, so that's a lot of
money for mimeographing, postage, etc. Wherever did the
money for this campaign come from? Student fees, right?
Did I have any choice whether or not I paid these fees?
Of course not! So, ASUN, you are using money that I
was forced to pay you to tell my parents how to vote on
an issue with which you are only remotely connected. Is
that your purpose for existing?
And don't give me that line about ASUN being a rep
resentative organization, so it represents the whole Uni
versity, not just me. You certainly didn't have 100 percent
of the University behind you on the housing code issue,
and I'm sure you haven't surveyed the campus enough to
know if von "on have a majority in agreement with you.
Remember this. ASUN members, the next time you
are tempted to yell bloody murder at the Regents, admin
istration, or Gov. Tiemann for butting in on campus af
fairs over which you should have control. You seem to have
the same difficulty knowing the limits of your own "sphere
of influence "
Joe Joell
i
Editor's Note: The ASUN Subcommittee on the 'Minimum
Housing Code reports its purpose in promoting the code
was to help change some of the poor housing conditions
many university students living off campus are faced with
because of neglectful landlords.
Faculty Freedom
eV
Editor's Note: The following three letters were exchanged
between University Instructor of Philosophy James H.
Welters and Gov. Norbert T. Tiemann. The first letter
was printed In the Nebraskan Nov. 8.
Dear Gv. Tiemann: .
. A recent editorial ia the Daily Nebraskan, Nov. 3, in
dicates that you would be very interested in having the
names oi an inose lacuity members of the University who,
as the editorial phrases it, "cheered" Dick Gregory.
I am writing to you to indicate that I was a faculty
member who attended Mr. Gregory's lecture. Moreover,
I should like to say that I believe most all of his points
were well argued and rationally supported: and. as a con
sequence, I could not fail to concur with them and "cheer"
him.
Mr. Gregory is to be praised for his lucid and poignant
characterization of one of the most serious moral issues
confronting this nation today.
James II. Walters
Dear Professor Walters:
My answer was in response to a question that asked
"several University of Nebraska professors stood up and
cheered when Dick Gregory said the Flag is a rag." This
question then followed up with an inquiry as to what I
would do about it, my answer was that I would like to see
a list of the names of these individuals who would cheer
anyone who would slur the American Flag.
Your letter indicates that you support Mr. Gregory in
all the comments he made and I take this then to mean
that you specifically supported him on this comment.
Norbert T. Tiemann
Dear Gov. Tiemann:
I shall make only three points in response to your let
ter of Nov. 8.
The remarks in your first paragraph, so far as I
have been able to get a firm grasp on their sense, incline
me to believe that what Mr. Gregory had to say has sim
ply been grotesquely misrepresented to you.
Even a cursory reading of my letter would make it
very clear that I do not ever suggest, much less imply what
you say I assert and imply in your second paragraph.
The significant matter on which you have neglected
to publicly clarify your views is that of academic freedom ;
and a clarification of some kind seems to be required,
for the extreme character of some of your public state
ments on this matter has aroused deep concern among
more than a few faculty members. We have had the chan
cellor's reassurances, but they do not qualify the force of
some of your statements. Indeed, the unqualified character
some of your statements. Indeed, the unqualified char
acter of some of your statements has inclinded me, among
othrs, to suppose that your response to allegations about
Mr. Gregory's alleged remarks can only be given one in
terpretation. On that interpretation, it appears to be noth
ing more than an attempt at openly intimidating those who
would concure with Mr. Gregory's alleged remarks char
acterization of some of this country's well entrenched mor
al and social problems.
If you disagree with those who would concur with Mr.
Gregory's characterization of these problems you have a
right, I agree, just as does every other private citizen, to
express your disagreement and to appeal to those rational
considerations which you believe support your opinion.
However, it hardly behooves you, as an influential pub
lic servant, to forsake or even to appear to forsake an
appeal to rational considerations as the sole means of re
solving disagreements.
Your public statements have led me, and others, to
believe that you might be perfectly willing to forsake ra
tional considerations for the tactics and techniques of, at
best, the demagogue and, at worst, the totalitarian. You
appear to be perfectly willing to avail yourself of the
very techniques which serve best to subvert both the in
stitution of academic freedom and a democratic society.
Since you have said nothing to qualify your state
ment thus far, the open question does not concern what
Mr. Gregory may or may not have said about the flag,
it does not concern whether I agree or disagree with what he
is alleged to have said, but it does concern precisely how
you plan to respond to those who hold and express, either
for good or bad reasons, opinions which deviate from those
commonly held to be correct.
James H. Walters
Daily Nebraskan
Nov. 16. 1967
Vol. 91. No. 39
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editorial utaft
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'Poor Must Fight
For Themselves1
By RICHARD ANTHONY
Collegiate Press Service
In the dingy storefront office, its sloping floor covered
with a dull and worn linoleum and its walls showing ev
dence of decay beneath a recent coat of paint, light-blue,
there is relative calm.
A white student thick-set, a senior at Columbia Unl.
versity, talks about working in the ghetto. "I don't feel
committed, I can leave after 5 o'clock," he says. He talks
about injustice, and about how the people in the com
munity don't think of an abstraction like injustice, only
about the frustrations of applying for welfare or getting
a job.
Willie Mae Merritt comes in. She is poor, an attractive
Negro woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties. She does volun
teer social work in this west-side New York City area
tha! is known as the "forgotten strip," a name it has been
given because it's a slum outside of Harlem. She has just
learned that poverty funds are going to be cut back in the
city and she is angry:
"We just come off a demonstration did you hear about
Congress?"
"Does that affect us?" asks the student, Allen Appel.
"That affects everybody?!" She grips her hands tight
together and leans forward in her chair. "The funds has
been cut one-third ... all the $600.00 for the community
is cut off ..." J
She goes on condemning the middle-class Office of Eco,
nomic Opportunity staff members for trying to keep poo
people uninformed and powerless, praising her congress
man for taking a stand and foretelling what the cutback in
funds may mean:
"It's gonna be a war, it's gonna be a race war .
the people down there, they say they're gonna burn down
New York. . ."
thTv ll 0E(?' lt Professinals. "Even the professionals
they have only three weeks to work. Where is they Toin'
what road is they gonna take?" y g
Appel and another white student, a girl, listen ouietlv
sympathetic. They are not wholly powerles , hey a least
have an organization, and there are other volunteers like
themselves who are working to help people n the strio
Z SgSs? 8 fa"ic p'roSS
PC?ipSmatSWhiChpthe Students be,onS is Ued
fh ogram to Actlvae Community Talent It betran
pSIuloSand rjeCtUn b3' Cmbia
tSS for children in
Now the organization has changed. The tutoring and
recreation programs are still a part of PACT, but it is in
creasingly involved in the political action. Furthermore
the students find that what they had aimed for from the
beginning-the take-over of PACT by members of the com-mumty-is
actually happening. And they wonder what thev
as students can do that will be meaningful when block peo
ple are beginning not to wait, and when arbitrary deci
sions taken in a Washington office or a Columbia Univer
sity conference room convinces more to the poor that thev
must fight for themselves the best way they can.
The community that PACT is concerned with has a
population that is more than half Spanish-speaking, Puerto
Ricans, Dominicans, Haitians. The rest, perhaps 40 per
C?nn, EngUsh-speaking Negroes. Both groups make use
of PACT s services, but only the Negroes have so far joined
the organization.
PACT'S first major move in the direction of political
action came this past summer, when it helped organize a
camp in Public School 145, a few doors down from the or
ganization's store front headquarters.
Although the camp, financed by a substantial grant
from OEO, was primarily an educational venture for
community children, it was also meant to provide the nu
cleus of a political organization made up of parents whose
children were attending. No such organization came out of
the Project but it did prepare the way for the parents'
board of PACT to initiate political projects of their own this
This summer, too. PACT ran a service out of its store
front office to help community people get better housing,
employment and welfare services. It was an exciting time
for many of the students. The high point came when PACT
organized an eight-hour sit-in at the office of Manhattan
Borough President Percy Sutton to dramatize the case of
Mrs. Black, a mother of ten who had been unable to get
into public housing. The PACT efforts got Mrs. Black an
apartment m the public housing tower across the street
from PACT headquarters.
Juan Gonzales, a Puerto Rican born senior who is stu
dent head of PACT, thought the sit-in represented more than
just assistance for one family. "What mattered " he said
'was that Percy Sutton, as a black leader, had to be re
sponsive to black people. But you know, the politicians
elected from this district are all white, they're elected bv
machines." J
But Mrs. Black's case, ironically, dramatized the prob
lems that direct action can create. Appel, who runs the
housing service for PACT now, says there were many ap
phcants for public housing who had been waiting far long
mies Besides that, says Appel, the pople who make it
er than Mrs. Black. Some are now among PACT'S ene
into public housing don't want to organize for political
action, fearing expulsion from their apartments.
One white PACT worker, Jeff Rudman, a sophomore
who works in the tutoring program, objected to a PACT
originated political demonstration at the neighborhood
school.
"I'm willing to work within PACT," Rudman said, "and
TuPropose t0 try t0 the Political activity, but
PACT has got to make more effort to get the Spanish-speak-ir.g
people involved."
Disagreement about PACT'S political methods is only
one of the organization's current problems. The minister
who once permitted PACT to use his church for its recrea
tional programs has kicked them out. They have no space
now. The OEO money is gone, though Gonzales is hoping
for another government grant and for aid from a faculty
civil rights group at Columbia. '
For the student, of course, the end of the summer meant
more that anything else the end of a full-time commitment
People come in with complaints about horrible
housing, welfare problems, getting jobs." Appel explained.
.-. is.unJ,mer' w? were work'ng on rent strikes, things
like that. Now we basically work on these individual cases,
which means calling up a landlord about a ceiling that's
falling down. You just get teed off after fixing a few ceil
mgs. I need results."
lencePPCl Pr iustified in "sorting to vio
Gonzales is perhaps slightly more optimistic than Ap
pel, though he sees a diminishing role for the student in
the ghetto.