The Chicago Seven ,
With the crime rate rising at an alarm
ing rate, with the Mafia more wealthy than
ever, with Washington D.C. recording three
times as many violent crimes as four years
ago and with police causing more crimes than
they are preventing, it is, comforting to know
that the government has prosecuted the
REALLY dangerous criminals in America
the Chicago Seven. The circus trial will end
soon (not soon enough) in Chicago, but it is
doomed to drag on and on in the form of
appeals, perhaps for years. Senile Judge Hoff
man's indiscriminate passing out of contempt
charges will undoubtedly be appealed, and
there will probably also be an plea for a mis
trial. Regardless of the verdict, the eccentric
behavior on the part of the defendents and
the biased repression on the part of Judge
Hoffrran have made a mockery of United
States justice.
What is even more degrading to U.S.
justice is that, for all practical purposes, the
defendents were not actually being tried for
breaking the conspiracy law under which they
were tried. They were on trial because of who
they are, what they think and their very
style of life. The trial was a reaction in juri
sprudence of the government's and middle
America's fear of today's shaggy haired, mili
tant and critical youth. In a very real sense,
the Chicago Seven trial was a conscious act
by the U.S. government to harass the youth
culture, a culture they interpret as dangerous
to American government and society.
The trial was a government sanctioned,
legal extension of the war between genera
tions, between straights and non-straights
which has been in progress for several years.
. It was an attempt to lend judicial prestige to
the everyday occurences which see colleges
try to deprive students of an education for
wearing long hair, business executives shout
obscenities at war protesters and Atlanta
police attempt to exterminate hippies by law
ful manipulation. Defense attorney William
Kunstler was painfully accurate when he said
the case was not a question of today's law,
but what would be the law tomorrow.
If U.S. citizens continue to let their gov
ernment harrass whatever groups in society
it chooses, then those citizens had better be
prepared to watch their freedoms melt away.
Americans might do well to put into practice
the quote on the Nebraska Capitol which
reads, "The salvation of the state is the watch
fulness in the citizen." If the citizens won't
protect their own liberties, the government
can legislate and enforce laws which regulate
dress, hair style, occupation and culture. Then
America wouldn't have to worry about over
coming that longstanding disease intoler
ance. Jim Pedersen
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3
Poets, writers, photographers and artists 1
here is your big chance to gain fame and acknowl-
edgement. We will publish your work absolutely
1 free. No charges, no gimmicks, no censorship.
Joint Effort needs your work now. Please sub-
mit poems, book reviews, short stories, photo-
graphs and art work to Dan Ladely, Daily Ne-
I braskan, Student Union or Greg Kuzma, room
106, Andrews Hall.
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Slouching
by FRANK MANKIEWICZ and
TOM BRADEN
Washington The Vice
President's speech last Thurs
day in which he attacked
college and university ad
missions policies as "a special
kind of madness" won a
flood of favorable telegrams.
The news is even worse than
the speech.
University officials and
faculty may wonder with Yeats
"What rough beast, its hour
come round at last, slouches
toward Bethlehem to be born?"
At Yale and Harvard, at
Dartmouth and Princeton to
name a few of the country's
ancient seats of learning it is
easier today for a black student
to enter the freshman class
than for a white of equal
scholastic achievement.
THESE COLLEGS and
others are trying desperately to
reach a quota that is, to
achieve a student body roughly
representative of the number of
blacks in the nation approx
imately 11. It is not easy to
reach this quota.
Chances must be taken;
remedial work must be ar
ranged. Volunteers must be
found among students and
faculty to bridge the gap which
admissions officers find
between black students' in
telligence and their preparation
a gap opened up by two
centuries of slavery,
segregation and second-class
ghetto education.
But the nation's private and
public institutions have by
and large bravely attempted
to meet the challenge.
NOT ONLY COURAGE, but
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
toward Bethlehem
perseverance long hours of
explaining to parents, alumni,
students and trustees has
been necessary to enable them
to set forth upon their task.
And as black students entered
and frequently made
outrageous demands the job
of these men has been
Herculean.
The question that must be
asked now is whether the goal
they set is wrong. The Vice
President of the United States
has attacked it in language
which goes straight to the
jugular. "Would you like to be
operated on," the Vice Presi
dent has asked the nation, "by
a man who was admitted to
medical school as part of a
quota?"
Despite some evidence to the
contrary, Spiro Agnew is not a
fool. He knows there is not a
medical school in the country
which would graduate a black
doctor who could not fulfill its
requirements, and no one pro
poses that they do so.
For that matter, there is not
a liberal arts college or
university which would
graduate a black student who
could not meet its standards.
THE QUESTION IS, what
kind of America does the Vice
President want? There are
short-term votes among white
parents who fear their children
will be forced to shop among
second choice colleges and
professional schools. There are
even more votes among con
struction workers who see their
jobs threatened by black ap
prentices. Agnew appealed to these
prejudices, President Nixon's
"Philadelphia Plan" or no. If
the Vice President means what
he says, he will soon be two
Americas, both armed.
President Nixon, who was
elected he says to "bring
us together," owes an apology
to the educators and college
officials who have been trying
to save his country.
DAILY NEBRASKAN
Second clast postage paid at Lincoln, Neb.
Telephones: Editor 42 KM, Business 471-258. Newt 47)2590.
Subscription rates are U per semester or t per year.
Published Monday, Wednesday. Thursday and Friday during
the school year except during vacations and exam period.
Member of Intercollegiate Press, National Educational Adver
tising Service.
The Dally Nebraskan It a student publication, Independent at
the University ot Nebraska's administration, faculty and sts
dent government.
Address: Dally Nebraskan
34 Nebraska Union
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska M50.
Editorial Statt
Editor Jim Pedersen ) Managing Editor Susan Elsenhart; News
Editor John Dvorak; Assistant News Editor Ed Icenog'e;
Sports Editor Randy York; Nebraskan Staff Writers Bill
Smltherman, Carol Anderson, Gary Seacrest, Jan Parks, Steve
Sinclair, Diane Wanek. Jim Jones, Linda Ulrich, Mary Pat
Fowler, Barb Koory, Mick Morlarty; Photographers Dan Ladely,
Howard Rosenberg, Barb Peters; Entertainment Editor Fred
Elsenhart, East Campus Editors Brent Skinner, Kathy Kokes;
Literary Editor Dan Ladely; News Assistant Susanna Schateri
Editorial Assistant Sue Schllchtemeler; Sports Assistant Roger
Rite; Outstate Nebraska Bureau Chief J. L. Schmidt; Copy
Editors June Wagoner, Connie Winkler, Dan Ledely, Karen
Kash, Karen Holm, Jim Gray; Night News Editors Dav Fillpl,
Tom Lansworth.
Business Statt
Business Manager I. Jane Kidwcll; Local Ad Manager Ed Ice
nog I e; National Ad Manager Martha Toad; Bookkeeper Ron
Bowl in; Business Secretary and Subscription Manager Janet
Boatman; Circulation Managers James Sleiier, Kelly Baker,
Dan Ladely; Classltled Ad Manager Jo Wilson; Production
Manager Rack Johnson; Account Representatlvet Linda Run,
Gale Peterson, Ken Sevonker, Mary Dorenbach, Joel Davis.
Sarah Evert, Martha Toad, Jo Wilson.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1970
PAGE 4