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SAM DICKSON
Martyrs of ignorance
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Sam Dickson, au
thor of this guest column, is a second-year
student in the School of Law.)
Last week former Vice President of the
student body Mike Willoughby and Student
Senator David Alonso called on University
officials to request them to make classes
optional Wednesday. May 5th. in honor of
the "martyrs" killed last spring at Kent
State
It would be revealing to reflect on what
the Kent State Four were “martyrs" to
They were involved
in a violent, destruc
tive riot. Shortly
before the National
Guard opened fire,
the rioters had
burned the campus
ROTC building to the
ground While it is
possible that the in
dividuals in question
had not personally
assisted in the act of
arson, it is indisputable that all of them
knew that it had been committed With
full knowledge of this fact they, nonethe
less. continued to participate in this un
lawful riot, thereby implicitly endorsing
what had taken place.
Further, they had ignored five orders to
disperse While the National Guardsmen
were under orders not to respond to the
rioters, the rioters engaged in a cowardly,
dangerous assault upon them with bricks
In response to these attacks the National
Guardsmen, without any orders from
their commanding officers, opened fire on
the rioters.
Setting aside the question of the wis
dom or lolly of issuing live ammunition to
the Guardsmen or of firing on the rioters
instead of using some less dangerous
means of dispenng the riot, let us return
to the question of just what the Kent State
Four were martyrs to.
They certainly were not martyrs to free
speech Almost no sane person would con
tend that the acts of that mob could be
condoned under the label of free speech
Nor can it be argued that they were mar-
JIM WILLIAMSON
tvred because of a governmental policy of
repression Acts of arson and violent
assault must be suppressed by any gov
ernment, It cannot even be stated that
they were martyrs to a "peace move
ment They themselves were the absolute
antithesis of peaceful people and it is not
necessary to burn buildings and throw
bricks to oppose ihe war in Viet Nam.
which now almost everyone - right and
left — opposes
The only thing remaining to which the
Kent State Four could be "martyrs" is
precisely the violent, lawless burning of
government property (the ROTC build
ing i and violent assault upon uniformed
citizens serving the government of the
United States
Since this is the great "cause" which is
being commemorated this Wednesday in
the moratorium march. I wholeheartedly
endorse the means selected by Mssrs Wii
loughby and Alonso to mark the passing of
the "martyrs I think the closing of edu
cational institutions (as was demanded
and achieved by last year s riot here at
the University) or the skipping of classes
is perhaps the most appropriate way of
honoring the memory of the "martyrs’
and of continuing their work
Only such a demand does not go far
enough I would suggest that the demands
be expanded to include the closing of all
educational institutions. Also, the shutting
down of all book publishing companies and
newspapers and the locking of all librar
ies. Finally, in memory of the martyrs"
I suggest the burning of books too
Because only in an atmosphere of the
closing of educational institutions, librar
ies. and book companies and the burning
of books can we continue the work of the
Kent State Four By purpose or accident
Mssrs Willoughlv and Alonso and the gen
tlemen of the Student Mobilization Com
mittee have stumbled upon the only fitting
way of honoring the memory of the Kent
State Four. Because only in an atmos
phere of total ignorance could anyone be
so foolish as to refer to the Kent State
Four as "martyrs. "
Page 5
Strike against apathy
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Williamson,
author of this guest column, is a sopho
more in the College of Arts and Sciences, i
Apathetic is defined as 1 having or
showing little or no emotion; spiritless. 2
having little or no interest or concern;
indifferent. The definition defends the
University student body-having little or
no interest or concern, spiritless and in
different to anything
except mavbe foot
ball
In a country that
has been entangled in
a worthless and
senseless war in
Southeast Asia
for over a decade, it
is hard to imagine
that a campus of
18.000 has only a
handful of students that take part in
movements that work to bring about a
quicker end to this dishonorable war. Is
this apathy due to security in thinking that
they are safe from the war due to their sex
or some type of deferment 0 If so. then
they must become aware that a war that
has taken over 45.000 American lives,
nearly 1.000.000 Vietnamese (both North
and South) and untold numbers of civilian
lives due to bombing raids, napalm, booby
traps, land mines, and "mistakes does
affect them and will keep on affecting
them until it has been ended - that they
are not safe from this war and wiP not be
until the>’ take an active role in helping to
end it.
We have lost much already to Cyclops
Vietnam, not only precious human lives,
but also millions of youths that do not be
lieve in the government anymore our
honor, and billions of dollars that could
have been used to some good How long
are we going to let Vietnam go on killing
us’’ We can end it. for we are the govern
ment’ A government of the people, for the
people and by the people, and if the peo
ple will it so. Vietnam can be ended today ’
On Wednesday, each student will have a
chance to realease himself from the grips
of apathv and become an active element
at the University and a much more active
element of the government He can stop
letting a few control his life and demand
his rights to his own life He can join those
that have been working so hard for so long
with so little to bnng about an end to Viet
nam and by doing so insuring that there
will be no more Vietnams
President Davidson and the admims
tration failed to call off classes Wednes
day. but this should not be taken as a set
back. but as a challenge to prove that we
are interested and concerned about our
brothers who do not have the economical
means to be deferred bv college
According to the Student Handbook
11970-711. faculty members have authori
ty to handle class attendance at their dis
cretion. and the Office of the Associate
Dean of Students may excuse abscenses of
students taking part in an authorized par
ticipation in a student activity, but the
handbook fails to state the authority of the
main element on campus - that of the
student For the student has the nght to
decide for himself his attendance and to
justify his absences
If the student is truly concerned about
ending the Vietnam War. he will not at-
Ha*vpn. Wednesday instead he will
take pan in scheduled anti-war activities.
His justification will be a "self one. of
personal, moral, and economical beliefs
Together with fellow students his voice
will be united with other students on other
campuses and blend with the voices of
workers, mothers, veterans, and so many
others to echo through the streets,
through the halls of congress, and to sound
throughout the White House We are the
People’ We are the government’ We want
out now’
2 sides of the peace treaty
(EDITOR‘S NOTE: The People's Peace
Treaty has come under attack by the
Young Americans for Freedom and
American Youth for a Just Peace. We are
presenting the following analysis of the
charges and answers in order to inform
students of both sides of the issue. >
The Washington-based American Youth
for a Just Peace (AYJP) has called the
"People's Peace Treaty, drawn up by
the National Student Association iNSAi
and three student groups in Vietnam last
year, "a disguised formula which
undercuts the efforts to achieve a just
peace."
In its four page analysis of a political
fraud" the AYJP claims that NSA has no
authority to speak for seven million
American college students when it lists
only 535 affiliate memberships (less than
25 per cent of the colleges and universities
in the country
AYJP s arguments to the treaty's nine
arUcles are summarized as follows
1 While calling for a date for the im
mediate and total withdrawal from Viet
nam ot American torces. it fails to call
for a similar withdrawal of North Viet
nam's 4OU.U00 torces that have crossed its
borders
2 AYJP calls the provision for discus
sions to secure the release of all Ameri
can prisoners, political blackmail, and
wonders why the North would free POW s
in exchange for a prior American with
drawal
3 What kind of ceasefire will there be
if there is no ceasefire between the princi
pal antagonists'’
4 The treaty requires the U.S and Viet-
cong to merely enter discussion on the
procedures for inn ring the safe with
drawal of U.S troops — not guarantee
such procedures
5 The South Vietnamese government
was not imposed by America on the Viet
namese people It came to power in 1987
as the result of internationally observed
elections
6 AYJP asks what the need for a provi
sional government is with a democratical
ly elected government already in office
7 Discussions are not enough to
guarantee the safety and political free
dom of South Vietnamese who have
backed the U.S. anH Thieu government
8 North Vietnam has consistently and
massively violated the peace and rieu-
tralitv of Laos and Cambodia
9 AYJP recalls that the U.S and the
South's proposals to end the war and
resolve all other question in the spirit of
self-determination and mutual respect
have been "rejected bv Hanoi and its
Provisional Revolutionary Government
who have even refused to discuss them"
at the Paris peace talks.
Answering the charges. NSA argues
that the Treaty does offer an alternative
that may be and should be considered by
those legislators who have the power to
make such treaties.
The group contends that the treaty is
not an intricate binding contract for peace
in Southeast Asia The legality of such a
contract would be questionable, as well as
the fact that an actual contract negotiated
between diplomats would be much more
complicated and specific than this Treaty
The intent of the Treaty was to prov
ide a viable, humane and hopeful alterna
tive to the crisis in Vietnam It was the
hope of the conference participants that
this Treaty would show people around the
world that there is POTENTIAL, for di
rectly concerned people, for peace in
Southeast Asia. NSA argues.
The Red and Bloch, Tuesdoy, May 4, 1971
HUGH RUPPERSBURG
Until peace is attained...
NSA charges that the present "Viet-
namization" policy provides no guarantee
for prisoner release Usually prisoners
are not released until a war has been end
ed it is unlikely that that policy will be
altered for this war
"In answer to the opposition's conten
tions that the fifth point of the Treaty is
wrong in that it imposes a new govern
ment on South Vietnam is falsi 1 because
the point provides only for an end to the
massive U S economic and military sup
port of the present Thieu-Ky regime
According to a recent Gallup Poll. 73
per cent of te American people want the
United States out of Vietnam by tin* end of
1971 If this poll is to be considered a close
approximation of the American people
there can be no doubt that the concept out
lined by the Treaty, of setting an immedi
ate date for total withdrawal is certainly
not radical'
- W.F. TAFT
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Hugh Ruppcrs-
burg. author of this guest editorial, is a
junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
SGA administrator to University Rela
tions and editor of The Impression.)
The other Saturday I went down to the
demonstration with around halt a million
friends of nunc Actually. I went up to the
demonstration, since
Washington happens
to be north of Ath
ens. but the cliche
still works There
are many reasons
why 1 went, why the
people who went
with me went, and
there were many dif
ferent objectives and
goals But some
important goals
were accomplished. When five hundred
thousand people meet together tor a sin
gle purpose, protesting the war in South
east Asia, a person has to be hard put to
ignore them And when many of those live
hundred thousand are adults from unions,
veterans organizations, the Army, and
average everyday families, a person has
to be even harder pressed to ignore them,
although Nixon tried Most importantly of
all. the Washington March and demon
stration of April 24 demonstrated to the
Nixon-Agnew administration that liberal
ism and the peace movement have not
been defeated by camouflaging pollen's of
token deescalation and withdrawal or bv
the verbal tirades of Spiro Agnew. the
march must have convinced a lot of peo
ple that work for peace will not stop until
peace has been attained
It was evident Saturday that the gov
ernment was expecting violence, more
policemen and plainclothesmen were in
evidence than I have ever seen at one
place at one time Yet there was no viol
ence. not even an attempt to stir up viol
ence. When you work tor peace, you don't
work for it violently The past has taught
us that the authorities will meet any sort
of disorder with violent reprisals, we
remember Kent State. Jackson State, and
other dismal events in the history of the
peace movement with the bitter realiza
tion that similar events must not happen
again The Washington March demon
strated that members of the peace move
ment have learned the lessons offered by-
Kent State — not that the Kent State dem
onstrations were wrong, but rather that if
vou give them an inch, they'll shoot back
For several years now we have
witnessed what looks like a withdrawal
from Vietnam and some have been
convinced that the withdrawals signify
legitimate efforts by President Nixon
to end the war. Yet money, arms
and supplies from the U. S. continue
to pour into Vietnam, and men
continue to die Nixon says
air support will continue until Vietnam
has been secured by the ARVN forces and
until our prisoners of war have been re
leased General Thieu. however, says that
it may be twenty years until Vietnam is
secure, and never in the history of mod
cm man have POW's been released before
a war has ended American involvement
in South Vietnam will not end until Presi-
. . Another mother speaks
to her daughter: "It would
have been better for America
il every student on that hill
had been shot. I lit- daughter
protests: "Mother! I was
there. Only a miracle of some
kind saved me.” Replies the
mother: “You would have
deserved it."
James Michcner's "Kent
State, What Happened and
Why"
The People's Peace Treaty
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following joint Treat of Peace be
tween the People of the United States and the People of South
Vietnam and North Vietnam was negotiated in Vietnam and
Paris in December 1970. The Treaty resulted from efforts by
the United States National Student Association, which sent del
• gallons to meet with the North Vietnamese National Student
Union, the South Vietnamese Liberation Student Union, the
South Vietnamese National Student Union and Vietnamese in
Paris. Based on the areas of agreement between the various
groups, a “common declaration of peace" was written and
agreed to by the Vietnamese organization* and the American
delegations. Many campus organizations, student bodies and
campus newspapers across the country have given their en
dorsement to the document Many of the anti war lobbies and
disruptions of federal communications, traffic and utilities in
Washington last week were centered around attempts to dem
onstratc that "the people" have the power to force implementa
tion of the Treaty. The local chapter of the Student Mobilization
Committee has endorsed the document and will present it to
University students for ratification tonight at the all-night vigil
at the Academic Building >
Be it known that the American and Vietnamese peopk-
are not enemies The war is carried out in the names ol
the people of the United States and South Vietnam but
without our consent It destroys the land and people of
Vietnam It drains America ol its resources, its youth
and its honor
1 The Americans agree to immediate and total with
drawal from Vietnam and publicly set the date by which
all American forces will be removed The Vietnamese
pledge that as soon as the U.S. Government publicly sets
a date for total withdrawal
2 They will enter discussion to secure the release of all
American prisoners, including pilots captured while
bombing North Vietnam
3 There will be an immediate cease-fire between U.S.
forces and those lid by the Provisional Revolutionary
Government of South Vietnam.
4 They will enter discussions of the procedures to
guarantee the safety of all withdrawing troops
5 The Americans pledge to end the imposition of
Thieu-Ky-Khiem on the people of South Vietnam in order
to insure their right to sell-determination and so that all
political prisoners can be released
H The V ietnamese 1 pledge to form a provisional gov
ernment to organize democratic elections All parties
agree to respect the results ol elections in which all
South Vietnamese can participate freely without the
presence of any foreign troops
7 'The South Vietnamese pledge to enter discussion of
procedures to guarantee the safety and political freedom
ol those South Vietnamese who have collaborated with
the U.S or with the U.S supported regime
8 The Americans and Vietnamese agree to respect the
independence peace and neutrality of Laos and Uarnbod-
la in accord with the ISM and 1982 Geneva conventions
and not to interfere in the internal affairs of these two
countries
9 Upon these points of agreement, we pledge to end
the war and resolve all other questions in the spirit of
self-determination and mutual respect for the independ
ence and political freedom of the people of Vietnam and
the I ruled States
Bv ratifying the agreement, we pledge to lake whatev
er actions are appropriate to implement the 1 terms of this
joint Treaty and to insure its acceptance 1 bv the govern
ment of the I nited SL'ites
dent Nixon is good and ready tor it to end
and Congress has refused to take steps
which might push Nixon into taking defi-
nite action to end the war
People become angry when it seems
like someone is trying to pull the wool
over their eyes and when someone contin
ually ignores their opinions and desires A
recent Gallup Poll showed that more than
73 per cent of the American public wanted
an end to the war by December of 1*/71 No
one has been tooled bv Nixon The Wash
ington March was an expression of the
public sentiment against the war and
against Nixon s policies which are pro
longing the war indefinitely II people like
Richard Nixon think they can ignore an
event like the Washington March or an
indication ol public opinion like the Gallup
Poll, then they are asking tor a quick and
clean political death come 1972
The 1 Saturday Washington March called
for an end to the war and the draft that
means five hundred thousand individuals
legally calling lor an end to the war and
the 1 draft Tomorrow, here at the Univer
sity a national moratorium, endorsed by
the Student Government Association,
against the dratt and the war will be* ob
served Speakers, seminars, a candelight
march, and other activities will be 1 availa
ble lor those who wish to participate The
day will be a day ol ne>n-violent and con
structive work for peace 1 If you. as stu
dents. as individuals and as citizens of
the United States, want to see an end to
the Southeast Asian War. and end to the
draft, or even an end to Richard M
Nixon, then you have got to get
out and let other people know how vou
feel If you don't, then you will have no
right to complain in twenty years if the
war is still dragging on and if the
draft is still around
Any demonstration is based on the
democratic freedom of expression And in
a democratic society, that freedom be
comes an obligation. The Silent Majority
is dead. true, it probably never existed,
true But if you do not want to be a part ol
a silent majority which has never felt obli-
gated to speak out on any issue, then it is
your duty to speak out tomorrow , to at
tend rallvs like the Washington March,
and to let people know exactly how you
feel People elected Richard Nixon, and
People can got the i nited States out of
Vietnam if Nixon will not do it himself
The time has come tor us to realize that if
we are not being represented by the men
we elected to represent us. then we must
start doing the representing ourselves
TOM CRAWFORD
Campus
battlefield
Our company s transports pulled slowly
onto the campus. The men lumped down,
took the safetys off their nfles and fanned
out across the quadrangle
It was probably the deepest excursion
ot enemy territory we had ever made The
men were scared, no
mistake about it.
over the prospect ol
finally tangling with
the dreaded foe We
moved slowly and
carefully.
Over to <nii right a
row ol buildings
stood tall and mas
*ive I've fought ever
vwhere. Korea.
Nam. you name it.
and I've seen things that d scare the gon
ads oft ol a warthog But there s
nothing quite as frightening as
a student union building teeming inside
with vicious ireshmen and sophomores
W e knew they were in there
Suddenly a group «»t three or lour stu
dents approached us to our left (.'old.
clammy tear seized mv guts as I wheeled
to lace them One of the cutthroats a girl
extended her hand to me She was offering
me a (lower she said But I was too smart
lor her I knew it was probably some exot
ic plant that would pm son me «m contact
So I emptied mv • lip into her incredulous
taie spraving bits ul bone and brain onto
the side ot an automobile nearby The oth
er three tried to turn and • un but the rest
ol my platoon made short work ot them
We all breathed a sigh of rebel when it
was over
We continued our patrol of the campus
Over by the dormitories we saw two more
students loitering around outside one of
(h<* buildings "Easy men. I said to the
others The students saw us. ami I knew I
had to do something I did
Flat lead, student gooks. I screamed,
and cut them both down before they knew
what was happening I wiped the sweat
trom mv lace ami turned to the platoon
sergeant
You had to do it. sir lie said There
were probably snipers hiding out in the
rooms They II be alraid to lire at us
now
I nodded in agreement ami we went on
with our patrol Slrangels enough that
was the last sign ol the enemy we saw all
dav lake the elusive \< he had disap
fieared from the area Seeing that there
was nothing else we could do we piled
back into the transports and left
Back at headquarters that ultcinoun.
the cumpanv commander awarded us ail
bronze stars tor successfully carrying out
our mission without a single casualty <we
got them before they gut us»
You buys did a helluya fob he said tu
me later
Yes sir I replied
I predict that wc II wipe uut those hip
pie scum in a matter ut days hi 1 said
(»od willing (answered
