Newspaper Page Text
JOYCE MURDOCH
The Hfd and Black, Frida}, May 3, 1974
Page 3
THE OPINIONS OF
THE RED AND BLACK
Education commission
Governor Jimmy Carter has
appointed a 17 person planning
commission whose function is to
work with the Board of Regents
in connection with post second
ary education projects.
The commission’s existence is
sanctioned by federal higher edu
cation acts and similar agencies
have been set up in other states.
Establishment of the commission
enables a state to receive federal
money previously impounded.
We are looking somewhat ask
ance at this commission, because
it seems that its duties, which
include developing a statewide
plan for the expansion or im
provement of post secondary ed
ucation programs, and the estab
lishment of funding priorities in
order to give all residents of the
state an opportunity to attend a
post secondary institution, are
rather ambiguous. It has been
emphasized that the commis
sion’s function will be advising
rather than planning and that it
will not usurp any power of the
Board of Regents.
However, many of the regents
have expressed serious reserva
tion about the commission and
its purpose. It is rumored that
they fear that it will become a
“super agency” which will at
tempt to gain control over some
of the responsibilities of the
regents and of the Education
Department.
We would question the motives
behind the forming of this com
mission. Why has Carter set the
»
THE RED AND BLACK
Susan Wells, editor
Rick Monroe
Business manager
Bill King
Executive editor
Joyce Murdoch and Jo Hutto, news editors; Deborah Blum and Edie McLaurin,
associate news editors; Michelle Green, feature editor; Meryl Nash, associate
feature editor. Ed Kimble and Laurie Gregory, city editors; Len Pagano, state
editor; Tony Bianeardi, sports editor; Steve Burns, associate sports editor;
Allyn Koland, copy editor; David Breslauer, photography editor; Ed Parker,
wire editor; Brad McCall, art director; Brad Bledsoe and Robin Sherman!
production managers.
Thr Rrd and Black, studrnt nratpiptr of the
University of Georgia. Aiken*. is published on
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Nixon is totally unbelievable!'
commission up now, right after
his run-in with the legislature
over the appointment of Charles
Bishop to the Board of Regents?
Carter recommended him but he
was rejected by the legislature.
Did this cause Carter to become
concerned about his own power
over the Board of Regents?
Other questions also crop up.
Members of the commission
include educators, business peo
ple, and also legislators. Under
the administration of Gov. Eu
gene Talmadge the University
lost its accreditation when state
politicians tried to interfere with
its operation. The presence of
politicians on this commission
seems strange to us, therefore,
and we ask, what guarantee is
there that the commission cannot
be manipulated for political pur
pose?
It also seems to us that the
appointment of this commission
came as somewhat of a surprise
to the regents and the rest of the
state. Why did Carter not give
advance notice of his plans and
receive recommendations on pos
sible duties and members of the
commission?
These questions bring up seri
ous doubts about the motivation
behind the appointment of this
commission, and deserve im
mediate answers. We cannot
accept the commission at face
value as an attempt to improve
education in Georgia until its
existence is further justified.
President Nixon is unbelievable. I
didn’t believe his speech this week even
before there were indications that Nixon’s
crucial March 21, 1972, taped conversa
tion with John Dean was doctored. If the
incriminating version Nixon released is
not the entire tape,
the deleted portions
must really be dam
ning.
At one time, I Mm •** 4*1
wasn't quite so cyni
cal about Nixon.
When 1 wrote The
Red and Black’s first
pro-impeachment
column a year ago
this month, I believed Congress should
impeach Nixon primarily to get all the
facts about the Watergate scandal and
finally determine Nixon's guilt or inno
cence in a Senate trial. I still thought
there was a chance Nixon could prove his
innocence.
But since that time, Nixon has made
so many statements which have later
been declared “inoperative” and so
many charges of malfeasance in office
have been leveled against him and
inadequately answered that I have reach
ed a state of mind that is rather
disturbing for an American citizen I
have no trust in Nixon and there is
absolutely nothing Nixon can do to make
me have any in him.
Many others have also reached this
state of mind during the past year
Included in this group are people who
couldn’t quite go along with me in calling
for Nixon's impeachment last May. The
pervasiveness of this feeling can be
understood by remembering the national
alert during the Mideastern War last
October Virtually everyone wondered
whether the alert was a necessary move
or just a ploy by Nixon to divert attention
away from Watergate
When distrust of a President reaches
this proportion, this national feeling alone
becomes grounds for his impeachment
when the definition of impeachment is
read in broad terms.
The constitutional definition of grounds
for impeachment is “treason, bribery
and high crimes and misdemeanors."
Many constitutional experts interpret
“misdemeanors” as including misdeeds
as well as criminal acts so the grounds
are actually more flexible than they
appear to be.
In fact, Alexander Hamilton contended
in The Federalist Papers that a President
can be impeached for offenses which
“Proceed from the abuse or violation of
some public trust and are of a nature
which may with peculiar propriety be
denoted POLITICAL, as they relate
chiefly to injuries done immediately to
the society itself."
Destroying the public’s trust in the
Presidency and general misconduct in
office are such injuries. Congress set a
precedent in 1936 for impeaching a
federal official on such charges when it
impeached a judge for bringing his court
into “scandal and disrepute."
Certainly Nixon has brought the nation
and the Presidency into scandal and
disrepute and he could oe impeached for
doing it. However, he should not be
Instead, he should be impeached for
more specific violations because the
process is so serious that the reasons for
it should be, to borrow a phrase,
“perfectly clear."
Over the last year, more and more
specific charges have mounted up against
Nixon These charges are so major that
the federal grand jury which investigated
the Watergate scandal issued a report in
Editor's note: Joyce Murdoch is News
Editor of The Red and Black.
March which implied that instead of just
indicting seven of Nixon’s closest aides it
would have indicted Nixon had there
been any precedent for indicting a
President while he’s in office The grand
jury realized that impeachment by the
U.S House of Representatives is the
constitutional method of indicting a
President And, as the House Judicial
Committee counsels said the impeach
ment powers were created “to cope with
trie inadequacy of criminal standards and
the impotence of courts to deal with great
figures."
It would take volumes to discuss why
the House should impeach Nixon even if
we confined the grounds to his role in the
Watergate break-in at the Democratic
National headquarters and the subsequent
cover-up However, a few examples of his
actions can show the tone of his
involvement, if not the scope of it.
Last July, when it was obvious that the
Watergate tapes were important pieces
of evidence, Nixon wrote Sen. Sam Ervin
and said, “The tapes which have been in
my personal control will remain so."
Under that control, 18-and-one-half min
utes of a vital conversation was erased at
least five times, according to tape
it tappers here ■ tx\ mp rrto>\\
lelleisSlellers
'Socialism is composed of dreams'
TO THE EDITOR:
Concern.ng Mr Cross's letter of Wed
nesday, May 1, I feel compelled to speak
out on several points on the Socialists’
platform
First Mr. Cross says that the Socialists
ask for public work programs, schools,
and police units in the black communities
to be elected democratically by the
residents
Stfange words from a man that has
repeatedly said in public that no demo
cracy exists in America.
As to this plan, why not for the white
communities Mr, Cross? Or the Italian?
Or the Jewish? Or of any other commu
nity that contains an ethnic majority? It
would appear that Mr. Cross is not
concerned with these minorities
And now the tax system that Mr Cross
or rather the Socialists proclaim to the
world. The proposal as stated would
mean that any income under 115,000
would be tax free Wonderful! But from
that statement other things may be
drawn
If only incomes under $15,000 are tax
free then it might seem logical to assume
that the incomes over $15,000 would be
taxed on an escalatory basis
This escalation would continue until the
person achieved the salary of $30,000. At
this time a 100 percent tax would
assessed on any income earned over
$30,000 The result — mediocrity.-
Mediocrity because there would be no
incentive to earn more than $30,000
And then there is always the reason
that most people give when they disre
gard Mr. Cross’s views — It’ll never
work.
Mr Cross is in my humble opinion a
dreamer He will continue to think that
educated people can be motivated by
appeals to their reason and “collective"
future.
I think that ONWARD has shown that a
beer in the hand is worth 100 ideals
spoken to a crowd — when it comes to
politics that is.
WOODY
Welcome GSPA
convention'
TO TI1E EDITOR:
About 1200 high school journalists from
throughout the state are at the University
of Georgia today for the 47th annual
Georgia Scholastic Press Association
convention. We welcome them and their
advisers and congratulate them on a
year's work well done At the general
session, awards will be presented to the
winners of contests for newspapers, year
books. magazines, and broadcast pro
grams, as well as to individual staff
members.
During the day the students will be
attending workshops on the journalism
profession and on the specifics of writing,
producing, and financing the'r publica
tions These sessions will be led by about
20 School of Journalism faculty mem
bers; several University students, includ
ing staff members from The Red and
Black and Stillpnint. and several guests
from newspapers, publishing companies,
and high schools
In addition. SGPA is receiving a
tremendous amount of help with the
details of the convention from School of
Journalism students, particularly mem
bers of the professional organizations and
the staff of The Red and Black
We do appreciate the cooperation of
faculty, staff and studentsin helping to
make this convention enjoyable and
beneficial to the high school journalists.
.MARGARET JOHNSTON
GSPA Coordinator
Paper endorses
lows of jungle 1
TO THE EDITOR.
I have just finished reading the drivel
that passes for an editorial in The Red
and Black In “Somewhat Sinister" the
editors indulge in paranoid delusions
about the evil administration plot to
subvert liberty, justice and the American
way Butter can't even melt in the
mouths of the noble hacks that make up
the campus fourth estate The fact that
President Davison has called a University
Council meeting right after the election
to enable students to participate infuri
ates them. "Ah!" Tney howl, "we must
all control the agenda It is not enough to
be on the Council " To judge by the
response of the paper, the University
Council meets only on the return of
Haley’s comet. As far as subcommittees
go, we are not even informed about them
And, "as if that was not bad enough,"
the University Council will "reaffirm"
the Board of Regents rule against
disruption of University activities. "Al
though Hargraves denied that it had
anything to do with recent campus
events." the Executive committee of the
Council refused to be “redundant" and
voted to modify it. Well, it certainly is too
bad if the new effort has nothing to do
with recent campus events When the
University Union sponsored Dr. William
Shockley, only to have the meeting
disrupted by shouting blacks and socia
lists, the powerful Board of Regents
certainly kept things in order right well.
The much-vaunted campus cops also
proved their value in keeping order All
they did was get Shockley out alive, to
judge by newspaper reports So the paper
endorses the continuation of a worthless
scrap of paper, a spineless administra
tion, and a useless campus police force
that seems to be limited to issuance of
traffic and parking tickets.
That's about what you might expect
from The Red and Black Law and order
— law being of the same order as found
in a jungle The snap of a twig brings
forth a florid attack on the administra
tion, while ignoring violations of free
speech.
I’ve only been a student for a short
time here, after finishing a stint in the
service and working for a few years. If
this is what higher education is all about,
then this country doesn't need much
more of it.
LANE HALL
Eagan in SWP
not Socialists'
TO THE EDITOR:
This letter is to inform the readers of
The Red and Black of a mistake that
appeared in Len Pagano's article about
the recent gubernatorial forum here;
Vince Eagan is the candidate of the
Socialist Workers Party, a Marxist-Leni-
nist-Trotskyist party that has been around
for 46 years now The party that Pagano
mistakenly said Eagan was from doesn't
even exist anymore
LINDA MILLWOOD
Letters to tne editor
should:
• Be brief, to the point.
experts. So important evidence was lost
forever and Nixon became guilty of
obstructing justice, an impeachable of
fense.
The transcripts that Nixon released
this week show that he was involved in the
cover-up at least after "March 21, 1972
For example, Nixon agreed to give E.
Howard Hunt hush money to keep him
quiet about the break-in. This makes him
an accomplice after the fact, if not
before
Even if one disregards Nixon’s role in
Watergate, there are many other grounds
on which he could be impeached
First on this list is the misconduct of
his aides. James Madison, one of the
framers of the Constitution, said that
since a President can fire his aides, he is
subject to impeachment if he "neglects to
superintend their conduct so as to check
their excesses " Even Nixon has admitted
that his aides were guilty of excesses
So far, 25 of Nixon's staffers or
members of the Committee to Re-elect
the President (CREEP) have been indic
ted or have pleaded guilty to charges of
criminal conduct. The crimes associated
with this group are appalling They
include everything from perjury and
extortion to illegal wiretapping and
destruction of evidence.
To say the least, Nixon is guilty of such
gross negligence in overseeing his staff
that he should be impeached.
Going beyond Watergate and the ac
tions of Nixon’s aides, one finds an
almost unbelievable number of abuses by-
Nixon for which he can and should be
impeached
The following are included in the
number: 1 intervening in an antitrust
action against the International Tele
phone and Telegraph Corporation in
return for political contributions. 2
raising the milk support prices and
reducing dairy imports in return for
campaign contributions; 3 ordering the
burglary of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychia
trist’s office; 4 offering the FBI director
ship to the judge in the Ellsberg case in
order to sway his decision; 5. condoning
or ordering illegal wiretaps and other
illegal activities by the so called "plum
bers"; 6 misusing public funds to
improve his residences in Key Biscayne
and San Clemente; 7. failing to pay $.5
million in federal income taxes until
ordered to do so by the Internal Revenue
Service; 8. failing to pay California
taxes, 9. backdating the deed to the
government for his pre-presidential pa
pers for which he took a $576,000 tax
write-off; 10. approvieg an illegal plan
for domestic survaillance which was
finally vetoed by FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover, 11. improperly using federal
agencies to harass political opponents
and journalists; 12. impounding funds
which Congress authorized him to spend;
13. authorizing the illegal bombing of
Cambodia in 1969; 14 more or less selling
ambassadorships in return for campaign
contributions; 15 obstructing justice by
not complying with subpoenas
It has already been proved that Nixon
is guilty of some of these charges And
despite his protests that he's "not a
crook,” Nixon hasn't provided us with
any solid evidence to prove he's not
In spite of Nixon's inability to disprove
the multitude of charges against him,
some people still oppose his impeach
ment These opponents generally avoid
the subject of Nixon’s guilt or innocence
and base their case on two weak points
First, the opponents of impeachment
claim that it will hurt the Presidency
How much more damaged could it he
than it is now when less than 25 percent
of all adults polled have any faith in the
man who holds that office? Obviously, it
couldn't be much more damaged
The Presidency can't recover until
Nixon is impeached and the Senate
determines his guilt or innocence Then,
either Nixon would have some of his
credibility restored or he would be out of
office and Gerald Ford could try to
restore the Presidency.
Those who oppose impeachment also
say that it would hurt the nation And
they are right Nixon has dragged the
country through a year-and-a half of
scandal
Now the nation is in a position that
guarantees more national disgrace, humi
liation and pain regardless of what it
does
The worst thing the nation could do is
let Nixon get away with his crimes, let
him have two-and-one-half more years in
office and retire We’d muddle through
the period but the precedent set would be
terrible because it would encourage
corruption in government
The only right thing for the nation to do
now is impeach Nixon The process will
be painful It was designed that way so
people wouldn't take it lightly But, it
was also designed to be used in situations
such as the one we are in now where the
national government is all but paralyzed
by scandal and corruption
If and when Nixon is impeached, we, as
a nation, could go on from there This is
the important point We would survive as
a nation. Anyone who doesn't believe that
has no faith that the American system of
government is stronger than any indivi
dual The system proved its strength six
months ago with the resignation of Vice
President Spiro Agnew The country
certainly managed to live* through his
ouster and would live through Nixon's
should the Senate remove him from
office
In fact, since the majority of those
polled want Nixon tried by the Senate,
the country might be more damaged if
Nixon isn't impeached than if he is
A conservative Republican Congress
man supported this assertion recently by
saying, "I was afraid six months ago, but
now I can name you a lot of people who
say the country will fly apart if
impeachment doesn't happen "
So tallying up the charges against
Nixon, finding his excuses woefully
inadequate and having faith in the
strength of the U.S. Constitution, I have
had to conclude that for the good of the
country now and in the future, Nixon
must be impeached