Editorial
ROTC: Let’s eliminate academic credit
Today the University faculty will vote on a motion
to remove credit for the ROTC program on campus.
We hope the motion is passed and the University
eliminates ROTC as a part of its sanctioned curricula.
The Eugene Register-Guard, in its case for ROTC
on campus, has said that “unfortunately the unpopu
larity of the Vietnam war and opposition to the draft
muddy the issues.”
Unfortunately the war and the draft are key ele
ments in the issues for they are immediate incidents
in a larger more stubborn situation. That situation is
the growing power and control of the military and its
industries that lead to Vietnam wars, drafts, and the
threat of nuclear destruction.
Before World War II the American army was less
than 200,000 men. In expectation of a world crisis the
army was doubled. When WWII came the army got
to be eight million men. Once in the 1950’s despite the
Cold War, that figure wras reduced to 600,000 men.
But now America has 3,500,000 men in arms. About
600,000 are in Vietnam, 300,000 more are in the Pacific
support areas, and about 250.000 are in Germany. There
are also about 500,000 men (350,000 National Guards
men and 200,000 reservists) specially trained for riot
duty.
As long as we keep an army of this size Vietnams
can occur. And it is the draft that enables this coun
try to maintain a military estate this size.
To force young men into the army when there is no
declared war seems to be one of the most un-American
actions this country could take. Yet America does it
and condemns those who resist.
COUNTRY MILITARIZED
Why? Because this country has been militarized. We
have not always had a Pentagon, a large army or a
draft. And we have not always been on the brink of
nuclear destruction.
The firepower expended in Vietnam is indeed fright
ening. At Khe Sahn where wo protected our Marines,
we dropped on the perimeter of the city more ex
plosives than fell on the Japanese in WWI1. And this
is only a conventional war. In the nuclear arena we
find that between the United States and Russia there
is a nuclear stockpile on the scale of 15 tons of TNT
for every person on earth.
The death toll in Vietnam has surpassed that of the
Korean conflict. Estimates say that with luck and
preparation only 50 million Americans (or Russians)
would be killed in a nuclear attack.
George Wald, professor of biology at Harvard and
Nobel Prize winner, told a group of scientists on the
March 4 Scientists Day of Concern: “The only point
of government is to safeguard and foster life. Our
government has become preoccupied with death, with
tile business of killing and being killed. So-called de
fense now absorbs 00 percent of the national budget,
and about 12 percent of the gross national product.”
lie pointed to the situation that transcends the war
and draft—that this country is not only militarized, but
that militarization has been institutionalized. We have
not heeded the late General Eisenhower's warning
about the military industrial complex. We built a huge
peacetime army and have given it an $80 billion a year
budget. The total annual budget is $144 billion but
only $2 billion, less than two percent, goes to the
poverty program which is likely to be cut even more
by the Nixon administration.
ROTC PART OF SYSTEM
So what does ROTC at this campus have to do with
this? It is an- integral part of the system we have been
writing about. Not everyone in the armed forces is a
professional killer nor is everyone in ROTC. But ROTC
is a program that provides men for a so-called ‘‘pro
fession” that kills and that maintains itself with the
assumption that orders must be obeyed without ques
tions.
While ROTC may not be providing officers for Viet
nam it is providing officers for the system that is per
petuating the war and the growth of America’s power
to overkill.
However, most claim that the University, as an insti
tution, must remain neutral. The University, they say,
cannot take a stand so other ways must be found to
justify l’emoving ROTC from campus or removing
credit for it. So discussion of ROTC in terms of its
academic worth, external control, and faculty status
are begun.
And even an examination of these areas shows the
way the military has been institutionalized.
The faculty’s Committee on Curriculum investigated
these areas. In its report it said: “For such credit as
he gets the cadet must digest a formidable body of
information concerning weapons, tactics, logistics, or
ganization, procedures, military laws, regulations and
customs, maintenance, management, and the like with
certain elements of history, government, and inter
national relations. He may have to know the tactics
for retreating under lire, the proper standards of in
specting a mess hall, or the urgency of the prompt
processing of captured documents.”
On the matter of external control the report recog
nized the fact that the standard printed contracts con
tain phrases stating that the Secretary of the Army
(Air Force) shall “prescribe and conduct” the courses
of study..
TEACHING ENTERS POLITICS
On the matter ot indoctrination the report admits
that some teaching does intrude into politics. It notes
that the texts chiefly involved are “Two Ways of Life:
The Communist Challenge to Democracy,” and “The
Struggle for Peace.” It also notes that the basic texts
are furnished by the government.
The report also admits that the ROTC faculty is
part of a small minority of the faculty who are ap
pointed on the initiative of an ofl'-campus agency.
Yet the committee does not seem concerned about
this. In each area they find a way of avoiding a con
frontation with ROTC’s existence here as part of the
recognized curriculum.
The report justifies the course substance because it
is professional and technical iir character and “Some
energy has been expanded to establish the liberal
character of such studies.” It moves past the external
control issue because the programs have been shifted
to the modified program providing more “liberal
subjects.”
It passes off the indoctrination question because it
grants that “every profession must expect certain at
titudes in its practitioners.” “Furthermore,” it says,
“much of the more overt indoctrination inculcates
principles quite uneontroversial.”
The texts earlier mentioned, the report says, do
contain some “admirably liberal sentiments.” The
admirably liberal sentiments is quoted were “There
is no democracy in the world today that practices pure
capitalism,” and “In the democratic tradition, there
is no one simple answer to all human issues.”
We would hardly hold those up as sentiments which
should justify the use of texts which the report admits
are suggested and supplied by the government. But
that didn’t bother the committee either, because there
was no inhibition against library assignments.
We hope the faculty takes a stronger look at ROTC
and what it represents as part of the University cur
riculum.
WILL NOT ELIMINATE ROTC
Eliminating ROTE credit will not eliminate KUit.
Students could still enter the program and receive its
monetary benefits which the University has control
over anyway.
Eliminating credit for ROTC will be a statement by
the University that ROTC and the way it has edged
its way into and maintained itself within the Univer
sity, is antithetical to the University.
Eliminating credit for ROTC will show that ROTC,
what it represents, the way it has edged into institu
tions of higher learning and maintained itself in them,
is antithetical to the intents of the institution.
The Register-Guard thinks in terms of revolutionary
conspiracies and how not to seriously hurt our grow
ing military.
The paper said “There is only one sound reason
for wanting to damage the ROTC program. That is to
weaken and confuse the military at a time when it is
engaged in its greatest struggle in almost a quarter of
a century. It is unthinkable that the University of
Oregon faculty would go along with that.”
The Register-Guard seems to have mistakenly identi
fied reasons and has shown how the military has come
to exemplify all that is good in America.
The real issue is that this country is being plagued
with a growing military estate that is corrupting the
country and the world.
That this is an estate based upon killing; that ROTC
is a basic part of that system which has led to a
vast capacity to overkill and to overspend, and that
ROTC exists on this campus despite the discrepancies
in its curriculum, discrepancies which arise because of
its position in the military system, it is unthinkable
that the University faculty would go along with that.
Its quite true « ,
Why not think about Kiwis?
A lot of people don’t think
very much about the kiwi, and
that's quite a shame, really, and
should be corrected.
For one thing, the kiwi does
not require very much thought
and in this age of ABM’s,
Charles De Gaulle and Emer
ald Hall, we need something
simple and clear-cut to think
about from time to time. And
I submit that outside of ASUO
senators, there is almost noth
ing as simple as the kiwi.
It is there, it does a couple
of things, and that’s that. It’s as
easy to understand as the
mechanics of chewing a piece
of gum, or the tenets of a
freshman’s deepest philosophy.
Consequently, 1 consider myself
one of the world’s leading ki
wiophiles.
The kiwi’s chief claim to fame
in the ornithological world is its
egg. The female of the species
lays an egg that’s actually one
half her own size. (This, I sup
pose, is one of the reasons she
lays only one of them at a time.)
Think about it
I don’t have the slightest idea
how she does it, but it's one of
the things a person can think
about. I would imagine that it
kind of hurts, but that's as far as
1 can get. The male of the spe
cies doesn’t do much of anything
outstanding along these lines
his wife's product and wonder if
except sit around and stare at
he should call the doctor or
something.
1 suppose it’s possible to scoff
at this achievement of the ki
wi’s, hut for myself, l won’t
point the linger of scorn and
derision until 1 can produce
something comparable. If 1 were
Emerald editor, for instance. I
By MIKE O’BRIEN
could lay an egg that size five
days a week.
The second outstanding fea
ture of the kiwi is the way it
gets itself captured. This is also
the final outstanding thing about
the kiwi.
I told you they were easy.
To accomplish its capture the
intrepid kiwi hunter stalks into
kiwi country (which has never
yet been mistaken for Marlboro
Country) and goes to his favor
ite kiwi hunting spot. There he
prepares a special rock, which
lias probably been handed
down from father to son.
Wall of mud
It’s a flat rock a few inches
high and its diameter is a lit
tle over twice as long as the
kiwi’s neck. To prepare it, the
hunter builds a little wall of
mud all the way around the
top of the rock which will pre
vent the kiwi from scrambling
up onto it. When this is com
pleted the hunter baits the trap
by putting some kind of nut
in the exact center of the rock.
Then lie sits on his haunches,
sips some killer ant wine and
dreams of other kiwi hunts con
ducted when he was younger.
Sooner or later a kiwi comes
shambling into view and sees
the nut lying in the center of
the rock. Instantly its little brain
scrambles itself on the spot. The
kiwi forgets totally all parental
warnings, all familial devotion,
the high cost of living and every
other thing it ever knew. This
is one of the reasons you nev
er hear anyone say, “lie has a
memory like a kiwi.”
(If you want to observe a
similar reaction, mention ' pow
er" to an ASUO senator.)
As soon as the initial shock
has passed, the kiwi streaks to
the rock and, misjudging the
distance from the edge of the
rock to the nut, whacks his
dumb little head down onto the
rock. Kiwis, you see, are no
more renowned for their depth
perception than they are for
their memories.
Haze passes
As soon as the haze passes
from in front of its eyes, the
kiwi runs around to another
side of the rock and tries again.
And the little fool keeps smack
ing his head against the rock
with a gay abandon until he
has dashed his brains out. (It
has suddenly occurred to me
that there are several parallels
between the kiwi and student
senators.)
And that’s the story of the
kiwi. It wasn't a very long story
but the kiwi isn’t a very large
bird. You should hear what I
have to say about elephants.
Illllllllllllllllllilllllll
Emerald Editor:
IlllllllllllllllillllllUll
Desires understanding
Emerald Editor:
I am a confused, frightened,
and concerned White student
who wants to understand the
Black cause and to know what
the Black man expects him to
do.
I am confused. I realize my
whiteness makes me an op
pressor whether I claim to be
or not. But I don’t want to be,
and I want to know how I can
at least make myself undeserv
ing of the hate directed toward
my race.
I am frightened. I see my
potentially good nation on the
verge of a civil war, a w a r
brought on by frustration, in
justice, and misunderstanding.
I am concerned. The Black
man's frustrated anger with
“the system” is justified beyond
a doubt. No man could be satis
fied with a society that has ig
nored and abused his and his
ancestors’ human rights for four
hundred years.
But I feel that the hate and
blame created by the anger are
not justified. It is no more the
Oregon
daily
EMERALD
Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the
Emerald and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the
ASUO or the University. However, the Emerald does present on
this page columnists and letter writers whose opinions reflect
those of our diverse readership and not those of the Emerald itself.
RON EACHUS, Editor
RICH JERNSTEDT
Business Manager
Associate Editors
Cindy Boydstun Chris Houglum Doug Onyon
Rick Fitch Gil Johnson Steven Smith
Stan Horton Jaqi Thompson
DOUG CRICHTON ELLEN EMRY
Advertising Manager National Advertising Manager
University of Oregon, Eugene, Wednesday, April 9, 1969
modern White man’s fault that
the oppression exists, than it
is the Blacks man’s fault for
being oppressed.
We are all products of our
environment, and nothing more.
The Black man makes use of
what is passed down to him,
which is a history of frustra
tion and futility; and so does
the White man, whose heritage
is one of affluence. So I believe
that blame is really irrelevant
to the cause of human rights.
We must accept the short
comings in both societies, re
gardless of whose fault they
are, and realize that what now
must be done is to create a
new environment, whose prod
ucts wil be members of a bet
ter human race; a race of rea
son, freedom, and dignity.
Matthew R. Miner
Freshman, General
Social Science
To the Beveridges
Emerald Editor;
On a campus that occasional
ly prides itself for its liberal
ism, it's disgusting how compla
cent students can be about
something as blatantly discrim
inatory as the signs in the Co
op—signs “clearly aimed at a
minority.”
Until March 11, when the let
ter from Germaine and Phyllis
Beveridge appeared in the
Emerald, we were just as guilty
as anyone else: we just didn't
know. But Good Lord, people,
we aren't ignorant now, and
neither are you, so let’s get out
there and right things!
However, Germaine and Phyl
lis, you have to realize that
these things take time, so the
only proposal we can make at
the present is marriage.
Bob Jackson
Junior, Romance
Languages
Rod Pitcher
Junior. Geology