World News
Senators discuss Cambodia with Laird
More ‘deliverymen ’ bound for Cambodia
SAN FRANCISCO AP—Defense
Secretary Melvin Laird said Thursday
there are no American military advisers
on the ground in Cambodia, but that there
are 16 equipment deliverymen there and 50
are needed.
“I intend to recommend assignment of
additional military equipment teams to
Cambodia” to deliver and protect $200
million worth of military supplies the
United States is providing Cambodia,”
Laird said.
Last year when Congress prohibited
use of American ground troops in Cam
bodia, Laird said he served notice “We
would have military equipment teams
operating in Cambodia.”
In a question period after his speech to
the Commonwealth Club of California
Laird said it has “been made clear” to
Southeast Asian nations that “the United
States will not be responsible for the
ground combat operations in that part of
the world.”
WASHINGTON AP—Reassurances by
Secretary of State William Rogers failed
Thursday to ease fears by Senate Foreign
Relations Committee members that the
Nixon administration is increasing U.S.
involvement in Cambodia.
There was general agreement,
however, that the administration has kept
at least within the technical limits on U.S.
actions established by Congress last year
in the Cooper-Church amendment.
Sens. J.W. Fulbright, Frank Church,
Stuart Symington, Edmund Muskie,
George Aiken and Jacob Javits—the first
four Democrats, the latter two
Republicans—all said they remain fearful
of deepened U.S. involvement despite
Rogers’ effort to minimize the use of
Amercan helicopters and planes in last
week’s battle to open a key Cambodian
highway.
“My own feeling,” chairman
Fulbright told reporters, “is they are quite
prepared to do whatever is necessary. He
didn’t say that. That’s just my own im
pression.”
And the Arkansas Democrat said that
despite Rogers’ insistence there is no U.S.
commitment to defend Cambodia, “I think
we are. I think the events have created a
situation where we and the world believed
we are.”
Rogers, who spent 3Vi hours before the
committee, told reporters afterward: “I
don’t believe there has been any change in
policy.”
Asked about fears by committee
members that the United States could
become involved in a new Vietnam in
Cambodia, the secretary replied, “I don’t
think that is possible. All the imperatives
are the other way. All our budget planning.
“And we would not have the support if
we got bogged down, as the other ad
ministration did in Vietnam,” he added.
Vermont’s Sen. Aiken, senior
Republican on the committee, also cited
the likelihood of a strong public reaction
in stating that while apprehensive, he
doubts there will be an expanded U.S.
involvement in Cambodia.
“The uproar in this country would
make last May seem like a Sunday school
picnic,” Aiken told reporters. He referred
to protests following announcement of the
U.S. incursion into Cambodia.
Committee members said Rogers
made clear the administration has no
intention of seeking any easing of the
Cooper-Church amendment, which bars
U.S. combat ground troops and military
advisers from Cambodia.
Sen. John Stennis, D-Miss, chairman
of the Armed Services Committee, said
Wednesday following a closed briefing by
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird that
restrictions might have to be eased if the
situation in Cambodia worsens.
Democratic leader Mike Mansfield
expressed concern about Stennis’ com
ments. “I think we are treading dangerous
ground,” he told reporters. Mansfield did
not attend the session with Rogers.
Fulbright said the administration
believes, as did the Johnson ad
ministration in the early days in Vietnam,
that the situation in Cambodia can be
handled by air power without use of
American troops.
Rogers was accompanied to the
hearing by Lt. Gen. John Vogt, director of
the Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
who presented a 55-minute military
briefing.
Both Sen. John Sherman Cooper, R
Ky., and Church of Idaho said they were
satisfied that there has been no technical
violation of the Cooper-Church amend
ment despite the presence of U.S. advisers
on some of the helicopter gunships used in
last week’s battle and the use of civilian
clothed Americans to retrieve damaged
helicopters.
Interior secretary confirmed
WASHINGTON AP-The
Senate confirmed without dissent
Thursday President Nixon’s
nomination of Rep. Rogers C.B.
Morton to be secretary of the
interior.
Morton, former Republican
national chairman and the first
easterner appointed to the in
terior post in decades, succeeds
Walter Hickel, who was fired by
Nixon last November.
The Maryland congressman
faces two separate problems:
The protection of the en
vironment and the running of a
department still disturbed by
Hickel’s ouster.
And he faces the opposition of
conservation groups like the
Sierra Club, which called his
appointment a political choice
War crimes investigation
Hundreds of honorably discharged veterans of the war in Vietnam
will meet this weekend in Detroit for “an investigation into war crimes
committed (by the U.S.) as the inexorable result of national policy,”
according to the New York City-based Vietnam Veterans Against the
War, Inc.
The investigation, sponsored by the Vietnam Vets, will include
testimony from GI panel members, Vietnamese victims and “ex
perts” on the situation in Indochina.
The Vietnamese, from both the North and the South, will testify
for the investigation over closed-circuit television, since the U.S.
government has refused to issue visas to them to enter the country.
and said he has been too closely
tied to the oil industry to make
independent decisions on en
vironmental questions.
Morton told the Senate Interior
Committee last week that he
often feels such groups as the
Sierra club are advocating “the
end of man,” or at least the end of
civilization.
“I’m not prepared to go that
far,” he said, calling for a
balance between economic
growth and what he said is the
need to protect the environment,
placing it on a priority scale at
least equal to that of the economy
and national defense.
Two issues Morton said will
need his immediate attention are
these:
What to do about the con
tinuation or cancellation of oil
leases in California’s Santa
Barbara Channel and whether or
not to approve a huge oil pipeline
across Alaska.
Morton’s reception by the
Interior Committee was almost
uniformly friendly, with senators
from the West saying they had
been assured he would take
western interests into account.
News Roundup
from AP reports
CLEVELAND, Ohio—A federal judge struck from the
record Thursday a special grand jury report on violence at
Kent State University, saying it could “irreparably damage
the rights of 25 indicted persons, mostly students.” U.S.
District Judge William Thomas also declared the report
bordered on criminal accusations against 23 unnamed Kent
State faculty members, who the grand jury did not indict but
said shared the blame for the violence. He refused to throw
out the 25 indictments, saying there was no basis to stop
prosecution, and refused to convene a three-judge panel to
rule on the constitutionality of Ohio’s anti-riot law.
WASHINGTON—President Nixon pledged Thursday to
make every endeavor to end the draft by midsummer of 1973
as he urged Congress to enact reforms to bring the nation
closer to an all volunteer Army. “No one knows precisely
when we can end conscription,” Nixon said in a special
message to Congress. But, he said “the objective of this
administration is to reduce draft calls to zero, subject to the
overriding considerations of the national security.”
CAPE KENNEDY, Fla.—The Apollo 14 launch crew,
hoping for a flawless mission, moved smoothly ahead
Thursday in a near-perfect countdown toward Sunday’s
blastoff to the moon. “It’s one of the cleanest Apollo count
downs we’ve ever enjoyed,” said Walter Kapryan, directing
his third straight launch of the Saturn 5 booster rocket.
Committee to be given night watchlady statement
By KARI O’CONNOR
Of the Emerald
A statement concerning the night watchwomen in
the dorms will be presented to the University Housing
Committee today by a group of dorm residents.
Hie group of students represent a large number of
dorm residents who feel ‘the night watchwoman is an
infringement upon our rights and privacy.”
The statement includes summaries of several past
meetings that were held between dorm residents and
housing authorities concerning the night watchwomen.
Also in the statement is a copy of the bill passed by
the ASUO Senate on Jan. 21 stating, “The ASUO Senate
deplores the presence of the Night Manager, and
respectfully requests that the housing authority ter
minate the "Night Manager” immediately.”
A poll taken in Bean Complex by a poll task com
mittee is included in the statement Some results were:
1. Do you want the night lady position—
a. Terminated 84 per cent Girls. 8 per cent Boys
b Increased - 8 per cent Girls. 4 per cent boys
c. Remain as is - 2 per cent Girls. 7 per cent Boys
2. Do you favor the handling of all dormitory
violations by residents through the dorm tribunals and
being responsible for the handling of unescorted guests?
a. Yes - 85 per cent - Girls - No -11 per cent. Yes - 85
per cent - Boys - No -12 per cent.
TTie statement concludes: “From the conclusive
evidence drawn, we feel that action should be taken
immediately according to the concerns of the residents
as to the presence of the night watchwomen.”
In a poorly-attended meeting Wednesday night the
Inter-dormitory Council CIDC) and assistant Housing
Director Dick Romm discussed the night watchlady
question.
Council members suggested that students be
allowed to vote on whether they wanted the night wat
chlady to patrol their halls, and that a two-thirds
majority in opposition, plus Housing Department ap
proval, could eliminate her from some halls.
IDC President Rick Wilson suggested that the group
work toward a 24-hour lounge privilege. However this
possibility was not discussed in detail by the group.
Referring to an independent group recently
established by Henderson Hall residents who oppose the
night watchlady, Romm said, “The conduct committee
will listen a lot more to the IDC than it will to Henderson
Hall.”
“In some of the dorms she’s evidently wanted and
needed,” stated Romm. "Others, such as Henderson,
don’t want her.”
Regarding security in general, Romm noted that the
number of incidents in furniture being taken from dorm
lounges have decreased since the Office of Campus
Security began patroling the outside areas at night
He also commented on the amount of pressure en
countered by the Housing Department by reading two
letters he received from concerned parents. Both letters
lamented having to replace goods stolen from dorm
residents. Copies of one letter were sent to a state
senator. Gov. Tom McCall and the State Board of Higher
Education, as well as the University Housing Director H.
P. Barnhart.
The flow of this kind of mail has increased
markedly since winter term of last year,” said Romm.
“We’ve tried to talk to parents and show them that
most of the problems are caused by the students,”
Romm added.