Author blasts academic view of Indians
By HEATHER McCLENAGHAN
Of the Emerald
A substantial portion of what
Americans are taught about In
dian history should be thrown out,
American Indian author Vine De
loria told a University audience
Tuesday.
The oral histories of the Indian
people are being proven as a cor
rect record of astrological
phenomenon, geologic occurr
ences and prehistory. Deloria
predicted a 30-year battle bet
ween "the people with common
sense” and the Western intellec
tual and academic communities
who will not accept Indian teach
ings as anything more than folk
lore and myths.
Deloria cited "the incredible
hold popular history has on the
academic mind” as responsible
for the continued propagation of
the Asian land bridge theory of
Indian migration to the Americas.
Attempts by 16th century
theologians to categorize Ameri
can Indians as either survivors of
the flood of Noah or remnants of
one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel
resulted in the Asian land bridge
concoction, Deloria said. Eventu
ally the theological origin was lost
and the explanation was picked
up by anthropologists “who didn’t
realize they were parroting the
views of a bunch of theologians
sitting around in a dark castle 300
years before.
“Americans are taught that In
dians came over a land bridge
sometime before Christ and
weren't heard from again until
1492,” Deloria said.
By examining the legends of
tribes throughout North America it
is possible to trace inhabitance of
the continent back centuries be
fore traditional anthropological
theory allows for human occupa
tion.
Long before geologists got to
gether and came up with the four
stages of Pleistocene glaciation,
Canada's Chippewas had told of
the ice sheets and geologic
changes which shaped the North,
Deloria said.
Likewise, the evidence of
Phoenician writing found on rocks
from South America to Tennes
see has been discounted by an
Faculty ponders ROTC, semesters today
By TOM WOLFE
Of the Emerald
The General Faculty will dis
cuss terminating University
ROTC programs, switching to a
semester calendar system and
instituting a revision of the stu
dent conduct code when it meets
today at 3:30 p.m. in Room 150,
Geology.
Biology professor Bayard
McConnaughey plans to ask the
faculty to "recognize that military
training is not an appropriate ac
tivity for the University” He sill
further suggest that “the ROTC
contract between the University
German prof commends
new creative technology
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
The recent evolution of science
has led to a creative technologi
cal revolution in the socialist state
of the German Democratic Re
public, explained Professor Erwin
Herlrtzius, vice-president of the
Technical University of Dresden,
East Germany at a Tuesday
speech
Speaking to approximately 30
students and some faculty, Her
litzius explained that recent tech
nological advances in Eastern
Europe have allowed greater
productivity in jobs replaced by
automation and has given the
East German worker the freedom
to be as creative as possible
while working the machine, in
stead of just pushing buttons.
Herlitzius, speaking on campus
for the third time since 1970, said
automation of East European fac
tories has taken a different
course than in the United States.
Increased automation has had a
humanizing effect on the worker,
and has freed him to be more
creative in his job, he said.
Comparing the problems of
technological growth in the West
to those of Eastern Europe, Her
Ittzius found them to be opposite.
“A loss on your side is a gain on
our side, because we have to do
what we can with our machines
because o< our small work force,"
he said.
Explaining that the world is a
long way from a secure peace,
Herlitzius said actions taken in
the upcoming Helsinki Confer
ence will determine what future
"shared values in technology" we
will have.
“The point of the technological
resolution is to meet the needs
of the people. You must not make
m«w just an appendage of the
machine, technology must be
placed in the services of man. So,
the final historic act of Helsinki
will help solve the problems of the
technological revolution for the
entire world," he said.
The author of numerous pieces
on the Marxist philosophy of sci
ence and cybernetics, Herlitzius
declined to make political com
parisons between the problems
faced by a capitalistic or socialis
tic state except to “show the dif
ferences to solve the problems of
the technological revolution."
II
Transcend the
boundaries
qftime
An old way to walk
>
GOLDEN TEMPLE-1211 ALDER STREET-EUGENE
and the Department of Defense
be terminated at the earliest date
legally possible.”
McConnaughey has introduced
similar motions before the Gen
eral Faculty nine times in the
past, failing by just five votes in
1973.
“I know how much misunders
tanding, resentment and ridicule
it brings upon me" to again prop
ose eliminating ROTC, McCon
naughey admits. “However, the
problems we face are so compet
ing that these questions should
be under continuous considera
tion,” he said.
Also on today's agenda is a
motion to put the University on an
early semester calendar.
History professor Paul Holbo
introduced the motion to the fa
culty in February when it was de
ferred to an ad hoc committee for
more study. The committee has
released its report to the faculty
for discussion and a possible de
cision today.
Under the plan suggested,
classes would convene either the
last week of August or the first
week in September. The change
wouldn’t be effective before fall,
1979.
Holbo said the switch would
save the University money in the
long run by cutting the cost of one
registration and finals week.
A faculty poll found professors
in support of the plan while stu
dents were generally opposed in
an on-the-street survey con
ducted by the Student University
Affairs Board.
A revamping of the student
conduct code that would elimi
nate the present student court
system also is scheduled for dis
cussion today.
thropologists as any indication of
native civilization.
“The academic establishment
says the marks on the rocks were
made by the plows of the early
pioneers,” Deloria said. “Now
how the pioneers were able to
make symbols on rocks with their
plows that are similar to Chinese
writing is beyond me.”
Deloria said the American In
dians may soon be regarded as
the most astronomically ad
vanced of all primitive cultures.
Their sophisticated prediction
and recording of planetary
phenomenon shows tremendous
knowledge, Deloria said.
Extra terrestrial contact sug
gested by Northern Plains Indian
legends should not be dis
counted, Deloria said. Given the
state of academic research into
the rest of Indian history, Deloria
said the possibility should be
“taken away from kooks like Von
Daniken and studied seriously."
Deloria accused American
academics and anthropologists of
using a “sophisticated way to
transmit ignorance” about the In
dian people. He warned his
mostly white audience of another
Indian prophecy that says white
people “will get themselves into a
catastrophe and will disappear.”
Deloria said the prophecy pre
dicts the Indians will survive the
crisis because they have been in
America thousands of years and
the whites only a few hundred.
“That's all I’m going to tell,” he
said. “For the rest, you had better
start listening to your local In
dians.”
/
The CmU Cultural forum
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Dr. Harrq
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speaking about
Crisis and Change
| in modern Sports”
Thursday. ITlaq 5
12:30 p.m.
tmU Ballroom
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