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University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1970

1970-05-12 Daily Iowan Editorials: ""Pleas for legitimate protests"" Page 3

-- Reprinted from Monday's Extra Edition of The Daily Iowan

Senators reply
On Sunday, May 10, Student Senate was called in special session to consider Presdent Boyd's statement concerning class attendance and the upcoming strike. By a vote of 20 to 12, the Senate passed Senator Bloomquist's resolution which expressed support for president Boyd's position as the best one he could have taken under the circumstances. However; student body President Beller didn't concur with the majority opinion of the Senate and vetoed the resolution. The two-thirds majority to override the veto could not be obtained, and Beller had prevented the majority of senators from expressing their opinion on a vital issue.
The precedent which has been set is a dangerous one. Is the Senate allowed to express an opinion only with the blessing of Bo Beller? It is obvious that the executive and legislative branches of student government are sometimes going to disagree on policy, but each should have the right to express its opinions in the form of presidential statements or senate resolutions. (Not to be confused with the passage of bills, where concurrence is necessary and a presidential veto is constitutional.)
A few days before, President Beller had issued a policy statement on ROTC, which he asked the Senate to endorse. By a vote of 25 to 6, the Senate refused to do so, but Beller still issued his statement, as he had every right to do. Why should this right of separate expression be rescinded when the situation is reversed? What Beller has done is to claim the right to speak for student government excathedra, making his own pronouncements which the Senate may not agree with, but denying it as a body to speak on its own.
Gary Howell, Interfraternity Council Senator
Bill Bloomqjuist, Liberal Arts Senator
B. E. Bretschneider, Law Senator
Charles Eckstein, Town Men Senator
Paul Ellis, Business Senator
Ledy R. Garcia, Panhell Senator
Beverly Palnter, Nursing Senator
Cindi Schauland, Kate Daum Senator
Dean Olson, Liberal Arts Senator
Barb Wiese, Senator-at-large

Men in the middle—identity crisis
By ART BUCHWALD
WASHINGTON—My friend Brightfelder is having an identity crisis. He said that no matter where he stood on the major issues in the United States today, he found himself in trouble.
"The fact that I'm against the bombing of New York buildings, the student take-overs of offices and intimidation by militant know-nothings makes me a fascist pig."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with that," I said.
"Except that I think Spiro Agnew is full of hot air."
"But that makes you an effete snob and a pseudo-intellectual," I said.
"Exactly, I think Judge Julius Hoffman of Chicago is one of the great disasters of our judicial system."
"That makes you an ultra-left-wing revolutionary."
"At the same time, I think the Chicago Seven are a bunch of clowns who belong on the comic pages of the newspapers."
"Which makes you an apologist for the stinking bourgeois etablishments."
"To my mind, Atty. Gen. Mitchell would do anything to violate my constitutional rights in the name of law and order, and this makes me a limousine liberal."
"They're the worst kind."
"At the same time, I think we should beef up our police forces."
"Join the silent majority."
"I believe Nixon's Southern strategy is tearing the country apart."
"This makes you a typical Northern bleeding-heart hypocrite."
"At the same time the blacks call me a honky racist for not giving them my church."
"You seem to be all things to all m en."
"I keep saying we should get out of Vietnam as fast as possible, and they call me a yellow neo-isolationist. But because I'm not willing to pull the troops out today, my left-wing pals say I'm a prize dupe of the military-industrial complex."
"How do you feel about the economy?"
"I'm against a recession which makes me a reckless socialist free spender."
"What about inflation?"
"I'm against that too, for which I've been called a Nazi conservative who doesn't give a damn about unemployment."
"Any thoughts on the BM?"
"It's a disaster and as phony as anything the Defense Department has come up with."
"But that means you're giving aid and comfort to the Commies."
"I'm the original pinko Dove. And because I think the draft is safer for the country than a professional Army, my kid's friends refer to me as the 'war criminal.'"
"You have to have a strong hide to take all this name calling."
"The tragedy of all this is that the radical right knows exactly wehre it stands, and the radical left is completely secure in the knowledge it's right. But the fascist pig, pseudo-intellectual effete snob of the radical middle is being torn apart."
"You can say that again," I said.
"Any country where a citizen ha to choose between Judge Julius Hoffman and Yippie Abbie Hoffman is really in trouble."

To the eEditor:
First I would like to applaude the city police for the way in which they handled the demonstration Thursday night. They applied the law in what I consider to be a most reasonable and humane manner.
I would like to explain my reasons for being one of those arrested. I don't know how the media interpreted our protest because I've only been out of jail for an hour, but what I saw was a peaceful confrontation. This fact of peaceful resistance was a necessary prerequisite to my even being there. I could no more pick up a rock for this "cause" than against it, because it would kill what for me is one of the central features of this movement: The abolishment of violence as a way of life and its replacement with 
[missing remainder]

Calls for investigation
To the Editor:
Last Thursday evening several hundred students, most of them white, submitted to peaceful arrest after refusing to leave the steps of Old Capitol. At approximately the same time, three blocks away, a small group of black students walking in the downtown area were, with no apparent cause or provocation, threatened, fired upon and arrested at gunpoint by the Iowa City police
The mass arrest of the Old Capitol
[right side of article missing words]

[Handwritten] "Protest...Letters..."
DI
May 12, 1970
3 (of 4)

Saving...

-- Reprinted from Monday's Extra Edition of The Daily Iowan Senators reply On Sunday, May 10, Student Senate was called in special session to consider Presdent Boyd's statement concerning class attendance and the upcoming strike. By a vote of 20 to 12, the Senate passed Senator Bloomquist's resolution which expressed support for president Boyd's position as the best one he could have taken under the circumstances. However; student body President Beller didn't concur with the majority opinion of the Senate and vetoed the resolution. The two-thirds majority to override the veto could not be obtained, and Beller had prevented the majority of senators from expressing their opinion on a vital issue. The precedent which has been set is a dangerous one. Is the Senate allowed to express an opinion only with the blessing of Bo Beller? It is obvious that the executive and legislative branches of student government are sometimes going to disagree on policy, but each should have the right to express its opinions in the form of presidential statements or senate resolutions. (Not to be confused with the passage of bills, where concurrence is necessary and a presidential veto is constitutional.) A few days before, President Beller had issued a policy statement on ROTC, which he asked the Senate to endorse. By a vote of 25 to 6, the Senate refused to do so, but Beller still issued his statement, as he had every right to do. Why should this right of separate expression be rescinded when the situation is reversed? What Beller has done is to claim the right to speak for student government excathedra, making his own pronouncements which the Senate may not agree with, but denying it as a body to speak on its own. Gary Howell, Interfraternity Council Senator Bill Bloomqjuist, Liberal Arts Senator B. E. Bretschneider, Law Senator Charles Eckstein, Town Men Senator Paul Ellis, Business Senator Ledy R. Garcia, Panhell Senator Beverly Palnter, Nursing Senator Cindi Schauland, Kate Daum Senator Dean Olson, Liberal Arts Senator Barb Wiese, Senator-at-large Men in the middle—identity crisis By ART BUCHWALD WASHINGTON—My friend Brightfelder is having an identity crisis. He said that no matter where he stood on the major issues in the United States today, he found himself in trouble. "The fact that I'm against the bombing of New York buildings, the student take-overs of offices and intimidation by militant know-nothings makes me a fascist pig." "Well, there's nothing wrong with that," I said. "Except that I think Spiro Agnew is full of hot air." "But that makes you an effete snob and a pseudo-intellectual," I said. "Exactly, I think Judge Julius Hoffman of Chicago is one of the great disasters of our judicial system." "That makes you an ultra-left-wing revolutionary." "At the same time, I think the Chicago Seven are a bunch of clowns who belong on the comic pages of the newspapers." "Which makes you an apologist for the stinking bourgeois etablishments." "To my mind, Atty. Gen. Mitchell would do anything to violate my constitutional rights in the name of law and order, and this makes me a limousine liberal." "They're the worst kind." "At the same time, I think we should beef up our police forces." "Join the silent majority." "I believe Nixon's Southern strategy is tearing the country apart." "This makes you a typical Northern bleeding-heart hypocrite." "At the same time the blacks call me a honky racist for not giving them my church." "You seem to be all things to all m en." "I keep saying we should get out of Vietnam as fast as possible, and they call me a yellow neo-isolationist. But because I'm not willing to pull the troops out today, my left-wing pals say I'm a prize dupe of the military-industrial complex." "How do you feel about the economy?" "I'm against a recession which makes me a reckless socialist free spender." "What about inflation?" "I'm against that too, for which I've been called a Nazi conservative who doesn't give a damn about unemployment." "Any thoughts on the BM?" "It's a disaster and as phony as anything the Defense Department has come up with." "But that means you're giving aid and comfort to the Commies." "I'm the original pinko Dove. And because I think the draft is safer for the country than a professional Army, my kid's friends refer to me as the 'war criminal.'" "You have to have a strong hide to take all this name calling." "The tragedy of all this is that the radical right knows exactly wehre it stands, and the radical left is completely secure in the knowledge it's right. But the fascist pig, pseudo-intellectual effete snob of the radical middle is being torn apart." "You can say that again," I said. "Any country where a citizen ha to choose between Judge Julius Hoffman and Yippie Abbie Hoffman is really in trouble." To the eEditor: First I would like to applaude the city police for the way in which they handled the demonstration Thursday night. They applied the law in what I consider to be a most reasonable and humane manner. I would like to explain my reasons for being one of those arrested. I don't know how the media interpreted our protest because I've only been out of jail for an hour, but what I saw was a peaceful confrontation. This fact of peaceful resistance was a necessary prerequisite to my even being there. I could no more pick up a rock for this "cause" than against it, because it would kill what for me is one of the central features of this movement: The abolishment of violence as a way of life and its replacement with [missing remainder] Calls for investigation To the Editor: Last Thursday evening several hundred students, most of them white, submitted to peaceful arrest after refusing to leave the steps of Old Capitol. At approximately the same time, three blocks away, a small group of black students walking in the downtown area were, with no apparent cause or provocation, threatened, fired upon and arrested at gunpoint by the Iowa City police The mass arrest of the Old Capitol [right side of article missing words] [Handwritten] "Protest...Letters..." DI May 12, 1970 3 (of 4)