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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1973)
Louisiana' :k y; Kevin ; Allie M c . Allan Brig. !rs >n th e wsome o( 1 with 1,852 >y of Ark. 2 votes, liable here ib. 20 when ch Emory : first was ; with the rack, Joe i unsigned chance on ike Ebow, iny people Southwest dgh school set on the :ts to only and was h, was the 6-0, 190, teammate all started e honored lorriss and na. Marty tly for the ed for the other six s 6-4,280 d Franklin ; Amarillo iy Kramer, on, Baylor any hasty i the finish Aggieland. [orado for ut a single thorns, etitioa He r to prove oted, A&M cruited h)' conference 3-8 record enge. Von ge, they’ve IT’S YOUR DECISION — That’s what SCON A XVIII has been all about and was what plenary speaker Nicholas (St. Nick?) Johnson tried Thursday to get across to dele gates to the annual affair. Paranoiac Alternatives? Editor’s Note: The following was written by Miss Gloria Duf fy, a sophomore political science major at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Cal. A SCON A delegate, Miss Duffy is also the editor of her school paper, THE OCCIDENTAL. Ralph Nader’s world is peopled by devious lobbyists, evil attor neys and grafting politicians, freeloading at the taxpayer’s ex pense, and controlling the individ ual through the citizen’s abdica tion of his right to make his representatives accountable t o him. L. Patrick Gray’s world is that of lawless men who will arise to threaten the security of the citizen if the society in any manner eases its restraints on the potential criminal. Do these two men symbolize the alternative futures for our soci ety ? A choice between the hyper- aware supercitizen and the autho ritarian? Or are these men just polemic varities of the same species—the paranoid ? SCONA XVIII is, essentially, Vs. Gray: defining paranoia. Are we now at 1984, minus 11 and counting? Or do we actually suffer any abridge ment of our right as free individ uals as a result of the controls we have imposed upon ourselves to provide social order? For in stance, can we name concrete, specific instances when we have felt un-free? Are we not more prosperous, mobile and secure at this time than in any other point in our history ? Are we indulging in alarmism to hold a symposium on the threats to our individual and collective freedom? If we agree that the single most important right of man is his liberty as an individual, then the questions we are asking are the most important of our era. And in answer to the question of whether we are unduly alarmed about the abridgement of our free doms, SCONA can only conclude that the concern is justified. The definitions of control itself are flexible. Professor Arthur Miller of the Harvard Law School detailed the dangers of the Justice Department keeping files not only on criminals, but on citizens who have been involved in peaceful protest situations. Credit bureaus, national foundations, government bureaucracies and the Army all know a great deal more about the life of the individual than ever before. A different sort of control is the shaping of the individual by his environment and his society— subtle, but nevertheless a control. And still another control—the lim itation of the citizen’s right to know the activities of its govern ment through the media and the government itself. It is an irony that we are now more free than ever before in terms of posses sing the wealth to buy leisure time, mobility and comfort, yet to obtain this freedom, we have be come liable to more controls than ever before. And these are con trols that not only have the po tential of being turned against us; they already have been used in ways we never intended. At the root of the question of how much control is necessary to preserve social cohesiveness and protect the citizen, is the question of who determines the controls. The purpose of establishing a government is to provide a body not influenced by transitory whims and alarmism that can be objective enough to determine the degree of control necessary in a society at a given time. In our society, of course, the design was for a representative democracy, directly accountable to the public. Due to technical developments, philosophical reconsiderations, the realization of our diversity as a nation and our fragmentation, that government has become un satisfactory in its present form. Nader says that this is a result of our lack of concern for the actions of the government. After Watergate, ITT, the Vietnam War, we can no longer assume, as we have in the past, that the system will take care of itself, no matter what the degree of flexibility of our constitution. Someone once devised a plan to make democracy truly represen tative. The federal government, he said, should purchase the state of Kansas. There on the plains it should build a huge stadium covering the entire land area of the state, with a seat for every man, woman and child in the United States. Periodically, the citizens of the nation would come together to decide the policies of its government by majority vote. Such a plan would end the pos sibility of legislators being in fluenced by the lobbies—what lob by would be energetic enough to try to influence the majority of 200 million people ? What’s more, we would at last find some use for the state of Kansas. Nader takes somewhat of the same approach. He advocates the politicization of the individual as a counter to the controls. But, if you have an entire nation of citizen activists, then that nation must have its contingent of acti vist Patrick Gray’s, as well as it’s activist Ralph Nader’s. And they have fundamentally different principles. This is the dilemma the SCONA meetings on the controlled society (See Nader vs. Gray, page 2) Che Battalion Vol. 67 No. 217 College Station, Texas Friday, February 16, 1973 845-2226 Blasts Nixon For Idea Stifling/ Johnson Stresses Information Access By LARRY MARSHALL Staff Writer The most un-American thing anybody can do in this country is stifle an idea, declared Feder al Communications Commissioner Nicholas Johnson Thursday. This concerns the ideology of democracy, Johnson told the SCONA XVIII crowd, of the founding fathers when they drew up the Constitution. Yet the trend of the Nixon administra tion has been away from this. “People need access to the ideas of other people, but Presi dent Richard Nixon has been try ing to intimidate the news de- SCONA And Other Activities This Week TONIGHT 8:30 p.m. Senator Walter F. Mondale, “The Controlled Society,” MSC Ballroom SATURDAY 8:30 a.m. Final Round-Table Session* 11:00 a.m. Dr. Rollo May, “Freedom In A Controlled Society,” MSC Ballroom 12:30 p.m. Reception for Dr. May, MSC Assembly Room 7:00, 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30 p.m. “Reefer Madness” MSC Ballroom, (admission one dollar, posters given away) ♦Roundtables in MSC Rooms 2A/B, 2C/D, 3B/C, 3D, Birch, Assembly, Art and Social Rooms. ‘Student Sandwich’ To Be Televised ‘‘Student Sandwich,” a student- written, directed, and produced television show, will premier Mon day at 9 p.m. on KAMU-TV, chan nel 15. The Sandwich will feature sev eral segments, including Aspara gus on Parade, Rap Session, Be tween the Bread, and Political Open Face. Asparagus on Parade will feature well-known student leaders in the “hot seat.” Ques tions from a studio audience will be directed to the student. The rules are that he must an swer only the question if he can, and not try to avoid the question or obfuscate the issue. If he fails to answer the question, tries to avoid it or otherwise indulge in confusion, he gets a buzzer sound ed on him. The effect is much like a hot seat. An award will be given in later shows to the most deserving stu dent on various issues. Recipients of the award may be reminded of the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award presented on the popular "Laugh-In” series. Rap Session is self-explanatory, but Between the Bread will deal with campus topics in an inter view format. The first interview will be with George Future, a very unusual student who has some rather unusual ideas for the future of A&M. Future shows will feature such persons as drug ad dicts and those who seek them out, a computer programmer with some minority opinions which are rather startling to those unaccus tomed to the intricacies of com puter programming and other guests. A Betty Boop cartoon will be featured on some shows. Political Open Face will fea ture interviews with prominent state and local people as well as those of national stature. Gary Reger, PRO Chairman and overall coordinator of the project, encouraged any interested student to “come by the Student Program Office in the MSC or call 845-1515 and make an appointment to hear more about the details of the new show.” Student Injured, Wife Killed In Wreck A Texas A&M student was crit ically injured and his wife killed in a two-car accident in Bryan Thursday night. Larry Dwayne Phillips of Car thage, 22-year-old finance major, is in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital. University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” Adv. His 22-year-old wide, Sandra, was killed instantly in the 8:15 p.m. accident at Texas Avenue and Carson. The driver of the second ve hicle, William Michael Vincik, re reived minor injuries. He is a junior majoring in wildlife sci ence at TAMU. Funeral arrangements for Mrs. Phillips pend at Callaway-Jones Funeral Home. partments of the three major net works to inhibit this,” charged Johnson. “The battle over con trol of issues about which you’ll remain ignorant and those to which you’ll become informed is the number one political strug gle in the world today.” A big part of making democra cy work, is the concept of the First Amendment, guaranteeing the freedom of the press, John son said, “but we do not think about this much any more.” The media exposes people to these ideas and, in effect, helps them develop as people, Johnson said. It brings in other ideas and helps a person to develop toward his full potential. “But there is only one insti tution with power left to com ment on what is happening. The three network news companies are all we have left,” he said. “And that is why the president has to get them out of the way.” “When there is a revolution in South America,” Johnson com mented, “what is the first thing seized — the radio station. And what do you think is the first thing Richard Nixon tried to do?” Many of the government activi ties themselves are purposely handled so as to create little fan fare, noted the longish-haired com missioner, like releasing news of government action at a time when very little immediate criti cal attention can be paid to it. Johnson cited the FCC action in granting Bell Telephone a 1.3 billion dollar rate increase on Thanksgiving Eve. “But you did not hear too much about that on television or read much about it in the papers, I suspect,” he said. “And this combination of where the money comes from and where the money goes explains an awful lot about what it is, you and I do not know, about what is go ing on in this country,” Johnson commented. In a presentation generally critical of the Nixon administra tion, Johnson mentioned many of the other less publicized actions of the administration. One of these was the declara tion by the Department of Agri culture that there would be no increase in the price of milk. But, VPA Applications Being Accepted The Memorial Student Center and Directorate is accepting ap plications for Vice-Presidential Assistant. VPAs work in many areas of the MSC Council and often ad vance to higher positions within the Council and Directorate. To be eligible, a student must have a 2.5 GPR and may not be on conduct probation. Applications may be picked up and returned to the Student Pro grams Office in the MSC. The deadline for applications is Mon day. Johnson noted, a week later the milk people went to see Nixon and donated $322,000 to his cam paign. The next day they raised the price of milk $700 million to the consumer. “It becomes pretty hard for a President to represent the people when he has just conducted a nearly $50 million campaign with money obtained from business,” Johnson said. Johnson also criticized Nixon’s budget cuts. Some of the cuts deal with areas like milk for school children, where the cut will save 72 million dollars and cut backs in the hospital construc tion program that will save 90 million dollars. In contrast to these cuts, Nix on has bailed out a company that was selling cyclamates by giving them 500 million dollars, John son charged. He has also con tinued the Maritime Subsidy Pro gram, which Johnson formerly headed, and increased its alloca tion. This program had previ ously been proven economically useless, Johnson added. NO NIXON LOYALIST by any sense of the word, SCONA XVIII speaker Nicholas Johnson held delegates spellbound by some of his prediction and anti-Nixon stories. The colorful speaker warned of Nixon’s efforts to inhibit the flow of information. FBI’s Gray Creates A Controversy L. Patrick Gray By VICKIE ASHWILL Staff Writer The controversial acting direc tor of the Federal Bureau of In vestigation, L. Patrick Gray III, lived up to his image in his speech Thursday by creating con troversy. SCONA delegates’ and A&M students’ reaction to the speech seemed to confirm the statement Alternative Features Service writer John Jekabson (The Bat talion—Feb. 6) said earlier that the new director “has little to say on matters of great impor tance.” During the question-and-an- swer period Gray denied that he is politicizing the bureau and making it over to suit the Nixon administration. He admitted he was and is a Nixon loyalist, be coming a part of the Nixon staff in 1960. The interim director said he had one instruction from Presi dent Nixon: “To keep the FBI free of political taint.” Student Journalists Will Testify For Shield Laws Interviews will be held day through Thursday. Tues- The National Student Lobby (NSL) has arranged for student journalists to testify before the U. S. Senate on legislation to prevent the government from forcing newsmen to reveal confi dential information or the sources of such information. Various Senators and Con gressmen have introduced legis lation following the U. S. Su preme Court’s 5 to 4 decision June 29, 1972 that the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press, does not entitle newsmen to conceal their sources of information from grand juries. At least four persons who re fused to disclose their sources have been jailed as a result of last year’s decision, and others have been arrested and are await ing trial. In 1966, the University of Ore gon’s Daily Emerald Editor Ann ette Buchanan became the first modern American journalist ar rested for not revealing the source of a story. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), Cong. Jerome Waldie (D-Calif.) and Cong. Alphonzo Bell (R- Calif.) have introduced broad leg islation to prevent such arrests in the future. The Cranston- Waldie bill was introduced at the request of the American News paper Publisher’s Association and endorsed by Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalism society. Cranston-Waldie offers unquali fied protection from both state and federal governments. Cong. Alphonzo Bell has introduced a similar bill. Cong. Ed Mezvin- ski (D-Iowa), who defeated an incumbent with student votes last fall, believes unqualified bills such as these, which he supports, can not pass unless students and others put strong pressure on Congress. The Hatfield bill protects news persons in all Federal proceed ings except libel cases. Hatfield, Cranston, Waldie and Bell intend for their hills to pro tect student journalists as well as established professionals. At NSL’s suggestion Sen. Hatfield will make this clear during the arguments for his bill. Sen. Walter Mondale (D-Minn.) and Cong. Charles Whalen (R- Ohio) have introduced more qual ified bills which prevent forced disclosure to Federal authorities except in libel cases or when a court believes the undisclosed in formation is (1) relevant to a specific crime, (2) unobtainable by other means, and (3) of com pelling and overriding national interest. The bill’s authors in tend for all three circumstances to be met rarely. Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.) has offered a bill similar to the Mondale-Whalen except that it would also force disclosure in a number of specific major crim inal cases even if the information was not judged to be of overrid ing national interest. Sen. Hatfield stated the vague “overriding national interest” provision makes the integrity of these bills fluctuate with the feel ings of individual judges. “I doubt very much that it was in (See Student Journalists, page 2) He denied that his 60,000 mile tour of 14 states during the Nix on campaign was politically ori ented and it could be proven “that not one single speech was political.” He maintained that his travels were to “become ac quainted with FBI personnel of the nation, and to let them eval uate me.” “We, the American people, have continually sought ways and means to preserve that delicate balance between the security of the community and the freedom of the individual,” began Gray in his speech entitled “FBI in a Free Society.” “We can control crime, have security against lawless men, protect our citizens and not be come a “controlled society” as long as people maintain interest in our free society, issues fac ing us and make efforts to be come aware of the facts on each issue,” continued Gray. He maintained that “the peo ple must be informed of the facts in order to exercise that power wisely in the national interest.” Based on his experience as act ing director Gray said the FBI follows constitutional require ments and their performance is based on standards of public serv ice. “I have found no evidence at all that the FBI has investigated beyond its jurisdictional perim eters,” said Gray. “We are the principal investi gative arm of the Department of Justice,” he continued. “We are not policy makers. Even though we investigate . . . we do not prosecute the alleged violators.” He said the FBI is not a na tional police force nor is it an enemy of civil rights. Instead, it “is a vital force working against the type of controlled society we all so deeply detest.” “The very first page of the FBI’s Handbook for Special Agents stresses the absolute necesssity of protecting the con stitutional rights of our citi zenry.” Gray protested misunderstand ings about the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and FBI use of electronic surveil lances. The NCIC computer and its na tionwide terminals system is “in (See FBI’s Gray, page 2)