The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 28, 1980 Page: 10 of 12
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age 10 The J-TAC February 28, 1980
ANN ARBOR, Ml (CPS) -
.ess than a week after President
barter's Jan. 23 call to revive
nandatory military registration
or 1 2to 26-year olds, around
100 students gathered on the
miversity of Michigan campus
o hear speakers decry the idea.
Not coincidentally, the
jrations stressed a sense of
testiny, of a beginning. Howard
Jimon, director of the state
American Civil Liberties Union,
ecalled that 15 years ago Ann
!\rbor was one of the
pringboards for the subsequent
mass student uprising against
American involvement in
Jrations stressed a
sense of destiny
Southeast Asia. Now it was time,
le said, for another movement.-
% for the draft - which has not
iven been proposed yet - Simon
lad simple advice: "You must
top it."
The sense of destiny, the
jointed reminders of the
/ietnam-era anti-draft
novement, the expectations that
:his putative protest era would
ae like the last, and even the
-elatively large crowds {the
argest in several years here,
surpassing by far those calling
for university divestiture of
stocks in firrrtf:?|with South
African operations)" characterize
virtually all the anti-registration
activities on campuses around
the nation the first few weeks
after President Carter's speech.
Though organizers like to
compare the current anti-draft
stirrings to the demonstrations
of a decade ago, there are
differences.
The most important
difference was evident at
Michigan, where a march
through town passed by what
had been the primary target of
yesteryear's protests: the
Reserve Officer Training Corps
(ROTC) center.
"Someone mentioned
marching to the ROTC
building," rally organizer Bob
'Youd must stop it...'
Warren said - of the meetings
preceeding the demonstration,
"but everybody was more
interested in other things." The
emphasis was' on "getting
practical things done," like
circulating petitions and
conducting the kind of teach-ins
that sparked the first anti-war
protests in the mid-sixties at
Michigan and Berkeley.
In short, it seems that the
initial negative reactions to the
proposed 1980 military
registration are more anit-draft
than anti-military.
Most observers don't expect
those anti-draft impulses to
mature into an anti-military
critique for a while yet. But
when things change, most
observers think they'll revert to
the vvay they were a decade ago.
"After the anti-draft
movement reaches a certain
peak, a spillover to anti-military
sentiment will probably occur,"
speculates Michael Useem, a
sociology professor at Boston
University who has written a
history of draft protest.
He expects "members of the
anti-draft movement will
become concerned with a sort of
war hysteria..,and in time will
turn to anti-military feelings.
"Eventually, witho'ut
question, there will be
widespread opposition and.
non-cooperation." ,
"People don't always see (the
draft) in political terms," points
out Norman Owen, an assistant
history professor at Michigan,
"They see it first in their own
terms, how it will affect them
personally. So they wouldn't
turn to (attacking) ROTC yet.
It's not a threat to them."
TOTC officials aren't
expecting any trouble at the
moment, either. "I would be
disappointed if registration
caused any problems,"
understates Dr. Robert
Etheridge, president of the
Association of Naval ROTC
shocked, by a reporter's
question about the possibility
that his unit might encounter
harrassment from students
opposed to registration .and the
draft.
"We don't forsee any
problems," avers Kevin Close, an
assistant professor of military
science. "No one has called to
complain to us, or ask us if we're
responsible. Those ugly times
will not be repeated, I can assure
you."
Indeed, Close sees prosperity
for ROTC in the near term.
"We've been experiencing a
steady rise (in enrollment), and
he made last May that broadly
suggested that the armed forces
should go off campus to register
and recruit people.
"The government shoudl deal
directly with individuals, and
not use the universities simply
because it is administratively
convenient to do so," Lyman
said.
Lyman, who in the past Has
warned that colleges should stay
out of politics altogether, then
treid to explain why his
administration would not
.actively advocate the anti-draft
view, either.
But in the very early stages of
reactions to the President's
threat that pushes people
together. Once they're together,
then they talk, things over and
think about what they're doing
and why they're doing lit."
Majestic
Reactions seem
than anti
more anti-draft
-military
The emphasis is on
getting 'practical
things' done
Colleges and Universities.
"Registration oughtn't cause any
flare up unless people start
lookingMt it as a direct prelude
to war."
At Michigan, where in 1970
students occupied the ROTC
building for 33 hours as a
protest against "U,S, imperialism
and racism," an Army ROTC
spokesman was surprised, if not
| For the best service in town, it's
expect thin<£ to stay at that
pattern. We think people respect
us for what we do."
Close adds that "a few"
students have "shown interest"
in joining ROTC since the crises
inlran and Afghanistan broke.
On a national level, Etheridge
doesn't think ROTC will get
many new recruits from among
students hoping to avoid the
draft unless a special deferment
system is imposed. The
President's proposal did not
include student deferments for
registration.
So far, about the only
campus voice questioning the
military presence in academe
belongs to Stanford President
Richard W. Lyman.
Immediately after Carter's
State of the Union address,
Lyman re-released a statement
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proposal, there's been little to
suggest that there is actually
some view to advocate besides a
simple opinion for or against
registration.
"No, I don't think this is
anti-military or even ideological,
at least not yet," reflects
University of Delaware organizer
Ben DeVries, "It's just gut-level
now. You don't organize
resistance around ideas. It's
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 28, 1980, newspaper, February 28, 1980; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth141447/m1/10/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.