The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1972 Page: 2 of 20
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PAGE 2
Friday, April 14, 1972
THE MEGAPHONE
MEGAPHONE
ESTABLISHED 1908
It is the duty of the press to protect free expression of
ideas and promote freedom of intellect. *
ELECTIONS NEED
SUPPORT
The time has come for students at Southwestern to put their ballots where their
mouths are, so to speak. All-school elections are being held Tuesday, April 18, and
with them will come a change within the system. ^
Although Southwestern hasn’t achieved a politically activist reputation yet, the
signs are pointing more and more in that direction. School elections, usually
overlooked or slept through, seem to be arousing more than usual interest this
spring. Not discounting the possibility that spring fever unnaturally excites a
person’s political ambition, one might safely say that students are taking seriously
the advice to work within the system for effective change. Evidence of this attitude
is everywhere: the proposed student bill of rights, the amendments to the Student
Association, Judiciary and Congress constitutions and most important, the turnout
of contenders for the various open offices.
Everyone is urged to cast a ballot /Tuesday and take a stance for responsible
leadership. The ballot is a better weapon for change than the bomb—the results
are usually more discernable, too.
THE WAR DRAGS ON
The Vietnam War drags on. The end of the military struggle is beyond predic-
tion, particularly in lieu of the present North Vietnamese-Viet Cong offensive in
South Vietnam.
Politicians have used the war as an issue to manipulate public opinion and
arouse sympathy and indignation—all to gain votes. Students and war veterans
have demonstrated peaceMly or violently demanding the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Southeast Asia. Soldiers, mercenaries, guerillas, terrorists,
liberators—and civilians—continue to die.
This newspaper has repeatedly printed editorials and news stories related to the
Vietnam War. They all agree on one major point: the United States should get out
of Southeast Asia.
letter to editor
Stop the Air War
UNITED STATES SENATE
Washington ,D.C. 20510
Mike Gravel, Alaska
April 6,1972
Dear Editor:
On March 23, 1972, I introduced in the
Senate legislation to half immediately
further U S. bombing in Indochina and to
require the total withdrawal of all U.S.
military and paramilitary (e.g. CIA)
personnel from Vietnam, Cambodia, and
Laos within 30 days after enactment. This
bill, S. 3409, is explained fully in the en-
closed remarks reprinted from the
Congressional Record, and a copy of the
bill itself is included.
The U.S. air war over Indochina has
escalated steadily during the past several
months, in direct contradiction of
President Nixon’s public assertions that
the war continues to wind down. Due to
public pressure American ground troops
are slowly coming home, but they are
leaving an automated war behind.
Computer tecnology and a small number
of troops manning aircraft and artillery
are creating a U.S. destructive presence
that may literally hover over Southeast
Asia for years to come. The President’s
troop cuts in South Vietnam do not affect
U.S. nrpower in Southeast Asia at all
because the planes are based in Thailand
and on aircraft carriers in the Gulf of
Tonkin.
At the same time that the President is
stepping up the bombing, he is imposing
ever more serious strictures on the release
of information about the air war.
Newsmen have never been allowed to go
out on bombing raids outside of Vietnam,
and all information about the air war
except gross tonnages and sorties has been
kept from the public by classifying it
secret. Official statistics released on the
air war are now more bare-bones than
ever, and press briefings are designed to
accentuate the positive rather than
provide hard facts on the continuing U.S.
role in the war Most recently, for the first
time since bombing of North Vietnam
began eight years ago, the U.S. Command
in Saigon refused to give out figures on the
number of planes flying missions in the
North.
In the face of this news blackout on the
air war I want to encourage you, as the
editor of your school's newspaper, to
provide your readers with candid in-
formation on this issue, and thus to join me
in this election year to force an end to the
war. Students have been leaders in
pointing out the tragedy and mistake of
Vietnam, and their help will now be vital in
turning out of office those politicians who
will not join us in ending the war.
I hope that those Americans throughout
the country who are concerned about the
immorality of the war will attend political
meetings wherever there is a candidate,
and ask him this very simple question:
“How do you stand on ending the war ? ” If
the candidate does not stand for ending the
war as provided in my simple and clear
proposal, then I hope the American people
will not vote for him, for he does not
deserve to occupy a high position in the
government of this country.
S. 3409 now has fifteen cosponsors in the
Senate, and identical legislation in-
troduced in the House of Representatives
is supported by 44 members of that body. I
am enclosing a list of the names of those
individuals so that students may see if
their own senators and representatives are
included.
If you need further information on the
legislation, please contact my office or the
National Student Lobby, which is coor-
dinating efforts on behalf of this bill within
the student community.
Sincerely,
/ s/ Mike Gravel
An editorial based on the findings of Drs. Pfeiffer and Westing (Feb. 11)
described the ecological damage that South Vietnam has and is suffering at the
hands of its American allies. It concluded with these words: “Whatever the out-
come of the political war in Vietnam, the result of the environmental war will be
too easy to predict—South Vietnam will be a wasteland.”
Senator Gaylord Nelson’s “Vietnam War Ecological Assessment” speech,
(March 17) based on Pfeiffer’s and Westing’s research, graphically detailed the
amount and types of ecological destruction done to South Vietnam. Sen. Nelson
said, in part: “Tlie cold, hard, and cruel irony of it all is that South Vietnam would
have been better off losing to Hanoi than winning with us.”
An interview (March 17) with My Van Sau, spokesman for the Provisional
Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (the Vietcong representative body at
the Paris peace talks) offered the “enemy’s” view of the American presence in the
war. Though laced throughout with patented propaganda cliches, the underlying
message of this man was clear: the U.S. should let the Vietnamese people solve
their own political problems.
This week, an editorial by Senator Mike Gravel discusses what many Americans
already know—the Nixon Administration ha«duped the public concerning its plans
to withdraw from Vietnam. The American mimary presence is as strong—if not
stronger—than ever. I urge everyone remotely interested in the Vietnam War and
its many repercussions to read this letter. But more importantly, I want you to
read Sen. Gravel’s (and others’) comments concerning the Gravel Bill to End the
War in Vietnam, S. 3409. It is very long but is anything but dull reading. Much of
what it says has been said at one time or another by many men—Sen. Gravel pulls
it all together. Some of his facts—I repeat, facts—are hard to comprehend (the
U.S. has dropped so many bombs in Southeast Asia that their total tonnage is
equivalent to three pounds of explosive for every man, woman and child on earth).
The United States has nothing to gain by further commitment to South Vietnam.
President Nixon should stop playing politics with people’s lives and take the
necessary steps to end the American presence in Vietnam—indeed, throughout
Southeast Asia.
The Revised Constitutions
^MEGAPHONE
Southwestern University Georgetown, Texas 78626
Published by the Students Association of Southwestern University, Georgetown,
Texas, 78626. Issued weekly during the school year except- for official recess.
Entered at the post office at Georgetown, Texas 78626 as second class mail matter
September 26, 1906, under special prevision of Act of March 3, 1879, and ac-
cepted for mailing at special rate of August 20, 1918.
STAFF:
Fditor - Paul Louis
Photographers - David Tan, Suzanne McDaniel David Conger
staff Writers - Ned Dismukes, Mark Hedrick, Gene Kraft,
Guy Knoll, Ruth Massingill, Tom Richardson, Dwight Adair
Wes Marshall, Fred Holland
by Jim W. Foster
Next Tuesday, the student body will be
voting on the revised constitutions. It is
hoped that everyone will take this op-
portunity to read the constitutions and that
this article will help to explain the
changes.
The “student” has been dropped the the
Student Association and the Student
Congress. The faculty are now voting
members of The Association and will elect
two members to The Congress. In ad-
dition, faculty members will also be able to
run for the several off-campus positions of
The Congress. Since under the new con-
stitutions, faculty would be members of
The Association, they will be eligible to run *
for positions in the University Government
which were previously open only to
students. This I believe to be one of the
more significant changes in the new
constitutions. It was done in the belief that
students and faculty share in the gover-
ones already mentioned. Under the new
constitution, representatives will be
elected on a one to sixty ratio instead of the
present one to thirty ratio. Each place of
resident will have at least one represen-
tative, i e. the Guest House, Sneed, and
each fraternity house. Ttie presidents of
the different branches of University
Government and of each of the house
councils (with the exception of the Guest
House, Sneed and each fraternity house)
will also be members of The Congress.
This will set up direct channels of com
munication between Congress and the
House Councils. •Also, channels of com-
munication will be established between
Congress and the University Council,
Student Life Council, and Academic Af-
fairs Council by making the Vice-president
of The Congress a member of University
Council and the Chairman of the Student
nance of the University and should work Welfare Commission, a member of
together for the betterment of South-
western.
The new constitutions also relieve
A.W.S., Men’s Judiciary, and I.F.C. from
all Judicial responsibilities and sets up the
House Councils as the primary judicial
body with regards to discipline cases with
appeals being made to The Student
Judiciary, and then to the Discipline
Committee of Student Life. The Student
Judiciary will now have original
jurisdiction over academic violations and
appelate jurisdiction over disciplinary
violations.
The new constitutions more clearly spell
out the duties of the office of the President
of the Assocation and makes him an ex-
officio member of the University Council,
and the Academic Affairs Council in ad-
dition to his present position on Student
Life Council. Also the President of the
Association will attend faculty meetings in
order to stay informed and contribute the
student view when necessary ; though he
will not have a vote, he will be able to add
to the discussion and the idea of part-
nership in govemence will be better
preserved than it is presently.
The Congress constitution also have
some significant changes other than the
Student Life Council and the Chairman of
the Educational Affairs commission a
member of the Academic Affairs Council.
One can easily see how this would improve
communication in the decision-making
process.
The structure of The Congress will be
simplified by having only two standing
commissions-the Student Welfare
Commission and the Educational Affairs
Commission, both of whose Chairman will
be elected by the entire Association. The
business of the Student Government
Commission and the Finance Commission
and the Election Commission will be
handled by specially appointed com-
mittees.
I believe that the revised constitutions
represent a definite improvement both in%-
communication and in efficiency of
operation and I urge all students to vote for
its adoptioh in the referendum Tuesday
and I urge the faculty to adopt them once
they come before the faculty for con-
sideration. I hope that if there are any
questions that you will please contact me
personally or through the campus mail,
Box 125. : r ~
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The Megaphone (Georgetown, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1972, newspaper, April 14, 1972; Georgetown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth634523/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Southwestern University.