University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 86 text:

ffs VH I te : MMNS KACI 82

Page 85 text:

never when licul- indent Young ly stii- Judent ignew .Indent o. But . . . it ' s difficult to imagine that the Watergate and Agnew scandals won ' t have an effect on student participation in the April 1974 electwn. But last January, the exact nature of this effect was uncertain. last January the exact nature of this effect was uncertain. The horrors of Watergate may have turned even more students away from the voting process. Students will be more apathetic than ever, says Kuhn. On the other hand, some observers think that the scandals in Washington will result in an increased student turnout. Guy Cavallo, chairman of the Young Democrats in Ann Arbor, reports, Students have realized that the government got out of control because everybody was uninvolved. They ' ll realize that the only way to clear things up is to get people back into the electoral process. I expect that the percentage of students voting in citv elections will rise. This April ' s elections, then, will probably be a good indicator of the future extent of student political involvement in Ann Arbor. As for now, apathy reigns. f W J a t e r 9 a t e 81

Page 87 text:

jf Opposite page clockwise from left: Students dem- onstrating in the Israeli Rally on the Diag. Next: The Arab-Israeli open discussion. Next: stu- dents in front of the Grad Library demonstra- ting against U.S. involve- ment in Chile. Next: A large turn-out for the Israeli Rally. Left this page: Dramatizing a CIA agent observing the Chil- ean government. students react to Chilean plight On September 12, it was learned from Santiago that Socialist President Salvadore Allende had died, in coup orchestrated by rightwing generals. Allende never had smooth sailing in his efforts to lead Chile down a socialist path. A long series of crip- pling strikes had made chaos of the Chilean economy. In bringing down Allende, the military had the support of those sections of the citizenry which had been disadvantaged by socialist reforms. Pro- Allende elements had no comparable police force and have been systematically repressed. On October 7, less than one month after the coup, we received word that Egyptian tanks and men had poured across the Suez Canal while Syrians struck Israel on the Golan Heights in a renewal of violence in the Middle East. Each side blamed the other for initiating hostilities. With heavier losses than in the 1967 six-day war, the Israelis were able gradually to push Arab forces back to the boundaries at which the violence had or- iginated. The UN moved in to enforce a stalemate situation in hopes of later settle- ment. At certain moments, it seemed as if the university community might react to these events with the same discouragement and apathy that has characterized campus polit- ical feeling in the last couple of years. For many on campus, this is just what happened. But there were also some scattered signs of the activism of the late ' 60 ' s. For those who cared enough to say any- thing about it, the Chilean Coup was a moral and political outrage. Demonstrations march- ed to Representative Esch ' s office in hopes that he would make a public statement on the coup. An open letter, signed by certain concerned members of the Ann Arbor Community, including students, TF ' s and faculty, requested that the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee investigate possible ITT and CIA involvement in the Chilean affair. Two teach-ins on Chile were soonsor- ed by the University Catholic student Chapel. Reaction to the outbreak of another Middle East war was more mixed. Some Arabic and Jewish students here felt strong loyalties to their respective sides. Jewish students par- ticipated in a demonstration and sought fi- nancial aid for the Israelis. On the other side, a conference of certain campus radical mili- tants denounced Zionist Imperialism . In total, social-minded students had to be discouraged by these tragic international developments. But it is gooqthat discourage ment aid not drown out active concern. 83