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The SALLY HEMINGS Vol 1, No. 5

MR. SHANNON'S SPEECH: THANK YOU... AND A FEW MORE QUESTIONS...

President Shannon's speech Sunday struck us--as the strike itself must have struck the President--like wow, man! For the first time, Mr. Shannon spoke out on the two immediate issues confronting this University community--the strike and the war. To the strike he gave tacit endorsement by recommending that students be allowed to complete course work at a late date. To the war he gave--finally--a clear and resonably snappy "we've had enought, Mr. Nixon". That literally brought us to our feet, recalling as we did Mr. Shannon's recent adamant decision not to "politicize" the University. Thank you, Mr. Shannon, for recognizing that a war which kills us all is "political" and that it must be stopped if we are to survive as a university or as a nation at all.

Mr. Shannon also raised several other surprising and pleasant points. 1) He seemed now to have confidence in the strikers, not fear, as before. 2) He recognized at least the existence of the nine demands, and he responded favorably--although rhetorically--to two of them, the admission of blacks and the admission of women, and 3) he indicate what we believe to be this sincere regret at Friday night's activities.

In spite of this effort, far better than we ever expected, Mr. Shannon failed to deal with certain very basic and absolutely unavoidable questions. 1) Whether, as the City Attorney reported, the decision to send police on the Lawn was made in conjunction with Mr. Shannon, or whether, as Mr. Shannon reported, the decision was made by the police with the authority given to them by Mr. Shannon, the final responsibility must rest with our President. We ask him to respond directly to that charge.

2) Eight or ten students are still facing charges in the city and county courts. We must not allow them to face court action alone, as if they were isolated individuals who had committed isolated and individual acts of crime. We ask Mr. Shannon, as representative of the institution, whose duty is to protect, not to prosecute students, to act upon his expressions of regret and to suppport these students, publicly and officially, in three ways:

a)assure them that the University will not take punitive action against them. b) vouchsafe for the accuracy of the sworn affidavits on behalf of each defendant, on the basis of the reliability of each student under the Honor System. c) provide lawyers and legal fees forr each student, through as many court appeals as necessary.

We cannot allow these students to be scapegoated by city and county officials. They represent us in these court. Let us support them.

3) The injunction is still in effect on these Grounds, and no one is clear as to its scope. We ask President Shannon to have the injunction withdrawn, or, failing that, to make clear its limitations.

4) Mr. Shannon obviously does not endorse Friday night's events. We ask him to make sure such events will not occure again. We ask him to guarantee that he will do all in his power to prevent troops from entering these Grounds again.

5) Mr. Shannon dealt with war on a national level, but he pointedly neglected our own University's involvement in that war. We ask him to support the effort to oust ROTC from these Grounds. Making parts for a well-oiled machine is hardly compatible with creating a more humane University or a more humane world.

Mr. Shannon, please respond.

THE JOHN WAYLES MEMORIAL DEFINITION: "A mob is nothing but an effective committeee."