University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

Secrecy Of Honor Ruling Questioned

I was not altogether surprised to
read the announcement (C.D., 19th
February) of a little "mistake"
which resulted in a student being
dismissed from the University some
two years ago after an Honor
Committee "trial", Mistakes will
happen; and in a system where
publicity and automatic (rather
than special) appeals procedures do
not accompany the hearing,
mistakes are conceivably even more
frequent than in the admittedly
imperfect "normal" trial.

But I am surprised that the
Cavalier Daily is content merely to
report the mysterious official
reinstatement of an anonymous
appellant who disappeared without
trace two years ago.

It may be that generally the
condemned men are content to
remove themselves with a minimum
of publicity. Few of them, perhaps,
after re-establishing themselves
elsewhere, are interested in
pursuing the question of an appeal.
When they do so, however, I would
think that the Honor Committee
and their press watchdogs owe the
University community a full report
of all stages of the unhappy affair.
Yet all we get is the assurance that
all mention of it is to be removed
from the student's record. How
convenient. Will we have to wait for
a full story until one of these affairs
is properly aired in a Courtroom?

Vitality?

President Shannon, in his
"Growth" statement in the
"Report to the University
Community," has finally put into
words the absurd philosophy of
adding more and more students to
an overcrowded University for the
sake of "vitality," "greatness,"
"good conscience," utilizing
"fullest development of our most
valuable asset-human resources,"
and providing "strong intellectual
and moral leadership."

If Mr. Shannon truly believes
that we should provide "vitality"
and the other generalities, let him
start it, by converting Carr's Hill
into a student dorm.

Misunderstood

I am afraid Louise Snead (C.D.,
February 18) has misunderstood
the aims of the Palestinians and the
American Friends of Free Palestine
of U.Va. One workshop or
pamphlet is inadequate to
understand a revolution.

Above all, the Zionists have
been the ones who have "used" the
Jews, manipulating the tragedy of
one people to the detriment of
another. Fateh's goal transcends
nationalism. The Palestinians offer
to join with Jews within Israel in
establishing a society to serve as a
model for the rest of the Middle
East and the world. The Israeli
Socialist Organization (progressive
Jews and Arabs within Israel)
rejects Zionism and "Jewishness" as
nationalist alienations and seeks to
promote an internationalist
outlook.

What is the alternative to the
"refugees"' armed struggle¾: lack
of a "sense of human dignity."
Nonviolence is generally the luxury
of rich white people. To counsel
oppressed people to be nonviolent
is to support that oppression. Dan
Berrigan is in prison in America for
burning paper instead of people,
yet-in his recent message to the
heroic Weatherpeople - he argues
that whites cannot tell the Black
Panthers or the Vietnamese not to
defend themselves.

But white people must made a
choice since the West is responsible
for the real tragedies and violence.
Thus, the AFFP believes it is
necessary to endorse and
implement thy People's Peace
Treaty in solidarity with the
Vietnamese. Our outlook is
internationalist: we support the
struggles in Vietnam and Palestine
and throughout the rest of the
Third World against the common
enemy.

Unfair Comparison

Let me say first that while I
hold no ill feelings towards Mr.
Portuondo or most other refugees
from Cuba, self-exiled or otherwise,
I do very much want to voice an
opinion here concerning his letter
of Feb. 18. While many of the
things Mr. Portuondo related about
Cuba are true, he continually finds
them to be wrong by comparing
them with the American system.
Naturally, suppression of freedom
of speech, murder, and injustice
cannot be excused as being part of
any country's "culture". However,
we cannot judge the Cuban
Government simply by measuring it
against our own.

This attitude of the typical
American and Cuban refugee is
painfully illustrated by Mr.
Portuondo himself when he states
"The regime...has been in power for
more than twelve years without
bothering to hold a single election,
not even a fake one as in other
Communist countries." The idea of
holding phony elections was put to
Castro by Nikita Khrushchev in 1960,
who couldn't understand why, who
wouldn't follow this strategy which
had worked so well in Eastern
Europe. But this was exactly the
kind of thing Castro stood against,
the kind of thing that had plagued
Cuba before the Revolution.

Mr. Portuondo's memory fails
him when he states that it was Cuba
who severed the ties with the U.S.,
when in fact it was Eisenhower who
broke diplomatic relations on Dec.
12, 1960, and it was he, followed
by Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
who have tried to isolate Cuba from
this hemisphere.

Again Mr. Portuondo's memory
fails him when he fondly
remembers Cuba as "...one of the
most prosperous countries of Latin
America..." This grossly misleading
statement suggests that Cuba was
better off before the Revolution,
which is simply not the case.
Furthermore, it is impossible to
measure the standard of living of a
nation by examining their G.N.P.
Nor is it effective to examine per
capita income in a highly socialized
state such as Cuba.

Conscience

By now most people have had
the opportunity to read and
consider the People's Peace Treaty
which is currently being circulated
for notification. Although I agree
with the intent of the treaty to
bring peace to Indochina coupled
with a "spirit of self-determination
and mutual respect for all
independence and political freedom
of the people of Vietnam and the
United States," I cannot in good
conscience ratify this treaty
because of the pledge:" "In
ratifying the agreement, we pledge
to take whatever action are
appropriate to implement the terms
of this joint Treaty and to insure its
acceptance by the government of
the United States." By virtue of its
own vague wording, this pledge
necessarily includes violence as a
method of appropriate action. To
want to end the violence of war, to
attempt to bring peace not only to
Indochina but the United States as
well is a noble, just goal well worth
striving for. But to condone
violence as a method of ending
violence is hypothetical and
inconsistent with any efforts aimed
at peace.