Student Leader Hit For Anti-War Group Membership

Chuck Larson, chairman of the WSU Student-Faculty Council (S-FC) was attacked for his participation in the newly formed Detroit Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (DSM) last week. Larson was elected honorary chairman of the anti-war group.

Dr. Richard F. Ward, Vice-Chairman of the SFC felt that “this was a clear conflict of interest and agreement over Larson’s loyalties,” and called for his resignation from either the S-FC or the anti-Vietnam war group.

Larson defended his right to belong to both organizations. “When I act in these areas, I act as an individual,” Larson said. “Dr. Ward feels as S-FC chairman I can no longer speak as an individual. I disagree. As long as I don’t pretend to represent the S-FC, I feel it’s all right.”

The S-FC Executive Board is currently holding closed meetings to determine whether or not such a “conflict of interest” exists.

The DSM which Larson heads was formed to plan activities for Student Vietnam Week, April 8–15, as part of the national activities to build support for the giant Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam called for April 15 in New York and San Francisco. Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in the two cities to march in protest of U.S. policies in Vietnam.

The Spring Mobilization Committee hopes to broaden the anti-war movement to include sectors of the population which have not yet been involved on a large scale. The National Director of the Spring Mobilization Committee, Rev. James Bevel, action program director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and close associate of Rev. Martin Luther King, described the N.Y. and S.F. demonstrations as “the beginning of a mass movement against mass murder.”

Rev. Bevel said he would concentrate on involving the Negro community in the fight to end the war.

A breakthrough in organizing trade union opposition to the war occurred in California. The Santa Clara County Central Labor Council voted unanimously to participate in the April 15 Mobilization. (Santa Clara County includes the large city of San Jose).

The major focus of Vietnam Week locally will be War Crimes Hearings to investigate local institutions to determine if they are guilty of complicity in war crimes (as defined by the Nuremburg trials). Institutions which might fall into this category include Dow Chemical Co., for the manufacture of napalm; the news media, for distortion of facts; the Selective Service System, for its racist draft policies; etc. A panel of prominent lawyers will review the evidence as presented by researchers and witnesses who appear before the panel.

At a recent meeting of the Student Mobilization Committee other activities for Vietnam Week were planned. They include anti-war film showings, picture displays, a benefit Hootenanny, and a campus — wide referendum on the war.

Meetings of the Student Mobilization Committee are held every Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. at Wayne U. Meetings are open to anyone interested in working on Vietnam Week. For further information call 832–5700.

Related

See Fifth Estate’s Vietnam Resource Page.