Trojans battle Cal tomorrow — SPORTS
trojan
Volume XCIX, Number 47
University of Southern California
Friday, November 8, 1985
'Nuclear war is not inevitable’
Cornell professor speaks on war
By Beth Laski
Staff Writer
“Nuclear war is not inevitable. We have created the arms race through a series of conscious decisions, and we can undo it in the same way," said Joan Bokaer in her lecture on the control of nuclear weapons Thursday at Taper Hall.
Bokaer is an educator and researcher from Cornell University's Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy. In her lecture, sponsored by USC Students for Peace and Justice, she posed two major questions: “Why do we keep building bombs?" and "Who wants the arms race to continue, and how' are these people getting support?"
"The real problems in the arms race are not the technical problems encountered, they are the human problems," Bokaer said.
Bokaer addressed the United States' nuclear policies as documented in the Pentagon's Five-Year Defense Guidance Plan, a secret work that was leaked to the New York Times on May 30, 1982.
She said there are five kev points in the plan, the first one stating that American nuclear forces “must prevail." The plan further explains in point two that the United States will give limited military assistance to China to keep Soviet forces tied down on the Chinese border.
The third point of the plan mentions that in the interest of military needs, space w'ould be exploited.
The United States would also employ technical and economic warfare against the Soviet Union. According to the plan, this economic warfare would involve the United States developing weapons that "are different for the Soviets to counter, impose disproportionate costs, open up new areas of major military competition and obsolesce previous Soviet investment," Bokaer said, quoting the Times story.
The fifth point is the plan's decapitation theory, which suggests that the United States would make nuclear strikes at Soviet political and military leadership and communication lines.
Bokaer further explained this theory with the content of a Foreign Policy article titled, "Victory is Possible," by Colin Gray and Keith Payne.
The article says that "the United States must possess the ability to wage nuclear war rationally." It asserts that the United States could “win" a nuclear war and suffer as few as 20 million U.S. casualties.
Author Colin Gray is a member of a small group of well-known intellectuals organized in 1976 called the Committee on the Present Danger. Bokaer said that the committee is interested in the present danger posed by the Soviet Union, not nuclear war.
The organization has less than 200 members, but President Reagan, his Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger are among them, Bokaer said.
Bokaer said Gray's opinions are extreme, and not everyone from the committee agrees with him, but the committee as a whole is known for its extreme view of the Soviet Union as the focus of all evil in the world.
The committee receives a huge amount of free television time because of the members' high positions in government, she said, and it uses the time to promote its points of view about the Soviet Union.
The committee is subtly equating disarmament with space weapons, Bokaer said. She said that members of the committee are the "ideologues of the arms race."
Another organization, started in the 1950s, the American Security Council, is primarily funded by membership corporations, donations and membership dues. The group began by collecting files on "subversives." It now has over 6 million files which are kept at a private 800-acre estate in Virginia.
At this time, the security council warns the American public about the Soviet threat and tries to influence public thought by lobbying Congress, holding seminars for Congressional aides, and producing
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ABEL ESPINOZA/DAILY TROJAN
Joan Bokaer
'Our perceptions of the Soviet Union will be influenced by where we get our information, and our experiences. Since most of us are not experts, our perceptions of the Soviet Union will be influenced by who is telling us about them.' — Joan Bokaer
Bomb threats lose impact
Roseanne Tellez
Staff Writer
Continuing bomb threats that once merited evacuations of campus buildings and police investigations are losing their impact these days as students, faculty and security officers become increasingly convinced that they are merely immature pranks.
The most recent bomb threat, phoned into the 911 emergency number at the Los Angeles Police Department at 4:40 p.m. last Thursday, provoked so little concern that students in the Seeley G. Mudd building were not even alerted.
The building was searched and notices were posted outside warning people entering that a bomb threat had been made, said Sgt. David Ritch of University Security. Classes were not interrupted.
"Unless the building is evacuated, there is no way to announce the threat in the building without causing a major disruption in the classes," he said.
"I did not realize there was a threat until after I was leaving the building. It was no big deal because I have been in three bomb threats since I've been here and they are usually false alarms that fall around exam time," said Richard Garcia, a student who was in Seeley G. Mudd when the threat was made.
“Bomb threats are always taken seriously by the university because there is always potential that it could be for real, but at the time of midterms and finals we always re-
ceive such threats," Ritch said.
“The object of the calls was and always has been to empty the building for midterms," he added.
Of the few bomb threats received on campus last year only one was considered serious enough to prompt an evacuation, Ritch said. Mark Taper Hall of Humanities was
teachers and students in a building that has been threatened, assess the situation and give them the option of whether or not to stay, said Ritch.
"I would go according to security's guess," said Singer. "If they didn't see a problem, I would give the class the option."
Allen Churukian, a junior
evacuated at this time last year, but Ritch said he could not give details about the nature of that threat.
Professors who teach in Seeley G. Mudd said bomb threats may empty a building, but exams are never escaped.
"We always have back-up rooms .... Students just have to march to another building and take their exams there,'' said Larry Singer, a chemistry professor.
"These kids are paying money, and to have someone else disrupt the program, I'd think students W'ould be infuriated," he added.
Often security will alert
majoring in biology, said that if he had been notified of last Thursday's threat, "I'd have run like hell."
"It's really an individual choice," said Frank Billig, a chemistry safety officer. "I think they should evacuate because you never know; it's a calculated risk if we don't.
Ritch said the university's emergency procedures are determined by the Office of Student Affairs and are kept confidential. His only comment was that Thursday's threat was non-specific and did not merit an evacuation.
University participates in Veterans Day celebration
By Diane Molinski
Staff Writer
This weekend, in honor of Veterans Day, the university will host many festivities, including a parade and several flag-raisings.
Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, which honors all veterans of the U.S. armed forces. Three ROTC units at the university will raise the American flag in front of Bovard Auditorium at 7:45 a.m.
“All University of Southern California Students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in this display of patriotism." said Scott Zombrist, an Air Force cadet who is organizing the two flag-raisings on Monday.
"This has not been a tradition at the university, but hopefully we could establish it as one," said Lt. Col. Douglas Anderson.
"Usually, the ROTC units rotate in the flag-raising, but this year because it is Veterans day we are having a tri-service with all of the ROTC units. The entire cadet corps and the military officers wrill be present at the ceremony.
“Veterans Day is an important day to all of the people in the armed forces and is recognized as a national holiday," he said. He added that he thinks it is unfortunate that the university does not cancel classes in recognition of the holiday.
Some of the ROTC units will have a second flag-raising on Monday that will join other ROTC units around the world in a simultaneous, global flag-raising.
This event will coincide with President Reagan's laying of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary in Washington, D.C. This will occur at 9 a.m. as a color guard, consisting of members of all four branches of the service, raises the flag in front of Heritage Hall.
Veterans Day, which was formerly called Armistice Day, was established to honor those members of the U.S. armed forces who made sacrifices in war and contributed to world peace, said Zombrist.
President Eisenhower declared this day a national holiday "to honor veterans on the eleventh of November each year .... a day dedicated to world peace."
Off campus on Friday, Nov. 8 at Patriotic Hall there will be an assembly of veterans and representatives of the City of Los Angeles Funding Agency, who will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to assist veterans and their families with human services.
Councilman Robert Farrell will be present and Fred Gord, a brigadier general, who is the highest ranking black American in active duty, will be speaking.
On Sunday, November 10, the third annual Minnie Riperton 10K Run will be held. The race is a tribute to Riperton, a famous black singer who died of cancer at 31.
Many celebrities will be attending the race, including pop singer Stevie Wonder; Valerie Briscoe Hooks, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist; Marla Gibbs from the Jeffersons television show; and Farrell.
The race will start at 8 a.m. at the Hoover entrance to the Coliseum.
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