THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
80th Year, No.55
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Friday, Dec. 5, 1969
SNCC chairman to lecture at KU
H. Rap Brown
H. Rap Brown, chairman of the Student National Coordinating Committee and author of the book "Die, Nigger, Die," will speak at 7:30 tonight in Hoch Auditorium.
Brown will appear in connection with the Midwest Black Student Union (BSU) conference which is being hosted here this weekend by the University of Kansas chapter of the BSU.
Darryl Bright, Maywood, Ill. senior and president of the KU chapter of the BSU, said that besides Brown, Playtell Benjamin, black lecturer and historian and Haywood Henry, black historian will speak tonight.
Bright said there will be a $1 admission charge for tonight's speeches. He added that the public is invited to all of the conference lectures.
In addition to tonight's lectures, six seminars and a panel discussion are scheduled for Saturday. The panel will consist of Richard Fisher, black psychologist, Chester Lewis, black attorney from Wichita and Benjamin. The discussion and seminars begin at noon in Fraser Hall.
Saturday at 1 p.m. in Dyche Auditorium, members of the Black Theater at Wichita State University will present a play.
Nathan Hare, chairman of the black studies department at San Francisco State College, will speak at noon Sunday at the United Campus Christian Fellowship Center (UCCF).
The International Film Series presentation of "Simon of the Desert" and "Immortal Story," originally scheduled for tonight in Hoch Auditorium has been changed to 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Hoch.
Medina denies Song My slaughter
WASHINGTON (UPI)—Capt. Ernest Medina, commander of the infantry company that swept Song My village in March, 1968, said Thursday that "I did not see a slaughter, and none was ordered by me or reported to me."
Speaking to newsmen for the first time since reports of a massacre of South Vietnamese villagers surfaced last spring, the bemaled Medina said the reports had been "very biased, unfair to myself and every other soldier in uniform."
Medina held a news conference at the Pentagon after he spent the afternoon behind closed doors testifying before a special investigating board trying to determine whether the Army's original field inquiry into the reported mass
slaying was adequate or a mere coverup.
The uniformed captain, who wore a Bronze Star and Silver Star among other decorations, said his own report of the Song My engagement was that 20 to 28 civilians had been killed. He said the total enemy dead was 128.
Medina has not been charged in the case. One of his platoon leaders, Lt. William L. Calley Jr., has been ordered court-martialed on charges of premeditated murder of at least 109 Song My civilians on March 16 last year.
Medina said he set up a command post outside Song My and then spent about two hours in My Lai 4, one of six hamlets in the area where the alleged massacre took place. "I did see some bodies of women and children," he said.
"They were among the 20 to 28 civilian dead I reported."
Medina said the civilians were killed in various ways, including artillery and small arms fire during fighting at the village. He conceded he himself killed one Vietnamese woman, who had been reported to him as an armed Viet Cong man.
He said he shot instinctively as he had been trained to do when he believed his life was in danger. The woman already had been wounded when he reached her, he said. He had turned and started to move in another direction when he detected movement out of the corner of his eye. "I turned instinctively and fired two shots," Medina said. "I assumed I killed her."
(Continued to page 20)
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International West must recognize East
MOSCOW—Leaders of the Warsaw Pact nations have made it clear West Germany must recognize East Germany before it will get a warm welcome in the rest of Eastern Europe.
At the same time, the communique reiterated a long standing Soviet bloc policy that "the interests of peace and security demand that all states establish equal relations with the East German Democratic Republic on the basis of international law."
Congress may lose day
WASHINGTON—The Senate and House, under a threat by President Nixon to cancel the traditional holiday vacation, is rushing to finish action on the rest of the money bills and adjourn before Christmas Eve. The chances are rated fair to good.
Nixon, described as never tougher, told GOP congressional leaders Thursday he would call Congress into special session the day after Christmas unless all the appropriations bills are on his desk.
VC agree to ceasefire
SAIGON—The Viet Cong announced today they will respect three-day cease-fires at Christmas and New Year's instead of the one-day stand-downs called by the allies.
The liberation radio announcement followed by one day President Nguyen Van Thieu's statement that "for humanitarian reasons," South Vietnamese and U.S. forces would stop fighting for 24-hours at 6 p.m. Saigon time Christmas eve and New Year's eve.
Army asked to explain
WASHINGTON—The Army has been asked to explain reports former Army Provost Marshal Gen. Carl C. Turner and Sgt. Maj. William O. Wooldridge will not be prosecuted—despite a Senate investigation naming them in the enlisted men's clubs scandal.
The Army replied late Thursday the retirement applications of Wooldridge and one other sergeant named during the Senate investigation were being delayed pending completion of the Army's own investigation.
Inmates cut up
Cause investigated
Topeka (UPI)—State Penal Director Robert N. Woodson said Thursday he expects to have a report next week on the causes of the continuing self-mutilation by inmates at the Kansas State Penitentiary.
Woodson said 35 inmates had cut themselves once, and 60 had taken the action more than once. "We've got one man who's done it 14 times," he said.
He reported there have been 332 incidents of self-mutilation at the Lansing prison since July 1. He said only 95 inmates were involved, however.
The penal director said many of the cases involved only minor wounds, but there were others that were serious. Most of the wounds were only superficial cuts, although some inmates cut tendons in their ankles.
Woodson suggested it might help if news media would stop publicizing the
cuttings for a while to see if they halt. He denied, however, one recent news account that he had asked news media to stop carrying stories about the cuttings.
Woodson said there were 14 mutilations last Tuesday night at the prison. He said the incidents occurred the day after a reporter was at the prison, and he said a newsman from a national news magazine was expected at the prison Friday.
"It's been to our advantage that the public has known of these problems," he said.
Woodson would not say why he thinks the mutilations are taking place. He said any comment would be withheld until the report is ready.
The penitentiary has been troubled by disturbances, fires, and unrest since June 18.
Photo by Ron Bishop
'It's crazy cold way down there'