Velvel says 'Seven' charges ambiguous
Lawrence Velvet, KU associate law professor, told the Faculty Forum Wednesday his impressions of the "Chicago Seven" trial which concluded this week.
Velvel said the validity of the trial, of the charges and of the judge's conduct in the trial should be questioned.
The charges, Velvel said, of crossing a state line with the intent to riot are too ambiguous. If several persons sat in a room and commented on a demonstration in a neighboring state, and then one participant in the conversation went to the riot and was arrested, the entire group could also be charged with conspiracy to cross a state line to incite riot, Velvel said.
Velvel alleged the reason Judge Julius Hoffman refused to permit former Attorney General Ramsey Clark to testify and refused to allow the defense to cross-examine Mayor John Daley was he was "clearly hostile" to the defendants.
An example of Hoffman's hostility, Velvel said, was the severity of the contempt rulings against the defendants and their
lawyers. The contempt power is a power which no one but the judge has, the power to lay down the law, prosecute and act as judge and jury all at once, Velvel said.
Justice Hugo Black of the U.S. Supreme Court said a judge was a man, Velvel said. Black inferred that a man could get his feelings and dignity hurt and his spirit aroused, so the courts must beware of allowing a judge to get too much power, Velvel said. "A judge must not be able to judge his own cause," he added.
If the judge waits until the end of a trial to sentence the defendants on contempt charges, he said, a new judge should rule on the case so that emotions of the case are removed. The defendants presented no evidence and had no opportunity to make a case against their sentences, Velvel added.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cut back on the judge's contempt power in the past two years. Hoffman tried to circumvent this ruling by sentencing each contemptuous act separately — and each was for less than six months, Velvet said.
Students bare facts at birthday suit party
CHICAGO (UPI) — "I just walked over to see what was coming off." James W. Vice, assistant dean of students at the University of Chicago, said.
What the dean found was 147 male and female students frolicking nude in a university swimming pool.
"It was all very good natured," he said.
The mass skinny-dip was sponsored by the Students for Violent Non-Action (SVNA), a campus group dedicated to the absurd.
Ostensibly, the Wednesday night swim was billed as a "Happy Birthday Frank" party in honor of Frank Malbranche, who is said to be chief of the SVNA. Everyone was invited to "wear your birthday suit."
Malbranche, however, is mythical and is a play on the name of
Nicolas de Malebranche, 17th and 18th Century French philosopher. Philosophical games have been among the more popular sports at Chicago ever since the school abandoned Big Ten football.
The SVNA, which is recognized as a student group by the university, obtained a permit from the school for use of the pool.
The students gambled about in the water for about two hours and then retired to the showers where they lathered up together before returning home.
Vice was asked if there was any university regulations against such an event.
"Well, I don't really think anyone ever thought to write a rule against this sort of thing," he said.
Welfare bill approved by House committee
The law ceases to be fair when it punishes persons because they don't approve of what many persons are doing, he said. Hoffman, he added, has violated nearly every procedure in fairness of the law.
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The House Ways and Means Committee Thursday approved President Nixon's plan to reform the nation's welfare system by giving cash subsidies to 3.8 million "working poor" families.
The proposal, carrying a $4.4 billion price tag that would double federal outlays for public assistance, has been called revolutionary because it rejects the traditional view that welfare benefits should go only to those who are both penniless and helpless.
Nixon himself told the governors' conference Wednesday he originally had little hope for early action on the "family assistance plan." But the committee's informal decision, to be made final next week, could bring a showdown vote in the House by mid-March.
The only condition of the new benefits would be the willingness of employable adult members of poor families to accept jobs when
The committee also decided to give so-called "adult" welfare recipients larger guaranteed benefits than Nixon had asked.
The bill would extend guaranteed benefits to an estimated 20 million persons in families that earned some income but remain below the poverty line or otherwise did not qualify for welfare.
Feb. 27 KANSAN 3
1970
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The number of senators publicly opposing Judge G. Harrold Carswell for the Supreme Court rose to 19 Thursday with the addition of Sens. George S. McGovern, D-S.D., and Jacob K. Javits, R.N.Y.
available or train for jobs that require skill. The program also proposes to make day care facilities available for widowed, divorced or deserted mothers with school age children.
Both based their opposition to Carswell on his civil rights record. McGovern said Carswell's legal career had been marked by "racism and mediocrity."
Opposition to Carswell increases
The entire trial was one transaction, thus the contempts would constitute only one act with one six month sentence each, Velvel said.
Seven" type in the U.S. the Vietnam War has not been allowed to be brought into trial, Velvel said. The law must have a sense of justice to represent the people, he said, and the law has to have a public opinion sanction.
Fourteen senators have announced they will vote to approve Carswell's nomination when the Senate takes it up sometime in March.
Every trial of the "Chicago
But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the first to oppose the 50-year-old jurist, told reporters Thursday, "I still expect him to be confirmed."
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