A sad circus There is a sad circus in Chicago. It is sad because the ringmaster doesn't like laughter. In fact, he will not tolerate it. Julius Hoffman does not recognize the humor of the show he is running, and this is a tragedy. It is obvious that he is not going to let the participants go home after the final act. The Chicago conspiracy trial should be a fantasy, but it's not. All over America, people are reading newspaper accounts of Hoffman's circus, and laughing, just as they laughed at Hitler in the 1930's when he reminded them of Charlie Chaplin. There have been many occasions during the trial when laughter was appropriate. There was, for example, the time that Judge Hoffman threatened to throw poet Allen Ginsberg out of court for chanting in Sanskrit. And there was the time that Abbie Hoffman was on the witness stand and declared that he was a resident of Woodstock Nation. "What state is that in?" asked the judge. "The state of mind." Abbie replied. Sometimes the humor was light. One witness, Anne Patrick Kerr, a member of Parliament, informed Judge Hoffman that she could be addressed as "the Honorable Member for Rochester and Chatham." The judge replied, "That's a little too long. I'll just call you Madame Witness." But at times the dialogue sounded like it come out of Catch 22: Judge Hoffman: "Let the record show that the defendant—rather, the defendants' counsel, Mr. Kunstler, on two occasions here refused to sit down when the Court directed him to sit down." Kunstler: "Oh, that's not fair, Your Honor." Weinglass (another defense attorney): "He sat down, on both occasions, Your Honor. I must object to that." Kunstler: "I sat down on both occasions." Judge Hoffman (red in the face): "I mean right now. in this decision." Judge Hoffman: "You did finally, after I urged you." Kunstler: "I sat down." Weinglass: "Your Honor, that is not a fair characterization." Judge Hoffman: "Will you sit down!" Some of the incidents were too bizarre to be funny. Judge Hoffman was not at all humorous when he had Bobby Seale bound and gagged. Later, he sentenced Seale to four years in prison for contempt of court. The judge erred also when he excluded Ramsey Clark from the witness stand and tried to do the same to Rev. Ralph Abernathy. And when Judge Hoffman recently sent Dave Dellinger to jail for interrupting the trial, the tears in the courtroom were not caused by laughter. Incompetence may be humorous for a while, but too often it leads to disaster. Radicals are rarely noted for the art of understatement, but Rennie Davis scored heavily in this department when he said recently, "This court is bull--it." For Judge Hoffman's handling of this case has become more profane than any statements made by the defendants. The humor has faded,but the show goes on. Noe. Sorel's News Service Population & academia We recently submitted a questionnaire to students and faculty at Cornell University designed to test attitudes and preferences concerning family size and contraceptive technique. The 1059 respondents (74 percent males) were a mixed lot who represented the physical and biological sciences, humanities, and social sciences and who included faculty (294), graduate students (174), upperclassmen (264), and freshmen (327). Given the level of education of the sample, the results were unexpected in several respects. From SCIENCE First, although there was general agreement (84 percent) on the desirability of limiting family size, a substantial majority (65 percent) said it wanted three children (39 percent) or more (26 percent). Only 30 percent favored two children, and a mere 5 percent expressed preference for one or none. Choice was in no major way affected by age, sex, marital status, parenthood, or professional specialty. Even the respondents whom we expected to be most concerned about the population crisis (for example, graduate students and young faculty in biology) included a minimum of 50 percent with a desire for three children or more. As regards contraception, about one-half favored "the pill" over all other available means as a way both to space children (53 percent) and to maintain family size at its desired limit (50 percent). Other contraceptive appliances such as condoms, diaphragms, and intrauterine devices were each given top preference by no more than 13 percent of the sample. Voluntary sterilization, either of man or woman, was judged as decidedly undesirable. Only 6 percent opted in favor of vasectomy as the preferred form of contraception once full family size had been achieved; the corresponding number favoring ligation of the oviducts was 2 percent A majority (52 percent of males and 61 percent of females) said they would never undergo sterilization, even after having had the desired number of children. The operation was judged to be as undesirable as abortion and abstinence for prevention of family growth beyond the set limit. It is of interest in this connection that the consequences of sterilization are not generally understood. For example, asked whether vasectomy would abolish the ability to ejaculate, nearly half the respondents (49 percent) confessed to ignorance or expressed either certainty or probability that emission would no longer accompany orgasm. Biology students scored no better than nonbiologists, and graduate students, even after marriage and parenthood, seemed to be no better informed than freshmen. The only exceptional group was the biology faculty, but, even there, 30 percent were either misinformed or uninformed on this point. Comparable ignorance prevails with respect to oviduct ligation: 37 percent of respondents were certain, or thought it probable, that the operation would interfere with the menstrual cycle. We are bothered by these results. Perhaps of least general concern is the probability that proponents of voluntary sterilization are backing a hopeless or nearly hopeless cause. But what are we to make of the educated youth growing up among us that is either unconcerned about population growth or, at the very least, unable or unwilling to apply to itself the simple arithmetic of compound interest? And what, if any, are the prospects for improved sex education when ignorance about the reproductive system is widespread even among those who should know best?—Thomas Eisner, Ari van Tienhoven, Frank Rosenblatt, Cornell University. BY SOKOLOFF Making hypocrisy secure CHICAGO—Looking forward with hope to the 1970s, Mayor Richard J. Daley praised the idealism of youth and cited Jesus and Lincoln as models for today's long-haired, bearded generation. As for plans for the next decade: "I would like to see a real program—not a program, but real action on the question of how we live as human beings, what we are doing to one another." hearing voices- To the editor: I was very pleased with your recent article calling attention to some of the serious inadequacies of Spooner Hall as an Art Museum building. I was further quoted as saying that private donors have not given money for a new building because they feel that the state should provide such facilities. What I really said was that people have not donated money for maintenance and upkeep of Spooner Hall because they feel (quite rightly, I think) that this is the state's responsibility. We are, on the contrary, very hopeful that private support will be found for a new museum building. This was one of the goals of the Program for Progress and must surely remain an item of top priority for the University. There are two points, however, that should be clarified. I was quoted as saying that I did not know whether funds had been requested from the state for a new museum building. What I actually said was that I did not know whether funds had been requested specifically for the renovation or remodeling of Spooner Hall. Small scale renovation conceivably could be paid for out of general maintenance funds available to the University and might not require special state appropriations. A. Bret Waller, Director, Kansas University Museum of Art An All-American college newspaper THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Kansan Telephone Numbers Newsroom—UN 4-3646 Business Office—UN 4-4358 Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except for holidays. 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