William Bunge, Geography Professor at Wayne State University, last week issued the following statement concerning his own steps in protesting the war in Vietnam. Mr. Bunge’s action was made known immediately after the recent Selective Service decision to draft those students who ranked in the lower quarter of their class:
“In this context I publically vow that I will not become a finger man for the Selective Service. I will not give a grade lower than ‘C’ to any young man, even if he supports the war. Today’s announcement that college students are about to lose their deferment merely means that I will escalate my grades in step with their escalation of the drafting of students to be butchered thousands of miles away. I will not punish any one of my students merely for below C work. It is not a just punishment. ‘D’ stands for Death.
“If the human species is to avoid total eradication, along with all other higher life, I do believe that the deepest moral commandments of all ethical systems must be put into effect immediately. Each individual species member must reach out for Life. All species members must find Brotherhood, not only out of the goodness of their heart, but under penalty of death for failure to comply.”
Related
See Fifth Estate’s Vietnam Resource Page.