Colonel Arthur Holmes, Director of the Selective Service System for the State of Michigan, announced that at his order, all male students from Michigan now entering their Freshman year of college will automatically be classified I-A by their local draft boards. After taking a pre-induction physical examination, all students over 19 will be served with induction notices. The students will then have to apply for the 1 year statutory deferment for registered students, I-S(C). At the end of the Freshman year, the students will be drafted unless they prove to the satisfaction of their local boards that they deserve a II-S student deferment.
The National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, in Madison, Wisconsin, issued a statement this week condemning the procedure and saying this ‘is the beginning of the military regimentation of young people in America” and that the “complete subjugation of the university campus to the Government’s war machine has begun.” The national anti-war group called for non-compliance with the order by university presidents and faculties and active resistance to it by all peace organizations.
Locally, The Detroit Committee to End the War in Vietnam suggests that all freshmen in the state request personal appearances before their draft boards and assert at that point that they qualify for a II-S. For further draft or conscientious objector information contact the Vietnam Committee at 1101 W. Warren, at Lodge, or phone 832-5700.
Related
See Fifth Estate’s Vietnam Resource Page.