“Teach-in ”On Vietnam

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 1

“Teach-in ”On Vietnam

Canterbury Univer. sity students, who at one special meeting condemned New Zealand participation in the fighting in Vietnam and a few weeks later supported it, will hold a “teach-in” next Monday, preceded this week by a debate and addresses for and against, all leading to a referendum on the issue to be held on August 2.

The “teach-in,” so called after the American “sit-in” on the civil rights issues, originated at the University of Michigan in March, spread to Washington and Berkeley (California) in May, crossed the Atlantic to some British universities, and has now come to New Zealand. The aim is to have all sides of the question of outside intervention in Vietnam discussed fully to create interest and inform opinion. Some “teach-ins” overseas have lasted nearly all night as speakers from the floor waged battles of opinion. The one in Canterbury is expected to last four hours, with no floor discussion. There will be four speakers, the Minister of Labour (Mr Shand) and Mr E. B. E. Taylor, the former New Zealand Ambassador to Japan, supporting the New Zealand Government’s policy; Dr. J. R. Flynn, of the Canterbury University political science department, and Professor K. Buchanan, of the Victoria University of Wellington geography department, opposing this policy. Each will speak for about 40 minutes, and then have

about five minutes in reply. It is not yet certain whether questions from the floor will be allowed. Professor H. R. Gray, of the Canterbury University law department, will preside. A lunch-hour debate will be held tomorrow on the motion: “That we support the Viet Cong.” The New Left Club will take the affirmative, and the Dialectic Society the negative.

Next Monday, in the lunchhour before the “teach-in,” Mr M. Hudson, a lecturer in economics, will use the United States State Department's White Paper to attack New Zealand's involvement in Vietnam, and Mr V. McKay, of the New Zealand Territorial Force, will defend the status quo.

The referendum will be held in conjunction with the students’ presidential election on

August 2. The exact wording to be used on the Vietnam issue has not yet been settled. Questioned about the lines of addresses at the “teach-in,” Mr J. W. Bluck, one of the organisers, said that Mr Shand would speak on Government policy in Vietnam, Mr Taylor on New Zealand’s political future in South-east Asia, Professor Buchanan on moral considerations of the war in Vietnam, and Dr. Flynn on China versus the United States. Asked why the issue was being reopened when the last students’ meeting on the matter was described as the last, Mr Bluck said that earlier there was a lot of interest but not a lot of authoritative information. At the "teach-in” students would listen, not talk, and then express their views by referendum. This course had been taken by general agreement.