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Show The Thundabird Page J Monday December 3, 1984 Nuclear annihilation? Firmage outlines options by Bradford Lewis The world is not involved in one arms race, but in three separate ones, said Edwin Brown Firmage, a University of Utah law professor and former congressional candidate, speaking at ,the SUSG Convocation Nov.-29- . The first of these is the quantitative race the race for numbers. The two "superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, have between them 6,000 times the amount of weaponry and firepower used in World War II. of Firmage said-onl- y firepower was used in World War II, while the current resources of the U.S. three-megato- ns Even a small nuclear war could kill 1.1 billion. and Russia equal 18,000 megatons. The second type of arms race, he said, is the qualitative race, where better is not defined in numbers, but in accuracy. The third type of arms race, Firmage said, is the horizontal, based on the number of players in the nuclear theatre. In this race, the U.S. and Russia recruit independent states which have the technology to create a nuclear weapon. A nuclear war of as little as 5,000 megatons would cause the immediate death of 1.1 billion people, Firmage said. Another 1.1 billion would die shortly thereafter due to sickness caused by radioactive fallout. In other words, Firmage said, half of the worlds people would die from the of the superpowers use of one-thir- d nuclear arsenals. Another horror related to nuclear - war, Firmage said, has come to be known as the nuclear winter. This phenomenon could be caused by as little as 100 megatons distributed among 1,000 warheads used in a nuclear conflict. The use of the above firepower would crea te im rrs-- i i a te ground and which would devastate and ignite cities, he said. The Burning of the cities would create huge clouds of soot, oil, and radioactivity, rising to block out up to 99 percent of the suns rays while simultaneously, puncturing holes in. the protective ozone layer of the ionosphere and allowing deadly ultraviolet rays to penetrate to the worlds surface. Meanwhile, rivers and lakes would freeze, killing fish and other animals. Plant life would also die, doing irreparable damage to the life chain. This scenario was related by Firmage, based on the research of astronomer Carl Sagan and biologist Paul Erlich. Are there alternatives to total destruction caused by a nuclear conflict? Firmage said there are. First, he said, all players in the theatre need to adopt a no first-us- e policy. Second, they should adopt a complete nuclear test ban. Third, a bilateral, verifiable freeze on nuclear weapons build-u- p should be adopted. Fourth, a strengthening of the Treaty is needed, Firmage stated. Asked in a press conference about the practicality of his suggested alternatives, Firmage said the sheer horrors of nuclear war will enable people to prevent one. We must have no delusions, he said. y'.it J. T1 4 'A - C " t- ifc Vv 'Y 'A X ' ' 2 IT $ 'A k 1 V t: ill Y ; 1 1 ' : - " ? j. ! ; r " I f- ' t ' : 4 ' i,- - f 4 v! i g I v, ' V- - d i i t , x In addition to the colorfully decorated Christmas tress, elaborate gingerbread houses such as this by Sigma Delta Omicron were on display in the Student Center as part of last weeks Fantasy in Frost celebration which was enjoyed by the public and campus community alike. The event was sponsored by the Associated Faculty and Staff Women. Leaders debate use of recruiting, development money (continued from page 1) major priority of the administration, said Richards. He said recruiting is justified and important because more money would be generated for the college including from student fees with more students. With more students there is more money, and with more money we can develop better quality, better clubs and better campus facilities for all, Richards said. Sherratt says recruitment is vital not only to the student body, but to college programs and curricula as well. He said that when he came to SUSC more than three years ago, seven programs were on probation because they were not meaning not enough students were in the programs to support them financially. These programs included art, math, history, biology, anthropology, building maintenance and physical education. The options given to Sherratt by the Utah State Board of Regents his immediate superiors included eliminating the programs, increasing tuition or increasing enrollment in the programs. Sherratt chose the last option. What we had to do was get more e, students, Sherratt says. He said a school like SUSC will never really be until we reach about 4,000 students, and that is why there is such emphasis placed by the administration on recruiting new students. He said that even so, SUSC probably cost-effecti- puts less money into recruiting efforts than any other college in Utah. I get criticized, he says, but it pays off. We are investing in growth and in quality, he says. We are not recruiting athletes (with the development fund money), but quality students. The rest of the development fund goes to pay for things that pop up unexpectedly. These include new equipment for the music department, a new floor for the gymnastics department, lobbying and efforts, conferences and workshops and summer school. fund-raisin- g If we did what Scott (Price) would like to do. ..then the only alternative I have to meet the needs of the school is to take the money from the scholarship fund, Sherratt says. Price says thats a bluff: He (Sherratt) uses it whenever any issue like this comes up. If we are going to use student funds for recruitment and development, then tell the students what you are doing and stop hiding it, Price says. We cant stop recruiting students now', Sherratt says, because if we did we would put whole programs in jeopardy. Price puts it this way: There is a difference in perspective here. We have our perspective, and they have their perspective. What we need to do is decide whose perspective is more important the students or the administrations I believe it is the students. |