SIMD machine architects must choose an interconnection network to provide interprocessor communication. The universality of a network is its ability to simulate arbitrary interconnections of the processing elements. We examine the universality of five particular networks which cover the types used in the llliac IV, STARAN, Omen, SlMDA, and RAP machines. They also cover the types discussed by Feng, Lang, Lawrie, Orcutt, Siegel, and Stone. We give O((log2N)2 ) algorithms, where N is the number of processing elements, for the Perfect Shuffle, PM21, WPM21, and Cube networks to simulate arbitrary interconnections (Orcutt has given an O(Nl/2log2N) algorithm for the llliac network). We analyze Batcher's bitonic sorting method and show how each network can implement it on an SIMD machine. We discuss how sorting destination tags is equivalent to simulating interconnections.