Fog 4-Sunday, February 26, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighty- Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
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Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 123
Edited and mo
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, M1 48109
News Phone: 764-0552
onaged by students at the University of Michigan
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Two very flawed laws
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A NN ARBOR had a chance to
finaly come up with a workable
solution - the problem 'of por-
augraphy. City Council had such a
solution within their grasp, but they
then went a step too far.
The, new anti-smut law, passed just
last week, will limit the spread of
'adult" businesses into residential
districts, and it will do so by rezoning
process without any attempt to define
wht is obscene. Specifically, the law
would permit adult businesses from
opening within 700 feet Qf a neigh-
borhood.
The Supreme Court has upheld the
constitutionality of such zoning laws,
and Detroit is the model case for a
Zoning law that effectively keeps porn
shops out of neighborhoods and puts
them into the. designated commercial
districts.
That portion of the final pornography
bill was realistic and fair, but the bill
went on to prohibit the establishment
Of adult businesses within 700 feet of
each other. This was an unnecessary
step and reeks of discrimination. No
other commercial enterprise in Ann
Arbor is subject to such an arbitrary
restriction.
And the 700 foot requirement is not
the only source of discrimination in the
new bill. Another clf ase prohibits the
owners of adult businesses from
allowing "known prostitutes and their
customers" to frequent their premises.
A "known prostitute" is defined in
the law as one who has been convicted
of prostitution within the last two
years.
Councilman Farl Green, who voted'
against the entire ordinance because of
that one clause, summed up the objec-
tions of critics when he said "I can do
better than that at church. I can walk
in as a sinner and walk out saved. Why
does a prostitute have to wait two
years?"
That the clause displays a
scrimination against women who
choose to be prostitutes is obvious.
What is not so obvious are these
questions: -Why prohibit only those
restitutes who have been convicted -
who couldn't afford lawyers to beat the
rap? How will a shop owner know how
long it has been since the hooker in
front of his store has been convicted?
These questions are facetious and
will probably never come up, but they
point to a major deficiency in Ann Ar-
bor's new anti-smut attempt.
City Council's use of rezoning to
remedy the pornography problem was
certainly constructive, however, the
new law's venture into other unchar-
tered areas moves us right back onto
that- familiar collision course with the
First Amendment.
T HERE IS YET another porno-
graphy-related bill which Council
has yet to vote on. A second proposal in
part seeks to limit the display of porn
books and magazines on newsstands to
at least four feet off the floor, unless
provisions have been made to display
only the top three inches of the front
covers of such material.
Mayor Pro Tem Louis Belcher was
clever to put these provisions into a
separate ordinance. Even he expects
to have trouble getting such ridiculous
requirements passed without a fight.
Hasn't Councilman Belcher ever
seen children over four feet tall? Cai-
not children less than four feet tall still
look up to see the wonders of Genesis
or Hustler? And what happens when
the publishers of these sex books start
putting their most explicit sexual
material in the top three inches?
One new pornography bill has, unfor-.
.tunately, already passed - flaws in-
cluded. This second bill is not only un-
workable, it is unnecessary, and
should not be passed.
Rarely does Council have a chance to
prove that it has learned from past
mstakes. Let's see if they take advan-
tage of the chance when bill number
two comes up for a vote.
SPORTS STAFF
BOB MILLER. ............... .............. Sports Editor
PAUL CAMPBELL.................Executive Sports Editor
ERNIE DUNBAR......................Executive Sports Editor
HENRY ENGELHARDT...............Executive Sports Editor
RICK MADDOCK Executive Sports Editor
CUB SCHWARTZ ........... Executive Sports Editor
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In 219 A.D., amidst the decay of
the Roman Empire, the Emperor
,Elagalabus led a festive and
gaudy parade through the Eter-
nal City in honor of the Sun uod.
This was the heyday of the
primitive cult of sun-worship.
With the collapse of the Empire,
this pagan rite wqs buried along
with it. Or so it seemed until
recently.
Our contemporary worshippers
of all things primitive, the 'en-
vironmentalists, have attempted
to resurrect this cult - last week
one of their high-priests, Barry
Commoner, outlined some of the
issues involved.
DR. COMMONER'S talk was
notable for its paucity of scien-
tific argument (understandably,
since it would only further
weaken his position). Instead, he
stressed the political economy of
the matter. This, after all, is the
critical issue. Everyone knows it
is technologically feasible to
generate solar electricity.
Likewise, most of the population
realizes it is quite possible to
safely generate nuclear power.
The real question is one of
economics in the broadest sense.
At the heart of Dr. Commoner's
argument lies the "small is
beautiful" mentality. His intent
is to convince us that human
labor is preferable because itis
simple and more direct. And
therein lies the rub. Since man
appeared on the 'planet, he has
struggled to invent technologies
and concentrate energy. In doing
so he frees himself from
relatively menial and repetitive
tasks and can work on solving
higher-order problems.
THE KEY parameter in all this
is energy density - the rate at
which energy flows through a
given surface. Energy-dense
technologies are low cost
technologies because they in-
volve less material, less capital
investment, and less labor for the
The sun is
not a solution
ByR.L.Marsh
production of a given amount of
energy. Such sources have a high
inherent rate of social profit.
That is, for every dollar invested
in such an energy souce, a much
larger amount of wealth is made
available for the growth of the
economy as a whole. For every
job required to increase energy
production, four or five jobs are
so does consumption per capita,
that is, real wages. Such
technologies - solar, biomass,
etc. - have a negative rate of
social profit, . because they
require more of society's total
wealth then they produce.
Therefore their implementation
does not create growth but
promotes the overall collapse of
On the other side are the forces of
the anti-technology, anti-industry
crowd - the environmental
movement, numbers of muddle-
headed liberals, large segments of
the press and portions of the finan-
cial world.
politics behind them. He is quite
right in noticing President Car-
ter's uneasy shifting from one
side to the other on the energy
question, but the lines are quite
different than what Dr. Cort-
moner would have us believe.
ON ONE side 'are represen-
tatives of those institutions that
have generally been associated
with American progress - most
of industry, leaders of the trade-
union movement and members of
the scientific community. The
U.S. Labor Party is presently
pulling together such a group to
fight for a program of increased
industrial production and the
Alexander Hamilton-type
banking reform needed to
promote this kind of economic
growth. The recent NAACP call
for energy development and the
formationof the Michigan
Coalition for Jobs and Energy
may be taken as indication that
there is tremendous potential for
such an alliance.
On the other side are the forces
of the anti-technology, anti
industry crowd - the environ-
mental movement, numbers of
muddle-headed liberals,,large
segments of the press and por-
tions of the financial world. They
would opt for labor intensive
public works projects (alone the
lines of the Humphrey-Hawkins
proposal), energy reductions that
would further constrict industry'
and employment, and fiscal
measures that would generate
hyper-inflation.
The decision is thus: shall the
nation take the path proposed by
the Labor Party - one leading
toward economic and.scientific
'development -or shall we take
the path of the environmental
movement and its political allies
with the concomitant depression,
social chaos and, ultimately,
war? All our choices should be so
simple.
R. L. Marsh is a member of
the U.S. Labor Party.
created by the availability of the
energy produced. Thus even
greater wealth is available for
further investment in more
energy growth and more general
growth of the economy. With
energy-wise technologies, the
cost of energy drops and the
profitability of industry and
levels of real wages in the
economy as a whole rise.
Conversely, with low-energy-
technologies (such as solar) the
opposite is the case. Ene gy
must then cost more because
more labor, more capital, and
more material is required for its
production. As labor productivity
declines (production per capita),
the economy.
THIS PRECISELY locates the
contrast between nuclear and
solar technologies. In terms of
fundamental economics, nuclear
energy is preferable to all other
options - but the combination of
general monetary inflation of the
past 10 years and environmen-
talist obstruction has tended to
muddy the issue. Nonetheless
(despite the statistics bandied
about by Dr. Commoner and
others), the crucial fact remains
that the utilities prefer nuclear
plants on the grounds of
economy.
The real danger in Dr. Com-
moner's solar semantics is the
LOOKING BACK THE WEEK IN REVIEW
don 't divest
NHE SENATE Advisory Com-
mittee of Financial Affairs has
decided not to recommend that the
University divest itself of
stock holdings with companies that
operate in South Africa. The decision,
which has not been officially released
yet, comes one week after the Commit-
tee on Communiations informed the
University that a majority of the com-
nmunity recommended divestment.
The core of SACFA'S recommen-
dations have been finalized. The com-
mittee recommends that the University
issue a pyblic statement revealing its
position on the South African situation,
propose share holder resolutions con-
cerning the corporations' role in South
Africa, and publicly.vote its shares on.
resolutions concerning the cor-
poration's role in South Africa.
Up to this point, the University has
only voted with the corporate positions
on matters concerning South Africa at
stockholders meetings. It had been the
position of the University that it wou'ld
either vote with the company line or sell
its stocks.
.SACFA will also recommend that if a
corporation would continue expansion
of their South African operation, or if a
corporation refuses to adopt the
Sullivan principles, the University
should divest itself of stocks and bonds
in that corporation.
The Sullivasn statement is an affir-
mative action policy recommended by
Rev. Leon Sullivan, a member of the
General Motors board of directors. The
msa gets a change
' HE MICHIGAN Student Assembly
. held an important campus-wide
election this week and members of the
assembly were discouraged by one of
the government's all-time lowest elec-
tion turnouts. Only 500 students voted in
an election that radically altered the
MSA themselves.
As a result of the approval of this
week's ballot proposals, the president
and vice-president of the assembly will
be elected by direct vote of the studen-
ts, rather than by members of the
MSA themselves.
One advantage' of direct election in-
cludes the elimination of much of the
political infighting that has occured in
the assembly over the election of its
officers. Some members also hope that
direct election of the' president and
vice-president will generate some in-
terest for MSA elections in the student
community.
The other amendment approved this
week will change the method by which
the representatives themselves are
elected. The present system is com-
posed of 18 at-large representatives and
a representative from each of the 17
schools and colleges. The individual
colleges within the University appoin-
ted their own reps through their school
governments. .
Subject to approval of this week's
election results by the Central Student
Judiciary (CSJ), each of the schools
within the University will be entitled to
elect representatives in proportion to
the number of students in the school.
strike has provided us with a taste of
what may happen when our resource
supplies are no longer adequate to keep
the nation operating, let alone growing.
This week the University Housing Of-
fice announced several energy saving
recommendations for the short term
crisis as well as some long range goals
aimed at reducing the soaring dorm
energy costs. These rising utility costs
provide the major rationale for the an-
nual 7.4 per cent rise in dorm rates.
The goal of University Housing Main-
tenance Coordinator Paul Bowyer is to
reduce energy consumption by 30 per
cent over the next three years.
As a preliminary step, an audit of
every type of dorm window will be un-
dertaken this summer. Some dorms
will have added insulaton as well -s
new roofs. To administer the energy
conservation program the University
has begun to interview applicants for
the new position on Energy Conser-
vation Manager.
the same decision
THE POLITICAL Science Assistant
Professor Joel Samoff was denied
tenure again this week. The depar-
tment's tenured faculty was ordered by
Literary College Dean Billy Frye to
reconsider their decision of last
November denying Samoff tenure.
They did, and let their earlier decision
stand.
"I think we've come to the end of the
line," said Earl Obika, a Political
Science graduate student and teaching
assistant for Samoff. "This again
comes as a great disappointment to all
of us. The decision made it clear that
the department will remain rigid in
their commitment to the intellectual
direction of the department."
The reason given for denying Samoff
tenure was that his research does not
meet University standards. Critics of
the decision claim that too much em-
phasis is placed on research ability in
the department and not enough on
teaching skills.
Samoff is noted for his expertise in
South African affairs' and political
economy. He has been called a
"Marxist -political economist."
Department Chairman Sam Barnes
said, "The department may have made
a mistake in the Samoff case, but I
believe the procedures were fair. '
Barnes also admitted that Samoff's
background may have played a role in
the decision.
Samoff said, "My position from the
beginning was that my work had not
been judged fairly or correctly. I'm still
unsure my work has been evaluated in
an unbiased and unprejudiced man-
ner."
The Center for Afro-American and
African Studies had offered to pay half
of Samoff's salary for the next year if
he stays at the University, whether he
is granted tenure or not.
Con tact vpuir reps~
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