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Page 4-Tuesday, November 1, 1977-The Michigan Daily
Eigt y-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 47 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Affirmative action in
I1
Ethnics, politicos get space
HE DECISION of the Student Or-
]ganizations Board (SOB) to rever-
se itself and approve office space for
ethnic and political groups is a real
breath of fresh air.'
The board's recommendations now
go to MSA, which is expected to ap-
prove them tonight.
SOB members said, in effect, that
they were wrong when they decided to
R deny these organizations space. The
board acknowledged it didn't have all
the facts at first, and set out to remedy
that situation.
In the process, board members de-
termined there was more space avail-
able for student groups than they had
originally thought. More importantly,
they recognized the need to provide
space fob the diverse viewpoints and
interests that the ethnic and political
groups represent.
By cramming everyone in with a
show horn, the board was able to find
space for all groups that requested of-
fices. Excluded were several groups
which didn't have enough student
1 members and groups which abused or
' didn't use their previous offices.
By listening to the complaints of the
ethnic and political groups, consider-
ing what they had to say and, finally,
reconsidering its own actions, the
board demonstrated a degree of re-
e sponsiveness and mature decision-
making that is commendable.
However, one problem remains. By
failing to deal directly with Chicanos at
Michigan, a group which apparently
failed to reapply for space it had been
sharing with the United Farm Workers
Support Committee, the board missed
an opportunity to resolve an unneces-
sary conflict.
Although the Chicano organization
did not apply for space, its spokesman,
Lino Mendiola, made it clear the group
wished to keep office space in the
Union, even to the point of taking MSA
to-court.
T HE BOARD could have taken the
simple step of calling Mendiola on
'the phone and saying space would be
available if his group wished to apply
for it. Instead, the board is notifying
the Farmworkers group that it may
not share its office with any other
group, in obvious referen
Chicanos at Michigan.
This feud should have been
rather than exacerbated.
Still, the members of S
Organizations Board have nowc
stated the essence of the studen
space problem: There isn't e
space for student groups. The
they will fight to make the Regei
administration recognize and m
need for student office space.
Uniting student groups be
fight for adequate student org
tional space, rather than squa
over who gets a share of the r
space available, is the key tos
the office space problem.
EDITORIAL STAFF
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
Edi tors-in-Chief
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JIM TOBIN
By MITCH MARGO
The biggest question on the minds of sports
fans is what affect the Supreme Court deci-
sion on the Allan Bakke case will have on the
National Basketball Association.
If the court upholds affirmative action,
many blacks could be out of jobs as profes-
sional basketball players. A disproportionate
number of blacks are professional basket-
ballers, and if the Supreme Court upholds af-
firmative action for blacks in medical school,
must they do the same for whites in pro
basketball?
AS IT IS argued in the Bakke case, race
should not be the only criteria on which af-
firmative action is based. This would pose
even more complex problems for the NBA.
After all, a disproportionate number of pros
come from disadvantaged families, so ac-
cording to affirmative action guidelines, the
NBA would have to pass up talented blacks
from the ghetto in order to draft less quali-
fied, more affluent whites.
In a recent interview with the Daily, Melvin
Applebaum of New York toldfof a law suit he
has pending against the NBA.
"First of all," said Applebaum, "the NBA
has a decreasing number of whites on each
team. Second, since Bob Weiss retired from
the Chicago Bulls, there are no Jews in the
league. Third, The NBA is discriminating
against short people."
APPLEBAUM CONTENDS that the NBA is
not accepting short people only because they
are not as good as taller players.
"When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was young,
he was tall and his parents gave him a basket-
ball. My parents gave me a chess set. Clearly,
I have been discriminated against since bir-
th," said the 5'3" Applebaum.
The effects of the Supreme Court decision
are expected to be felt in the college ranks as
,well. Rumor has it that UM basketball coach
Johnny Orr has been ordered to begin recruit-
ing shorter, more affluent players. "I don't
know what the fuss is about," said Orr, "by
the time our players get here, they're plenty
affluent."
Although it has not yet been released, the
NCAA has designed a plan by which two mi-
nority members of every collegiate basket-
ball team will switch scholarships with two
members of the debating team.
"The switch may not help the flow of play,"
said an NCAA spokesperson, "but it should
make for more intelligent arguments."
A member of the Detroit Pistons, who asked
to remain anonymous, was recently asked
what he would do if his spot on the roster was
taken by a less qualified white player to meet
affirmative action guidelines.
He replied: "I g
ketball and never
I'll apply to medic
Mitch Margo
student who of
Editorial Page.
,
NBA
got my college degree in bas-
went to any classes. I guess
cal school."
is a graduate journalism
ten writes for the Daily's
I4
rI
1
LOIS JOSIMOVICH .....................Managing Editor
GEORGE LOBSENZ ....................Managing Editor
NTU McCONNELL......................Managing Editor
JENNIFER MILLER ......... ............ Managing Editor
PATRICIA MONTEMURRI...............Magaging Editor
KEN PARSIGIAN............................Managing Editor
BOB ROSENBAUM...... ...............Managing Editor
MARGARET YAO............................Managing Editor
SUSAN ADES JAY LEVIN
Sunday Magazine Editors
ELAINE FLECTCHER TOM O'CONNELL
Associate Magazine Editors
JEFFREY SELBST
Arts Editor
STAFF WRITERS: Susan Barry, Richard Berke, Brian Blan-
chard, Michael Beckman, Lori Carruthers, Ken Chotiner, Eileen
Daley, Lisa Fisher. Denise Fox, Steve Gold, David Goodman,
Elisa Isaacson, Michael Jones, Lani Jordan, Janet Klein. Garth
Kriewall, Gregg Krupa, Paula Lashinsky, Marty Levine, Dobilas
Matunonis, Carolyn Morgan. Dan Oberdorfer, Mark Parrent.
Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Christopher Potter, Martha
Retallick, Keith Richburg, Diane Robinson, Julie Rovner, Dennis
Sabo, Annmarie Schiavi. Paul Shapiro. R. J. Smith, Elizabeth
Slowik, Mike Taylor. Pauline Toole, Sue Warner, Jim Warren,
Linda Willcox, Shelley Wolson, Tim Yagle, Mike Yellin. Barbara
Zahs
Mark Andrews, Mike Gilford, Richard Foitman
Weather Forecastets
BUSINESS STAFF
DEBORAH DREYFUSS................Business Manager
COLLEEN HOGAN..................... Operations Manager
ROD KOSANN............ ..............Sales Manager
NANCY GRADU........................... Display Manager
ROBERT CARPENTER...................Finance Manager
SHELLEY SEEGER.. Classified Manager
SUSAN BARRY................ ....National Ad Manager
PETE PETERSEN ................ .Advrtising Coordinator
STAFF MEMBERS: Steve Barany, Bob Bernstein Richard
Campbell. Joan Chartier, Fred Coale. Caren Collins. Pam Counen.
Lisa Culberson, Kim Ford, Bob Friedman. Kathy Friedman.
Denise Gilardone, Nancy Granadier. Cindy Greer. Amy Hart-
man Susan Heiser, Larry Juran, Carol Keller, Randy Kelley.
Dough Kendall, Katie Klinkner, JonMKottler. Lisa Krieger.
Debbie Litwak: IDeb Meadows. Art Meyers, John Niemisto.
John O'Connor. Seth Petok, Dennis Ritter, Arlene Saryan.
Carole Schults. Claudia Sills. Jim Tucker. Karen Urbani, Beth
Warren
PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF
ALAN BILINSKY. .....................Chief Photographer
ANDY FREEBERG....................Chief Photographer
BRAD BENJAMIN........................ Staff Photographer
JOHN KNOX ...........................Staff Photographer
CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER................Staff Photographer
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energy
To The Daily:
I must take serious exception
to the article printed in the o-
tober 27 Daily by R.L. Marsh.
While part of his general premise
that we must Have a better
energy source is truen, it is not
necessarily true that nuclear
energy is either the safest or the
most desirable. Mr. Marsh and
many other people are obviously
unaware of the incredible poten-
tial of satellite solar power
stations (SSPS).
All hysteria and obfuscation
aside, even the most objective
person must admit that nuclear
plants have problems, none of
which are dealt with by Mr. Mar-
sh's article. Wasted disposal will
remain a problem for many
years. In a world where
terrorism is a daily activity and
creatures such as;Jdi Amin can
come to power, l!he potential
danger of keeping quantities of
radioactive plutonium lying
around (or even under lock and
key) is too great to be sim-
ply ignored. Nuclear plants also
suffer drawbacks shared by
all ground based power gen-
erators - thermal pollution.
Besides electricity, nuclear plan-
ts generate a great deal of heat,
and no one can say what the long
term effect of this might be on the
Earth's biosphere. Despite these
problems, proponents of nuclear
power would probably be correct
in that we need nuclear power, if
there were no better alternatives.
Fusion looks nice on paper, but
it requires a technological
capability that we simple do not
have at this time. No one has yet
built a fusion reactor that
produces more, o$-even as much,
energy as is req' ired to power
the reaction. Theie is, to the best
of our knowledge, only one ef-
ficient fusion reactor in the solar
system, and that is the sun. It has
been burning for billions of years,
and it has enough fuel to burn for
several more billions. It seems
shamefully wasteful not to tap
this bountiful energy source.
Mr. Marsh is correct in his
assertion that surface based
solar collectors do not and cannot
meet the total needs of a modern
technological society. The at-
mosphere cuts off a lot of useful
power and clouds rob us of more.
Moreover, a large percentage of
the time on Earth is devoted to
night, allowing none of the solar
energy to reach us.
Out in space however, all of
these problems disappear. There
is no atmosphere to filter the
sun's rays, no clouds to absorb
them; and most importantly,
there is no night. The sun shines
every hour out of the 24 in
geosynchronous orbit. What is
more, there is very little gravity
22,000 miles out, and this permits
the construction of very large
structures containing very little
mass. Satellites could be built,
miles in length and breadth, to
harness the sun. The collected
power would be converted to high
frequency electromagnetic
radiation and beamed down to
receiving antennas on Earth. The
frequency used (approximately
10 centimeter wavelength) would
be invisible to water (i.e. clouds),
atmosphere and life, thus solving
the problem of conventional solar
power. Tests have already been
done, with efficiencies in the
range of 70-80 per cent.
This project can be done using
present technology. The space
shuttle is a start. The materials
would come from the moon,
thereby further relieving the
The Daily
pressure on Earth resources. If rare documents. I have hz
started now, the first satellite many research papersa
could be beaming power back to material available a
Earth by 1992. Many More would graduate library has alwa
quickly follow by a bootstrapping more than adequate.
process, and in 50 years SSPS however, have one cor
would be supplying our total elec- about one of the libraries p
trical needs. The graduate librar
The cost is miraculously small. dividual carrel policyi
Recent estimates are in the $50-60 inefficient. One half of
billion range over a period of 15- carrels are made availab
20 years. After this initial inr dergraduate students; wl
vestment, payback would be remaining half are reser
rapid. This contrasts quite Ph.D. candidates who are
favorably with the several hun- their dissertations. I
dred billion that the nation's disagree with the library'
power companies plan to spend in reserving carrel spa
on coal and nuclear plants by the Ph.D. candidates, butr
turn of the century. these carrels remain ei
This form of power, not have been at the library,
nuclear, is not only the safest and, the afternoons and at nig
most desirable but also the have found a majority c
cheapest. In addition to this it will carrels empty. 'On the fift
serve to boost the economy, the same carrels are en
providing thousands of jobs, both the time. I wish the. g
on Earth and off, without an ac- libralry would either o
companying increase in inflation. these carrels permanent
finally, it will give us a strong least open them dur
foothold in space, with all the evenings when most
benefits that space has already graduate students are at r
given us multiplied a hundred- like many other student
fold. It should be stressed that the found that these carrels
L5 Society is not against nuclear excellent place to do
power plants. It is for solar research or to study. I h
satellite power. Just as is the library will change its
care with nuclear power, this policy, as students would
program needs grass roots sup- from such a change.
port. With apologies to Mr. Mar- -Brian Tanen
sh-Let Congress Know. Satellite
solar power is needed now!
-Rand Simberg
President, A2 L5 Society M
carrels Letters should be typed an
to 400 words. The Daily res
To The Daily: right to edit letters for lei
The University of Michigan grammar.
graduate library is one of the
finest in the nation. The Harlan . a. m....
Hatcher library has a vast
amount of volumes, letters and
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