EMM 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 ye to I ended, tudent clearly t office enough ey say nts and eet the hind a ganiza- abbling meager solving 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 ( Ip KEiTH ;' '' a- r 1 1 _i I i i i s 1 1 f {. 1 Le tters to t t ti t F r E r r t s F C t (. r C t l C f } t t 1 ; i .t ;f h ik i f 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 id to do and the at the ys been I do, mplairit policies. y's in- is very f these le to un- Chile the rved for writing do not s policy ace for most of empty: I during ht and I of these Ih floor, epty all raduate pen up ly or at ng the of the home. I, s, have are an one's hope the carrel benefit baum W. asa nd limited erves the ngth and 'The treaty is a trick!' . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ;. co~ .TeRW STJ qc~ET SNWL;I~& ~( MG ~IT 1$ SO / iZ3®' At-t- NOW H6' 1l5Uk'A CS Irs~1~c~ ssive: u Nvav a 7c~ CoPL'e. TRWATS GARt,5 I'1AN5 AS IF fIE'rM,' TO $CA H6S FRIEND' POr6R. tf ~ cm) ON~LYt aHCP S86 WOWS IT OUT