(Te Mirwe~an ates Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedon 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, M1 48104 Effective MSA depends on funding Friday, April 2, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Q uinlan decision reasonable THE UNANIMOUS New Jersey Su- preme Court decision allowing Karen Quinlan's parents to let her die if they can find competent medi- cal authorities who agree that there is no reasonable chance for her re- covery is a most reasonable decision. The comatose 22-year-old woman has almost no chance, if any, to recover from the illness that has made her unconscious since April 15, 1975. The Quinlans' have decided not to let Karen die, until the State of New Jers'ey decides whether or not to ap- peal the case. If the case is not ap- pealed and Karen's parents allow her to die, the court stated, this "should be accepted by a society the over- whelming majority of whose mem- bers would . . . In similar circum- stances exercise such a choice in the same way for themselves . . ." This sets a proper precedent for future similar cases. Passive euthanasia is not wrong if calmly and reasonably reviewed and considered. Artificially supporting a hopeless medical case only prolongs the suffering of the patient. Further- more, it is senseless to prolong a life which for all practical and moral purposes has ceased to exist. Courts should proceed with caution in future euthenasia cases, however. The danger remains that bereaved family members may opt for termin- ating the life of a severely ill loved one who actually has a reasonable chance of survival so to end their own suffering. Such cases must be subject to very close scrutiny by med- ical authorities and review by the courts. Throughout the proceedings the only consideration involved can be the welfare of the patient. With the life of a human being in their hands, these authorities must decide with the utmost caution and objec- tivity. By DAVID GOODMAN and GORDON TUCKER THERE REALLY AREN'T many bargains around any more. The days of a good nickel cigar, not to mention a good nickel bag, have followed the lead of the buffalo into extinc- tion. McDonald's no longer of- fers you change back from your dollar. What's this world com- ing to? Well there's good news. There's still at least one last bargain left in town, being of- fered by the student government at the University of Michigan. For a mere seventy-five cents, the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) can provide the student body with a wide range of ser- vices that would either not be available or would cost double or more elsewhere. It can pro- vide funding for student clubs and organizations that could go nowhere else for funding (ie. who else would give money to a group calling themselves the Martin Sostre Defense Commit- tee). It can effectively push for student interests with a growingly unresponsive Regents and University administration. With the proper funding there is virtually no end to the pow- er student government could wield on behalf of the student body. That is, if the proper funding is made available. A proposal to restore an auto- matic funding system for the MSA will appear on the upcom- ing student government election ballot (April 6,7,8). Proposal I, as it is called, if passed, would entitle MSA to receive a mere seventy-five cents from each student as part of the regular University billing system. Com- pared to the amounts of money students toss away at registra- tion to get Robben Fleming's lawn trimmed, or to buy new identification signs for Univer- 'A proposal to restore an automatic fund- ing system for the MSA will appear on the upcoming student government election ballot (April 6, 7, 8). Proposal I, as it is called, if passed, would entitle MSA to receive a mere seventy-five cents from each student as part of the regular University billing system. Com- pared to the amounts of money students toss away at registration to get Robben Fleming's lawn trimmed, or buy new identification signs for University buildings, it seems like a pid- dling amount.' sity buildings, it seems like a piddling amount. YET THE FATE of this pro- posal will be of crucial im- portance in determining the fu- ture of central student govern- ment on this campus, as well as the future interests and fu- ture services that could be made available to the students at the University of Michigan. mer student government offi- cials, further weakened student confidence in how their funds were being spent. Since September 1975, SGC and MSA has been putting the books in order, by tightening disbursement and allocations procedures. A successful CPA audit of last year's records and provision for yearly audits in the future assures students of in itself saves thousands of dol- lars for the student body each year. It will continue MSA's efforts to save students money at every front, whether it be attempts to cut tuition, or lob- bying in Lansing on bills that would effect the condition and cost of being a student in this state. Without automatic fund- ing the Housing Reform Pro- ject, a bold utilization of the long dormant Student Legal Ad- vocate Project (SLAP) funds, would not be able to continue more than one year. This pro- ject alone, aimed at combatting the high cost and poor mainte- nance that characterizes Ann Arbor's rental housing market, could save students money ma- ny times over in their yearly living expenses. TO GIVE YOU an idea of how and in what proportions MSA allocates its funds, it is easiest to look at how the mon- ey was budgeted for the past and present semesters. Forty per cent of the fall budget was constitutionally assessed to the Student Legal Advocate Pro- ject. $3,000 of that money was allocated to the Ann Arbor Ten- ant's Union (AATU) for legal costs resulting from their Trony rent strike. The remaining funds will go to the Housing Reform Project. . Twenty per cent of the group's funding supports the projects of student organizations. As a stu- dent government MSA receives many funding requests, and at- tempts to give money to a wide range of groups. Without auto- matic funding, MSA might very well have to curtail much of this present funding. During the past year MSA has funded groups including: African Student's As- sociation, Ann Arbor Fifth Es- tate, Ann Arbor Tenant's Union, Chicano Program Development, Future World's Lecture Series, Gay Academics Union, Indochi- na Peace Campaign, Rackham Student Government, Red Cross Blood Drive and Honduras Re- lief, Student Organizations Infor- mation Center and on and on. It would be safe to say that if you have been involved with just about any student organiza- tion around town, your activities have been funded by the stu- dent government. A vote for automatic funding would give you even more. The bargain could even be bigger and better. With a solid, stable funding source MSA would have the potential and the financial power to fund more student or- ganizations, to advocate the in- terests of the student body in many more directions. Proposed projects would attack such prob- lems as: sexual and racial dis- crimination at the University, promoting the Affirmative Ac- tion program, development of a student union, tuition cuts, stu- dent say in University policy making decisions, work on academic grading and miscon- duct. There is no end. But to do this, to once again make student government an effective and powerful voice at the Uni- versity, it needs automatic fund- ing. Considering all this, it seems that seventy-five, cents isn't much to ask. A yes vote on Proposal I would give the new MSA a chance to show that it can effectively serve student needs on this campus. Give it a chance. It's foolish to pass up a bargain when you see one. They're getting harder to come by these days. David Goodman and Gordon Tucker are at-large members of the Michigan Student Assem- bly (MSA) and serve on MSA's Communications Comrmittee. Lebanon: Too many cooks The vote on automatic fund- ing will serve as a vote of con- fidence in the new MSA. It is a new student government, rep- resenting all facets of the Uni- versity community, a group ded- icated to working in the best interests of the total sudent body. It was the lack of student confidence in the old Student Government Council (SGC), brought about by SGC's antics over the years, that resulted in the revocation of the automatic funding system in last fall's SGC election. Charges of em- bezzlement of funds against for- proper accounting. It assures them that there is no longer anything to worry about. The new MSA, with its broader based representation, can only become a viable and effective force by restoring this old fund- ing method. A defeat of auto- matic funding will virtually crip- ple an organization with bold hopes of providing better ser- vices to its constituents. Proposal I will allow MSA to continue the many services it now supports. It will allow the organization to continue its health insurance plans, which THE PLOT IS THICKENING in Lebanon. This tiny country to the north of Israel and to the west of Syria, on the Mediterranean sea, has become the focal point of sever- al festering wounds in the always volatile Mid-East theatre. It has al- most gotten to the point where the original internal conflict between Moslems and the ruling Phalangist Christians, which has been raging for the past 11 months, has claimed over 10,000 lives, and has devastated the country, has taken a back seat to the external power struggles for influence in helping bring a halt to the fighting. Until recently, Syria was the spear- head for moderating the conflict. Sy- rian leaders almost single-handedly effected the last cease-fire which was just recently broken, In the wake of the new fighting, Syria is once again attempting to impose its pres- ence into the cease-fire negotiations, to the point of threatening armed intervention if their recent demand of a one-week cease" fire to hold Presidential elections isn't met. But Syria would have to think very care- fully before it embarks on such a major campaign. The leftist-Moslem coalition, which seems to be gaining the upper-hand in the recent fighting, has issued along with the Palestine Liberation TODAY'S STAFF: News: Mike Blumfield, Mitch Dunitz, Rob Meachum, Ken Parsigian, Cathy Reutter, Tim Schick, Karen Schulkins, Pauline Tool, Bill Turque Editorial Page: Stephen Hersh, J o n Pansius, Karen Schulkins, Tom Ste- vens Arts Page: Jim Valk Photo Technician: Scott Eccker Organization a blunt threat to re- taliate to any outside interference. Also, Israel has repeatedly stated that it would invade Lebanon at the slightest hint of Syrian military ac- tion there. Reports from UN observ- ers say that Israel is at present mass- ing troops and artillery on the Leba- nese border. AS IF THAT WEREN'T enough to deter Syria from carrying out its threat, Iraq has declared that they will invade Syria If Syria invades Lebanon. This is the result of severe- ly strained relationships between the two countries that almost led to hos- tilities last year. And for the coup ,de grace, it has been reported that elements of the US Six Fleet, including the carrier, Guadalcanal, and amphibious land- ing craft carrying 1,700 Marines are in a holding pattern one day's sail- ing time from Lebanon. The reaction to this sadly familiar move by our government from the Lebanese coa- lition was that they were also within artillery range, and that they would sink the American ships just as if they were off the shores of Mekong. So it appears that everyone is get- ting into the act. And it seems that the more belligerents that enter the arena under the facade of helping to restore peace, the gulf between peace and war increases proportion- ally. But through all the threats and counterthreats, shows of strength and ersatz concessions, the killing goes on, in an ever more gruesome fashion. The death rate has reached about 100 per day. Editorial positions represent consensus of the Daily staff. Reagan's economics lack sophistlieualion More turbulence in Latin'America By JON PANSIUS WHATEVER THE MERITS disadvantages of Presi- dential candidate Ronald Rea- gan's stands on detente or bu- reaucracy expressed during his telecast last Wednesday, his economic plans show a lack of sophistication. His balanced budget proposal and strong fears of inflation appeal to the- conservative instincts of most middle class Americans, but they do not stand up to the close scrutiny of commonly accepted economic analysis. The private sector in the economy sometimes demands more or less than what is ap- propriate for atstable economy; a balanced budget philosophy would magnify and sustain these cycles. For instance, a boom which raises income and prices would also raise income tax revenues, which would lead to either a tax cut or an in- crease in government spending if the budget was to remain in balance, thereby adding more fuel to the boom and produc- ing more of the inflation that Mr. Reagan fears so much. Suffice it to say that the most economically unstable period in the post-war U.S. was during Eisenhower's balanced budget administration. CONTRARY TO Reagan's view of inflation, this problem is not solely caused by unbal- anced budgets. Prices also rise in response to rapidly increas- ing money supply, shortages, and previous inflation. Further- more, when the economy has Reagan as much excess capacity and unemployment as it does now, inflation will slow despite large though reasonable deficits. The former governor also con- tended that unemployment is caused by inflation and that the way to lick the former is to lick the latter. This again shows the incompleteness of his know- ledge of the economy's work- ings. Suppose President Reagan (if he got elected) balanced the budget by decreasing spending and increasing taxes as he has proposed. This would relative- ly quickly send the economy into a deep plunge, with little immediate effect on inflation, and create a deficit as usual in most recessions. Seeing con- tinuing inflation and an unbal- anced budget (the alleged cause), a Reagan administra- tion would recommend further tax increases or the like, a poli- cy that would turn the plunge into a tailspin. Thus would Reagan's war on inflation cause very remarkable unemploy- ment. EXTREME INFLATION does cause unemployment; and, to follow his analogy, the very rapid price rises in 1974 were part of the disease that caus- ed the unemployment symp- toms, but such extremertreat- ments as Reagan proposes would send the patient into shock. The present policy of moderate long-term growth is now keeping unemployment and inflation at least restrained, and such a steady-as-she-goes philosophy seems the best course to follow to relieve the nation's economic trauma. As the economy improves, tax revenues will increase and those big deficits will begin to disappear. No great demands on the capacity of the economy will be made so inflation should continue to diminish. Mr. Rea- gan's fears of a post-election inflationary recession similar to 1975 are thus unfounded. Such recitals of tried and not-so-true formulas reveal the former governor's ignorance of recent economic findings. Hope- fully, if by chance he does get elected, he would appoint one of his citizen's committees to the problem and get more so- phisticated recommendations. Jon Pansius is a Daily Edi- torial Page staff writer. (Editor's note: The follow- ing on-the-spotereports from the Pacific News Service are designed to give readers a quick sense of the dominant moods and trends in Latin America.) QUITO, ECUADOR, (PNS) - Ecuador's three man military junta - which came to power in a bloodless coup Jan. 12 - is charting a moderate course to raise living standards and relax social tensions, The gov- ernment plans to funnel oil revenues to private industry in order to increase output. It has also pledged to carry out land reform, over the objections of large landowners. Despite junta promises to re- store constitutional government in two years, it has made no plans for civil education to bring more Ecuadorians - 44 percent are illiterate - into the political process. LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Boliv- ian president General Hugo Banzer's chief public rallying point - an outlet to the sea - received a sharp setback last week with the collapse of nego- tiations with Chile for a corri- dor to the Pacific. According to Banzer, Chile demanded too much money and a guarantee of no armed forc- es in the corridor. Just before the talks failed, a wave of industrial strikes and demonstrations had forced Banzer to lift bans on miner and student organizing and a wane freeze onteachers' sala- ries. MEDELLIN, COLUMBIA - Operating under a "state of siege" for more than a year, one of Latin America's few re- maining civilian governments faces new student unrest. Vio- lent clashes between students and police in this industrial city last week left two students dead, dozens wounded and near- ly 100 in prison. The students were protesting the university's low budget and poor administration. The city is now under military control, and the military commander here says his men "have pre- cise instructions to use arms" to put down disturbances. SANTIAGO, CHILE -- Politi- cal prisoners heremay benefit from a new law announced by the military junta under pres- sure from world publicity sur- rounding the case of Dr. Sheila Cassidy, the British physician arrested and tortured here last fall. The new decree calls for medical examination before and after imprisonment to deter- mine if torture has been used and rapid notification of next- of-kin as to where the prisoner has been taken. Unlike previous laws, this one is to be enforced by civilian officials not tied to Chile's po- lice, DINA. One of them, Su- preme Court Justice Jose Ma- ria Eyzaguirre, has previously bucked DINA to support investi- gations requested by families of missing persons. He is ex- pected to push to make the new rules effective. And with support for the de- cree coming from Santiago's most ' powerful conservative newspaper El Mercurio, the junta may be making its first serious effort to moderate its treatment of dissidents. T iri L04AL . 1V i i 1 11 I 4 demonstrate To The Daily:d WHAT BIRTHDAY presents are the Fords, Rockefellers, and those they represent, offering us? Unemployment for over 10,000,000 people, stock piles of nuclear arms, continuing dis- crimination, useless education . They can't prevent these problems - instead, they're pouring millions of dollars into fireworks and Bicentennial cele- brations to try to shore up peo- ple's faith in the system, to try to unite them for 200 more years of the same. People are going to demon- strate in Philadelphia because it's important to counter this attempt - instead of uniting behind he politicians, we must unite with each other. People from all around the country will be coming. Viet- Letters THERE WILL ALSO be work- ers from the Unemployed Work- ers' Organizing Committee (U- WOC) who have been collecting hundreds of thousands of sig- natures on their petition de- manding "Jobs or Income Now!" Students, who have been struggling for years to end U. S. interference in other countries, and who are trying to make ed- ucation available to lower in- come and minority people will also be there. Coal miners, who last year walked out 80,000 strong to de- mand the right to strike and safer conditions, meatcutters from Milwaukee, steelworkers from Washington, autoworkers from Michigan, and many oth- ers will be gathering in Phila- delohia. We will be coming off what we've learned in our different to The want us to think. In Philadel- phia, not only will we be giving support to one another's strug- gles, but more important, we will be taking a big step to- wards building the movement of millions that is necessary to get rid of the capitalist sys- tem. The Revolutionary Student Brigade FBI To The Daily: YOUR EDITORIAL of March 30, which bore the title: "FBI Break-Ins: Unwarranted," of- fered perhaps the most condi- tional defense of democratic rights that one might find. While it should seem obvious that the First Amendment right to freely express dissenting politi- cal viewpoints is a vital and necessary right for all of us- of the country." Whatever is meant by a "threat" to the "security of the country," the implication is quite clear: The FBI shouldn't violate our politi- cal rights as long as our view- points and following are not popular enough to be really "threatening". Your apparent attempt to give the FBI a little fatherly advice seems to be a case of the blind leading the sighted. While you may seriously believe that the FBI spies on, and harrasses political dissenters as a result of "irrational thinking" and the "paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover," you might also point out that this organization has carried out and continues to carry out such activities, and that this consti- t'ites a blatant infringement of the democratic rights of all of US. Your ediorial, however, seems when you scold FBI director Clarence Kelley for "behavior (that) is a corruption of the trust placed in the bureau." IF YOU HAVE, indeed, plac- ed your trust in the FBI, one can only wish you the best of luck, and hope that the FBI does not someday violate your trust by cracking down on con- fused liberals. The Socialist Workers party, incidentally, does not exist "on- ly for the running of candidates for public office." In the early sixties, the SWP played a lead- ing role in defending the Cub- an Revolution, and exposing the U. S. governments' attempts to violate the national autonomy, and right to self - determina- tion of the Cuban people. Simil- arly, the SWP was one of the first groups to organize, and actively participate in the anti- war movement in the middle Daily . U. 1- R\ ;t 7 ~ 7 ,,y .,-. 7 / ~ -4 ~