Page 4--Wednesday, April 16, 1980-The Michigan Daily
rr
Some looks at some books
Nitel "1I'(l rs o f" Eliioria I Freedomn
Vol. XC, No. 156
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Regents and
'S OFTEN nice to be surprised. In
last week's- Michigan Student
Assembly (MSA) elections, students
surprisingly voted 2-1 to raise their
m'andatory student government fee
assessment by $1.33 over the next three
ye rs.
et, surprises can also be un-
pleasant.
Most of the increased funds will go to
support financially-strapped Student
Legal Services (SLS) - if the Regents
don't pull a surprise of their own at
their monthly meeting tomorrow and
Friday.
Because the University collects MSA
funds each term (the fee assessment is
paid along with tuition bills), the
Regents must approve any increase or
decrease in the mandatory.
assessment. This means that despite
an overwhelming student mandate for
the increased fees, the Regents could
surprise everyone and deny the
assessment hike.
To a casual observer, it might not
seem even a remote possibility that the
Regents would kill the fee hike in the
face of significant student support for
it. The observer, like most students,
would realize that SLS has not had a
revenue increase in several years;
that without increased funds, SLS can-
not possibly continue to provide its
variety of free legal services to studen-
ts, because it cannot possibly pay
competitive salaries to lawyers.
Yet, the observer might not be
familiar with the Regents. Although
they must be credited with some
degree of genuine concern for the
financial hardships of students, the
unpredictable Regents sometimes ap-
pear more preoccupied with political
showmanship.
Consider the Regents' short-sighted
Y Y
CIA seCrecy
N FEBRUAY, the Supreme Court,
inan extremely unusual move,
ordered former CIA agent Frank
Snepp to turn over the profits from a
book he had written about the Agency.
The decision was handed down by the
justices without benefit of hearing
either side of the case.
a Now the Court, as expected, has
denied a petition for "rehearing"
Shepp's case, even though it was never
really heard in the first place.
The controversy over Snepp's book
rose over a clause in his standard
contract that he would submit
anything he wrote about the CIA for
learance before bringing it to a
publisher.
That Snepp violated the letter of the
contract is not at issue; - he
acknowledges that he did. But there
re certain kinds of promises, which,
under the law, are not binding. One
example: If the signer of a document
can prove that he or she signed with
anything less than full consent, the
Sthe fee hi~ke
approval of a land agreement with
local developer John Stegeman, which
helped pave the way for a skyscraper
to blight the southeast corner of cam-
pus. It appears the Regents had hoped
to enhance their image by making a
few extra thousand dollars for the
University on a purchase-option
agreement; the move backfired.
And, perhaps more to the immediate
issue, consider the Regents' action last
year to strip SLS of its power to defend
students in legal actions involving the
University. The Regents are aligned
against SLS, and this opposition could
be reflected in their decision to deny it
more money.
There is precedent, therefore, for
the Regents to attempt to use the fee
hike to their political advantage. They
could very well approve an 18 per cent
tuition hike this summer, claiming it is
inevitable, while they deny a $1.33 MSA
fee hike tomorrow, maintaining that
students can't afford it.
Indeed, the fee hike denial, if it
comes, will probably occur after some
minutes of extended protestations
about additional financial burdens on
students. The Regents can therefore
make themselves appear as student
advocates, always watching out for our
best interests.
We hope SLS does not become the un-
fortunate victim of this political
maneuvering. We hope the Regents
approve the fee increase,
acknowledging that in this case, an ad-
ditional financial burden is warranted
- and actually welcomed by students.
And we hope the Regents consider
carefully the University's genuine
needs before they sanction tuition in-
creages approaching 20 per cent.
But we have our doubts.
none too far
Continuing its tradition of offering services
to students, the Daily today reviews four of
the more popular texts used for fall courses.
CHEMISTRY
By Ben Bunsen
Freeman Publishing Company
$24.95, 418 pp.
In this updated reprint from the notorious
1923 edition, Bunsen (Chemistry and Your
Health, Carboxylic Acids: Fact or Fiction?)
writes in the refreshing and tantalizing
fashion of which only he is capable.
Bunsen starts off, teasing the reader with
the difference between physical and chemical
reactions, without ever delving into the
significance of such a discourse. But the pace
picks up, as Bunsen takes us through 19th
Century atomic theory and roars into the
modern theories of Schrodinger, Heisenburg,
and Dirac.
The penchant he has for writing beautiful
prose is a welcome change from the matter
of-factness-style of his colleagues:
"As we know, the molarity of a solution can
be used to determine the number of moles of
solute from the volume or the volume needed
to contain a specific number of moles of
solute."
Here we witness the inklings of quiet
desperation as Bunsen strains to symbolically
share with us his depression over his parents'
homosexual relationships.
The author, though bent on destroying most
myths about chemical bonding, consistently
confuses polyatomic and monoatomic ions.
This goes on for 40-some pages, and Bunsen
inadvententlymisspells "bromide," offering
comic relief to the by-this-time-distraught
reader.
Typographical errors may be found on
pages 34, 59, 126, 245, 271, 350, 353-358, and 383.
Though he concludes by stating "compoun-
ds such as cholesterol are called polycyclic
compounds"we know he means much more
than that.
* * * *
CLIFF NOTES: GRAPES OF WRATH
By Herb Blany and Lester Hughes
C:liff Notes
$1.95, 29 pp.
Herb Blany and Lester Hughes have just
completed one of the most cursory
examinations of this 1939 epic in many years.
Mssrs. Blany and Hughes write with an in-
tellect that is different at best, and atrocious
at worst. Their character descriptions are
shallow, the plot summary depthless, and the
discussion of imagery is surface. "Really,
quite an important work," said Herb's wife,
Mary. The 29-page "masterpiece" (Lester's
words), though rarely discussed in literary
By Nick Katsarelas
circles, entices the readers with two
illustrations. The first is a color plate of the
frontal and dorsal view of the infamous land
turtle ("Drawn to scale and everything,"
boasted Herb). The second is a map of the
Joad's automobile journey through the West,
which includes a legend indicating the
location of mountain ranges and government
camps.
Like their approach, Hughes and Blany's
stay with Cliff Notes was brief. Because of
their startling success, they have been hired
Wayne, Margaret Trudeau, and Julius Irving.
Instead of, for instance, an exchange of words
between Pepe and Alma, we have:
"Hola, Suzanne Sommers. Como estas?"
"Estoy bien, gracias, Gerald Ford.
Quienes son estas personas?"
"Son mis amigos: Sergio Mendez y Brazil
'77."
** * *
ULYSSES
By James Joyce
vintage Book Company
$8.95,;783 pp.
0
A dirty book. This novice writer obviously
Z
a4
THFSE HAPPY STUDENTS are waiting anxiously to pay for their texts and discover the won- f4
derful, fascinating world of books.
away by Monarch Publishing Co., which is needs a few lessons in punctuation-one of the
currently negotiating with NBC-TV for a more accepted tools of writing-for it is
possible Made-for-TV Monarch Notes version missing in the last 46 pages.
of Literary Classics.
* * * * The title comes out of nowhere, for as far as
BASIC ESPAN OL I can discern, none of the characters is named
Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich Ulysses.
a
c
P
$14.95, 290 pp.
Like Part I, but more advanced. The
authors, former youth hostel maintenance
men in Barcelona, have a mastery of Spanish
language that many Americans lack. Their
fluency and liveliness with which they write
makes the text interesting and absorbing.
Lines like ":Donde esta la biblioteca?"
("Where is the library?") and "No importa.
Yo tengo papel" (Don't worry. I have paper),
offers a respectable answer to the often-asked
question "Why Spanish? Why not, say, Fren-
ch?"
The authors also believe that celebrities
make the textbook more readable. Thus, we
find quite enthralling, sometimes amusing,
dialogues between such big names as "Juan"
The book is 783 pages-pretty long for a
book, and if you're listening, Jim, maybe you
should have put a Table of Contents or
something. Really, too long.
Best book bets: Toth, America: A -
European Idea?, Jrzshchinski, Jrzschchin-.
ski: Autobiography of a WASP, Johnson,
Adult Games your Children Can Play, Susan
Anton's 1967-1979: Ten Years of My Life, and e
Davis, Famous Anthropologists and their Bir-
thdays.
a
This is the last of Nick Katsarelas 1Kat's
Plays, but not the last of Nick Kaisarelas.
You can see him on "Bowling for
Dollars" in early June. His average is 113.
validity of the agreement can be called
into question (and overruled) in a
court of law.
It is clearly not in the nation's in-
terest for the CIA contract to be unex-
ceptionally binding. The Agency, after
all, has a long tradition of being over-
sensitive about its operations. Just
recently, some formerly classified
material was released which revealed
that President Nixon had once
privately discussed the U.S. role in
western Asia. The material was quite
innocuous by anyone's standards-ex-
cept those of the CIA.
Perhaps a panel of judges and/or
congresspersons could be established
as a screening committee for CIA-
related material, to ensure that
genuine secrets are not made public.
But for the CIA to be able to decide
unilaterally to stifle embarrassing in-
formation is clearly an intolerable state
of affairs. The Agency's secrecy to
date has frequently hurt U.S. interests,
and has only occasionally advanced
them.
Once again, socialist Cuba is
making the news all around the
country. Once again, the
newspapers are distorting the in-
formation and the events taking
place in Havana. It has been
reported that anywhere from
2,000 to 10,000 (estimates vary
widely) Cubans are gathered at
the Peruvian Embassy in the
Cuban capital seeking asylum. Of
course, the US government has
wasted no time in unleashing its
traditional anti-socialist
propaganda charging that the
revolutionary government in
Cuba is oq the verge of collapse.
Wishful thinking.
Most of those seeking asylum
are doing so for economic, not
political reasons. Cuba is going'
through a bad economic period
which has been worsened by
problems with the tobacco and
sugar crops. Also, the U.S. still
maintains the 20-year-old
economic blockade against the
island.
Even with these problems,
Cuba remains well ahead of other
underdeveloped countries in
providing free education, free
health care, housing, feeding its
entire population, and providing
jobs for everyone, or at least
those who want to work. In Latin
America, there is not one country
that comes close to Cuba in these
areas even though there are quite
a few countries that possess rich
natural resources that Cuba
U. S. unfairly
maligns Cuba
on re fugees
By Carlos Morales
lacks. Those coun-
tries-Venezuela, Brazil, and
Mexico are a few-are capitalist-
oriented. While a small minority
of nationals and foreigners
benefit from the wealth, the
overwhelming majority lives in
extreme poverty.
IT IS IRONIC that while the
U.S. government is trying to
make a big deal out of the current
situation with the aim of
discrediting the Cuban gover-
nment and its socialist policies,
thousands of Haitian "boat
people" have been slocking to the
coasts of Florida for months but
have received very little atten-
tion from the news media. Why?
The U.S. government is concer-
ned that the tyrannical and
fascist dictatorship of Duvalier in
Haiti which they support and
assist will get more exposure.
It is well known that the U.S.
multinational corporations have
sizeable economic interests in
Haiti and they benefit directly by
paying low wages and brutally
exploiting the oppressed
Haitians. What is worse is the
treatment that awaits 'the
Haitians when they get to the U.S.
They are denied work and many
are sent back to Haiti where they
face prison, torture, and/or
death.
In contrast, when the U.S.
allowed Nicaraguans (who
favored Somoza) into this coun-
try they received a completely dif-
ferent treatment even though
they were supporters of a fascist
dictator. Another reason they
Haitians are victims of this
treatment is that they are black,
and racism is perhaps the most
conspicuous feature of U.S.P
society to this day.
The mass media in this country,
do a superb job of deceiving the
people. The Haitian people
coming to this country are
risking their lives because theyt
are*politically persecuted and
because economic opportunities
in their country are very bad.
Cubans coming to this country;
represent a marginal group in
Cuba that is unwilling to share
the work and responsibility that
comes with the building of
socialism.
. Thbse seeking to leave Cuba are
wrong if they think they are going
to "make it" in the U.S. or any
other capitalist country. One look
at the Cuban community in this
country shows a high unem-
ployment and people living at
poverty or near-poverty levels.
Furthermore, the U.S. is falling
into deeper economic problems
and the ones who pay for it first
are Hispanics, blacks, native
Americans, and other
minorities. Time will tell.
Carlos Morales, a native of
Puerto Rico, is an LSA junior.
vitation
legitimate sources in favor of
those who offered caustic quotes
and half-truths.
~ We, like others in the Ann Ar-
bor area, share the disappoin-
tment that Anderson will not
speak here this week. However,
that decision to cancel came from
the national Anderson committee .
NOW POYOUEXPLAIN
YOUR AMAZtNE,
SPRINT TO
CON ERVArl(SM
& j
yoU MI40r
5AY 1'#V6
SEEN Mg 16Hr!.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Hosts explain Anderson in
I
To the Daily:
In a Today item appearing in
Tuesday's paper (Daily, April 15)
concerning the cancellation of
John Anderson's speech on cam-
pus, the Daily quoted several
disparaging remarks by Brad
Canale that we, Michigan Studen-
ts for Anderson, believe are un-
staff, and a two-way' corres-
ondence was started. Finally,
through the efforts of Michigan
student volunteers in Illinois and
Wisconsin, contacts were
established with the national An-
derson for President staff, and a
date was set for Anderson's ap-
pearance here. These efforts
Canale's involvement with An-
derson's appearance ended.
The advantages of allowing
more people to hear
Congressman Anderson, and of
coordinating activities of both the
campus and county
organizations, ishould be ap-
parent to all. While Canale con-