OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, April 8, 1981
The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
The guillotine fals on WUOM
V
Vol. XCI, No. 153
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
New Democratic budget
plan desen
HOUSE DEMOCRATS announced
their alternative proposal to the
Reagan budget cuts Monday. The=
Democratic package shows 'definite
promise and deserves the serious con-
sideration of Congress.
Unfortunately, that is probably
exactly what it will not receive. Given
the Republican-controlled Senate and
the current militaristic banter coming
from the Reagan administration, the
Democratic ideas stand a rather good
chance of sliding into oblivion.
When compared to the Republican
proposal, the Democratic budget plan
i$ exemplary of many of the good
aspects of the Democratic party.
Specifically, the Democratic plan
shows a much more genuine concern
for the nation's poor and needy. The
Democratic plan seeks to restore funds
ing for several social programs that
would otherwise face total elimination
V4
es support.
by the Republicans. In addition, the
Democratic plan would cut substan-
tially less from essential social
programs than that of the
Republicans.
The Democratic plan would
moderate the Republican-proposed in-
crease in military spending. This ac-
tion indicates a recognition that the
high level of military spending in this
nation is wasting billions of dollars on
Naturally, in the event of budget cuts, cer-
tain programs and services actually have to
go. And, as in the case with the University
radio station WUOM, sometimes there is not
too much fat to trim. This makes it all the
more important, however, to have skilled
surgeons rather than machete-wielding but-
chers making the cuts.
Unfortunately, at WUOM it seems the
surgeons are in short supply. Their drastic
budget restrictions do not justify the
"guillotine cut" of the critic-commentator
series.
Last Saturday, the final broadcast of this
lecture series was heard. No longer will
listeners explore the universe with astronomy
specialist Jim Loudon. No longer will we have
"A Look at Asia" with Prof. Allen Whiting, or
hear Prof. Ali Mazrui's comments on his
native Africa, or have Dr. Jeanne Gordus on
the migration of workers toward the South.
These speakers, and 13 other University
professors and specialists, will no longer
share their respective disciplines with the
community of Ann Arbor. This is unfortunate
since they offered a perspective and commen-
tary unmatched by any other radio or TV
news broadcast. As people here told
newscaster Bob Whitman, "it would diminish
the quality of their lives." But in times of cut-
backs, of course, we have to make some
sacrifices.
{
By John Adam
But what makes this particular sacrifice so
abhorrent is that it is largely unnecessary.
There is not need to cut the commentators. A
number of them, such as Mazrui and Whiting,
have offered their services free. The $30 a
spot stipend is not the motivating factor, says
Prof. Allen Whiting, "I never even knew there
was going to be compensation when I took the
offer."
Other commentators, such as Jeanne Gor-
dus of the Institute of Labor and Industrial
Relations, are paid by their own departments,
and therefore detract nothing from the
operating budget of the radio station.
Nevertheless, both of these groups, the
prospective volunteers and the people who
are paid by their own department, have been
cut from their commentaries. "We must have
a balanced format," says Director of - Broad-
casting Hazen Schumacher. "We can't just
keep the ones we aren't paying."
Schumacher advocates the Regent's bylaw
which states that University faculty members
cannot perform in any media event without
being paid. This, says Schumacher, creates
"a professional relationship" which is need-
ed to keep control. "With volunteers you have
no control. You can't fire a volunteer."
The logic of Schumacher and the Faculty
Advisory Committee (which endorsed tie
decision) escapes me. Are compromises not
possible? All of the critic-commentators: I
heard sign off did so rather emotionally and
with regret. Is it logical that these people did-
the job solely for the $30 a shot? It is evident
that these commentators simply liked the p,
portunity to share their specialties with the
public, to make the public more aware.
It seems a compromise could be reached lyy
cutting down the number of weekly commen,
taries, or by offering them a token amount;
such as a dollar, in order to comply with the
Regent's bylaws.
In hard times it is necessary to sacrifice
some pride, re-evaluate "professional
relationships," and to accept the offers of
some commentators to work for free.
Similarly, it is also, necessary to allow the
ones paid by their department to continue.
These unnecessary cuts will reduce the
quality of WUOM's broadcasts. In a time
when the budget cuts have made increased
private donations vital and necessary, broa4-
casting quality becomes even more impor-
tant. It is indeed unfortunate that the quality
will decline for no justifiable reason.
non-productive hardware that
brings the nation closer to war.
Although the new Democratic
can be criticized for failing to
social programs all the support
deserve, the counter-proposal
realistic political maneuver to
only
plan
give
they
is a
save
I
John Adam, an LSA junior, is a Daily
staff reporter.
Children cope with violence
programs that would otherwise be
altogether eliminated. The
Democratic proposal represents a wise
and realistic devotion to social justice
and deserves Congressional approval.
By Rasa Gustaitis
Defending auto standards
T HE REAGAN administration, in
its mission to hack away at
government regulation of private in-
dustry, has cut a bit too deep into the
reasonable federal guidelines concer-
ning the auto industry.
The administration announced
yesterday an entire package of federal:
auto safeguardsand regulations that it-
hopes to eliminate or, at the least,
ease. While some of the proposed
ehanges are needed, others seem to
Giave been devised with no regard for
the serious ill effects this "regulatory
relief" will have on the environment.
For example, among the 35 safety
and air quality regulations that the
administration has targeted for
revision or elimination are auto
emissions standards. Since these stan-
dards were implemented, the first
significant steps have been made
toward reducing the pollution caused
by automobile exhaust. If Washington
succeeds in eliminating these essential
standards; all the progress made over
the past years of careful pollution con-
trol will be eroded by the rapid buildup
of choking smog.
The Reagan administration ignores
these dangerous consequences, and
justifies the changes on the grounds
that the elimination of regulatory red
jape will save the ailing American auto
industry more than $9 billion over the
next five years - a saving that
presumably would be passed along to
the consumer.
-
Yet the administration ignores the
fact that the few dollars consumers
may save on their next American car
purchase and the boost for the industry
will not be worth the cost of a more
polluted environment.
Some of the regulatory changes
proposed by the administration,
however, do not threaten air quality or
safety, ; and deserve support. For
example, Reagan has proposed that
guidelines requiring a minimum level
of fuel efficiency be eliminated.
Such an elimination would not have
much of an effect on industry perfor-
mance and would save taxpayers and
consumers money in the elimination of
the enforcement of needless red tape.
Regardless of government standards,
most sensible consumers now will only
buy highly fuel-efficient cars. Detroit
has finally come to accept this fact and
has at last, moved to meet the market
demand. The cars Detroit makes in the
future will be fuel-efficient whether the
government insists upon it or not.
There is no need to waste time, effort,
and money shuffling, the paperwork
required by an out-dated regulation.
The elimination of some out-dated
and useless regulations is a commen-
dable endeavor. But- when the
elimination of intelligent and very
reasonable guidelines threatens the
quality of the environment and basic
auto safety, the administration should
reconsider its package of proposed
regulatory changes.
- - - -
Bedtime is the threshold on which children
gather strength for night terrors. So as I tuck
her into bed, my daughter sometimes lets me
glimpse the phantoms she will face alone
when I have turned out the light.
"Do you know there are only 2,000 bowhead
whales left?" she says. "That's all. In all the
oceans.-They have a baby only once every two
years and many of those babies get shot
because they have to come up for air more of-
ten than the adults."
Her eyes are dark with sorrow. "It makes
me so sad. And the wolves, the way they shoot
wolves from planes. And the lions. So much
killing."
In her schoolbag, ready for morning at the
top of the stairs, is the essay that had bee&.
homework: "How I feel about the shooting of
President Reagan." She had.been angry at
having to do it-to think about it-but had
written :
"I think John Hinckley was crazy to try to
kill him. I do not like President Reagan but I
do not wish death on him. I think it is creepy
to try to take someone else's life because of
his own problems."
Before Reagan there was John Lennon,
whose songs she knew bywheart. Before that
the people whom she had studied in fourth
grade last year as'Heroes of Our History:
Martin Luther King, John Kennedy. Many
others, too, people not famous except by
becoming victims of random violence.
We do not walk on nearby Mount Tamalpais
anymore on Sundays because the murderer of
seven women there is still at large. -
My iistinct is to try to protect her from the
news of such violence as much as possible.
daughter have?
TV and movies show her that the grownups'
world is full of gunplay. If she wakes up at
night and we're watching the TV in the living
room, the story is almost surely violent. On
children's programs grownups act daffy and
things always come out all right in the end. On
grownup shows people kill, scream, cry and
do painful, horrible things to each other.
TV stories are fiction, she knows. But don't
they bear a secret message: that to grow up is
to move from "happily-ever-after" to
mayhem and death?
"Will they lock up John Hinckley for life?"
she asks. "I think they should. But why don't
they also lock up people who shoot whales or
wolves?" She has a wolf record and can sing,
along with it the way she can with John Len-
non's music.
I open the book we have started, a version
of the Greek myths. I read of Prometheus,,
how he made man, gave him the gift of fire.
and was punished for that by the gods.
"He should not have given it to him," says-
my child. "See what happened?" IL
Next comes Pandora who, because of im-
patience, loosed the evils on the world. "And
they're still out there," she says.
"Yes. They are. But we have only begun to'
read the great myths," I say, with the ritual
kiss banishing all the evils, Wishing away all
the terrors and remembering that with fire
the gods gave humankind the-most powerful
gift of all, which is compassion.
HOW DO CHILDREN come to terms with the
bombardment of violence in the media?
When the mass killings at Jonestown hap-
pened I hid the papers and never watched the
news except late at night. That was too
horrible a story for someone who was then
only eight.
But still she may know, carrying the infor-
mation secretly, as I did at her age when, in
Nazi-occuipied Lithuania, a boy showed me a
mound and told me it was a mass grave from
which he had seen blood seeping. I told no
adult.
That was war. We expected it all to change
when peace came. But what hope does my
Rasa Gustaitis is an editor
California-based Pacific News
for which'she wrote this article.
of th
Service,
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
JI.#b.
A warning about the tuition box
_.....
,rHE MILWA4UKEE~ JOURNAL
To the Daily:
Wait! Don't drop your tuition
check in that convenient box in
the LSA building! You know the
one with the sign above it that
says: TUITION CHECKS HERE.
Let me save you a $5 penalty and
perhaps even a hold credit.
I was foolish to think the
University was doing me a favor
by installing a box so I would not
have to stand in line for a cashier.
Afterall, time is precious and my
payment was in a check so it
would be safe. I walked away
feeling confident my payment
would reach Student Accounts
before the hold credit date.
As it turned out, when I went to
check on the balance of my ac-
count a week later, I was infor-
med I owed a large sum and a
penalty has been assessed to my
account and I can not register on
time because I have a hold
credit!
After I was told all this, I ran
directly to Student Accounts. A
helpful young lady there told me
she had recently found out her-
self, that payments put in the box
are not picked up and entered in-
to the computer the same night as
the payments given the cashier
are. Instead, they are taken to a
bank in downtown Detroit,
processed, then the University is
notified a week to 10 days later to
key "paid" into .the student's ac-
count. I am more than willing to
pay penalties I have ear-
ned-but... !
t To ensure prompt payments
the University should do one of
the following: Either, date each
envelope on the day it was
received before sending them
downtown; so that, when the
payments are recorded, the
University can defer any penalties
and hold credits according to tfiAf
date.
Or, they could put a sign with"
large- red letters that reads-
WARNING: IF TUITION
PAYMENTS ARE DEPOSITED
IN HERE YOU RUN THE RISK
OF PAYING A LATE FEFk
AND/OR HAVING A HOLD
CREDIT ON YOUR ACCOUNT.
Thus, students will know their
account could be in jeopardy, and
can decide from this to use the
box or stand in line.
Or, lastly, the University could
get rid of the box!
-Mary Ebejer
April 4
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Fed up with Breakstone
The woes of nursing
To the Daily:
I am fed up with Marc
Breakstone! In his letter
(Daily, April 4), he warns us to be
aware of the mud-slinging which
normally takes place during the
annual Michigan Student Assem-
bly election campaigns.
Why is it that Breakstone starts
this mudslinging when he trys to
tell us that he is above it all?
Also, why is the mudslinging
seemingly directed only against
and UGLI hours, when he knows
for a fact that committees in Bur-
sley were responsible for those
accomplishments. Furthermore,
MSA and Breakstone have denied
the intellectual integrity of the
student body by not taking one
God damn policy position on the
present University budget
situation until it was too late to
have an impact this year.
It comes to mind that
To the Daily:
As employees of University
Hospital, we as Registered Nur-
ses fully endorse the proposed
strike, to commence April 8.
Of primary concern to us is the
issue of staffing and scheduling.
When we chose nursing as our
career, we were aware of the
need to work off-shifts, weeken-
ds, and holidays. We were not
We personally plan to stay in
nursing, and have both left nur
sing positions where burnout was
prevalent, for more stable
positions. Our first concern is for
quality patient care, but we ask;
"how long can a skilled;
exhausted nurse function
safely?"
The Professional Nurse Coun-
cil's stance on this issue is to have
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