U
OPINION
Page 4 Saturday, October 18, 1980 The Michigan Daily
tgMiigan tlg
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCI, No. 39 420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
A way not to get student
control of the Union
Higgins
3
I
T HOSE ASSOCIATED with the Mich-
igan Student Assembly some-
times seem to treat their powers and.
responsibilities, such as they are, the
way newborn babies handle those little
mobiles that dangle over their cribs:
reverence at first, evolving into glee as
they discover their ability to
manipulate the colorful plastic
baubles.
The particular infants at issue here
are the members of the Permanent In-
terviewing Committee, an MSA sub-
body. The PIC at the moment is caught
up in selecting student representatives
to a committee working on the
renovation of the Michigan Union. The
way PIC has been going about that
task has opened its members up to
considerable criticism, much of which
appears justified.
Jeff Lebow, a rejected applicant for
a renovation committee position, says
his political attitudes cost him the spot.
That claim would seem to jibe with the
fact that Lebow's credentials indicate
that he is highly qualified.
He has served as head of the Union
Programming Committee and has
worked effectively with the Office of
Student Services to effect student
goals. In short, Lebow knows his way
around, and he has developed connec-
tions in the administration that would
have served the students well.
PIC is aiming to stack the renovation
committee with student represen-
tatives who support exclusive student
control of the Union. That may initially
appear to be a sound proposal, but the
administration wants faculty and
alumni control, too, and PIC's hard-
line chauvinism may hurt the efforts of
students to procure governing
positions.
Lebow's fault, of course, is that he
does not support exclusive student con-
trol of the Union. For that reason, his
voice would have had some
moderation on those of his fellow
students and perhaps might have got-
ten the administration to consider the
student view more openly. Yet, for that
same reason, Lebow's application was
denied.
That's how it is with power, though.
Those babies' mobiles can end up
looking abused indeed.
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YELL ME, DQ4 W AV 6UGH
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AtAMUNITION TO LAST US TH ROUC(
CEASE-FRS?
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Waffling on hazing incident
v ;Qh sure, Ron! And next
you'll vote for ERA, right?
F ALL THE cheap tricks. Ronald;
Reagan, in a panic over his low
standing in the polls among the
nation's women, has extended an olive
branch to those who imagine that
women deserve equal rights. For the
first time in the history of the
American presidential campaign, a
major party candidate has promised to
appoint a woman to the Supreme
Court, should a current justice retire.
Reagan is a hypocrite. He has an
abominable record and platform on
women's issues. He has mouthed pret-
ty promises to women ever since he
announced his candidacy for the
Republican nomination, but never has
endorsed the simple addition to the
Constitution that would hasten and
secure equality: the Equal Rights
Amendment. In fact, he has stridently
and stupidly opposed it.
In pledging to appoint a female high
court justice, Reagan has brought the
1980 campaign to a new zenith of two-
facedness. The promise is as absurd as
one from Simon Legree to emancipate
the slaves would have been. What
about your record, Ron?
Of course, the Republican candidate
still says he intends to appoint justices
whose views on social matters parallel
his own. Good luck to him in finding an
educated woman who opposed the
ERA. He may have a very difficult
time of it.
To the Daily:
An Open Letter to
Harold Shapiro
I am outraged and disgusted
over the actions of the Michigan
,hockey players and over the waf-
fling and lack of ethical leader-
ship displayed by the athletic
director and the University ad-
ministration in the recent, nearly
disastrous, hazing of freshman
team members.
I demand public accountability
for the perpetrators of the crimes
(contrary to Canham's view,
there are actions short of murder
that are criminal). Some vague
talk about "community service"
L ibertarians
fo the Daily :
The Libertarian Party of
Michigan endorses Proposal D,
the Tisch Tax Cut Amendment,
and is the only political party to
endorse this proposal. Liber-
tarians feel it is about time to
"cut the fat" and waste out of big
state government and return'
more money to the overburdened
taxpayers of Michigan.
California's Proposition 13,
whichpassed in 1978, was the best
thing that ever happened to the
California economy. Five hun-
dred thousand new jobs were
created in the private sector.
Unemployment in California
dropped below the national
average, inflation dropped below
the national average, and $14
billion that formerly had gone for
taxes was retained by the tax-
payers of the state of California
annually. And California's $5
billion budget surplus became a
$2.5 billion surplus after
Proposition 13. Therefore, the
"fat" was cut out of California
state government, and without
harming essential government
services.
The same thing will occur in
simply will not do. Although the
athletic department is
platitudinously "deploring" it in
all the media, it is obvious to me
that the department and the
University would like nothing
better than to hush up this in-
cident and to write it off as a
"boys-will-be-boys" prank,
rather than to hold themselves
and the offending players sin-
cerely and publicly responsible
for a frighteningly ugly oc-
currence.
Such cover-up itself borders on
the criminal. If this had hap-
pened in any other context, those
responsible would have been
locked up. Instead, an attempt
endorse
.D'
Michigan with the passage of the
Tisch Amendment, Proposal D.
In contrast, Proposals A and C
will only reshuffle the tax struc-
ture and will not decrease ary
taxes whatsoever. In fact, with
today's inflation, Proposals A
and C will actually be large tax
increases within the next twenty
four months.
Two years ago the Headlee
Amendment-intended to give us
(the taxpayers) some relief-was
passed. Once the state Congress
got their hands on it, however,
the Headlee Amendment was
"watered down" until it offered
no tax breaks at all. The Tisch
Amendment, specifically worded
to keep it out of the deceitful han-
ds of these people, will not allow
this to happen.
If you are a truly concernced
taxpayer, you will vote for
Proposal D, the Tisch Tax Cut
Amendment, and against
Proposals A and C on November
4. This may be our last chance to
reduce the tremendous burden of
taxation we face as taxpayers in
the state of Michigan.
-Dr. James Hurrell
October 15
has been made, predictably, to
discredit Mr. Krahnke, the
Markley Resident Adviser (Ann
Arbor News, 16 October), whose
version I am far more inclined to
believe than that of either the
perpetrators or the victims, all of
whom have a vested interest in
down-playing the incident.
A 19-year-old kid, who has the
'dubious distinction of having
made the team, is not about to
jeopardize his standing among
his newly acquired teammates or
his omnipotent athletic depar-
tment for the sake of putting a
stop once and for all to the
brutality and systematic
humiliation which characterize
hazing. Chances are the victim
himself will be joining in lustily
next year when a new crop of
players arrives on the scene.
Thus is idiocy perpetuated.
My 11-year-old son is an avid
Michigan hockey fan, and has
recently joined the Ann Arbor
Amateur Hockey Association
with the hope one day of being
able to play with the Michigan
team. He read the report of this
disgraceful incident in two
newspapers, and was appalled
and bewildered. Will he be
shameful
devoting his young enthusiasm in
the next few years to an ambition
to join an irresponsible athletic
department which blithely
recruits and then does not super-
vise ignorant juveniles who don't
know the difference between
"testing the strength and en-
durance" of a team member and
indulging their own sadism, and
whose directors tacitly condone
their actions by protecting them
and by putting success at the
ticket office above the safety and
integrity of their teams? What a
fine display of values and true
excellence for the alumni who
support and send their children to
Michigan !
If the University does not
require these people to take full
public responsibility for their ac-
tions, they will have learned
nothing from all of this. And I, for
one, will cease to support
Michigan athletics. I simply
could not bring myself to cheer
for a team which, without a
qualm, engages in such
bestiality.
Shame on them all, and shame
on the University!
-Gerlinde Findlay-Lindy,
October 179
Racism,
fascism neglected
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On competent prosecution
To the Daily:
It was all quite amazing that
the Thursday, October 9 Daily
editorial "France's Jews Under
Fire" appeared on the same page
as the letter to the editor entitled
"On Politics and Memory." I use
the term "amazing" because as
the Daily printed that letter, it
once again failed to do its
homework. The editorial failed to
take into account not only the
resurgence in recent years of
European Fascism, but also the
overt racist philosophy of the
groups and organizations on the
right in Europe. Instead, the
editors ended on this note: Let's
"investigate" the Palestine
Liberation.Organization in order
to see whether it is "inspiring"
right wing terrorist activity in
Europe.
To this I reply, What do the
editors know or have to say about
the history of these groups
by themselves? Do not the editors
realize that these groups have as
their targets not only Jews
(Zionist.-and non-Zionist alike)
but alsoimmigrant groups such
as Blacks and South Asians
(Great Britain), Algerians
(France), and Turks and
ERA is econ
To the Daily:
How can politicians seeking
iipi nn in Nnvprm hpr withdrawu
Palestinians (Germany)? No, I
don't believe that the editors
have any idea of where these
groups are coming from
politically or whom their
proclaimed enemies are.
Perhaps for us Nor-
thamericans the most frightening
aspect of this sort of journalism is
that it neglects racism here at
home. The Ku Klux Klan has seen
quite a resurgence in the past few
years, and its use of the term an-
ti-semitism applies not only to
Jews but to Arab-Americans as
well. Recent attacks on Afro-
Americans have increased to the
point that no one can ignore the
Klan any longer. What will the
Daily have to say when the KKK
unleashes itself against
American Jews? Will more
allusions be made to , the
Palestinians? Perhaps then the
Klan will be examined in the con-
-text of U.S. society.
Pulling the red herring of the
PLO in front of its readers, the
Daily successfully neglects the
issues of racism and fascism in
the world today, and this is a
disservice to everyone.
-Louis Head
October 15
1omic issue
tribution is recognized by ..
guarantee of equal rights in the
Constitution.
j
mm
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to
County Prosecuting Attorney
William Delhey's comments in
your paper regarding the Ann
Arbor killings (Daily, Oct. 4).
Prosecutor Delhey stated that
"girls" who drove around at
night land who lived in apartment
complexes were in danger of
being followed home and mur-
dered. The prosecutor's solution
is that "girls" should stay home
on Saturday nights.
Maybe Prosecutor Delhey does
not realize that if young women
are in danger, we are all in
danger. The solution for violent
crimes is not for us all to stay
someone could commit murder in
Washtenaw County without
worrying too much about the con-
sequences.
Our society would be better
protected by competent
prosecution of rapists and mur-
ders than it is by the overzealous
prosecution of University football
ticket scalpers. Our tax dollars
would be better used by
prosecutions of rapists, con-
sumer frauds, larcenists, and
major criminals than ticket
scalpers, welfare mothers, and
other petty criminals whose suc-
cessful convictions make the
prosecutor's statistics look very
good.l
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