OPINION
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Thursday, October 23, 1980
The Michigan Daily
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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. XCI, No. 43
Ann Arbor, M1 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
The first real punishment
Tisch nightmare is for real
By Wilfred Kaplan
UNIVERSITY Athletic Director
Don Canham may want to forget
the October 12 hazing incident, but
events just don't want to cooperate
with him.
Late last week, Canham levied the
punishments he deemed appropriate in
response to the hazings that members
of the hockey team administered to
several freshman players-he ordered
all team members to stay out of local
bars and suspended three team leaders
from last weekend's games. Those
sanctions, he thought, should lay the
matter to rest.
On Tuesday night, however,° the
Michigan Student Assembly vowed to
investigate the athletic department's
handling of the hazing incident.
And yesterday it was learned that
two hockey players have quit the
team-one of them a starring veteran
and the other a principal victim of the
hazing.
The veteran-Bruno Baseotto-cites
as a major reason for his decision to
quit the bad press that the hockey team
has received. The freshman-who was
made sick with alcohol, shaved of his
genital hair, and left naked in freezing
weather-said yesterday academic
problems were behind his decision.
Certainly it is unfortunate that these
two players have chosen to quit the
hockey team. Their departure will hurt
team morale at least as much as it will
impair offense or defense.
. In another sense, however, the loss
of these players might serve some
auspicious purpose-it could be enough
to end once and for all the long-
standing hockey team tradition of
hazing freshman team members.
Don Canham has been unwilling to
deliver the shock necessary to purge
the team of this brutality: The brief
suspensions of three players and the
imposed prohibition are short-term
punishments at best.
But the resignations of the two
players-even if not directly sparked
by the hazing incident-will not be soon
forgotten by team members.
They might now realize that."boys-
will-be-boys" behavior can lead to
some very adult consequences.
On November 4, voters will be faced with
three proposed tax-related amendments to
the Michigan constitution. Many civic leaders
are profoundly concerned about the effects of
these "tax reforms" on state operations. The
governor recently made public a contingency
budget in response to possible passage of one
amendment: Proposal D, the Tisch amen-
dment, which would slash property taxes and
force the state government to bear the main
burden of the reduction.
On campus, the interest in the amendments
has remained low, as evidenced by the tur-
nout of 20 persons on Oct. 4 for a well-
publicized forum on the issues featuring
three prominent speakers. It appears that
students, faculty, and staff either regard the
questions as unimportant or else assume that
voters will obviously make the right decisions
and that the University community can relax
and carry on business as usual.
THESE ATTITUDES ARE astonishing in
view of the tax revisions proposed and their
consequences and in view of passage of one
such revision (the Headlee amendment) two
years ago.
The governor's contingency budget in-
cludes such steps as a 75 percent reduction in
the State Police, removing 7,000 inmates of the
present 9,700 from state mental institutions,
and denial of all state support for higher
education with the exception of The University
of Michigan, Michigan State University, and
Wayne State University (the three of which
would receive only 50 percent of the present
level of state support). Thus the T isch amen-
dment; if passed, would lead to closing of most
of the state's 4-year colleges and universities.
and staggering increases in tuition at those
which would remain open. Furthermore, all
state-funded scholarships would be
eliminated.
THE SUPPORTERS OF the Tisch amen-
dment argue that the picture is not that bleak,
that the dramatic reductions in local property
taxes in Proposal D would so stimulate the
Michigan economy that the state government
would soon recoup its losses. The uncertainty
about whether this is true and how long it
would take for recovery to occur is so great
that one can only regard Proposal D as a huge
gamble involving a catastrophic undermining
of state operations. It comes at a time when
the state revenues have already slipped so
badly that the legislature could not adopt a
budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1
of this year.y
To make matters worse, Proposal D does
not fully compensate local governments for
reduced property taxes. It is estimated that in
the first year of a "Tisch era," local gover-
nments would lose almost $1 billion in
revenue, and thereafter at least $300 million
annually. On October 13, Mayor Belcher of
Ann Arbor called the prospects "gruesome."
THE OTHER TWO tax proposals are inten-
ded to change the modes of taxation, giving
some property tax relief and increasing other
taxes to ensure that state and local revenues
remain adequate. Proposal A, developed by
Representatives Perry Bullard and Roy
Smith, has the effect of reducing some local
property taxes-especially for
education-and requiring the state both to
make up for the losses by increasing state
taxes (probably raising the income tax from
141
a
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III
At last, they'll debate
M ONTHS OF MINOR squabbling
preceded the hard-fought finale.
One of the adversaries wanted to meet
face-to-face just before the ultimate
showdown, the other wanted the face-
off to be held some time earlier.
The participants, one a farmer, the
other a sometime cowhand, were also
at odds over who should handle the
weaponry. Early suggestions that they
fire directly at each other were
dismissed out of hand. Both preferred
to be shot at by disinterested third par-
ties.
A bizarre scene in a shoot-em-up?
Not exactly. The problem is the long-
delayed presidential debate to be held
between candidates Jimmy Carter and
Ronald Reagan. Though both men
claimed to want the same thing-a
chance to show the other up-the
struggle to arrange the thing up made
the Panama Canal treaty look like a
piece of cake.
Reagan clung for a long time to his
Sdemand that John Anderson be in-
cluded, hoping that the independent
would draw liberals' votes from the
incumbent president.
Carter didn't want Anderson in-
volved, explaining that he didn't see
why he should have to debate two
Republicans, one of whom was a
"creation of the media."
So Reagan and Anderson debated
alone, hoping againsts hope that the
president's belligerence would hurt
him in the polls. Carter, as always the
smart politician, seems to have made
the right decision: He was unscathed,
according to the polls, by his failure to
appear.
That spectacle out of the way, the
major party candidates were able to
get down to the business of haggling
over the minutiae of a one-on-one clash.
Carter, who concedes that his opponent
is a better public speaker, wanted to
debate this Sunday, a full nine days
before the election. That way, he
figured, he'd be able to point out any
misstatements the governor might
make and perhaps recoup his losses
in other ways. Reagan wanted the ver-
bal battle as close to November 4 as
possible so that he might put the elec-
tion away with one slick, well-polished
performance.
The specifics are now in place. Oc-
tober 28 is the day; Cleveland, the
place. The candidates will field
questions, from a panelbut will have
plenty of opportunity to rebut each
other.
But it makes you wonder: If setting
up such a simple-sounding
arrangement was such an ordeal, what
will either of the candidates be like
when it comes to preserving the peace
with some non-domestic adversary?
q
Shiawassee County Drain Commissioner Robert Tisch
4.6 percent to about 6 percent) and to ensure
essential equality of per pupil funding of K-
through-12 education across the state.
Proposal C was placed on the ballot by joint,
action of Governor Milliken and the
legislature. Its principal intent is to
significantly reduce local property taxes
(about a 40 percent reduction), while
requiring the state to cover the lost local
revenues by an increase in the state sales tax
from 4 percent to 5.5 percent. In addition,
other measures would lighten property taxes
by means, of extensions of the property tax
credit for state income taxes. State revenues
would fall below present levels (by about $300
million).
PROPOSAL A HAS been strongly suppor-
ted by the League of Women Voters and the
Michigan Education Association, Proposal C
by the governor and other state political
leaders. The Tisch proposal has wide grass-
roots support and has been endorsed by lan-
dlords, realtors, and the American Conser-
vative Union. An organization-Citizens to
Save Our State-has been 'created to coor-
dinate opposition to it, and over 50 existing
organizations have joined. In particular,
university administrations, faculty groups
such as the American Association of Univer-
sity Professors, and student governments on
the various campuse* are working hard to
educate voters on the serious consequences of
Proposal D and to encourage donations to
Citizens/SOS for a media campaign against
it.
It is important. to observe that each
proposal can be passed by a majority vote
and hence opposition to any one must be
registered by a No vote on that one.
Wake up, everybody-this nightmare is for
real!!!
Wilfred Kaplan is a professor of mathe-
matics at the' University.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
State anti-abortion bill passed slyly.
-RA
..--u-z
u~ hi
AN ARM MARK~t
WHEN~ ITS5 OVER!
To the Daily:
The Michigan National
Organizaton for Women is
greatly distraught by the inap-
propriate manner used by the
state Senate to pass a bill which
would prohibit funds for
Medicaid abortions. Senate Bill
124 originated as an eight-page
bill that would provide home
heating assistance for poor
people. On September 24, the last
day of the legislative session,-the
Senate Appropriations Commit-
tee removed those eight pages
and substituted four lines of anti-
abortion language.
Later that same night, after the
Senate had thus violated
legislative procedure and the
Michigan Constitution, the bill
passed in two hours. Such a bill
would normally take weeks or
even months to pass.
Specifically, NOW believes the
anti-abortion substitute violates
the Michigan Constitution, Ar-
ticle 4, Sections 24 and 25. Section
24 states that no law should ad-
dress more than one subject. It
goes on to say that a bill should
not be changed in any way that
will alter or change the original
purpose of the bill as "deter-
mined by the total content."
Section 25 states that all sec-
tions that are amended have to be
listed, and it is not sufficient sim-
ply to change the title of the bill.
Since, the Senate Ap-
propriations Committee totally
changed the intent of the home
heating assistance bill, certain
state senators raised the question
on the constitutionality of the an-
ti-abortion language. Lieutenant
Governor James Brickley ruled
that the abortion language was
not relevant to the original con-
tent of the bill. The state Senate,
by a 25-10 vote, overruled
Brickley's opinion.
In addition to clearly indicating
that the members of the state
Senate have little or no conern
about whether the unemployed,
those' on public assistance, the
handicapped, and senior citizens
have heat this winter, the Senate
also prohibited the use of
Medicaid funds for abortions in
cases of rape, incest, and when a
criminal act upon a minor results
in pregnancy.
Although those who tried to kill
the funding for Medicaid abor-
tions claim to be concerned about
the "right to life," it appears that
they care little about those people
who may die this winter because
they do not have the money to
heat their homes. They care little
about victims of rape and incest.
They care not at all about young
girls whose pregnancy resulted
from a criminal act.
Beyond these injustices, the
Senate defeated an amendment
that would have put back some of
the good aspects of SB 124. The
amendment would have made
funding for food, shelter, and
clothing for poor children a top
priority.
The message the senators are
sending to the citizens of
Michigan is clear-the abortion is-
sue is a political one, not one of
morality or concern for life or
quality of life. They are*,
;however, concerned about
receiving monies from a very*
powerful special interest group
whose sole issue is abortion.
Barbara Miyata, president of
Michigan NOW, says, "Such a
suspension of the rules and
violation of constitutional prin.
ciples is unconscionable. It shows
the Senate's disregard for the
quality of life in our state." She
continued, "Such a blatant show
of single-issue politics sets a
dangerous legislative precedent.
Just because poor, economiclly
disadvantaged people do not have
the financial means to influence
legislators, their voices are not
heard in Lansing."
-Sue Wagner
NOW state legislative
vice president
October 15
CSJ decision defended
To the Daily:
It was both disheartening and
disappointing to read Tuesday's
editorial (Daily, October 21) con-
demning the Central Student
Judiciary and its decision that
MSA violated its own constitution
in its recent appointment to the
U-CellarBoard. The Daily has
conveniently forgotten that the
student government of this
decisions. When MSA was
created, the All Campus Con-
stitution was written so students
could know what powers the
'Assembly had and the
procedures it would follow.
It is only through following that
constitution that MSA can
achieve any legitimacy and rise
to the level of effective represen-
tation of the students. These were
/ ~
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