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OPINION
Page 4
Tuesday, November 9, 1982
The MichiganI
Daily
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. XCIII, No. 53 Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Sinclair
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Class reunion
T HE CLASS OF '72 gathered for a
reunion this weekend and all the
old favorites came. Class clown
Ronald Ziegler was ,there. So was
Charles Colson, most likely to run over
his own grandmother. The class
couple, H.R. Haldeman and John
Ehrlichman, were invited, but only
Haldeman showed up. The guest of
honor was, of course, Richard Nixon-
most likely to succeed.
The reunion, held in downtown
Washington, D.C., was for those in-
volved with the 1972 landslide election
of President Richard Nixon. "It's not a
Watergate reunion," said one of the
organizers. "We're just going to get
together and tell stories."
And what stories they could have
told-tales of skullduggery, fraudulen-
ce, and deceit that only a group of ex-
convicts could,muster.
But the Nixon gang has already told
its story in the endless series of books
that capitalized on the Watergate
Staying away
,v aF OR THE FIRST TIME IN
months, the United States has
agreed to meet with the Soviet Union in
Madrid A to continue negotiations on
East-West cooperation.
A breakthrough in the Cold War?
Hardly. The latest U.S. position is only
a continuation of the Reagan ad-
ministration's hostile policies toward
the U.S.S.R. As the administration
acknowledges, the new U.S. position
will result neither in a new agreement
with the Soviets nor in any, actual
negotiations.
The problem is that the Reagan ad-
ministration, while technically
agreeing to resume negotiating with
the Soviets, said it would do so only un-
der a number of new conditions.
Among these are de ands that the
Soviet Union stop jamming radio
signals from the West and that the
Soviet leadership allow free trade
unions-two demands which the
Soviets will not accept.
The United States is, in effect,
calling for negotiations it doesn't want.
The actual call for negotiations was
necessary because of pressure from
:the European allies, administration
sources say. Nevertheless, the ad-
ministration had convinced those allies
that, because of Soviet actions on
Poland and in other areas of the world,
real-life negotiations are not desirable..
Hence the conditions.
break-in. For the reunion, they decided
to forego the sordid past and stick to
selective nostalgia. Those specialists
at cover-ups spent the entire reunion
covering up all memories except those
of past achievements.
Smiling through a weekend of
reminiscence, however, cannot ob-
scure the truth for either Nixon or the
nation. Time has - not erased the
memories-the Class of '72 was an in-
sidious, petty bunch who did their best
to make a mockery of the American
political system. Instead of paying the
price for their actions, they seem to be
reaping the spoils of their misdeeds-
without admitting that they did
anything wrong.
It's not.that the Class of '72 doesnt
deserve a reunion. It's just that they
deserve a more appropriate setting
than the plush confines of the Marriott
Hotel.
Perhaps the introspective austerity
of Alcatraz would do.
from Madrid
The administration's position con-
tradicts the very spirit of the Helsinki
Accords, which the Madrid talks were
supposed to update. The Reagan ad-
ministration acts as if it alone opposes
the Soviet Union's shameful op-
pression of human rights. It acts as if
the notion of talking with the Soviets is
useless because the Soviets are com-
pletely unreasonable.
The U.S. position is a dismal
misreading of the purposes of
negotiations and of the intentions of
those wanting to ease hostilities bet-
ween the superpowers. The Reagan
administration has no monopoly on op-
position to Soviet oppression.
Everyone outside the Soviet Union-
with the exception of a few political
fringe, groups-vigorously condemns
the Soviets for their record on human
rights. The difference between Reagan
and many of these people is not in per-
ception of the Soviets, but in the an-
swers they propose.
For Reagah, the answer to the
Soviets is continued self-righteous
hostility-no matter what the costs.
But that answer is wrong. The answer
to Soviet oppression is not an arms
race, or draft registration, or any one
of a hundred different tantrums the
administration has thrown. The an-
swer lies in Madrid-at the negotiating
table.
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
'Ripping off'students Canham-style
To the Daily:
Michael Hoffman's letter
criticizes the Michigan Athletic
Department - for scheduling
basketball home games during
the Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and spring student breaks ("Free
scrimmage 'too little, too late,'''
Daily, Nov. 5). While the Athletic
Department deserves criticism
on many fronts, this certainly is
not one of them.
The Big Ten conference is en-
trusted with formulating the
home and away conference
schedule for each of its member
colleges. The athletic departmen-
ts of these institutions ha
tually no input into the cot
ce scheduling process an
are notified by the Big Ter
location and date of eac
ference game.
Given the fact that s
vacations occur in the mi
the basketball season,
inevitable that some gam
be scheduled over a brea
fortunately for Michigan:
ty ticket-holders, the India
Ohio State games fall ov
year's spring break. I ar
that the Athletic Departr
just as upset as Mr. H
ve vir-
nferen-
d they
n of the
h con-
student
ddle of
xit is
es will
ak. Un-
studen-
na and
er this
mn sure
ment is
offman
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over this situation.
The 'Athletic Department
ought to be criticized, however,
for the fact that it charges
students for basketball, foot-
ball, and other sporting tickets.
University students, granted, are
able to purchase season tickets at
shalf-price. But many other
universities allow their studen-
ts to attend home games for free,
distributing individual tickets to
them by lottery before each
game.nTheaUniversity of North
eCarolina, a top football and
basketball power, is the most
prominent example of this
method.
Mr. Canham argues that it is
necessary to charge students for
tickets. Most of the revenues
derived from student ticket sales,
he states, are used for the main-
tenance of the intramural
athletic program. Since Mr.
Canham has steadfastly refused
to document his assertion, I find
this argument very difficult to
believe.
At a time when tuition and.
room/board fees are increasingly
rapidly, student loans are being
cut back, department stipends
are virtually disappearing, etc.,
the Athletic Department ought to
give students a break in the form
of abolition of the student ticket
fees.
With the increasing public
demand for Michigan athletic
tickets, it is highly possible that
the revenue lostcfrom such a
change in policy could be madeW
up by increasing general-ticket
prices. For example, this past
year Michigan football tickets
went up by $2. The demand by the
public for tickets, however,
reached an unprecedented level.
It is time that Don Canham stops
ripping off University students.
-Kenneth Jakubowski
November 8
Anti-engineering bias.
To the Daily:
As an electrical engineering
student, I was disturbed by the
tone of Ellen Lindquist's letter
("Engineers are human, too,"
Daily, Nov. 4). She wrote, "Cer-
tainly it is no matter to be
already overrun by miniature-
robot-engineers, but it does seem
something of a mistake to strip
them of the little dignity, er,
humanity, they possess.
Engineers, whether or not
anyone knows it, are human too.
Let's not completely dehumanize
humanity, or, for that matter,
engineers.."
The anti-engineer bias shown in
this letter is distressing. We are
not all stringy-haired, bespec-
tacled nerds wearing our
trousers two inches above our
ankles. Nor are we money-mad
monsters out to deper-
sonalize-or nuke-society.
Engineers apply practical
knowledge to make matter and
energy useful to humans. Some of
this work is used for constructive
purposes, and some, unfor-
tunately, as with anything
touched by humans, Is used in
destructive ways. I have wrestled
personally with the anti-
technical stereotypes for
several years, but am now proud
of the profession after working
with engineers this summer. Like
many people, Ms. Lindquist ap-
parently hates computers. I
submit that the one nuisance
greater than CRISPing through a
computer would be registering
without one,
In response to the main point of
the letter, the possible
elimination of the humanities
program in the College of
Engineering, this would not mean
the elimination of humanities
requirements for engineering
degrees. Moreover, although my
present humanities class is very
enjoyable and stimulating, and I
hate to see any problem excised,
the University is facing budget
problems. Engineers could still
take advantage of LSA offerings
if the humanities department
were cut. The absence of this
department would be less painful
than the absence of, for example,
geography.
I am an engineer because I
believe that this is the best way
for me to use my particular gifts
to serve humanity. I urge Ms.
Lindquist also to use her
knowledge of English respon-
sibly, with respect for reason,
toward the same end. We must all
cooperate to ensure that
technology-as well as other
human achievements, skills, and
resources-is used for good.
-Deborah Yoon
November 4
.. .is misinformed
To the Daily:
Regarding the letter from
Ellen Lindquist ("Engineers are
human, too," Daily, Nov. 4),
methinks the lady is misinfor-
med. It is true that the College of
Engineering is considering
eliminating its humanities depar-
tment, but this does not mean
that we would stop taking
humanities courses. Instead of
trying to duplicate LSA's
humanities department in the
College of Engineering, we would
take the courses that LSA of-
fers-the same way we curren-
tly take chemistry, physics, and
math through LSA.
So you see, we wouldn't be
dehumanized. On the contrary,
we would be exposed to a broader
variety of people than we are
now by taking more courses with6
non-engineers. Who knows, we
may even be able to persuade
some of them that we are not
"miniature-robot-engineers" in-
tent on destroying the world in a
nuclear war.
-Susan Vera-Hampshire
November 5
Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side of
this page represent a majority opinion of the Daily's
Editorial Board. Letters and columns represent the
opinions of the individual author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the attitudes or beliefs of the Daily,
Wasserman
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