OPINION
Page 4
Tuesday, November 16, 1982
From the
heart:
Downing the goa
By Michael Arkush
M Y FORMAL graduation took
place in 1980, a~~eremony
full of excitement and encour-
agement. President Harold
Shapiro gave a standard pep talk,
rallying us to tackle the "real world,"
while each of us marveled at our ability
to survive four years of the easy life.
But Saturday, I realized that
graduation is a shallow, meaningless
term, not dictated by a degree or cer-
tificate. Sooner or later, of course,
everyone-well, maybe not
everyone-must conclude his un-
dergraduate years. And, to be sure, on-
ce alumnus status is granted, you can
forever claim part ownership over your
alma mater.
BUT FOR ME, on this last football
Saturday of the fall, I found out the
meaning of that ownership. It does not
come from dues to the Alumni
Association or from fame and fortune;
it comes from the heart.
And it had nothing to do with the foot-
ball game itself. Oh, it was an im-
pressive victory with the inevitable
dose of Anthony Carter dramatics. Car-
ter has provided so many thrills over
the years that it would have been in-
decent for him not to score a touchdown
the last time he touched a ball in
Michigan Stadium. Anyway, a Rose
Bowl berth is enough to make any
alumnus come home to reclaim his
heritage.
But it was after the game that I
discovered my bond with the University
of Michigan transcends the two years
I've spent in the "real world." As ex-
pected, the masses swarmed over the
field even before the gun sounded.
Another fellow graduate and myself
darted over to congratulate the players,
and just to touch them (I refuse to over-
come my problem with hero worship).
WHEN THAT TASK was completed,
it was time to bring cown the goal post.
It took some doing-I suspect that Don
Canham made them tougher to tear
down-but we got one near the student
section down. Then, about 15 of us star-
ted carrying it, just a simple form of
celebration. We paraded around the
field yelling "Rose Bowl" over and
over. The crowd loved it, admiring our
dedication and zeal, but abstaining
from joining us.
Usually, that kind of post-game wild-
ness would run its course. But the
momentum of our actions swept us
quicker than any of us could imagine.
Suddenly, we found ourselves-we had
not one leader, but 15 co-
leaders-carrying the post to the top of
the stadium. A police officer stopped us
from heaving it over, but we remained
firm in doing something, anything, with
it; it was too priceless to abandon, and
after going this far, it was too late to
stop.
So we brought it through a gate and
took it on to the streets of Ann Arbor,
chanting "Hail to the Victors" and
"Goal post, goal post." Straight up
Hoover, left on State, and finally a right
on South University. Somewhere along
the trip-I'm not sure who said it; no
vote was taken-we decided to bring
the post to President Shapiro's house.
AS WE went on our mission, a
strange sense of unity developed. I had
never met these guys, and most of them
were probably freshmen or
sophomores; I'm 24. And yet, I felt a
special attachment to them. Michigan
had brought these 15 people together to
bring a goal post tothehouse of the
school's president. It may sound im-
mature and childish, but at the time it
seemed like a necessary step to prove
our devotion and solidarity with our
school.
A couple of times, we even had a
chance to chat a little about ourselves.
At no point did I find the venture rowdy
and~ destructive. To tell the truth, I
don't remember ever thinking about its
possible implicatons-Good Lord, what
if we had knocked down a traffic light?
When we reached the Shapiro estate,
we put the post beside his front door,
almost like a barricade. Fortunately,
one of the mighty 15 had a pen, so
everyone signed the post. We were
about to leave it there when Shapiro
arrived home with his wife. He had a
nervous smile on his face. Did he think
we were members of the nuclear freeze
movement? Still, he joined in our
celebration, posing with us for a pic-
ture. He didn't say much, but we didn't
care-it was our party.
AS I SIGNED the post, I realized that
I was a member of the Class of '80, not
'83 or '84 or '85 or '86, as the others had
marked. For a few precious minutes, I
had forgotten.
Arkush, a former Daily editor,
currently is a reporter for The Flint
Journal.
President Shapiro greets a goal post and sev
Michael Arkush (with moustache, to the righ
Saturday.
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Sinclair
Vol. XCIII, No. 59
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
The price of freedom
The Michigan Daily
Spost!
a
Doily Photo by JEFF SCHRER
erai Michigan fans, including
t of Shapiro) at his front door ..
TIS YEARSOCIAL
SECURI" UJILL
TAy POtBlLUO
DOLAftS To HOUSEHOLDS
W T INCOMES OF
MORE...
'V.
uthpiece
you have sided.
Indeed, in the future you
should-in the interests of truth
in advertising-change your
slogan from "Ninety-three Years.
of Editorial Freedom" to "Ser-
vile Mouthpiece of the Ad-
ministration Since 1889." It would
be much more honest.
-Jon Bekken
November 13
Dior at 'U'
when considering how unaware
most of us are of our own
behavior. "Forgive them, they
know not what they do," seems
applicable here. Human being'
are a most dangerous sort of
animal when in a mob. I see this
as no less evident in historical ins
stances of mob behavior-World
War I, World War II, and all othef.
wars-than on the part of these
well-dressed, but ill-mannered,
hooligans.
English Prof. Sandor Goodhart
would say this was an example of
mimetic behavior and that mk
supposed friend was acting in ac
cordance with the perceived
behavior of others. Yet it seems
to me worse than that. We most
often support each other on the
P RESIDENT Reagan is never one
to hide his patriotic fervor. He
constantly lectures the nation on the
strength of our democracy, on the
value of our liberties. He proudly calls
America the "last, best hope of
mankind."
We agree.
That's why it's so painful to watch
the Reagan administration undermine
that hope by encroaching on a most
vital freedom-the public's right to in-
formation.
In his first 21 months in office, the
president has taken several steps to
reduce the availability of information
on everything from the economy to
public health. Classifying more data,
firing statisticians, and eliminating
public service publications are the
president's methods for shutting the
public out of the government's inner
workings.
Ostensibly, the president is cutting
back access to save money. Assistant
Attorney General Jonathan Rose sums
up the Reagan philosophy: "Freedom
of information is not cost free," he
says. "It is not an absolute good."
But by reducing access to infor-
mation, the Reagan administration is
up to absolutely no "good" at all.
Saving money hardly seems to be
Reagan's motivation. The cost of tur-
ning out pamphlets and data probably
equals about five minutes of interest on
paying for a submarine. And at the
same time the president is denying in-
formation to Americans, he is beefing
up propaganda organs directed at
overseas countries.
Reagan should start to live up to
some of the traditions he so vocally
espouses. The American Way consists
of more than Mom, apple pie, and
Chevrolets. It's a tradition that fosters
freedom, no matter the cost. In fact,
except for times of war and other
crises, America has been willing to pay
any price to safeguard its liberties.
Freedom does not run cheap; but on-
ce it's gained, freedom is the dearest
possession to lose. If Reaganomics
proposes to restrict information as a
money-saving measure, it soon will be
revealed as a morally bankrupt policy.
Destroying that freedom will put
Reagan-and the coun-
try-irrevocably into debt.
i
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Daily: Anti-union, servile mc
"THANK YOU, THANKYOU - 1 APPRECIATE
YOUR VOTE OF CONFIPENCE -mTANK YOU-
a .
f
'A I
To the Daily:
Your issue of Nov. 11 contained
yet another salvo in the assault
you haverbeen mounting against
the Graduate Employees
Organization and GEO members
who have been fighting for a fair
contract.
This assault-carried out in
both your news and editorial
pages-is one of the most poorly-
concealed anti-union campaigns I
have ever encountered (outside
the unabashedly anti-labor
cove'rage of such journals as the
National Review). Not only has
your reporter, Glen Young, con-
sistently distorted, misrepresen-
ted and lied (as in your Nov. 5
issue) about GEO and its ac-
tivities, you have turned your
editorial pages over to libelous
(and unfounded) attacks upon
myself and other GEO activists
on a consistent'basis.
This letter is but another in a
long series of responses attem-
pting to set the record straight. I
and other members of the union
have submitted the responses,
and the Daily has consistently
refused to print them. I will not
be surprised if this letter joins the
growing pile of letters the Daily
refused to print which expose the
,alvs nti-union camn-
blatant falsification of the
results-in the interest of moving
forward toward: a new contract.
However, the fact remains that
on Sunday, Oct. 31, when the
counting was to have been com-
pleted, there were close to 350
valid ballots which had been
counted, and only 118 of those
ballots had been cast in favor of
the contract.
The 30 ballots which were later
counted (including ballots which
had been challenged, and ballots
dropped off at the locked GEO
drop box in the LSA lobby); were
the only ballots counted in the ab-
sence of'our observers. We do not
know how they were cast.
Some time between Sunday,
Oct. 31 and Thursday, Nov. 4, the
number of yes votes increased
from 118 to 143 and the total num-
ber of valid ballots declined to
less than 330.
So, although it is true (as Hor-
stman claims) that the estimated
vote count in the Membership for
a Fair Contract leaflet was based
on a partial count, the fact
remains that the Elections Com-
mittee has a good deal of ex-
plaining to do if it wishes people
to take its claims seriously.
But Horstman's lies and
misreoresentations are minor
paycheck.
An earlier letter-one of the
many letters from GEO activists
which you have refused to
print-asked, rhetorically,
"Which side are you on?" Your
consistently inaccurate and anti-
union coverage, combined with
your policy of making the letters
section available to anti-union
forces while closing it to GEO ac-
tivists, makes it clear with whom
Mob behav
To the Daily:
I am not usually one to trouble
over trifling incidents, troubled
as I am about life, death, etc. But
I just experienced something
most appalling and frightening
on campus.
I was walking along as usual on
my own street when I was con-
fronted with the sight of a swarm
of fraternity boys in suits ind
short hair, all crammed together
in order to have their picture
taken. When I dared look over my
shoulder at the not exactly
seething, but certainly infernal,
mob, I was accosted by a round of
heckles, jeers, and otherwise ob-
scene protestations of my looking
at the group.
Certainly one expects this sort