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OPINION
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Page 4
Sunday, March 13, 1983
The Michigan Daily
Biggest ax yet
iimed at
School
NIVERSITY administrators were not able
to keep one of the campus' biggest secrets
under wraps for long.
Against the wishes of a key University
budget committee, the education school dean
showed her faculty the results of the school's 10
month review this week. The report is infor-
mation University officials had wanted to keep
confidential for several more weeks.
Once the faculty found out, however, the
news of a proposed elimination of un-
dergraduates, a 40 percent budget cut, and a
huge faculty reduction leaked to the Daily and
all over campus.
Not surprisingly, education professors and
administrators said they were confused, as
well as angry about the panel's conclusions.
University administration officials and the
members of the top budget committee are still
silent on the issue.
The school claims the report suffers from a
sort of schizophrenia. The first part extolls the
school's virtues, while the second part cruelly
cuts the school without saying why, they said.
As one professor put it, the school feels the plan
presented in the report takes away any chance
for the school to attain the goals the panel itself
sets.
Although all the proposals have caused con-
cern in the school, many people involved say
the hidden issue is how the University would get
rid of 30 professors. Most people see layoffs of
tenured professors looming in the future,
something the University has never done
before - something that has resulted in
lengthy legal battles when other universities
have tried it.
Reagan knows best
R EMEMBER WHEN you used to get really
pissed-off at your mother when she made
you eat your brussel sprouts before you could
have dessert? Didn't you wish you could have
challenged the cruel rule in court?
Six University of Minnesota students did just
that with a federal law operating on the same
principle, and they won. The law denied federal
financial aid to students who do not register for
the draft. Even though the government
promised good behavior would have been
rewarded with money for college along with an
option for foreign travel to such exciting places
as El Salvador and Lebanon, Judge Donald
Alsop didn't buy it.
The judge said the law is "likely to violate a
student's constitutional rights." Under the law,
a male student is required to prove he
registered before he was eligible to receive
student aid. The law thus requires self-
incrimination, Alsop said, in violation of the
Fifth Amendment.
But not only that, unlike mother's rule which
is generally applied to all, rich and poor (since
all moms want big and strong kids), the federal
rule unfairly discriminates against poor males,
since they are the one who are more likely to
need the aid (to become wise and worthy).
If Alsop's ruling is upheld, the law will un-
doubtedly be reconsidered by Congress who
will again (like mom) try to withhold some
reward to force boys to be "good."
Out of cash
JAMES BLANCHARD is finding that run-
ning the state can be expensive venture.
Now, with his coffers empty and his cupboards
bare, the governor has told the University that
its monthly ration of state aid will be late.
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the coming days. The leftist insurgents con-
tinue to make wild random attacks at op-
position strongholds. Meanwhile, the ad-
ministration-backed ruling junta will not bend,
with spurious claims of human rights im-
provements to appease a discontented
populace.
Is this El Salvador? Well, maybe. But it's 4
also Ann Arbor, and the battle is over military
research.
The student and faculty Research Policies
Committee last week concluded its six-month
discussion of the military research question
and arrived at two decisions:
" Wording in the University's policy
statement should say that professors may not
do "research the primary purpose of which is
to destroy or incapacitate human beings," in-
stead of the present more general, policy of
"the clearly forseeable and probable 4
result ... the direct application ... or any
specific purpose of which, is to destroy human
life ... ';
" No central oversight committee ahould be
created to identify unacceptable research
projects, but each school, college, and in-
stitute should develop its own method for
assuring the propriety of research.
Critics of military work find both proposals
unacceptable. They say the first weakens
University policy and the second is a hollow
gesture that will do nothing to halt im-
proprieties.
This Wednesday, the committee will sponsor
an open forum on the question, to be followed
next Monday by the faculty Senate Assembly's
consideration.
Thus far, the critics have come up with insuf-
ficient firepower to convince many ' faculty
members that research being done on cam-
pus for the Pentagon is a threat to human life.
So a plan any stronger than the present
proposal is unlikely to pass-especially if it
ever gets to the University's Regents.
The Week in Review was compiled by
Daily staff writers Barbara Misle, Kent
Redding, Bill Spindle, and Barry Witt.
-
VIII
State universities: High and dry.
In spite of appearances, word is that Blan-
chard's third month of payment deferrals in as
many months in office, is not a subtle hint that
the University should become a private in-
stitution.
What has had University officials really
worried is that the "temporary" deferrals
would become all too costly and too permanent.
Indeed, one of their fears has become realized.
President Shapiro laments that the University
will have to borrow more than $45 million, ad-
ding hundreds of thousands of dollars in in-
terest costs to its already strained budget.
Thus Blanchard's pre-election promise of
"quick action" on the state's chronic budgetry
problems has not yet materialized. His 38 per-
cent income tax hike plan, which was supposed
to spare the University huge cuts, is being
stalled by the incessant quarreling among
Republicans and Democrats in the state
Senate. Without a tax hike, the state's budget
deficit will remain at around the $1 billion
mark and University officials will continue to
have anxiety attacks around the first of the
month.
While the legislators bicker, the University
borrows and the state goes broke.
War on the home front
THE LONG AND bloody battle has raged
for almost two years now. Both sides are
entrenched, preparing for final offensives in
ie I tch aun C at
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Stewart
a
Vol. XCIII, No. 127
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Stay home
T HE NAZIS are coming. The Nazis
are coming. To arms, to arms?
No, not again. The call to confront the
S.S. Action Group - a small
organization of Neo-Nazis - at their
planned March 20 rally has gone up
again, and this time it should be
ignored completely.
Last year the same Neo-Nazis mar-
ched at the Federal Building and were
able to provoke a mini-riot with the
several thousand counter-protestors,
causing some minor injuries and
property damage. But more importan-
tly, last year's ugly incident gave the
Nazis exactly what they wanted -
publicity, and lots of it. And it wasn't
just local media coverage, it was state
and national attention focusing on a
dozen or so weirdos getting mobbed by
several thousand other weirdos.
All sorts of righteous left-wing
groups claimed "victory" for driving
the Nazis away, but the only group that
won was the Nazis. They got the atten-
tion they both need and crave and they
left an ugly mark on the city and
everyone involved in the incident.
Their wish to return only demonstrates
the hollowness of the protestors' claim
of victory.
Let the Nazis come back to Ann Ar-
bor and exercise their constitutional
rights of free speech and assembly -
but let them exercise those rights
alone. Such inaction would be the
ultimate insult, deterring national
news coverage and probably the
group's return.
Ignoring the Nazis by letting them
speak to empty streets does not mean
the people of Ann Arbor would be
ignoring the hatred and murder they
represent. It only means the people of
Ann Arbor will not sacrifice their prin-
ciples and stoop to the same type of
violent hatred that motivates this han-
dful of twisted minds.
The best way to show that our society
has advanced past the ideals that
drove Adolf Hitler is not to confront the
few who have not progressed with the
overwhelming majority. The groups
that confront the Nazis March 20 will
only be signalling a retreat from those
advances.
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Problems on RHA boycott vote
ss;<.r rj j. '
GRRORGE INS
GRRBRGF
t
To the Daily';
The incredible show of
ignorance and apathy that
plagued the last Residential Hall
Association meeting in their con-
sideration of the Campbell's
boycott issue was both
frightening and appalling. The
meeting was reminiscent of my
high school days on student coun-
cil. The lack of concern and un-
derstanding prior to the vote on
whether or not residential halls
should partake in the boycott was
very sad indeed. The lack of or-
der and logic used in coming to
their decision not to support the
boycott was beyond belief.
Campbell's has been criticised
in recent years for questionable
labor practices and in response
there has been an attempt to
form a farm workers union. In
hopes of prodding Campbell's in-
to recognizing and negotiating
with a union, a boycott of their
products was organized. RHA
was commissioned to make an
advisory decision on whether or
not to participate.
After hearing a group of
students who support the boycott
speak, and then a paid
professional from Campbell's
some weeks later, the represen-
tatives themselves decided that
they were not well-enough infor-
med to make a responsible
decision. However, in the same
breath they denied . a
knowledgeable professor the
right to speak to them.
In a mysterious mix-up
Professor John Vandermeer was
struck from the agenda and
asked to leave. He has written a
book on the subject and was
RHA's sole chance of becoming
educated on the issue prior to the
vote. Their seemingly
lackadaisical attitude and bur-
ning desire to hurry on to "more
important" matters - such as
jello-snarfs and pie throwing con-
tests - prevented this.
Trip jay.
To the Daily:
The Association Against Social
Rule Breaking (AASRB) is an-
nouncing its annual membership
raising drive for Washtenaw
County. Last year AASRB's
members were successful in sub-
stantially reducing the number of
people who take cuts in line on a
nann ..Ain.mava
Though this was largely an ad-
visory decision, the irresponsible
treatment of this important
human rights issue was hard to
stomach. I wish they would have
given it as much consideration as
they did to their deliberations on
the banquet they are going to
throw themselves. If these sup-
posed student leaders are a fair
representation of the lack of
political awareness and concern
at this university, human rights
is a hopeless cause.
- Ludovico Provenzano
March 10
-walkers
bal harassment, vigorous finger-
pointing, and other severe forms
of chastisement. Other forms of
deviant behaviour targeted by
AASRB are double parking,
taking too long with the bank
teller, wearing mirrored sun-
glasses, and driving into the exit
ramn and nut ,of the n..d...nn __
Krell's chutzpah
To the Daily:
the Daily would be much better
reading if they did.
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