4 OPINION The Michigan Daily Page 4 Tuesday, October 18, 1983 Sinclair Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCIV-No. 36 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board U.S. acid rain policy poison O NCE AGAIN the Reagan admin- istration has displayed a dismaying lack of results in combating a deadly environmental problem - acid rain. Once again Reagan's policy actions speak louder than his words. The latest round of U.S. negligence involves talks with Canadian officials on joint efforts by the two nations to reduce pollution levels in North America. The two nations agreed to lower phosphorous pollutants in the Great Lakes by 15 percent. But the U.S. and Canadian gover- nments are far apart on acid rain. It is the Reagan policy that needs to change. Canadian officials and scientists around the world recognize the debilitating effects acid rain can have on plant and animal life. Almost every expert, save those "experts" in the Reagan administration, agree that acid rain is now a global problem. According to University Natural Resources Prof. David Hales acid rain soon may make reforestation in cer- tain areas of Europe impossible. Hales was one of many international experts who attended the First International Biosphere Reserve Congress in Minsk, U.S.S.R. two weeks ago. Hales argues that the United States has to change its "out of sight, out of mind mentality" and help curtail sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain. Amazingly, administration officials contend they haven't been more active in fighting acid rain because the issue is too controversial. That's because some of Reagan's biggest supporters - the corporate board members in in- dustry - are the polluters who bring us acid rain. Their power plants burn high sulfur coal and dump it into the at- mosphere where the chemical changes take place, producing acid rain. So the conflict is between the ad- ministration and, it seems, the rest of the world. William Ruckelshaus, the director of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency, gives the problem lip ser- vice by wearing a "stop acid rain" hat and telling everyone how he drew up a plan to act. But that is all the ad- ministration seems willing to do on this, or virtually any other, environ- mental problem. This time, though, the implications are too frightening to ignore. Not even a corporate official can live in a world with a poisoned water system and permanently diseased plants and animals. HER AOU I,.. of ... WFACT C~OVLt)NE\E1R 1 UT117 i Tu' NT FoR ATKESA NIP TREY NAP ME MNT-."NV AB lACI4 A N(IFTW IVT.RV '~E ~ '~~ TSHu9c4W6CLASS By MISTAKE.....)TECNCUT!/' TEACH4. (v( ~:-~~-, i 'I Guess who s leading the ta on p eace in Nicaragua-Cuba Schooling the N.C.A.A. IM NATION'S University presidents are now moving on a long overdue plan to effectively increase their con- tho1 over the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Last month a group of college pre- sidents, backed by the. American Council on Education, proposed that the N.C.A.A. form a special committee of University chief executives to over- see college athletics. The committee - if it was backed by a majority of all N.C.A.A. member presidents - would have had the authority to create or veto any N.C.A.A. legislation. Now, after pressure from N.C.A.A. officials to limit the committee's power, the presidents have agreed to a reasonable check on their authority albeit a tough check to enact. Under the new porposal the N.C.A.A. delegates could overrule the commit- tee with a two-thirds vote at their an- nual convention. The new proposal gives the presiden- ts considerable control over N.C.A.A. legislation, and yet ensures that their authority is not grossly abused. It strikes an effective balance between the two sides. Rounding up a two-thirds majority to oppose the committee would be dif- ficult. And it should be. With the ills big-time athletics face today, the only cure is a strong governing body closely linked to academic - not athletic - concerns. College athletics has become so big that it runs itself - often almost in- dependently of the universities with which teams are affiliated. N.C.A.A. rules have been set by coaches, athletic directors, and dedicated fans for so long that college athletics has become dangerously disconnected from the educational goals of univer- sities. The barrage of current N.C.A.A. regulations, aimed at athletic rather than academic success, threatens the integrity of every member school. The best solution is to link athletic regulation with the academic core of universities once again. The presiden- ts' proposal is the strongest and most assuring connection available. By Nelson Valdes MEXICO CITY - The rumors first surfaced in late September at this city's Siesta Palace Hotel, where scholars from all over the hemisphere were gathered for the annual convention of the Latin American Studies Association. Since last July, the word went, talks toward a negotiated set- tlement in Nicaragua had been underway between represen- tatives of the anti-Sandinista guerrilla leader, Eden Pastora, and a most unlikely team of mediators - officials of the Cuban government. The meetings were said to have oc- curred in Washington, D.C., and Havana, as well as in Mexico City. So far, neither the Nicaraguans nor the Cubans have repudiated the story. FACTUAL or not, these rumors dramatize an unusual new Cuban diplomatic and political offensive against the United States. Unlike many earlier offensives from Havana, it is based on calm dialogue rather than torrid rhetoric. Interviews with Cuban officials here suggest that the object of this offensive is to isolate the Reagan administration in its own, more beligerent, Central American and Carribbean policies. The shift in Havana's approach has only taken clear shape in recent months. When Ronald Reagan first came to office, the Cubans were confronted with a significant upscaling of the per- ceived U.S. threat against them and opted for strengthening Cuba's military posture. The resulting arms buildup was among the largest in post- revolutionary Cuban history. CUBAN sources say that this effort was accomplished by a diplomatic campaign in Moscow, aimed at convincing the Soviet Union to stand up to Reagan's challenge. Some Cubans argued for a policy of unmistakable con- frontation, reminiscent of the Soviet position prior to October 1962 and extending to the reem- placement of Russian missiles on the island. But they found the Soviet Union unwilling. In effect, the rebuff left Havana with two choices - confront the Americans alone or adopt an en- tirely different approach which entailed seeking negotiated political solutions to their region's simmering crises. According to Cubans, the latter BY THE middle of 1983, the policy of dialogue had begun to unfold. When the Contadora group of Latin American coun- tries sent a letter to Fidel Castro requesting support for a negotiated settlement in Central America, the Cubans promptly accepted and promised to with- draw their personnel from Nicaragua if the security of the. Sandinista government could be assured. The Cubans also publicly favored negotiations among the contending parties in El Salvador. On the U.S.-Cuba diplomatic front, Havana initiated proceedings to prosecute hijackers of American planes and even offered to take back those Cubans who had illegally entered the United States during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. The Reagan administration did not react in kind to these over- tures. Instead, the secret war against Nicaragua was stepped up, the economic blockade again- st Cuba was tightened, and large U.S. military maneuvers in Cen- tral America and the Caribbean were launched. THESE events reportedly led the Cubans into a second internal political debate. Ultimately, they decided not only to maintain the dialogue approach, but to carry it further, bypassing the Reagan administration altogether. Hence, the Cuban effort to ser- ve as mediators between the Sandinista government and its armed opponents along the Costa Rican border. If the effort suc- ceeds, it will close off action on one of the two war fronts that the Sandinistas now face. Moreover, it will seriously weaken the political image of the rebellion. For unlike the ex-Somoza National Guardsman invading from Honduras, Pastora still commands respect among some Nicaraguans. Washington's belligerence has not been the sole factor in Cuba's shift to "dialogue diplomacy." In BLOOM COUNTY a sense, their own history has also led Cuba's talking to its own opposition in exile. Interestingly, the negotiations on Nicaragua come at a time when Cuba is trying hard to reopen dialogue with Cuban exiles in the United States. THIS IS the second time that such an attempt has been made. The first occurred in 1978, when Fidel Castro invited 75 Cuban exiles to Havana. One of theme was Carlos Dias Alegandro, now a member of the Kissinger Com- mission on Central America. As a result of those talks, in which I also participated, hun- dreds of political prisoners were, released from Cuban jails and thousands of exiles were able to- visit their relatives in Cuba. In 1980, however, the first dialogue came to an end with the sharp deterioration in relations between Havana and Washington set off by the Mariel exodus - and by Carter administration charges of a new Soviet military division in Cuba. With the election of Ronald Reagan, the prospect of con- tinued contacts became even dimmer. But recently, Cuban authorities have quietly ex- pressed interest in reactivating the negotiations of three years ago. It is a mistake to assume that the entire Cuban exile com- munity shares the White House's aversion to such a development. Among other things, exiles are upset with the failure of the Reagan administration to honor earlier visa commitments, made in 1980, to Cubans who staged mass protests outside the American mission in Havana. According to Wayne Smith, then deputy representative in Cuba for U.S. consular affairs, the papers allowing these people to join their families in the United States has been approved prior to the election. But once in office,: the new administration barred all refugees from Cuba - and in- deed, since 1981, not a single Cuban refugee has been legally admitted. Look for the next stage of the Cuban dialogue offensive on this issue in the months ahead: breaching the Straits of Florida over a matter which holds far more importance than ideology for many Cubans - family reunification. Valdes is a specialist Cuban foreign policy at University of New Mexico. wrote this article for Pacific News Service. on the He the We encourage our readers to use this space to discuss and respond to issues of their con- cern. Whether those topics cover University,, Ann Arbor community, state, national, or in- ternational issues in a straightforward or un- conventional manner. We feel such a dialogue is a crucial function of the Daily. Letters i and guest triple-spaced, cases. columns should be typed, and signed except in extreme by Berke Breathed 7UVER, YOU'RE IN 13~IC TOULE . THE.B. I. 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