4
OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, March 7, 1984
The Michigan Daily
You just cE
By Eric Mattson
You can see it rising unattractively
from the frozen Michigan plain. Huge.
Ugly. Sterile. The Detroit News
described it as a "run-down hospital,"
and indeed its appearance more closely
resembles an institution for juvenile
delinquents than a home to the future
capitalists of America.
Imagine my chagrin as an incoming
freshman to learn that I had been
relegated to "the animal house of dor-
ms." What's more, I was forced into
one of the Quad's roomy converted
triples. Picture a suburban housewife
worried about her little boy being sent
off like a head of cattle to the dorm with
the worst reputation on campus. Not a
pleasant thought.
IT'S DIFFICULT to explain, then,
why I'll be living in South Quad again
next year. The food, at best, is
mediocre. The Quad is often trashed af-
ter weekend bashes and frequently loud. I
get strange looks from people (most of
whom live on the Hill) when I tell them
I live in South Quad. A rather abrasive
acquaintance of mine included "people
who live in South Quad" on his "people
I hate" list.
And cockroaches. Some people insist
that quaddies use these mini-monsters
just to get around the "no pets", rule.
Personally, I've never seen one of the
little buggers.
The legendary wild parties of South
Quad aren't really all that wild. You
might be in trouble if you have five 8
a.m. classes a week, but I would have
trouble with five 8 a.m. classes a week
even if I lived in a monastery.
The only reason I am staying in the
quad next year, I guess, is the people.
South Quad may not have the osten-
tatious luxury of Martha Cook or the
stereotypically collegiate look of West
Quad, but the people there are every bit
as pleasant - if not more pleasant -
than the people at other dorms. We
don't have just the Superpreps of Mojo
or the '60s-type radicals of East Quad,
we have a pretty diverse group of
people.
WE HAVE born-again Christians,
New York Jews, blacks, whites, pinkos,
drug addicts, jocks (of course) and -
believe it or not - intellectuals. And all
that's just on one hall.
South Quad also has the good fortune
to have a multitude of people who aren't
there by choice. When I arrived, at my
luxurious converted triple with a view,
I wasn't the only one who had to put up
with crowded conditions and
unreasonable roommates. We were all
in it together. And I guess I wasn't the
only one who didn't mind the quad, sin-
ce 480 other brave souls signed up to
live there again next year. I wouldn't
live in a converted triple again for a
guaranteed 4.0 grade point average, yet
it was something of a worthwhile lesson
in human relations.
The Quad also makes you appreciate!
simple things when you go home, like
your very own bathroom and home-
cooked meals. But this can be said
about any dorm.
Obviously, the stereotypes created
in't bear to say goodbye
concerning South Quad are as
ridiculous as those that I just made
regarding other dorms. Martha Cook
isn't filled with preppie bitches (even
South Quad has a few of them). East
Quad isn't completely filled with
radicals. West Quad isn't the epitome of
college life. But neither is South Quad
the epitome of wild parties, fast women
(unfortunately), and Bo's boys.
One reason South Quad has a poor
reputation is that some of the people
who work there are so defensive about
the stereotypes. For example, when
The Detroit News published a
somewhat unfavorable feature on South
Quad and the University last Septem-
ber, people in the Quad went wild by '
sending petitions to the paper and '
demanding an apology. I thought a lot
of what the article said was true. Sure,
some of it was played up just to make it
a more interesting story, but even the
Daily does this occasionally.
The truth is, South Quaddies have
nothing to be ashamed of. It's not our
fault that whoever built the monstrosity '
had no taste whatsoever. Or maybe he
(or she) was just trying to get even with
an enemy at the University. I don't care
what anyone says about the UGLi and
the LSA building, South Quad is the
ugliest building on campus - if not thet
ugliest in the state of Michigan. But
strange as it may sound, it's a great
place to start your college career.
Mattson is a Daily staff reporter.
Daily Photo by SCOTT ZOLTON
Despite its friendly residents and cute little cockroaches, South Quad is still the dorm you love to hate.
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. XCIV-No. 123 Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
LaBan
WIA.EL.O,
CAN IT,
MONDALE!
WHAT'S WRONG?
JSTHERE A
PROBLEM?
YOU LOT. AYOU KNJOW
WfA TAT
NEW HAMPSHIREWAS JUST
A MINOR 5ETgAK! THERES
STILL LOTS OF PRIMARIES-
THE SOUTH, 5UPER-TUEDAY
A yea
All
~'
Keep the faith
)
And when you pray, you must not be like the
hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and at the street corners, that they
may be seen by men . . But when you pray, go
into your room and shut the door and pray to
your father who is in secret; and your father who
sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:5)
THE BIBLICAL teachings of Jesus
hold up prayer as a completely
personal communication between an
individual and the Lord unmediated by
the voices or actions of other men. And
indeed, prayer in its most basic sense
is just that - a reflective com-
munication that serves to evaluate,
guide, and calm ones life.
Prayer is not an act, nor something
which can be taught. Jesus taught that
prayer cannot be merely recitation.
Men who heap up empty phrases
"think that they will be heard for their
many words" but the words are not
heard unless spoken from the heart.
Prayer is not two palms pressed
together with head bowed. It is a way
of life, a way of thinking, and a reflec-
tion of faith.
Whether faith be inspired by the
Judeo-Christian God, Buddha, a tribal
deity, or an individual reflection upon
humanity, it is the aspect of one's life
that is the most personal and deeply
felt.
Prayer, in being so individual in its
inspiration and manifestation, is
trivialized by any imposition of secular
regulation. The government's
establishment of religion in the
nation's schools would relegate prayer
to a mere act that takes place once a
day and at a specific time. And if
prayers are dictated, they constrict a
child's ability to think independently
and thus hinder the establishment of
any meaningful faith.
The Bible tells of God's attempt to
establish a more enduring relationship
with the house of Israel, and his place-
ment of faith within each individual not
in the hands of a few:
And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor,
and each his brother, seying, 'Know the Lord,'
forthey shall all know me (Jeremiah 31:34)
Whatever one's personal god may
be, it cannot be imposed upon any
other except under a false faith.
The government cannot provide an
individual with a religious basis. What
the government can do is trivialize all
religion, prayer, and faith in a false at-
tempt to more firmly establish the
priority of one religion.
WI E aUDDIE.S... PALS..
WE'RE WITH
HARtT NOW.
\ON /16L
I'M THlE FRONTRUNtNER!
EVER~YONJ~E ENDOMED ME!
I'VE GQT TH4E MotlEY!
I'VE GOT THE CA$PAIGN!
(
S1 4,
t Q ' fE 1460-
DAILY
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Daily needs economics
201
To the Daily:
Really now, ladies and gen-
tlemen of the Daily, must we
support every liberal cause,
however mindless it may be? It
would be nice to have a college
paper that at least approached
the standards of credibility. It
would also be nice if one of your
staff took a course in economics
so the paper would have the
means to balance a little clear-
headedness against the silly
ideas espoused in your editorial
on the deficit (Daily, March 3).
Of course the Daily sides with
the tax and spending crowd. Yes,
Congress is taking those
"necessary" tax-raising steps in
order to close the deficit. Oh,
Robert Dole and Dan
Rostenkowski tried really hard to
find places to cut domestic spen-
ding (they really did!). But, well,
Journal puts it, cuts to the heart
of the government's financial
mess. In referring to the dilem-
ma of "government versus the
healthy economy" (in which the
deficit plays a key role), Mr. Mc-
Cracken wrote: "The fundamen-
tal problem is -the relentless ten-
dency for government to pre-
empt a growing proportion of the
national income and output."
(The Wall Street Journal, Feb.
28).
Congress's problem isn't ac-
cess to too little revenue, but ac-
cess to too much revenue. The
wild spending which led to the
deficit now serves as a flimsy
justification for wild taxing to
close that deficit. And since the
deficit is perceived as being an
acceptable residual of gover-
BLOOM COUNTY
nment finance, Congress will
continue to feel justified in spen-
ding more than it takes in.
The Daily speaks of certain ob-
stacles - the laws - which
prevent this vicious cycle from
being broken. It does well to
remember, however, that these
laws were not handed down by
Moses. Congress made the laws,
Congress can repeal them. Right
now, Congress is -too lazy to do
anything. The Doles and the
Rostenkowskis and the O'Neills
are still bathing in the afterglow
of tax hike bacchanalia. But
come election time they could be
in for a blast of very cold water, a
blast from the tidal surge of
another tax revolt.
- Bruce Poindexter
March 3
4
. Letters and columns represent the opinions of
the individual author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the attitudes of the Daily. Unsigned
editorials appearing on the left side of this page
represent a majority opinion of the Daily's
Editorial Board.
by Berke Breathed
lL .=-1
.............._.._..