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OPINION
Page 4
Sunday, April 8, 1984
The Michigan Daily
Protests and debate surround code
in
T HE PROTESTS didn't hold together very
well. Neither did the yarn or the crepe
paper. But the students protesting the Univer-
sity's proposed code of non-academic conduct
certainly made their point - whether or not
anybody agreed.
Monday was the rehearsal at the ad-
ministration building. Led by a bearded trum-
pet player who obviously never finished his fir-
st trumpet lesson, 11 members of No Code
wrapped a ribbon of blue crepe paper 'round
the old Fleming building.
As the crepe paper broke, they dragged it
through the lobby and attracted curious looks
from the administrators who tripped over it.
But organizers looked anxiously forward to the
real thing Friday.
Meanwhile the University Council held a
forum Thursday night to find out whether there
were any opponents to the code outside of the
few who protest everything the administration
does. They invited 500 randomly-chosen
students, but only 125 showed up. Everyone
came to a definite conclusion after the meeting,
but not everyone shared the same one.
No Code leaders said it showed a wide base of
anti-code sentiment, while administrators said
it didn't.
Friday's blue-ribbon protest involved encir-
cling central campus with blue yarn, but it
wasn't long before the yarn was broken and
students ignored the pleas of "sleep-in, sit-in,
or protest" and headed for class.
There wasn't much support for No Code, but
maybe they did accomplish something. At least
they had a few people wondering what was
being knitted on State Street.
Comedy of errors
Can they do nothing right?
It sounds so simple. See who wants to run for
Rackham Student Goverment, write their
names on the ballot, have everybody in the
school cast a vote, and count them all up. Who
ever gets the most votes wins.
It sounds so simple.
But when RSG tried it in January, somebody
got mad because one of the candidates tried to
give out a mail-in ballots after the polling.
booths had closed. So they had a few
meetings and decided to try it all
over again.
Well, all of it happened again - the vote, the
accusations, the meetings about whether to
invalidate the election. It seems this time one
of the voters thought a supposedly
impartial election worker tried to
tell him how to vote. But
the worker says she was just clarifying a
candidate's position.
Don't touch that dial. Tune in next time to
find out the answers to these and many other
questions:
Will RSG throw out its second election this
term and try for a third? Will RSG believe the
voter who says he was influenced or the
election worker who says he wasn't? Will the
candidate who allegedly violated the rules by
being too close to the polling place bring a tape
measure next time? Will RSG ever make the
papers for anything else but election
problems?
Don't touch that dial.
But twice a year
Students began that dreaded semi-annual
tradition this week - CRISP.
Starting last Monday, from the inhuman
hour of 8 a.m. until the doors closed at 4:30
p.m., students approached the all-powerful
computer to see if their schedules next term
would be a breeze or a bust.
One lucky student began laughing insanely
when he discovered he had successfully
CRISPed into all the courses he wanted. "Two
terms in a row!" he giggled, while other poor
wretches had to search for that extra natural
science credit or a non-8 a.m. computer class.
There are Ways in which you can prepare for
the ordeal: Have alternate courses already
picked out, keep cool, and change your last
name every term so you get to CRISP first.
Jean Weinman, an LSA junior, put it this
way: "It all works out and I don't have nervous
breakdowns like I used to."
CRISP administrators and students alike
had a nightmare come true on Friday,
however, when the computer broke down for
nearly two hours. There were no reports of
violence.
But for some students, the horror is only
beginning. Those who were wait-listed or came
up against an inactive course - whatever that
means - will have to return to Lorch Hall for
another round with the computer. And of
course, there are those students who will face
massive closed course lists later this week.
CRISP officially ends on Friday.
Tax and termination
With chants of "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, tax
withholdings got to go," the Graduate
Employees Organization (GEO) rallied this
week against the University because an IRS
code that allows tuition benefits to be tax free
has expired and the University has decided to
start withholding taxes from TAs' paychecks.
The University is the only college in the
country that is withholding taxes on tuition
waivers.
GEO wants the University to return the
money it has already collected in taxes on the
waiver even though Congress is expected to
reinstate the law this summer, said GEO
President Celeste Burke.
The University has also decided that the
letters GEO has sent to TAs who have failed to
pay union dues were "improper."
Dan Gamble, University personnel
manager, said GEO violated their contract by
sending TAs form letters instead of individual
notices last month about the unpaid dues.
The University has decided not to fire TAs
who haven't paid the fees unless GEO sends the
TAs new letters.
But even if the University was willing to
comply with the contract, termination
proceedings would not take place before the
end of this term, added Gamble.
The sky was grey but the yarn was blue as
protestors of the proposed code of non
academic -conduct picketed and encircled cen-
tral campus with twine on Friday.
The Week in. Review was compiled by
Daily staff reporters Neil Chase, Andrew
Eriksen, and Eric Mattson.
A
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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XdIV-No. 151
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Reagan vs
RECENTLY PRESIDENT Reagan,
Rtrying to diffuse criticism of his
foreign policy strategies, has taken to
attacking Congress. Reagan's gripe
}with the governing body which
provides a check on the immense
powers of the president is that some
members have actually dared to
question the wisdom of relying so
heavily on the use of force over
diplomacy. Reagan and members of
his administration feel that a
bipartisan approach to foreign policy
is necessary to eliminate all
disagreements between the president
and Congress. But what he calls
"bipartisanship" is more like a
dictatorship.
Those members of Congress who
questioned the 'presence of U.S.
military troops in Lebanon after the
truck bomb explosion that killed 260
Marines, are dangerous forces
threatening the United States'
interests in the world, in Reagan's
view. Reagan said some members of
Congress who raise such dissenting
voices believe this nation is "still in the
troubled Vietnam era" and therefore
they see their only role as "vocal
critics, not responsible partners in
developing positive, practical
programs to solve real problems." But
how easily Reagan forgets that
Congress is supposed to insure that
there is a check on presidential power.
Such checks as the War Powers Act
have been badly abused during the
Reagan administration and now it
seems he is trying to erode Congress'
power over him even more. Why
shouldn't legislators be wary of
another Vietnam situation, when
Reagan tries to steadily increase U.S.
military involvement in Central
America?
Congressional wavering had
encouraged "enemies of democracy"
in Central America, according to
Reagan. But Reagan seems to be an
enemv of democratic nrincinles
. Congress
himself. While Reagan continually
speaks of the evils of communism, he
and members of his administration are
preaching an end to dissenting voices
in Congress on foreign policy matters.
This is evident in his wish that
Congress would speak with "one
voice" - his voice that is - and stop
calling into question such "bipartisan"
foreign policy solutions as the Kissinger
Commission report on Central
America.
Last Tuesday, Secretary of State
George Shultz said there were so many
restrictions imposed by law on the
president's ability to act that they
hampered creation of an effective
national policy. Diverse opinions
always slow things down, but that is
the price a country pays for having a
democracy.
Robert McFarlane, nationalsecurity
advisor, said that ."full and open
debate and criticism (of foreign policy
tactics) is fine."
But after a policy decision has been
made, McFarlane equivocates and
says there should be "full and private
criticism." This type of criticism
which he suggests - confidential
letters to the president and private
meetings - is contrary to the openness
that is supposed to prevail in American
government. With this kind of a policy,
once the U.S. made a bad decision
there would be very little room for the
public or the press to watch or affect
the actions of the government.
Reagan's voice or that of his
advisors should not be the only voice
heard in this nation just because the
president thinks his foreign policies
are the best ones around. Reagan's
disasterous policies in Lebanon vividly
show the need to question his intentions
and judgment. Reagan's pleas for a
'bipartisan consensus" in Congress
are no more than an attempt to erode
some of the necessary limits on
presidential authority which make
America a democracy, not a
dictatorship.
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. . . .........
f,: f.
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
GEO doesn't deserve TAs
To the Daily:
What has the GEO done for
me? Well, in addition to
harrassing me for the past month
and a half, it has "won" medical
and dental coverage for me (just
what I needed! A third form of
coverage!), it keeps a lobbyist in
Washington (who no duobt is
promoting my views), and it
keeps lawyers on retainer (so I
can rest easy at night). On a less
positive note, the GEO has
prevented me from getting a
raise and last, but certainly not
least, it is having me "ter-
minated" on Tuesday (doesn't
that seem unusually harsh? I
could understand my em-
ployment being terminated, but
all the correspondance I've
received insists that I will bite
the big one.) If that isn't your
idea of representation, you're not
alone. . . I figure with friends like
the GEO, who needs enemies?
Seriously, I will lose my job this
Tuesday because I refuse to sup-
port a group that offers me
nothing I desire, and in fact has
acted contrary to my interests in
many cases. I'm not trying to
prevent those TAs who feel the
--anr +n m 4 n- n fw-f, f-,A^1""
Department of Mechanical
Engineering, for which I work, in
pre-GEO days raised its TA's
salaries 5 percent for each term
they taught the same course.
Since I'm on my third term, I'd
be making 10 percent more than I
am, but the GEO forbids any pay
differentials. Apparently they
don't feel that an experienced
person does a better job, or that
he deserves to be rewarded for
it.) Nor do I desire to support a
lobbyist who, since he's af-
filiated with the Michigan
Teachers Federation, is probably
lobbying against merit pay for
teachers, something I'm very
strongly in favor of.
I think the University ad-
ministration was seriously in
error when it recognized a small
group as the bargaining agents
for all TAs, and an even worse
mistake when it signed a contract
with a closed shop clause. The
amount of resistance the GEO
met in collecting this represen-
tation fee is proof that they do not
have the support of the majority
of the TAs. They were only able
to collect the fee after badgering
support
and threatening until people paid
simply to get the GEO off their
backs. It should be a hollow vic-
tory for them.
One last note. I would most
likely have joined the GEO of my
own volition in order to help fight
the tax on our tuition wavers.
Here was a situation in which I
felt that T needed to join m
fellow TAs to most effectivel9
fight a situation. Perhaps the
GEO should have concentrated
more on earning the support'of
TAs instead of mandating it.
Michael Mitchell
April 6
Premeds not chained to textbooks
To the Daily:
Your article "Gunning through
medical school" (Weekend, April
6) left a very sour taste in the
mouths of the plethora of premed
students who do not conform to
the stereotypes presented. You
depict premeds as pathetic in-
dividuals, inherently vicious,
held captive by chemistry tex-
tbooks chained to their ankes.
The students interviewed led the
readers to believe that to attain
-arMKrdei arian-- ...C-; m.
sity, I have never seen or heard of
an overt act of sabotage in any
laboratory class.
It is those students of mediocre
intelligence, insecure about their
ability to do well or under relen-
tless pressure from overbearing
parents, who create the com-
petitive'environment. Put two or
three of these students in one
room the night before an exam
and ugly things will happen. But
for the students who are capable,
and cnnfident with their ability to
is not harder and no more com-
petitive than. any otheg
preprofessional program. As for
organic chemistry, I found it
much easier to comprehend and
to do well in than my political
civil liberties class. And to fur-
ther quell those who claim how
"competitive" the r premed
sequence is, a visit to schools like
Cornell or Duke would remind
them quickly of what competition
really is.
Glenn Krinskv
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