4 OPINION Page 4 Saturday, January 14, 1984 ( The Michigan Dail? Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCIV-No. 86 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board MaInourished objectivity NO ONE SHOULD feel more secure about the plight of the poor just because the presidential commission on hunger reported that Ronald Reagan's cutbacks in food assistance haven't hurt the needy, and that "allegations of rampant hunger simply cannot be documented." Amid all of the cautious wording and claims of ob- jectivity are both ill-conceived solutions and a lack of open-minded examination. In the face of an increasing number of privately organized and operated food assistance programs and greater numbers of hungry utilizing, such facilities, the assertion that Reagan's policies are adequate is, a sham. The commission admitted that groups just above the poverty line are affected most by Reagan's welfare cuts. But sacrifices should not be made in an area so fundamental as feeding the hungry. The panel also suggested shifting responsibility for, food assistance programs from the federal to the state level. Under this plan, states would receive a lump sum and could establish their own eligibility criterion and benefit levels. The National Governor's Association has rightly criticized this proposal on the grounds that states would not be able to adjust funding levels as the demand for assistance rises or falls. Such a rigid program would sorely be lacking an ability to respond to the needs of the poor. U psurges inthe unemployment rate witin any given state could leave the needy with greatly reduced assistance. That the priorities reflected by the report coincide with those of the ad- ministration is not surprising - among the largely Republican panel's mem- bers are the likes of Dr. George Graham, who once commented that, "The biggest problem among the poor is obesity - not hunger." His insen- sitivity toward the poor and minority groups also, is reflected in his testimony before a House subcommit- tee in 1982 when he stated that "as we look .at the problems of blacks, all we have to do is look at our sports page to see who are the best nourished in the country." In view of the personalities involved, warped conclusions and misguided solutions are to be expec- ted. As private soup kitchens become more in demand and portions of our society face substantial reductions in assistance, conclusions should be reached with much more care. The commission stated that it is "at present impossible to estimate the ex- tent of...hunger with any reasonable degree of objectivity." With men like Dr. Graham doing the estimating, that lack of objectivity is unavoidable. WASHINGTON (UPI) - Im- ports, as any student of inter- national relations will tell you, play a key role in the for- mulations of American foreign policy. Their influence clearly can be seen in trade negotiations with Japan and China. If additional evidence is needed, we need look no further than the Federal Register. ACCORDING TO a recent en- try in this published record of government regulations, the Agricultural Department has proposed adding 55 more species to the list of "import restricted" noxious weeds. The Register says public com- ment will be accepted until Feb. 21 on the move to increase to 412 the number of foreign weeds that require special import permits. You might think that as a mat- ter of policy the United States would strive tokeep all foreign weeds out of this country, par- ticularly noxious varieties. I mean, it isn't as if we had a weed shortage to compensate for, or anything like that. In season, there are enough weeds in my yard alone to satisfy the needs of the entire nation for at least 28 hours. THE DOMESTIC supply should be kept in proper per- spective, however. Always bear in mind that there is big money in weeds, or at least in weed. More weeds get tangle d by import niles By Dick West eradication. delicately balanced economy. Thousands of workers in "ONE WEED we're proposing chemical factories, hoe to restrict is the aquatic weed 'Americans who have invested their life savings in hydrilla weeds might heartily endorse that step, ex- claiming that "It's about time!" about time!" I remind you, however, that wq Americans are consumers ai well as investigators. The conic petitive imports therefore must be considered. For illustration purposes, let's assume a waterway clogged with lagarosiphon weeds can ,be cleared 41.7 percent more cheaply that a waterway clogged with hydrillas. WOULD THAT not bespeak the value of foreign competition and spur efforts to find less expensive methods of dehydrillating American waterways? Of course, it would. And declogging is only the beginning. Besides aquatic weeds, the department'shit list includes "all species of awgineta and alecra' in the parasitic category as well as "14 terrestrial weeds." I'm not suggesting any foreign country would be so rash as to resort to force to export noxious weeds. Yet, let us ask ourselves what mightahappen if the water- ways of an underdeveloped( nation, denied overseas outlets, became clogged. These are questions that should be answered before this country Sfurther restricts 'imports. To ignorethe potential consequen- ces only gives ammunition to the advocates of an "open weed" policy. manufacturing plants, lawn treatment services and related industries undoubtedly would' be added to the ranks of the unem- ployed were needs to disappear overnight. Consequently, any extra im- port restriction could have con- siderable impact on our lagarosiphon, which is similar to the hydrilla weed that is clogging waterways in California and Florida," says an Agriculture Department spokesman. Americans who have invested their life savings in hydrilla weeds might heartily endorse that step, exclaiming that "It's West dent. is a,, UPI correspon- Stewart PbE SAVELD/ One step better than none 11 WELL, the NCAA tossed out tanother opportunity to really toughe'. :Lp their rules after a long string of embarrassing scandals and a general decline in the academic quality of athletes. All, however, is not lost, since the delegates at this week's NCAA conven- tion did pass a proposal which can sub- stantially improve the quality of education available to college athletes. Last Monday the delegates in Dallas faced two proposals for getting college presidents more involved in NCAA rulemaking. The first proposal, spon- sored by a group of college presidents, would have formed a large board of university presidents who would have a -had the power to make new NCAA rules and abolish old ones. It would have been a, sweeping change in how the NCAA is governed, a change that would have tied the organization much closer to the academic center of universities. The delegates didn't buy it. Facuity representatives to the NCAA were reluctant to give up some of their power. Athletic directors feared the presidents would become too involved in the organization's finances, rather than sticking to academics as planned. The presidents didn't get anywhere near the influence they sought. But they did get something. The NCAA voted to form a large advisory board of college presidents. Although the body would not be able to create or overturn bylaws, it does hold substan- tial powers. It can comment, within the NCAA, on any legislation. It can set the order in which proposals will be heard at the next NCAA convention, and propose legislation directly to the con- vention. It can even hold a special con- vention if 24 of 44 board members agree. Even if the new board's restrictions do not give presidents the authority to enact their ideas, it does provide a forum for them to study and comment on proposed legislation. It lets them propose their own ideas from a position of power within the NCAA. No, the college presidents didn't get what they wanted, but they do have the NCAA moving in the right direction. Now it's up to the presidents not to waste the potential of their new board. t ,t' +dl it i U , r' Axhivy -. b4- SAiFMDI -.. 4 NE SMD WR~ITEr HE USEDI THAT "PIPLOAd~y' POWN, 51R , ED {~ . 4 LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Studen ts plaster dorm drinking policy / o ' if i i w ,.- ~ To the Daily: Many times well-intended corrective actions go awry and cause problems worse than the ones targeted for cure. This is the' dilemma that the new University, policy regarding alcohol in residence halls has fallen into. The new tougher policy of- ficially was institued to promote responsible drinking and to provide a support network for non-drinkers. Other underlying reasons were to cut down on alcohol related vandalism in dorms and to ease the pressure from outside forces wanting policy change. These are very good reasons for change. However, the new policy creates some new and much larger problems in its wake. The main fault inherent in the new policy is that it ends the existence of the traditional dorm party that has been prevalent at the University the past few years. While many administrators in the housing department may feel that this is for the good of the residence hall system, they are highly mistaken. Reviewing the results of a tougher policy shows why. One result is to toss drinking out of the dorm and onto the streets. For students to drink in a social atmosphere and meet people they have to venture out to bars, fraternities, other cam- puses, or other towns. This greatly increases the possibility of intoxicated students wan- dering the streets or, worst of all,, driving cars. In doing this, the policy directly defeats the pur- pose behind the 21-year-old drinking age which is to decrease the number of drunk driving ac- cidents. Another result will be an in- crease in vandalism rather than a decrease. Vandalism is usually an act of an individual or a small group of individuals. Therefore, the dorm party atmosphere of 200 or so individuals is not conducive to vandalism. More vandalism than present levels will occur when small groups of intoxicated individuals return to the dorm from drinking at outside places. In other words, the University is taking away one of the forms of BLOOM COUNTY socia'l pressure that restricts people from vandalism arid acts of deviance. We as dorm residents feel that there was a need for change in policy, but that the University went about it the wrong way. In-z stead of achieving the stated. goals, we believe that the ad- ministraton has put an effective end to one of the reasons why many students stay in the dorm for a second year: As a matter of fact, a good many of the people who planned to return here in Adams House in West Quad are now looking for apartments because of this. We also cannot see how this policy protects the rights of non-drinkers because people are still going to drink, still be noisy, and still exert peer pressure on others but just not in the dorm party atmosphere. - Finally, for those who assert that the change in guidelines is not a change in policy, ask any West Quad student what they think of the new guidelines and you will be surprised to see how much things have changed here. But are these changes for the bet- ter? We assert that the people at housing should have thought twice before they washedtheir hands of responsible alcohol" policy and sent the students out- side for a Molotov cocktail. -Dave Backer vince Barker Peter Burdalas AriGolan Mike Pape January 13,, The writers are members of the Adams House Council. ,,,,~ 1 " . 9;.- i J , Letters and columns represent the opinions of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily reflect' the at titudes or beliefs of the Daily. by Berke Breathed f'-' Ir 4i. Wiea~o7 MOM CO(WRY CA&Z 1V CO. ? JU5T PWHAT MY SON'5 BEE.N PCTIN' MK-IffY VPECUUAR 5WNE You AFTER r1c5Kl i i I I