4 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, December 4, 1984 The Michigan Daily I-~i ted mtut an oa lu Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Holding class in Washington * e. a" q , , £" Vol. XCV, No. 73 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Walled Lake protesters deserve support By Andrew Hartman It is all too easy for a University student to bury his head in the books and lose sight of what's happening in the world outside of the classroom. Often one begins to question how a certain class is going to be relevant to one's future career. So it is unusual and surprising when a student has the opportunity to directly apply the textbook knowledge to the real world. This past week, a group of about 100 students traveled to Washington, D.C. to gather information for two of Prof. Ray Tan- ter's 400-level political science courses. More students and professors stand to benefit by mingling academics with practical, on the job observations and experiences, as those of us in Tanter's class have had a chance to do. Last Thursday our class left on a University bus at 5:30 a.m. and as soon as the plane touched down in Washington, D.C. it was non- stop business all day. In the morning we were briefed on the Star Wars weapons systems (SDI) and in the afternoon, until 4:00 p.m., we were involved in discussion at the Depar- tment of State. Ambassador Fred Nitze an- swered questions about the Intermediate Nuclear Force Talks. Our group also heard from the CIA, technology experts, and exper- ts on Soviet relations. AFTER THE long day, the class returned to the hotel located in the center of Georgetown. Later, during a reception/party arranged by one of the students, Fred Ikle, the under- secretary of defense for policy, chatted with us about arms control progress under Reagan. Also present at the party were congressional aides for arms negotiations and other informed people. In this relaxed at- mosphere, the tactical information flowed as easily as the beer. On Friday, we met with Middle East and nuclear forces policy makers. The facts presented to us were clearly inadequate and often distorted. Ironically, Present Reagan received nearly the same briefing as we had. The briefings were obviously aimed for someone with a simple mentality and in- cluded many colorful pictures and graphs. If this were the president's only source of knowledge, he would be grossly underinfor- med. Tanter, a former assistant to the secretary of defense for Middle East affairs and a negotiator to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Talks in Geneva, felt that it was worth the numerous hours he spent on the phone to Washington making preparations for the trip. ACCORDING TO Tanter, the "field trip" accomplished two primary goals: to demon- strate the complexity of nuclear weapons and arms control decision making; and to allow the rather well-prepared students to match wits with the often ill-prepared government officials. Said one class participant, Adam Martin: "We did not obtain much more new infor- mation. But we obtained a vital hands on feel for the issues that could not be aquired from any textbook. The trip was a success." Some of the important issues brought up in the trip included the trade offs between future U.S. defensive technolgies and the Soviet Union's current offensive systems that must be made if an agreement is to be reached. It also raised the question as to whether or not a trade off could be negotiated between our numerous manned bombers and cruise missiles versus the Soviet Union's very large land based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). I found the general consensus in Washington is that the differences are so great that such an agreement is highly unlikely. IT WASN'T easy organizing this trip. As Tanter noted: "The University isn't set up for this kind of thing-no one moves 100 students 1,000 miles." But the practical experience the class gained about the operations of the government and how this relates to arms con- trol made it worthwhile. The trip gave all in- volved valuable insight into how various government officials interact with each other. The success of my experiences on this trip leads me to highly recommend that other professors take the time to arrange such ex- cursions. If possible, the University should set up an agency to assist interested faculty in making the plans. Tanter is considering assessing a lab fee to his future classes in or- der to cover the cost of the trips. This would greatly simplify matters. And, it would add another- dimension to the textbook learning which too often students have a hard time relating to their future professions. Hartman is president of the campus College Democrats. :1 THE FIVE University students arrested yesterday at Williams International Corporation in Walled Lake deserve support for their efforts to force a questioning of U.S. weapons policy. The students and eight other protesters were arrested after they violated a court injunction prohibiting tresspassing on the company's property. It is the sixth time since August 1983 that arrests have been made as a result of protesters' attempts to block the entrance to the Williams facility. The largest actions resulted in 53 arrests last winter. Williams has been targeted by peace activists because it is a major manufacturer of cruise missile engines and the third largest defense contrac- tor in Michigan. The actions are not in- tended, nor should they be, as a specific attack on the Williams operations. Rather, the protest is directed at drawing attention to the in- sanities and excessive monetary costs of the arms race. There needs to be a reevaluation of the U.S. military budget to slow the arms race and direct money toward programs that are beneficial to society, rather than potentially destructive. The protesters' actions are not significantly interfering with the plant's operations and Williams em- ployees are not being denied their right to work. The University students are participating in constructive civil disobedience, not corporate inter- ference. They are making clear their dissatisfaction with U.S. arms policy and showing lawmakers and society in general that they are afraid. The five students' willingness to be arrested while participating in a peaceful protest against misguided weapons policies deserves support. Strip show is porn, Incomplete medical miracles By Andy Weine I was thoroughly disgusted by Dennis Har- vey's article last week on the male strip show at the Michigan Theater, "World Series Strip- pers score," (Daily arts, November 30). I do not think that a pornographic event deserves coverage in any paper. That men were featured rather than women does render the event an oddity to which we should pay atten- tion. Pornography can feature men or women, still remaining true to its practice of exploiting bodies as sexual instruments. In no way is this just fun or good play-it's ex- ploitation of people's bodies and sexual desires, and it's contemptible no matter what gender participates. Arts writers might as well cover the XXX flicks on Fourth Ave. or at the State Theater's midnight shows. What's worse than covering the show was placing it on an arts page. Are we supposed to conclude from this that stripping is an art? It isn't, I'm appalled that anyone would suggest that it is. Should an arts page cover strip shows regularly? Should it have someone who writes solely on pornography, telling us which shows and flicks are good exploitation and which are bad? Gag me with any arts page that covers porno. IT ISN'T that I want to hide the truth from anybody or that I want to bar people from at- tending pornographic entertainment. But an arts page is necessarily selective and critical-more so than a news page-and this coverage of "art" displays the aesthetic values of an Animal House. Harvey goggled along with the rest-saying "Big pecs, man!" and "Big haunches"-and exercised none of the critical skills I would expect of any arts writer. Worse than covering the show and placing it on an arts page was Harvey's seemingly approving commentary on it as a "post- liberation women's revenge fantasy come true." He declared "Women, you got it!" This not art unjustly assumes that the majority of women were with him. I suspect they're not. I don't consider male pornography a triumph for women, as Harvey seems to suggest, and I'm sure a whole lot of women, particularly feminists, wouldn't either. One of feminism's basic tenets is that women's bodies should not be exploited, but this reaches further to in- clude all bodies, male or female. HARVEY was really into stripping as art. He assumed readers cared to learn the grimy details of the show, from the men's bikinis, to their 1975 hairdoes, to their stage thrusting: So this is art? Let me just say, as one Daily reader, writer, and editor, that this is not the kind of story I would want to read, write, or publish, and that it deserves our fullest contempt. For stripping is anything but art. Weine is a Daily associate arts editor. BABY FAE'S struggle to live with a baboon heart transplant and ar- tificial heart recipient William Schroeder's apparently successful operation have captured the nation's attention and brought forth an out- pouring of sympathy and concern for their fight to live. The doctors-now famous-have held news conferences, the drama is followed on the six o'clock news, and the parents tell their story in People magazine. After all, these are medical miracles. The baboon heart that is not rejected and the mechanical heart that does not malfunction testify to the power of modern medical technology to stave off death, if only for a little while. What could be more interesting than man battling the grim reaper with his most sophisticated tools? The battle is especially entertaining because it is simple. It does not require the involvement of those watching it played out since really there is nothing that can help these people once the money has been allocated. So everyone just sits back and watches the story un- fold on the front pages. The average person cannot be expected to do anything except ask, "Can the best minds and most sophisticated techniques do it? Will the baby be saved by man's ever-increasing knowledge? And if death ends up win- BLOOM COUNTY ning in the end, well, everyone can say they were able to live a bit longer and that their struggles will make it easier for the next history-making patient. The whole dramatic air seems kind of misplaced, however, when one realizes that there are far more dramatic and complex battles against death taking place every day-battles that society has largely ignored. Hun- dreds of thousands of Ethiopians have died of starvation this year and millions face famine. Is the exhor- bitant price of medical technology aimed at extending the lives of people like Baby Fae and William Schroeder worth it in view of the more fundamen- tal "health" problems facing millions of human beings? Replacement hearts seek to extend life already threatened by disease or congenital defects, but food for Africa's starving would in a real sense provide life for those who have not yet been allowed to live. Baby Fae and William Schroeder's battle for life should not be demeaned in any way, nor should funds for all medical research be diverted toward providing food. But the "success" of these new techniques should be kept in perspective. A society that produces a workable artificial heart has not triumphed over death if at the same time millions of humans are dying of starvation. LETTERS TO THE DAILY Half quote gives inaccurate impression To the Daily: I hate to beat a dead horse, but "A lack of ADVICE" (Daily The Week in Review, December 2) the use of a half quote by Daily reporter Jerry Markon draws an image of me as being profligate. Not only do I find this distressing, it is patently inaccurate (not to mention libelous). I was interviewed by reporter Markon' on Monday, Nov. 26 about the delays with the publication of ADVICE. This resulted in the publication of an article and an editorial on Tuesday, Nov. 27. In the course of the interview, Markon made a point on "how much money is spent on AD- VICE" and the fact that it was late. My first response was, as I recollect, "Ten grand! Ten grand is nothing. That's less than (President) Shapiro's salary in- crease this year!" Only the first two sentences of this three sen- tence quote were included in the Tuesday article. Furthermore, only the second of the three sen- tences was quoted in the Sunday article. The point I was trying to make, and discussed with Markon at great length, was that the costs of the ADVICE project ($5,000 for printing, $2,000 for computer programming, $1,000 for typeset- ting and related costs, $1,000 for computer time, etc.) add up very quickly and, that $10,000 isn't very much money for a publication with the scope of AD- VICE (especially considering the complexity and sophistication of our 2,800 line computer program). same time increasing the press run by 3,000 copies/term. Second, we eliminated the duplication of data collection at CRISP and in- class-a savings of $3,500 total in data collection, copying, and computer time expenses resulted each year. Third, we have started selling advertising to augment revenue without increasing the amount of money assessed to students each term. I could be wrong, but this strikes me as prudent and responsible financial management. There are other problems with the article as well. It goes on to employ sarcasm to denigrate me yet further, as after a discussion of my wasteful ways, the article says: "Fortunately, Layman hopes to do something with all that money and says he plans to have the manual out by Dec. 6. Unfor- tunately, only five days later Crisp (sic) ends." Ignoring the fact that the Daily never thought it important enough to tell students when AD- VICE would be coming out before the Tuesday article, how about some facts on the usefullness of ADVICE after the primary registration period? Did you know that there will be more than 13,000 course adds and drops for LSA students by the third week of next term (some of these changes will be ad- ministrative and will not require direct student effort); that there will be a few thousand changes on the part of other undergraduates as well? Probably you didn't know, you didn't check. When preparing the article, did Thus, it requires different stan- dards for judgement as com- pared to a newspaper. However, there is at least one similarity between ADVICE and newspapers-the overwhelming necessity for total and complete accuracy. If we publish data that is erroneous we greatly misrepresent the teaching abilities of professors, not to mention the quality of the teaching environment in general. There is no sense in our continued existence if we are not com- pletely accurate in our presen- tation of quantitative or qualitative information. Correc- ting such problems is why AD- VICE is late this term. Newspapers have a respon- sibility to be completely accurate as well. Incorrect information misinforms the reading public. Half quotes mislead the public. Neither should be consistent policy for a regularly published, seemingly objective newspaper. It is ironic that both the article and editorial published in the Daily on Nov. 27 were sparked by my letter that appeared in the same issue. (The letter was writ- ten on Nov. 26.) I wrote the let- ter to inform students that AD- VICE would be late and why. Only after my initiative did the Daily deem it important to writ about ADVICE (so says an unimpeachable source who wishes to remain anonymous). If I hadn't bothered honoring my responsibilities to students as project director for the ADVICE project, and didn't write the let- ter to begin with, would the Daily have written any articles on AD- VICE at all? I hate to sound so negative because the Tuesday article and editorial were fairly sound pieces of writing and because in my opinion, this year is an excellent year for Daily editorial writing Nevertheless, I am chagrined to find myself maligned in the Daily on the basis of a half quote, a cer- tain focus chosen by the Daily for the Sunday piece and inadequately researched "fac- ts." -Richard Layman December 3 Layman is project director of the course evaluation guide, AD VICE. by Berke Breathed 711Y'6 H/ifM He'S 7PU NMitoS #R1°lC . 1169 19 ( 1z_; ~777 01VtYXJHM ? Now WAS NE r IS I E IX Oft 040 Btu/7w 1ArA17IAT WE KA'OL JAND 10r47 mc" 3) fX4 ~O7r1AAI-- IS AVAillp HOvS H6 OX ' 6OH,~ COM A 7R K77 GOS rxxxxxxx Yoko Ono replies To the Daily: Editor's Note: This letter came in response -to Dennis Harvey's review of Every Man Needs a Woman (Daily arts, October 11). In that review, Harvey wrote that he enjoyed the album, a com- know. We can all shine on-in- cluding you. John was hardly "lame" in Double Fantasy chur- ning out stuff like "I'm Losing You" and "Watching The Wheels." Remember, also, that he had tracks like "Nobody Told Me", "Stepping Out" and "I Don't Want To Face It" in the can BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathed I i I I 1