4 OPINION Page 4 Sunday, January 27, 1985 The MichiganI Daily -d - 19 I te a medbytigan M Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Federal cuts may harm 'U' Vol. XCV, No. 97 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Dragging rights W ARNING: The Daily's editorial board has determined that government censorship is hazardous to your health. The latest challenge to free speech comes from the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, which last week called for legislation to ban all cigarette advertising and promotion. The Reagan administration would do well to follow through on its pledge for less government intervention by quashing this proposal before it gets started. The panel argued that cigarette ad- vertising and sponsorship of concerts and sports events mislead people about the dangers involved in smoking. While this may indeed be true, it, is equally true that nearly all promotions can be misconstrued in some way. If the government bans cigarette adver- tising, it might as well ben all adver- tising which glamorizes potentially dangerous substances. Using such logic, we should get rid of commercials featuring Hostess Twinkies, which clearly glamorize the dangers of munching the preser- vative-and sugar-laden snack. Or maybe we should eliminate adver- tising for beer, which features people clearly having fun while drinking alcohol. Cigarette advertising is subject to the same truth in advertising laws as other products, and the national anti- smoking campaign can pursue change by tightening enforcement of those laws. Another approach to the problem is increasing the resources that educate the public about the hazards of carcinogenic substances. The greatest step the government can take toward convincing people not to smoke is to refrain from endorsing it for purely political and economic reasons. The huge subsidies which go to the tobacco industry make all government attempts at curbing the smoking epidemic ring hollow. Before Congress even considers an outright ban on cigarette advertising and promotion, it should take a long hard look at what it has already done to support what anti-smoking groups have been fighting all along: the powerful tobacco industry. Rumors are surfacing in the nation's capital about the Reagan Administration's at- tempt to combat the federal defecit by limiting the number of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants. Those rumors hit home this week. Though final decisions on reductions of the medical and health related grants will not be unvieled until the president's budget is an- nounced on February 4, the University's Department of Research and Development Administration (DRDA) already predicts that research funding will be harder to find. he Week , " According to Jim Randolf of DRDA no existing researchers will have their grants taken away, but new researchers should look for privateyfunding instead of relying on the government to foot the bill. The NIH curren- tly is the largest single contributer of resear- ch money to the University-representing 29.5 percent of the combined total. Randolf assures that all money presently funnelled to University research projects is being used for legitimate work in various fields. Since NIH grants money only for medical and health related research, the cuts present special problems for researchers who may have to convince other federal agencies like the Defense Department, or the Depar- tment of Energy that their work is valuable for the advancement of the medical sciences. The NIH office in D.C. has refused to com- ment about the possible reductions. The New York Times last Monday reported that though the administration cannot legally reduce the funds to the NIH, it will instead limit the number of grants which the agency can distribute. The average NIH grant is between $140,000 and $150,000. PSN found guilty On Thursday of last week, three members of the Progressive Student Network were convicted of trespassing for participating in a sit-in the group conducted last March. Eleven people were arrested at the demon- stration, and the first three were tried and found guilty last week. There will be a pre-trial hearing for the others tomorrow. Although the demonstrators were found guilty and will face sentencing on Feb. 22, the group felt the trial was a success. "Our focus was not on getting a technical acquittal," said Naomi Braine, one of the demonstrators still to be tried. The defendants blockaded an engineering laboratory where they said a guidance system for the Pheonix missle was being researched. They refused to leave when the trespass act was read to them. The defense never tried to argue that this "act" was not commited. What they wanted the jury to decide was if what they did was a crime. The jury decided it was, but even in defeat something was accomplished. The purpose of the sit-in was to draw atten- tion to military research being done at the University. Although the demonstrators were given an opportunity to leave the laboratory they were blockading before being arrested, they all chose to stay and face the consequen- ces of their actions. The maximum penalty for trespassing is 30 days in jail and a $50 fine. Pro-life protest Members of local groups opposed to abor- tion last week marked the 12th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing most abortions with speeches, prayers, and a protest march to University Hospital. More than 25 sign-toting anti-abortion protesters showed up in the Diag at noon Tuesday to lament the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that gave American women the right to choose to have an abortion. Matthew Burchess, a member of a campus pro-life group, briefly addressed the crowd to proclaim that there is a consensus in the medical community that human life begins at conception. Supporters then joined in a prayer led by Diag evangelist "Father" Mike and marched on to the Observatory and East Ann entrance of University Hospital. Last year approximately 250 abortions were performed at the University Hospital. Local feminists celebrated the landmark Supreme Court decision privately and decided against venturing into the cold to stage a counter-protest. Fortunately, local abortion clinics said they escaped the violen- ce that has been launched against clinics nationwide. Asbestos update Lorch Hall continues to be plagued with noise and inconvenience from construction, forcing at least one University employee to move out of her office. The construction disturbances also lead to a meeting yesterday afternoon between members of the Center for Afro-American Studies, which is housed in Lorch Hall, and LSA administration manager Bland Leverette. The meeting focused on future plans to move the center's offices to another location. "It's very stressful to be in the building where there's so much noise and dust and asbestos," said Maria Hall, a graduate student in sociology who has relocated her project in another building. Lorch Hall employees have complained about the construction difficulties, as well as exposure to asbestos. "There are a number of minor incon- veniences that shouldn't have existed in the first place," said Garry Fleming, Associate Project Director with the center. "These things keep piling up. They have a cumulative effect." Bland Leverette said that Lorch Hall is safe and added that one of the options offered to the center was to move their offices to another part of the building. The other option was to move the center's offices to East Engineering temporarily. Lorch Hall is being renovated for the per- manent housing of the Institute for Public Policies. The Center for Afro-American Studies will move permanently to West Engineering as soon as renovation there is completed. Ali endorsement He didn't fly like a butterfly. Nor did he sting like a bee. Muhammed Ali, who came to the Nectarine Ballroom to endorse Ypsilanti mayoral candidate Faz Husain, uncharac- teristically spoke in a quiet voice and signed autographs for the crowd. Ali, only 43 years old, was not the outspoke'A boxing champ of the '60s and '70s that many fans expected. There were some bright moments. At one point Ali addressed a heckler with his characteristic, "Be cool, fool," but for the most part he seemed to have aged beyond his years. The former world heavyweight champion is currently undergoing neurological testing and there are rumors that he may be suf- fering from Parkinson's disease. His doctors at the Neurological Institute at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center said that Ali has been suffering from symptoms similar to those of the disease. I These include slurred speech, loss of coor- dination, reduced muscle strength, and per- sistent fatigue. The reception of Ali was mostly positive-fans surrounded him, women ran up and kissed him-but one dejected fan summed up the underlying mood of the crowd. "I wish I'd seen him 15 years ago," he said. Week in Review was: compiled by Daily editors Peter Williams- and Jackie Young and Daily staff writers Tom Hrach and Arona Pearlstein. Bipartisan cutbacks WORKING TO bring the defense budget under control ought to be a priority for everybody in Washington, but for the past few years it has been associated more with the Democrats than the Republicans. For that reason, Senate majority leader Robert Dole's proposal to freeze the defense budget is particularly com- mendable. Dole, in conjunction with other Senate leaders, has been working on a budget proposal independent of the White House version. Under Dole's plan, the $230 billion deficit will be cut by $50 billion in 1986, and by $115 billion in 1988. Defense spending is one of the least beneficial uses for tax dollars. It heightens world tensions; produces a commodity which cannot be returned to the economy; and fails to create as many jobs as other federally contrac- ted production. Dole's plan faces stiff competition from Defense Secretary Caspar Wein- berger's plan, which calls for a six percent increase in defense spending. President Reagan currently backs the Weinberger plan, but different wings of the administration have criticized it and consequently slowed the drafting process. In drafting his proposal, Dole has shown that not all Republicans inherently support defense spending increases. Before significant steps can be taken toward controlling the defen- se budget, both political parties will have to lend their support to that goal. Dole's proposal represents Republican support, which coupled with similar proposals from the Democrats may result in the much-needed freeze and, hopefully, begin on the path toward a reduction in defense spending. Wassermnan \j(E CON$EVATlVES. ARE 10$ UNG ALL OUR. tNELVENCE.. T"jE MODCQATES ARE TAkING OVER! K~tQkPATI~CV,.. ME% t5 LEAvIN& - R 'WITE HOUSE # wl ,', c I I 'IrN D~~E~y COES, 'wegR.WILL SE NO \~~DO'oT FoQ~eT REAP I 0q SUSPECT~ED 1 A Too D a r Students governing quality 4 By Robert Hon igman Last in a series offour articles. The fourth level of understanding revolves around the question of why good and humane people run callous and self-serving in- stitutions. This is not just a problem of universities, but of nations and civilizations. The Nature of the University There is someting about human institutions which enlists the allegiance of people and ties their self-interest to the survival and success of the institution-so that even as the in- stitution becomes corrupt and self-serving, good people cling to it, believe in it, and refuse to see the evil it does. A modest example would be the Regents of the University of Michigan. For the past decade they have been mostly liberal deepest personal beliefs and values in order to help the University succeed as a business? Part of the answer lies in the fact that the regents receive an enormous psychic income from the prestige of the University, and this income stream has made them partners in the University business. They are totally un- conscious of their self-interest, but it's ob- vious that all the top people in the University are obsessed with prestige and social success, and have hitched their wagons to the Univer- sity star. It's not the lies, but the half-truths that power human institutions. Where the self- interest of the group conflicts with the truth, it's the half-truth that is adopted as the in- stitutional norm-and no single individual can dislodge it. Does research enhance teaching? Then why are research faculty given lighter teaching loads? Does the University serve many con- stituencies? Then why does it hide behind in- stitutional autonomy and academic freedom whenever it's asked to take a moral stand that conflicts with its business interests? Anyone who questions these institutional half-truths becomes an enemy of the institution. Nor are university presidents the wise leaders we imagine. They are hired as technicians, much like football coaches or airline pilots, to field a winning team or reach only change the way that institutions are governed by providing mechanisms of democratic feedback and checks and balan- ces to make them responsible to the people they are supposed to serve. We've forgotten that the regents were elected throughout most of the University's history to act as substitute parents for studen- ts, and that, absent that function, they have no other real purpose. A state board could keep the University honest. Perhaps it's time to have regents elected exclusively by students, or make the Univer- sity president pass a student referendum every four years to keep his job. There has to be some way to make the quality of undergraduate education and the quality of student housing real issues in the life of the institution-issues that people'1 jobs live or die on, and where reputations are wagered and are won or lost through actual achievement, not paper promises. In the meantime, I feel sorry for both the powerful and the weak in an institution ob- sessed with prestige and success at any cost. The powerful life in a world of illusions con- tinuously reinforced by the success of their institutions, while the weak must endure and try to remain sane. That is perhaps why we always come to love best those artist and poets who warned us I ~/ ~in'