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OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, February 13, 1985
The Michigan Daily
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CRISP is unfair to juniors
Edie dm dbat nvty Ma
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCV, No. I11
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
A CASE OF MISMANA GEMENT
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McDuffi
R EMOVING an elected official
from his job is always a difficult
procedure, especially when that of-
ficial is in the public eye. The decision
to "let someone go" must be justified if
an employer wishes to make a binding
decision.
Such was the case for the Michigan
Student Assembly last week, when it
voted 13-4 to remove Randy McDuffie
from his chairmanship of MSA's
minority affairs committee. McDuf-
fie's mismanagement of, the MSA-
sponsored International Cultures
Weekend last month left the Assembly
no alternative but to remove him from
his post. MSA was completely
justified in that action.
McDuffie's handling of the Inter-
national Cultures Weekend is a story of
mismanagement. For starters, he ren-
ted two luxury automobiles for a total
of $364 with the intention of using the
cars for transporting speakers Dick
Gregory, an advocate of minority
civil rights, and Russel Means, a-
spokesman for the American Indians.
The first car, a Lincoln, was rented
on the Friday before International
Cultures Weekend. According to MSA
President Scott Page, this car was
never used for official business of any
sort. When MSA's Steering Committee
told McDuffie to return the car, he did
so but also rented a second one on
Saturday; the only official capacity
McDuffie used it for was to drive
Means back to the airport on Sunday.
Means was picked up at the airport by
students from MSA in a private car.
Although students drove the rented car
e s
actions
to pick up Gregory, the speaker had
already made arragnements to meet
friends from Ann Arbor at the airport.
McDuffie claimed - after the fact - to
have made a verbal agreement with
Gregory to provide transportation
from the airport. Gregory apparently
had no knowledge of that agreement.
There were, however more severe
offenses than the car rentals. McDuf-
fie's budget for the event was
somewhat less than satisfactory. In-
stead of itemizing costs for hotel
rooms, speaker fees, and other costs,
he listed only flat rate sums for each
speaker. His publicity efforts were far
from effective. According to Page, he
passed out posters to MSA members
but very few were actually put up
around campus. McDuffie claimed he
did not have sufficient funding to
properly publicize the events, but Page
stated that MSA was never confronted
with the problem of promotion. "He
never asked for anythiftg (in
promotion) that we said 'no' to," Page
said.
Because of mismanagement, many
people in the University community
missed out on a worthwhile experience
in international culture, and Univer-
sity students got a chance to have their
money wasted in inexcuseable ways.
Of the $7,500 in total expenditures for
the event, Page estimated that $500
was "wasted on stupid, frivolous
things." MSA was correct in removing
McDuffie from his post, but it is
outrageous that the money entrusted
by them to MSA was allowed to be
spent in such a fruitless way.
response
needed to go over the facts during the
meeting as thoroughly as they did. Ac-
cording to Page, the representatives
were supposed to have researched the
issue before the- meeting and come
prepared to listen to McDuffie's
response. Further, he claims that he
knows of only two representatives who
made special attempts to research the
case and he estimates that between 10
and 15 were not aware of the full story
at the time of the vote.
The lack of preparation by such a
large number of MSA representatives
is disturbing. Obviously not every
Assembly member can be informed on
every issue, but for an issue of the im-
portance of the removal of a commit-
tee chair-one that directly concerns
the welfare of an individual
student-there can be few suitable ex-
cuses for unpreparedness.
If Page's estimates are correct-and
the comments during the meeting
seem to bear him out-then it seems
there were enough uninformed
representatives to have reached a
majority opinion independent of the in-
formed constituency.
MSA was correct in removing Mc-
Duffie from his position. In the wake of
that decision, however, it is perhaps
time for each of its representatives to
ask themselves how committed they
are to representing student concerns in
the Assembly.
By Jonathon Corn
Although the long lines and "free hassles
and grief" have been somewhat eliminated
from the registration process at Michigan, a
more serious problem still exists. This is the
problem of who CRISPs when. For un-
dergraduate students a very simple priority
system is currently in use. All students
register in one of two groups: The first group
is comprised of seniors, then juniors,
sophomores, and freshmen all CRISP
together as a second group. Within each
group, priority is decided by rotating
alphabetical divisions which is a random
system that does not recognize any difference
between freshmen,.sophomores, or juniors.
This system is unfair, because in many cases
junior class members are competing with un-
derclassmen for spots in classes they want or
need.
One problem with this system is the fact
that many sophomores and even second-term
freshmen enroll in upper level courses. They
tak2 the one hundred level prerequisite and
then go straight into the upper-level courses,
virtually passing over two hundred level
classes. In principle, there is nothing wrong
with lowerclassmen taking any course they
feel that they can handle, but surely they
shouldn't have the opportunity to enroll in a
class where juniors are then "bumped out"
simply because they have later CRISP ap-
pointments.
Another problem is that many times juniors
who may be slightly behind because they
have changed majors or added a second
major, need to take classes designed
primarily for underclassmen. In con-
sideration of approaching graduation dates
(for juniors), it is only fair for them to have
the opportunity to take that class before a
lowerclassman. Yet, some of those that need
to are effectively shut out by a system which
Corn is a member of LSA Student
Government.
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Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Students CRISP for classes, but some juniors may be getting left out in the cold.
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dictates priorities in a capricious manner.
There are two other reasons why juniors
should be given priority over underclassmen.
First, it must be realized that a student needs
two solid years to start and finish a major.
During these two years, typically junior and
senior, he or she should have the opportunity
to enroll in any class before any freshman or
sophomore does. Secondly, upperclassmen
pay larger tuition bills than do lower-
ciassmen. According to the administration,
this extra money is justified because upper-
classmen take courses with better, or at least
more expensive, professors in smaller
classes. If upperclassmen are indeed paying
for these classes, they should at least have
priority to get into them before the under-
classmen.
The main point of this piece, then, is to
propose a new priority system where juniors
have more weight in registration than
sophomores and freshmen. The new system
would keep seniors CRISPing first, then allow
all juniors to register before the lower-
classmen. Thus the undergraduate student
body would CRISP in three separate groups,
yet each would still incorporate the rotating
alphabet. It seems to me, several key faculty
members, and the registrars at most other
major undergraduate universities, that this
plan is only practical, lending much to gain
and nothing to lose.
I
Cramer
MSA
's
IN THE ¢IN,
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Although there was ample evidence
to justify MSA's removal of Ran-
dy McDuffie from the chairmanship of
its minority affairs committee, the cir-
cumstances surrounding his removal
raise some serious questions about the
commitment of many of MSA's
representatives.
MSA's bylaws did not technically
cover McDuffie's removal because he
was not an elected member of the
Assembly. It is usually a requirement
that a committee chair be an elected
official, but according to MSA
president Scott Page, none of the elec-
ted representatives had the com-
.bination of concern and experience to
chair the minority affairs committee.
Therefore, when McDuffie was
removed as chair of the committee, he
was removed from all association with
MSA.
Under the bylaws, a committee head
can be removed from his chairman-
ship by a majority vote of the Assem-
bly. The vote to remove McDuffie was
13-4, but it followed a period of
discussion in which McDuffie was
given an opportunity to refute the.
charges levied against him. That
discussion period had been intended to
be a final presentation of the chief
arguments on both sides of the issue,
yet it rapidly degenerated into a full-
scale examination of the case. Infor-
med representatives should not have
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Letters
Consider the things Consider consider
To the Daily:
Consider Consider.
Consider "consider," the
registered trademark and right-
ful property of Consider editor
Jeff Spinner. Consider the con-
sideration he must have given to
acquire it. Consider yourself
violating Spinner's property
rights each time you consider
using the word "consider". Con-
sider paying. royalties for that
use.
Consider the role that Consider
has assigned itself. The presen-
tation of "two 'sides' " of an
issue. The choice of what are ap-
propriate 'sides' of an issue are
made by the Consider editors.
the two sides it does to politics
and culture what Duarte did to
the opposition in El Salvador:
unable to garner public favor in
the U.S. because of connections to
the Death Squads, Duarte
changes his image from polite
Nazi to moderate (and his op-
ponent Duiboisson from impolite
Nazi to conservative) by killing
every one to the left of the Nazis.
Duarte then had a choice for
editors like Jeff Spinner to con-
sider.
Consider Spinner. As Consider
BLOOM COUNTY
editor he decides what we should
consider to be the 'two sides' of
things. When Andrew
Boyd/Colonel John Early can-
celled Spinner's right to choose
'two sides' for us, Spinner an-
swered that Boyd's actions were
"unquestionably inappropriate
and I hope he realizes that."
Spinner wants to tell us what
'questions are appropriate." He
wants to tell us what behavior is
appropriate. Spinner wants to be
everyone's dad and tell us all
what to do.
Spinner, one might imagine,
will go on to be the most suc-
cessful TV preacher and shaper
of reality and morals since Jerry
Falwell.
What Boyd did was entirely ap-
propriate and to the point. Not
only did readers get more tha
Spinners two 'appropriate
questions,' but Spinners claim to
having a right to choose the
questions for us was usurped the
only way possible. Directly.
- Marion Delgado
February 11
by Berke Breathed
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