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OPINION
Page 4 Friday, February 22, 1985 The Michigan Daily

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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

MSA exChairman

Vol. XCV, No. 119

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor,MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Spring break in jail

O VER SPRING break, while most
of the University's students will
be free to go wherever they please, two
students will not even be free to leave
their small jail cells.
Nancy Aronoff and Ingrid Kock, two
of the 11 members of the Progressive
Students Network who staged a sit-in
in engineering Prof. George Haddad's
research laboratory last March,
received jail sentences of 12 days each.
They were given a choice of 56 hours of
community service or a $120 fine, but
they declined both options.
A third student, Amyanne Angelstro,
chose community service.
PSN contents that Haddad is
engaged in research that furthers the
arms race. Haddad has acknowledged
that his research does have ap-
plications to the Phoenix Missile
system, but notes that it has many civil
applications as well.
It is obvious that the protesters
violated the law when they refused to
leave the laboratory after University
officials read them the trespassing act.
civil disobediance actions require the
breaking of some laws in order ot un-
derscore a larger cause. And in the
case of the sit-in the demonstrators
knowingly trespassed to raise public
awareness of the implications of Had-

dad's research.
Although they are guilty, it is unfor-
tunate that the protesters have been
imprisoned. By challenging the
University's right to research nuclear
weapons, they have excercised their
democratic responsibilities in ways
beyond most citizens. It is the duty of a
citizen to pursue legal means to right
injustices. When those legal means
fail, or are violated, citizens may need
to turn to illegal means. In 1982 the
Michigan Student Assembly and the
Senate Assembly, the governing bodies
of both students and faculty, approved
guidelines on nonclassified research
that would have prohibited research
with significant applications toward
harming human life. The regents,
however, turned down the guidelines,
and its supporters were forced to
utilize civil disobedience tactics to con-
tinue to drive for the guidelines. For
their afternoon in the laboratory they
have been given a 12 day sentence.
Over the next 9 days, most students
will be relaxing, sleeping in, and
staying out late. Two students will be
in prison, however, and it would be ap-
propriate for unrestrained students to
take time out to remember the
protestors and their cause every day
they remain in jail.

By Randy McDuffie
I, Randy McDuffie, not being one to repine,
feel that I must rectify the record. My
removal from MSA was not what it appeared
to be. I have been charged with many things. I
will attempt to answer the charges. It has
been written, that the budget was "known to
be inaccurate". That in itself is inaccurate.
The series of events started with a budget of
$11,000.00 and after cost cutting measures will
cost no more than $8,700.00. If the $900.00 that
was not spent out of an $1,200.00 advertising
budget, you get a grand total of $9,600.00.
Where is the budget so inaccurate?
The charge that I failed to correctly inform
them about funds committed from outside
sources is a perversion of the truth. They key
word is "Correctly". There were no
guidelines set up. What was thercorrect way?
Well it came into being after January 10,1985.
As far as approval of the speakers again no
guidelines. Approval by whom? Who is ap-
provable? Who isn't? By whose standards?
We are still in America, it still has freedom of
speech, doesn't it? The Minority Affairs
Committee and Minority Student Services
people thought the speakers were fine. In
fact the speakers were suggested by people
other than myself. As far as to who we hoped
would incur the cost, that was covered in the
budget.
Failure to study feasibility of funding
requests before making financial commit-
tments. I did in fact go to Student Organi-
zation Development Center about the funding
request and received much needed help. This is
just one of the many imaginary and baseless
charges brought against me.
The second set of charges against me con-
cern the "Unauthorized Dispersement of
MSA Funds". Let me ask you, how can a per-
son who is not a signer on an account, spend
money from the account? Without prior ap-
proval? Short of forgery I can not think of a
way. I am not charged with forgery. The
money spent on the International Cultures
Weekend was spent in the following forms: 1.
MSA purchase orders, 2. MSA advance
checks, 3. cash from my own pocket. I asked
for no reimbursement. I could not sign for the
checks or PO's and don't need anybody's
permission to spend my own cash. Only the
President, Executive V.P. and the Treasurer
could sign for funds. Therefore this charge
must have been made by someone who did not
understand how MSA works.
The charge that I disobeyed an order to
return rental cars is true only if you ski the
surface. Lets look a little deeper, lets see why
the order was disobeyed. It was either break
an oral contract, my word as a man, or
disobey the order. The speakers were told
they would have cars and drivers while in Ann
Arbor. I had been told that Mr. Gregory
traveled alone and carried no cash or credit
cards. Mr. Means (who one can consider as a
head of state) was told that he would have a
luxury car and a driver of American Indian
descent. Was I not to honor this agreement?
He was going to fulfill his part. Was Ito speak
with forked tongue? Well I am one of a dying
breed, one that believes that a man is only as,
good as his word. I was even told to use my
friend's cars. I tried to explain that my frien-
ds did not have cars. Even if they did, what if
one broke down? Had an accident? How was I
to be sure that had insurance? One way to
avoid those problems is to rent cars. The
budget did include the cars. The P.O. had
been signed. I did not believe the people who
were telling me not to rent cars were in fact
acting rationally. Even iif you would have ac-
ted differently, I am sure you can understand
why I disobeyed that order.
McDuffie was recently removed from
his post as chairman of MSA 's Minority
Affairs Committee.

As for the Charge "Lack of Professionalism
in Management of the Event". That is a
prostitution of the statement. What does it
mean? They say the budget was padded.
That's a bald face lie. To say I never presen-
ted an accurate or complete budget to the
Assembly etc, is a misrepresentation of the
facts. They had the same budget that I and
over fifty student groups had. I did, in fact
stay well within the budget, and in fact came
in under budget with the cost cutting
measures that were instituted. So what is the
problem?
As far as the rest of the charges excluding
not formally inviting the members of MSA
to meet the speakers, are gross
misstatements of the facts. In other words a
group of lies as big as the nucleus of an atom
is small. It is true that I did not "Formally in-
vite the members of MSA to meet the
speakers. I did however ask them all to come
at the meeting on January 22, 1985. I guess
that didn't count. The series of events was
free and open to the public. Was there a need
to "Formally" invite? If I was wrong on that
point I am sorry, I intended to harm. They say
I didn't let the assembly know until four days
before the event. If this is true where did the
Michigan Daily get information that MSA had
pledged up to a thousand dollars for the
series of events? MSA knew about the events
before Thanksgiving. The executive officers
talked to Russell Means contact person at
least two weeks before the event. They were
offered an opportunity to cancel Mr. Means
appearence at that time. They chose not to do
so. How can they say they did not know what
was going on?
Ask yourself this question, if you pay
someone to do a job and the job is not done,
what do you do? Fire them? Well if you said
that, you were wrong, according to MSA.
What you do is give them and their staff a
retreat. It matters very little that students
depend on this service and it wastnot there for
them for an entire semester. But let a volun-
teer put on a series of events where
everything planned took place. A person who
worked during the Christmas break, and at
least 20 hours a week. But they disobeyed an
order you fire them.
Steve Kaplan who talks about my mishan-
dling of the International Cultures Weekend,
is responsible for setting guidelines for me to
follow. These guidelines did not exist before
January 21, 1985. Thats right less than a week
before the events. Mr. Kaplan's job is to know
what is going on in all the committees of MSA.
If he was doing his job, how could he not know
what was going on with the Minority Affairs
Committee? He said I didn't inform the
steering committee. Well they met on Mon-
days during the fall term. I had a class that
only met once a week at the same time. I cut
the class at least twice. How many times
should I have missed my class? He knew of
the conflict before he set the time. Now he
could have came to a meeting of the Minority
Affairs Committee. When asked why he
replied that the committee met when MSA
met. Then he was asked, if MSA had said that
they would do what had been done last year,
rotate between business and work meetings
(when committees could meet)? He said that
there had not been a work meeting since late
Oct. This is just one example of the inept
management of MSA. For the sake of brevity,
I will discuss only two more areas. They are
communication and my hearing, or whatever
one wants to call the miscarriage of justice.
Being a senior at Michigan implies one can
read. Well that seems to be wrong. A letter
dated January 27, 1985 signed by Mr. Kaplan
included "If you want a hearing on the above
matters, please submit your request in
writing to the President within a reasonable
time. We think a reasonable time for such a
request would be one week from the Assem-
bly meeting of January 29, 1985". On January

responds
29, 1985 according to the MSA minutes "A
motion by Kaplan "to accept the resolution to
suspend Randy until a trial (changed to
hearing the next week) can be held at next
weeks meeting". On January 30, 1985 a letter
from Mr. Kaplan "please be advised that this
is a proposal during a normal business
meeting not a special or formal hearing. It is
simply a discussion of a specific proposal to
remove you". Also "if you have any questions
regarding the process or any other matters,
please address them in writing to myself at
the MSA office". Less than 24 hours before, he
had asked for a trial or was it hearing? I
replied as requested in writing "Also please
give me specific information on the following
items. 1. "The rules and guidelines that will
be used during the hearing". 2. "Whether
people would be able to speak on my behalf
and if there will be a time limit for myself or
persons testifying on my behalf?" 3. "Will
any other limits be imposed upon myself or
others?" I asked to have the information no
later then 5 p.m. FDri., February 1, 1985. I
acquired the imitations rules on Feb. 5, 1985.
The travesty used for fair rules was not made
up until after 9 p.m. Feb. 5, 1985 during the
inquisition.
I never requested a hearing MSA wanted
one to learn the facts. The Michigan Daily
quoted Mike Laber, a member of MSA as
saying "There were basic questions left
unanswered". Also Nick Kaboenell said,
"The trial was being used as a way to sanitize
the whole affair".
There are seniors at the 'University who
cannot read or understand there own com-
positions, interlocution, or exhortations. How
else can one explain how the executive of-
ficers did not know of the hearing they chose
to give me? There must be a large com-
munication problem at MSA. It seems that
the treasurer did not know of funds that other
University officers had agreed to put into the
account. I know that Mr. Page and Mr.
Kaplan knew. But remember I am the one--
with the communication problem. Tell me,
how Mr. Kaplan could not know I was to have
a hearing? Did he or the Executive officers
say the hell with what the Assembly said? I
could not believe that. Could it be that Mr.
Page and Mr. Kaplan were too emotionally
involved to see justice done? Was it their
pride, ego, or their barbarism that blinded
them? Was it their lack of understanding of
different cultures? Could you be prepared to
defend yourself against charges, in a
haphazard Kangaroo court in less than 24
hours? Some of the things they wanted me to
do were impracticable, such as not to feed the
speakers. With the irrational behavior I saw,
how could I be expected to follow orders?
I do believe that what really upset the
leaders of MSA was the realization of how
inept they were at leading. So they went to the
first rule on how to run awayfrom a problem,
"Find a scapegoat and ride him". I won't
even get into political motives. I want you to
question why so much time and effort was put
into getting rid of me? At the same time
nothing has been done or said about what the
limits that Reagan wants to put on federal
financial aid, why? Could it be that MSA is a
rich boys club and they don't care about mid
die and lower class people? There are serious
problems with student government at
Michigan. It is set up so that only those who
can afford it can take part. Maybe this is the
reason why something that affects the vast
majority of students can go unquestioned. My
charge to you is to look into your student
government and ask a few questions. Also we
should organize to stop the Reagan cuts in
education. They do affecthus more since we
attend the most expansive public school in the4
country. Lets get togeter and do something
about it.

Serving the community

T here is still justice in this country.
For fraudulent transactions in-
volving hundreds of thousands of
dollars, John Zaccaro, husband of last
year's Democratic vice presidential
:candidate Geraldine Ferraro, has been
sentenced to an overwhelming 150
hours of community service.
Zaccaro and his company of lawyers
must have had a good laugh after his
humbling statement to the court. "I.
have learned my lesson, Judge, the
hard way," he said. The lessons Zac-
coro has learned are to be more elusive
in his illegal transactions and to keep a
tighter reign on his bookkeepers when
his wife's political maneuvers thrust
him into the public eye.
According to the indictment, Zac-
caro was accused of submitting a false
contract of sale which overstated the
price of real estate at $15.5 million. The
actual price for the houses in question
was $11.9 million. The higher figure
might have enabled Zaccaro and his
partners to obtain a higher loan in an
attempt to gain financing for the tran-.

saction. In applying for the loan, Zac-
caro also listed his net worth at $21.6
million, knowing well that his net wor-
th at the time was no more than $4
million.
For these crimes, he was sentenced
150 hours of community service. Just
as the scrutiny of the public brought
his case to bear, the public has also
decided his fate in the case. Com-
munity service is not a sentence, but a
blessing for Zaccaro. Now he can serve
his time helping underprivileged
youths in New York - a worthy cause
- and subsequently retire to his same
financial ways.
Zaccaro has been tried, found guilty,
and let off the hook. For costing the
U.S. taxpayers thousands of dollars
through his illicit dealings, he will have
to perform a month's work in. a
benevolent organization - a sentence
every person should be required to
serve. Next time, perhaps the court
should consider hitting such criminals
where it hurts the most - in the
pocketbook.

Wasserman

PLACE., &STARTHE PESS CNFRECE
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Letters
Editorial was insulting, uninformed

To the Daily:
I would like to respond to your
editorial of February 9, entitled
"Military security," in which you
indicted the military pension
system. I will grant that perhaps
the present system does not suit
our country's current needs and
should be reviewed. This is a
legitimate question and should be
discussed.
However, I took great offense
at the sentence. "Not a bad

sible for a multi-million dollar
payroll. At 21, my cousin was
operating a nuclear reactor
aboard a submarine. Other young
men are landing fighter aircraft,
on the rolling decks of aircraft
carriers in the middle of the,
ocean and still others are respon-
sible for maintaining and
BLOOM COUNTY

repairing' the advanced electronics
and radar systems of those air-
craft.
Now some snot-nosed assistant
editor of a college newspaper has
the audacity to suggest that the
servicemen and women of our
country are less capable than he!
His very indictment of military

personnel serves only to demon-
strate his own ignorance of the
subject.
The printing of such drivel in
an otherwise worthy publication
only serves to besmirch the
dignity of your paper and
warrants a printed apology.
- Scott T. Rickman
February 12
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