OPINION'
Page 4 Sunday, March 24, 1985 The Michigan Daily
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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Council split on divestment
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Vol. XCV No. 137
420 Maynord St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
The Code continues
ALTHOUGH IT has slipped from
the headlines recently, the
Proposed Code of Nonacademic Cond-
uct is still a center of controversy.
The "Code" is currently being
reworked in University Council, a nine
member board consisting of faculty,
students, and administrators. Much of
the debate within the Council has cen-
tered on whether the code should be a
comprehensive legal document or
whether it should be a series of
solutions to specific problems across
campus.
Some administrators argue that the
comprehensive approach is necessary
to save time in the drafting of the code
as well as to confront a judicial process
that is too slow in removing potential
repeated offenders from campus.
Neither arguement is particularly
convincing, however, in consideration,
of the ultimate goal of the project: a
safer, more open campus.
William Sturgis, an administrative
representative to the Council, said that
in putting off work on the legalistic
solutions, the committee was,
"stringing (the problem) along." The
distinct issues which surround the code
are controversial enough to warrant
separate discussion, however. If that
discussion entails a longer period
before all of the necessary issues are
discussed, it nevertheless will result in
those issues being addressed in more
flexible and innovative ways.
Archie Andrews, another ad-
ministrative representative, said that
he feels the criminal justice system
cannot move quickly enough to remove
students accused of serious crimes
from campus. "To wait for the wheels
of justice to grind away, we expose
other students to that problem," he
said.
Andrews overlooks that in cases of
violent crimes, the courts can issue an
injunction preventingan individual
charged with a violent crime from
returning to specific premises: Under
such a warrant, the individual could be
arrested merely for stepping foot on
campus and could therefore not pose a
threat to other students.
Such an injunction, while certainly
not a panacea for campus safety
problems, is a response by the legal
system to the need for some form of
immediate action to prevent the
recurrence of violent crime, and is as
effective as any means the University
could ever hope to employ.
The council appears headed in the
proper direction, however, and it has
begun to address specific questions of
safety on campus. Although there are
many battles ahead over the specific
problems that must still be addressed,
those battles will be easier so long as
they are decided in their separate con-
texts rather than in one comprehensive
code.
The Ann Arbor City Council failed to reach
an accord on whether the city should divest
its pension fund investments from firms doing
business in South Africa.
Mayor Louis Belcher'was absent from the
proceedings and was therefore unable to
break the 5-5 tie on the resolution. This is not
the end of the resolution according to coun-
cilman Larry Hunter (D-First Ward), who
proposed the measure. He said, "I'm totally
dedicated to this issue." Ward added that he
would reintroduce the measure after the April
elections.
The dissenters to the measure claimed it
was narrowly structured. Councilman Gerald
Jernigan, (R-FourthWard)- raised objections
to Hunter's plan. He said, "It's a resolution
without documents, divesture means what?
There are no alternative plans to action, it's
divest or nothing."
Jernigan and other members of the council
also objected to the potential of taxpayers
losing money from the pullout. But Hunter
pointed to other cities that had already done
so and suffered no losses.
The Week
in Review
Linguistics update
Linguistics faculty members voted this
week to endorse the report recommending
that the department be reorganized into a
program.
The reorganization committee, composed
of LSA faculty and chaired by Associate Dean
for Long Range Planning Jack Meiland, calls
for reducing the number of full time faculty
members from 11.5 to six of seven and for
closer ties to the University's language-
realated departments.
Acting Chairman John Catford said, the
discussions at Thursday's departmental
meeting were serious but amicable. Several
faculty members abstained, but the motion
carried by "quite a number of votes," Catford
said, refusing to reveal the exact count.
LSA Dean Peter Steiner was happy with the
outcome, "I'm glad to hear it," he said. The
College Executive Committee will begin to
discuss the next steps once it is informed of
the vote. Meiland refused to comment.
The reorganization plan provides only one
half to three quarter appointments for the
faculty members. Faculty will have to find
positions with other language departments,
such as philosophy.
The only full time position will be for'. the
program's director, who will head a steering
The Week in Review was compiled by
Daily staff writers Nancy Driscoll, Steve
Herz, Thomas Hrach, Sean Jackson, and
Carrie Levine, and Daily editor Peter
Williams.
committee.
That committee will establish the basic
curricula for undergraduate and graduate
degrees, set up courses in conjuction with
other departments, and expand the faculty in-
teraction with linguistics professors.
The new program will not be held to the
current faculty, "there is the presumption
that no priority will be given to present
linguistics department faculty," the report
says. New members may come from in or out
of the University.
The curriculum of the program will consist
of undergraduate core courses including
phonetics, grammar, linguistic typology, and
history of lingustics, and others.
Cross listed courses like Anthropoloty 272
(Language and Culture) and Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science 595
(Theory of Natural Languagerand Structure)
will also be available.
Under the new program, only un-
dergraduate concentrations and Ph.Ds will be
offered, striking the current Masters degree
program.
Case reviewed
Assistant city prosecutor Marilyn Eisen-
brau is reconsidering the decision not to
prosecute LSA sophomore Rick Balock for
allegations of embezzling $2,500 from the
dormitory's Board of Governor's (BOG) fund.
Originally, the city decided not to prosecute
Balock because the BOG at its February 2
meeting voted not to press charges if the LSA
sophomore would pay the money back in full
by the fall.
But information not contained in the
minutes of the Feb. 2 meeting have raised
new questions about the decision. According
to Scott Siler, treasurer of the BOG, the
minutes Eisenbrau received were only a
summarized version which did not say the
vote was an unofficial one.
Bursley Hall Building Director Caroline
Gould felt that the issue ought to be taken out
of the hands of the BOG and was "very sur-
prised" that the issue did not generate any
kind of student action.
Gould was also concerned that, due to
student apathy, the board would do absolutely
nothing about the incident.
Other questions have been raised about the
BOG's validity as a representative of all the
Bursley resudents by several members of the
board who wished to remain anonymous. Ac-
cording to one member only 10 to 15 students
vote at meetings while Bursley houses over
1,300 residents.
Finally John Heidke, the Assistant Director
for Housing, said he strongly supports
vigorous prosecution of any individuals who
are suspected of theft while in office.
Arson wrap-up,
The intra-Universityhearing of James
Picozzi, a former Law student accused of set-
ting fire to his Law Quad dorm room on Mar-
ch 8, 1983 was wrapped up this week in the'
Hutchins Hall courtroom.
Picozzi, who suffered from burns in the fire:
and broke his back after falling out of his 3rd
story window, filed suit against University,
Law School Dean Terrance Sandalow last
year. He said his civil rights were violated-
when Sandalow did not send a letter of good
academic standing on Picozzi's behalf to Yale:
Law School so that he could transfer there.
At a hearing conducted on August 30 and:
31st, U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens;
did not grant the plaintiff a preliminary in--
junction but instead directed the parties to:
conduct an administrative hearing to decide:
if Picozzi set the fire.
In final summations Friday, University at-:
torney Peter Davis said that the University;
had proven its case beyond a reasonable'#
doubt. He argued that only Picozzi had both:
the opportunity and the motive to set the fire.
Picozzi's attorney, Alan Silber said in his
concluding remarks that the University is
guilty of a subtle prejudice against his client
which has obscurred 'the truth. He said that<
there was an atmosphere of assumed guilt
before the hearing began.
A decision is to be announced in 60 to 90'
days.
Three candidates
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Three students declared candidacy last:
week for president of the Michigan Student
Assembly.
The candidates, LSA sophomore Alex
Diana, LSA junior Paul Josephson, and;
engineering senior Kevin Michaels"
represent the MOVE (Make Our Votes Effec-
tive), Voice, and MUM (Moderates for the '
University of Michigan) parties, respec-
tively.
Diana, the presidential candidate represen-
ting the MOVE party, says his party will con-
centrate on "using University resources for
the students and compromising with the ad-
ministration." For example, he sayd he would
like to come to a "reasonable compromise on
the code."
Josephson, representing the Voice party,-
describes his party as "Young but experien-_
ced." He says his party will concentrate on-
increasing minority recruitment and reten-
tion, fighting the code, and working on issues
of interest to women such as increased anti-
rape programs.
Michaels, representing MUM, expressed'
two priorities of his party. The first, he says,
is improving the campus escort service. The.
second priority is to gain student and ad-
ministrative respect for the assembly.
"Students ask themselves 'Why should I
vote?' and 'What does MSA do for me besides
all that radical stuff?'," he says.
In addition to voting for one of the three
presidential candidates in the April 9 and 10
MSA elections, students will also vote for
their running mates, the vice presidential
candidates.
The three students who declared vice
presidential candidacy last week are LSA,
sophomore Casey Whitehead (MOVE), LSA
sophomore Micky Feusse (Voice), and LSA
junior Thomas Salvi (MUM).
Dropping acid rain
T HE RECENT agreement between
the United States and Canada to
study acid rain is an encouraging sign
that the Reagan administration may
be putting the issue higher on its agen-
da. Unfortunately, much of the hoopla
surrounding the joint effort is more
bombast than substance. The United
States has been polluting its giant
neighbor for far too long, and effective
steps are necessary to keep the en-
vironmental damage to a minimum.
Canadians have expressed concern
for years that acid rain from Mid-
western factories is seeping north to
attack marine and plant life. The U.S.
reply is always the same: study the
issue.
Nobody knows right now exactly how
much damage acid rain from the
United States is doing in Canada, but
by the time belated studies are com-
pleted, the damage may be irrever-
sible. Besides, studies have already
shown acid rain can travel hundreds of
miles. The question . is not whether
U.S. factories pollute Canada, it's
exactly how much damage they do.
Studying acid rain is not only ap-
propriate - it's essential. Concrete
steps must be taken to curb sulfur-
dioxide emissions before they become
overwhelming.
As usual, there's a catch. Cleaning
up acid rain takes a great deal of
money - money neither the ad-
ministration nor the economically
fragile Midwestern industries say they
can afford. In this case, however, the
money would be well spent. It may
seem to cost a lot now, but the price in
a few years could be enormous.
Wasserman
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A
Letters
It
'S
time to reform the justice system
To the Daily:
America has always been
proud of its just legal system. The
beliefs that a person is innocent
until proven guilty and that a
defendant's rights are
unalienable have always set
America apart from other
nations. However, our judicial
and penal systems have recently
started to degenerate. Increasing
social complexities, increasing
crime rates, and increasing
population have caused our cour-
ts to fall years behind in their
cases and our prisons to fill
beyond capacity. Because of
these stresses on the system, we
now see criminals escaping
responsibility for their crimes,
and our jails transforming from
reform institutions to penalty
boxes.
The courts have become a big
plead temporary insanity or
point the finger of guilt at cir-
cumstance, society, genetics or
some other unapprehendible
villian. If a criminal knows he
can not shift his guilt, he can of-
ten plea bargain. He promises to
tell the whole truth (which he has
sworn to do anyway) in exchange
for a reduced sentence.
Still, it is true that we can not
have an absolute definition of
right and wrong. There are ex-
tenuating circumstances. People
really can be insane. The prisons
arecrowded. We can not afford to
keep people in them all their
lives. Defendants who plea
bargain or plead insanity have
the right to do so. It is basic to-
our great legal system. However,
these plea tactics are often ex-
ploited to escape conviction.
Those who employ these methods
tactics in order to maintain our
distinctions between right and
wrong.
The prison system is also
weakening. The prisons are now
places we put criminals just to
get them off the streets. The over-
crowded prisons are not op-
timistic places where a convict
develops hope for a happy future.
Michigan prisons are now so
crowded that the state has set up
an early release program to let
out some convicts before they
have served their full time. If
prisons had good reform
programs, they would probably
not have such high return rates.
Yes, it is true that there are many
other needs for public money, but
crime is a major social issue. By
neglecting these problems we
will only allow them to grow wor-
se. If we do not deal with them,
they will rot like an ignored
cavity until they threaten the
functioning of our whole society.
We must support legislation to
reform our judicial and penal
systems. This does not
necessarily mean we should in-
crease capital punishment or
lengthen sentences, it means a
stronger criterion for temporary
insanity, less acceptance of plea
bargaining, and funding for more
and better prisons.
- Joshua Cleland
March 17
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