E

OPINION

Page 4

Monday, November 17, 1986

The Michigan Doily

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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan-

A

week

to

aid

homeless

Vol. XCVII, No. 53

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.

Vesel and Jones

THE PARTIES RUNNING FOR LSA
Student Government (LSA-SG),
SAID and Effective, offer no viable
and enthusiastic candidates for
office; only the two independent
candidates for executive council, -
Meg Vesel and Rick Jones,
would truly represent LSA
students.
The SAID party claims credit
where none is due. The recently
tougher scrutiny of teaching
assistants for English competency
is a result of pressures on the
University from the state
legislature, which SAID
incumbents never lobbied. Also,
the reprioritization of CRISP is an
idea suggested by an administrator
three years ago that merely needed
student ratification.
While SAID has the most
experienced party, it has neither
accomplished much, nor sought to.
It has failed to spend the LSA-SG.
budget and has control of unused
funds, which LSA-SG could use
toward a massive publicity blitz to
make students aware of its
existence and issues.
The Effective party is the same
as SAID with a different name.
Effective wants to set up
committees, investigate issues and
talk with the administration.
'Effective's most original idea is to
keep the LSA-SG office open and
LSA-SG elections are

hire work-study students as staff.
Effective has emphasized that it
wants more publicity for LSA-SG,
but has not said where the money
would come from. Effective also
opposes increasing the budget
beyond $8,000 per term.
Independents Meg Vesel and Rick
Jones, on the other hand, would be
willing to spend LSA-SG's money
for a mobilization effort and if
necessary push for a budget
increase, until a significant number
of students became involved in
LSA-SG's issues.
While SAID consistently held that
it is the student's responsiblity to
seek the help of faculty members in
overly large classes, Vesel and
Jones said they would push for the
hiring of more faculty.
Vesel and Jones also claim to
have organized a petition drive that
garnered 80 to 90 percent student
support to protest phone payments
after phones were removed from
West Quad. As a result, the
administration granted residents a
$25 refund. When asked whether
confrontation becomes necessary if
administrators ignore LSA-SG
over a period of years, Vesel
answered yes. Both SAID and
Effective, however, seem to
believe that legitimacy comes from
the administration and not from
mobilized students.
a ioke:

By Jim Bauer
"It can get to be a madhouse around
here sometimes, but the staff is just
great, they are simply wonderful to work
with." Peggy Taylor was leaving the
Ann Arbor Shelter System. After two
months; she had succeeded in finding a
place to live and was saying so long to
two people - Mandy King and Ginnie
Pypkowski - who had helped her find a
home.
Like other Midwestern cities during
these cold winter months, homelessness
has become a major problem in Ann
Arbor. There are 450 homeless people in
Ann Arbor and the shelter system can
provide a total of 72 beds. Every winter,
the night shelter in the Ann Arbor system
reaches its maximum of 50 people.
"The main problem is affordable
housing," said Pypkowski, Program
Coordinator of Division Place, the Ann
Arbor Day Shelter which is located at 117
S. Division St. "The average rent in
Ann Arbor is $350 per month, and the
maximum general assistance allowance is
$228 per month. Of that amount, $163
is allowed for rental allowances if heat
and electricity are included."
Pypkowski and other staff members
are doing their best to solve this problem.
The Day Shelter finds homes for
approximately 11 people each month.
Three major components are involved
in the process of finding someone a place
to live. First, Division Place provides
shelter during the day. Secondly, and
most importantly, is the shelter's
advocacy component. There are three
full-time advocates at the shelter.hAn
advocate helps a person on a one-to-one
basis.
Becoming self-sufficient and
establishing residency are the primary
Bauer is an LSA sophomore and
shelter volunteer.

goals. "Everyone has to be treated on an
individual basis," said Pypkowski, "we
must deal with the most immediate needs,
if someone comes into our shelter that is
really hungry, we won't start by talking
about housing." The advocates help with
many different needs whether it be
medical, food, clothing or shelter. If
necessary, the advocates will go with
them to clinics, thrift shops, or the
Salvation Army. "We will do whatever it
takes,"added Pypkowski.
This is not all the shelter has to offer.
The final component of the plan is a
formal programming component. A
teacher is at the shelter two days each
week to help people prepare for job
interviews or obtain their graduation
equivalency diploma. A nurse is at the
shelter three hours per week as well as a
substance abuse counselor who is on the
day program staff.
There is no meal plan but there is
some food such as sandwiches and coffee.
Mandy King is trying to start a meal plan
by sending letters to every restaurant in
Ann Arbor. To add to the meals at the
shelter, she hopes to obtain some food
that otherwise would have been thrown
away. King stated, "the regular
subsistence meal program only has
breakfast seven days each week and
dinners four days a week and we are trying
to get dinners at the shelter on the off
days." The day shelter is but one-third of
the Ann Arbor Shelter system. The night
shelter - located at 420 W. Huron - is
the second-third. Its main purpose is to
give people a place to sleep and a chance
to get a shower. At 7:30 each night the
shelter is opened and 50 homeless people
stay the night until seven the following
morning when the shelter is closed.
No one under 18 is allowed in the
night shelter. People of all ages and from
all different types of circumstances spend
the night. These include former mental
health patients, schizophrenics, alcohol
and drug abusers, the list goes on. The

night shelter has a very liberal acceptance
policy. Their main policy is to provide
basic needs such as shelter,shower,
laundry services and referral to
rehabilitative services.
In contrast to this liberal acceptance
policy is the final-third of the shelter
system, Arbor Haven. Arbor Haven has a
capacity of 18 people. The average stay
at Arbor Haven is 11 days, largely
because most people entering are
homeless by circumstance. "Unlike the
night shelter, Arbor Haven does not
accept the chronic homeless person,"
stated Jack Wilson, director of Arbor
Haven. He went on to say that
"applicants must go through an interview
and pledge to work hard to better their
situation."
Arbor Haven provides two meals each
day, seven days a week for its residents.
The 11 day average stay shows that Arbor
Haven is successful in both finding
homeless people a place to live and
helping them to improve their lives.
Although these three shelters do
receive private and some federal aid, they
are always in need of any type of
assistance. November 16-22 is
Homelessness Awareness Week and there
isn't a better time to become involved in
the homeless system. They are in
constant need of food, soap, toothbrushes,
sheets, blankets, towels, and many other
living necessities. Restaurant owners,
don't throw away valuable food! The
shelter can use anything you are willing
to give. You can contact the Night
Shelter at 662-2829 or Division Place at
668-7273.
Volunteers are needed. Anyone who
has the time to help a person improve
their situation and gain independence,
their help would be greatly appreciated.
Volunteers are needed to stay early
evening or overnightAt the night shelter
or to help at Division Place. It is both a
rewarding and fulfilling experience, GET
INVOLVED!

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f

Write-in 'r
B ECAUSE THERE ARE NO
alternatives for the offices of
president and vice-president, aside
from the two parties, students
should call for arealschoice by
writing in the word "referendum"
on their ballots Tuesday. A
referendum is necesary to overhaul
the cumbersome LSA-SG
structure.
Since only 2,400 people out of
17,000 turned . out to vote last
year-14 percent-and 10 perceni
turned out the year before, the
LSA-SG can hardly claim a
mandate to represent the students.
As it is now, LSA-SG elections are
resume-padding contests
determined by which clique of
candidates has the most friends.
LSA-SG is now tied down to an
organizational bureaucracy which
drowns important issues in
committees and research. Rather
than facilitate student participation
in LSA issues, LSA-SG's structure
will continue to perpetuate its own
ineffectiveness and stifle LSA
issues.
If the LSA-SG was doing its job,
word-of-mouth would provide ade -
quate publicity and generate student
participation. Typically though,
LSA-SG president Michelle Tear
considers it an accomplishment that
Dean Peter Steiner has agreed to
meet with LSA-SG whenever
presented with an agenda, instead
of just once a semester at meetings
of the Executive Committee. In
actuality, this so-called accom -
plishment just demonstrates that
students have barely enough

eferendum'
specifically LSA issues, such as-
the huge economics class sizes and
the lack of unity among the
school's different majors.
LSA-SG is ineffective by design.
A successful referendum on
whether or not to completely
restructure the LSA-SG would
ultimately produce a truly
representative body. One
referendum option might be to
allow an interim LSA-SG under
MSA, but autonomous from it, to
ensure continued funding of
groups such as the publishers of
the Creative Writing journal,
Barbaric Yawp. Meanwhile, a new
structure without the (usually
party-determined) president and
vice-president, and with more
representatives from different
departments, could be drawn up.
The independent candidates Vesel
and Jones provide insight here with
their proposal for a collegiate
council which would allow more
representation for all LSA
students.The founders of the
restructured LSA-SG will be those
who mobilize students, not those
who merely want a nice resume.
Students should be allowed to vote
on the new structure during the
MSA spring elections, if no
referendum can be arranged
sooner. At the same time, the
process of rebuilding LSA-SG
from scratch will stir awareness of
LSA-SG's existence. The goal
should be to get at least 50 percent
of LSA students to vote by
providing substantive issues.
Vesel and Jones offer

'1:01\

C OC4 NE

Letters:
History warns dangers of

To the Daily:
Concerning he article
"Witnessing ape culture"
(Daily, 11/7/81S Yvonne
Bloch, it should be strongly
noted that the phenomenon she
described (a female mannequin
being violiently passed over
the heads of dozens of football
fans) as having happened
during the Michigan-Illinois
football game is a lingering
remnant of a far, far worse
situation than she is apparently
aware of.
During the 1960's and
1970's, literally hundreds of
real women each home game
were violently grabbed by male
fans, lifted up over their heads,
and passed up the rows of the
football stadium - frequently
while stadium "guards" and
Ann Arbor police officers
passively watched. It took a
year of concerted effort (10
hours a week, thousands of
posters, over $600 spent) by a
now-defunct organization called
SPUN (Stop Passing Up Now)
to end this terrrible practice.
During that year we
discovered several things from
interviews and meetings with
University officials and many
of the victims of the so-called
"passing-up." From a health
center official we found that
injuries were very frequent,
with broken elbows leading the
list. The previous year one

witnessed one woman stopped
at row 63 and thrown down
more than ten rows by three
large men who intercepted her.
The victims we interviewed
directly after being passed up
were usually too shaken to
even speak. We tried to
console them as they tried to
speak but were unable to get
words out through their
hyperventilation and panic. It
was truly disgusting; and for
several games in a row in the
1978-79 season, we counted
more than 100 women being
passed up each game!
After our information
campaign (helped by the Board

of Regents who in July
year allocated several th
dollars for posters of E
student government 1
urging students to cea
practice) the practice en
the following season a
have not, since, heard
passing up until Ms. B
article.
STUDENTS: Don't
start up again. Even
mannequin or eves
occasionally happened
1970's, with "volu
sorority women being
up in contests for frate
If you see someone
passed up, stand up and'

passing up
of tht it to stop! Don't participate!
ousand If you're grabbed, fight back
Bo and and scream. If a friend is
eaders grabbed, take it for what it is:
se the assault and battery and, under
nded in Michigan law, criminal sexual
nd we misconduct - defend your
of any friend.
loch's Those of you who might be
tempted to pass someone up,
let this please remember three things:
with a 1,) It's not "part of the game."
n, as 2.) The women being passed
in the up don't want to be! 3.)
nteer" The women being passed up
passed frequently suffer serious
rnities. injuries! -m

4

being
yell for

-Terry Calhoun
-November 7

4

Don' t stereotype, Greeks are people too

To The Daily:
This letter is written in
response to the letter from the
Nov. 11 edition of the Daily
entitled "Greeks aiding charity
hypocritical." For some reason
Jon Jacob felt it his place to
write against the Greek system.
I believe I understand some of
Mr. Jacob's feelings. He is
upset at one or two fraternities
who have caused some prob -
lems to their neighbors. I
believe something is being
done to help correct these
problems, but this is not what

used by people with prejudices.
I am not saying that this
pertains to Mr. Jacobs, but I
believe he should look at the
whole picture before he
condemns the Greek system.
The second problem I have
with Mr. Jacob's letter is his
perception of how money is
raised by the "Greeks." Not all
houses ask for "hand-outs,"
although this is a very effective
way of collecting money for
charity because a student is
willing to throw the change in
his pocket into a bucket but is
not goi~ng to ern home and mail

formances successful, but then
they also pay to be in them.
This means that they are
indirectly giving some of their
money to charity.
Perhaps Mr. Jacobs will
control his anger long enough
to see that the Greek system is
not just a group of people who
keep him up late on a Saturday
night and then say that it's all
right because they give to
charity. A few houses in tht
Greek system are not always
civil to their neighbors, but
this is the house, not the
system. Most houses