OPINION
Tuesday, February 17, 1987

Page 4

The Michigan Daily

- - - - --- ----

Join d
Who reads?
Discounting those of us who peruse
$1.95 right-next-to-the-chewing-gum-at-
Kroger Harlequins, very few of us read.
Television has replaced print as a form
of entertainment. And even Books on
Tape and Cliffs Notes make it possible to
digest a book without reading it.
Dov
Cohen
What we need is a new program to get
America reading.
Several ideas have come out. Some
have suggested tax deductions for people
who read books. Others of the supply
side ilk suggest distributing free books to
the already rich and well educated. They
hope the knowledge will "trickle down"

rive
to the poor and illiterate.
Some LaRouchians

for literar

suggested jail

sentences for non-readers. ("Sentences or
sentences," I believe their program was
called. "Read 'em or serve 'em.")
There is, however, one sensible, non-
totalitarian solution.
It utilizes the one and almost only area
in which people still read. What we need
are literary billboards.
When people drive on the expressway,
they are constantly reading signs: exit
signs, billboards, merge signs, road
signs, advertisements, stop signs,
"Danger when wet" signs, etc.
We must use this to our advantage.
What we need to do is set up expressways
devoted to certain books. Instead of the
normal traffic sign drivel, we would write
one sentence from the book on each sign.
Each succeeding sign will have the next
sentence.
According to my calculations, signs
appear about every 1/10th of a mile.

This is perfect. It gives the reader/driver
just enough time to read a sentence, check
the traffic, and go on to the next sentence.
In the space where people read:
"Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge, $25
single, $67 double, kids stay free, free in-
room movies, heated pool, three blocks
from Brookfield exit, 2.5 miles" (24
words), they could read: "If you want an
image of the future, imagine a boot
stamping on a human face - forever."
(17 words!)
Think of the possibilities.
"Call me Ishmael" instead of "Zeeb
Road, next left"!
"God is dead" instead of "Dexter city
limits"!
"The history of all hitherto existing
societies is the history of class struggles"
instead of "See the world's largest gelatin
mold, 3 miles"!
"To be or not to be" instead of "Gas,
food, and lodging ahead"!
"It was the best of times. It was the

'yroad
worst of times" instead of "Prison area
ahead. Do not pick up hitchhikers"!
At a sentence every 1/10th of a mile
and going 60 m.p.h., one could read 10
sentences a minute. Assuming an aver-
age of 23 sentences a page, that's 25
pages an hour. The average reader would
be able to read a 200 page book on a
round trip to Pittsburgh.
One could read Gone with the Wind on
the way to Georgia. Ulysses could be
read between here and Montana.
Get on the Tolstoy Expressway, and
you can read War and Peace on a round
trip to Tulsa. Read The Inferno on
Dante's Highway to Hell.
Admittedly, the plan does have its
flaws.
What would we do with the William
Faulkner Highway? One sentence might
have to be spread out over 35 billboards.
What about mergers of expressways?
Wealth of Nations shouldn't merge with
Das Kapital. And the Friedrich Nietzsche
Exit Ramp better not intersect with the

signs
Saint Thomas Aquinas Service Drive.
If the novel gets exciting, will people
exceed the 60 m.p.h./ 25 page per hour
speed limit to get to the next sentertce
faster?
And what about people who get on
near the climax of the novel? Will tley
ruin the ending for themselves or vfill
they have to drive with their eyes closed?
All these issues are details we Will
have to deal with later.
But I think the solution is good for te
most part. Not only would it help edD -
cate the people, it would get rid of
eyesores on the national highway and
eliminate the boredom of lengthy express -
way travel.
Join me in my campaign for literary
billboards.
And put America back on the road to
literacy.
This is one of the essays that earned Dov
Cohen a Hopwood award.

i

Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Vol. XCVII, No. 98

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.
Deporting ideologies

U NDER THE AUSPICES Of the
McCarran-Walter Act, the Immi -
gration and Naturalization Service
(INS) raided a Los Angles home and
arrested eight Palestinians and one
Kenyan on January 26. The Daily
condemns such police state tactics
used by the FBI and the INS, and
calls for students to join the rally to
be held on the detainees' behalf on
the Diag at noon today.
The detainees were treated like
sub-humans: they were shackled;
their attorneys were not informed of
their whereabouts, and they were
held without bail for a week. All
nine were arrested on technical
charges stemming from various
immigration laws. All nine are also
Palestinian activists. This was no
coincidence, but part of an effort to
deport people with ideologies
differing from the U.S. govern -
ment's. In this case, the government
obviously singled out the eight
Palestinians and one Kenyan for
their political beliefs- the desire for
a Palestinian homeland.
The FBI and the INS seem to have
no scruples in violating civil liberties
as this event has shown. The FBI
unofficially accused the detainees of
espionage and sabotage; though
sources admitted that they had no
evidence. Of course, the FBI is
taking advantage of and promoting
stereotypes of Arabs as terrorists.,

The FBI used another excuse to
arrest the Palestinian
sympathizerss-a law from the
McCarthy era of anti-communist
hype called the McCarran-Walter
Act.
The act was passed in 1952 to
prevent people from espousing
communism. This act allows the
government to legally deport non-
citizens if they are affiliated with an
"organization that causes to be
written or printed matter advocating
or teaching the economical, interna -
tional, or governmental doctrines of
world communism." In practice, the
law has kept out prominent writers
and others from Central America
and South Africa, for example, with
views opposed to U.S. foreign
policy. The very existence of the
McCarran-Walter Act shows how
little respect the government has for
civil liberties.
The Palestinians are a people with
almost no rights any where in the
world. They are taken advantage of
by many parties. Now it seems that
the Palestinians who move to the
United States also face the same
problems.
People who come to the United
States often seek freedom from
oppression. Immigrants with beliefs
that the U.S. government does not
like, however, are not likely to find
what they're looking for.

LETTERS:
U'ma
To The Daily:
Most people in the
university community know
that there is a housing
shortage, yet the extent of the
problem is not widely
appreciated. The Daily, in a
recent article, reported vacancy
rates under one percent and a 50
percent rise in rents over the
past few years, but these
figures tell only part of the
story. A more telling statistic
is the number of students being
forced out of the area: the
number of commuting students
has risen steadily from 2,561
in 1982 to 5,265 in 1986.
Other statistics from the
housing office show students
living in temporary dorm
space, doubles convertedto
triples, etc. Nor is the
problem restricted to students,
since increasing numbers of
working people are being
forced to move out of the area.
The University is
responding to the situation, not
by building more student
housing but by tearing down
existing housing. Two
buildings at University Terrace
(UT) are going to go to make
room for additional hospital
parking, displacing 50 families
in the process. The university
administration knows that
students are being forced out of
the area. Last fall, Vice-
President Brinkerhoff stated
that planners were aware of the
problem and were considering
expanding the size of
commuter parking lots. He
also stated that he was
concerned about the efflux of
working (he was concernedd
because University is having
difficulty in recruiting non-
professional staff).
The parking problem at the
Medical Campus, although
real, is not as critical as people
have been lead to believe.
According to the University's
own planning documents,
when the Glen street structure
is completed this year, there
may actually be a surplus of
spaces in the area. Also, 'U'
Terrace is not the only possible
site for a new structure. The
original planning documents
discussed the pros and cons of
several sites (unfortunately,
community impact was not
one of the factors considered);
there was no compelling reason
for choosing the UT site.
University planners, in
deciding to tear down housing
during a crunch, have made a
shortsighted and irresponsible
decision.
Residents of UT, along with
other concerned members of the
community, have been trying

are refusing to reconsider their
decision, not because there are
no other alternatives, but
because they are protecting
their right to make decisions
without interference from the
community.
By giving buildings to the
hospital without replacing
them, the 'U' is simply
repeating the same pattern that
has seen the continuous
transfer of resources from low
priority units (e.g. humanities,
natural resources, etc.) to high
priority units which are capable
of attracting funds and
maintaining high visibility. In
effect, students and the poor are
being asked to. lelp underwrite
one of the richest units of the
In fairness
To the Daily:
I did not make the University
of Michigan football team this
year. This is the fifth year in a
row. At first I thought it was
because I am a woman. Then I
thought maybe it was because
my grades are too low, but I
checked and my GPA is above
a 2.0. After I got over the
disappointment of not being
able to play football for such a
prestigeous school, I realized
that I didn't make the team
because I am not a talented
enough football player. That
sounded fair to me until I read
"Repeal Prop 48" (Daily
1/26/87). I now realize that I
have been the victim of unfair
football tryout requirements
that discriminate against all
women, most small/short men,
handicapped students and for-
eign students (everyone knows
that football is an American
sport, and therefore culturally
biased against foreigners). If I
apply the reasoning used in
your editorial to my own situ-
ation, I see that since I have
proven my academic capability
I should be allowed to play for
the team no matter what my
athletic ability. After all, "for
most sports, the only pre-
professional athletic programs
are at universities." Why
should I be dined the
opportunity for a career in the
NFL or NBA just because I am
not as good an athlete as Bo
and Bill think I should be? I
think my score on the SAT
should more than compensate
for my athletic shortcomings.
To make things fair, I
propose that outstanding schol-
ars be allowed to play on the
football team, basketball team
or any other varsity team, no
matter what their athletic
ability. These players could be
admitted under confidential
,nnritinns o fthItic nnha-

'kes housing crunch

University. The hospital is
not only rich, it is very rich.
One of the reasons for deciding
to use the UT site at this time
was the unprecedented success
of the hospital in attracting
patients. The hospital now has
millions of dollars of
unexpected profits that it is
having trouble spending. In a
recent letter to hospital staff,
John Forstyth said that he was
going to set aside one million
dollars to "reward" the staff,
and asked for suggestions on
how the money might be used.
Current plans to tear down
student housing to build an
unnecessary parking lot reflect
badly, not only on the
administration, but on the
support Propo
first year adjust to the demands
of University sports.
Athletes apply to the Univer-
sity through the college of LS
and A, the Art school, the
Music school or any of the
other dozen or so schools and
colleges that make up the
University of Michigan. I do
not believe that it is unfair to
expect athletes to meet the
academic requirements of pro-
posal 48 (a 2.) GPA and 700
on the SAT or 15 on the
ACT). These requirements are
very lenient when compared to
Kahane got to(
To the Daily:.
In its never-ending quest to
find obscure, sensationalistic
news stories, the Daily truly
outdid itself when it sent Steve
Blonder "on the road" to
Southfield, Michigan to inter -
view Rabbi Meir Kahane. With
all else going on in the world
and on campus, the amount of
space given to this man by the
Daily astounds me. It is vio -
lently out of proportion to
Kahane's true impact on Israeli
politics.
In actuality, Kahane is a
small actor in the Israeli
political scene, shunned by
Arabs and Jews alike. His Kach
party represents about one
percent of the Israeli electorate,
and even Menachim Begin said

worse
prevalent mood of apathy
which has made such action
possible. University admin-
istrators have shown that they
can't be talked to; if members
of the community don't like
the choice of paying
outrageous rents or moving out
Ann Arbor, they are going to
have to organize and force the
University to meet its
responsibilities. While they're
at it, perhaps they could
suggest that the hospital
channel some of its unexpected
gains back into the university
community - to build new
housing, for example.
-Gerald Huntly
-Betsy Smith
February 16
sition 48
those for a non-athlete apply-
ing for admission to the
University of Michigan. If the
University ever decides to
establish a Football school or
college of Basketball etc.,
athletes should be admitted
solely on their ability in their
chosen sport. Until that time,
Proposal 48 is a fair way to
make sure universities recruit
athletes who can competein
the academic arena as well asin
the sports arena.
Patricia Bach
January 27
o much space
he and his conservative sup-
porters "have nothing in com -
mon" with Kahane (Newsweek,
9/3/84).
Certainly there is a grey area
between responsibly reporting
the news and senationalism.
One could conceivably argue
that Kahane is important
enough to merit the space
provided him by the Daily. In
reality, I do not believe many
people would agree with that
assessment of Kahane's im-
portance to Israel, the world, or
certainly Ann Arbor. I hope he
never comes here to speak. The
Daily would probably have to
print another section to handle
the coverage.
-Eddie Pot
February .2

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