OPINION
Page 4
Friday, March 6, 1987
I 'a
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCVII, No. 106
420 Moynard 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.
International Women's Day:
Struggle for equality
Reagan
By Jeffrey Rutherford
The Tower Commision Report startled
the world by revealing many negative
aspects of President Reagan's
management style and his administration.
However, the lying and deception, the
abuse of privilege, and the vigilante
attitudes of the Reagan administrationare
not new.
The Tower Commision blames
Reagan's style of detached leadership for
many of the problems of the Iran arms
deal. Reagan does not have much control
over his staff members and he does not
demand that they inform him of all their
actions. He refuses to learn more than
generalities of issues before making what
few decisions he takes responsibility for.
Moreover, the report implies that Reagan
worries little about the details of his
general policies. He leaves this job to his
staff.
Reagan is not aware of what his staff
actually does. He is also unable to recall
whether or not he authorized the
transaction of arms to Iran. The issue
seems to be worth remembering and it
would behoove the president to deal with
these situations more seriously.
Reagan's competency and the integrity
of his leadership are in serious question.
Jeffrey Rutherford is a Residential
College Sophomore and a member of the
Opinion Page staff.
MARCH 8TH marks the date of
the working women's 1857 protest
march in New York City. Women
who worked in the textile industry
were demonstrating against a pay
cut and an increase in the work
week to 60 hours. Textile workers
were predominantly women and
the lowest paid of any workers in
any industry.
International Women's Day has
been celebrated around the world
on March 8 every year since 1910.
It is a day in which women unite in
the struggle for equal rights, peace
and justice for all members of all
societies.
As early as 1908 thousands of
women were marching on this day
in New York City to demand the
right to vote. After a long struggle
women obtained that right in this
country. Swiss women, however,
still do not have suffrage.
Internationally women have a
long way to go for equality.
Islamic women cannot show their
faces on the street; in every country
of the world women are paid less
than men for equal work. Women
are still sd into marriages and
wi ettohooe their
own lifesfyles. In this country
single women with dependent
children make up the largest sector
of those living below the poverty
line; yet, affordable day care is not
even addressed by the admini-
stration. .
Women are still second class
citizens. Economic and sexual
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Orle
T1 HEATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION
acted negligently by repeatedly
deciding to keep Bell Pool open
despite hazardous pH levels. It not
only ignored complaints by both
patrons and staff, but affected
temporary solutions without
acknowledging the roots of the
Gproblem: obstinacy and the
chlorination system.
a Since February, patrons of Bell
Pool have swam in odorous,
4 murky water. The Athletic
Administration contended that the
't, stagnant water was actually clean
and considered the problem solved.
w'Over the next two weeks,
swimmers suffered from skin and
,hair problems and in a few cases,
respiratory and digestive problems.
Patrons of Bell Pool complained
to CCRB workers and the Athletic
Administration about the condition
of the water and the health
problems swimmers experienced.
Employees of the CCRB registered
similar complaints. Some life-
guards refused to teach classes in
the pool until pH levels returned to
normal. Both these roads were
dead ends; the Athletic Admini-
stration took no action in response
to private complaints.
movie
w
The Teflon-coated Reagan administration
avoided political fiascos for the six years
prior to the scandal of the
arms-for--hostages trade. However, the
Tower Commision Report, casts some
light on the other malingering problems
within the Reagan administration.
Earlier this year the Reagan
administration swapped American
journalist Nicholas Daniloff for a Russian
spy despite Reagan's repeated denials that
an exchange was ever a possibility. In
addition, the administration continually
denied any relationship between Daniloff
and the CIA; however, Daniloff after his
release admitted his connections to the
American espionage apparatus as an
informant.
The unrestrained deceit of the Reagan
administration was exemplified again by
the disinformation campaigns orchestrated
through the White House by former
National Security Adviser Admiral
Poindexter. Poindexter lied about United
States intentions regarding military action
against Libya, deceiving both the
American press and the closest allies of
the United States.
The Tower Commision Report accused
both Poindexter and former White House
chief of staff Donald Regan of doctoring
information sent to Reagan concerning
Libya's role in international terrorism,
painting a more demonic picture of
Quadaffi than evidence justified.
The United States took such actions as
The Michigan Daily!
ill end
bombing Libya without fully;
investigating the culpability of that;
country. After killing civilians ahdt
innocents in a bombing raid on Libya, it A
was discovered that Syria, not Libya, was;
behind the bombing of the disco. o,
they are not the same country.
.These examples reveal Reagan s
inability to control what Oliver North
John Poindexter, Donald Regan, William::
Casey, and others have done. Reagan'is
not a strong leader. He is afraid to remo4e:
people from their jobs regardless of thei
inability to perform their assigned tasks:
This is not indicative of loyalty. Itfis
cowardice.
Reagan is quick to allow the impre 4
mentation of rash decisions such as the
invasion of Grenada, the deployment of,
American troops to Lebanon, and money;
to the Contra rebels that transcend the:
approval of the American people 4nd:
Congress.
Deception and individualistic hubi-i
have always plagued the Reaga .
administration and will continue if' h0
does not change his detached style o
management.
Reagan is an actor. He is starring in a
movie just as he has throughout his life
Reagan does not realize that Ii
administration is crumbling and is now;
ineffective. He is playing the part of the
President. He is waiting for the credits toa:
roll. onto the screen and America'i$
waiting for the movie to end.
exploitation are rampant in all
societies. The resistance women
face when they attempt to correct
these social injustices is equal to
the resistance woman have faced in
the past. International Women's
Day is set aside to recognize these
universal struggles and to celebrate
heroic victories over eradicated
social injustices.
Here at the University,
Women's Weekend is marking its
20th year in conjunction with
International Womens' Day. This
year key speakers include the
United Nations Assistant Secretary
General, Dr. Mercedes Briceno,
and the Deputy Chief of United
Nations Development Fund, Sohair
Soukkary. Exhibits and panel dis-
cussions will highlight international
women in arts and professional
fields. Other local organizations
have bound together to celebrate
international women's diversity,
unity, and common experiences.
They are holding a poetry reading,
dance performance and dramatic
performance tonight at 7:30, at the
Unitarian Church on Washtenaw.
This worldwide celebration
traditionally attracts men and
women who are active in the fight
against social injustices. They are
working towards the day when
International Women's Day will be
a true celebration and not a
reminder of those injustices still left
to overcome.
LETTERS:
IMPAC supports U.S.
- Israeli ties
r,
t ,
cover-up
Next, the administration attempted
implementing a temporary solution:
the haphazard addition of chlorine
by both trained and untrained staff
members. This action aggravated
the problem because of uncoordi-
nated action among staff members
and because, once again, the
chlorination system did not
respond as expected. The pool was
drained and reopened the next day.
The administration reported after
this action that the pool was clean
but chilly. A week later the chlorine
system malfunctioned again.
The Athletic Administration did
not sufficiently warn the public of
the hazards involved. In response
to the EHI report, the
administration placed a "Swim at
Your Own Risk" sign on one of the
doors to the pool and criticized
people who alerted the EHI to the
situation. This is not an acceptable
course of action.
The Athletic Administration
blinded itself to its own faults and
deafened itself to the complaints of
its patrons. It interpreted its
position as one of power over
rather than service to the University
community. The administration
must be responsible to the
To the Daily:
It is with a profound sense
of regret that I sit down to
write this letter, as I had hoped
that the promotion of political
activism on the college campus
would not result in partisan
battles over a non-partisan.
issue. I refer to Debbie
Schlussel's letter to the editor
"IMPAC left out of the
mainstream" (Daily 11/14/86)
in which she erroneously
proclaimed that IMPAC has a
partisan bias.
As a political leader on this
campus, one of the things I
strive to contend against is the
overwhelming ignorance-
both of political issues and of
the American political
process- that seems to
characterize so many students
today.
There exists a regrettable
tendency for both voters and
politicians to be outspoken
supporters and opponents of
issues which, in reality, they
know little or nothing about.
Such is the case of Schlussel's
letter.
Let me deal with the most
obvious fallacy first. The claim
that IMPAC has only
supported liberal Democrats is
true. For the 3 years we have
been
in existence, we have indeed
worked on the campaigns of
Democrats. However, this time
period is negligible in terms of
the acquisition of necessary
contacts, connections, and
political acumen required to
generate any kind of political
clout and it is therefore
misleading and inaccurate to
conclude that IMPAC supports
only Democrats.
The case of the Carr-Dunn
race is one which I take special
exception for many reasons. I
resent the entirely unfounded
slur on my integrity in the
insinuation that IMPAC
supported Congressman Carr
because I worked as one of his
interns this past summer. Why
would I, a registered voter in
Maryland's 8th district and a
student in Michigan's 2nd
district, work for a
congressman from Michigan's
6th district? IMPAC has
already pledged to support Carr
in his bid for re-election as
Dunn's pro-Israel voting record
is better, if not equal to Carr's,
is a blatant misrepresentation
of the facts. Dunn served as
Michigan's Congressional
Representative for the 6th
district from 1980-1982.
During that time, it was'
necessary to lobby extensively
in order to solicit the support
he chose to give in the end.
Unfortunately, Dunn has no
initiative when it comes to the
issue of Israel. In fact, the only
successful amendment he
sponsored during his term in
Congress was one that deleted a
MSA should focus on student issues
w r
To the Daily:
MSA's passage of the
resolution limiting the
assembly to student concerns
was long overdue. Students
have become tired of inane
resolutions dealing with inter-
national issues. Now, MSA
must heed their own action and
concentrate on student issues.
The "Blue" Party plans to
focus solely on student con-
cerns, such as improving cam-
pus safety, increasing minority
recruitment and retention, or-
ganizing opposition to the
Code, and lobbying to halt
financial aid cuts. For exam -
ple, if elected, we will form a
University-wide commission
with a mandate to develop a
coherent plan for increasing
minority recruitment and reten-
tion. This group will consist
of representatives from the
dorm minority councils, the
Black Student Union, Asian-
American, Hispanic, and
Native American organizations.
The "Blue" Party seeks greater
student participation in campus
concerns. This commissionis
one way to involve more
students.
It is time for MSA to recon -
sider its purpose on campus
and to act in the true interests
of its constituents: The resolu-
tion just passed is a prop er
start. The "Blue" Party wvill
ensure continued commitment
to student concerns.
-Seth Klukoff
Presidential candidate
"Blue" Party,
Marc"mr
1I
provision to ban aid to Libya
in a foreign aid bill. Dunn isn't
even good for America, never
mind Israel.
There are numerous other
fallacies regarding IMPAC in
Schlussel's letter that I could
take the time to point out. Let
me instead say that besides
being ignorant of the plethora
of factors which contribute to
and impact on group dynamics
and decisions, Schlussel also
demonstrates an unfortunate
misperception and general lack
of cognizance of many political
facts. It is my hope that she
will choose to educate her f
before she again attempts' to
misleadingly educate the
public. I believe that It hale
demonstrated my ability to
keep my personal politics out
of . iMPAC. I .exteA4, the
invitation to Debbie to 4Q the
same, As I firmly believe we
can work together to strengthep
the United States-Isra"l
relationship.
-Lisa G. Bardakh
Chairperson, IMPAC
November 17
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