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OPINION
Monday, April 20, 1987
Page 4
The Michigan Daily
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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Israeli
Vol. XCVII, No. 137
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, Ml 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.
The case for a student regent:
Regent Baker must resign
DEANE BAKER'S (R-Ann Arbor)
opposition to an honorary degree
for Nelson Mandela (Daily, 4/1/87)
was not an isolated instance of
opposition to student interests.
Baker, a member of the University
Board of Regents, espouses a.
bigoted and myopic viewpoint
while ignoring the facts.
Baker opposed minority recruit-
ment efforts on the basis of merit at
the April 16 regents meeting. Baker
claims that increased percentages of
minorities will lower the quality of
the University.
"The further we go with the
logic of hiring minorities eventually
there will be inequalities."
Baker opposed the establishment
of an office of Affirmative Action
and the appointment of an associate
vice-president for academic affairs
to deal with minority problems,
especiallytretention. He also
opposed the creation of the
Minority Research Corporation, an
independent institution to monitor
minority problems. (Daily,
10/21/83)
Baker has emphasized ,his
opposition to Affirmative Action in
policy, arguing against admini-
stration influence in tenure. "The
board makes a serious mistake if it
chooses to step into the tenure
decision of the faculty." (Daily,
9/21/79)
Baker has been unyielding in his
quest for South African invest-
ment. During the regents' rejection
of divestment in April of 1979,
Baker claimed anyone who would
oppose the University's investment
in South Africa must be Marxists
or socialists. (Daily, 4/20/79,
4/21/79) Baker was instrumental in
preventing divestment in 1979.
Baker has tried to elevate South
African Chief Gatsha Buthelezi as
a non-violent alternative to Nelson
Mandela. Appointed head of the
Kwazulu Bantustan in 1970 by the
apartheid regime, Buthelezi is a
sell-out in the eyes of many
Blacks, and a quisling in the eyes
of some. However, Buthelezi does
not disavow violence and he
acknowledges Mandela as a sym-
bol for all oppressed Blacks in the
struggle against apartheid. (Daily,
3/27/87)
Baker has a vehement hatred of
homosexuals. He attacked pro-
posals to bar discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation, saying,
"I know of examples of homo-
sexual conduct on campus which I
have and will not condone. If the
University approves of the
homosexual lifestyle it makes the
public judgment that homosexuality
is acceptable on campus." (Daily,
3/16/84, 3/17/84)
Baker opposed the conversion of
hotel rooms into 137 rooms for
West Quadrangle in 1979, inspite
of the 101 percent occupancy rate
for University housing the
previous year. (Daily, 1/19/79)
Baker was one of two regents to
oppose the funding for PIRGIM in
1979. (Daily, 1/5/79)
Baker's strong pro-code stance
Mandela
Now that Nelson Mandela has
shows clearly his opposition to
student participation in the decision
making process. He has often said
that the administration should
bypass regental bylaw 7.02 which
says that a code of non-academic
conduct be ratified by MSA.
Instead, Baker has threatened to
have the regents write the code and
impose it on the students. (Daily,
3/20/84, 9/28/84, 3/4/87)
Baker's misperception of the
issue is clear from his comment: "I
do not really sense that there is a
broad-scale dislike for the code."
(Daily, 3/4/87)
His wish to control student
opinion has extended to the
Michigan Student Assembly. In
1979 he fought against mandatory
assembly funding. Baker favored
controlling the portion of MSA's
budget which went to student
organizations. (Daily, 4/21,79)
With the Michigan Republicans
Club (MIRC), Baker attempted to
end MSA's funding of the
Spartacus Youth League. (Baker
was on the MIRC advisory board.)
"We recognize the University is
a place for differing groups and
ideologies, but here is MIRC and
they're saying MSA has adopted an
attitude hazardous to the student
body by allocating funds to pro-
communist, anti-capitalist, anti-
American groups," Baker said.
(Daily, 11/16/79)
Baker's plan for University
financing is also inconsistent. He
questioned if the 18 percent tuition
increase was enough in 1981, but
in 1984 he opposed the Uni-
versity's lobbying against a tax
rollback which would have cost the
University $20 million from state
allocations. (Daily, 7/17/81,
11/16/84)
Baker has shown he is willing to
go to any extreme to end student
dissent. He was a leader of
initiatives which eventually banned
Student Legal Services (SLS) from
defending any student from the
University and, likewise, banned
SLS from aiding a student in a suit
against the University. (Daily,
7/20/79, 8/2/79)
Baker has opposed a student
regent since 1978.(Daily, 3/15/79)
Recently, Baker has refused to
meet with MSA, community, or
professional representatives over
the end-use clause, according to
Tamara Wagner of MSA. Baker
advocates military research on
campus and has opposed the end-
use clause, which had prevented
research harmful to human life, for
years. Baker also lobbied against a
nuclear free zone for Ann Arbor.
(Daily, 10/19/84)
Regent Deane Baker is a good
reason for a student regent. He
does not represent the views or
interests of the students, but he
attempts to constrictdtheir expres-
sion by any means possible. Only
a student regent can offset such
closed mindedness.
s choice
symbol of the stuggle against
. * I * £ . _ _
By Muzammil Ahmed
This is the second of a two-part series.
Israel's domestic policy should also be
considered in determining aid to Israel.
Israel regularly practices censorship of the
press and maintains a list of banned books.
Officially, this is to prevent security risks
to the state, but Israel's use of this right to
censor seems to to be used more for
preventing embarrassment to Israel's
government.
The Israeli Mossad (their secret police)
kidnapped Mordechai Vanunu from Rome
in October, 1986, for telling the Sunday
Times of London that Israel has nuclear
weapons. Israel censored press reports
describing anything about the affair.
Editorials by leading Israeli newspapers
like Ha'aretz were completely cut out by
the military (Detroit News, 10/27/86).
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip - the
territories occupied by Israel - Israeli
military state rule has been prevalent. Israel
has through many ingenious legal
loopholes it created itself, seized over 40
percent of the land in the West Bank (The
West Bank Data Project, Meron
Benvenisti) by declaring it uncultivated.
If land has been cultivated, then the
cultivator, usually Palestinian, may claim
possession of it since title deeds showing
proof of ownership are almost nonexistent.
But to prevent cultivation of the land,
Israel's military government in the West
Bank and Gaza forbid planting of fruit trees
in the West Bank without submission of
documents of ownership. It also prohibited
the planting of vegetables with the same
stipulations. Since Palestinians don't have
these documents for reasons mentioned
earlier, they lose their land.
Israeli laws are a mockery: they say that
land can belong to you if you cultivate it,,
then say you can't cultivate it unless you
own it. This is the nature of the country
we are supporting with our tax money.
Institutional discrimination (or racism)
Muzammil Ahmed is a member of the
Opinion Page staff.
0y
tid shoukd
also plays a major role in Israeli domestic
policy regarding the occupied territories.
Through several legal clauses the
Palestinian population is excluded from the
welfare system. Legally, only residents of
Israel can collect unemployment and other
welfare, but on January 2, 1984, the Israeli
Knesset (parliament) passed an amendment
to the old 1967 Emergency Regulations of
Judea & Samaria, Gaza, and Sinai. To
article 4, regulation 6a, an insertion was
added which said the term "resident of
Israel" also applies to people "entitled to
immigrate to Israel under the Law of
Return 1950," and wholive in Judea,
Samaria, or Gaza - Israeli name for the
occupied territories (State of Israel Bill
1656). The 1950 Law of Return refers to
people of the Jewish religion. Thus, Israel
has made a legal distinction between a Jew
and a Palestinian in the West Bank, and
insures that a Jew will receive aid denied to
Palestinians. Institutional discrimination,
similar to apartheid, is practiced by the
Israeli government, and we condone it by
sending aid there.
Israel's economic policies are also
exclusive, though not so blatantly. For
example, Jewish settlements in the West
Bank (population around 60,000 according
to the Central Bureau of Statistics) have
access to 75 percent of the West Bank
water supply. Close to a million
Palestinians are allowed only 25 percent of
the water supply (West Bank Data Project
by Meron Benvenisti). No new drilling is
allowed in the region without the
authorities' permission (which is rare), and
consequently, Palestinian crops are hurt
because of lack of irrigation facilities the
Jewish settlers living nearby are allowed to
have.
In the last 10 years, Israeli government
investments in Israeli industry accounted
for 50 percent of the gross national capital
(ibid.). In the West Bank, local Palestinian
industry gets no government assistance, no
subsidies, and no credit. These local
companies don't stand a chance competing
with government backed Israeli industry
located in the West Bank but headquartered
I
be
in Israel. These Israeli companies have
access to cheap Palestinian labor in the
West Bank (ibid.). Palestinian employment
has increased, however, and workers
working in Israel do receive some social
security. But since the overwhelming
majority of the Palestinians live and work
in the West Bank, they don't qualify for
government aid and are merely exploited by
the Israeli industries. Israel's policy in the
West- Bank has been economically
beneficial to Israel for it has little or no
social security or welfare to pay for
hundreds of thousands of low wage
workers. Israel's unethical exploitation of
the West Bank and Gaza are being financed4
by American aid to Israel; such aid should
be reduced or withdrawn until Israel reforms
its domestic and economic policies in the
occupied territories of the West Bank and
Gaza.
I do not intend to imply that Israel is
absolutely evil and that the Arabs are
absolutely good. Both have their grave
faults; Israel is by no means alone i
violating human rights, but it is by far the;
least protested. The faults of Syria, Libya,
etc. are difficult to remedy since we don't'
hold very good relationships or leverage
with them. But Israel is a country which
receives approximately $4 billion in aid
from the United States; the threat (or
actuality) of cutting aid is what we can usid
to reform Israel.
The immaculate.image of Israel often 4
held by Americans coupled with Israel's
"services" to our government as an arms
funnel, together make aid to Israel a
formidable issue to reconsider. But Israel's
unethical and illegal practices of
institutionalized discrimination, seizing of
Palestinian land based on catch-22 laws,
violently bombing civilian cities far
beyond the call of "retaliation," keeping
ties with countries like South Africa
places where human rights are publicly 4
violated - all put together show that
Israel most definitely does not deserve the
aid we send it.
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LETTERS:
'4
No Ann Arbor taxes go to Juigalpa
To the Daily:
In their effort to be cute in a
letter to the Daily dated April
2, Kevin Singer, Bob Bold,
Jason Young, and Jim Burly
played loose with the facts. But
who cares about facts as long
as it sounds cool, right?
Fact #1. Taxpayers did not
pay travel expenses for the
seventeen-member delegation
which visited our sibling city
of Juigalpa, Nicaragua in
November, as the letter writers
contended. Each member, with
the one exception of the
Mayor, paid her or his
expenses - entirely.
Fact #2. Taxpayers are not
paying for a "shiny, new
garbage truck," "what every
budding Nicaraguan town
dreams of' according to the
writers. Ann Arbor citizens
have contributed over $24,000
for humanitarian aid for the
people of Juigalpa, part of
which will go towards a
garbage truck. No tax dollars
will go to Juigalpa.
Their language also shows
ignorance about living
conditions in Nicaragua.
Juigalpa officials asked for a
garbage truck to help alleviate
a tremendous health problem
caused by a poor sanitation
system. The lack of what these
cute fellows take for granted
here causes high rates of infant
mortality in Juigalpa. Come
on guys, crack a joke about
dead babies.
Fact #3. We organized the
Fiesta de Juigalpa to welcome
our Nicaraguan friends. When
the Ann Arbor delegation
visited Juigalpa they were
welcomed into people's homes
and hosted at several functions.
We tried to return their
courtesy and alsoto show the
Juigalpa what makes Ann
Arbor special - diversity,
entertainment, culture, and ,
yes, sharing. Perhaps these
cute fellows don't believe in
courtesy or sharing. After all,
life is a joke, right?'
TA GAR crea
To the Daily:
It has finally happened. Due
to an outerspace invasion, the
intellectual level of this
campus has plunged to pre-
historic levels. There is no
other explanation for the
blatant immorality and dis-
respect directed towards con-
cerned students on this campus
and the causes which they
serve.
Three times within four days,
the jail cell on the diag was
vandalized or stolen. The cell
was erected to symbolize the
plight of thousands of Jews
trapped within the claws of the
Soviet Union. These men and
women-are treacherously per-
secuted due to their desire to
maintain a Jewish identity.
They are oppressed and tor-
mented, but NOT FORGOT-
TEN! Members of concerned
fln ;s '72tin mc. n , .~I.:, ,
t
What really amazes me
about their letter is that it took
four people to write such
inaccurate drivel. Their term
papers must elicit a big laugh
as well.
-Jim Burchell
April 8
es awareness
zation responsible for con-
structing the cell, has,
however, done the following: it
arranged a dialogue between
local Jewish ex-Soviet citizens
and the "jail breakers" and en-
couraged and received pledges
to serve during a petition
campaign against anti-Semitic
Soviet policies. This provided
not only a service to our cause,
but also a worthwhile experi-
ence from which they increased
their awareness of an important
cause.
The main issue here, is not,
however, how these students'
were to be reprimanded, but
rather the ideology and moti-
vation behind their reprehen-
sible actions. Indeed, no
"conscious" anti-Semitic be-
liefs were expressed, but the
fact remains that it was a cell
supporting oppressed Jews that
..c .,:nnr I aA n m al *.ta . .infA
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MESC did not intend racism
To the Daily:
We are writing as the
sponsoring organization of the
Road Rally II which was held
on Saturday, April 11, 1987.
The function was held to
promote wholesome interaction
between members of the
College of Engineering com-
munity. The Road Rally was a
three-hour event in which
piling this list. Some parties
have placed an interpretation on
a few of the items that we
would never have intended.
Any racial or political
interpretation of the items on
the list does not, and should
not, reflect the views of our
organization, its members, or,
in our belief, the students of
the College of Enaineerini