OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, November 25, 1987
The Michigan Daily
LETTERS
Ei t d m bstnyichig an
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
4
TA union is not suing the 'U'
Vol. XCVIII, No. 55
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a ma jority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other
cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion
Sof the Dai r
FBack 'etroit Compact'
LAST WEEK, GOVERNOR James
Blanchard announced plans for his
'Detroit Compact" in front of a class
of eighth graders at a Detroit middle
school. The plan calls for students,
beginning in the eighth grade, to sign
a contract that states that if they
graduate from a Detroit public high
school with good attendance records
and good grades, they will receive a
fully funded scholarship to a
university or vocational school. These
scholarships will be funded mainly by
private corporations, not the state, so
taxpayers will not be paying for this
*program.
The "Detroit Compact" is an attempt
to improve the morale of students in
the Detroit public schools while
creating an incentive to keep them in
school. In addition to the free higher
education, the plan includes post-high
school job placement, private sector
career counseling beginning as early
as the eighth grade, and guaranteed
summer employment for all students
who uphold the requirements of the
"Compact."
Considering the problems that
Detroit students have with crime,
drug abuse, and truancy, as well as
the fact that over 350 children under
the age of 18 have been shot so far
this year, "The Detroit Compact" is a
promising way to keep kids out of
trouble and in the classroom. If a
child is in jail, the student's
attendance prerequisite may be in
grave jeopardy, as will the student's
chances of fulfilling the other clauses
of the contract.
Governor Blanchard, his staff,
Detroit Superintendent of Schools Dr.
Arthur Jefferson, and all others
involved with this plan deserve
commendation. It's now up to the
state legislature and educational
experts to decide the exact provisions
of the plan and get it passed so that it
can be implemented, if only in part,
by the beginning of the next school
year. "The Detroit Compact" is a
positive way to get Detroit students
off the street, give them a better
education within the Detroit schools,
and provide an opportunity for further
success in the future.
Fighting homophobia
LAST SPRING the Lesbian and Gay
Rights Organizing Committee
(LaGROC) submitted a list o f
demands to the University's Affirma-
tive Action Office which would grant
homosexuals the same official status
accorded to other minority groups on
campus. The demands were ignored.
Subsequently, despite protests, the
University continued to refuse to rec-
ognize fully the rights of homosexu-
als. In an expression of their frustra-
tion, LaGROC members occupied
Affirmative Action Director Vir-
ginia Nordby's office last week in a
last ditch effort to have lesbians and
gay men recognized for what they are
- a persecuted minority largely de-
died the protections enjoyed by other
minorities. These efforts were only
partially successful, and the Univer-
sity's refusal to go further grants tacit
legitimacy to discrimination against
homosexuals.
LaGROC's demands are entirely in
keeping with the University's policies
concerning other minorities. They ask
only that homosexuals be included in
the ongoing efforts to foster tolerance
and diversity in the University com-
munity.
Specifically, LaGROC insists that:
(1) a "sexual orientation" clause is in-
{corporated into the anti-discrimination
statement on the Affirmative Action
office's logo; (2) incidences, of les-
bian and gay harassment be addressed
in the "Tell Someone" poster cam-
paign; (3) a gay-indentified person is
appointed to the AIDS task force; (4)
the Affirmative Action office hire
openly gay people.
Nordby initially conceded to several
of LaGROC's demands such as
changing the Affirmative Action logo,
distributing a "Tell Someone" poster
about anti-gay and anti-lesbian dis-
crimination within the next six weeks,
and appointing openly gay task force
members. She refused, however, to
support a change in the University
bylaw which outlines non-discrimi-
nation policy to include sexual orien-
tation.
Changing the bylaw is something
only the regents can do. But
Nordby's refusal to advocate this
change undermines LaGROC's ef-
forts to convince the regents that a
change is justified. It suggests the
Affirmative Action office is not gen-
uinely committed to ending discrimi-
nation against homosexuals.
The University's intransigence on
these demands is difficult to under-
stand. LaGROC's demands are un-
questionably correct and reasonable,
even modest. No one can deny that
homosexuals are one of the most
misunderstood and discriminated
against groups in our society.
It is disgraceful that the Affirmative
Action office, the very administrative
organ charged with protecting the in-
terests of minorities, is shirking its
responsibility to work to end dis-
crimination against lesbians and gay
men. If the Affirmative Action office
will not combat such prejudice, how
will discrimination based on sexual
orientation be eradicated from the
University community at large?
To the Daily:
The word "sues" in the
headline "TA Union Sues 'U"'
(Daily, 11/20/87) misrep-
resents the facts: The GEO is
not suing the University. In
fact, we are filing an Unfair
Labor Practice Action against
the University, a legal action
that is well-defined b y
Michigan Labor Law and has
nothing to do with the process
of suing a party.
This was no daily mistake
with insignificant conseq-
uences.
On the night before the
article was published I spoke
directly with the Daily and told
them in no uncertain terms that
the GEO is not suing the
University; and earlier that
afternoon in my address to the
Regents, from which a Daily
PIR GIM ref
To the Daily:
Today was a beautiful day in
the life of Tom Krause. I had
just finished CRISPing for my
winter term courses and hap-
pened to turn left when exiting
the CRISP area. There to my
surprise, what did I behold in
an out of the way corner, but a
majesticmetallic gray cube
into which I could deposit a
form to receive the mythical
PIRGIM refund. Naturally, I
was ecstatic about having the
opportunity to waste my time
filling out a form for money I
would never have "donated" to
PIRGIM in the first place.
Obviously, I am not pleased
with the method PIRGIM
chose to expeditiously send me
my refund. I have two concerns
that I feel need to be addressed.
When I voted against the
"negative checkoff for PIR-
GIM" back in the spring of
1987, I was told by a PIRGIM
member that all I had to do to
obtain a refund was to "check a
box on my SVF." I'm not cer-
tain, but I think that was the
reason for the name "negative
checkoff." I feel that PIRGIM
is not coming close to repre-
Protest CIA t
To the Daily:
The CIA will be recruiting
on campus of the University of
Michigan, this Wednesday,
Nov. 25. It has been two years
since the CIA last ventured
onto campus, after having been
confronted several times by
student protesters.
It is a rather odd time for the
CIA to decide to show its face.
The organization's reputation
has not improved any in the
last two years. To the contrary,
in the Contragate hearings this
summer, many of the terrorist
activities recently engaged in
by the CIA in Central
America, had the spotlight cast
upon them.
Students and faculty
members must once again
express their strong disapproval
of the presence on campus of
an organization with such a
heinous record of crimes
against humanity. From
Guatemala in 1954, to the
Dominican Republic in 1965,
to Chile in 1973, the CIA has
succeeded in toppling
governments chosen by the
majority of the people in those
countries and instating terror-
torture regimes which protect
American business interests.
The CIA, from 1980 until the
present, has been attempting to
repeat this pattern in
Nicaragua. In this case it has
created, trained and funded a
"contra" force, whose strategy
is to defeat the democratically
elected Sandinista government
by terror-izing the populace and
sabotaging their resources.
reporter received the
information for the article, I
never once uttered the words
"suit" or "sue." So I was
shocked and dismayed to read in
the next morning's Daily that
the GEO is suing the
University. Shocked because
this is the second time in one
term that the Daily has
misrepresented what I have told
them immediately before
publication of an article, and
dismayed because, this time,
the error appeared most
prominently in the feature
headline, so that the reader need
only glance at the front page to
be misinformed.
The GEO recognizes that it
is no trivial matter to accuse
the University of engaging in
an Unfair Labor Practice. Nor
are we in the habit of charging
und, where?
senting the "Pl" in its name,
that is "Public Interest." Since
many students are being billed
for something that they do not
support, PIRGIM should take
it upon themselves to make the
refund as easy as possible. One
box placed moderately close to
the exit door of CRISP does
not qualify as ease.
Finally, why didn't the
Daily, MSA, or PIRGIM pub-
licize where the refunds could
be obtained? Is it that these
organizations don't give a damn
about students or is it just the
resurrection of that dreaded
beast, apathy? Had I chosen to
turn right instead of left when I
exited CRISP, I would still be
wondering where to get my re-
fund. PIRGIM, it is time to
live up to your name! Repre-
sent the "Public Interest" and
help students get the refunds
they deserve. MSA, do your
job and represent students'
rights! If PIRGIM does not
have the integrity to help a
large number of students get
refunds, MSA should.
-Tom Krause
November 23
oday at SAB
Steering Committee of the
Latin American Solidarity
Committee) encourage all
people of good conscience to
join us..
-Phillis Engelbert
David Austin
Hunter ValtValkenburgh
Mike Schroeder
Kasha Fluegge
November 22
anyone with violating the law.
Thus each and every public
statement about this legal
action should be worded with
the utmost precision. To most
audiences, whether laypeople or.
trained legal experts, the
difference between suing the
University and charging it with
an Unfair Labor Practice is
considerable. A failure to
distinguish between these two
legal practices is negligent ,
MSA survey
To the Daily:
"MSA survey provokes
thought on positions of Blacks
at 'U"' (Daily 11/17/87), was a
rather interesting article which
reported the response to an
MSA poll question about the
low number of Black students
on campus. The reason given
by those polled was a "lack of
qualified applicants to the Uni-
versity," to which Mik e
Phillips responded with the ac-
cusation of racism. He said, "It
shows racism on campus that
people would think that blacks
are not qualified to be on cam-
pus...They think that every
Black on campus is a token."
Such a statement is ridicu-
lous. Sociology professor
Sylvia Pedraza-Baily responded
Graffiti wasn'
To the Daily:
I find Dale Goldshag and
Jeremy Sarnat's letter ("Decries
anti-Semitic acts," Daily,
11/20/87) unfairly accusational
and facetious towards the
Palestinian people. I agree with'"
Mr. Goldshag and Mr. Sarnat's
opinion that anti-Semitism is
wrong and must not be toler-
ated, however I disagree with
the letter's tone which implies
that the anti-Semitic elements
responsible for writing on a
blackboard in the Frieze build-
ing are necessarily Palestinian.
In raising my objection, I
call attention to the T h e
American Heritage Dictionary's
definition of Semites as both
Arabs and Jews. However,
putting semantics aside, I also
take offense in the letter's gen-
eral accusational tone. If Mr.
Goldshag and Mr. Sarnat want
reporting.
Too often a newspaper is
accused of "irresponsible
journalism" without deserving
it. But in this case
"irresponsible journalism" is
too weak a phrase to describe
the Daily's blatant disregard for
the facts.
-Don Demetriades,
GEO President
November 23
was right
more appropriately by saying,
"(Some Blacks) have gone to
very poor school systems and
are not adequately prepared for
the nation's more competitive
colleges." The answer is to
improve the quality of the av-
erage Black student's education
and produce twice as many
qualified applicants as there are
now, not to attempt to solve
the problem by simply admit-
ting more minority students.
Does Mike Phillips expect
people to believe him, or
worse yet does he believe him-
self? Why do you continue to
print such unfounded state-
ments?
-Matt Brown
November 20
t anti-Semitic
to support the Jews and Arabs
who want to live together in
peace, I don't think pointing
out anti-Semitic graffiti with
the purpose of implicating
Palestinian's is the right way. I
agree with the letter's distinc-
tion between anti-Israel and
anti-Semitism, but not in a
context which tries to attribute
both of these viewpoints, one
of which is a valid political
position, the other of which is
a blatant form of bigotry, to
Palestinian elements.
I call upon all'Arabs and
Jews to work towards reconcil-
iation and not accusation. I call
upon both sides to try and re-
tain a non-biased, balanced
perspective and foster coopera-
tion in their quest for peace and
co-existence.
-Charles Raffoul
November 21
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Thanksgiving thoughts
I
I
T HANKSGIVING IS a holiday that
marks cooperation between Native
Americans and Pilgrims, but
Thanksgiving is also the only, holi-
day on the subject of European and
Indian relations.
Scholarly estimates put the Indian
populations of the Americas as
greater than those of Western Eu-
rope in 1492.
In what is now the United States
there were an estimated 10 million
Indians. By 1900, in the United
States, there were only 200,000 -
1)n An 1 ftIi C
from the Big Mountain area in
northeastern Arizona.
There are efforts afoot to stop this
relocation which deserve support.
The American Indian Movement
is also attempting to force the
United States to honor its treaties.
The issues dealt with in. this
editorial are not included in general
history texts. Two books do deal
with these questions - Settlers:
The Mythology of the White Prole-
tariat by J. Sakai and Howard
Zinn's A People's History of the
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