4
OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, December 9, 1987
The Michigan Daily
4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Tapes and evictions bug Al
Vol. XCVIII, No. 63
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.
Public Safety's
ULTIMATELY, THE University North
administration bears responsibility for Orwell
the violence that occurred at the Shapir
Student Activities Building when the In a
CIA came to recruit the day before placei
Thanksgiving. Safety
When Public Safety director Leo image1
Heatley told anti-CIA demonstrators holdin
that they would have to assault him to Today
proceed through a hallway of the Diag.I
Career Planning and Placement venting
Center, he was merely carrying the but mer
University administration's policy seen v
regarding protests to its logical crowd.
conclusion. That policy includes Thes
using the University's control of howev
buildings and property to prevent repress
students and others from protesting inciden
University policies. in. Fo
In the case of CIA recruiting, it consist
seems as if the University was afraid politica
of any debate in the first place. Public propert
Safety officers decided they would Publi
use violence to win an argument it securit
was afraid of losing otherwise. There kicking
has been no indication that the of the S
University adrinistration disapproves Recent
of this method of breaking u p claime
protests. of thec
The violence used by the officers people
was brutal and extreme. The officers busine
kicked protester Harold Marcuse in When a
the testicles simply as he tried to make the buil
his way into area where interviews on duty
were taking place. There has been no to mak
evidence that Marcuse presented a For t
threat to any of the Public Safety at it
officers or the interviewees. Ap- th
parently, the officers do not dispute atmosp
this assessment as none of those have t
officers on duty at the protest will Univer
answer questions about the incident. Public
This most recent incident was not a large
isolated one but reflects a pattern of the atta
the University's disrepect for the present
rights of students. Seco
Two years ago, when students reorgan
protested CIA recruiting, the role to
University's response was nearly as is all to
disproportionate as the violent display attempt
this year. The University read the Univer
Trespass Act to rid the SAB of the at the
protesters. The University had dozens Univer
of demonstrators arrested despite the Prevent
fact that they were in a public area and acts sh
were not preventing other students whose
from using Career Planning and court o
Placement. Occa
In March 1986, Public Safety adjustr
followed a protester across campus Univer
from a rally against military research Public
at the Lawrence Livermore lab on importa
problems
Campus. The incident was
ian enough that President
publicly apologized.
nother incident, which took
in the fall of 1985, Public
sanitized the University's
by preventing students from
g signs and banners when the
show televised live from the
The protesters were not pre-
the show from being filmed
ely wanted their message to be
when cameras panned the
e sensational incidents,
er, may not add up to as much
ion as the smaller, every day
ts that Public Safety has a role
r instance, Public Safety
ently drives musicians and
al activists off of University
y.
ic Safety and other University
y guards also have had a role in
Daily editors and staffers out
Student Publications Building.
ly, a Public Safety officer
d the right to throw anyone out
offices of the Daily, including
that the editors said had
ss being in those offices.
a Daily editor refused to leave
Iding, the Public Safety officer
called the police who refused
e an arrest.
he University to demonstrate
is serious in promoting an
here of free expression, it will
take two actions. First, the
sity should fire Director of
Safety Leo Heatley who bears
part of the responsibility for
ack on Marcuse since he was
t.
ndly, the University must
size Public Safety to reduce its
that of a night watch service. It
o apparent that Public Safety's
s to increase its own role at the
sity through deputization come
expense of the rights of
rsity community members.
ing trespass and other criminal
ould be the job of the police
actions must stand up in a
f law.
sional apologies and policy
nents are not enough. The
sity administration must force
Safety to fully recognize the
ance of civil liberties.
What's going on at this place? Stop for a
second to wipe the sleep from your eyes and
you'll see a few more students are being
taken advantage of. Well, the Fatman's had
it. Let's go, y'all, get up off your lazy lards
and raise some cain. They've got all of us
over the barrel and it's clear as the a full
moon rising over the Utah desert that they
FAT
ain't a-gonna stop strapping us until we get
up and push them away. Wondering what
caused this sudden outburst? Two things,
which happened yesterday, cut me to the
quick.
First, I brought two tapes back to the
MLB language lab. Now, let me say right
off that they were indeed a day late. I got
caught up eatin' some barbeque the night
before and didn't get the tapes back in time.
So, I'm going to owe a fine right? No
problem, I figger- it's probably a quarter
just like the li'bary. Well, I returned the
tapes with a fat smile on my face which
quickly turned to portly pout as I was told
that the fine was not a quarter, not a buck,
but an incredible five bucks per tape!
Holding on to my Swahili 201 tapes a few
hours too long cost me a cool ten spot-
basically lunch yesterday and today and when
I'm denied food I get right quarrelsome. This
outrageous fine is the baby of language lab
director Trisha Dvorak. Trish sweets, I told
you you messed with the wrong hombre and
now I want an accounting of what you do
with all that cold hard cash - maybe y'all
got a slush find for office party moonshine.
Which brings me to the second outrage
which raised my ire and pushed me over the
edge. Slush funds. Three West Quad women
are getting evicted for organizing a
legitimate slush fund for hall party alcohol.
(editor's note: at press time we learned that
the three women will not be kicked out of
West Quad, the Fatman is still distressed by
the ordeal they were put through, however.)
So, here we have it, ladies and gents, the
'U,' as big and cold as a high plains winter,
is kicking out these three women for being
kind enough to do the dirty work no one else
wanted to while at the same time winking at
Dvorak as she and her merry gang of
mauraders rob students pockets - raping and
pillaging the population.
Let's face it, y'all. Wake up and smell the
grits a-fryin'. They're not playing fair. Both
of these here incidents point out that the
'U's not willing to take off the gloves and
go toe to toe, person to person, in a dispute.
They prefer to sleaze their way around,
hidden behind fine print and nitpicking
bureaucrats. Well, don't accept it as
inevitable; tell your favorite administrator to
go to hell and back. It's like David and
Goliath. But Goliath ain't content with his
size advantage so he's got a 12 gauge hidden
behind his back. Well, all you lilly-lipped
bureaucrats - who are nothing more than
wimps with rubber stamps - I flip you a
royal fat bird.
Dear Saturated Fat Head,
I went to the University of Florida last
year, and transferred to Michigan because I
thought it would be a better school. It might
be. But you wouldn't know a good school if
you smelled it and ate it, you backwards-ass
country schmuck. If you don't think a
school with a high academic rating, gobs of
loose beautiful women, sunny, hot weather,
top athletics, and luxurious apartments does
not offer "sought after degrees" then you've
been sucking too (sic) many snowmen. You
know what they told me at Michigan's Law
School Day? They asked me why I
transferred and told me that I was wrong to
think they consider Michigan a better
school. G.P.A. and LSAT scores are all that
considered unless two people have the exact
same scores. So have an ulcer, you
competitive suicidal goon! Go Gators!
-aformer Florida Gator
P.S. Don't go to any Florida beaches this
summer. You'd make us all puke!
"Backwards-ass country schmuck,"
"competitive suicidal goon?" Heh-heh-heh.
Gatorboy, you are a peanuthead, if not
worse. Are all the folks in the sunshine stare
as hostile and defensive as you and Fat Ass?
Did it ever occur to you for just a country
minute that some of us look for more at a
school than what will best pad our resumes?
Firstly boy, I look for more in my women
than beauty and looseness but I figger that
one sailed right over your nappy little head.
If I do want "gobs of loose beautiful
women," I'll go to the movie palace to see
Spring Fling '88 or some such Florida
based crapola. I expect a little more from my
college. Face it idjit; Florida is nothin' but a
sandbar with pink shopping malls, four lane
highways, traffic lights, sleazy motels, golf~
courses, and other aberrations of humanity. I
hate cement so of course I hate Florida. Only
two things save the state a'tall: Pabst Blue
Ribbon and Gulf coast fishin'.
Dearest Al,
This is the first time I've ever written a
letter to one of my idols so I'm terribly
nervous and hope I don't make a bad
impression on you (can anything?). I've read 4
absolutely all your articles, and every time Ia
fall deeper and deeper in love with you. I
think we share many of the same interests..
Cement disgusts me: I just love being
natural and rolling in the grass and mud with
close friends! Even now I can think of the
two of us snuggled up in the front (or back)
of your truck as you serenade me with a
Merle Haggard song. I don't care at all if.
you're fat: when it comes to men, my motto
is "the bigger the better." Please reply
because I'm waiting here so anxiously: my
heart goes pitter patter and I sweat most
unseemingly and in the strangest places
whenever I think of you!
Lusting, yet languishing without your
love, longingly,
xxoo Lisa xxoo
Lisa,
Fat droplets of sweat are building up in
my socks and all over my body as I read
your letter. Why no last name or return
address? Just remember, like Hank Williams
warbles in one of my theme songs, "When
the Lord made me, he made a ramblin' man."
Wasserman
p-wrcm WqR OEM e
CMEt RE4 A 4.
LE EG'10ti..
j~
A HUGE DEKFNSC
BUILUP x tl n
SoWVx CoU1A NEGOTIATE AN AR
TR*YF~oA A POSITION4
or SMV*4TH .VAM;
z
r
THAT HE MEANT IT aW A
y'
4
LETTERS
Daily reinforces stereotypes of Asians
4
Allow rent control vote
W HEN TENANT RIGHTS advocates
first started working on a rent stabi-
lization initiative, they undoubtedly
anticipated considerable opposition
from the landlords. This expectation
was well-founded based on land-
lords' past behavior in Ann Arbor and
elsewhere. In many cases, landlords
have spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars to defeat rent stabilization.
They no doubt also assumed that
the landlords would put forth all
manners of wholly or partially
specious arguments against rent sta-
bilization, knowing that the tenants
organizations would never have the
resources to adequately publicize their
responses. What they probably did
not expect was that the landlords
Yet,'this is exactly what the land-
lords are attempting to do with current
legislation before the state legislature.
Senate bill 531 would usurp the
powers of city governments, and
deny them the right to implement rent
stabilization measures. This bill
seems almost certain to pass the state
senate and has a very good chance of
passing the house as well. If the
Governor then signs it, the people of
Ann Arbor will be completely disen-
franchised on this important local is-
sue.
While the landlords have made it
clear that they view the opportunity to
rent gouge as being more valuable
than democracy, it' s important that
the rest of us speak up. Our repre-
To the Daily:
This letter responds to the
12/2/87 Daily front page
headline that read: "Asians
take suicide pills before probe".
We do not take the stance that
this headline is racist, nor that
it harms or limits the options
of the minority it names.
Rather, we object to the lack of
consideration with which the
headline was composed and its
relation to the article.
As it stands, the headline
implies that the article's topic
is Asian suicide, and not the
investigation of the bombing
of KAL flight 858 and the
subsequent events. If we read
the article, we see that the
suspects in the bombing, not
Asians as a group, took the
suicide pills. Therefore, a more
specific subject for the headline
is Suspects..." or
"Terrorists..." The use of the
word "Asians" is not warranted
for an understanding of the
article, nor does it provide any
immediate relevance to the
suspects' actions. "Asians"
does not provide a meaningful
description of who took "the
suicide pills before probe."
We doubt the headline would
have read "Whites take suicide
pills before probe" if t h e
terrorists had been Caucasian.
The Daily's need to point out
a fundamental responsibility to
report news as accurately and
clearly as possible and to
correct the errors and biases
already present in society.
Careless writing by the press
carries a dangerous potential for
influencing public perceptions
and public policies. We realize
the Daily staff writers are under.
Weisbrot support of protest off-base
deadline pressure, but what are
the Daily's priorities after all?
The Daily should not support
the concept that Asians in
general possess an abnormally
large- propensity to commit
suicides as its headline
suggests. We strongly suggest
that the Daily live up to its
social responsibility by
To the Daily:
I am writing to contest Mark
Weisbrot's December 3
editorial in the Michigan Daily
("Human rights vs. CIA,"
Daily, 12/3/87). I find that
there are serious flaws in his
logic. First, he asserts that
Career Planningand Placement
only accepts interviewers that
are deemed acceptable and that
there is no student input into
this process because " The
University is not a
democratically run institution."
May I remind Mr. Weisbrot
that this University is
ultimately governed by a
democratically elected Board of
Regents. If the public of the
state of Michigan wished the
CIA to stop recruiting here,
they possess the power to force
the Regents to ban such
recruiting or replace them with
Regents who would.
Wernt furthe, ccetc that
Weisbrot then claims that
CIA should not be allowed to
recruit on moral grounds. I
disagree. I have no moral
objections to the CIA. I do
have moral objections t o
communism, but I realize that
I cannot attempt to abridge
their First Amendment rights
by disrupting the orderly
activities of members of
SPARK who try and recruit
new members. Why is Mr.
Weisbrot any better as a moral
arbitrator than I?
Weisbrot goes on to cite a
very slanted and possibly
slanderous account of the
protests at the CIA interviews,
and to chide Noah Finkel and
David Schwartz for their
positions in previous
editorials. Both of these issues,
while important in their own
right, are not terribly relevant
to the base issue which is the
substantitive arguments,
resorts to the old stick of
changing of the subject. He is
playing a sort of bait and
switch trick on the reader by
using the following logic:.n
Public Safety violates rights
while protecting the CIA,
hence the CrA is bad.
Ultimately, the editorial
states that all citzens have a
"duty to try to stop their
government from commiting
war crimes." I agree. It is,
however, stupid and futile to
protest directly to the CIA. The
CIA is only an instrument of
the adminstration. Protesting
to the CIA itself is akin to a
condemned man addressing his
appeal directly to the electric *
chair. If you want to do
something about the CIA,
assert your democratic rights
by recalling Reagan, or at least
vocally make your opinion
known to him.
exercising more care in the
choice of words for its
headlines.
-Joon Chung
Jennifer Liu
Joanna Su
University of Michigan
Asian Student Coalition
December 8
4