4
__OPINION
P'age 4 Friday, December 11, 1987
The Michigan Daily
E' h diednm ebtudnsganive r Milu
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
LETTERS
Epton' s comments were on target
Vol. XCVIII, No. 65
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.
For once, a commendation
AS THE HOLIDAYS approach, it is
appropriate to recognize the people
and organizations taking action
reflective of the spirit of the season.
Several community organizations
deserve recognition for taking time to
help low-income residents of South-
eastern Michigan during the holiday
season.
This Sunday, SANE/FREEZE, a
volunteer organization,.will be going
door-to-door throughout Ann Arbor
asking people to contribute to their
food, clothing and blankets to benefit
local shelters. The Daily encourages
students to dig deep into their drawers
and kitchen cabinets and contribute to
the drive.
The Salvation Army is raising
money to provide Christmas meals,
toys for children of low-income
families, and purchase gifts for resi-
dents of nursing homes and for hos-
pital patients. Last year, they raised
nearly $80,000 to support their ef-
forts and are hoping to do as well this
year.
The Shelter Association of Ann Ar-
bor currently provides 48 beds for
homeless Ann Arborites. The
Association is hoping to to raise 40-
50,000 over the holidays. Its efforts
are particularly important in the com-
ing months when many of Ann Ar-
bor's homeless will be seeking shelter
from the cold.
Over the past weeks, Project
Warmth, which benefits homeless
shelters in Ann Arbor, and Kappa
Alpha Psi fraternity, collecting for the
United Negro College Fund, have
held successful fund raising drives on
the Diag.
Other Greek organizations on cam-
pus are participating in adopt-a-family
programs, providing needy Ann Ar-
bor families with food, gifts, and
other necessities.
In Detroit, the Old News-
boys/Goodfellows is collecting
money help those in need throughout
the entire metropolitan area. This
group is still $300,000 short of its
goal and deserves support.
All of these organizations deserve
praise for taking the giving spirit of
the holidays so closely to heart. In
that spirit, The Daily would like to
wish all of its readers good luck on
their finals, a Happy Hanukkah, and
a Merry Christmas.
To the Daily:
I am responding to a letter
by Amy Herrup ("Epton's anti-
U.S. tirade out of place,"
Daily, 11/24/87) which I found
to be extremely uninformed,
unintelligent and offensive.
Referring to the unfortunate
and embarrassingly rude treat-
ment of Jeff Epton by a large
audience of so-called human
rights supporters who had
gathered to hear Natan
Scharansky (November 22),
Ms. Herrup provides us with
what can only be called a
"generic right-wing tirade." Her
letter is nothing but a
"package" which the less intel-
ligent members of the conser-
vative community tend to
cough-up as an automatic re-
sponse to a combination of
"keywords" that have a liberal
ring. Ms. Herrup's is a
particularly tasteless and crude
version of this "package": it
starts out by attacking the ap-
pearance and attire of her polit-
ical opponent. Obviously, she
has missed the whole point of
Epton's introductory remarks,
and has little else to attack him
for. I would like to set the
record straight by briefly sum-
marizing the content of those
remarks, and by pointing out
to their relevance within the
context of human rights.
Epton argued that human
rights were an indivisible
whole. Advocating some rights
for some groups while remain-
ing uninformed or oblivious to
the plight of other groups with
regard to other categories of
basic human rights, generally
leads to a political stance char-
acterized by double standards.
In particular, he focused on the
basic right to lead a dignified
human existence, and argued
that such groups as the home-
less and the hungry in this
country were systematically
being denied this basic right.
He also focused on human
rights violations by authoritar-
ian Third World regimes sup-
ported by the United States.
Ms. Herrup seems to think
that all this is totally irrelevant
to an audience "gathered for the
sole purpose to hear (sic.) re-
cently released Soviet dissident
Natan Scharansky." This im-
plies that other types of rights
for other groups throughout the
world are not relevant to an
audience concerned solely with
the rights of the Soviet Jewry
to immigrate to Israel. It is
precisely the prevalence of this
mentality within the American
mainstream that renders Ep-
ton's introductory remarks not
only relevant, but indeed, called
for.
The over-exposure of human
rights violations in the Soviet
Union, argued Epton, is being
used as a moral and ideological
justification to divert funds and
other resources towards the war
CIA coverage biased, get a clue Daily!
effort at the expense of the ba-
sic human rights of various
groups in the United States and
elsewhere in the world.
It is, therefore, morally and
ethically wrong to divide hu-
man rights into segments, to
advocate some segments while
totally neglecting others. The
coughs, "boos" and cat-calls
that accompanied Epton's re-
marks are witness to the fact
that his message was of utmost
importance and relevance.
Jeff Epton's remarks advo-
cated social justice for all. Ms.
Herrup calls his remarks "anti-
U.S." I leave it to your readers
to figure out what she thinks
America stands for.
-Nilufer Hayat
December 9
To the Daily:
Wake-up and get with the
mainstream! Your so-called
editorial on the incident that
occurred on November 25th at
the CIA recruiting session
(Daily, 11/30/87) was biased
liberal naivety at it's worst.
For instance, you state, with
respect to the kicking incident,
"This type of unprovoked
viciousness is disgusting...."
Unfortunately, "unprovoked"
must be a typo because o n
page one of that same issue,
Steve Knopper wrote, "About
30 students forced their way
past University security
officers." Yes, that's right,
FORCED. I would hardly call
security officers faced with a
crazed stampeding mob of 30
people forcing their way past
"unprovoked."
After all, put yourself in the
security officers' shoes. Your
instructions are to keep the
protesters from interrupting the
interviews. Unfortunately, they
won't sit still and start to force
their way past you. What else
are you supposed to do? Pick
your nose? No, you hit them
back. After all, when the train
comes, get off the tracks, or
pay the price.
Next, you state, "Protestors
entered the Career Planning and
Placement Office with the
intent of speaking to a CIA
representative." Yea, right. Are
you going to tell us that the
Pope isn't Catholic in your
next issue of liberal
propaganda? The protestors
were there for one reason, to
disrupt the interviews. You
know that, and so do the
students at this University. So
why do you insist on twisting
the facts to fit your liberal
agenda?
Finally, it is none of your
business or the protestors
business to pick who anyone
interviews with. If somebody
wants to work for the CIA,
NSA, TRW, Ford, IBM, or
Mrs. Smith's Soup Kitchen it
is their own business.
Yes, believe it or not, some
people want to work for the
CIA. After all, the CIA
collects vital intelligence and
conducts necessary covert
operations for the well being of
the United States. (Covert is
not a dirty word, it is a reality
in today's world.) So all you
protesters, and you the Daily
Editorial Staff, pray that no
one rudely interrupts your
interview, your career, your
chance at a good life just
because they dislike your
ideals. GET A CLUE!
-David Bloomfield
-Bryan Mistele
December 1
Steiner should apologize
4
To the Daily:.
On November 16, 1987, the
Rackham Student Government
unanimously voted to pass a
resolution condemning the
following statement made by
LS&A Dean Peter Steiner in
the Fall issue of "L S& A":
"Solving the under-
representation of Blacks on
University faculties will require
many things, including a
revolution in Blacks' attitudes
towards higher education
comparable to that among
white women in the last two
decades."
It should be clear to Dean
Steiner that the under-
representation Of minorities on
the University faculty has little
to do with the attitudes of
minorities and everything to do
with racist attitudes persistent
in society and in our educa-
tional institutions. This
statement is racist, sexist, and
a very inappropriate expression
to .be made by anyone,
particularly a high level
University administrator.
Furthermore, Dean Steiner's
policy of setting a ten term
funding limit for graduate stu-
dents is likely to have the
greatest impact on minority
and women students.
We feel it is reasonable to
request that our University
administrators refrain from ex-
pressions of racism and sexism
both in public comments and
in policies. We demand that a
formal written apology from
Dean Steiner for his comments
appear in the next issue of
"LS&A" and that careful
consideration be given to the
effect of his ten term funding
limit on minority and women
graduate students.
-The Rackham Student
Government
Maine profs oppose CIA
PROFESSORS AT Colby College in
Waterville, Maine recently passed a
motion by 5 to 2 which bans CIA
recruitment on campus due to the
CIA's meddlesome and illegal
activities in Nicaragua, its illegal arm
sales,, and its illegal probes into the
lives of private citizens. All the
measure needs to go into effect is the
approval of the President and the
board.
The faculty, many of them products
of 60's anti-war demonstrations,
should be hailed for their move to bar
the CIA from recruiting on campus.
The CIA's crimes and human rights
abuses are common knowledge. In
speaking out, the Colby faculty are
voicing their concern for the terrorist
activities of the CIA.
The example set by the faculty at
Colby should be emulated by the
faculty at the University. Professors
have a moral obligation to speak out
on issues which affect the university,
which include the undesirable CIA
presence on campus.
Groups on this campus such as
Concerned Faculty should set an
example for other professors by
condemning CIA recruitment on
campus.
Activism is not dead among the
academia. Colby has proved this and
the University faculty should make
their voice heard to help bring about
change at their University.
Why accept term paper ads
To the Daily:
I always enjoy reading the
Daily, and especially appreci-
ated the good article about
companies that sell "term
papers" to students. But one
question remains: Why does
the Daily accept advertisements
from those companies?
-Phillips Moulton
December 2
I
The Daily welcomes letters from its
readers. Bringing in letters=on personal
computer disk is the fastest way to publish
a letter in the Daily.
4
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Bush
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By Hampton Dellinger
Last month, Vice-President George.Bush
announced his desire to drop the first word of
his two-part title. He justifies his claim to
the Presidency primarily on his political
experience and loyalty to the office's present
occupant.
But does Bush's resume and faithful
service as V.P. qualify him to be President?
First, let's consider his experience in
public life. Bush has held several
distinguished government positions in
addition to the Vice Presidency: U.S.
Representative, U.N. Ambassador, CIA
Director. But, he has not distinguished
himself at any of them.
A recent Newsweek profile said even
Bush's friends admit "his imprint on all
those jobs is indistinct." The article adds,
"he seems to have avoided the great social
and political controversies of a quarter
century."
When not ducking a fight (like the battle
over the Bork nomination in which Bush
played a negligible role), Bush has frequently
wound up on the wrong side. In 1964, he
disparaged the Civil Rights Act passed that
year. "I'm opposed to the public
accommodations section. I still favor the
problem being handled by moral persuasion
at the local level," he was quoted as saying.
In his announcement speech last month,
Defense vociferously expressed their
objections to the sale of TOW missiles to
Iran at a National Security Council meeting
- Bush was at the Army-Navy football
game.
Despite all his foreign policy and national
security experience, Bush admits that he had
no input, for or against, in the decision to
sell arms to Iran.
the President said "I can't answer in that
context." His silence speaks for itself.
The second pillar Bush founds his claim to
be the 40th President on - his loyalty to
the 39th - should not be questioned on its
veracity but its relevance. He has been
Reagan's faithful cheerleader, but he has
trumpeted the agenda of a President who has
supported many fundamental policy ideas
(school prayer, no abortions, arms-for-
hostages) which have been repudiated by the
public and rejected in Congress.
Bush's boosterism blinds him from reality
even when his boss begins to see. For
example, the recent financial turmoil on
Wall Street has convinced Reagan that tax
increases earmarked to reduce the debilitating
federal debt may be necessary. But Bush
remains adamantly opposed to all tax
increases regardless of economic
circumstance.
"My view, when I become President, is
there won't be any tax increase," he said
while campaigning recently. As the New
York Times put it: "George Bush's
bewildering response to this new era is to
put on Ronald Reagan's old coat."
Bush says "loyalty is strength, a very
great strength." However, he doesn't
understand that vision and courage are even
stronger. His high name-recognition and
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