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OPINION
Tuesday, September 15, 1987

Page 4

The Michigan Daily
Arbor

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Edie ManadbtdesatTniver aity 
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Neon

malls

Ann

Vol. XCVIII, No. 4

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.
'Senate should reject Bork

In reference to the desegregation
provisions in Title II of the 1964
Civil Rights Act, Judge Robert
Bork, President Reagan's nominee
to the U.S. Supreme Court, stated:
"The principle of such legislation is
that if Ifind your behavior ugly by
my standards, moral or aesthetic,
and if you prove stubborn about
adopting my view of the situation, I
am justified in having the state
coerce you into more righteous
paths. That is itself a principle of
unsurpassed ugliness."
The Senate begins hearings today
to examine the nomination of
Appellate Court Judge Bork. These
hearings are intended to provide the

Judge Robert Bork
Snate and the American people
with a review of Bork's
professional history and judicial
philosophy. His record, however,
is already available for scrutiny and
he has frequently stated his views
on the Constitution and the Bill of
Bights. A review of Bork's words
and actions provides a vivid picture
of American society under his
judicial authority; it is a frightening
Vision. Bork nomination seriously
threatens the concepts of racial
equality, the right to privacy, and
free speech that have been expanded
and strengthened by the courts over
the last thirty years.
Record
Bork's supporters argue that his
professional qualifications and his
judicial career should be the sole
consideration in the Senate's
examination of his candidacy.
Ironically, Bork fails to meet even
this narrow criteria.
As Solicitor General under
Richard Nixon during the Watergate
scandal he followed Nixon's orders
to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald
Cox, instructions rejected by his
two superiors in the Justice
Department. A federal court later
declared the firing to be
unconstitutional. Bork still defends
the act as having saved the
"viability" of the Justice
Department.
In 1972, five hundred law
professors testified that the Nixon
administration's efforts to curb
judicial remedies for school
segregation were unconstitutional.
Judge Bork was the only law
professor to testify in support of the
administration's position.
Though proponents of the Bork
nomination claim his professional
vecord is unassailable, some of his
most eminent colleagues dispute
that assessment. A select committee
nf the Americn Rnor Aenrintinn

Haven, Connecticut since 1972. He
finally paid them earlier this year,
only a day before the incident was
exposed by the New Haven
Register.
Judicial Philosophy
Judge Bork claims to be a
supporter of "judicial restraint." He
opposed the court's ruling in
Griswold vs. Connecticut, which
struck down a Connecticut statute
making it a crime, even for married
couples, to use contraception
stating: ....Courts must accept any
value choice the legislature makes
unless it clearly runs contrary to a
choice made in the framing of the
Constitution. Consistent with this
philosophy, Bork refuses to
recognize the many individual
freedoms that the Supreme Court
has found within the Constitution
such as the individual's rights to
privacy, abortion and civil
disobedience. It is true that many
judges believe that the specific
wording of the Constitution is the
only true guide to decision making;
Judge Bork, however, is
extraordinary in his application of
this strict interpretation. He refuses
to acknowledge the fourteenth
amendment's granting of "equal
protection of the laws" to those that
,were "historically not intended to be
protected," including women,
illegitimate children, aliens and
politically powerless minorities.
Bork cites "the majority's
legitimate right to govern," whose
will should only be checked by the
few specific individual rights that
are listed in the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights, to justify his views.
He has stated that the freedom of
the majority is "increasingly being
denied by the Court's creation of
new rights" for individuals.
He sees a woman's right to an
abortion, a married couple's right to
contraception, and a criminal's right
not to be sterilized by the state as
Constitutionally unfounded
protections. His maj oritarianism is
outmoded in a society that has
established a sensitivity, among the
majority, for the rights of
minorities; rights that are explicit
and implicit in the Constitution and
Bill of Rights.
The Senate is justified in rejecting
Bork on the basis of his extreme
views. When writing the
Constitution, the founding fathers
specifically established a system of
checks and balances in order to
prevent one branch of government
from exercising too much power.
One check on the executive branch
is that all presidential appointments
must be approved by the Senate,
including nominees for the Supreme
Court. Accordingly, the Senate
enjoys a coequal role with the
President to make a political
decision on a nominee.
Just as President Reagan
nominated Robert Bork in order to
further his conservative ideology
and leave his mark on American
society, it is legitimate for the
Senate to vote against Bork based

on his views. Duke Law professor
Walter Dellinger, a noted
constitutional scholar who will
testify against Bork in the upcoming
hearings, has upheld this view that
the Senate is free to consider a
nominee's ideology. Historically,
.b a -. .a.-14%%Vn t IX7IV1 c~r~r.

By Mary Chris Jaklevic
Ann Arbor is in danger of losing its
charm. Don't misunderstand - A Squared
is still one of the funkiest places to be a
college student, but it seems that our
island of diverse culture and quaint littles
dives is losing its shoreline to a wave of
architectural uniformity. Call it "neoni-
zation," if you like..
Ann Arbor is changing from a quiet
university town to a super techno-industry
megalopolis. The consequent population
boom this side of Detroit has downtown
merchants looking beyond the traditional
student market to make Ann Arbor a
shopping mecca, sort of like Briarwood
Mall without a roof. Student life is bound
to suffer from the change.
If your parents, cousins, or older siblings
are University alumni, the chances you'll
be able to visit their old hang-outs are
getting smaller and smaller. Many old
places near and dear to the hearts of
students over the years are disappearing.
A recent example is the quiet death of the
S.S. Kresge store on State and North
University Streets. Before it closed in
July, Kresge's was the only place in town
where customers could buy a full breakfast
- an egg, toast and bacon - for $1.19.
More importantly, it was the only store
within a mile of campus which sold
ironing boards, cheap electric fans, kitchen
utensils, and thousands of other dormroom
necessities. Now a bus ride to Arborland
Mall is the only way students can get
these items.
Other stores which were unique to Ann
Arbor - used clothing stores and used
Mary Chris Jaklevic is a Daily staff writer.

record stores, inexpensive bookstores and
some restaurants - have also been
squeezed out of the downtown picture.
The most frustrating thing about
Kresge's closing is that there seems to be
no clear reason for it. The store was
making money, according to the K-Mart
Corporation, its owner. Maybe the '50s
style red Kresge sign clashed with the pink
neon of the cluster of new stores which
was just erected down the street. That
brings us to another malady: mini-
mallitis.
Yuppie-style stores and eating
establishments (dare one call them
eateries?), used to be safely contained in a
small piece of land near Main Street
known as Kerrytown, but now they're
moving into the several new brick-and-
glass structures which are popping up
around campus. These are known in the
construction business as mini-malls.
Mini-mallitis brings us a plethora of
ugly symptoms: neon signs, fig plants,
textured concrete and spiral staircases.
They bring us new vocabulary words like
"atrium," "brioche " and "galleria." And
they contain, a host of new boutiques
hawking expensive cosmetics, frozen
yogurt and designer baked goods.
These new establishments tarnish Ann
Arbor's intellectual image. Not long ago
Ann Arbor residents bought more books
per capita than any other city in the
country. Now I'll bet we rate number one
in cookie and ice cream consumption. Or
at least, number of cookie stores per
capita.
The grandest mini-mall disaster is Tally
Hall on Liberty Street. Only six months
after its opening last year, Tally Hall's
owners agreed they had to redecorate.
Stores and restaurants leasing in the mall
complained that the gratuitous pastel neon

LETTERS:
LASCplans to counter 'dislnfor mation'

To the Daily:
"Lies or lives" was the
expression that Colonel North
used enough times in the Iran-
Contra hearings to make most
of us sick. Had he said "lies
and lives" his testimony would
have been significantly more
truthful. For the fact of the
matter is that Col. North
consistently lied in order to
continue a policy that cost and
is costing tens of thousands of
lives in Central America. He
had to lie, because he knew
that the people of the United
States would not support the
polices his gang was pursuing,
if they were aware of these
policies.
After hearing seven years of
little else than Reagan admini-
stration lies about Central
America and timid Democratic
responses, it is extremely
difficult to get a clear idea of
what is taking place in Central
America. For example, very
few people know that Nicara-
gua's current government was
democratically elected in elec-
tions that virtually all indepen-
dent observers, including even
the right-wing think tank
Freedom House said were fair.
Few people realize that we are
sending over 600 million
dollars a year to a government
in El Salvador, whose army
has murdered over 60,000 of its
citizens in the last seven years.
And few people realize that
there is a solid body o f
evidence, including leaked State
Department documents, that
establish beyond any doubt that
the Reagan administration has
done virtually everything in its
power to obstruct every peace
plan that's been proposed from
the region.
In an effort to counter the
Reagan administration's dis-
information network, the Latin
American Solidarity Com-
mittee will be sponsoring a
week long series of educational
events on Central America.
We hope that these events will
give people a more com-
prehensive picture of the

in defense of the U.S. media to
take part in the discussion, but
as yet we've been unable to
find anyone in the country who
has been willing to take on
this task. The forum will take
place at Angel Hall Aud. C at
8:00 P.M. Thursday, Sept. 17.
Sunday, the Faculty Com-
mittee for Human Rights in
Central America will begin a
campaign to have the Uni-
versity award Father Ernesto
Cardinal, Nicaragua's Minister
of Culture, an honorary degree.
In addition to being Nicaragua's
Minister of Culture, Father
Cardinal is also a well
respected poet and liberation
theologian. There will be a
performance of one of Father
Cardinal's poems which has
been set to music by Ann
Arbor composer David Vayo.
This will be followed by a
poetry reading by Reno Franco,
a refugee poet from Guatemala.
This event, which is co-
sponsored by the World Hunger
Education Action Committee,
will take place at 4:00 at the
First Unitarian Church (1917
Washtenaw).
On Monday, we will have a
debate on U.S. policy in
Central America. LASC has
invited Rev. Bill Davis, an
investigator with the Christic
Institute (the Christic Institute
is a non-profit public interest
organization, that specializes in
investigative legal work), and
Victor Rubio, a spokesperson
for the FDR (the political
opposition front in El
Salvador) to speak against U.S.
policy in Central America.
The Committee for Democracy
in Latin America has asked
Penn Kemble theapresident of
PRODEMCA, and Ronald
Radosh a historian and political
writer to defend U.S. policy.
This debate will take place at
8:00 at Rackham Auditorium.
The next night Rev. Bill
Davis will be giving a pre-
sentation on the latest findings
on the Christic Institute's
lawsuit against a number of the
Iran-Contra figures. Much of

It will be held at Rackham of color throughout Latin
Ampitheater at 8:00. America, Africa, and Asia.
On Wednesday, the Celayas, a This topic will be discussed by
family of Salvadoran refugees Prexy Nesbitt; a long-time
being given sanctuary in Ann activist in the anti-racist and
Arbor, will cook a Salvadoran Anti-Apartheid movements.
dinner at the First In addition to these scheduled
Congregational Church (Cor- events there will also be a
ner of State and Williams, display of photographs depict-
$3.00 donation). The dinner ing present day Guatemala
will be followed by a available for viewing from
discussion of their experiences September 20 through October
in El Salvador and recent 2. These photographs convey
events there. It will begin some of the grim reality of a
around 6:00 and run until country where the military has
approximately 8:15. conducted a barbaric campaign
of terror against Guatemala's
Immediately after the dinner indigenous population, killing
LASC will have a joint mass nearly 100,000 people, and
meeting with the Free South forcibly resettling several
Africa Coordinating Com- hundred thousand others. The
mittee and the United Coalition display will be in the South
Against Racism at Rackham Lounge of the Michigan
Ampitheater at 8:30. This Union.
meeting will be a chance for We hope this week of events
people to become acquainted will give people an
with all three groups and opportunity to hear the side of
hopefully also to gain an the story that U.S. media will
awareness of the link between not present. It may not be as
the racism that pervades dramatic as Oliver North's
domestic institutions and a testimony, but we guarantee it
foreign policy that has resulted will be more truthful.
in death and suffering for . -Dean Baker
hundreds of millions of people September 13
Lawyers deserve the money
they're paid. Anyone so
willing to trade his soul to
such extent, he deserves the
price he gets. A ife thrown
away deserves at the very
least 60 to 100 thousand
dollars annually...

beams shooting from the pillars in the.
center of the mall distract customers from
their stores. After all, each store must
have room to display its own neon.
The real lesson in all this is that what is
good for downtown is not always good for
students. Ann Arbor is attracting a gar-
gantuan gaggle of Yuppies who have
money to spend in these new boutiques.
The Yupps want it all, which doesn't
seem so bad until you realize they're also
out to buy the house you're living in, and
rebuild it into the colonial dream .dwelling
it was 80 years ago. Moreover, Yupps
also have an edge in the rental market
because they make more attractive tenants;
they are less transient and more con-
scientious.
Jo Rumsey, Director of the University's
Housing Information Office, says she has
not detected a tightening of the housing
market due to the newcomers, but she is
concerned that if University and city
planners do not leave areas for student
housing, students may be squeezed into
undesirable ghettos, or even squeezed out
altogether. Some city officials choose to
leave the student housing problem at least
primarily at the door of the University,
saying the University should build more
student housing. But, as Rumsey is quick
to point out, even if the University could
scrape up the money to build a new
residence hall, most students find renting
more attractive than institutional living.
Land use is an issue which will stay
with us for a long time. Natural rejection
of these new establishments may not be
enough to maintain the quality of life for
students. Students must hold University
and city policy makers accountable for
preserving treasured spots in Ann Arbor,
and for keeping the cost of living low
enough for students of all income levels.

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