OPINION Page 4 Friday, October 30, 1987 The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Plan against passing up 4 Vol. XCVIII, No. 37 420 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. Out-state enrollment By Terry Calhoun Part two in a two part series Two quick and effective ways the ath- letic department can end passing up. Those of you who perpetrate passing up should note that the athletic department is much more aware of its potential liability in this type of situation than it was in 1979; if it doesn't make such a strong attempt at ending the situation, the first woman seri- ously hurt (and this is inevitable) could siphon off a lot of the football program's profits for that year with an effective civil suit. Mainly for the use of plaintiffs' at- torneys in upcoming (I hope) lawsuits, I offer two effective ways that the athletic Calhoun holds M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Michigan and is a publisher. department could quickly end passing up. (1) Have an athletic department official watch the end zone with binoculars. When he or she sees a woman being passed up-- stop the game. Then announce that the game will not continue until the woman is put down. Do this two or three times and passing up will end. (2) Turn one of the athletic department's video cameras on the end zone. Intercept victims after they are finally put down, comfort them and support their prosecu- tion of the offenders for assault and battery and rape. Offer the videotapes and the ath- letic department official's testimony as evidence for identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators. One or two guys standing trial should end passing up. An effective way the community can end passing up : Learn that it is not part of the game, it is a crime, it hurts and women don't like it. Show your social approbation of those who perpetrate it. This might take longer, but really, what do you think your chances are that the athletic department will do anything effec- tive about it? Nothing short of arrest or intensive social approbation will stop the assholes who actually grab the women in the first place. If you see it happen-stop it. If the woman comes by you-stop it. If you know the guy who started it, tell' him what you think of him. If your group of friends wants to pass a willing person up, reflect on the facts that (a) you are contributing to a situation where someone will eventually be seriously hurt, and (b) that it might be your friend who gets hurt-you don't know who is sitting forty rows back. Let's learn from history. This was once a serious problem, with over 100 women being assaulted in Michigan Stadium each home game. Education was all that we needed then. Aren't we at least that sophisticated now? 4 ONE OF THE REASONS THE University succeeds as an institution is because of its diversity. Students at Michigan come from- all fifty states. These students bring their backgrounds, ideas, and cultures to the University. Diversity is imperative for the success of any body of people and the University is not an exception. In November, a panel of state legislators including Sen. Joseph Conroy (D-Flint), Sen. William $ederburg (R-East Lansing), Sen. John Schwartz (R-Mount Pleasant), Rep. Morris Hood (D-Detroit), Rep. Robert Emerson (D-Flint) will meet to decide whether the current proportion of out-state students is acceptable. They claim qualified Michiganders are not being admitted. According to the most recent U.S. News and World Report survey of institutions of higher, education, however, Michigan "is tied for eighth nationally. The out-state students and the popularity of Michigan to out-state students deserve a great deal of the credit for this success. Out-staters are usually excellent students, since admissions are more selective for !them, and their enthusiasm upon arrival helps the school academically and socially. They also help the financial stability of the University because out-staters pay much more tuition than in-staters and actually save Michigan taxpayer's money because each less in-state student is one less whose tuition must be subsidized by the state government. The present proportion of 36 percent out-staters is the perfect mix for a positive atmosphere at the University. The University has exceeded this proportion several times in the past; throughout much of the 19th century and in the '30s the University had more than 40 percent out-of-state students. The reason the proportion of out- state students was lower in the '60s and '70s was that the baby boom generation expanded the population of qualified in-state students. In the '80s, that population has decreased. This is not to say the University should not deemphasize its responsibility as a state institution. Only that part of this responsibility involves maintaining diversity. Besides maintaining non-resident enrollment at its present level, the University should redouble its efforts to expand minority enrollment. Last summer, some legislators threatened to cut state funding levels if out-of-state enrollment was not capped. If acted upon this threat would diminish the quality of the University and decrease its ability to act as a both a state and a national resource. Mud slung between GOP candidates 4 By Noah Finkel A few months ago, President Reagan hosted the Republican Presidential candidates in the White House and invoked the "11th" commandment: "thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." Judging from the amount of mud slung back and forth Wednesday night by the Republicans in Houston, it's clear that even they now consider Reagan's words irrelevant. Vice President George Bush received the brunt of the punishment. At the start, he refused to give examples of the Reagan Administration's mistakes because "I won't start now what I haven't done for six or seven years." Bush should realize he is now running for President, not VP. General Alexander Haig picked up on this immediately. Waving a finger at Bush he told him that "loyalty is not telling your boss what he wants to hear." H e surreptitiously called Bush a wimp and was easily the wittiest Republican.m d Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole next encountered Haig's wrath when Haig said "a Dole-Dole ticket is nothing but watered-down pineapple juice." Haig's opposition to SDI shows independence and he was far and away the most convincing Republican on foreign policy and on humor.However, he showed a lack of understanding on domestic issues when he expressed a desire to "reorganize Congress and get it away from its present one-man, one-vote anarchy." General Haig, that concept is called democracy. Are you familiar with that? Former Delaware Gov. Pierre "Pete" Du Pont IV was another interesting subject. He is a Republican version of Gary Hart, full of "new ideas." But as George Bush says, new ideas can be stupid ideas. Du Pont has worthwhile thoughts on reforming the Social Security and welfare systems, but his support for an education Noah Finkel is a member of The Daily's Opinion page staff. I I -Associated Press Governor Pierre DuPont, left, shakes hands with Sen. Jackr1Kemp as Vice- President George Bush and Alexander Haig look on., The four,along with Sen. Robert Dole and Pat Robertson, squared off Wednesday night in the first Republican presidential debate. Fall thoughts 'FALL USUALLY CONJURES IMAGES OF colorful trees, crisp air, exciting new academic challenges, and vibrant football crowds. This year, however, fall has defied our expectations. Cold, rainy days have come early and snow has already buried the Upper Peninsula. Weather sages have dashed all our hopes for an Indian Summer with their predictions of an unusually harsh winter, as if the usual ones weren't grueling enough. What is most dismaying however, is the oddly pessimistic world climate this fall. The planned superpower summit seems shaky at this point as' both sides bicker over the Strategic Defense Initiative. We hope such points of contention will be resolved before the tragedy of war falls over us. Costa Rican President Arias' peace plan is creating quite a storm this fall as Central America tries to find solutions to its internal problems while external nations seek to force a stability more pliable to their wishes. If the peace plan is successful, however, the area may return to the relative tranquility usually characteristic of fall but which has been absent for so long. More unusual is that the perennial bulwark of fall - a successful Michigan Football team - is strikingly missing. Most of u s cannot even remember the fall of 1967 when a Wolverine squad last lost to Indiana's Hoosiers. And what could be more unexpected than the declining health of Bo Schembechler, whose animation usually belies his age? While the fall is election time and typically sees the rise of powerful political figures, this year has brought the collapse of America's foremost politician, Ronald Reagan. The president has slipped out of the limelight and into the doghouse, now bearing the onus of all the nation's woes and receiving all of its ire, even from previous supporters. It is difficult to think of another leader who has seen such highs and lows within such a short space of time (Gary Hart aside). Perhaps the stock market took the season too literally as it experienced monumental declines and posted record losses. With a recession possibly waiting in the wings, the nation anxiously anticipates the proverbial spring and hopes to avoid winter altogether. With such unexpected occurrences this fall we should remember that seasons are cyclical and what is grim now will be shed like leaves to make room for new optimism. voucher system is a turn-off as is his proposal to administer drug tests to teenagers who apply for driver's liscenses. Also, Du Pont's voice sounded like Mr. Rogers'. "Can you say piss in a cup, boys and girls? I knew you could." The Rev., excuse me, former Rev. Pat Robertson did his best in the debate to disassociate himself from his religious ties. He was successful in that respect but still came off as a nut. He claimed that one out four American workers is high on the job. He noted several times that he founded a University. Needless to say, Pat U. wasn't listed among the top ten in the U.S. News and World Report ranking. Robertson also claimed that one of his ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence. No wonder I am so suspicious of calls for a return to the "original intent of the founding fathers." Most troubling of all was Robertson inability to stop laughing or smiling. Bob Dole took pains to stress his "insider" role in government. He says that in 1976, 1980, and in 1984, Americans elected an outsider and in 1988 they are ready for an insider. Does reelecting the President in 1984 really constitute the selection of an outsider? Come to think of it, in Reagan's case it does. Rep. Jack Kemp (R-New York) was probably the least impressive candidate. He came out with the same rhetoric he has employed for the last ten years about going into the "future" with "progressive conservative ideas." That is strange considering Kemp's beloved supply-side economics is now a thing of the past. Kemp then promised the American people "full employment with no inflation." I'll believe that can happen when I see Michigan play in the 1988 Rose Bowl. I I LETTERS Experts shed light on rent control To the Daily: Strange that in this liberal age of reason in this liberal town there runs the Gospel: that government is the source of economic well-being as realized through majoritarian fiat (sorry, "rent stabilization"). Such faith is impervious to reason, certainly, and such faith does not seek reason. Severin Borenstein, an economics professor at a world-class university, is essentially ignored in the Daily's "Support Rent Stabilization" editorial (Daily, 9/23/87) : one of those "so-called experts," a bother- some local boy with "views" about rent control. Certainly, as denizens of Berkely, Cali- fornia and New York City know, dilapidated and aban- doned buildings, finders' fees, lawsuits, and homeless bag suppression and majoritarian rule: the reason rent control will not cause a shortage of new housing is because "the supply of new housing i s primarily governed by a political decision to limit new development, rather than eco- nomic considerations." What the Daily is saying, in essence, is that the Ann Arbor City Council has already wrought so much damage in the local housing market through its "limited growth" policies that the marginal effect of rent control will be zero. We might as well legislate rent control because it will not do any harm. God, what a compelling argument. I have a theory about renting in Ann Arbor that does not jibe with the trendy view, namely, that local leases for a uni- at the expense of new residents and the poor. In their arduous quest for substance in ar- gument, did the Daily editors. realize that William Tucker, an American Spectator social sci- ence correspondent, and Jeffrey Simonoff, a mathematics pro- fessor at NYU, ran a statistical regression of each of the most commonly accepted causes of homelessness in America and found the single most im- portant cause of this malady to be rent stabilization (National Review, September 26)? Their conclusion: "The presence of rent control is associated with an increase in homelessness of 250 percent" over what it would be in the absence of rent control. But let us get down to brass tacks here. The issue is not rents but rights. Does any individual or group have the right to interfere with the free negotiation of the price of a commodity and the answer is no, no matter how offensive that might be to political favor-seekers. No one is forced to attend the University of Michigan and no one is forced to live in Ann Arbor. To claim status as a university student and Ann Arbor resident as if it were as basic and necessary as food and water is arrogant and selfish, to say the least. If you want more housing you have to build more houses. It is as simple as that. Artificial caps on rent and restrictive zoning laws will only make the housing shortage worse. -Bruce Poindexter October 16 .,:, ;.,.,., . ...x"?? ": %:?>x >a %'.;:'t: :}F :%" :%$'r':"Y.."' ,5;::"3. ":v5::iv.:"::;:t;:":".":a: ;vt},: ".}+,{." ''"? .%: '.i: vJ.":'t , ' "y\5^i '"%r %} ?[: ".%r ". '4 ;5i:} C:;.}. {:. "J : ;q.%r {.;;v.: iv:-0,%;;:.r V}ti: "' J ". .ti J}yi l' i ry {{Z;"''"":":". 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