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OPINION
Page 4
Tuesday, November 10, 1987
The Michigan Daily
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LETTERS
t ae bsdesahn t Ma
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Arming campus safety is outrageous
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Vol. XCVIII, No. 44
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.
Ginsburg weeded out
THE NOMINATION of Judge
Douglas Ginsburg for the Supreme
Court may have been the shortest
lived in history - nine days.
Unfortunately, Ginsburg lost out
for all the wrong reasons.
Colleagues of Ginsburg from his
days as a Harvard Law School
Professor last week revealed that he
used marijuana while there.
From all accounts, this fact alone
was enough to torpedo the
nomination. This sets a disturbing
precedent which says one's judicial
ability can be determined on the
basis of one's moral purity.
Clearly, the moral standards of
neoconservatives like Secretary of
Education William Bennett, who
called Ginsburg and asked him to
withdraw, don't represent those of
society. A poll printed in Sunday's
Detroit Free Press showed 79
percent of respondents did not
believe Ginsburg's drug use should
have made a difference to his
nomination.
While Ginsburg's drug use was
not a legitimate issue on which to
judge his nomination, there were
others which cast doubts on his
suitability. His limited judicial
experience, his exaggerations of his
background as a trial lawyer, and
his ruling at the Justice Department
ina case involving cable television
companies when he held $139,000
of stock in a cable firm combine to
suggest that Ginsburg would not be
acceptable.
Preliminary suspicions should
have been confirmed or denied
during hearings before the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Instead, these
issues were pushed aside by
considerations of Ginsburg's
personal life.
The next nominee to the court
should be someone whose
experience demonstrates both the
breadth of legal background and the
judicial temperament which both of
the Reagan administration's first
two nominees lacked.
To the Daily:
The prospect of arming
University public safety
officers is outrageous. Passage
of Senate bill 339 would
finally give the Regents the
ability to enforce a code o f
non-academic conduct through
their own private army.
The Regents are the worst
possible group to control the
issue of arming campus
security, because they stand to
gain so much personal power.
Only the students, the faculty,
and the people of Ann Arbor
can make a decision over this
issue with any level of objec-
tivity.
Since the University is the
only university in the state of
Michigan which does not
already have a deputized police
force, this legislation is
targeted only at us. The sole
possible reason for enacting
such legislation at the state
level is to circumvent the local
electorate. This is at very least
undemocratic and underhanded.
The bill's funding would
come from the state. The
University of Michigan is a
state school, and to say that the
state pays is to say we pay.
The amount of training,
equipment, and insurance costs
incurred by this proposal would
be astronomical. While the
regents could possibly hold
down tuition until the smoke
clears, our tuition w ill
inevitably increase, and we will
end up paying for 24-hour re-
pression.
If campus security is
deputized, they will have the
ability to search and arrest
students. For those of us who
live in dormitories, under
Senate bill 339, campus public
safety would have the right to
enter and search our rooms.
What sort of place will the
University become when
campus security will be able to
march out on the diag at noon
and search students who in
University security's
judgement are in possession of
illegal objects or substances?
By far the most important
issue, however, is that
deputized public safety officers
will be able to possess and use
guns in the line of duty.
Inevitably, students will die at
the hands of the University,
and the regents will be the ones
with blood-stained hands. I
visualize next year's Daily
headlines: "'U' security guns
down two" or "'U' mistakenly
kills professor." To give the
University the power to kill its
students is indefensible. No
justification will ever be ade-
quate to excuse the death of a
student at the hands of his or
her school.
The burden to prove the
necessity of this proposal must
lie with those who initiated it.
Sen. Lana Pollack was right to
question the effectiveness of
arming campus security in
terms of increased safety.
Conclusive evidence must be
brought out to prove that cam-
puses with armed guards are
Greek condemnation makes writer
safer than those without, or
this proposal should not even
be considered. What must be
pointed out, however, is that
no statistics from other schools
will be completely applicable
to the University of Michigan,
whose sources of conflict,
crime, and unrest are not
identical to any other school's.
This issue demands attention.
The students of the University
nauseous
must call upon MSA, the
Daily, the regents, and the
faculty to oppose
implementation of this pro-
posal at all costs. Every
attempt must be made to
convince the administration
that making police officers out
of campus security officers is
unacceptable. -Paul
Southworth
November 4
To the Daily:
I don't know where to begin
as so much of John Logie's
article ("Mudbowl is good,
clean fun," Daily,10/30/87) is
fraught with envy, spite and
malice.
First, it sounds as though
Logie is adamantly opposed to
having fun unless it is in a
manner that is custom-suited to
Logie's ignorant outlook.
Logie claims that he is
"bludgeoned" by Greeks with
displays of fun that will exceed
any fun he will ever know.
This is cute. Too bad for him
it is probably true as his bitter
attitude seems to get the best
of him.
It amazes me that he is
primarily distressed with the
philanthropic activities of the
Greek system claiming that
there is"a qualitative difference
between the acitvities of the
Greeks and that of real service
organizations., The Greek
system does not claim to be
comprised of service organi-
zations. Rather, it consists of
fraternities and sororities whose
main purpose is to have some
fun, make some friends, and do
some good. Besides who is he
to place a meter on the worth
of charitable activities.I will
admit that in the case o f
someone lacking ambition and
organizational abilities,
perhaps raking leaves o r
sorting clothes for eight hours
may be the most productive
means of helping the needy.
This is not the case with the
Greek system. The activities
that he maliciously attacked
comprise only a small fraction
of the charitable events held by
the Greek system as a whole,
yet yielded the following:
Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity
"bounced for beats" raising
over $4000; Delta Delta Delta
sorority teeter tawtered raising
over $2500; and Sigma Nu
fraternity twistered raising'over
$3000.
This money was donated to
the following charities
respectively: The American
Red Cross Association, The
Mott Children's Cancer
Research Program, and The
American Red Cross/United
Way. If Logie thinks these
charities are mendicant and are
not "real," as was stated in his
article, then perhaps the Daily
should reevaluate his
competency as a writer on its
staff.
Logie complains that these
philanthropic activities endure
for "needlessly long periods of
time," and that those visibly
involved "are with their friends,
in public, fooling around ..."
Well, John, the longer you
work at something, the more it
pays off. And God forbid we be.
with our friends having fun out
in public, of all places, while
we selfishly raise tens of
thousands of dollars for charity.
Logie seems to forget that it is
upon good nature, true friends,
and public support that the
needy rely.
Logie is also conveniently
unaware of the time that
Greeks put into service
projects, this is in specific
reference to his suggestion to
spend time in homes and
hospitals. The following two
examples should provide him
with some insight as to the
Greeks efforts to aid the needy.
Sigma Nu members contribute
to the Ann Arbor shelter for
the homeless 140 hours of
voluntary service every month,
and the kids at Mott Children's
Hospital enjoy Sigma Chi's
bi-annual holiday parties.
I'm sure that I speak for the
entire Greek system when I say
that Logie's article reeks with a
narrow-minded, self-righteous
stench. And stench makes us
all ill, Greek or not.
-Chris MacKay
November 1
4
Hamann's letter offensive
".. Judge Douglas Ginsburg
Ginsburg admitted smoking pot as a
professor but said he stopped in
1979.
Why walkways?
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to
the editorial letter entitled
"Funky Black Bitch Isn't
Racist" (Daily, 11/3/87), where
Mr. Lawrence Hamann insists
that he doesn't believe that the
phrase is racist. He states that
"there is absolutely nothing
inherently racist about the
phrase." He also states that the
Daily's portrayal of this occur-
rence as a racist incident only
typifies the "when in doubt,
cry racism" attitude, which he
perceives as being prevalent on
this campus.
I am appalled at M r.
Hamann's naivete and igno-
rance. His attempt to give a
literal, grammatical analysis of
the phrase is pitiful, not to
mention irrelevant! When each
individual word is taken out of
the context of the phrase, of
course, none of them alone
will have a racist, derogatory
connotation, but given the cir-
cumstances and the way in
which the phrase was written,
hcw could one could term the
phrase as anything else but
racist!
Mr. Hamann's statement of
a "when in doubt, cry racism"
attitude being prevalent on this
campus is not only an untruth,
but it is an insult, not only to
myself, but to every other per-
son of color attending the Uni-
versity of Michigan, especially
Blacks. If there is anything
outstandingly prevalent on this
campus it is racism, certainly
not Mr. Hamann's misconcep-
tion of a "when in doubt, cry
racism" attitude.
It is evident to me that Mr.
Hamann, though I do not know
him, is definitely not a person
of color, for if he were I do
not believe that he would have
the twisted perspective and
standpoint on this issue thit he
does. I have to .question
whether or not his views on
this issue would be the same if
the phrase was directed toward a
white person rather than a
Black person.
It appears to me that either
Mr. Hamann has not been fol-
lowing the long list of sense-
less, racist incidents that have
occurred on this campus in the
recent past, or he simply
doesn't care and more than
likely harbors some racist
prejudices himself!
I think that he should have
taken into account the preva-
lence of racist attitudes on this
campus, and the ways in which
they affect the people of color
attending the University of
Michigan before he wrote such
an irrelevant, insensitive and
insulting commentary!.
-Makanya Dindo
Anderson
November 3
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EXTENSIVE EXCAVATION on the
northwest side of the Diag near
State street marks the University's
effort to install additional sidewalks
around the central campus. While it
- is commendable to resurface
sidewalks and roads around campus
to facilitate better handicapped
access and passage of supply
vehicles, it is dubious that most
students will benefit if the
University persists in paving over
every grassy area in the central
campus area.
If the walks continue their
seemingly inexorable growth over
the few remaining green patches,
students will soon face an endless
expanse of coarse cold cement upon
which to conduct their interclass
v conversations. Students will be
loath to sit and listen to the diag
orators and classes will rarely opt to
meet outside in their former Walde-.
nesque fashion. With students
fleeing the diag for more remote
strips of sod, the diag will lose its
r distinction as the central campus
recreation area and will be useful
for little more than car bashes and
skateboarders.
Another reason to question the
proliferation of walkways and other
"physical plant improvements" and
"beautification projects" is that there
are much more pressing facilities
dorms with a 112 percent occu-
pancy rate, would choose better
walkways over new or expanded
housing capacity if offered the
choice. The wisdom of University
administrators is questionable when
they continue to disregard the
student housing issue.
Still other improvements are being
paved over by the University in
favor of the highly visible but
apolitical walkway project. More
extensive lighting should still be a
priority worthy of more attention.
The Nite Owl Service could cer-
tainly benefit many students outside
of the present routes if the walkway
money were redirected. Those
students still sardined into a fixed
number of busses would surely
prefer better transportation in return
for fewer walkways.
Once again the University
administration has subverted
student concerns in favor of
primping its outward appearance.
Last year, graduate students and
their families in University Terrace
were displaced in favor of another
state-of-the-art parking lot for the
new hospital. Today, students see
the beginnings of a 25 year
beautification program when they
really desire better accommodations
and campus security. University
administrators must change their
priorities to better reflect the basic
Station should scold Scott
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To the Daily:
I was appalled and insulted
to read of WWJ disc jockey
Mark Scott's offensive, racist
remarks aired on October 22,
1987. It was during his radio
program that he chose to
comment on racist jokes and
the shanties on the University
of Michigan's campus.
Mr. Scott commented that
he finds "nothing wrong" with
racist jokes and, in fact, con-
siders them harmless. I believe
that he is wrong in making
this statement. Members of
many minority groups,
whether women, Black, His-
panic, or Asian, can attest to
the undeniable harm of racist
comments and jokes. Mr.
Scott, of Polish ancestry,
stated that he is not insulted
when he is the object of such
jokes, but I am skeptical. How
can a person of integrity and
self-respect be immune to the
outrage of derogatory, ignorant,
racist jokes?
shanty rather than confront the
problem of racism in South
Africa as well as here in the
United States. In fact, Mr.
Scott suggested that the
shanties be "bulldozed." Per-
haps he would favor bulldozing
the Holocaust Center in West
Bloomfield. Though not as ar-
chitectural eyesore, it is
nonetheless a reminder of dis-
crimination and hatred. To re-
solve the problem of racism
and apartheid, however, we
must have an educated under-
standing of its horror. The
shanty serves as a reminder of
the squalid despair of millions
of Black South Africans; it is
an impardonable affront to each
shanty dweller to label their
imposed "housing" an eyesore.
I hope that Mr. Scott
understands that while First
Amendment rights are
constitutionally guaranteed in
this country, his radio program
is not an appropriate forum to
justify and endorse the racism
Rhoades
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