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Ninety-eight years of editorialfreedom
Vol. XCVIII, No. 47 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Friday, November 13,1987 Copyright 1987, The Michigan Daily

Forum to
discuss
protester
rights
By EVE BECKER
The University's Civil Liberties
Board will try to get reactions to its
proposed statement on freedom of
speech and artistic expression during
an open forum this afternoon.
The statement ensures
demonstrators the right to protest, as
long as they do not prevent the
content of a speech from being
conveyed or a performance from
continuing.
Although some students have
opposed the CLB statement, calling
it a code of nonacademic conduct in
disguise, Philosophy Prof. and CLB
chair Peter Railton said t h e
statement is more fair than the
present policy.
The current policy, written in
1977 with the idea of preventing
disruption, is "unduly restrictive,"
Railton said. "It tended to take the
attitude that protest ought to be
confined to areas away from the area
of performance."
The CLB decided to reconsider it
two years ago after protesters against
NBC's news coverage of the war in
El Salvador were roped off from the
Today show's set on the Diag.
The new CLB statement gives
U n iversity officials th e
responsibility to "make a judgment"
when free expression is jeopardized
and "to take appropriate measures to
safegiard these rights."
But a resolution drafted by the
Michigan Student Assembly's
Student Rights Committee calls the
CLB statement "ambiguous and self-
contradictory." The statement has
not been discussed by the full
assembly.
MSA representative Mike
Phillips, who drafted the resolution,
criticized the statement, saying it
sets guidelines which are unclear and
could be interpreted in different
ways.
"It tries to set out rules for
protest, but it's something you can't
go by," he said. "In the end it puts
all of the power in the
administration."
Phillips called the current
statement better than the 1977
guidelines which did not allow
See STUDENTS, Page 3

Nordby says
she supports

gay

demands

Shapiro has no comment

By STEPHEN GREGORY
University Affirmative Action
Director Virginia Nordby said she
promised members of a gay and les-
bian rights group yesterday to ask
President Harold Shapiro to take
steps against discrimination based on
sexual orientation.
Shapiro refused to comment last
night until he had spoken to Nordby.
Nordby said she agreed with de-
mands made by the Lesbian and Gay
Rights Organizing Committee
(LaGROC) that a gay male be ap-
pointed to the University's AIDS
Task Force. She also concurred that
her office's opposition to
discrimination against gays and les-
bians should be better publicized.
But there was a question over ex-
actly what steps Nordby promised to
take.
LSA senior Alicia Lucksted, a
LaGROC member, quoted Nordby as
having said she would "strongly
support" the adding of discrimination
against a person's sexual orientation
to the Affirmative Action office's
logo.
But Nordby said amending the
logo is a "dead issue" because only
the regents can do it.
The logo now reads, "It is the
policy of the University that no per-
son, on the basis of race, sex, color,
religion, national origin... shall be
discriminated against... "
Last year the regents refused to
amend University bylaw 14.06,
which outlines the University's non-
discrimination policy, to include a
clause about sexual orientation. Re-
gent Paul Brown (D-Petosky) said,
"I don't think we can start including
in our non-discrimination policy ev-
ery group that feels they are being
discriminated against."
Lucksted also said Nordby would
"strongly advocate" that University
President Harold Shapiro approve a
'Tell Someone' poster campaign
condemning anti-gay and lesbian
bigotry.

Nordby disagreed with this ac-
count. She said she refused to en-
dorse an anti-gay and lesbian bigotry
poster campaign specifically, leaving
the method of promotion open. "The
word 'advocate' is not appropriate,
but I am going to be making rec-
ommendations (to Shapiro) along
these lines."
She said instead, "it makes sense"
that people become aware of her of-
fice's opposition to harassment on
the grounds of sexual preference.
'I am going to be making
recommendations (to
University President
Harold Shapiro) along
these lines.
- University Affirmative
Action Director
Virginia Nordby
Nordby said this stance "has been
part of the sexual harassment cam-
paign right along."
But posters already in existence
say nothing about sexual preference
- they ask people to report to the
Affirmative Action office any inci-
dents of "sexual advances or com-
ments," if "acceptance or rejection of
sex affects (their) status as a student
or employee," and if "submission to
sexual advances is a condition of
(their) employment or education."
Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Ar-
bor) said he "personally would not
support" any sexual orientation
* addition to the logo.
And Regent Thomas Roach (D-
Saline) said, "I don't feel this is an
appropriate area for Affirmative Ac-
tion."
Lucksted said LaGROC members
will meet with Nordby sometime
after Thanksgiving to discuss the
progress of the demands.

Dily noto by ANDI SCMKBtK
Marge Piercy, feminist poet, autographs her book, Circles on the Water, after a reading of her works at
Rackham Amphitheater last night. In her poetry, she focuses on women's issues, often using graphic descrip-
tions to illustrate her points..
Pet details literary
o s
f t verocil isue

By ELIZABETH ATKINS
Marge Piercy deceives her
listeners. Poems called "A Woman
Is Not a Pear Tree" and "Hard
Times" shatter their innocuous ti-
tles. The first evolves into a graphic
critique of how women are used as
fertility machines; the second chal-
lenges marriage and the myth that
"diamonds are forever."
In a return to what she calls her
"political home," Piercy, a Univer-
sity alumnus, read from a selection
of poems on womens' issues last

night at Rackham Auditorium. The
audience filled the amphitheater with
applause after she read a poem about
the hypocrisy of people who support
abortion, called "Right to Life."
"That's a phrase I'm taking back
from those I don't think deserve it,"
Piercy said, before introducing the
poem.
Piercy read from her poetry an-
thology called Available Light,
which will be published next spring.
Her poetry touches issues including
abortion, anorexia nervosa, sex,

Jewish life, lesbianism, pregnancy,
and aging.
She currently chairs the legisla-
tive task force of her local chapter in
Massachussetts of the National
Organization for Women. Her poetry
reflects activity in the women's
movement, civil rights, and anti-war
efforts.
"As a writer, anything that inter-
ests me inspires me," she said.
Piercy is the author of ten book
of poetry, and some her of work has
.See AUTHOR, Page 2



City rent control drive picks up momentum

By STEVE KNOPPER
A petition to limit rent increases in Ann Arbor has
garnered more than 2,500 signatures, about half the
number the Ann Arbor Citizens for Fair Rent hopes to
have on paper by Dec. 28, said Michael Appel, of Stu-
dent Legal Services, this week.
The group actually needs only 3,822 signatures
from registered city voters in order to place its proposal
on the ballot for next April's city elections. But mem-
bers set their goal at 5,000 in order to weed out signa-
tures by non-voters, Appel said.
Under the group's proposal, rent increases would be
capped at 75 percent of the inflation rate, and at no
more than 15 percent each year. It would also establish

Backers seek 5,000 signatures

a five-member Rent Stabilization Board, appointed by
City Council, to review and approve all proposed rent
increases.
Turnout at the AACFR's periodic meetings has
been consistently low - only four people came to
Tuesday's meeting at the Guild House. But the group
collected more than 1,000 signed petitions during its
"Fair Rent Saturday" on Oct. 24 despite rain and cold
weather. The group will have another Fair Rent Satur-
day on Dec. 5, and Appel said he expects the group to
meet the deadline.

Proponents of rent control are trying to register stu-
dents for the city elections.
Of the 2,500 collected petitions, Appel said, more
than half were signed by students, and he estimated that
25 to 30 students were working on the signatures cam-
paign. "We want students to think of it as their issue,"
Appel said.
But even so, the battle over rent control is just be-
ginning.
The proposal's proponents will first have to fight a

State Senate bill introduced three weeks ago that would
disallow local. governments from "controlling the
amount of rent charged for leasing private residential
property."
Richard Fessler (R-W. Bloomfield), the legislation's
author, said on Wednesday that the bill's purpose was
to "have uniformity and unity, statewide, instead of
being varied among a multitude of local governments."
Fessler said he does not oppose rent control in general.
Public hearings about the bill will be held next
week.

See LANDLORDS, Page 2


MSA party pushes
for on-campus focus

Michigan-made feature
film premieres in city

By ANDREW MILLS
Students don't respect the
Michigan Student Assembly.
At least that's what worries
members of the Student Movement
party. But by stressing on-campus

week's election, Student Movement
hopes to win assembly seats this
year and then expand its base in
coming years.
"MSA should focus its energy
and resources to student issues;" said
Rattner. "It neeids to stav within its

By JOHN SHEA
For a few hours last night, Hol-
lywood came to Ann Arbor.
The Carrier, an independent full-
length feature film shot entirely in
Michigan, made its world premiere
last night at the Ann Arbor 1 & 2

mysterious disease that dissolves its
victims to nothingness, and how the
town panics as the disease spreads.
"It is an artistic work, not just a
'horror film,"' White said.
White chose Michigan not only
for economical reasons, but because

INSIDE
The Daily reconsiders its position
on "passing up" at Michigan
football games.
- OPINION, Page 4
Dress Suits to Hire, a feminist
play by Holly Hughes, will be
showing.. at the True Blood this
weekend. ARTS, Page 5

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