OPINION
Page 4
Tuesday, September 27, 1988
The Michigan Daily
Misinformation:
on
the
Record
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IN LAST WEEK'S University Record,
Vice President and Chief Financial Of-
ficer Farris Wornack claimed the recent
riyofcers wa prope bypcosncerns
about campus safety: "It's important to
have a safe place in which to work and
live.. that's the motivation behind
deutization."
This is simply untrue. And the arti-
cle in which Womack is quoted
("Deputization will not affect security
responsibilities") is highly misleading.
The Regents authorized deputization
last July. According to the article in the
Record, this decision came as response
to a recommendation by then-Interim
President Robben Fleming. The article
then goes on to discuss issues of cam-
pus safety - rape, murder, rape as-
sault, larceny, etc.
What the Record article does not
say, however, is that Fleming's rec-
ommendation to authorize deputies was
part of a long memo about how the
University should deal with student
protests; it had nothing at all to do with
issues of safety. The Regents autho-
rized the deputization of two campus
security officers by voting to approve
the five recommendations contained
within the memo. Protest, not safety,
deputization."gDeputizatioat was not
and has not been discussed in the con-
text of improving campus safety -
except as a post-facto justification.
Fleming's recommendations in the
July 12 memo, now approved and
codified, have become the cornerstone
of the current policy on student protest.
The memo repeatedly states that the in-
volvement of outside law enforcement
during protest situations is against the
interest of the University community:
"No polic force which is outside ther
than its own in the way in which it
proceeds."
The memo also stresses the inade-
quacy of the civil courts as a means of
dealing with acts of protest. In the ab-
sence of a University-level judicial
pmcedure for processing student viola-
tions of the protest guidelines, the use
of arrest becomes an unfortunate
necessity, according to the logic of the
memo. "There are in existence Univer-
sity procedures for dealing with
disruptions caused by faculty and staff.
The remedy in student cases is to resort
to the civil or criminal law, and this, o~f
course, necessitates the use of police."
In other words, the administration
would like to see the official doctrine of
"undue interference" coupled with an
official set of sanctions to punish vio-
lators. This will likely become the next
administrative battle cry.
There are indeed many things about
the logic of the memo that make no
sense. Why do advocates of a policy
ibr scnsd teer/EgDisrupting University Activities
courts an unfortunate last "resort?"
Why would those who express such
disdain for civil and crnmial law re-
quest that the county sheriff grant two Th oowngmemadum was isedk byPresitflemin& on Ju# 12,1988 In e
University employees the powers of spornse to the Re gents concern over protesters intefrrence with UnIversity events.
arrest? What power will two University d
deputies have in the event of a largeRemeddAci:
protest involving violations of state law The following five steps, if taken, should vastly improve our capability to deal with>
such as disturbing the peace or tres- disruptIve acts: .
passingeiai fdeuiaina 1. Approve and adopt the 1988 Civil Liberties B~oard recomnmendations on freedom of
leiimt an efetv mensofco-ch. I and artistic xpressi.j~ This js arvision o:f th 1977 stmnt which is now in
taming campus protest does not mean ect ans anevenhand treatm~en. f he tris f speakerpotestrs and th Univet-
that it came about for reasons of im- St offhilt f. ~ .......................
proving safety. Certainly University 2. In Uight of the demonstrated inability of the UnI...s.y.C....lto propose and ob-
deputies can be used to intimidate and tan h requiredratification Of unf...........vmig oduta povdd n y
harass demonstrators out of acting la .2 diec th Pesdnttots ispo s geund Byoawd.0ct apv ded sc
against the Uiversity. Te bating of rules of conduct and enforcement procedures as arc necessary, and to then aflow the Uni-.
Harold Macseb aps securiff vest cmmuity ampe time to review and propose revision insc uesadpo
oficers drin ah prnoestatr faltefec- due before they are brought to the Regentsforprv4...........
state of stunned confusion and fear. 3. Meanwhile, invite the University Council to recomnend to the Regents amend-,'
And while the undeputized officers me.ints to Bybaw 7.2 which will cnrc its present deficiencies and enable it toi function -
certainly wield considerable power, civly inreommnding uniform rules to the Regents. Attach to thi nv!tin lOI-
deputization now adds the indemnity of ficationi that B~ylaw 7.02 will automatically..xpr..a..h...dof May.1989 un4n--
the law. This is more likely the real met to By .. 7........2haebnprpsdndadotd th t nda.
agenda for deputization. ............................aptdy.
Meaningful responses to issues of 4. 1mprove our police Postore by arrangingd wite Washtenaw County Sheriff t
campus safety would include improv- have our two top Department of Public Safety personnel depuized and thereby autorzed
ing campus lighting, expanding Night to make~.jJ asts.~ [... .................
Owl services, and extending Safewalk. . Given the special importance to the University o~fvfreeom ofpeeh~ ani ristic'
- not deputizing two daytime safety expesson di.ec thtePesidenit shod prsn anaul report on the suj.t o h
officers. Campus safety is not the mo- Regents.
tivation behind deputization. It is a
mistruth for Womack and the Record to
say so.
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Eijr Mtdpigant BaiIy
Edited and managed by students at The Un ivers ity of Michigan
Deny
tE
Vol. No. 14
420 Mayad St.
Ann Arbor. MI 48109
Unsigned editorialk 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.
Ge t d ofth lottery
T wo LUCKY TICKET holders won
$33 million in last week's state lotto
drawing. Unfortunately, there were
more losers than winners. Among
those left empty-handed were the
state's eduction fund and the holders
of the other 19.6 million tickets sold
for the drawing.
In 1981, lotto profits were specifi-
cally allocated for the education fund.
This money was intended to supple-
ment money already earmarked from
the State of Michigan's general fund.
Since then, money allocated for edu-
cation from the general fund has de-
clined from 22 percent to only nine
percent.
The decline in spending is matched
by a similar increase in revenues
from lotto profits. So rather than
adding to the money going into the
education fund, the lotto has actually
replaced it. Several members of the
Michigan state legislature have
echoed these same observations.
State Senator Gilbert Dinello (D-26th
Dst it ) a n a te e p G a Rad al
for the state's education fund.
In actuality,the lotto is a source of
revenue for the state of Michigan,
taking the place of taxes. With the
lotto, the state is relieved of levying
mnore taxes to pay for programs such
as education for which the lotto
profits are allocated. Instead, the
people who buy the tickets
inadvertently end up paying for
education.
The lottery involves people from
lower income brackets supporting a
state program while the rich are
basically exempt. Ticket buyers from
lower economic strata must pay more
of their income for lotto tickets than
ticket buyers from the upper income
groups. And if people choose not
buy lotto tickets, the state is denied
money it counted on receiving. So
while the lottery isn't explicitly called
a tax, it serves the same function.
Lower and middle classes pre-
dominantly buy the lotto tickets. This
is hardly surprising considering the
barrage of media stories about lotto
winners which create an illusion of
easy money. In reality, the odds of
winning are over six million to one.
Consequently, the people that can
least afford to spend money on the
lotto do so, only to find that they are
left with even less.
The problem of compulsive gam-
bling on the lotto has increased to
such a level that special counseling is
now provided by the state.
The lotto's appearance as an escape
from poverty takes away from efforts
to challenge the system that has
brought about the economic
inequalities.
As long as there is a lotto,
corporations and wealthier people
cot bUrban school districts are a-
ready very much underfunded com-
pared to many suburban districts.
The money wealthier people pay for
education is almost exclusively used
in their own districts while poorer
districts are left underfunded. This
only serves to perpetuate educational
inequities, hampering the education
of the less wealthy.
In addition to abiolishing the lotto
and raising taxes on the rich to offset
the loss of revenue, school funding
must be equalized in all districts.
The lotto relieves the upper classes
of the responsibility for the welfare
of the lower classes by reducing their
tax load. The only viable solution is
to end the lottery altogether and raise
the taxes on the rich.-
By Arlin Wasserman
In the midst of omnibus spending bills
and budget appropriations, $15 billion
dollars has been appropriated for the Air
Force to construct fifty new MX missiles,
each of which will carry ten nuclear war-
heads. Two businessmen, Bruce Myles and
Robert McIntosh are employed as co-
chairs of the Wurtsmith Military Affairs
Committee for the Wurtsmith Air Force
Base in Oscada, Michigan. They are now
in Washington lobbying for deployment
of the MX in Michigan. Ollie North-type
patriotism aside, why would anyone want
nuclear weapons in their neighborhood?
Some people think that the 50 MX
missiles to be deployed somewhere in the
United States, provided some state is
willing to accept them, will be the great-
est weapons system yet -- the ultimate de-
terrence. These missiles will carry ten in-
dependently guided nuclear war heads
(MIRVs) and will be stored at a military
installation, Wurtsmith Base if Myles and
McIntosh have their way. Provided there is
sufficient warning, some experts say be-
tween a few hours to a few days, these
missiles will be placed onto railway cars
painted to look like normal trains. Pro-
vided Soviet reconnaissance does not see
the trains leave a military base, the mis-
siles will then be able to travel indepen-
dently around the railways of the United
States.
But is the MX really the most impervi-
Wasserman is a former Opinion Page
staff member-.
he MX
ous missile system ever built? Well, there
are submarine- and aircraft-based missile
systems, both of which can be readied to
move in shorter periods of time and both
of which are not restricted to a predeter-
mined set of paths. Also, these missile
systems need not be on land, near popu-
lated areas.
Moreover, the very existence of a sys-
tem supposedly as undetectable as the
MX, even though it does not live up to
expectations, points out a key element of
U.S. foreign policy: survival of the planet
is not its ultimate goal. Indeed, a suppos-
edly deterrent missile system that takes as
long to prepare for operation as the MX
does simply indicates that if the United
States knew that nuclear war was in-
evitable, they would prepare for a retalia-
tory or preemptory strike long before the
Soviet missiles had left the ground, long
before negotiations were no longer possi-
ble. And the site of railway cars pouring
out of military bases around the country
could not be a sight that would suddenly
bu'ild trust in negotiations.
Also, one reason the Strategic Air
Command (SAC) is considering housing
the MXs in Michigan is because it is in
the middle of the country. What this
means is that now that the INF treaty has
passed and shorter range missiles are no
longer in existence, SAC is making it
more difficult to eliminate long range
missiles which now become essential in
any engagement with the United States.
But let us suppose that the people en-
gaged in this planning, or at least Myles
and McIntosh, are vaguely rational people,
interested in other things besides insuring
a home
that the world can be effectively destroyed
if they were given a few days notice. Let
us suppose that the reason Wurtsmith Air
Force Base hired two businessmen from
Tawas, Michigan is because they wanted
some lucrative government contract. In-
deed, SAC is not at all reluctant to flaunt.
the MX project's $15 million price tag
around when looking for states to house
the missiles. And in a depressed economy
$15 million seems rather attractive.o
Unfortunately, nuclear -missiles do not
trickle down. Most people in Michigan
would not see any of the money; weapons
contracts historically are capital rather than
labor intensive. Indeed it is conservative to
estimate that any other type of spending
would generate three times the amount of
wages that military spending generates,
including salaries for military personnel.
For a change, though, Michigan's
politicians are doing the right thing.
Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is a member
of the House Armed Services Committee.
He opposes the MX 'and the Midgetman
missile systems, albeit for partisan rea-
sons, and so he is not lobbying to have
the missiles in Michigan. Gov. Blanchard
is avoiding the issue because he does not
want to be accused of pork barreling, al-
though he does say he would accept the
MX if its deployment makes sense.
We should all tell Blanchard that the
MX does not make sense and do not want
it in our world. We should be supportive
of these politicians because they will soon
face the economic pressures of Myles and
McIntosh as they spread the propaganda of
nukes providing jobs for Michigan and
security for the United States.
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I 11.4 ~tt ci's t z 1ILi~ e cIilsi '
Enduring
lb eral
To the Daily:
I just read your column
about the Graduate School
Convocation (Daily, 9/22/88)
and I feel I must respond.
As a.new graduate student, I
attended that University-spon-
sored event. I particularly re-
member considering Dean John
D'Arms as being an engaging
speaker, and finding the director
of the University Musical So-
ciety, Kenneth Fischer, to be a
warm, funny man who enjoys
his work with a passion.
Consider an aaoytth
Michigan Daily. The paper it-
self, from editorials to classi-
fieds to front page, is your fo-
rum. You control the horizon-
tal. . .You control the vertical...
In short, it's yours.
If the administration de-
manded that you give a page a
day to putting out their point
of view, I expect you would
(and I would expect you to)
laugh in their faces.
No one automatically de-
serves a cut whenever the uni-
versity gathers together a group
of people. If you want that
group's attention as well, set
up a display that gets it.
In the short time that I've
been in Ann Arbor, I've found
that beneath it's liberal exte-
fre saple icluded in sm
sort of new student care pack-
age. If someone belonged to a
religion which refused all med-
ication and medical treatment,
would you remove the aspirin
from the boxes? Again, heavy
duty repression!
The FBI has been subjected
to inordinate difficulty in its
efforts to recruit on campus.
Supposedly, it's due to law-
suits (none decided against
them!) for discrimination
against minorities, among
other charges, but I find it hard
to believe that something else
would not be seized on if those
did not exist. Besides, how are
they expected to increase mi-
nority hiring and advancement
if they are not allowed access
atiud oftese organized re-
pressive student groups to be
offensive and badly in need of
self-reflection.
One more note on one more
subject: A column on your
Perspectives page the same
day, entitled "Resident-student
rapport," (A bad headline, by
the way, containing no verb.)
contained the following quote:
"My fuckin' dad worked his ass
off for fucks like you!. ..Come
out here and fight you fuckin'
asshole, cockroach, p*****!
I'm out here in the light!"
P*****? Are you kidding?
After a string of expletives like
that, I get "p*****?"
Get real. (I'm for realism,
too.) And thanks for letting me
borrow a small piece of your
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