OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, September 27, 1988 The Michigan Daily Misinformation: on the Record 4 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. 4 4 4 .4 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. I 4 I 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 4 U