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OPINION
Page 4
Friday, October 14, 1988
The Michigan Dail),
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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. IC, No. 27 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.
'Objectivity' is censorship
' s
"t
i.
No
Yankee aid
LAST WEEK, President Daniel Ortega
of Nicaragua announced that his coun-
try would not permit any funds from
the U.S. government to enter
Nicaragua including two million dol-
lars set aside for opposition political
parties and five million in medical aid
which was to be channeled through the
Catholic Church hierarchy,
Ortega stated, "We cannot allow re-
csources of the Yankee government,
supposedly for Nicaraguan children, to
enter our country, when they are ap-
roving funds to continue murdering
Nicaraguan children."
While it is true that Nicaragua is in
dire need of foreign exchange to pro-
Ivide for the basic needs of its people, it
peed not accept it on the nebulous
,trms designated by the U.S. govern-
ment. The "opposition groups" and the
Catholic Church hierarchy have been
'complicit in Reagan's war against the
'Sandinistas and undermining the popu-
1ar revolution.
These "opposition parties," heralded
by Reagan, have been organized and
funded by the Central Intelligence
'Agency. Bishop Antonio Vega and
,Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo have
given their unequivocal support to the
'destabilizing forces in Nicaragua by re-
fusing to denounce the "unchristian
*ehavior" of the Contras who have
wreaked terror on the Nicaraguan citi-
'nry.
The United States has no business
involving itself in the internal affairs of
sovereign nation. If the Reagan ad-
inistration is interested.in providing
tnancial support as reparations for the
'bitensive damage caused by its illegal
mar, funding should be done directly
through the Nicaraguan govermnent.
p With direct payment, U.S. taxpayers
could be assured that their money was
tiially being used productively and not
16r immoral purposes. Nicaragua
would gladly receive money to buttress
their exemplary social programs in land
Uneform, health care, and education es-
::ablished by the Sandinistas.
The U.S government's hypocrisy
should be broadcast loudly. If the
:United States is truly concerned with
the medical needs of Nicaraguan chil-
dren, and not increasing the popularity
of the conservative, counter-revolu-
tionary Catholic Church, then it would
stop sending land mines and machine
guns. These weapons are responsible
for murder of hundreds of children and
other civilians.
The aims of funding the "opposition
parties" is not to enhance democracy as
one might expect, but to purchase arti-
ficial support in a time when dollars are
tempting to the desperate. People might
not be so desperate if the war of attri-
tion highlighted by the United States
sponsored trade embargo, had not
postponed development programs and
caused crippling economic crises.
Nicaragua's electoral system needs
no external interference. It is the only
Central American country that provides
equal funding for all legitimate political
parties, and assures them access to ra-
dio and T.V. time as well as billboard
space. In the "model democracies" of
Central America showcased by the
U.S. State Department, such as
Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras,
opposition groups are outlawed and
their leaders are systematically jailed
and murdered.
Ortega should be praised for his
decision not to accept funds from the
United States. This decision may seem
unpopular when looked at on the sur-
face but, when the intentions of the
United States to further destabilize the
democratic government of Nicaragua
are exposed, it is clear that Ortega has
done the right thing.
The U.S. intentions should be no
surprise due to the disgraceful behavior
toward its neighbors to the south.
Nicaragua does not need the patroniz-
ing U.S. aid offered, especially if it
does not include a complete end to
U.S. hostilities in the region. Although
the goals of the Nicaraguan Revolution
will eventually succeed on their own
the United States certainly has an obli-
gation to extend unconditional support
to Nicaragua to atone for the losses and
destruction inflicted on them by a
criminal foreign policy.
By Camille Colatosti
Again and again, we see the media
cloaking censorship under the veil of
"objectivity." Disgracefully one-sided was
the coverage by the Detroit Free Press and
the Ann Arbor News of the Campaign for a
Democratic Campus protest against Duder-
stadt's exclusive, expensive, and self-ag-
grandizing inauguration, as well as the
continued protest against newly instituted
restrictions on students' free speech. The
Free Press, Detroit's supposedly liberal pa-
per, made no effort to interview protestors,
but instead quoted only Ann Arbor police
and a University of Michigan spokes-
person. This version of the event thus
poses as truth.
When the Michigan Daily essays to tell a
different story - the story of protestors'
agenda rather than that of the University
administrators, the story of our disgust
with with Duderstadt both for his support
of an anti-protest code that violates stu-
dents' free speech and for his support of
nuclear weapons research, and the story of
abuse protestors suffered at the hands of
Ann Arbor and University police (abuse
that police were careful to repress until all
mainstream reporters were safely enclosed
within the walls of Hill Auditorium) - the
Ann Arbor News accuses the student run
paper of "bias." Karen Grassmuck's News
article (10/10/88) quotes Michigan Regent
Phillip Power, who is concerned about the
Daily's "ideological" coverage of campus
news. Thus the News congratulates itself
for its so-called "non-ideological," "object-
ive" reporting.
Yet, one can't help but wonder about the
ideology underlying the decision to write an
entire article about the "concern" of a Uni-
versity Regent, who clearly approves of
Duderstadt since he helped select the new
president in secret sessions last summer, a
man who claims not to know "what the
hell is going on," perhaps because he does
not listen to the concerns and demands of
students on the Ann Arbor campus he sup-
posedly oversees. Why not interview a
Camille Colatosti is a doctoral candidate
in English
member of the Campaign for a Democratic
Campus about her opinion of media cover-
age of the protest? Why not investigate
what is troubling students, find out why we
are protesting? What ideology underlies the
decision to interview one of the wealthiest
men in the community, who just so hap-
pens to own "a group of suburban Detroit
newspapers" and has more than enough op-
portunities to express his "free" speech?
Of the Ann Arbor News, the Free Press
and the Daily, only the latter has the cou-
rage to print, in Friday morning's paper,
two stories on Duderstadt's inauguration-
one focusing on the predictable pomp and
circumstance, and one on the protest, actu-
ally articulating student, worker, and fac-
ulty demands for taking seriously a news-
paper's duty to reveal a story from both the
side of the powerful and the powerless. The
Press and the News act as if there is only
one way to view the protest, and they un-
derstand that the privilege belongs to the
Regents and the U-M administration.
Last Friday morning, after reading the
Free Press' coverage of the protest, I had a
long phone conversation, which I will at-
tempt to reproduce below, with Joe
Grimm, assistant to the Press' executive
editor, the man to call in order to report
mistakes in fact. I informed him about that
the injured protestor was not hurt because
she fell (nor was she hurt in a "scuffle," as
the Ann Arbor News insists), but because
she was literally threwn-lifted off the
ground and dropped-by an Ann Arbor po-
lice officer. Her injury was far more severe
than the Free Press reported-she suffered a
concussion.
When I told Mr. Grimm that his re-
porters should have contacted a protestor for
the facts, he replied that protestors are
harder to get a hold of than police and uni-
versity spokespersons, and thus his paper
printed only information they'could attain.
After I told him WEMU had managed to
contact me, that Michael Phillips, president
of the Michigan Student Assembly and one
of the few students to attend the inaugura-
tion ceremony, could easily have supplied
reporters with names and phone numbers,
he was awkwardly silenced. "Well, per-
haps..." Telling him that the protestors did
not, as his paper reported, force their way
inside of Hill Auditorium, since to do so
required that we pass about 25 police offir
cers eager to trounce, he quipped, "Our re-
porter saw protestors inside. Are you say-
ing that our reporters imagine things?"
"No," I answered. I'm saying that your
reporters don't work hard enough. Investi-
gative reporting involves investigation,
calling all sources, even those who a re
difficult to reach. Mr. Grimm then sug-
gested that, in the future, protestors send
out press releases so that reporters will be
prepared for protests. "We sent out re-
leases," I told him. "Oh, really, strange I
hadn't heard," he answered. "But I'll pass
on this information to our editors and
maybe we'll do a follow up story."
One week later, I'm writing to the Daily.
I'll send a copy of this letter to the Ann
Arbor News and the Free Press also, but I
don't expect them to print it (though per-
haps charges of censorship and biased re-
porting will get them to act). Needless to
say, the Free Press never did a second story
nor did they print a correction to Friday's
coverage of the protest. Despite the Ann
Arbor News and the Free Press suit against
the Regents for their selection of Duderstadt
in closed sessions, both papers have ex-
pressed nothing but glee and praises about
his appointment. Absent from their re-
portage and editorials is criticism of his so-
called Michigan Mandate; nowhere do these
papers attempt to analyze Duderstadt's re-
peated double-speak and vague promises,
his supposed hope that the 21st century
will be a "diverse" one, and his continual
displacement of solutions to the Univer-
sity's present problems of institutional
racism, sexism and heterosexism onto an
idyllic future comfortably remote from Du-
derstadt himself.
Three cheers for the Michigan Daily, the
only newspaper in the area willing to risk
the anger of the powerful and wealthy, and
smart enough to question the promises of
the University's undemocratically elected
leader, a president the majority of students,
faculty and workers would have voted
against had we, in this so-called free and
democratic land, been given a vote.
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RPi natinn i viCtory
AMIDST CHARGES of racism and
1lemands for his resignation; LSA Dean
Peter Steiner announced Monday that
he would step down at the end of the
year and return to private life. In ap-
pointing Steiner's replacement, the
University should hire a person of
color who will promote minority fac-
ulty hiring, examine the criteria by
which minority students are admitted,
d restructure the eurocentric curricu-
lum of LSA.
Last Spring, Steiner outraged the
University community with a series of
racist comments which highlighted the
type of institutional racism inherent in
the policies and practices of top level,
white male administrators. Anti-racist
students demanded that Steiner retract
his comments and make a formal apol-
ogy to Black students, faculty, and
Wayne State and Howard Universities.
Steiner stated that he did not want the
University to become a place "where
minorities would naturally flock in
much greater numbers... there are such
institutions - including Wayne State
anId Howard University."
Steiner refused to apologize and re-
sponded with more verbal attacks upon
the Black community, attributing low
minority enrollment to "small pools" of
qualified applicants. This prompted
student activists to respond with a de-
mand for Steiner's resignation. A 26
hiur sit-in in the dean's office fol-
l6wved.
An embarrassed administration. al-
!L L 1" r ' V v .in. T
racial harassment policy which applied
only to students, and has yet to be of-
ficially amended to include faculty and
staff, such as Steiner.
Clearly, Steiner fails to fit into
Duderstadt's "Michigan Mandate" or
the "multi-cultural community."
Steiner's statements and failure to hire
minority faculty, directly contradict the
commitments that the University made
to minority students. His presence -
at the head of LSA which contains over
70 percent of the student body - is a
hypocritical slap in the face to students
of color on this campus.
Although Steiner leaves in a cloud of
embarrassment and condemnation, his
departure creates the correct atmosphere
for the next appointed LSA dean. Anti-
racist students on this campus will not
tolerate racist remarks, actions, or
policies on the part of any administra-
tor, and will act swiftly to expose
racism at every level.
In its new found "commitment" to
creating a "diverse" community, the
University must see its selection of the
new dean as a central issue. The new
dean should be a person of color,
committed to re-examining the subjec-
tive standards by which minority stu-
dents are admitted. This person should
promote the work of people of color
and women to restructure of the current
eurocentric curriculum and should
push for mandatory course of racism
and sexism. In addition, the University
Student
demands
rights
To the Daily:
I though I had detected a ma-
jor mistake in Ryan Tutak's
article "Four to face protest
charges," (Daily 10/13/88)
which describe Sandra Stein-
graber being charged with as-
saulting a police officer. I fig-
ured since she was the one
thrown to the ground, knocked
unconscious and taken away in
an ambulance, that Tutak had
obviously reversed the names
"Steingraber" and "Blake" in
reporting who assaulted whom.
But on page 5 of the same
Daily issue, Steingraber's open
letter to President Duderstadt,
"Duderstadt, can you teach bi-
ology?" revealed the abom-
inable truth that Tutak had
been correct in his reporting:
Steingraber, a victim of
unnecessary for and brutal vio-
lence i the alleged criminal;
Richard Blake, the perpetrator
of this violence, is the defen-
dant
Being a new graduate student
here at the University such a
flagrant abuse of a colleague
makes me feel fooled by the
glorious impression this insti-
tution had upon me as an out-
sider. My concept of this
school as a scholarly seat of
arts, science and truth (sound
familiar?) lies battered and as-
saulted alongside the image of
Steingraber's unconscious
body. (Put that picture in the
1989-1990 catalog and see how
many new students we get.)
The Board of Regents and the
President office here insult and
break all agreements I made in
good faith to respect University
codes and bylaws. But I will
not turn tail and run because of
my disappointment.
I hereby pledge to voice my
discontent with University of
Michigan policies by any and
all means possible, should they
disturb my ethical and moral
conscience. As a student with
no working affiliation to any
University of Michigan gov-
erning body, I personally de-
mand the following:
-The resignation of James
Duderstadt from the University
of Michigan presidency, and
that he quit Ann Arbor.
-The resignation of the Uni-
versity of Michigan Board of
Regents, and that they quit
Ann Arbor if any reside here.
-The resignation of Richard
Blake from the Ann Arbor po-
lice force.
-That the governor of the
State of Michigan hold a
plebiscite - in which the vot-
ing body be the University of
Michigan students, faculty and
alumni - to elect a new Uni-
versity president and new re-
gents.
-That a public apology and
financial retribution for medical
costs be paid to Sandra Stein-
graber by the University of
Michigan President's office,.
the regents, and the Ann Arbor
police.
-The repeal of any and all
University codes and bylaws
restricting nonviolent studenC
and faculty dissent.
If this be protest, make the
most of it. My demands are
peaceful, though a continuance
of belligerent response to such
proposals by the Universiti
Administration could soon es=
calate into a "fire for fire" dis-s
course that I am sure nobody
wands. End this lunacy now.
-Eric Baumann
October 13
States
use
Rally for your rights
AFTER THE BRUTAL treatment and arrest of four Michigan students last Thurs-
day, the University community needs to unite in support of the right to peaceful
protest. The administration is attempting to limit student dissent though the use of
deputized University Public Safety officers, the removal of students and faculty
from the rule making process, and the imposition of a policy limiting protest of
University events.
Today's 1 p.m. rally will voice strong opposition against the administrations
power grab: demanding that the charges against students be dropped and that the
youth in
war game
To the Daily:
I have read the letters arguing,
about a parallel in brutality,'
between Israel and South:
Africa, and to my mind the real
connection between the two
lies in the turning of young
people into killing machines:
the soldier-enforcers of both
countries are often younger
than I, and are forced by their
governments to play a deadly
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