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OPINION

Page 4

Monday, November 7, 1988

The Michigan Daily

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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. IC, No. 43 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.

SALSA lists demands

Just say in
T HE 1988 Presidential campaign has
been nasty and ugly.
Republican candidate George Bush is
primarily responsible for this situation,
due to his incessant negative and often
dishonest campaigning.
One example is Bush's attack on the
now infamous prison furlough program in
Massachusetts. Bush has used this to
portray Dukakis as "soft on crime."
Actually, Dukakis inherited the program
from a Republican governor and the
program is not particular to his state. In
fact, after a furloughed criminal mudered a
police officer in 1972, Governor Reagan
termed California's furlough program "a
great success."
But far worse are Bush's questions about
Dukakis' liberal values. By attacking
Dukakis for his membership in the
American Civil Liberties Union and for
his veto of a bill that would require
teachers to lead their students in the Pledge
of Allegiance, Bush has tried to label
Dukakis an unpatriotic cultural outsider
with un-American values.
Though the Dukakis campaign has not
been as nasty as the Bush campaign, it has
been uninspiring and inept.
Dukakis should have responded strongly
to Bush's repeated attacks on "the liberal
governor of Massachusetts," by defending
his liberal values, rather than by running
away from them.
Dukakis is an advocate of civil
liberties, civil rights, unions, social
security, Medicare, Medicaid, and public
education. He should have affirmed his
liberal values instead of lettting Bush
make the "L word" into something with a
negative connotation.
Tommorow voters should remember
Bush's nasty campaign. But that is not the
only reason to vote against him.
Bush's career has consisted of a series of
appointed posts in which he has failed to
distinguish himself.
Prior to becoming vice president, Bush
served as director of the CIA. The CIA has
been condemned as a terrorist organization
by groups all over the world. As director,
Bush participated in and organized covert
operations. This man cannot be trusted to
be an elected public servant, accountable
for his actions.

to Bush

Bush and Reagan claim to have created
"peace and prosperity." This is blatantly
false.
The Reagan-Bush record on foreign
policy is dubious at best. The Reagan-
Bush administration has traded arms for
hostages, tried to destabilize the nuclear
status quo by its unrealistic and bank-
breaking Strategic Defense Initiative, and
made war on Central America, sometimes
without the approval of Congress.
The Reagan-Bush administration tries to
take credit for an economic recovery that'
has produced jobs, low inflation, and low
taxes. These claims are also misleading.
The victory over inflation has nothing
to do with Reagan's policies. It's primary
cause was the work of former Federal
Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, a Jimmy
Carter appointee.
The Republicans claim that they are the
party of employment since they "created
over17 million jobs in the last seven
years." They neglect that the rate of job
growth was the same in the Carter years
and that most of the jobs created were
service jobs and paid the minimum wage.
Most families now pay a larger share of
their income in federal taxes, including
social security taxes, than they did when
Reagan took office. In fact, only the
wealthiest people in America are paying
lower taxes.
The Reagan-Bush administration has
done great damage to the United States.
Income inequality is greater than at any
time since World War II; we have a mon-
strous budget deficit and homelessness is
at an all-time high.
Reagan has appointed more than half the
judges on the federal bench, many of them
right-wing judicial reactionaries who
threaten to destroy even the most minimal
gains made on civil liberites and civil
rights.
George Bush, and his shallow running-
mate, Dan Quayle, plan to continue these
intolerable policies if elected.
The Democrats could have put forth a
better candidate than Michael Dukakis. But
he has many creative domestic proposals
and he certainly offers more hope for the
people of America than does the Bush-
Quayle ticket.

by the Socially Active
Latino Student Association
The Socially Active Latino Student As-
sociation (SALSA) is demanding the recall
of One Year Later . . Commitment to
Leadership: Annual Report on Minority
Affairs. 1987-1988, released August 26,
1988 by the Office of the President, Office
of the Provost and Vice President for Aca-
demic Affairs, and the Office of the Vice
Provost for Minority Affairs.
In the section entitled "University Ac-
tion: The Continuum" the report cites
"Ethnic Studies." presumably as some sort
of action. "Many minority faculty mem-
bers focus their research on issues related
to the minority experience in America.
The Committee on Hispanic Studies and
the Center for Afroamerican and African
Studies provide a focal point for discus-
sion and research collaboration on the is-
sues, experiences and perspectives of His-
panic and Afroamericans." (p. 52.) This is
followed by three and a half pages of de-
scription of CAAS and research programs'
on Black Americans. There is not further
description of the Committee on Hispanic
Studies because it does not exist. There is
no information available on this
Committee from the Campus Information
Center, the Student Organization Devel-
opment Center, Minority Student Ser-
vices, the Program in American Culture,
Michigan Student Assembly, or the Office
of Minority Affairs. This past week,
President Duderstadt and Vice Provost
Moody were both too busy to speak with
us, concerning this supposed-Committee.
The Committee was fabricated by the
President, the Provost, and the Vice
Provost to give the impression that there-
are academic support services for Latino
faculty.

'The Committee was fabricated by the President, the
Provost, and the Vice Provost to give the impression
that there are academic support services for Latino
faculty.

Another fabrication is the Latino &
Chicano Student Association, which sup-
posedly sponsored events on campus in
February 1987. As the actual organization
that produced Chicano History Week, we
take offense at this blunder. This deception
is carried further by the fact that the five-
event program was stretched to ten events
to pad the events calendar. The report also

1. The recall of the 1987-1988 Annual
Report on Minority Affairs.
2. The re-release of the Report with ac-
curate statistics, descriptions, and
information on Latinos, Asian Americans,
Native Americans, and Blacks.
3. The salary allowance for the Minority
Student Services Hispanic Representative
position from July 1, 1988-starting date of

A

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neglected the events, scholarships, and ex-
istence of other Latino student organiza-
tions, as well as the Hispanic Alumni
Council.
Two points in this document seem to
foreshadow the University plan for the
Latino agenda. The Report seems to sug-
gest that Cdsar Chavez is being phased out
of the King/Chavez/Parks Program, as it
is consistently referred to as the
King/Parks or King/Parks/Chavez Pro-
gram. The Report also neglected to men-
tion, in its 106 pages, the existence of the
Latino Studies and Latin American Studies
Programs. The Director of Latino Studies
is listed as a member of the Presidential
Advisory Committee, as assistant profes-
sor of sociology but not as the Director of
Latino Studies. Perhaps, this too, is an
indication that a Latino component of the
University is being phased out.
The misinformation the then-President
Fleming, Provost Duderstadt, and Vice
Provost Moody have chosen to dissemi-
nate is an insult to Latino students, and
makes a mockery of any claimed attempts
to achieve diversity.
S.A.L.S.A. is demanding:

new Hispanic Representative must be ap-
plied to Latino student progamming for
1988-1989.
4. The Latino Studies Program must be
expanded with faculty and staff for the
1989-1990 academic year.
5. Funding must be provided for a
Latino Lecture Series each term, indepen-
dent of the King/ChAvez/Parks Program.
6. A base budget of $5000 annually
must be provided for each Latino student }
organization from the Office of the Vice{
President for Student Services, with in-
creases as necessary for organizations to
accomplish their goals.
7. CollegX funded recruitment and hiring
of Latino scholars for all departments,
programs, and units of the University
must take place immediately.
8. A study must be done on Latino sub-
group (i.e. Chicano/Mexican-American,
Boricua/Puerto Rican, Chilean, Spanish,
etc.) identification of all students, faculty,
staff, administrators at the University, for
the purpose of setting faculty, staff, and
administrator goals on the basis of student
sub-group populations.

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issues

Francis for Judge

By James D. Henderson
I recently heard a joke concerning the
presidential campaign. In brief, some
aliens landed in America and heard about
how we choose presidents. The aliens ex-
claimed, "there's no intelligent life here,"
and they proceeded to leave. The creator of
this joke probably believed the joke was
on our presidential candidates. I believe the
joke is on the American people them-
selves.
While we complain about how the
campaign has been run and about the men
themselves, such complaints only show
how unintelligent and disinterested in our
own government and our future we are.
Before you deny that you're part of the
problem, read the following three illustra-
tions of our lack of concern, and then de-
cide whether our attitudes should change.
One. Although negative campaigning
has been used in local and national cam-
paigns for many years, at no time have the
slurs been so accepted by the public and so
decisive in the peoples' opinions. We're
not so curious about what our candidates
will do once in office, but rather about the
moral ineptitudes of and the horrible
things perpetrated by one's opponent. A
democrat from Chicago said, during an in-
terview about Michael Dukakis, that she
wouldn't vote for him because he would
let criminals run free. Let's get serious,
folks. Neither George Bush nor Dukakis
will allow criminals to destroy this coun-
try, yet many Bush supporters honestly
believe that Dukakis is the devil incarnate.
Some will say this election is solely a
choice between two evils, but that means
we aren't listening to the hopeful mes-
sages of either candidate.
James D. Henderson is a second year
law student.

Two. The President of the United States
is supposedly the most powerful person in
the world. Yet the men and women we'd
often consider to be best qualified for the
position don't care for the office. Are these
people getting better offers elsewhere? No
- it's just that the presidency has been
made less4 honorable by the current
administration and by our attitudes on
public service in general. Instead of people
asking what they can do for their country,
President Reagan has brought men and
women to Washington who are more
interested in serving their self-interest than
in protecting the environment, caring for
the homeless, or promoting justice. This
is not an honorable travail. To both their
credit, both Dukakis and Bush have long
and distinguished records as public
" servants, although only the Governor has
been recently accountable to the people.
The American people don't really care,
though, whether candidates for public
office are honest or consistent in their
views, as long as we like their faces.
Otherwise, we would never have had a
"Teflon" president who receives little
public scrutiny.
Three. As we focus in on our candidates
while focusing in on Dan Rather and Bill
Cosby, we force politicians, in order to be
elected, not necessarily to have a coherent
message but to have a good media consul-
tant. Not too long ago, Americans could
only rely on the printed word or radio to
learn about potential presidents if they
weren't standing in front of us. There was
less they could hide and we would have to
devote more effort to learn what we needed
to know in order to make an informed de-
cision. Today, the candidates feel com-
pelled to show themselves favorably (or
their opponents unfavorably) within a 30-
60 second time slot because that is about
the length of our collective attention span.
When all the pundits say that candidate X
lost because his media campaign was

worse, ask yourself if that should be the
deciding factor and why the candidates feel
compelled to use the media in this man-
ner.
Furthermore, both Bush and, until re-
cently, Dukakis haye kept themselves
well-protected from the hazards of intelli-
gent and difficult questions, in fear that the
public will learn or demand too much.
Yet, nary a complaint has been made
about these tactics. Instead of chastising a
candidate for not being open, we simply
accept his unquestioned and unrebutted
opinion as the gospel. The television net-
works don't feel compelled to show us
anymore than 30 seconds of a 30 minute
speech in any one day because we don't
feel it is necessary to know any more. In-
stead of vigorously arguing the issues and!
taking pride in what they stand for, the
candidates acceded to two "debates" which:
rarely enlightened us. If the Republicans;
were truly responsible for saying "our;
format, our dates, or we don't debate,"
they should be ashamed of themselves for:
not having the guts to stand in front of the
American people to tell us what they
think. Nevertheless, we should demand:
more of the men and women who will lead
our nation, and in return, we should be
proud enough to give them our unmiti-
gated support.
Many Americans do care enough about
one candidate or another to do the research
necessary in order to make an informed
decision on November 8. Unfortunately, if
the current reports that only half of us will
vote are true, we can only blame our lack
of wisdom and caring if what we get is not
what we expected. We pride ourselves on
the openness and freedom of our system,
but we're only too likely to take that for
granted. It is true that this year's presiden-
tial campaign has been rotten, but if we
don't look to ourselves for solutions in
the future, then I fear for our well-being in
the coming decades.

:,
,,

NANCY C. FRANCIS has demon-
strated that she is the best candidate for
Circuit Court Judge. She has already
won the August primary elections and
is the preferred candidate of the
Washtenaw County Bar Association.
Fourteen years of trial experience have
prepared her for this six year position.
Francis has expert knowledge of the
judicial system and is willing to
address the structural problems of the
circuit court. Most importantly, Francis
believes that no person, regardless of
income or race, deserves special
treatment under the law.
Though Ciruit Court Judges do not
run on platforms and their positions are
not explicitly political, Francis has a
judicial philosophy which aims to make
the courts more fair and accessible to
people from all socio-economic back-
grounds. As a trial lawyer she has a
history of defending the rich, the mid-
dle-income and the poor. She has a
commitment to use the judicial system
with efficiency and decisiveness. While
her opponent, Melinda Morris, has
worked primarily on family litigation
cases, Francis' experience covers civil,
criminal, and family/ juvenile cases.
As a judge Francis will have to deal
with many types of cases. Francis' ex-
perience clearly indicates that she
would be more effective in this role
than har nnannnt

cuit Court's cases are either family or
divorce. Francis, however, exposes
this idea as a misconception. Domestic
disputes represent only a small fraction
of the total court time because most end
in settlements.
Francis has been endorsed by the
Washtenaw County Trial Laywers As-
sociation. She has directed the Model
Cities Legal Services program which
has worked specifically with low and
moderate income clients. She is the
daughter of Ann Arbor's first and only
Black mayor, Albert Wheeler and of
the long-time community activist,
Emma Wheeler. Thus her exposure to
law and social awareness goes back
even to her childhood.
All cases covered by the Circuit
Court originate in Washtenaw County.
It also serves as the court of appeals
from the District Court, handles large
civil action suits, and determines do-
mestic relations actions. Approximately
5,000 cases are divided among the
judges over the course of the year.
It should be noted that although both
candidates have proposed change they
are running for a five member panel in
which they will fill only one seat. Be-
cause of this, even the most progres-
sive candidate could be restricted by the
other members. Additionally, the status
quo of America's judicial system has

I

Letters to the dtor...._

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Baker
must resign
To the Daily:

actions during that search is in
no way to question the le-
gitimacy of President Duder-
stadt's selection. James Duder-
stadt is the president of the
University of Michigan, and
daerves our cnoneration, trnst.,

be answered. I first heard that
Mr. Baker had interfered im-
properly in the selection pro-
cess in June. The son of Vice-
President Brinkerhoff knew
what had happened and told
others Did the nn receive his

These are serious questions
and they must be answered. If
Their answers demonstrate that
only Deane Baker acted
improperly, then only Deane
Baker need resign.

a