Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. IC, No. 117 Ann Arbor, Michigan --Wednesday, March 22,1989 Copyright 1989, The Michigan Daily
MSA debates condemning representatives
I I 2 N Ftr M P I | BY TARA GRUZEN nosal to condemn the four rere
sen-
Constituents packed the Michigan
Student Assembly chambers last
night to debate the line between
racism and free speech.
Students from the United Coali-
tion Against Racism, the Palestine
Solidarity Committee, and the Les-
bian and Gay Rights Organizing
Committee spoke last night in favor
of a proposal which would censure,
or condemn, four MSA members.
These four members - Gene
Kavnatsky, Matt Mansfield, Bryan
Mistele and Dan Tobocman - in-
troduced a proposal at last week's
assembly meeting that called for
MSA to de-recognize UCAR on the
basis of the People of Color confer-
ence it sponsored. These four mem-
bers were upset because certain
planning sessions of the conference
were open only to people of color,
which they thought violated the
MSA Compiled Code and the All-
Campus Constitution.
But after much heated debate, the
proposal was changed to support
UCAR and the conference rather than
condemn the four sponsors of the
original proposal. The new proposal
will be on the agenda at next week's
meeting.
Michael Peterson, the MSA rep-
resentative who introduced the pro-
tatives, said although he changed the
proposal, another assembly member
may decide to reintroduce it again
next week.
"They have a right to say what
they want to say," Peterson said.
"What is important is that we make
a statement in support of UCAR."
Members of UCAR, LaGROC,
and PSC, however, fully supported
Today is the lst
d ay to, vote i n
For polr' times and
locatons, see page 10
censuring the MSA members.
"This body should condemn the
people that made the resolution (to
de-recognize UCAR) last week," said
PSC member Daniel Kohn.
"The question is whether this
body will take a stand against its
members that are racist," said a La-
GROC representative. "LaGROC
would like to fully support a call for
a censure."
See MSA, Page 2
Four anti-PIRGIM activists campaign against proposal 1 on the MSA ballot, which calls for direct student funding of the research
group yesterday in front of the fishbowl.
U.S. needs to aid reform in Panama to win drug war
BY VERA SONGWE
Daily News Analysis
Third in a five-part series
To Panamanians, history has produced a
Central American Forum
focus on: Panama
bitter irony. Without American military
support, General Manuel Antonio Noriega,
could not have risen to power. And now he
remains in power against American wishes.
"Noreiga is to the American
like Frankenstein. We created a
can't get rid of," said Roberto
LSA senior and member of t
for Democracy in Latin Americ
"His presence in Central A
fecting us just as much as it
manian people," Frisanchio sai
Noriega's reign of terror in
the flow of illegal drugs frorr
the U.S have grown directly o
ica's support for Panama's n
ernment.
"Unless it realizes this, the
solve its own drug problem
government killing its youth - or Panama's internal
a monster we problems," said Antonio Bernal, an expert
Frisanchio, on Panama and professor at Lehigh
he Coalition University.
a. Since gaining independence from
merica is af- Colombia in 1903, Panamanian politics
is the Pana- have been influenced by the United States
d. more than any other Latin American coun-
Panama and try except Puerto Rico.
n Panama to Two-thirds of U.S investment in Central
)ut of Amer- America is in Panama, and 12 percent of all
nilitary gov- U.S. trade and 12 percent of its oil passes
through the Panama Canal. To protect U.S.
U.S. cannot interests, U.S. marines have entered the
- which is country 18 times, taking full advantage of
the original Panama treaty, which gave the
U.S the right "in perpetuity" to military
intervention in Panamanian affairs.
In October 1968, the Panamanian De-
fense Forces (PDF) under General Oman
Torrijos - supplied with U.S. artillery -
overthrew Panama's popularly elected
civilian government.
"America's reasoning then was simple: a
strong military allows for national stabil-
ity," said Bernal. "But to the peril of the
Panamanian people, the U.S. had ignored a
basic lesson of history - absolute power
leads to absolute corruption."
In 1968, Gen. Torrijos made Noriega his
second-in-command. A year later, Noriega
was soon placed in charge of PDF internal
security. First accused of drug dealing and
spying for the CIA, Noriega is currently
suspected of expanding his activities to
money laundering and illegal exportation of
Cuban seafood to the United States.
Noriega transformed Panama into what
Senator Alfose D'Amato (R-New York)
called "a total criminal empire probably as
large as any that might exist in the world."
See Panama, Page 2
Supreme
v
Court approves drug
testing for some
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court, establishing guide-
lines to test for drug and alcohol
abuse in the American workplace,
yesterday approved mandatory tests
for some workers in sensitive gov-
ernment jobs or entrusted with pub-
lic safety.
The justices upheld federal
regulations forcing railroad workers
involved in accidents to undergo
blood and urine tests. In a separate
vote the court ruled that the U.S.
Customs Service can order urine
tests for employees seeking drug-en-
forcement jobs or positions that re-
quire they carry firearms.
The court ordered further lower
court hearings to determine whether
the Customs Service rules also
should apply to workers with access
to classified information.
While the two cases do not deal
with random drug testing, the court
gave government officials and regu-
lators broad powers to require tests
for workers in sensitive jobs.
Bush administration officials
gov'tW
hailed the rulings. Union officials
who had challenged the mandatory
tests said they were disappointed but
some expressed that they hope the
impact would be limited.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writ-
ing for the court in both cases, said
such tests do not violate workers'
privacy rights even though they may
be conducted without a court warrant
or a suspicion that an individual is
using drugs or alcohol.
Although the rulings do not di-
rectly affect most private employ-
'U' to announce candidates for
Torkers
ment they will further encourage
private employers who impose or
plan to inipose such tests.
"The majority's acceptance of
dragnet blood and urine testing en-
sures that the first, and worst casu-
alty of the war on drugs will be the
precious liberties of our citizens,"
said Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Attorney General Dick Thorn-
burgh acknowledged that the rulings
do not resolve whether more sweep-
ing random drug tests are permitted.
top posts
the regents of violating the Open
Meetings Act when searching for
Shapiro's replacement last year.
No students served on the six-
member general counsel search
committee; members included a for-
mer regent, administrators, and a
professor.
University attorney John Ketelhut
has been serving as acting general
counsel since late 1986.
Mary Ann Swain, the associate
vice president for Academic Affairs,
has been serving as interim
Affirmative Action director since last
year. MSA appointed two students
to serve on the 11-member Affirma-
See Search, Page 2
BY FRAN OBEID
Candidates to fill the vacated po-
sitions of University general counsel
and Affirmative Action director will
be recommended for approval at the
University's Board of Regents'
meeting this week, University offi-
cials said yesterday.
The officials refused to release the
names of the candidates.
Vice President and Chief Finan-
cial Officer Farris Womack will rec-
ommend a candidate to replace for-
mer General Counsel Roderick
Daane, who left the University more
than two years ago.
Michigan Student Assembly
officers expressed concern that the
regents may have met several general
counsel candidates in violation of the
Michigan Open Meetings Act. The
law requires that meetings of a pub-
lic body, in which a quorum of its
members are present, be open to the
public.
If more than four of the eight re-
gents had met last month to debate
the candidates, it would constitute a
violation of the law. The regents
have denied any such violation.
Assistant to the President Shirley
Clarkson maintains that the regents
were not violating the act. "The
meeting between the candidates and
the regents was not a job interview,
it was just a courtesy," she said.
But MSA Vice President Susan
Overdorf disagreed. "Any part of the
selection process to pick a Univer-
sity official should be open to the
public," she said.
The search for a general counsel,
which started over two years ago,
was "put in limbo" when former
University President Harold Shapiro
departed for Princeton, Womack said.
There is a pending lawsuit filed
by three area newspapers, accusing
Watch it wiggle
Rachel Brodsky, an LSA sophomore, reaches for a
Pi Phi jello jump on Tappan St.
JESSICA GREENE /Daily
raffle ticket at the
Law School
BY DIANE COOK
Law School Dean Lee Bollinger's recent
decision to invite the director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation to speak at the May
s graduatior
student organizations informed him of recent
lawsuits against the FBI by Hispanic FBI
agents, who charged that the Bureau
systematically discriminated against them in
1 speaker dr
University of Michigan Law Review.
"Dean Bollinger's inconsistent and hypo-
critical actions towards racial and ethnic
intolerance increase the hostile nature of an
'aws protest
such a meeting.
"He wants to encourage free speech, yet he
won't have a meeting," said Holly Fechner, a
Law School student representative to the