Ube Mdtoa al Ninety-nine years of editorial/freedom Vol. IC, No. 136 Ann Arbor, Michigan -- Tuesday, April 18, 1989 Copyright 1989. The Michigan Daily Committee charges Wright with wrongs WASHINGTON (AP)- The House ethics committee, with N Democrats and Republicans united, formally charged Speaker Jim Wright yesterday with 69 violations of the chamber's rules including what the panel's chair called "a scheme to evade" limits on outside earnings. After a 10-month, $1.5 million investigation, the committee of six Democrats and six Republicans voted unanimously to issue a report finding "reason to believe" the Texas Democrat had run afoul of House rules requiring reporting of gifts, barring acceptance of gifts from per- ~ ... "vI sons with a direct interest in legisla- tion and limiting outside earned in- come. "I know in my heart I have not violated any of the rules of that in- stitution," Wright said in a speech to a labor meeting shortly after the ethics report was released. He said he had asked "very ur- gently, very earnestly" for a quick meeting with the committee "to confront them, to confront the alle- gations head-on, face-to-face." At a news conference, committee chair Rep. Julian Dixon, D-Califor- nia, emphasized that Wright is pre- sumed innocent until the charges are proven, and he underscored that proving them requires a much higher weight of evidence than the step taken yesterday, which is the panel's equivalent of an indictment. The move set in motion a series of steps in which Wright can defend himself and the panel must prove that the violations occurred. That is likely ultimately to throw the matter before the full House, where Wright's position as the nation's highest elected Democrat, or even his House seat, could be on the line. Wright immediately began his defense in earnest, operating what one supporter, Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Texas, called "a war room" out of his office. "At some point we've got to start figuring out who's on our side and who's on the other side," Wilson said. Wilson predicted Wright would win on the floor, "losing a few cowardly Democrats and picking up some brave Republicans." The most serious allegation against Wright, that he accepted some $145,000 in gifts over a 10- year period from George Mallick, a Fort Worth developer, also had the narrowest margin of support on the ethics committee. According to the records of inter- nal committee votes released along with the report of the panel's special outside counsel, Chicago attorney Richard J. Phelan, Democrats Chester Atkins of Massachusetts and Bernard Dwyer of New Jersey joined the six committee Republicans for an 8 to 4 margin on that issue. The panel agreed with its counsel, Phelan, that Mallick's major inter- ests in real estate and oil and gas ventures and in redevelopment of Fort Worth's historic stockyards district gave him a direct interest in legislation on taxation and on certain appropriations bills. Wright Criticism of Sheffield .police actions grows SHEFFIELD (AP) - Criticism. grew of how police handled the stadium crush that killed 94 soccer fans, and the government said yesterday it may ban standing-room only sec- tions like the one where the tragedy occurred. Officials and fans accused South Yorkshire police of letting thousands of late arrivals into Hillsborough stadium, then reacting too slowly when the surging crowd crushed peo- ple against a steel anti-riot fence in one of the concrete terrace areas packed with standees. Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, speaking to a hushed House of Commons, said an in- vestigative panel led by Lord Justice Taylor would begin work today and "make recom- mendations about the needs of crowd control and safety at sports grounds." "We have to set our sights high and find a better way for British football (soccer)," Hurd said. "We owe a duty to these passionate supporters of football to examine urgently and thoroughly the cause and background to do all in our power to prevent such a thing happening again." Hurd told the Commons the decision of a senior police officer to open the gate because he "considered that there was a possible dan- ger t ,he lives of the spectators at-the front" would be a central question for investigators. Survivors said about 4,000 fans were pushing at turnstiles to get inside. Hillsborough gatekeeper Jack Stone told the Sheffield Star he refused police orders to open the outer gate and was forced to hand over his keys to a police inspector. "I handed the keys to him and told him it was his responsibility and not mine," Stone was quoted as saying. 'We owe a duty to these pas- sionate supporters of football to examine urgently and thor- oughly the cause and back- ground to do all in our power to prevent such a thing hap- pening again.' - British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd Liverpool fan Stephen Mitton, who was caught in the crush outside the gate, told BBC-TV: "The steward put his hand on the gate and said, 'Don't open it.' The police said, 'Open the gate. There's going to be a crush.' Then the two police officers opened the gate." Speech policy debate continues BY JOSH MITNICK Daily News Analysis Are the racist fliers distributed on campus last week examples of free speech? Do students have the right to drown out a campus speaker dur- ing a protest of the speaker's views? As the University Council works on guidelines to implement the Univer- sity's free speech policy, these are issues its members have to grapple with. Questioning the limits of free speech - whether in media, protest or fliers - has been a heated issue on campus lately. As the debate over legitimate expression continues, the campus speech guidelines remain unnoticed. The guidelines, drafted by the University's Civil Liberties Board and passed by the Board of Regents last July, attempt to define what li and isn't appropriate free speech on campus. Since January, the nine-member council has been working on a pro- posal to implement the free speech policy. Council Co-chair Jens Zorn, a physics professor, said the focus of the guidelines will be limited to the "academic arena," addressing speech confrontations that occur in public forums. Specifically, the guidelines are intended to resolve potential con- flicts between groups sponsoring public speakers and groups wishing to protest the speaker. The council's goal is "to be able to have an atmosphere on campus where people know they can speak and be heard, andalso not be afraid to speak up," Zorn said. The panel has been debating sev- eral tricky speech issues, including the limits of allowing protest groups to exercise their free speech without infringing on the rights of the speaker. "There's a delicate balance that's hard to define; the policy is trying to establish that delicate balance," said Social Work Prof. Tom Croxton. "I suppose one wishes there was a bright line, but there isn't." Put this way, exercising free speech appears to be a zero-sum game. Where one group gains free- dom, the other loses. "To give more latitude to one group's free speech detracts from another's opportunity See Speech, Page 3 Bush outlines economic incentives for Poland HAMTRAMCK (AP) - Saying the West must respond to "yearnings for democracy" in Eastern Europe, President Bush yesterday an- nounced an array of economic incentives for Poland aimed at encouraging the Warsaw government to continue its newfound mo- mentum toward political reform. He lauded the Communist government's reinstatement of the trade union movement Solidarity, after eight years of banishment, and authorities' agreement to hold Poland's first free parliamentary elections since before World War II. Traveling to this Polish-American city on the same day Poland's highest court legalized Solidarity, Bush told a flag-waving crowd: "The wings of change are shaping a new Eu- ropean destiny. Eastern Europe is awakening to yearnings for democracy, independence and prosperity." "Democratic forces in Poland have asked for the moral, political and economic support of the West," he told the crowd. "We can and must answer this call for freedom." Among the incentives Bush announced: -Asking Congress to lower tariffs on se- lected Polish imports under the Generalized System of Preferences. Such preferential tar- iffs are generally used to aid less-developed nations. See Bush, Page 2 Eye of the Storm The constant patter of raindrops and roar of thunder disappeared for man walked underneath the arch of the West Engineering building. DAVID LUBLINER/Daily a moment as this Pharmacy counselor wants students to do all they can BY SHEALA DURANT One phone call after another interrupted the early morning inter- view with Valener Perry, assistant dean for student services at the Col- lege of Pharmacy. Most of the phone calls were from students asking questions or seeking advice from Perry. With her easy going manner and motherly tone, she answered each call and spoke to each student as if she'd known them for years. That day, Perry congratulated newly-admitted students to the College and told re- jected students to try again next year. When asked what her job entailed, Perry answered, "The question is what doesn't it entail." Robert Ross, Editor of Interactions magazine at the College of Pharmacy described her as a "mother, sister, bully, a teacher, a counselor... She combines Pharmacy had a five year B.S. pro- gram which forced Perry to recruit straight from high school. Now the college has its own degree, the Pharm D., which requires students to complete two years of college before they are admitted to the four-year program. Shortly after arriving, Perry in- volved herself not just in counseling minority students, but all students. "It's something I wanted to do. I just didn't see myself dealing strictly with minority students." In addition to counseling over 100 students, Perry coordinates three summer programs at the College: The Summer Undergraduate Research Program, The Minority High School Student Research Apprenticeship Program, and a two-week seminar for admitted minority students . The biggest change Perry has students and Perry's job involves helping people adjust to the rigorous curriculum. "Success is not necessarily mea- sured in terms of dollars and cents, but rather in maturity and developing and seeing the kinds of things that they want to do and go and be," she addd. As hard as Perry tries, she admits that there are students who don't make it through the program. "The ones I lose, it kinda hurts, but... I mean you can't help every- body, because a person has to want to be helped in order to receive help. There's only so much I can do," she said. "Sometimes you have to let a person go in order for them to decide what they want to do. I don't try to badger anyone but I do try to show them that I am concerned and that my door is always open." r 0 x:x.,i ... .,..... l.. ,.. .,.... .... .. . ..k .v s IF^