Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 15, 1990
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EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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ARTS
NEWS
OPINION
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PHOTO
S PORTS
WEEKEND
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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.
Duderstadt's folly
President unilaterally implements conduct code
STUDENTS, TAKE NOTICE.
Though the University has no policy
to regulate or punish the non-academic
behavior of its students, President
James Duderstadt has unilaterally de-
cided to behave as if such a mechanism
existed. Using the wide powers
granted to the president under regental
bylaw 2.01, Duderstadt placed Michi-
gan hockey player Todd Copeland on
academic suspension for his off-cam-
pus destruction of sorority property.
Though Copeland's violence was
serious and warranted action from the
hockey coach and athletic department,
no student should be sanctioned aca-
demically for non-academic conduct.
Copeland is now in a position to be ex-
pelled or suspended from school for
reasons having nothing to do with his
academic standing.
Inthe past, every attempt by the
University to implement an all-encom-
passing code of student non-academic
conduct has been met with harsh op-
position from students. The fact that
Duderstadt invoked a regental bylaw to
bypass the lack of a University policy
only signifies how powerful a unified
1-student voice has been: Duderstadt ap-
parently decided it was too much trou-
b le to publicly debate a conduct code,
so he ignored input and proceeded in-
SdIvidually to further his own agenda.
Duderstadt has listed the implemen-
tation of a policy governing student be-
havior as one of his top priorities as
president. Such a policy would be
r detrimental to students, many of whom
are unaware of what such power would
enable the University to do. Imagine
getting wildly drunk at an off-campus
party, and then being told your conduct
was not sanctioned by the University
and you were being suspended from
' school. Though the University says
this is not the intent of a student con-
I duct code, the administration would
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have the authority to make such judg-
ments.
Even worse is the potential damage
to student activists, who have long
been targeted by the University for
their protests and other outspoken op-
position to University policy. The ad-
ministration, under a code, would be
empowered to expel students for diver-
gent or unpopular political beliefs. Un-
der a conduct code at Dartmouth, for
example, the editor of the conservative
Dartmouth Review was suspended
from school after the paper printed an
article criticizing a Black professor. But
whatever one may think of campus ac-
tivists, everyone should recognize the
constitutional guarantee of free expres-
sion and guard against University at-
tempts to limit such freedoms.
Duderstadt and others in the admin-
istration claim a conductrcode is neces-
sary to remove rapists, murderers and
arsonists from the University commu-
nity. What they all cleverly omit from
their argument is that there is an exist-
ing court system which can deal with
such crimes. If the University were to
adopt a behavior policy, students could
be tried and convicted twice for the
same crime -once by the court system
and once by the University. That the
University has no mechanism to try
and convict students apparently in no
way deters the administration from
pursuing a code.
The attempt by Duderstadt to im-
plement a code of non-academic con-
duct should be fought by all students.
There is probably no other issue on
campus, besides continued tuition
hikes, which has the potential to affect
all students. Members of the University
community have to band together in a
show of force against the administra-
tion - in the past, such a strategy has
prevented attempts to implement a con-
duct code.
Don t wait until it's too late.
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Why is BSU silent?
To the Daily:
As a Black student on this campus, I
wish to express my utter disgust with the
Black Student Union's failure to condemn
the ignorant and bigoted words of Steve
Cokely. The BSU's lack of action in re-
sponse to Cokely's hate-breeding nonsense
shames the organization and badly wounds
the effectiveness, as well as the legiti-
macy, of BSU.
For Blacks to condone and praise such
deplorable thoughts is blatant hypocrisy.
By not taking a stand against Cokely's id-
iotic insinuations, the BSU has poorly
represented the voice of Black students and
one can only hope that the Jewish com-
munity does not dismiss the BSU's ab-
sence of reprobation as the way most
Blacks feel about Cokely.
Hatred of other ethnic groups is contra-
dictory to what the United States and civil
rights are about. To praise Cokely's words
is to make a mockery of civil rights and to
damage the credible efforts to improve the
state of Afro-Americans.
I sincerely hope that the majority of
Black students at U-M feel as I do about
the BSU's unbelievable silence on this is-
sue, and urge students to call for action
from the BSU. This situation mustr berec-
tified before it does further injury to racial
relations on campus.
G.A. Payton
LSA junior
MSA should bicker
To the Daily:
In your editorial "MSA elections"
(3/13/90), in which you encourage the
student body to participate in the upcom-
ing MSA elections, you state that one rea-
son that students should vote is to attempt
to eliminate the "bickering" that has oc-
curred in the assembly during the past few
years. I don't think that MSA's bickering
is something to be altogether discouraged.
For many years, citizens living in
Ceausescu's Romania had the privilege of
a governing body that was free from
"bickering." Ceausescu and his associates
ruled with an iron fist. The government
spoke with a single, unified voice. Unfor-
tunately, that voice crushed many people
who had no chance to speak.
For many years, the political process
of the Soviet Union was also free from
"bickering." The larger political bodies
within the Soviet Union always endorsed
the proposals of the ruling elite with
unanimous vote after unanimous vote.
Different points of view were not toler-
ated.
Here at Michigan, we have the privi-
lege of having a student assembly with
members who care enough about the is-
sues confronting students that they are
willing to "bicker" about those issues
rather than blindly following the ideas of
one leader (or political party) solely for the
sake of "unity." I would much rather have
an MSA with two or more parties provid-
ing different viewpoints on campus issues
than an MSA with a monolithic, unfeel-
ing, "unified" membership like the gov-
emments we have seen in the past in East-
ern Europe.
Jim Huggins
Rackham graduate student
Allow NORML rally
when it was first approved, but now the
University decides to revoke the permit
only one month from the scheduled date of
the rally.
Though the University has agreed to
work on finding another site, the success
of the rally could be seriously jeopardized;
and the University knows this.
Regardless of whether NORML's per-
mit is reinstated, the question of every
student's right to freedom of expression is
raised. This one decision could set a prece-
dent for future decisions that could further
limit students' rights.
We must make it known now to the
University that we will not accept such in-
fringements on our rights by supporting
NORML's right to a rally on the Diag.
Even if you do not agree with the views
held by the group, NORML should still
be permitted to stage an open forum on
the Diag to express their opinions without
any restrictions from the University.
Erin O'Brien
first year LSA student
Disagree?
Agree?
What's your opinion? The
Daily wants to hear from you.
Send or bring letters to the
Student Publications Building
at 420 Maynard Street. Or,
you can bring in letters on
Macintosh disk or send them
via MTS to "Michigan Daily."
Prevent Nazi march
To the Daily:
In the spring of 1982 a neo-fascist
group named "SS Action" has attempted
to demonstrate at the Federal Building in
Ann Arbor on the third Saturday in March.
They have declared this day to be "White
Power Day" in an attempt to terrorize op-
pressed peoples in the Ann Arbor commu-
nity.
While SS Action or any other
Nazi/Klan groups have not yet made pub-
lic their intent to rally on that day, SS Ac-
tion has attempted to stage a successful
rally every year on this date since 1982.
Last year, anti-fascist organizers rallied on
the steps of the Federal Building despite
no public announcement from the Nazis of
their intent to rally. This proved to be a
victory for the anti-fascist demonstrators
as it was later reported in the Ann Arbor
News that the Nazis did drive by, but de-
cided not to confront the anti-racists
assembled there - especially without
their usual full-scale police protection.
Right now, the fascists are relatively
small in number. But neo-Nazi skinhead
groups and the more traditional Klan and
other white supremacist terror organiza-
tions have been steadily growing. More
importantly, these different groups have
been joining forces.
Violent attacks against Jews, gay peo-
ple, and people of color are on the rise. In
San Diego County alone, there have been
at least 90 murders of Mexican workers
crossing the border by organized gangs of
white paramilitary youth over the last
year. The racist murder of Yusef Hawkins
in Bensonhurst. Brooklyn last year and
meeting of the Committee to Oppose the
Nazis will be held in the Michigan League
Room A on Wednesday, March 14 at 8:00
pm.
Paul Lefrak
Carlos Manjarrz
Members, Committee to Oppose the
Nazis
Format of Econ 201
discourages students *
To the Daily:
I congratulate the Daily for recognizing
the serious problem of lowered enrollment
in Economics 202 ("Economics 202 en-
rollment drops" 2/26/90). As an Eco-
nomics 201 student of last semester, I
would like to offer support for the Daily's
findings.
The Daily reported that a change in
format was a possible explanation for
lowered enrollment. The three lecture and
one discussion format that I was subjected
to caused me to lose all interest in eco-
nomics.
As far as my professor went, watching
a pot of boiling water would have been a
more stimulating experience, and there
wasn't a day that his eyes strayed from his
overhead projector. And to think, I had to
be subjected to this traumatic and mentally
draining experience three times per week.
If the old format had still been in exis-
tence, I could have at least developed a re-
lationship with a TA and had answers
given to my most perplexing questions. In
a situation of one discussion of thirty
people once per week, this was virtually
impossible. Intro Econ is the type of
course that requires a complete understand-
ing of concepts before additional ideas can
be presented. The format of last semester
made this an impossibility.
I, along with many others, have obvi-
ously chosen to end our economic experi-
ence here at the University. And now, I
can only envision my dear, old professor
thinking to himself, "Well, I guess the
demand no longer equals the supply... "
S. Rosie Mendes
first-year LSA student
Do not abolish army
To the Daily:
Just as a new wave of sensibility was
beginning to surface on the face of the
Opinion Page, the Daily decided to prove
once again that from the minds of rational
people can emerge the ideas of Loony
Tunes. I am, of course, referring to the
opinion "The Army" (2/28/90) calling for
the abolition of a standing army. While
the liberal minds of the Daily begin ad-
mirably to call for a reassessment of the
role our army should play in the wake of
recent international events, it seems they
are overlooking the many hazards associ-
ated with an immediate massive demobi-
lization.
First and foremost are strategic con-4
cerns. One of the most effective military
weapons is surprise. This has been proven
over and over again in battles such as
Bunker Hill, Normandy (D-Day), and the
Tet offensive. Without some viable stand-
ing force, a country leaves itself terribly
vulnerable to surprise attack.
Not all wars are days in coming. A
president needs an immediate option to re-
spond with. That was one reason for the
War Powers Act. The National Guard will@
plav an increasing role in our strategic
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JOSE JUAREZJDaily
a: Michigan center Mark Ouimet looks for the puck in a Michigan victory over Boston
University earlier this season. Despite the Wolverines' accomplishments, teams like
k Boston made the NCAA tournament instead.
Michigan's hockey team deserved an NCAA bid
WHILE SELECTION COMMITTEES
,,for the men's and women's NCAA
basketball tournaments gave Michigan
athletes little to complain about, the se-
lectors of the 12-team field for the
Y NCAA hockey tournament have un-
,justly snubbed the Wolverine hockey
beam.
tee was thinking when it failed to in-
clude the Wolverines. The following
teams made the tournament over
Michigan:
Bowling Green, which Michigan
beat out for third-place in Sunday's
CCHA playoff consolation game and
which completed the season with two