Page 2-The Michigan Daily-Monday, March 19, 1990
Invitation to communist sparks
controversy in campus groups
By Bruce Shapiro
The National Worker's League is
circulating a petition of condemna-
tion in protest of a decision by the
Undergraduate Political Science As-
sociation (UPSA) to withdraw David
North's invitation to the Annual Po-
litical Affairs Conference next week-
end. North is a communist.
The Workers League claims
many of the political science faculty
members are anti-communist and
UPSA withdrew North's invitation
in order to prevent him from voicing
his views of Trostskyism in the con-
ference.
They do not want the Trot-
sky view heard, said Workers League
member Larry Porter, a reporter for
(he Bulletin, the organization's
newspaper. Porter said the Workers
League has contacted the ACLU and
other civil liberty groups to protest
what they say is censorship and a
violation of North's First Amend-
ment rights.
Porter also said the Workers
League believes that advisors from
the U.S. State Department helped to
ensure North would not speak on
campus because they do not want his
views heard.
'They tried to bully
North through the
organization and
threatened the
committee with
political
repercussions'
- Brian Portnoy
UPSA President
But Brian Portnoy, UPSA presi-
dent, said North was never officially
invited to the conference. According
to Portnoy, Thomas Martin, who re-
signed last Tuesday from UPSA,
forged a letter of invitation to North
on University stationary. Martin has
tried to set up previous programs in
the past without UPSA permission,
Portnoy said.
"He never informed me, Director
of the Conference Committee Lorne
Baker or Assistant Director David
Rosewater of his actions," Portnoy
said. "He never had the authorization
of the Committee to invite him."
At the time when Martin invited
North to speak, the panel members
for the conference had already been
chosen by UPSA, Portnoy added.
UPSA didn't find out about the
unauthorized invitation until a week
after winter break, according to Port-
noy. Portnoy said UPSA only
learned about the invitation when
they received a letter from North,
asking what to talk about at the con-
ference. He added that when he found
out about the letter to North, he told
Martin to disinvite North to the con-
ference.
Both Porter and Helen Halyard,
the National Secretary of the
Worker's League, spoke at UPSA's
meeting last Tuesday. However,
Portnoy said the Worker's League
members didn't listen to UPSA's
side of the story.
"They tried to bully North
through the organization and threat-
ened the committee with political
repercussions," Portnoy said.
In his letter of resignation,
Martin wrote, "I would like you to
know that my actions of the past
few months concerning the under-
graduate political science conference
were not the result of incompetency,
but rather were done most deliber-
ately. Hopefully some day you will
learn something about Marxism."
Forum focuses on
S. Asian concerns
I
by Sandhya Rao
South Asian students met in the
l~uenzel Room of the Union Friday
dfternoon to discuss the problems of
cultural assimilation into American
society.
The identity fotum, attended by
about 30 students, was sponsored by
the Indian-Pakistani American Stu-
dents' Council (IPASC). Entitled
"Through a looking Glass," the dis-
cussion focused on issues concerning
Americans of South Asian descent,
including dating, marriage, minority
stereotypes and generation gaps.
Saraswati Kache, chair of the
forum committee, said, "We decided
on the title because when you are
looking through a glass, you can see
areflection of yourself and you see
the outside world at the same time."
The title described the focus of the
forum in a nutshell: the maintenance
of one's Asian cultural identity in
America.
All of the participants agreed that
their culture needed to be preserved
in America. However, many dis-
agreed on the extent to which it
should be preserved.
Murali Prahalad, an LSA sopho-
more, felt that "the degree of preser-
vation in each person's life was ev-
ery individual's own decision."
Farhana Kagalwala, a first-year
Engineering student, said she feels as
though she needs to take "values
from both cultures" into account
when dealing with everyday life.
However, problems arise when
the values conflict and a student
must choose between an American
value and an South Asian value.
"What we are trying to achieve
is a blend of the best of the old and
the new," Prahalad said, referring to
the middle ground between tradi-
tional South Asian culture and mod-
ern American culture. "Most of us
have come to the realization that we
are going to live here for the rest of
our lives. We have to take what we
need from both cultures in order to
do our best."
In addition to sponsoring fo-
rums and speakers, IPASC is trying
to get the University to fund a
Hindi-Urdu lectureship as well as a
Hinduism class. "There are courses
for almost every other major religion
here except Hinduism and the Hindi-
Urdu language class is only offered
every other year," said Kache.
Prahalad said IPASC was started
last year to fill the need for represen-
tation of South Asian Americans on
campus. "We needed a group to rep-
resent us with the Administration,"
he said.
IPASC also holds a film series
every other Thursday in the Modern
Languages Building.
IN BRIEF
Compiled from Associated Press and staff reports
Alabama floods kill eight
ELBA, Ala. - Two days of flooding across south Alabama left at
least 3,500 people homeless and killed eight others by yesterday. One
town remained a muddy pond a day after it's levee failed.
"I cannot begin to imagine everything that's been lost or damaged,"
said U.S. Rep. Bill Dickinson after taking a helicopter tour of Elba,
where 1,500 people were evacuated after the Pea River levee ruptured Sat-
urday. Sixteen inches of rain had fallen in the area in the two days before
the earthen barrier gave way.
About 45 miles downstream in Geneva, emergency workers shored up
another levee and continued evacuating residents, who started leaving their
homes Friday night.
Margaret Mixon, emergency management director for Geneva County,
where about 450 people had fled, said officials believed the Geneva levee
would hold. She added: "I guess Elba was pretty confident, too."
Rivers throughout southern Alabama swelled to as much as 21 feet
above flood levels yesterday as the water from the nearly non-stop rains
drained toward the Gulf of Mexico
Greyhound dialogue begins
TUCSON, Ariz. - Representatives of Greyhound and its striking bus
drivers haggled all day over a union proposal Saturday, but reported little
progress in their first meeting since the violent strike that began two
weeks ago.
Negotiations began at mid-morning and recessed Saturday night with
promises from both sides to meet again in the morning.
"It's late. We're tired. Nothing has happened," said Greyhound execu-
tive vice president Anthony Lannie.
He said the intercity bus company had not yet responded to a proposal
presented earlier Saturday by unions representing the striking workers.
Union officials said their proposal involved a $40 million three-year
package that included modest pay increases of approximately four percent
and the addition of new drivers to the pension plan.
A union spokesman said the company has offered a plan that included
no guarantee of any pay hikes, but would have made raises contingent on
increased profits and ridership.
Senate hears drug report
DETROIT - Cocaine has spread from the streets of Detroit across the
state in less than four years and law enforcement alone won't win the war
against the drug, state and U.S. officials said.
"What was surprising and frightening to me was how quickly and how
great an extent this had spread throughout the state," said Jack Mitchell, a
U.S. Senate investigator who prepared a report on drugs and related crime,
in Michigan.
Mitchell works for the a Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Carl
Levin (D- Mich.) Mitchell was to present his study today in Detroit at a
subcommittee hearing to be chaired by Sen. Sam Nunn (D- Ga.).
Scheduled to testify were Wendy Stanek, a Crystal Falls mother of six
who went undercover to help police nab more than 20 people on drug
charges, and Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague, who charged a
mother with delivering cocaine to a child who became addicted in the
womb.
Plans filed to increase the
size of Detroit City Airport
DETROIT - A proposed expansion of Detroit City Airport would al-
low for the quadrupling of the number of flights, add a runway and wiper
out at least 3,800 homes and business over the next two decades.
The plan, filed this month with the Federal Aviation Administration in-
Washington, was detailed in yesterday editions of The Detroit News.
The new City Airport would consist of 1,250 acres, still smaller than
Detroit Metropolitan Airport's 5,000 acres. Air traffic could increase
from 25 commercial airline flights a day to 100.
City officials forecast an increase in air traffic at an expanded City
Airport. The airport had 131,013 flights in 1988, including 4,140 South-
west Airlines flights. By 1993 city planners estimate there would be
209,355 flights each year, 24,960 by Southwest, the only commercial jet
service now offered at City Airport
EXTRAS
GOP fund-raiser misfires
WASHINGTON - Rita Schattman isn't old enough to vote, but the
Republican Party thinks she's got enough cash in the bank to automati-
cally hand over $12.50 a month to its "Secret Candidate Support
Weapon."
A 16-year-old Democrat from Fort Worth, Texas, Schattman was sur-
prised to find a genuine $25 check mailed to her recently from an arm of
the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
But it wasn't until she got to the 11th paragraph of a three-page letter
touting the GOP's new "Candidate Escrow Funding" concept that
Schattman realized that by cashing the check she was agreeing to let the
party take $12.50 a month out of her bank account.
Trouble is, the high school junior says she doesn't even have a check-
ing account.
Bob Slagle, Texas Democratic Party chair, called the fund-raising effort
"too deceitful and fraudulent to be funny."
0s
0-
Aftermath of a party
Eric Krause cleans up the debris from the Saint Patrick's Day party at
Good Time Charley's.
Priceless art stolen from Boston museum
BOSTON (AP) - Thieves
dressed in police uniforms stole 11
paintings including works by Rem-
brandt, Degas, Manet and Vermeer as
well as other priceless objects from a
leading museum, FBI and museum
officials said yesterday.
The value of the objects was not
known, said Isabella Stewart Gardner
Museum spokesperson Corey
Cronin. He said the thieves appar-
ently entered the museum late Satur-
day night or early yesterday.
The thieves convinced the mu-
seum's two security guards they
were police, and entered the building
unhindered, he said.
Cronin said the works were part
Qf the museums permanent collec-
tion dating form the last century. He
Would not provide details on how the
thieves had managed to get into the
museum, or why certain works had
been taken.
a: No apparent damage was done to
MARIJUANA
Continued from page 1
the timing of the veto was unusually
late, considering that the governor
lins had the proposal for six weeks.
' Rich Birkett, spokesperson for
the National Organization for the
1Deform of Marijuana Laws
(1ORML), said Councilmember Liz
hrater's vote is key to blocking the
proposal. Brater is the only remam-
ing Democrat on the council who
does not oppose Proposal B.
Brater said yesterday she does not
intend to change her position. Brater
etplained that if the council upheld
the veto, it would contradict the cur-
rent city charter which restricts offi-
cers from prosecuting marijuana
fines under state law.
the museum, a former mansion built
at the turn of the century in the style
of the 15th century Venetian palace,
Cronin said.
Cronin said the museum had a
"state of the art" security system and
employed two security guards.
The works taken included:
* "The Concert" by Jan Ver-
Nuts and Bolts
meer.
"Landscape with an Obelisk"
by Govaert Flinck.
"Chez Tortoni" by Edouard
Manet.
® "A Lady and a Gentleman in
Black," "The Storm on the Sea of
Galilee," and a self-portrait by Rem-
brandt.
"La Sortie du Pesage,"
"Cortege aux Environs de Florence,"
"Three Mounted Jockeys," "Program
for an Artistic Soiree," and another,
less complete work by the same
name, by Edgar Degas.
Chinese bronze beaker dating
from the Shang Dynasty, 1,200-
1,100 B.C.
by Judd Winick
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