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 W4EM I IE 7aEVI1ION BROKE, I LJM"15 5PEK'T TH-E AFTERNOON THROWING LVER AGANST THE WALL. ^ - / S, it 4, 7/ ' .p" bb a b£trtguln ACCI1 The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscripton rates: for fall and winter (2 semesters) $28.00 in-town and $39 out-of-town, for fall only $18.00 in-town and $22.00 out-of-town. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and the Student News Service. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. PHONE NUMBERS: News (313) 764-0552, Opinion 747-2814, Arts 763-0379, Sports 747-3336, Cir- culation 764-0558, Classified advertising 764-0557, Display advertising 764-0554, Billing 764-0550 EDITOFIAL STAFF: Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editors Opinion Page Editor Issues Editor Weekend Editors Noah Finkel Krisine Lalonde Karen Akedof, Marion Davis, Tara Gruzen, vera Songwe David Schwartz Laura Sankey Miguel Cruz, Kevin Woodson Sports Editor Associate Sports Editors Arts Editors Books Rim Music Mike Gill Steve Cohen, Andy Gottesman, David Hyman, Eric Lemont, Taylor Lincoln Alyssa Katz, Krisin Palmn Carolyn Poor Jon Bilk,rent Edwards Forrest Green Il p Photo Editors Jose Juarez, David Lubliner "y e List Editor Todd Dale Weekend: Phil Cohen, Rob Earle, Donna ladipadlo, Alex Gordon, Nana Trachtman, Fred Zim. News: Josephine Ballenger, Joanna Broder, Diane Cook, Heather Fee, Jennifer Hirt, Ian Hoffman, Mark Katz, Christine Kloostra, Ruth UtImann, Emly Miller, Josh Mitnick, Dan Poux, Amy Quick, Gil Renberg, Mike Sobel, Michael Sullivan Noele Vance, Elsabeth Weinstein, Donna Woodwel. Opinion: Mark Buchan, Yael Citro, Ian Gray, Leslie Helbunn, Stephen Henderson, I. Matthew Miller, Aaron Robinson, Tony Siber, David Sood. Sports: Eric Berkman, Michael Bess, Theodore Cox, Doug Donaldson, Jeni Durst, Richard Eisen, Jared Entin, Scott Erskine, Steve Fraiberg, Phi Green, Lory Knapp, Albert Lin, John Niyo, Jill Cry, Sarah Osbun, Matt Rennie, Jonathan Samnick, Ryan Schreiber, Jeff Sheran, Peter Zellen, Dan Zoch. Arts: Greg Baise, Sherril L. Bennett, Mark Bineli, Kenneth Chow, Lyme Cohn, Beth Colquit, Sharon Grmiberg, Brian Jarvinen, Scott Kirkwood, Mike Kuniavsky, Ami Mehta, Mike Molitor, Annette Petrusso, Jay Pinka, Antonio Roque, Ilyse Schanz, Wendy Shanker, Peter Shapiro, Rona Sheramy, Mark Swartz, Jusine Unatin, Philip Washington, Mark Webster, Kim Yaged, Nabeel Zuberi., Photo: Sarah Baker, Jennifer Dunetz, Amy Feldman, Julie Hoiman, Jonathan Liss, Josh Moore, Samantha Sanders, Kennet Smller, Ud4lm Do 1N 111E PoAliz , WERE W WE IRt'AL.. tW NUN? oN,1'M I GET THE FEEDIG