Page 4-The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, April 24, 1990
Eig MAirtgan 4ailI
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Unsigned editorials represent a majorit y of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons,
signemd articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion oftheI Daily.
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The lesson of CCF.
MSA should discontinue the recognition process
THE NEVER-ENDING SAGA OF
"recognition" for the Cornerstone
Christian Fellowship took another twist
zlast week when the lame-duck Michi-
gan Student Assembly voted to re-rec-
ognize the embattled fundamentalist
group. Though the vote was in keeping
with the recently approved Student Bill
of Rights, new MSA President Jennifer
Van Valey hopes to use the CCF case
to test the bill, which she has termed a
"bill of abusive rights."
It's unfortunate for everyone in-
volved that the debate over CCF has
dragged on for so long, and it's even
worse that the situation doesn't appear
to be ending any time soon; the issue
was first addressed by the assembly in
the fall of 1988.
But the saddest aspect of the whole
debacle is that the real issue has been
lost in the fray. A substantial minority
of assembly members has argued that
CCF should not receive "recognition"
because of the group's discriminatory
nature - CCF has openly criticized
homosexuals, and has called the prac-
tice of homosexuality a sin. Con-
versely, a majority of assembly mem-
bers, led by the Conservative Coali-
tion, has defended CCF, arguing that
the group does not discriminate.
They're both wrong.
Any group which has expressed its
intention to "converge" on gay men and
lesbians in order to convince them to
somehow become heterosexuals is
clearly discriminatory; no gay men or
lesbians could possibly be included in
such a group. But the answer proposed
by liberals on MSA and the Lesbian
and Gay Rights Organizing Committee
- to not "recognize" the group - re-
ally answers nothing at all.
Groups should not have to be
"recognized" by the assembly to carry
on their activities. Currently, MSA
recognition allows student groups the
right to post on the Diag and meet in
University buildings, and further
grants them the right to apply for MSA
funding or office space in the Union.
These are rights which any group of
students should have, regardless of
their ideology or even their offensive
nature.
It seems as though many MSA
members believe that if they refuse to
recognize student groups, the groups
will cease to exist. They are essentially
acting like little children, who believe
all the world's ills will disappear if they
cover their eyes.
The process of MSA recognition
should be done away with altogether
(as the Abolitionists suggested during
the recent election). MSA members, no
matter how much power they claim to
have, should not be trying to limit basic
freedoms afforded to all students. The
right to meet and the right to use the
Diag are not things MSA can take
away, or should even try to take away.
The real question when dealing with
a group like the Cornerstone Christian
Fellowship concerns privileges, such
as free office space or student funding.
Students are not entitled to funding and
other windfalls, and it is the assem-
bly's job to allocate limited student re-
sources - whether office space or
funds - to groups or causes it deems
appropriate.
It is not MSA's job, however, to
decide which groups have the right to
exist and be "recognized."
MSA has much to do in the coming
year. High and rising tuition will con-
tinue to be a problem facing students,
and an impending code of conduct and
private University police force also
need to be fought. Unfortunately, MSA
appears likely to stay in a rut, arguing
and fighting about things it can't and
shouldn't control.
CCF is not a group worthy of praise
from students on campus, and groups
which discriminate should not be recip-
ients of student finances. But freedoms
of speech and assembly grant even the
most repugnant groups the right to
meet. MSA should abolish its process
of recognition; people have the right to
express their opinions, and covering
our eyes won't make any problems go
away.
To , ,
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Best of... encourages Gould deserved to
illegal copying of CDs win in Best of... poll
Castro is a dictator
To the Daily:
In your annual "Best Of Ann Arbor"
edition of Weekend Magazine (4/20/90), I
found it interesting that Miguel Cruz and
Alex Gordon would justify the selection of
Wazoo Records as "Best Used Record
Store" by stating that one can "Buy CDs
for $9, tape 'em, bring them back for $7,
then do it again (but with a different CD)."
In this statement, Cruz and Gordon have
advocated nothing less than a direct viola-
tion of national copyright laws.
As I understand the law, one is allowed
to make a duplicate of a record or CD only
if one owns the record or CD and exactly
one copy of the CD will be in use at any
moment in time. When one sells or gives
away the original CD or record they have
bought, they forfeit all rights to any copies
they may have made of it.
If all people were to act as Cruz and
Gordon suggest, the modern music indus-
try would collapse overnight. After all,
there's no incentive to make an album if
you're only going to be able to sell one
copy (since everyone will duplicate it).
Would anyone think of checking out a
book from the library, taking it to Kinko's
and photocopying it, and then returning
the book in order to avoid purchasing it?
Of course not. Then why advocate doing
the same thing with a CD?
Jim Huggins
Rackham graduate student
To the Daily:
I was very disturbed by the poor jour-
nalism displayed in the 4/20/90 Weekend
Magazine. While Caroline Gould won the
"Best Person in Ann Arbor" category fair
and square, the Daily felt the need to insult
both her and Bursley Hall, accusing resi-
dents of Bursley Hall of spoiling the con-
test by "stuffing" the ballot box.
Stuffing the ballot box, however, im-
plies that one sends in many copies of a
ballot from the same person or interest
group, or if a group forces people to vote
for a particular person. Such is not what
took place in Bursley Hall, however.
Rather, in an attempt to remedy student
apathy, we made copies of the ballot
available in our hall. Sure we wanted our
hall to win recognition, but people were
free to vote as they chose and all ballots
were turned in, regardless of who they
voted for.
Residents and staff members of Burs-
ley Hall have a lot of respect for both
Caroline Gould and for Bursley Commu-
nity Volunteers, and to trivialize their
achievements by accusing them of stuffing
the ballot box is petty and nonconstruc-
tive.
As members of Bursley Council, we
are insulted with the slanderous manner in
which the Michigan Daily chooses to treat
our residence hall, our people and our or-
ganizations, and we feel that the Daily
owes Caroline Gould and Bursley Hall an
apology.
Elias J. Khalil
LSA sophomore
To the Daily:
In the 4/13/90 edition of the Daily, the
caption underneath Fidel Castro's photo-
graph assigned him the title of president.
Many may recognize him as such, but for
the exiled Cuban community he represents
the revolution that drove them from their
island, their homes, and their families. He
is not their president, he is their dictator.
For the Cuban exiles, the word
"president" is associated with freedom,
simply because it was a president who al-
lowed them the opportunity for another
life in a new freedom. For this reason, to
call Castro a president for a Cuban exile is
unacceptable and painful.
For lack of-a more appropriate word,
we call him a dictator. Even in our new
freedom, he dictates our lives with emo-
tional and psychological tortures because
he still has countless members of our fam-
ilies. In a stalemate, we just wait. We
want Cuba back, but we also want our
families as well. He remains our dictator,
even in exile. Our president, he is not.
I realize many may say I overreact
devoting my attention to this matter. YetI
see the miraculous changes happening in
Eastern Europe, like the dismantling of
the Berlin Wall, while Castro states he
will remain the last communist regime
nonetheless. I may be dreaming when I
say by recognizing Castro as a dictator,
rather than a president, we would find our-
selves closer to democracy in Cuba. A
step like those taken in Poland, Germany,
and Rumania would be a dream come true'
for Cubans.
But if the press continues to recognize *
him as a president, we only fool ourselves
into believing he is something good for
Cuba, when in reality he is not, and never
was.
Parenthood?
University is not students' surrogate guardian
AT THURSDAY'S MEETING OF THE
University's Board of Regents, Deane
Baker said he would support measures
taken against students who smoked
marijuana during the April 1 Hash
Bash, and expressed a desire for the
lJhiversity to prevent Hash Bash from
faking place in the future. Baker's
comments come on the heels of several
attempts by the University during the
past year to limit freedom of expression
on the Diag and to control students'
non-academic lives.
With activity such as a push for a
voade of non-academic conduct, a pro-
posal by Regent Thomas Roach to rid
the Diag of shanties, and steps taken by
the University to prevent the National
Organization for the Reform of Mari-
juana Laws from holding a rally on the
Diag, students have seen an increasing
encroachment by the University into
their personal lives.
The Diag represents the freedom of
speech students enjoy at the Univer-
sity. It has been the site of the annual
Hash Bash and countless rallies and
protests. In 1987, the United Coalition
Against Racism erected a shanty on the
Diag to represent the struggle of the
Black majority in South Africa. The
shanty was said to stand until apartheid
falls.
Since then, we have seen the erec-
tion of shanties for Palestinian state-
hood, proportional minority represen-
tation at the University, and the Tagar
bus representing the bombing of a
school bus on the West Bank. How-
ever, we are now seeing the adminis-
tration try to restrict certain forms of
expression because of their political
content.
It is not the place of the University
to decide what type of political expres-
sion is acceptable or unacceptable on
the Diag. Freedom of speech entitles
students to express' themselves in the
ways they see fit on the Diag, provid-
ing the expression falls within the lim-
its of the law. The University should
let the courts decide whether to restrict
a certain type of expression.
University President James Duder-
stadt and the regents see their role as
almost parental, and they intend to
regulate students' lives to fit in with
what they believe is acceptable behav-
ior. But students should be afforded
the same rights as other citizens; the
courts and the police should take care
of student excesses, and the University
should not expand its role to restrict the
non-academic lives of students.
Freedom of expression is not
something a university should be able
to take away.
Col. leaves public life
To the Daily:
With a sad and heavy heart, for concern
of our fellow Americans, I regretfully
write and submit my resignation from
public life. I have fought a heavy battle
for not days or weeks, but years against
special interest versus total interest. I also
have battled entire national groups alone
and brought them down to my level so I
may be heard.
Our economic pie and national re-
sources should be shared so that everyone
has an existence and no one suffers. I
would be the first to admit that it started
as a special interest and that was the Viet-
nam War. As I continually learned our na-
tion as a whole was in very serious trou-
ble, I found that our erosion within
stemmed from an unbalanced economy
from special interest.
Everyone wants to grandstand and
bandwagon our human problems. As long
as the press is gone, so are they. Our hu-
man and special problems will not go
away until we rid ourselves of special in-
terests and become a total interest for all. I
wish that I was rich enough to feed the
hungry, house the homeless, and get ev-
eryone medical aid. It seems we cut back
all the wrong things We need to cut all
foreign aid and work on giving aid to
home first. No one has the right to blame
our solutions when all of America has a
deciding factor on how this nation is run.
I am mentally, physically and emo-
tionally run down and, in another term,
burned out. I, in my heart, fear that Amer-
ica has gotten its fill of apathy, greed and
an "all for me" attitude to turn back from
her people's own destruction. We are
Daily, the University of Michiganand all
of the people of Washtenaw County. At
times I sought your wisdom on various
projects and I received it from you all.
It's very sad that I have somehow failed
my Blessed America and from my heart I
am sorry. I will be returning to the moun-
tains and I will never come out into soci-
ety again. May God bless you and keep
you all in his graces. Good bye.
Col. Charles D. Tackett
MSA harassed CGF
To the Daily:
I attended the MSA meeting last night
where recognition of the Cornerstone
Christian Fellowship was debated, and I
was so disgusted that I walked out. I have
never seen so many people continue argu-
ing over so many asinine and moot points.
The case in favor of CCF recognition was
made clear in 10 minutes:
1. CCF does not have a membership
policy. It is a fellowship of Christians, and
all are welcome.
2. There has never been an incident of
either discrimination or harassment proven
against CCF.
3. The MSA Compiled-Code (and in 33
days the Constitution as well) guarantees
religious groups the right to determine
their own mission.
4. The wording for this is taken directly
from a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a
Christian group kicked off another college
campus in a similar situation.
As one MSA member put it, when this
issue inevitably comes before a real court,
the "case" for derecognition will be
laughed right out.
None onf the MSA me~mbe'rsonnose~d to
Heidi D.
Gonzalet
LSA junior
Keep
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