Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 27, 1990
hib e idihjan Bui&L
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
'N~ 5~C1 cj JuW& oUTh' 3 E*LEW t
NOAH FINKEL
Editor in Chief
DAVID SCHWARTZ
Opinion Editor
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.
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Temple shows no respect for grad student union
A FACULTY STRIKE AT TEMPLE dergraduate, and forcibly dragged them
University in Philadelphia has virtually out of the building. The next day, the
shut the campus down - close to 80 Vice President of Student Affairs, mak-
percent of all classes have been af- ing use of Temple's version of a code
fected. Precipitated by an administra- of non-academic conduct, suspended
tion proposal to decrease faculty wages all seven graduate students, banning
and slash health benefits, the strike has them from the entire university cam-
taken on increasing significance now pus.
that both Temple's graduate students Temple President Peter J. Liacouras
and employee unions are demonstrating has tried to split his opposition, hinting
their support. The battle lines are grow- to students that the faculty are to blame
ig sharper. On one side, teachers and for ruining their education. "Only the
workers are struggling for basic rights students are right in this situation," Li-
and control over the quality of univer- acouras has said. But the undergradu-
sity education; on the other side, an ates have conclusively shown which
administration deaf to faculty concerns, side they are on and who is really to
is intent on union-busting and preserv- blame for the university's tense atmo-
img its own bureaucratic power. sphere. An undergraduate group, Stu-
Graduate students at Temple have dents in Solidarity with University Pro-
long been trying to gain union recogni- fessionals, has staged several protests.
tion. The administration has always On September 7, more than 500 shut
refused, using "carrot and stick" tactics down the University's main thorough-
against them. When the Graduate Stu- fare, demanding that the administration
dent Employees' Organization (GSE) relent. More joint demonstrations and
gained recognition from the Temple sit-ins are being organized by both
Student Government last April and graduates and undergraduates for next
Were granted $900 to organize, the week.
Dean of Students Office vetoed both As our own University administra-
their recognition and their funding. tion continues with its plans to impose
The response was increased organ- a private university police force - and
izing. By the end of the summer, more with preliminary drafts of a code of
than 500 of the 750 graduate students non-academic conduct already circulat-
crried union cards, and their own 2- ing - the events at Temple highlight
diy strike was held in the first week of another underlying purpose of depu-
the current semester. The administra- tized security officers: union-busting.
tion responded by offering a $700 a As the Graduate Employees' Organiza-
year raise and vague promises of tion (GEO) here prepares for next
health-care benefits while still bluntly year's contract negotiations, it will face
refusing to recognize the students' right a hostile administration that has repeat-
to collectively bargain. GSE refused to edly tried to undermine the union since
accept this administration bribe at the its inception, and will face the prospect
cost of their legal right to organize. of having any form of collective action
Although continuing to teach, union on its part met with university guns and
members have been selectively mixing intimidation -- a reality already faced
classes on labor relations and union not only at Temple, but among workers
history with their traditional syllabi. organizing at Berkeley, Wisconsin, and
Joined by sympathetic undergraduates, Yale as well.
they have also taken part in protests The events at Temple demonstrate
and sit-ins to pressure the administra- again that university administrators will
tion to negotiate. display no hesitation in unleashing their
0 The administration has responded security forces against university
wvith force. Last Tuesday, a group of workers. More importantly, they also
graduates and undergraduates staged a show that only through collective mass
sit-in at the office of the university action and creative student protest can
president to demand that the university students and workers hope to stand up
negotiate with its faculty and with the to university administrations which -
GSE. After four hours of protest, offi- on issues ranging from worker repre-
ders of the Temple Deputized Police sentation to security deputization -
Iorce entered the building, arrested clearly do not have their best interests
Seven graduate students and one un- in mind.
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Conservatives shouldn't despair
By Manuel F. Olave
Many new students at the University of
Michigan, particularly those of a conserva-
tive bent, often find themselves shocked
by the all-pervasive influence of the cam-
pus left. From the student government,
campus publications, and sympathetic fac-
ulty, it appears that the radical left is
firmly entrenched in the power structure of
the University. These radicals create an
atmosphere where Conservative and even
moderate students are afraid to speak their
views, lest they be branded as "fascists,"
"racists," or "homophobes," as the events
at last weeks Regents meeting showed.
In this situation it seems that conserva-
tives would simply throw their hands up
in disgust and try to ignore the situation
as best they can. Fortunately that has not
been the case as a good number of conser-
vatives have been involved in trying to
upset the balance of power. They have ac-
tively challenged the radical left, starting
from small numbers to gaining the respect
of a good number of students on campus.
That they have staying power is apparent
by the lefts' own rantings. In the past they
generally ignored the few vocal conserva-
tive students to not give them "legit-
imacy," concentrating instead on attacking
the University administration, U.S. imp-
erialism, or whatever conspiracy they
brewed up.
Now the radicals reserve some of their
harshest criticisms for the conservative
members of the students government, the
Michigan Review, and groups like Tagar
- Students for Israel. It goes without say-
ing that the number of active, conservative
students has increased greatly.
The galvanizing factor behind this con-
servative revival on campus was the stu-
dent elections of two years ago. Aaron
Williams, a member of the Conservative
Coalition, won the presidency of the stu-
dent body in a heated election. That an
openly conservative candidate could win in
Olave is a senior in LSA majoring in
political science and history.
a University known for its left-liberal tra-
dition was amazing. This was coupled
with the emergence of the College Repub-
licans as one of the larger, if not largest,
political group on campus. The momen-
tum generated continued the next term
when CC won a landslide victory in the
election for representatives.
Unfortunately the left managed to get
the results of those elections thrown out
by using very questionable methods. The
culmination of this confrontation was the
presidential elections of last year. The rad-
ical left managed to win that election, after
a particularly vicious campaign.
What is important to notice in that last
election was the fact that the radical party,
Action, had to portray themselves as mod-
erates in order to gain the support of
mainstream liberals on campus. After all
they won by only 200 votes in a contest
where more than 6000 students voted.
is easily explained. Outside of the ivory
towers of the University of Michigan,
Conservative Republicans have won the
presidency of the country the last three:
times. Ridiculous ideologies, particularly
Socialism, are collapsing worldwide,
although from the talks of certain faculty °.
and students you wouldn't believe it. Mos
of the ideas the radicals preach such as uni-
lateral disarmament, support for Commu-
nistic "Liberation Movements," and a silly
obsession with semantics simply don't;
wash with a majority of students who
know better. That these purveyors of non-
sense manage to intimidate the student
body is a sign of how obnoxious a few re-
calcitrant idiots can be.
If you are a conservative and want to
change this nonsense there are man
things you can do. There are vocal organi-
zations such as the College Republicans,
Young Americans for Freedom, and Stu-
Most of the ideas the radicals preach such as
unilateral disarmament, support for Communistic
"Liberation Movements," and a silly obsession with
semantics simply don't wash with a majority of
students who know better.
They were forced to keep most of their
agenda hidden, lest they disturb many lib-
erals and moderates who normally oppose
the worst excesses of the left.
The most blatant example of this ma-
nipulation by the leftists was their support
for politically motivated off-campus trips.
During the election they completely
avoided the issue, but no sooner had they
won, that a thousand dollars was appropri-
ated for a political junket to the occupied
territories in Israel. Many people who
voted for Action have come to regret their
choice.
Of equal importance to notice is that
the absolute number of students voting for
conservative candidates has increased, de-
spite the loss last year. The reason for this
dents for a Conservative Campus. Our
student government is the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly which has elections twice a
year, one coming up in November - get
involved, or at least make sure you vote!
If you like to write editorials get in-
volved in this newspaper, yes, even in the
Michigan Daily Opinion page there's
room for conservatives! If you are a mod-
erate or a liberal and you don't like the rad-
icals, do something about it too. Remem-
ber these radicals are a small minority of
the student body, who have gotten away
with too much for too long. When the
"silent majority" finally wakes up these
radicals will finally be put in their place,
on the fringes where they belong.
Auto contract
UAW too conciliatory in
AS THE PERSIAN GULF CRISIS
moves closer to a possible shooting
war and oil prices surge to nearly $40 a
barrel, consequent fears of an economic
tecession are becoming a crucial factor
tn labor negotiations such as those
ecently concluded between the United
Auto Workers (UAW) and General
Motors (GM). The result of these.
zegotiations was predictable: victory'
4or management; defeat for labor.
But long before talk of a recession
egan, the UAW had demonstrated that.
it was not going to pursue a sufficiently
aggressive negotiating strategy in con-
tract talks. Though surveys conducted
4mong workers throughout the past
Dear demonstrated that the cost of liv-
ipg allowance (COLA) - inflation ad-
justment - was their most vital con-
oern, the UAW hierarchy decided in
May to ignore this issue during nego-
tiations. In contrast, the Canadian Au-
toworkers Union (CAW) - which left
e UAW in the 1980s for being too
6onciliatory toward management -
ijust used a militant one-week strike to
vin a contract guaranteeing both an in-
Sured COLA and hefty pay raises over
the next three years.
Increased job safety, another of the
workers' key concerns, received only
token attention in the contract talks.
There was no serious headway made in
forcing management to insure the
negotiations with GM
The UAW-GM talks did make some
progress on the issue of job security as
it applies to plant closings. The prob-
lem in the past has been that manage-
ment could shut down any plant with
virtually no notification to the workers.
But under the new contract, GM is
now required to compensate workers
for the maximum 36 weeks that their
plant may be idled - with benefits
amounting to 90 percent of their
salaries. If the plant remains idle after
36 weeks, those affected workers are
put into a job pool where they receive
100 percent of their benefits while do-
ing some kind of work for the com-
pany until their plant is reactivated.
It is regrettable that the UAW, con-
tinuing to accept all too readily man-
agerial logic about "recession,"
"profitability," "competition," and
similar buzzwords, did not negotiate
more vigorously, especially on the
COLA and job safety issues. The case
was different in 1987, when the econ-
omy was healthier and the UAW pur-
sued a tougher strategy in its talks with
Ford. The resulting contract was one of
the more progressive in the history of
the auto industry.
But unlike their Canadian counter-
parts, the UAW this time around not
only seems unwilling to strike in de-
fense of its interests, but even uncertain
about lust what those interests actullyv
Cartoon is incorrect
To the Daily:
Russell Baltimore's cartoon "George
Bush and James Baker, 3rd, during a hard
day of politicing [sic]" (9/26/90) fully dis-
plays the paralyzing ignorance so typical
of the Daily Opinion Page.
Mr. Baltimore's message isn't a politi-
cal opinion -- it is simply wrong. The
cartoon implies that Bush and his staff are
not working during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Bush's and Baker's day begins before
dawn, involves countless reports, meet-
ings, and decisions, and ends very late at
night. I feel quite sure that Bush and Baker
work more in a day than Mr. Baltimore
does in a week.
Mr. Baltimore should have commented
on the merits of the Bush administration's
policies, where there is room for legiti-
mate debate. Libelling Bush and his staff,
though, does nothing but show the car-
toonist's ignorance.
Carey Brian Meadors
Publisher, Michigan Review
RI ll hrnlw th law
4
sequence. Instead of taking steps to break
the vicious cycle which she had begun,
she chose to seek an illegal abortion.
Contrary to the well-publicized belief
that state legislators' only intent is to
force minors into a parental trap, legisla-
tion like Indiana's is enacted to prevent si-
tuations like this. Pointing a finger at the
government as a scapegoat avoids an im-
portant issue: Being biologically mature
clearly does not render one a mature adult.
Had she obeyed the law, Becky would
not have suffered the fate that she did. She
would have received proper medical atten-
tion. Becky made a series of poor choices.
Let her unfortunate story serve as an ex-
ample not to state legislators, but rather to
those who through no one's fault but their
own, may one day find themselves in a
similar situation. The lesson is simple: If
you are not in a position to handle all the
possible consequences of your behavior,
then abstain.
Emily Metzgar
LSA Sophomore
Section is too narrow
To the Daily:
My housemates and I, after reading
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