A century of editorial freedom Vol. CI No. 3 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Monday, September 10, 1990 The 1990aily *Summit leaders condemn Hussein HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev joined Sunday in a joint condemnation of Iraq's inva- sion of Kuwait, and said they agreed 'in seven hours of summit talks that "aggression cannot and will not pay.~ Gorbachev emphasized the need for a "political" solution, insisting his former ally, Saddam Hussein, is headed "into a dead end" by strug- gling to hold Kuwait against stiff in- ternational sanctions. Bush held out the possibility of using force if the embargo is not ef- fective, but Gorbachev pointedly re- frained from saying the Soviet Union would support a military move against Iraq. 4 Yet the Soviet president said he * See SUMMIT, Page 2 Seven hurt in Union brawl Four people remain hospitalized after fight erupts during party by Cathy Best A party in the Michigan Union turned into violence early Saturday morning, leaving three University security officers beaten, four young men stabbed and one man shot, after fighting erupted. Phi Beta Sigma, a University fra- ternity, was sponsoring the fundraiser, when fighting broke out at around midnight. According to Ann Arbor police, about 500 people were at the party, which was open to the public. Fraternity members, witnesses and Ann Arbor police officers said those involved in the melee were not likely University students. Police made no arrests. According to an Ann Arbor police report, those involved in the violence were groups of Ann Arbor residents and Ypsilanti-Willow Run youths who have a history of mutual hostility. None of the injured were Univer- sity students. Witness Jiba Anderson, an LSA first-year student, said the fighting began inside the party. "One minute everyone is dancing, and the next minute the floor (cleared)," he said. After the dancing resumed, An- derson said the floor cleared again, and then chairs were "flying," as another fight erupted. Vice president of Phi Beta Sigma Harold Mitchell, an LSA senior, said as soon as the fighting in the ball- room started, some fraternity brothers ran inside to help breakit up. They stopped the music and told everyone to leave. See BRAWL, page 2 A'T OUNY M. L'acaLIyI The Michigan Union ballroom was the site of the Phi Sigma Kappa party where a fight broke out early Saturday morning. Seven people were injured - four of whom remain hospitalized - when the fight was brought outside. i Obscenity debate set in uncertain by Anne#8 Petrusso and Kristin Palm Daily Arts Editors First in a five-part series From the controversy over public funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, to the arrest of such rap groups as 2 Live Crew, Too Much Joy and Kid 'N Play, to the obscenity trial of a museum director for displaying a Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit, many kinds of arts have been publicly deemed obscene or immoral by many influential people. These incidents would merely be a matter of public debate if law and lawmakers were not involved. But this is not the case. In the mainstream media, this current flourish of censoring or restricting artists centers on two issues: obscenity and morality. U.S. District Court Judge Jose Gonzalez ruled the content of the 2 Live Crew album As Nasty as They Want to Be obscene, prohibiting its sale in a three-county area of Florida. Dennis Barrie, director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, is being tried on the charge of public display of obscenity due to the content of Mapplethorpe's photographs. These are two major incidences on which the debate is focused. "There are obscenity laws in every state in the Union," .said Robyn Blumner, director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who was involved with the 2 Live Crew case. However, these laws are enforced randomly. Alan Wildmon, public relations director of the American the. Politfi. S *..Art Family Association (AFA), stated his support of these arrests: "Our position is this: you've got various laws, state laws, elected officials to pass obscenity laws, and these laws are based on a ruling by the highest court in the land, the United States Supreme Court. "We felt, like any other law, these laws should be enforced regardless of whether I don't like it or someone else doesn't like it." It was the AFA, headed by Wildmon's brother, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, that initiated the investigation of As Nasty as They Wanna Be. One reason often cited for the concern with content is the protection of young minds and traditional values. "We support traditional family values, and when you are advocating raping a woman and breaking her back and... her vagina, we feel that you've stepped over the line, especially for minors," Alan Wildmon said. Robert Walser, a musicologist who has taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota, sees the situation differently. "The mainstream media or law- enforcement people would have us believe that that case (of 2 Live Crew) is about protecting children from vicious messages, protecting women from misogynist messages, that kind of thing," Walser said. "(But) that's a case where it's really clear that that's not what's going on at all, because the county where those people were arrested is a county that has strip shows and sex clubs and all kinds of things going on," he said. "It's about oppression." Dave Marsh, rock critic and editor of the music newsletter Rock-n-Roll Confidential, agreed with Walser's statements. "You can't go with this ridiculous, stupid notion that this has something to do with protecting children because it doesn't have anything to do with protecting children. It has to do with censoring adults. "I don't think a strong case can be made that a Madonna record or a... Bruce Springsteen record or for that matter even a 2 Live Crew record is... promoted at kids; maybe it's promoted at people who are immature. "We're dealing with people who want to take away (2 Live Crew member) Luther Campbell's right to speak in the name of protecting women and children... I love kids but I don't want everything I write for the rest of my life reduced to the level of whether or not it is acceptable to a six-year-old. I don't think that's good for the six-year-old to have to live in that world and I know it's not good for me." A similar debate concerns funding for artist grants by the National Endowment for the Arts. Many artists who were expecting grants this year were surprisingly denied them because of the controversial nature of their work Barry Lynn, legislative director and counsel for the American Civil' Liberties Union's national office, believes the current rise in awareness about censorship began with the NEA controversy, which currently requires those who receive grants to sign an anti-obscenity pledge. Lynn explained, "I think there is a growing amount of interest in this [censorship] mainly focused or originating from the controversy over federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. That seems to have done two things: coalesced right wing forces who believe that sexually-oriented art is pornographic and should not receive federal funding, and it also has led to a genuine chilling effect on the part of artists and exhibitors of art who fear they may become the subject of legal actions if sexually-oriented material is on display in their facility." The AFA's Wildmon expressed a point of view counter to Lynn's and similar to many critics of the NEA. "It's not a matter of censorship, it's a matter of sponsorship. Every U.S. department in Washington has guidelines on how money can be spent and the NEA is no different than the rest of them," he said. NEA critics hope to discontinue public funding of what they call offensive art. This art, they say, should be paid for by the private sector. "We feel that the artists should be free to express themselves in any way they want to express themselves," Wildmon said. "But, by the same token, we don't feel that the taxpayers should be forced to pay for this." The anti-censorship forces believe both the charges of obscenity in rock lyrics and the threat to the NEA either constitutes or borders on censorship, and they say the heart of the issue is politics. Ideas regarding morality and obscenity, and the racial and.cultural fears of people, some said, are used in the localities in which these incidents occur so erms elected police officials and prosecutors can score easy points with voters. Florida's Blumner said she has observed this in dealings with elected politicians. "Sheriffs and local prosecutors see this as an opportunity to gain some additional notoriety while attacking an issue they think is popular." Lynn agreed, noting that "Most of the stuff is happening at the local level. County sheriffs decide to get some political points from a piece of their community by' busting the clerk at a porno book store, the clerk at a record store for selling 2 Live Crew tapes, as if 2 Live Crew does anything other than reflect what's really going on in the culture." Michigan has not been exempt from this type of action. Recently in Royal Oak, the owner of the Off the Record music store was issued a citation by city police for displaying an allegedly obscene poster of the cover of heavy metal group Jane's Addiction album Ritual De Lo Habitual. And this fall, hearings will continue in the Michigan legislature for a package of bills that would broaden the scope of materials that can be deemed legally obscene. But Lynn said the realm of local politics is as far as this issue will be carried because these cases will not hold up in court. In order to be See OBSCENITY page 17 State Democrats nominate Maynard Analysts differ FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Michigan Democrats yesterday gave a rousing reception to Olivia Maynard as their new candidate for lieutenant gover- nor, while trying to close the door on Lt. Gov. Martha Griffiths' bitter departure from the ticket. Delegates hugged and kissed Maynard as she made her way to the platform after being nominated to replace Griffiths. The former congress member and long-time champion of women's rights was booted from the ticket after two terms by Gov. James Blan- chard who said he feared she was no longer able to step in as governor at a moment's notice. Griffiths skipped yesterday's por- tion of the convention after asking that a tribute to her be canceled be- cause she did not want to listen to to advance the cause of women's rights in this country and every man and every woman and every child in this country owes much to her." Griffiths was instrumental in adding provisions barring sex dis- crimination to the civil rights laws and in prying the Equal Rights Amendment from a balky House committee. The amendment failed to be ratified by enough states. Otherwise, the day belonged to Maynard. Delegates wore black tee-shirts with the words "Libby, Libby, Libby" in fluorescent colors on the front. They waved signs that read "Maynard for Michigan" and "Flint loves Libby" and chanted "Libby, Libby, Libby." Maynard lives in Flint and is former chair of the Michigan Demo- on Iraqi BAGHDAD, Iran (AP) - Iraq's foreign minister yesterday sought help from Iran in cracking the U.N.-1 imposed embargo on Baghdad, but the United States and Soviet Unionl renewed their commitment to the sanctions.1 Syria's official news agency reported that a series of 461 explosions were heard in the Iraqi town of Al-Qaim near the border, resulting in an undetermined number of casualties. ABC News identified the site of the blasts as the Al-Qaim chemical plant. The official Iraqi News Agency denied the report of explosions in Al-Qaim. Last month, Polish workers returning home from Iraq reported that about 35 Americans were brought to the chemical plant in Al- OntnnnAttin_ 17 tinder ward. It position The analysts contended Iraqi air- craft are no match for the U.S. wart planes and believe the Americans would quickly gain air superiority. But some said Iraq, with its army of about 1 million men, has some of the best ground forces in the world and that a conventional war cannot be won by air power alone. In addition, Iraq's chances for bat- tefield success are hurt by its leader- ship and its inability to take full ad- vantage of the sophisticated weapons it possesses, the analysts said Saddam, who has no military training, gives the orders, and-the ,analysts said they were not, impressed by his tactical decisions during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. However, they said the lightning invasion of Kuwait indicated tha, See GULF, Page 2 I--e . . , . ,..._ _ .. s.ti, ti ..., . ... .. _ _. ,. ..