Page 4 -The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 18, 1990 GWbe Mirbkwu ~aiIy EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Viewpoint NOAH FINKEL Editor in Chief DAVID SCHWARTZ Opinion Editor \ I's Hx TOeE IrJ J RANT.. 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. Fom ithe Dly ) Let there be light! 'U' actions show a disdain for student safety CPS 24 HOUR TOW NevL WITH MIDTERMS APPROACHING and both the computing centers and li- braries full, the Diag is busier than usual during nighttime hours. But it seems the lights aren't working. More- over, they have not been working for almost three weeks. The entire west side of the Diag - including the main area near the Graduate Library - has not been lit. Though many students who have been stumbling through the Diag and dodging pot holes have been complain- ing to campus security, the University administration remains curiously unin- formed. The Diag's lighting crisis has gone on for weeks without any official attempts to address it. The fact that a broken lighting sys- tem has been ignored for nearly a month ironically illuminates the Uni- versity's true concerns about campus safety - it doesn't care. This summer, when the Board of Regents voted to implement a private University police force, the regents were quick to discuss how worried they were because the campus area is unsafe. Rather than vote to appropriate needed funds to expand existing pro- grams like Safewalk, or voting to in- stall lights in areas of campus that re- main in the dark - including the Law Quad and many parts of the Diag - the regents decided to hire a private police force. Certainly the regents were con- cerned about something other than stu- dents' safety, because students have consistently opposed armed campus security officers and have long lobbied for more lighting, both on and off campus, and more expenditures on student-run safety programs. Students have a right to security and protection. If fixing the lights were a priority of the administration, the problem would have been fixed long ago. Students need sufficient lighting on campus and the administration must address its responsibilities. In the meantime, students should be careful when they walk home alone on the Diag and around campus. Services like Safewalk will escort students until 2:00 a.m. Sunday through Friday. The phone number is 936-1000. Lock the bathrooms TWO WEEKS AGO THE DAILY reported three incidents of harass- ment in female bathrooms in the Bursley residence hall. In each case, a man entered the women's bathroom and harassed women who were showering. As the Uni- versity investigated the matter, locks were installed on all of Burs- ley's female bathrooms. After the Bursley incident, the University Housing Services should install safety locks on all residence hall bathrooms. Within days of the Bursley break-ins, money for locks sud- denly appeared, and an appropriate lock was installed in Bursley, but not in the other halls where they are just as needed. With almost weekly reports of restroom vandal- ism in the residence halls and the potential for more assaults, all bathrooms should be similarly locked. For visitors and guests, each residence hall should maintain public restrooms on non-sleeping floors, for example near the dining room or in the basement. Safe restrooms for students living inrresidence halls are long overdue and the University should correct this oversight by installing locks on all residence hall bath- rooms. -- . .a ® . Schools of Choice are good choices ~- E - - By Karl Hans Greimei Your editorial entitled "Choice? Educa- tion proposal doesn't address problems" (10/8/90) particularly piqued my interest, especially since you blatantly misrepre- sented two fundamental issues regarding "schools of choice." First, you underestimated the effective- ness of choice proposals, and second, you failed to admit that one gubernatorial can- didate is committed to education. Throughout your essay, you equate Michigan's "educational crisis" with the fact that "the state now ranks 36th in the nation in state-allocated funds to educa- tion." You continue to argue that "the problem is that students who live in dis- tricts where the tax base is low receive less money for education than students who reside in wealthier districts." Yet, as you should know, funding levels do not equal education quality. In- deed, you acknowledge this fact by imply- ing that education quality is a function of appropriate expenditure of funds, not quan- tity of funds. In fact, you proceed to blame ineffective expenditure on the "vast bu- reaucracy that exists in many school dis- tricts." Bureaucratic constraint does stifle school effectiveness, but you fundamen- tally misunderstand and misrepresent schools of choice by arguing that they do not remedy these problems. Greimel is an LSA junior. The entire objective of schools of choice is to introduce effective school or- ganization to the public schools In the most comprehensive study to date on the issue of choice in schools (conducted by John Chubb and Terry Moe of The Brook- ings Institution), school organization was determined to be the second most influen- tial variable determining educational qual- ity. Effective school organization creates effective education. The study concluded that schools of choice initiatives greatly reduce the bureaucratic nature of school organization and, consequently, increase educational quality. To deny this basic tenet of choice pro- tion. Furthermore, you did not only twist the fundamental principles of choice pro- posals, you also disregarded the fact that one gubernatorial candidate does support quality education. State Sen. John Engler (R-Mt. Pleasant) has been a long-time ad- vocate and ardent supporter of choice pro- posals. Therefore, since choice systems are, not "merely another stop-gap measure" and are actually a viable solution to some ma- jor problems facing Michigan's schools, your claim that neither candidate shows a commitment to academia is simply falla- cious. One candidate has initiated an attack To deny this basic tenet of choice proposals and to focus instead on problems concerning unionized teacher job security, either simply mislabels the entire choice issue or decisively proves your ignorance of the topic. posais and to focus instead on problems concerning unionized teacher jobsecurity, either simply mislabels the entire choice issue or decisively proves your ignorance of the topic. Granted, schools of choice do not provide definitive solutions to educa- tional underachievement, but such policies effectively induce increased quality educa- against the perennial problem of lagging education, but you chose to. turn your head. In the future, I hope you take more care to thoroughly investigate the issues yot* editorialize. By misrepresenting the impor- tant issue of public education, you do your readers a great disservice. The Home Front Cease anti-Arab racism and prevent internment Can't get everything IFC responds to Daily IN THE HEATED DEBATES SWIRL- ing around the growing U.S. involve- ment in the Gulf, one important conse- quence has been largely overlooked: the rising anti-Arab sentiment now evi- dent in this country and, even more se- riously, the distinct possibility that such xenophobia may make internment camps a harsh reality for many Arabs and Arab-Americans. Recalling the internment of the Japanese - who were placed in prison camps here during World War II be- cause they supposedly posed security risks - these camps would make eth- nic origin the criteria for detention. Though these Japanese victims have fi- nally won reparations after years of ar- duous legal struggle, internment itself remains a very real option in the minds of many U.S. policymakers. More- over, it still retains its legal status. In the 1945 ruling of the Korematsu case, the Supreme Court upheld that internment during war is constitutional. This means that internment of different groups on the basis of ethnicity is still possible today and can be legally im- plemented. A leak in a government contingency plan in 1987 suggests that internment camps are not an unforeseen possibil- ity. The contingency plan called for the possible deportation of alien activists, visa restrictions of aliens from certain countries, and deportation of "alien un- desirables" in the event of a terrorist threat. A 30-page Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) docu- ment revealed the camp that was envi- sioned to house these "undesirables" is located in Oakdale, Louisiana. According to the plan, this intern- ment camp, specifically designated for Arabs and Arab-Americans, would have the capacity to hold up to 5,000 cussed by the anti-terrorism committee that was headed by then Vice President George Bush. Now, as President, Bush consis- tently complements his direction of the Gulf crisis with demagogic statements about the "Hitler of the Middle East," Palestinian and Libyan "terrorists," and other epigraphs which dehumanize Arab peoples collectively without re- gard for individual rights. This racist ideology justifies many recent attacks against Arab-Americans. In 1985, offices of the Arab Anti- Discrimination Council (ADC) in Cali- fornia were bombed and its coordina- tor, Alex Odeh was killed. Six months later, the ADC offices in Washington were firebombed. In 1988, Arab- American News publisher Osama Siblani received a death threat after appearing on the McNeil-Lehrer report speaking about U.S. policy in the Gulf. The person threatened, "If one American dies you will die." These attacks not only terrorize Arab- Americans but are used to silence dissenters of U.S. foreign policy. U.S. citizens need to speak out against racism and racist policies in all their forms, especially government policies which threaten to violate the basic human and civil rights of people of color and minorities. With the United States drifting closer toward war in the Gulf, the threat of intern- ment camps has once again, become a real possibility. People need to be aware of the racist climate that exists in this country and the ways in which extreme nationalism has historically been used to stir up violence and hatred. Only then can barriers of intolerance be broken down and the concerns of people of color and To The Daily: Many pundits, and the public at large, blame our elected officials for the current budget mess. But our elected leaders only reflect the contradictory message they re- ceive from the voters: Keep our taxes low, but don't cut programs we like. This atti- tude was encouraged and reinforced by Ronald Reagan, who told us that we could "have it all," that we could lower taxes (which he did for the wealthy few), raise military spending (which he did), not evis- cerate the social safety net (which he did not), and still balance the budget (which he woefully did not). Now President Bush is telling the pub- lic that the deficit matters and that we must balance the budget in the name of fiscal prudence. But to most Americans, the deficit is nothing more than an abstrac- tion, while higher taxes and Medicare cuts are all too real. Opposition to the first budget agree- ment came from an odd alliance of conser- vative Republicans, who opposed any tax increase, and liberal Democrats, who op- posed steep Medicare cuts and regressive taxes. Members of Congress were com- pletely justified in opposing the budget agreement worked out by President Bush and congressional leaders. According to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the budget deal would have meant a mere 1 % increase in taxes for those who make over $200,000 per year, a 3% increase for those who make between $20,000 and $50,000, and a sizable 7% increase for those who make 10,00 or less. And this deal didn't even include President Bush's precious cut in the capital gains tax rate, which would have given the wealthy another big fat tax cut. Fortunately, even many congressional Republicans opposed the budget agreement on the grounds that it was unfair to the lower and middle classes. To the Daily: In an article entitled "Fraternities Per- petuate Violence Against Women," (10/5/90) numerous ad hominem attacks were made against fraternities and the Greek System as a whole. The most bla- tant of these unsubstantiated criticisms was the critique that the Greek System's Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Program is a token measure that has been designed only to appease the rest of the University community. Last year's Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Day was the first attempt fraternities on this campus have ever made to address the so- cial ill of date rape. At the session itself, 86 percent of the fraternities were repre- sented, and everyone, including representa- tives from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC), as well as the Greek community, acknowledged the program as an unprecedented success. Over the past year, the agenda of the event has been studied and remodeled. This year, programming has been extended from one day to two days and asks that five mem- bers from each chapter participate rather than only one. Additionally, pledges, uninitiated members of the fraternities, are also included in the event. The University of Michigan Fraternity System openly acknowledges that rape and sexual assault in general are the most re- grettable of actions that one individual or group of individuals can take against an- other. We will gladly accept any construc- tive criticisms of our attempts to combat it. However, the Daily's questioning of. the sincerity of our programming efforts has only damaged the event's credibility rather than having any positive impact on reducing the problem of sexual assault in the University community. John Fink Publicity Chair lnterfraternity Council filled plastic cups, and hot dogs have also been thrown at us. I had hoped that our fans were above that. Unfortunately, just before pregame last Saturday, I watched as our own fans sunk to the same level of immaturity by throwing marshmallows at the State band. Or maybe they didn't sink to that level; maybe they were already there. It's realty sad to watch an.entire section be that rude. It's great to have spirit and even a little animosity toward an opponent, but it must be channelled. The students in sec- tion 31, where I witnessed this display, will go home to their dorms or apartments claiming superiority as they relish how they hit a tuba player with a marshmal- low. Meanwhile, the State fans who were sitting in the opposite end zone went home knowing that they were the superior fans. They cheered when their team needed some support. They made noise when our offense was trying to score in that end zone. They knew how to act as fans at a football game. And down in our student section? Well,. when Dan Enos had his team inside the ten yard line down by the student section, he certainly wasn't concerned or affected by the sound from our student sections. We have a stadium with over 106,000 people in it, and the teams on the field hardly hear anyone, except maybe some of those State fans. Like I said, it's great to have spirit, but. next time focus it on the game. When Iowa comes in here next weekend, don't pelt their band with marshmallows; make that end zone deafening when Iowa comes anywhere near it. Make it difficult for Iowa. Act like fans. Len Kamlet Rackham graduate student