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Page 4 -The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 19, 1990
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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 thg Daily.
Viewpoint
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Teach-In
Education will strengthen student movement
"No Guns! No Cops! No Code!"
THIS CATCHY SLOGAN HAS BEEN
the focal point of the student movement
against University regulation of
students' non-academic lives for the
past two months.
instituted pieces of a code of non-
academic conduct, and has created the
mechanism to enforce it has been
noticeably absent from the past week's
events. It seems as though many more
students have expressed interest in the
movement, but have done so without a
comprehensive knowledge of the issue.
Educating the gendral student body
about this process is integral to the
movement at this point - without a
better knowledge of the issues at stake,
many students will lose interest.
Thus, the leadership of the move-
ment has decided that a Teach-In on
deputization is necessary. Teach-Ins
were prominent aspects of anti-Vietnam
protests in the 1960s, and were very
effective intmobilizing students not
generally involved with activist move-
ments. It was specifically the Teach-Ins
that took place on this campus that had
a great effect on the national anti-war
movement.
The "No Guns! No Cops! No
Code!" Teach-In will take place today
at noon at the Michigan Union. The
different effects deputized University
police and a code of non-academic will
have on the student body will be ex-
plored in a variety of seminars
throughout the day.
The movement leadership is to be
commended for the planning of this
event. It will surely serve to increase
student involvement.
In any activist pursuit, there needs
to be broad-based education to ensure
the movement's direction and effec-
tiveness. Ignorance of the issues can
only undermine the struggle against a
University police force, and combatting
this ignorance must begin now.
All students are encouraged to attend
tomorrow's Teach-In to broaden their
knowledge of the movement and its
history.
Although it has been effective in
garnering support and attention, with-
out further explanation it has served to
confuse many students, and left many
asking what it truly means.
Sharp phrases such as this one are
effective in beginning a movement, but7
cannot carry a movement to fruition.
The history behind the "No Guns!
No Cops! No Code!" movement is
equally as important, and is even more
important to students who have not
been involved throughout.
" The process by which the l
University has slowly but steadilyl
Duderstadt
To be honest, this column isn't really
about President Duderstadt secretly bearing
Elvis' child, which of course isn't true.
Duderstadt's baby was actually conceived
by aliens.
The headline was just a gimmick to
make sure that nobody passed this column
up thinking that it was another opinion
piece about deputized security. I realize
that most of you don't care what I think
about deputized security. I mean, I don't
care what you think about deputized
security.
This is not to say that I support cops
with guns. Guns don't stop rape, because
most rape occurs in apartments and dorms.
What we need, obviously, is better light-
ing. In addition, guns don't stop'poverty,
racism, or the curiously high proportion
of cauliflower served in cafeteria meals. So
anyone can see that guns are not a solu-
tion to our problems.
I just think that we have more
important issues to deal with than campus
police. Pythons, for instance.
You've read about the escaped python
named "Dog" which is slithering around
somewhere in Couzens. The soon-to-be-
evicted owners claim that the snake is
harmless. But careful research, by which I
mean watching science fiction movies, re-
veals that when repulsive creatures disap-
pear into dormitory attics, they usually en-
counter dangerous chemical radiation
which mutates them into enormous mon-
sters with a high tendency towards devour-
ing scantily-clad teenage girls.
Chait is an LSA first-year student.
"
"So how does this involve me?" you
are thinking, "I probably do not live in
Couzens Hall and, in any case, I am not a
scantily-clad teenage girl." You smugly
assume that you are in no danger whatso-
ever of being swallowed alive by a mutant
python.
But there's more. The snake owners,
you might recall, were photographed with
an artist's rendition of the snake. On the
face of it, this seems pointless, because if
a Couzens resident spotted an escaped
python they could be pretty certain that it
was "Dog" (Let's see, the tail isn't thick
enough, and "Dog" does have beadier eyes
... Nope, this is the wrong python.)
I had Elv
'IS'baby
terly enough, "Cauliflower Casserole."
What could they do with all this
cauliflower?
You never see anybody eat it
Obviously the pythons have demanded that
the university provide them with a large
weekly supply of cauliflower or else they
will begin devouring students instead.
The problem with this strategy is tha@
eventually the snakes will get sick of eat-
ing cauliflower and will want to start eat-
ing humans. And who do you think
they'll try to eat? It won't be Dean Baker;
because snakes never eat their own kind:
They'll be coming after us students. So
we'd better get organized.
The headline was just a gimmick to make sure that
nobody passed this column up thinking that it was
another opinion piece about deputized security. I
realize that most of you don't care what I think about
deputized security.
Human rights
Sandinista violations must be recognized
The only logical explanation for this
artist's rendition is that there is more than
one snake. The administration doesn't
want anybody to know this, of course, be-
cause these sorts of situations tend to dis-
courage applicants.
So what we're looking at here is a
massive university cover-up involving
multiple rampaging gigantic man-eating
mutant pythons.
Skeptics may argue that this theory
lacks evidence. But how else can you ex-
plain all of the cauliflower that has been
served in the cafeteria? They serve it plain,
in soups, salads, pasta, and even, sinis-
A good first step would be for MSA to
form a Python Protest Committee. Next,
we should think up some good'slogans.
The best I could come up with are "Hey
Hey Ho Ho, Mutant Pythons have got to
go" and "The students, united, will never
be eaten," but I'm sure that some of bur
more experienced protesters could do bet-
ter.
Then we could build popular support
for our movement by occupying the
CRISP room in Angell Hall and vowing
not to ever leave it, no matter what. And @
whatever you do, for gosh sakes don't eat
the cauliflower.
O N A U G. 14, NEAR THE
Nicaragua-Honduras border, a mass
grave containing 17 skeletons was
opened in the presence of government
officials and human rights
investigators. It was established that the
dead were members of an Evangelical
Church who were rounded up and shot
by Sandinista counter-insurgency
troops in April of 1982.
Since then at least 13 other secret
graves have been found in the moun-
tains and swamps of Nicaragua. In
many cases, the victims' hands were
tied behind their backs, and some had
their throats slit.
Peasants from northern Nicaragua
are reporting human rights violations
from the past 10 years on a daily basis,
now that the Sandinistas are no longer
in power. The Sandinistas, to escape
any blame for these crimes, have
passed a law declaring amnesty for any
crimes committed during the war.
The backdrop to these atrocities was
the contra war, in which the Soviet-
supplied Sandinistas battled the U.S.-
backed contras. Both sides were guilty
of committing atrocities against, the
civilian population. But for many hu-
man rights organizations, the emphasis
seemed tobe on violations by the con-
tra rebels. For example, the human
rights group America's Watch did not
accuse the Sandinistas of systematic
human rights violations until 1988, af-
ter the war was officially over.
On the other hand, they accused the
contras of following a systematic pat-
tern of violations dating back to 1984.
It often seemed that many people were
more concerned with using this infor-
mation to stop U.S. aid to the contras
than they were in denouncing viola-
tions of human rights, regardless of
who committed them.
This is a moment for those North
Americans who supported the Sandin-
istas, to reflect on what was done while
they were in power. These violations
were kept hidden for years, although
there were periodic reports coming out
of Nicaragua, which didn't receive a lot
of press attention.
Regardless of where one stands on
the issue of the contra war and the
Sandinistas, one thing is clear. The
Sandinistas did commit heinous cnmes
against the civilian population of
Nicaragua. Murdering civilians is
inexcusable, whether the murderers are
contras, Sandinistas, or the
government of El Salvador. Many of
those who supported the Sandinistas
must prove their commitment to human
rights by voicing their opposition to
these inexcusable abuses.
Decision for war
should be the people's
To the Daily:
Just because the President customarily
delegates supreme command of the
military forces in active service, there is
absolutely no constitutional reason as to
why he should do so. In "Senators seek
larger role in Gulf crisis" (10/18/90),
Secretary of State James Baker, who
sought to quickly end the controversy, was
quoted as saying, "We should not have a
constitutional argument over whether or
not the President as commander-in-chief
has authority to commit forces."
The key senators who initiated this
demand for Congress to be more involved
in military decision-making were not
asking for an "argument," but only for the
U.S. government to act according to our
constitution - the basic source of our
democracy.
Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) represents
their asking why such a clearly stated and
crucially important portion of the
constitution as Article II should even be
questioned. "The notion that the President
alone would be able to commit American
forces in a military assault in effect
without receiving a shared decision by the
Congress is contrary to the Constitution."
Any U.S. citizen who also questions
this clearly American and necessary
congressional consultation should be
questioned as to the loyalty and genuity of
their national virtues. ". . .The President,
populous.
These common citizens are the ones
who will actually fight, and eventually
pay the consequences if our nation were to
enter a war; they need to feel that they
have had an opportunity to buy into.
decision. Their closest representatives are
the members of congress. These leaders
have been elected by all different individual
areas of our country. Our president has
been elected by only a little over half of
the United States' voters.
Lastly, Baker's reason that a vote on
Capitol Hill could tip off the Iraqi
President about a pending military
operation should not justify one man's
making the decision to commit human
lives and resources.
It is ironic that American intervention
in war is often to defend democracy, when
it does not use democratic means to
intervene.
Haley R. Hertzler
LSA first-year student
Review lacked focus
To the Daily:
I cannot, as an avid theater-goer con-
stantly searching for innovation and
unique vision on the many University
stages, allow Jill Robbins' pedestrian re-
view of Reckless to stand uncontested. It
would be a shame to have this unequaled
Basement Arts production merely recorded
as and "ambitious, but inconsistent" at-
tempt by director Jon Casson.
So vague are Robbins' observations of
rnc nn__,n ai o_ . . won_ _ r_ . f isn te
game-show sequence?"
I get the feeling Robbins' untrained eye
was unable to detect the many subtle
symbols Casson incorporated into this
production.
When attempting to give much de-
served praise to the cast of Reckless she
omits part of the cast but states "many of
the other actors also executed their roles
well." I would like Ms. Robbins to hive
me one example of a bad performance.
So, let the record show that Reckless
canngt and should not be remembered as
and "ambitious yet inconsistent" produc-
tion, but celebrated (as it is by the words
of the majority who saw it) as and effec-
tive artistic vision.
Robbins' review seems to be that of a
dress rehearsal, not the polished perfor-
mance I saw on Saturday night.
G.E. Muggleton
ARMS WTRO A. tAG
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