0 Page 4 -The Michigan Daily --Tuesday, November 20, 1990 EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNMVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Viewpoint 'U. affects students in a lot of ways 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. Out of tune 'U' office errs in not booking minority bands The Office of Major Events (OME) has recently come under fire from mi- nority groups, mainly the Michigan Student Assembly's Minority Affairs Commission, for not bringing in mi- nority performers. The Office of Major Events, for the uninitiated, is the University office in charge of produc- ing concerts at venues such as Hill Auditorium and Crisler Arena. The controversy stems from the fact that OME has recently refused to stage such acts as Anita Baker, Miami Sound Machine, and Hiroshima, citing pri- marily economic reasons. Different student groups were ready to co-spon- sor all those entertainers. The major concern cited was that these acts would simply not bring in money. As the OME Director Kevin Gilmartin said: "You take an enormous economic loss if you try to produce Black music in a white bread basket... Washtenaw county has a small market to draw from." To say Black acts would not bring money is plain silly. Washtenaw County is located in Southeast Mich- fgan, where there has traditionally been a large African-American population. 'Furthermore, events at the University have regional appeal, which attract people from around the area in addition to students. Gilmartin should be reminded that people from cities like Detroit, Lansing and Jackson regularly come to shows in Ann Arbor. Hill Auditorium is sup- posed to have near-perfect acoustics, making it among the best concert halls in the State. An Anita Baker concert would certainly have drawing power there. Miami Sound Machine and Anita Baker have routinely cracked the Bill- board Top 100. Both of these acts have sold out halls in many other parts of the country. Besides them, there are many Black, Hispanic, and other acts that continually are at the top of the pop charts. Concert goers pay a lot of money to see these acts, and they usu- ally sell a lot of tickets to their shows. And these groups' appeal routinely ex- tends beyond a particular community. On this campus, student groups want to book these acts, but they need the help of the University. The OME has given no realistic explanation of how these chart-topping acts would be unprofitable. Their excuses are very hollow, and their intentions are in doubt. The Uni- versity should make a conscious effort to bring minority groups to campus. To do any less unnecessarily embarrasses the community, while alienating a large section of the population. By Corey Dolgon Organizers of the anti-deputization struggle have already stated how an armed, administration-controlled police force will directly affect campus life: armed cops will chill free expression and protest; intensify the harassment of women, people of color and gay men and lesbians; and cost University students millions in tuition in- creases. But - as if these weren't enough - there are other University cop-related is- sues that expose important connections between the role of students on campus and the University's role in society at large. In 1987, then-Vice Provost for Academic Affairs James Duderstadt urged the regents to rescind the University's "end-use" restrictions on military research. This policy (known as the "kill-maim" clause) prohibited researchers from work- ing on projects to produce increasingly ef- ficient weapons for human destruction. The regents complied. Since then, the University has taken in millions of dollars in Defense Department grants to conduct research on such things such as SDI and biological/chemical warfare. Although this money never leaves the confines of engi- neering and the "hard sciences," increased military spending on campus has added to the University's reputation as a "top re- search university." We help build the war machine. Weapons research is not the only link between the University and the "real" Dolgon is a Rackham graduate student, the chair of the MSA Students' Rights Commission, and a leader of the Students for a Safer Campus movement. world. Much of the research in the social or "soft" sciences actually intensifies structural problems in American society by presenting systemic failures as individ- ual pathologies. And places like the Institute for Social Research are regularly commissioned by big business as well as the government to conduct studies that confirm predisposed positions - it's no accident that ISR was chosen to conduct the survey that the administration now uses to justify arming cops. And even the humanities propagates structural inequalities by reinforcing elite notions of what "knowledge" is, while si- lencing or marginalizing the experiences and cultures of "non-traditional" groups. The university simultaneously produces and justifies U.S. dominant culture. Fleming sent a confidential memo to regents calling for a five-point program deal with the "disruption of university ac- tivities." In the document, Fleming la- ments that "since 1964, political issues like the war in Vietnam, social tensions surrounding racial injustice, environmental problems, research policies, discrimina- tion, and other similar issues came to the campus and found a permanent home." Thus he proposed a package asking the regents to adopt a policy on free spee and protest, terminate the Universit Council, and deputize campus security of- ficers. Fleming explains that these mea- sures "should vastly improve our capabil- ity to deal with disruptive acts." Again, the regents complied. It's clear to the organizers of the anti- It's clear to the organizers of the anti-deputization movement that the administration is trying roll back the repressive clock on student participation in both campus and world affairs. 0 Since the 1960s, however, students have challenged the role that universities play in reproducing the U.S. military and cultural domination. Not only did student movements strengthen the civil rights and anti-war struggles, but they directly chal- lenged the University's involvement in world oppression by protesting ROTC and CIA recruitment on campus, by demand- ing divestment from companies complicit in South African apartheid, and by forcing curriculum changes that opened spaces for "non-traditional" voices to be heard and empowered. In 1988, Interim President Robben deputization movement that the adminis- tration is trying roll back the repressive clock on student participation in both campus and world affairs. As our govern- ment speeds towards the brink of a war in the gulf which will lead to catastroph' human suffering, their efforts at silencin students comes at a very precarious time. Given the University's own interests in U.S. foreign policy, there can be little doubt it will intensify its efforts to stifle students' voices of opposition in any way it can. Now, more than ever, the adminis- tration mustn't be allowed to have the guns on their side. After the Thanksgiving break, a letter from President Duderstadt addressing the issue of campus deputization will appear on the Opinion Page. 'M' will not be spending this Xmas in Opryland Regents should stop silencing students To the Daily: Sports columnist Eric Lemont clearly "was not admitted to the University on the -strength of his knowledge of geography or -music history. Allow me to take a mo- iment here to correct some of his deficien- cies in these fields. Mr. Lemont, please follow these easy steps: : Pick up a map of the United States. Locate the spot on this map where .Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi meet. This spot will be labeled -"Memphis." This, as you correctly noted in "'M' hopes to avoid Xmas in "Opryland," (11/14/90), is the home of the Liberty Bowl. Now look a bit to the right. -Somewhere near the middle of the state la- beled "Tennessee," there should be a dot labeled "Nashville," which, as reading the -map's scale will reveal, is several hundred -miles away from Memphis. Nashville, not Memphis, is where Opryland, Conway Twitty, Louise Mandrell, and the Blue Ridge Mountains are located. To clear up another geographical mat- ter, Lemont says that in Memphis, there -re "streams of people mistaking Elvis (Willoughby Hills, Ohio) for Elvis (your local K-Mart)." Not true. Everyone in ,Memphis knows that Elvis is six feet underground at Graceland, content in the knowledge that he did it his way. The most widely reported post-1977 sighting of Elvis was in Kalamazoo, Michigan, wasn't it? Far from being home to twangy coun- try music, Memphis is a great blues and rock town where B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and, yes, Elvis Presley fine-tuned their sounds before be- coming nationally known. As a native of Memphis, I can attest that it is a kickass town where I know I'm spending Christmas. Hey, we all wish we were smelling roses and everyone wants to take out Ohio State. If 'M' ends up in Memphis, though, it'll be a good time for anyone who fol- lows the team down. Jeff Danziger LSA senior Get Lemont a map! To the Daily: Even though I am from Memphis and would love to see the Wolverines play in my backyard during the Winter Break, I would much rather see them on television in Pasadena fighting for a national cham- pionship. Who knows... maybe next year. But if we end up in my hometown for the Liberty Bowl, and if Eric Lemont and any other Blue fans make the road trip for the festivities, here are some pointers. The Liberty Bowl is in Memphis, Tennessee, in the southwest corner bordering Mississippi and Arkansas. I assume that Mr. Lemont did not have a handy road map to check his facts before he sent his article to press. Nashville is in the center of the state, a mere three hour road trip from my home. Nashville has the mountains. Memphis has the Mississippi River. Nashville has Opryland. Memphis has Beale Street, the home of the blues. And who can forget Graceland? Forget about K- Mart sightings. To quote Living Colour, "Elvis is dead." Any Memphian could tell you that. Forget Conway Twitty and Louise Mandrell. If the Blue win, they'll be toast- ing with B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis. Lastly, don't ever confuse country with the blues. On a final note, I don't understand how this article could have made it through the editing process without someone catching the errors. Enclosed is a copy of a Rand McNally Atlas and a Memphis Tourist Guide. Barry Cohen LSA junior To the Daily: For about two weeks, I've been hearing about the protest that is currently going on at the Fleming Building. I could hardly avoid it, despite the efficiency with which. University Groundskeepers removed the posters, eliminating every written instance of "Stop Guns on Campus" or "The U Police Force Will Cost YOU Money." I never planned to go, of course. I have a very low tolerance to everything from the enforced sense of community the left projects, to their flimsy logic, to Corey Dolgon's singing. Especially the singing, come to think of it. But I suspect that Corey means well, and I had always sus- pected that the regents meant well also. Until this week. Yesterday I watched a University em- ployee remove the last of the "No Cops" posters, leaving up a gamut of posters from Soundtrack advertisements to "for sale" signs. Today, I heard that the University is ticketing students for chalk- ing the Diag with slogans. They're ticket- ing their own students for using CHALK, for God's sake! No one is ticketing the MSA candi- dates who chalk or the people who write "happy birthday" messages to one another on the Walking Bridge. No, you have to say something the University really doesn't like to get ticketed. Whatever these students have to say about deputization and armed security offi- cers, shouldn't they have a right to say it? They are students, not some bunch of out- side agitators, and there are certainly worse crimes than chalk. What could be so frightening about these students that the regents feel compelled to silence them in- stead of explaining to the rest of us why these kids are wrong? Don't misunderstand me. I am certainly no liberal. I have belonged to the College Republicans for four years, and have writ- ten for The Michigan Review for two. I disagree with the strategy behind sit-ins and rallies. Riot negotiations never con- vince anyone of anything. What is needed is rational discourse. The regents and many of the students disagree. Let's at least attempt to talk about it. What could be harmful about a reasonable, calm dis- cussion of our differences? I am honestly perplexed and hurt that the regents and administration seem to be hiding from any rational debate on the subject. Until now, most of the regents and administrators have struck me as basi- cally decent people, trying to make as many people as happy as possible, but were leaving, after jumping on the first bus headed that way after I was told that the question-and-answer session had been moved. I felt that my one normal way of contacting the regents had been removed without reason. I don't want to riot in order to have m* voice heard. I don't even have the time. All I want to know is why the regents are afraid of talking? These silencing tactics only lend legitimacy to the sit-ins and ri- ots. Like an ignored child, your students yell louder and louder for your attention. How loud must they get before you let them speak? I am concerned about the probability of accidents with armed campus security offi- cers. Some dark night, a vagrant is goinP to reach into his coat a little too fast, and an officer will react as well as he can, but sooner or later that won't be enough. Giving weapons to officers won't make me feel any safer; it will only increase the number of people who might possibly shoot me. Please, listen to our com- plaints. Before you write us off as chil- dren, give us one last chance to act like adults. a Joseph Klein LSA Senior Michigan Review Asst. Editor, The, 1~ 'w __ ~ I - - - - '4- * e .9 7VrTh~~~ i Destructive chalking To the Daily: While walking around campus last Thursday, I discovered that the "No Gunst No Cops! No Code!" activists had beer hard at work the night before, chalking up their slogans practically everywhere on campus, in order to publicize the rally they held at Regents' Plaza that afternoon. I found it dismaying, however, to see some of the sites that these activists chose to chalk. Besides writing on the sides of University buildings (including the inside of an elevator in the Michigan Union). some activist had written the above slo- gans on the Diag poster boards advertising Soph Show's production of "Sweet Charity" and the UM-OSU Blood Battle. I can possibly understand why these ac- tivists would choose to vandalize University property (since they view the University administration as their oppo- nents), but why vandalize these posters? The ends - no matter now noble do not justify the means. In seeking t