Page 4- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 21, 1990
RIb £idiiau Daig
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
ewpoint
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.
r>>
f.. ,
From the Daily
MSA aftermath
Action should heed the voice of student voters
A W Lf S M~~~ VAA A4
1 UCLcx) JQThD 70
'Jo D RT4 1 V
/ ~ /
PERHAPS THE LEADERS OF THE
Michigan Student Assembly should
take a break from their self-congratula-
tory interpretations of the recent pro-
tests against deputation to study the
results of last week's MSA elections.
While the assembly's Action leader-
ship was conducting one of the largest
-- and most broad-based - student
protests in years, the students them-
selves were busy voting against Action
candidates at the polls. Why?
Many of the answers are clear.
Incessant bickering with political op-
ponents, often at the expense of the
student constituency, does not make
for a good public image. Additionally,
fiascoes like the office allocation deba-
cle reflect poorly on the assembly's
leadership.
As a case in point, President James
Duderstadt recently criticized the MSA
leadership for neglecting numerous
possibilities to meet with him and
others in his administration: "We have
tried to set up a meeting with her [MSA
President Jennifer Van Valey] the
whole term and have received no an-
swer," he said Monday.
Van Valey said she has not been
contacted by the President's Office
since the end of the summer, but ac-
knowledged that she hasn't attempted
to meet with Duderstadt, either.
Regardless, the neglect of official
channels can only hamper the ability of
students and student leaders to get what
they want - there's a time for protest
and a time for discussion, but unfortu-
nately Van Valey has yet to discover
the latter.
Primarily, the Action leaders seemed
complacent with last spring's victory,
and showed little inclination to live up
to the promises they made which were
designed to benefit students; instead,
Van Valey and others in her party con-
centrated on self-fulfillment, not stu-
dent fulfillment. An election-day pro-
test, even such a successful one, was
not enough to sway voters back to the
Action column.
The election results clearly show a
negative response to Action leadership.
Still, why did the Conservative Co-
alition (CC) do so well, garnering 10
of 24 seats, while independents and the
Abolitionists did so poorly (the Abol-
itionists acquired nary a seat)?
Perhaps it's time for the Abolition-
ists to change their name to reflect their
platform. There's a lot in a name, and
people who don't read past the head-
lines are unlikely to vote for candidates
whom they think will only dissolve the
assembly altogether.
Students only six months ago re-
jected CC, yet now they have again
achieved a plurality in MSA elections.
Student voters are undoubtedly floun-
dering in a sea of mediocre candidates,
warily choosing whoever currently
seems the least dangerous.
However interpretations of the elec-
tion vary, it is clear that the student
body was not content with its current
leaders.
Hopefully, Van Valey and others on
the assembly will take this vote to heart
and remember the students in the
coming months.
Tell your parents about deputization
By Patrick Kennelly
Dear University of Michigan Parent,
You may have heard about recent
events on campus. The University's Board
of Regents has decided to add armed sher-
iff's deputies to the existing campus secu-
rity force - despite opposition by the
City Council, the Ann Arbor Police
Department and the University commu-
nity.
You may also have heard that the re-
gents intend to institute a "code of non-
academic conduct." Such a code would al-
low the regents to use academic sanctions
to regulate student life outside the class-
room and give them the power to enforce
those sanctions without due process of
law.
Frustrated by the regents' repeated re-
fusal to discuss these concerns, students
and members of the community have
sought to make their voices heard in other
ways, including the widespread non-vio-
lent protests which have attracted local and
national media attention.
We are writing to let you, a concerned
Kennelly, a History graduate student, is a
member of the U-M Students for a Safer
Campus movement.
parent, know why so many students op-
pose this new policy and deplore the
Regents' refusal to discuss these crucial
issues.
Cost effectiveness: We all want a
safer campus, but we don't think arming
University police will effectively deter the
kinds of crime that occur on our campus
- primarily burglaries and vandalism. In
fact, there is no statistical proof that arm-
ing campus police has lowered crime rates
at other campuses around the country.
Ann Arbor police already respond to se-
rious crimes like sexual assault, and the
University can help by spending its
money on better lighting and more walk-
ing escorts rather than arming its own of-
ficers. The regents are set to spend from
two to five million dollars to arm deputies
- our tuition could be better spent on ed-
ucation, and guns should be left to the city
police.
Democracy: As a state institution,
the University has a responsibility to lis-
ten to community voices and incorporate
them into policy decisions. So far, the re-
gents have not. While most students want
a safer campus, in a referendum, 70 per-
cent of them opposed arming campus po-
lice without the input of the student body.
The regents dismantled the University
Council - the only mechanism that gave
students and faculty any decision-making
power. The regents' plan has been criti-
cized by the Ann Arbor City Council and
by Concerned Faculty.
Furthermore, the city and coun@
Democratic parties have passed resolutions
in support of the students' movement.
Most recently, the Michigan attorney gen-
eral determined that the regents violated
state law by conducting their Nov. 15
meeting behind locked doors. The next
day, 2,500 students joined to march in
protest.
Freedom of speech: Many students
believe the regents will use this priva
armed police force and "the code" to sti
voices that might disagree with the admin-
istration on issues such as tuition hikes,
increasing minority enrollment, greater
emphasis on teaching and equal protection
for the rights of all students regardless of
race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or
economic background.
To support our efforts to make the
University of Michigan a safer and more
democratic institution, please inform
President Duderstadt of your opposition to
the Regents' conduct.
Besides, who wants a quarterback
named "Elvis" anyway? And what's with
that last name, "Grrhrbhqck"? Heck, if he
wants a vowel, we've got plenty in
"Ohio" that he could use.
And who can blame their university for
wanting to send their band and that ridicL
lous mascot down here for awhile? If our
band marched like it had recently under-
gone painful Achilles tendon lipposuction
A fair trial
U.S. mistreats Noriega in hope of guilty verdict
LAST WINTER, THE UNITED
States spent millions of dollars and sent
p thousands of troops into Panama. The
troops were there, according to the
government, to capture Gen. Manuel
Antonio Noriega and bring him back to
the United States to stand trial for his
alleged illegal drug trafficking.
The U.S. Government's idea
seemed appealing to the public, be-
cause heading into the wilderness to
catch a "bad guy" drug dealer seemed
to fit into the cowboy scenario
Reagan's politics had set up for
President Bush. As a result, Noreiga
was extricated and incarcerated in a
Florida holding facility.
Now, nearly a year later, the me-
chanics of the trial are under way. But,
in all the grandiosity of the entire idea,
the U.S. government got carried away.
In the effort to treat Noreiga like "the
common criminal," he was placed in a
holding cell much like most criminals
awaiting trial. He was even given a
lawyer, to provide him with proper
counsel, consistent with constitutional
rights. The Government claimed he
r was to be given a fair trial to show his
acts were indeed criminal and deserv-
ing of punishment.
However, one right of the accused
was not granted to Noriega - confi-
dentiality with legal counsel. A number
of Noriega's conversations with his
lawyer were taped via a phone tap.
There is no way to ensure a proper, le-
gal defense when the prosecution (the
U.S. Government) knows the strate-
gies of Noriega and his attorneys.
This foul-up was a direct result of
the Government's desire to have a
"fair" trial, which conflicted with its
need to see Noreiga found guilty. If
Noriega was given a proper trial and
found innocent, the entire United States
CSrcOV CerJ r tbe
PS enviforoment, M2ads &is
di in g its rih-bgble ba
p atc.conitarer t
action taken to get Noreiga would look
wasteful, unnecessary, and unjustified
- which, for the most part, it does
anyway.
So what did they do? They simply
stuck him with all the restraints of the
American legal system, but waived his
major benefits, and, most importantly,
the right to consult counsel confiden-
tially.
It's really not that surprising that
this trial got botched, for it was
doomed from the start. The biggest
stumbling block came in the form of
jury selection. Who could be found that
had not already heard the stories about
"the tyrannical Panamanian dictator
Manuel Noreiga" in the press? Could
the United States actually provide an
unbiased counsel for Noreiga? The ac-
cused himself said that he could not
expect to be given a fair trial in the
United States, specifying the negative
media exposure.
The sad thing is that Noreiga was
right.
If the United States wanted to try
Noreiga and find him guilty the easy
way, Noreiga should have been given a
military court-martial. After all, he was
a general. In this type of trial, all of the
"luxuries" of due process rights could
have been put aside at the Govern-
ment's discretion, and it could have
achieved. its desired outcome. Jury
selection would have been solved and
Noreiga would be rotting in a small cell
in the Everglades.
But, as is not surprising, the U.S.
Government messed up. With the royal
slip-up, they have most likely cost the
trial. A declaration of a mistrial may let
Noreiga out, allowing him to leave the
country and take off where he pleases.
Hey, Saddam Hussein may soon be
interviewing a new military advisor.
By Ty Wenger
This Saturday, amid the eerie stillness
of the early morning haze, they will
come.
Like a foul stench blown by the sickly
wind from up north, the wretched refuse,
the reeking rodents, those vile vermin
from the depths of Hades will return to in-
fest our idyllic campus with their pesti-
lence, filth and rot. They will descend
upon our university, clad in their festering
swathes of maize and blue, until they
scurry back to their mosquito-ridden hole
for another two years.
Yes, Michigan is coming.
Of course, who can blame them for
wanting to visit our pristine learning envi-
ronment, what with that two-bit slum
Ann Arbor that they call home? Oh sure,
maybe Ann Arbor's not all that bad when
you compare it, say to Flint, Michigan -
most noted for the fact that its population
is comprised of more former-automobile-
Wenger is the Editorial Editor of the Ohio
State Lantern.
engineers-turned-Hardees-employees, per
capita, than any oher city in the nation.
And then there's Detroit. Say no more.
And who can blame their team for
wanting to compete upon the hallowed
grounds of the Ohio Stadium horseshoe,
when they have to play in that erector set
and paper mache disgrace that mars their
campus like a pubescent zit scar?
Furthermore, who can blame them for
Who wants a quarterback named "Elvis" anyway?
And what's with that last name, "Grrhrbhqck"? Heck,
if he wants a vowel, we've got plenty in "Ohio" that
he could use.
vs.
UM
wanting to come here when all the
Michigan players and coaches are origi-
nally from the wonderful state of Ohio?
They're just upset because we didn't want
them since they couldn't pass our manda-
tory athlete intelligence examination with
such mind-numbing questions as, "If
someone gave you one smelly rodent and
then took it away, how many smelly ro-
dents would you have?"
your place? John can sure tell us a lot
about the truck drivers and farmers that at-
tend your school's games.
And this whole thing with The - The
Ohio State University - as if, there was
some other school in the state people
would rather attend, or where they would
be able to be admitted.
Now, that little mascot of yours is
something else - it's k-la cute, which
in comparison to some of the students on
campus is quite a compliment. But what
the heck is a Buckeye? And why is that
something to be proud of? With a buck
tooth little acorn running all over the
field, I must say, it can be quite intimidat-
ing to the opposing team.
treatment, we would send them away, too.
And everyone knows about the problems
they have with that wolverine humping
people's legs at football games.
So, all in all, we at the Lantern kind of
understand why those foul, foamy-
mouthed, overgrown ferrets insist on in-
festing our campus bi-yearly like a bad
case of venereal disease.
But it doesn't mean we have to like it
Ohio and then some dufus comes along
and dots the 'I.' That's pretty good. It's
hardly ever mentioned that this takes two
semesters to learn. The first: Spelling O-
H-I-O. Four Credits. The second semester:
Remembering to Dot the I (Another four
credits). I must say, this is higher learning
in Ohio at its best. Some people have ba-
bies faster.
The ultimate fact is that Ohio Sta@
will face off against Michigan this
Saturday, and barring an unforeseen upset
in Minnesota, it will be the competition
for a chance to play in the Gator Bowl.
What happened the last time the
Buckeyes played in Jacksonville? Well,
Woody Hayes just about bucked some
By Mike Gill
There's an old saying that goes: "It is
far better to flunk out of Michigan than to
graduate from Ohio State."
What more needs to be said about the
school that hails down south of Ann
Arbor in a town named Columbus?
The fact that The Ohio State Uni-
versity resides in a town which believes so
strongly that Christopher Columbus dis-
covered America that it named itself after
him, sh uld prove some point.
But what do you expect from a school
whose president's name is Gee - as in
"Gee, I didn't know that?"
Since getting facts straight is not a
strong priority, it is easy to see why this
school, formerly known as a Cow
Now, that little mascot of yours is something else -
it's kinda cute, which in comparison to some of the
students on campus is quite a comDliment. But what