Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 12, 1990 .4 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 S 41 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. The Noriega tapes ~ FAT GJT v uR tN , WS 6AT IF'Y5T Z iii 11 CE !,U ~lh~~ 11 S'r -\> _ M ,0A 1 1S N ~T TN ( 4 T~4'LC- LOSS? Why don't the accused have a right to privacy? THE UNITED STATES GOVERN- ment recently discovered that a long- time adversary of ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was responsible for leaking audio tapes of Noriega's prison conversations to the Cable News Network. Why this was termed a "discovery" remains mystifying, since the man responsible for the leak is a paid witness for the government who was given the tapes by U.S. pros- ecutors. What is not surprising is that the Bush administration is flailing to locate someone or something to blame for the broadcast of the tapes; the government would like the rest of us to forget that recording Noriega's conversations with a member of his defense team violated his constitutional rights. But a federal judge permitted CNN to air the tapes, and the witness' leak cannot deflect at- tention from the real issue - govern- ment misconduct. Rulings of the Supreme Court al- low prison or government officials to tape prisoners' conversations, except those with an attorney. Prisoners are supposed to inform officials before making calls to their lawyers. Noriega did this, yet several conversations with his attorney were taped anyway. The disclosure of hours upon hours of Noriega's conversations - withhis, family, friends and lawyers - brings up another question about the rights of the accused. Why can the government tape any conversation it wants without first getting approval from a judge? Prison officials claim they need to ainonitor phone calls because many trimes are planned while prisoners are MLill in jail. They argue that listening in "pn conversations helps prevent future .rimes, and is thus a necessary inva- dion into prisoners' lives. ' Unfortunately, prisoners are all ;trouped into one category in relation to )hone tapping; there is no distinction - ,ctween convicted prisoners who are serving a sentence and prisoners who are in jail awaiting a trial. People who can't make bail must remain in custody until their court appearances, but aren't they, by constitutional theory, still in- nocent until proven otherwise? Shouldn't a prisoner awaiting trial be afforded the same civil rights as an ac- cused who can afford bail? One would think so, but the Supreme Court has upheld phone tap- ping of all prisoners, except in the noted case of lawyer-client conversa- tions. People in jail awaiting trial, like Noriega, forfeit their right to privacy before they have even been convicted of a crime. The Supreme Court should consider a new interpretation that would treat the accused and the convicted as two dis- tinct types of prisoners, with distinct rights. Innocent people are accused of crimes all the time, but whereas rich suspects can afford bail and return home to talk to their families in person, poorer ones (or suspects for whom there is no bail at all) can't even talk to their relatives privately on the phone. The Court's current stance clearly has adverse effects, predominantly for lower-income individuals. If the government has a compelling interest to tape a prisoner's conversa- tions prior to a trial, it should be forced to convince a judge before monitoring the phone conversations, just as it would have to do if the accused were living outside prison. Otherwise, sus- pects are treated as guilty without the benefit of a trial. Sure, some crimes may be pre- vented by taping prison conversations; but crimes would also be prevented by a government acting as Big Brother that taped everyone's conversations. The derived Fourth Amendment right to privacy is fundamental outside prison, and should be extended to suspects who are in prison awaiting trial. Student leaders respond to Duderstadt By Mark Buchan, Corey Dolgon and Jennifer Van Valey In a recent letter sent to all Michigan students, James Duderstadt claims to "clarify misinformation and confusion" about deputization and democracy. As with his recent letter to students' parents, this letter cost thousands of tuition dollars to mass mail. And as with the previous letter to parents, it is Duderstadt who is guilty of creating "misinformation and confu- sion." Instead of addressing the arguments against deputization and the code, Duder- stadt only picks at the Students' Rights Movement's slogans. No group ever in- tends its chants and slogans to capture complex arguments and analysis; one only hopes to catch the general ideas orspirit behind a movement. Therefore, we don't just shout "No Guns, No Cops, No Code," we also sponsor teach-ins;'canvass in dorms and neighborhoods; write letters to students, faculty, and parents; partici- pate in Mary Ann Swain's travelling medicine shows; and publish the Campus Democracy Report. But instead of answering our questions about the University's continuing efforts to stifle free speech and protest, to control students' non-academic behavior, and to initiate restrictive policies on student func- tions, Duderstadt engaged in a juvenile at- tack on our slogans. Duderstadt begins his letter by framing the deputization argument as a response to campus &afety: "First and most impor- tantly, crimes against people and property are a serious and growing problem on our campus..." Later, however, he reminds us that we have had two deputized campus se- curity officers since 1988. What Duder- stadt fails to tell us is that these officers were never deputized for reasons of campus safety, but to better enforce the Univer- sity's policy on free speech and protest. In 1988, President Fleming's memo on the "Disruption of University Activities" explained that without any deputized offi- cers, the University had "no jurisdiction" in dealing with protests where police in- tervention was "necessary." Thus, deputiz- ing officers would "give them the power of arrest in cases where this would be ef- fective in dealing with violations of our rules." Accordingly, the two officers depu- tized in 1988 have been conspicuously present at student demonstrations. Now, two years later, Duderstadt wants us to be- lieve that deputization is for reasons of campus safety, not for the "disruption" of University activities. these campuses or the feasibility of stu- dent-run security patrols. Nor was the opinion of experts on racial and sexual as- sault solicited. Meanwhile, the University community ranked deputization ninth out of the 10 possible measures that were suggested to address safety; the only option that rated lower than deputization was the regulation of access to University buildings. Despite their unpopularity, these were the two safety measures the University chose to pursue. It decided to spend millions of dol- lars on cops, and restricted access to the Union. Department of Public Safety, our current campus security officers joke abort gassing and shooting student protesters when they are finally given guns. She re- signed in protest. Meanwhile, the admirtis- tration, which claims to share concerns about the "ethical use of force," continu its plans to deputize these officers. ThIP administration's only attempt to investi- gate Goodman's claims has been to allow the Department of Public Safety to look into the incident by itself: it is not com- forting to know that the police officets who harass, intimidate and shoot students will be accountable to themselves. a Whether we call it in loco parentis, paternalism, or autocracy, we must understand that the administration wants to control the entire decision- making process and will only offer students a limited ability to actually govern themselves. S ensiti~ve? Why no diversity in the new 'U' police force? [HE UNIVERSITY HAS ONCE AGAIN sity has taken officers who alread proven its lack of commitment to stu- the objects of student criticism ,lent concerns in its selection of the first given them guns. eight deputized security officers. De- According to the University's p spite legitimate student fears over relations machine, the officers abuses of power, the administration emerge from training with a lidn't bother to look farther than the "sensitivity" to students' needs. T Fleming Building in search of deputy apprentice agenda includes a token Anaterial. hours of "sensitivity training," w The new force, which will suppos- supposedly will compensate for edly be responsible for protecting stu- actual lack of diversity in the fore lents, includes only one woman and self. po people of color. This alone is a Despite promises to provide d cause for worry. One of the major crit- . Deitepsesetoproedes, ,cisms of the soon-to-be-unleashed se- sity i the selection procedures curity officers is a perceived insensitiv- same good o' boys are back, Sty toward various minority groups on leaner and meaner and packing campus. The appointment of the cur- W ent force does nothing to assuage women and people of color, feels genuine fears concerning abuses of with a group of white cops who] Sower. gained nothing but a public relal 0 The new force, additionally, will make-over? consist entirely of current University Deputization is an ill-conceivedi security officers. It seems odd that no matter who staffs the new pc more recruiting was not undertaken for force. But the initial selection ofc Such sensitive positions at such a di- cers only proves that sensitivity i sided university. Instead, the Univer- the University's fort6. y are and ublic will new Their four hich r the ce it- iver- , the only heat. zlarly safer have tions idea, olice offi- s not There was much broader support for the other campus safety measures suggested, such as increased lighting, safewalk ser- vices and education. The University ini- tially ignored these suggestions. It was only in response to a series of student protests that they began to give so me money to some of these programs. How- ever, no money has been granted for in- creased education on sexual assault, despite a 90 percent approval rating in the admin- istration survey. Because Duderstadt has never been able to prove that deputization would actually increase campus safety, he continues to claim that the principal argument for it "is that campus-based officers will be more sensitive to the problems of the Univer- sity, more responsive to the unique needs and values of the community..." Not only does this statement betray the actual his- tory of campus deputization (as a response to the "disruption" of activities in 1988), but it ignores many recent events. On Nov. 10, the University had a stu- dent arrested for chalking an anti-adminis- tration slogan on a Haven Hall brick pillar and charged him with "malicious destruc- tion of property"; he was arraigned last Tuesday. On Nov. 15, the University called in Ann Arbor's riot police to arrest 16 people stating a sit-in at Duderstadt's office. Two weeks ago, a University secu- rity officer used a video camera to film demonstrators at Duderstadt's house. And last week, a University security guard used a choke hold on an unarmed person of color in attempting to remove Duderstadt's section on "No Guns" contains some blatant contradictions and very questionable figures. Earlier, he dis- cussed the importance of having ani; creased security presence, yet in this s tion he explained that "under our new sys- tem, there should be fewer armed persoO- nel on campus per average shift." In fa4t, the new police force will be "in accessible offices around the campus... not on rou- tine patrol except in special circum- stances." Somehow, Duderstadt wants as to feel safe because we have our ovn armed police, safer because they won't l)e patrolling with their weapons, and ev4 safer because they will patrol with their weapons in "special circumstances" such as demonstrations and protests. Similarly, Duderstadt claims that tie "incremental" costs of deputization will "be in the range of $600,000 per year." Yet $600,000 wouldn't even cover the proposed 24-person force's salaries if you include health and other benefits. When one adds in the costs of equipment, tigi- forms, maintenance, six brand new squ- cars, a new headquarters, furnishings and support staff, etc., the costS will easily top $24 million a year. Ron Scheibel, tie county sheriff, recently confirmed this es- timate. Finally, in the "No Code" section, Duderstadt claims that "the developmentpf a code is not an issue for the University administration." But last winter, Duder- stadt was quoted as saying he wanted code in place by this fall, and draft cop of a code were being circulated around 4d- ministrators' offices this semester. In fact, he destroyed the University Council be- cause student representatives opposed the kind of code the administration desired. : Duderstadt explains that students 4Oe appointed to all the most important Urii- versity bodies that "advise" Executive 0f- ficers; but these students have no power in determining final policies. And the admu istration clings on to its right t appoir these students; it is obviously not.in the best interests of the administration to ap- point students who can eloquently disagree with their policies. When Duderstadt concludes by saying "I welcome your comments and sugg4s- tions for improving communication4," students must understand this ps "Duderspeak." Duderspeak, coined in a Daily editorial, is the smiling fagade a& fancy prose that administrators use to ww $1 Instead of answering our questions about the University's continuing efforts to stifle free speech and protest, to control students' non-academic behavior, and to initiate restrictive policies on student functions, Duderstadt engaged in a juvenile attack on our slogans. Agree. Disagree? What's your opinion? The Daily wants to hear from you. Send or bring lefters-to the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard Street. Or, you can bring in letters on Macintosh disk or send them via MTS to "Michigan Daily." Under his "No Cops" section, Duder- stadt claims that the decision to deputize officers was "not an easy one nor was it taken lightly. There have been extensive discussions, consultations, surveys, and data collection, much of which is publicly available at the University Library." Aside from the lengthy, unreadable survey being stored on the bottom shelf of the Grad's Reference Desk (where only a few of the librarians even know of it), the students' him from the Michigan Union Grill. Se- curity called in the Ann Arbor police for assistance. As the man struggled to breathe because of the chokehold, a student intervened, claiming that the man was his guest. The police then arrested the student. Are these the "unique needs and values" of our community? Meanwhile, university police forces around the country have been responsible for a series of terrifying student injuries. The fun's just beginning, but be careful mfl flT A rV flTO llr I T A Orr T1 A v f% r. ir' . . t ..I n - r ~A n...a li:. na..P