Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Friday, September 13,1991
She Mchiga Bail
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan
ANDREW K. GOTTESMAN
Editor in Chief
STEPHEN HENDERSON
Opinion Editor
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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.
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Maintenance fee
University should cut costs, not put burden on students
A s though it weren't enough that students have
beenhit with at least a 7 percent tuition increase
this year, they are now also being asked to cough up
an extra $100 for a new building and facility
maintenance fee. And while it is clear that the new
fee is partially a result of the University's increas-
ing financial pressures, it is equally evident that the
bloated administration here is largely responsible
for creating those pressures in the first place.
The national median salary for a university
president is $98,000; President Duderstadt makes
$162,000 in salary and $194,000 with bonuses.
The national median salary for a university's chief
financial officer is $62,000; the University's chief
financial officer, Farris Womack, makes $157,000
in salary, and $179,000 with bonuses. Other Uni-
versity administrators are paid equally dispropor-
tionate wages.
The University administration has grown 48
times faster than the student body over the past
decade. In the same period, admittedly necessary
building repairs have been neglected, class sizes
have ballooned, and dorm rooms have become
closets. Tuition increases have grown prohibitive.
Nonetheless - and despite both a national
recession and Gov. John Engler's predictions of
massive budget cuts - the University's top-heavy
administration voted itself another hefty round of
pay increases last year ranging from 6 to 17 per-
cent.
This is the context for the University's decision
to slap students with a maintenance and building
fee. And this is why that decision borders on the
absurd. As a public institution supposedly pledged
to quality education, administrators have no busi-
ness raking in such hefty piles of money while
students themselves suffer.
Sacrifices - if state budget priorities indeed
mandate that they are necessary -must be shared.
If campus buildings need to be repaired, fix them.
But the administration must begin to find ways to
pay for maintenance and repairs without relying
solely on students' checkbooks.
Of course, the state should not have cut funding
for buildings and maintenance in the first place.
The University should be able to rely on Lansing to
maintain its "Ivory Towers." But because it can't,
it mustcut excessive and unnecessary expenditures.
At the very least, students should not be footing
the bill. And they should not be footing it as a
disguised tuition increase, which is essentially
what the new fee is.
Unless the University changes both its priori-
ties and the way it presents them, it will be high
time for students to mount pressure campaigns
designed to force such transformations.
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Pump up the pep!
Band, cheerleaders, should be at every football game
uring the first half of this past weekend's to perform.
Boston College game, Michigan players and So let the c
fans alike were demoralized - and rightly so. to play on -j
Second-ranked Michigan was losing to a 24-point State and Nol
underdog. Clearly, a rousing chorus of "The Vic- opponents.
tors" and a good cheer were needed to provide the
team with an emotional boost.
But thanks to a wrong-headed Athletic Depart-
ment policy, the only cheering came from some
pre-adolescent cheerleaders borrowed from a local
high school. Worse yet, the Michigan Marching
Band was replaced by a well-meaning, but under-
standably inferior high school band.
This season, the Athletic Department will pay
for band members to attend only one away game-
Michigan State. Four members of the Michigan
cheerleading squad were able to go to the Boston
College game with help from the Michigan Alumni
Association, but the full team will only get funds
from the Athletic Department to travel to Michigan
State. Given their hard work, proud tradition, and
morale-boosting role, Michigan's cheerleaders and
band members deserve better.
They deserve the right to represent the maize'
and blue at every important sporting event. They
work as hard as the football team to perfect their Band members
skills; they should be given the same opportunities
De Klerk's new proposal is a paper tiger
heering continue and allow the band
not just against the likes of Florida
tre Dame, but against all Michigan
Don't park
in handicap spots
To the Daily:
A large number of University
students don't know how to read.
Ever since classes resumed, it has
been impossible to find a handi-
capped parking space.
Everywhere I have gone over
the last two weeks, there has been
someone parked in the handi-
capped spaces illegally. I have run
into this situation at the bank, the
supermarket, K-Mart and even in
my own apartment complex
parking lot. I have a handicapped
parking permit because of
weakness in my legs due to
neuropathy.
When I question people about
why they are parked in these
spaces illegally, the answer is
always the same: "I'll only be
here a minute." The fact of the
matter is, people just don't care.
I am going to start blocking
their illegally parked vehicles by
parking my own car behind theirs.
I will not move my own vehicle
until the police arrive to issue
them a ticket. I have had it with
inconsiderate people. No wonder
the world is going to hell when
people can't read a simple sign
like "handicapped."
On the other hand, maybe
those people who park illegally in
these spaces are handicapped -
between the ears.
Rick Hayner
Ann Arbor resident
Can B&R
To the Daily:
Another year, more home-
work, more rain, more "Bread and
Roses." The former seem
unstoppable; B&R should go.
First of all, the Daily is a
newspaper, not a political action
magazine. By running an out-and-
out socialist column, the paper
decreases its own objectivity and
journalistic standing. Granted, the
column appears in the editorial
section, the fact remains that
giving over a regular column to
socialism - without a compa-
rable column devoted to laissez-
faire capitalism - is an endorse-
ment of the socialist agenda.
Second, the column is not
written for the mainstream
audience. The average person on
campus has no particular ideology
except perhaps a vague respect for
diversity. "Bread & Roses" makes
no attempt to justify socialism to
the mainstream; it takes socialism
as a starting point and proceeds to
apply it.
My suggestion? Abandon the
column. The left already have
Agenda, the right have the
Michigan Review, but the center
stands open. It's not too late for
the Daily to step into the political
mainstream on campus.
For those who wonder why I
haven't mentioned the author of
the column, I should mention that
to do so would - according to
socialist morality - unfairly
ignore all the little people who
make the column possible..
If the Daily should take the
second option and print a conser-
vative column (Brie & Wine?) I
should mention that I have a little
room in my schedule to do some
writing... just kidding.
Jason Larke
LSA sophomore
Info in story
was incorrect
To the Daily:
As a University student from
the New York City area, I had the
opportunity to follow closely the
case of LSA sophomore David
Donahue this summer.
Upon returning to school, I
was interested to see how the
Daily would cover the story.
Jennifer Silverberg's story,"'U'
Student Faces Charges In Beat-
ing," (Sept. 9, 1991) needs to-be
corrected.
The main problem with the
article rests with the two times it
cited Donahue as an active
participant in the beating of
Jermaine Ewell. I would suggest
that the Daily refer its research
staff to the Newsday cover story
titled "What Happened That
Night?" (Aug. 5, 1991).
According to the Newsday
account, which is corroborated by
the findings of the Grand Jury
indictment, Donahue had no
active role in Ewell's horrible
experience. The Grand Jury, in
fact, only charged Donahue with
criminal possession of a weapon,
incite to riot, and conspiracy,
while it indicted the other four
defendants for assault and/or
attempted murder.
In the future I should think the
Daily would separate the facts of
a story from the rumors surround-
ing and differentiate original
charges from indictments. I am
writing because the Daily plays
the major role in disseminating
information to the student body. It
owes not only its readers, but,
more importantly, the subjects of@
its information, the most clear and
well-founded facts.
Peter McPartlln
LSA senior
Frat parties
not BYOB yet
To the Daily:
The Daily's recent article on
the Greek system and the BYOB
policy ("IFC executive board
pushing for approval of BYOB
policy," Sept 11, 1991) was both
misleading and misrepresenting of
the facts.
Although the IFC Executive
Board has agreed to begin
discussing the feasibility of a
BYOB policy, the article made it
seem as if a BYOB policy were
inevitable. On the contrary, IFC
representatives from each
fraternity house have yet to begin
debating the topic in the IFC's
weekly meetings. This debate is
scheduled to start next week. It is
these representatives who will
ultimately make the decision
about whether or not to bring
BYOB to this campus.
To call Greek support for
BYOB "overwhelming" is simpl
outrageous. With fraternities
facing increasing pressure from
their nationals, the community,
and police, chapters have begun
to take a closer look at BYOB.
But this consideration of BYOB
should not be considered to mean
"support" of such a policy.
In addition, the article quoted
IFC President Matt Commers as
saying that each fraternity was to
have tried one BYOB party befor
the end of last term. Whether for
better or worse, IFC has never
passed such a trial policy nor was
one agreed on by the entire
fraternity system. Only a small
number of houses have acted on
their own or in small groups to try
BYOB parties.
The Daily should avoid
jumping the gun in proclaiming
the creation of a BYOB policy
and instead should allow the
proper channels - the IFC board
and representatives - to look at
this issue intelligently and
responsibly, as I know it will.
Bruce Namerow
member,
IFC committee to review the
social activity polhy
LSA junior
- -
cheer at last year's Maryland game.
1
L ast week South African President F. W. de
Klerk outlined his government's proposal for a
new constitution. Supposedly aimed at creating
genuine universal suffrage for all South Africans,
it is long on style and short on substance.
The current parliament, which excludes South
Africa's Black majority, is divided into three
chambers - one for whites and two smaller,
weaker chambers for people of mixed race and
Asian origin. De Klerk's proposal would replace
this structure with two chambers, both open to all
South Africans.
Membership to the first chamber would be
strictly proportional. Membership to the second
chamber would be determined by tabulating the
vote in nine newly designed regions. This regional
chamber would have veto power over legislation
enacted by the first chamber.
De Klerk's plan also includes provisions for
replacing the post of president with an executive
council of three to five members drawn from the
main political formations.
President de Klerk's plan for South Africa's
political future is clearly a weak attempt to create
"universal suffrage." He has outlined a future for
South Africa where the real power of the Black
majority would be severely diluted.
First, the second chamber of the newly created
parliament would, under de Klerk's proposal, be
dominated by property owners and taxpayers. This
would favor the white majority class, since they
own most of the property. Millions of Blacks have
no real homes; they remain in squatter camps or
rented homes without legal status. By giving this
chamber veto power over the first chamber, whites
would be able to veto legislation enacted by the
Black majority, which would most likely dominate
the first chamber.
Secondly, by abolishing the post of president,
de Klerk and his National Party have made it
impossible for the Black majority to choose a
single leader, thus encouraging in-fighting and
fragmentation among rivaling Black groups.
It is not difficult to see through de Klerk's
proposal. Instead of abolishing apartheid, the new
constitution merely reshapes it under the guise of
creating anew democratic government. De Klerk's
longstanding insincerity underscores why it was
foolish for President Bush to drop U.S. sanctions
against South Africa, thereby forfeiting
Washington's main form of political leverage in
Johannesburg.
At a time when most other Southern African
nations are taking real steps toward democratiza-
tion, South Africa remains fixed on maintaining
apartheid.
While Zambia and Mozambique will both be
holding their first multi-party vote in impending
elections, South Africa - the region's most in-
dustrial, developed, and educated country -
stubbornly holds on to the status quo of white
minority rule.
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Battling for a meal on the weekends:
by Lisa Libman through Sunday, Stockwell Hall overcrowding in the cafeterias,
6:00 p.m. I come in from the
second day of classes and an
afternoon of waiting in line at
book stores and dump my
backpack on my bed. Practically
tripping down five flights of
stairs, I rush to Stockwell Hall's
cafeteria to grab some long-
awaited dinner. No such luck! I
stare in amazement at the line,
growing longer and louder by the
second. My eyes follow it warily
as it wraps down the hall, around
the corner, and into the 1-5
corridor.
A 20 minute wait, at least, I
and the other halls serving dinner
were inundated by more than
2,000 "displaced".students.
Whether or not the money
has decreased greatly.
Now you may thinkI am
complaining on behalf of
Stockwell Hall residents only, but
Due to the University's decision to close
Couzens, Alice Lloyd, Mo-Jo, and West
Quad's cafeterias Friday through Sunday,
Stockwell Hall and the other halls serving
dinner were inundated by more than 2,000
"displaced" students.
Nuts and Bolts
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saved by this curtailment is being
re-directed into building renova-
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that is not the case.
Everyone living in hill-area *