Page 4 -The Michigan Daily -Thursday, September 26, 1991
4 4 4T!Xgantt C
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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Ta kin stan
Students should act to protect their own rights
4I PCr,4TY FED uP 'A'TH
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A s each day passes, University students grow
more and more dissatisfied with the Ann
Arbor City Council and city law enforcement
agencies. The City Council's vote killing zoning
laws that would allow for expansion of fratemities/
sororities--together with police distributing noise
violations and closing apartment parties - has
caused tension between students and local authori-
ties to increase.
The typical response, it seems,is to complain to
everyone that will listen and conclude that the only
escape from this tyranny is graduation. This is both
ineffective and unnecessary. The truth is that there
are many different courses of action available to
the student body.
The first possibility is to take actual legal re-
course. Ann Arbor has a human-rights ordinance
that prohibits discrimination by police or anyone
else on the basis of race, sex, creed, color and
educational affiliation.
The last group described applies to anyone
registered to attend classes at the University. If a
student believes that they were discriminated
against through excessive police harassment or
biased city policies, then filing suit could be a
legitimate path to follow. However, this may be
impractical in terms of the time and money re-
quired to get results.
There are also a few more viable answers for
those on fixed budgets and busy schedules. The
studentbody, almost a third of the city's population
Unfa ir Housi
Policies discriminate against ho
O n Friday, Sept. 20, the University passed a
resolution reaffirming its policy excluding
lesbian and gay male couples from living in Uni-
versity family housing. The decision was made
despite strong recommendations in favor of more
open housing by the Study Committee on the
Status of Lesbian and Gay Men.
The present guidelines outlined by the Uni-
versity are unfair to homosexuals because they
define too narrowly one's housing eligibility. The
University should follow the committee's recom-
mendation to change the current discriminatory
guidelines and general criteria..
Despite the fact that some residents in
Northwood family housing on North Campus have
signed a petition in favor of keeping same-sex
couples fromgetting equal treatment, the University
has a responsibility to uphold its housing non-
discrimination clause, which dictates that it can not
discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. It
has clearly violated this clause in its policies on
same-sex family housing.
from September to May, could register to vote in
Ann Arbor and actively shape the future of its
community. There are currently 80,097 residents
registered to vote here, but anyone residing in Ann
Arbor for at least 30 days has the power to register.
Considering that the average City Council Repre-
sentative is elected with 2,800 votes, a voting
student body of well more than 30,000 would make
a difference.
But perhaps the solution with the most lasting
impact is that of student activism. There are an
abundance of politically active student groups on
.campus involved in local government. Because of
such organizations as the Students Rights Com-
mittee of the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA),
the campus chapterof theAmerican Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), College Republicans and Demo-
crats, the Human Rights Committee of Ann Arbor
and many others, there are various avenues through
which students can voice their opinions and con-
cerns. If groups do not already exist to fit a student's
individual needs, the Student Organization De-
velopment Committee is a good place to ind help
for starting a new group.
These are some of the options open to every.
person on campus. If recent laws or confrontations
have sparked an interest, don't just grit your teeth
and bare it. Do something about it.
Having the ability to correct past injustices is a
privilege and responsibility that must not be lost in
the shuffle of papers and exams.
ing
mosexuals
Not only is it the University's responsibility to
change its criteria for family housing, but it is also
the Ann Arbor community's responsibility to
provide homosexuals with the means for obtaining
legally biding partnerships.
While federal law should protect the right of
lesbians and gays to obtain equal protection, it does
not. Until legislation is passed on the federal or
state level, it is the responsibility of individual
communities to take action..
Ann Arbor should follow in the footsteps of San
Francisco, Calif., and pass an ordinance recognizing
homosexual partnerships. Such an ordinance would
give homosexual couples the legal status they need
to fulfill the current University criteria for family-
housing.
Both the University and the city must act to
recognize gay and lesbian couples' right to live in
family housing in all areas of the community. And
until they do, members of the community must
continue to apply pressure on local officials to
make these necessary reforms.
- -- -- - <
AATU cut
unfounded
To the Daily,
I'm terribly sad to hear
about the 46 percent cut in the
Ann Arbor Tenants' Union
(AATU) budget. This is not
only a sad loss for the students
of the University, but for city.
residents as well.
The AATU is probably the
most likely and possibly the
only service a student will use
in the course of their stay in
Ann Arbor. To see this service
nearly eliminated is at the very
least, stupid! The AATU has
saved thousands of students
with hassles from landlords, by
not only informing them of
their rights but also of the
options they can use.
.pThis has saved students
more money than Michigan
Student Assembly (MSA)
President James Green and his
conservative cohorts could ever
give them.
The students arenot the
only losers here, city residents
also lose out on the fair amount
of laws that the tenants' union
helped pass over the last two
decades of dedicated work.
These rights and protections
have helped everyone in the
city who rents, students and
residents alike - be it dis-
crimination, repairs, handicap
access or just trying to get your
security deposit back from the
landlord.
This is just one of the
services the city receives from
the University being here -
knowledge to new or better
approaches to solve problems.
Who wants to be denied
knowledge?
So where is this new
cooperation between the
University and the city head-
ing? The way .I see it, it appears
downhill.
What's next for the axe of
the University to cut - the
hospital maybe? If the Univer-
sity is going to shut off the
knowledge and efforts students
have made to the benefit of the
entire community; maybe the
city should shut off something
like fire protection or sewers to
the university.
So the big question I would
like to ask Green and the
University administration is,
"How does this really benefit
students or city residents, and
at what cost to both?"
David Noel
Ann Arbor resident
Rethink U.S.
foreign policy
To the Daily:
I believe that we need to
think seriously about US foreign
policy.
I am not sure that we have a
clear idea of first principles and
our vital interests. I believe that
we need to develop our govern-
ing principles, define our vital
interests and then act on that
basis.
The United States should
encourage the growthof
democratic values. This is out
of vital interests. It is not out of
our idealistic notion that our
way of life is the best.
The United States had no
interest in civil strife, war or
subversion. The United States
does have an interest in peace
and prosperity and the rule of
law.
We have interests to further,
we are not in the business of
saving the world from itself.
. Also, we should think about
our vital interests, what they are
. and how we further them in a
way consistent with our values.
We should concentrate our
efforts in those regions. It
follows from this that regions of
the world differ in importance.
Howard Waldrop
Ann Arbor resident
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Retirement
New A2 policy unfair to younger
T heAnn Arbor City Council, in hopes of avoid-
ing a costly legal clash with R. Bruce Laidlaw
- whom they wanted to get rid of- has created
a three-month window, during.which any 50-year
old employees who have served for at least 20
years can retire without pension penalties.
While the opening of the Sept. 31 window may
appear to have removed the possibility of dis-
crimination against workers other than Laidlaw, it
still discriminates against those workers who's
birthdays fall shy of the Dec. 31 deadline.
Laidlaw is a well-experienced lawyer and well
aware of the tricks of the trade. Thus, he may have
been able to force the city into an expensive legal
battle. To avoid a nasty courtroom brawl, the city'
created the new window, through which Laidlaw
and 45 other city employees escaped pension
penalties.
The policy, however, seems to overlook those
approaching their 20th year of service and a 50th
birthday after Jan. 1, 1992. Some might not have
cared about retiring at 45 before this window had
beencreated, butthe penalty inpension discouraged
such plans for early retirement. Understandably,
workers
some of the younger workers may feel resentment.
The city obviously wanted Laidlaw out. In the
interests of saving money and criticism, the council
gave 45 employees the carrot that dangles before
the 44-year-old veterans.
While it is true that opening this three-month
window is far less discriminating than granting
only Laidlaw the penalty-free pension, the city,
while trying to solve one problem, has created
another.
The window has yet another problem. Letting
45 employees go, all of whom have labored fortwo
decades, will leave the city conspicuouslydevoid
of its most experienced workers. Replacements,
given time, will certainly fill the newly-opened
positions. But, the new recruits must go through a
training period, and during this training, Ann Ar-
bor may feel the loss.
One wonders whether it might have been worth
the attempt for City Council to take on a legal battle
with Laidlaw if it had wanted him out so badly. In
fact, it probably would have been better for them to
have kept Laidlaw around until 1996, so no one's
feathers would have been ruffled.
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Do we have. a right
Although ample evidence has As for the Republicans, they
existed for quite some time, our have failed to really engage the
belovedCongressseemsdetermined substance of the bill and have in-
to ensure we are fully aware of their stead decided to inform their
idiocy. Theirlatest indication comes Democratic colleagues that strikes
to us in the are bad and hurt the economy. We
form of . don't need anymore strikes. How
House Bill Brad compelling!
Number Partisan babbling aside, the bill
Five. The Bernatek centersuponafanciful"federal right
bill is a to work" - at least for some
Democratic workers. According to the bill, no
proposal employer shall, "offeran individual
w h i c h employment preference based on
would pro- the fact that such individual ... in-
hibitacom- dicated a willingness to work over
pany from an employee engaged in a labor
firing a dispute." In essence, the employee
str ik ingengaged in a labor dispute is guar-
worker - anteed a job by the government.
as long as the worker is part of an The employee involved in the dis-
organized labor movement.. pute is assured his or her "right to
Quite aside from the invasion work" whenever he or she decides
upon economic liberties, the bill to return to work.
nanders tn Americanunions T would On the other hand.an individual
to work"?
not owe.the striking worker a job,
and -. more importantly -the
Congress has no business guaran-
teeing such fanciful rights. How
ironic that the Senate is so con-
cerned about Clarence Thomas
reading rights into the Constitution,
and yet, Congress seems to have no
trouble doing the same.
Although Congress' end -
namely ensuring fairness in labor
disputes - might be a noble goal,
Congress has no authority to do so,
and in doing so denies individuals
willing to work the ability to work
and intrudes into private business
of an employer, It purports to take
the, decisions of hiring and firing
out of a private business's hands
and mandates that the federal gov-
ernment has the power to decide.
The bill cannot be construed as
even "regulation" but an unwar-
ranted intrusion into economic lib-
erties guaranteed by the Constitu-
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Nuts and Bolts
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I~WO~.S EN CUMB-
JUST 'CA) Yiou HATE
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by Judd Winick
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