The Michigan Daily/New Student Edition - Thursday, September 5, 1991 - Page 9. Group acts up to ease national AIDS crisis Real thought police 9 work for University by Todd Ochoa (yPattrice Maurer The President of the United States has condemned ACT UP for using an "excess of free speech." A member of the University Board of Regents considers ACT UP mem- bers to be among "the usual sus- pects" in any campus unrest. Clearly, we must be doing some- thing right. ACT UP is AIDS Coalition To drug is marketed at a 700 percent profit). Why isn't the government doing something about this? The answer is because most peo- ple with AIDS are members of his- torically oppressed groups. Institu- tional homophobia allowed over 25,000 people - most of them gay men - to die before the federal government did anything at all., Right now, the majority of new The current for-profit health care system cannot meet the needs of people with AIDS, most of whom cannot afford treatment. Why isn't the government doing something about this? (*nleash Power. We are a nonparti- san group of diverse individuals united in anger and hope and com- mitted to ending the AIDS crisis by means of non-violent, direct action. Because we understand that homo- phobia, racism, and sexism are im- portant factors in the historical process by which AIDS has become the health crisis that it is, we fight Ahose forms of oppression as well as fighting AIDS and AIDS-related discrimination. The number of Americans with HIV (the virus associated with AIDS) is at 1.5 million and grow- ing. That number will continue to grow until the government insti- tutes comprehensive transmission prevention and education programs. The current for-profit health Wire system cannot meet the needs of people with AIDS, most of whom cannot afford treatment (the only federally-approved, anti-viral AIDS AIDS cases are among people of color, but the government only al- locates 6 percent of its AIDS educa- tion budget to "minority" commu- nities. Women are the fastest-grow- ing group of people with AIDS, but the CDC continues to refuse to in- vestigate the different ways that AIDS is manifested in women. ACT UP/Ann Arbor joins with scores of ACT UP chapters nation- wide to protest these and other deadly policies; we also work to create positive change and to fill the gap left by governmental neglect. We divide our energies between edu- cation (check out our "dis-orienta- tion" program this fall), protest, and other forms of direct action. Our ongoing projects include fighting for more and better treat- ment for people with AIDS at U-M Hospital, establishing a needle ex- change program for injection drug users, and working in coalition with The fall 1990 anti-deputization rallies for student's rights have left in their wake insight into the nefar- ious actions and hypocrisy perpetu- ated by the University administra- tion against students on this cam- pus. Lies, exaggerations and direct appeals to fear were the tactics used by the administration in order to quell dissent. On October 10, 1990 I was ap- prehended by University grounds crew and Department of Public Safety and Security (DPSS) officers. My offense was having written, in white chalk, the notorious slogan, "No Guns, No Cops, No Code," on one of the pillars of Haven Hall. When I asked if fliers posted in the same location constituted a sim- ilar offense, the answer I received was "Yes, if clean up costs are in- curred." This brings up a valid ques- tion: why haven't countless mem- bers of campus groups such as the Glee Club, ROTC, and every frater- nity been likewise prosecuted? The only plausible explanation is that I was arrested for the dis- senting, anti-administration lan- guage and not the act of chalking. These are real thought police in ac- tion. The administration's malicious nature in prosecuting me became ob- vious when my case came to trial in the middle of spring break. I was of- fered a deal: pay clean up fees ($86 for a ten second spray down) and court costs and, in return, the case would be dropped. I refused the deal and five minutes later the prosecu- tion dropped the charges on the grounds that I had been prosecuted under the wrong statute. The charges have now been re- filed under a different statute which allows them to avoid a double jeop- ardy situation. Let there be no ques- tion, the University is the com- plainant in the case. I presently face two separate charges of malicious destruction. My defense filed a mo- tion to dismiss on first amendment grounds, saying that political speech is protected by the Constitution. For critics who have said my freedom of speech ends when prop- erty is destroyed, one must ffirs question the validity of "destruc- tion" when referring to chalk; which is easily washed away. "'If cost incurred in clean up" is used s a definition of destruction, the- selective, therefore illegal, nature of my prosecution cannot be denied... Clearly, the administration wants a precedent, a legal justifica- tion for the selective removal of atty speech contrary to its policies. Sni- dent groups on this campus face a substantial threat to their right to publicize their meetings and events (exactly what I was doing). More- over, since criminal cases are always prosecuted by the state, the admin- istration has to give the go ahead. So I am instantly burdened with legal and emotional costs while University President James Duder- stadt sits in his office free of charge, a hopeful legal precedent soon in his arsenal against student's rights. The administration's own brand of p0- litical correctness is now being per- petuated by the state. The spring commencement speaker, George Bush, cried about political correctness and joined con- servatives cleverly invoking notions of thought police who monitor stu- dent's freedom of expression. This appeal to fear is groundless as we have yet to see the faculty take ac- tion against a fellow member foi being politically incorrect. Ground crew members being di: rected to selectively remove anti- deputization posters because of tile political statements they make, artd DPSS officers apprehending studeii rights activists are concrete proof that thought police do exist on this campus. These police are a reality. Thiy . work for Duderstadt and ensure that certain topics are not talked about, and are not presented on the custom- ary sidewalks and pillars wherd University students commonly an- nounce their events and express their ideas. Ochoa is an LSA junior FiEiOTO/Dail ACT UP member Pattrice Maurer rallies a crowd at a recent Action for Life rally on campus. ACT UP blames government apathy for the AIDS crisis which the country is currently enduring. The group accuses the government of being racist and homophobic in its actions. other groups against Michigan Gov- ernor John Engler's recent budget cuts. As always, we continue to sup- port the efforts of gay rights, anti- racist, and feminist activities on campus. We meet every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Michigan Union (ask at the CIC desk for room), and we invite you to join us. Call Pat- trice at 665-1797 or David at 662- 6282 for more info. Every eight minutes, someone in the U.S. dies of AIDS-related ill- ness. Every one of those deaths is an act of racist, sexist, homophobic vi- olence. ACT UP is angry about this, and you should be angry too. Don't be silent; ACT UP for you life. Maurer is a UP/Ann Arbor. member of ACT Green hurt students by slashing Ann Arbor Tenants Union funding I y Jen Rubin I was at the Michigan Student Assembly meeting on June 25, where MSA President Jamie Green pro- posed his budget for the upcoming year. His hope is to cut the student fee by 45 cents. But the Ann Arbor Ten- ants Union (AATU) must absorb almost the whole cut - slashing its budget by half. Green clearly doesn't think that the AATU is giv- ing students their money's worth. But how much money are we talking about? Green doesn't seem to think that the AATU is so *ital. But as I'd like to demonstrate, he is wrong. Since 1969, the AATU's "non-vital" phone and counselling services have been helping nearly 2,000 students each year. The AATU also conducts workshops in most resi- dence halls for first-time renters and holds periodic campus-wide workshops. We provide organizing assis- tance for tenants with building or complex-wide prob- lems. We publish an informational newsletter of ten- ant issues and distribute a tenants' rights handbook, a subleasing handbook, and other informational publica- ions. We are currently setting up a computer confer- ence for students on the Michigan Terminal System (MTS) and working with other campus offices to es- tablish a fair housing center. Students benefit not only from the organization's direct services, but also from our efforts to pass and defend pro-tenant state and local legislation. Regard- less of whether students use AATU counseling ser- vices, they benefit from our legislative and educational work through better housing conditions, security de- posit refunds, and a better understanding of how rental housing operates. Over the last decade, we have greatly strengthened the housing code through such amendments as the 1985 "weatherization ordinance" and more recently, a "privacy ordinance." These campaigns have resulted in a higher quality of living for students. An integral part of Green's proposal involves halv- ing the current staff of two. But training and supervis- ing the volunteers and work study students which keep the AATU running is a full-time job in itself. So what happens to the other services the AATU provides? Simple. They disappear. That means no more dorm workshops, no MTS conference, and a limit on the in- formational handbooks we put out. It means severely curtailing the hours of counseling we do, leaving as many as 1,000 students without our services. I think the question that needs to be asked, is why is the presi- dent who campaigned around greater student services, choosing to do this? 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