EAT TODAY Cloudy, colder; High: 55, Low: 39. TOMORROW Partly cloudy; High: 54, Low: 37. 1£.q "Mr. Bones" shakes it at 91. See ARTS Page 5. One hundred and one years of editorial freedom Vol. CII, No. 12 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, October 15,1991 1opyngh 1991 Opinions on Thomas cut across race, sex lines by Merav Barr The tumultuous debate that has swept the country over the Clarence Thomas- Anita Hill hearings has left University students deeply divided. Riddled with diametrically opposing forces - Black and white, man and woman - the Senate hearings have yielded student opinions that do not con- form to any strict patterns. Within the Black community, opinions differ among women. Engineering sophomore Jessica Daniels threw her sup- port behind Prof. Hill. "My support for Professor Hill has nothing to do with her being an African- American female," she said. "If she's proven wrong she has a lot to lose." Baker-Mandela Center (BMC) Director Latrice Dixon also said she con- siders Hill's accusations accurate. Furthermore she said she saw the issue of sexual harassment rather than that of race as the salient issue. "(Prof. Hill) has been a symbol for so many women who are reluctant to bring sexual harassment forward," she said. Yet not all women said Thomas should suffer for his past behavior. First-year LSA student Dyann Logwood said she believes Clarence Thomas sexually harassed Anita Hill, but should not be penalized for his past ac- tions now. "Since it happened 10 years ago I think he would realize that that's a mistake that he made and life goes on." Rejection from the Supreme Court on this incident alone, she said, would be unjust. Yet other women saw Hill as the op- position's vehicle to the destruction of a Black Supreme Court nominee. LSA senior Cherron Rowland said, "She's being paid-off. The whole thing is a set-up against him." "I think they are making him an exam- ple that Black people can't be involved in the Supreme Court or higher positions." Other women denounced the Senate's handling of the sexual harassment charges and called their actions insensitive. "What I'm most angry about is that those 98 men will never understand her fear of not exposing this earlier," said RC senior Abigail Warwick. In response to Hill's potential credi- bility gap of never detailing Thomas' ac- tions to friends, Warwick says, "It was very professional of her not to talk of the graphic details with her friends who de- fended her." Among men, disagreement also cut across racial boundaries. Although opposed to Thomas' politi- cal views, LSA senior Anthony Haralson, expressed remorse over witnessing what he called an "obvious conspiracy" to de- rail Thomas. "I feel sad that these are supposed to be the better people of our race and they are being pitted against each other," he said. Haralson questioned Hill's accusation of sexual harassment, "I believe Anita Hill perceives she was sexually har- rased." But Haralson pointed to Thomas' oth- erwise clean record as evidence attesting See STUDENTS, Page 2 Faculty calls Senate's handling of Thomas hearings flawed, imbalanced by Stefanie Vines Daily Government Reporter Professor Anita Hill was "gang- raped" by the Senate Judiciary Committee while Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas got off scot-free, said Robin Kelley, associate professor of history and Afro-American and African Studies . "Her reputation is being tarnished, while he is not being questioned," he said. Kelley, whose opinion mirrored many other University faculty members, spent the weekend watching the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the sex- ual harassment charges made by Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma. Most faculty members said the hear- ings themselves were flawed. "The Committee hasn't done every- thing they could to give Hill and Thomas a fair hearing," said Kim Scheppele, an as- sociate professor of political science and public policy and a lecturer in women's studies. Scheppele called the hearings more of a political maneuver than a genuine attempt to find out what really occurred between Hill and Thomas. "A lot of what will happen and what did happen in the hearings is based on po- litical strategies, not on fact-finding," she said. Afaf Omer, a professor of Afro- American and African Studies, said Republican senators were unnecessarily harsh in their interrogation of Hill dur- ing the hearings. "They aren't considering the bigger is- sue of what is going on between men and women," she said. "The way Hill has been treated by the Republicans is very adverse for women because it will make those women who want to bring up sexual ha- rassment charges less willing to do so." Many professors criticized Thomas for bringing up the issue of racial stereo- types when it had no relevancy to his case. "Thomas has used a historical strategy which distorts history, it is not the See FACULTY, Page 2 Rackham student Andrew Williams speaks to a crowd of 75 in yesterday's protest against police harassment on the Diag. Protesters charge pol ice wit bru tality by Rob Patton Daily Minority Issues Reporter About 75 people rallied on the Diag yes- terday to protest what they say is a recent in- crease in police harassment of people of color, homosexuals and University workers. Rally speaker Andrew Williams, a Rackham student and Baker Mandela Center (BMC) board member, told the crowd that the recent actions of the University police represent "a* serious attack on our civil rights." Williams said recent incidents in which police have drawn weapons in apprehending suspects have all involved African- Americans, and questioned whether police needed to pull the guns. "In the cases we've seen, which have pri- marily involved Black people at a predomi- nantly white institution, were the police of- ficers' lives really threatened?" he asked. Other speakers at the hour-long rally in- cluded a BMC board member Tracye Matthews, Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) member Pattrice Maurer, and American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) member Judy Leavy. The speakers charged area police forces with harassing various groups on campus and in the community. Matthews said the police harassment of minorities went beyond the well-publicized incidents where police had drawn weapons. She cited incidents in which two Black stu- dents returning video equipment were stopped and questioned by police, and in which a group of Black and Hispanic students visiting the campus as part of a summer pro- gram were followed by police. "Tell me, is that any way to welcome stu- dents of color to this campus when they're going to be harassed by police?" she asked. Maurer's speech focused on the need to challenge the power of the University's Board of Regents and the police. She said those who opposed the formation of the University police had been proven right by recent incidents. The regents' disregard for civil liberties necessitates direct action, Maurer said. "Now is not the time for passive civil disobedience to embarrass the regents, be- See PROTEST, Page 2 Senators undecided on nominee WASHINGTON (AP) - Supporters of Clarence Thomas worked yesterday to preserve Senate support for his Supreme Court nomination as senators "pained and perplexed" by sexual harassment allega- tions decided how to vote. The vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. today after eight hours of time for debate. Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), a Thomas supporter, predicted the Senate would approve the nomination in a vote both sides expect to be close. Thomas would have 52 votes, barely a majority, if 41 Republicans and 11 other Democrats stick with pledges of support made before University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill's allegations sur- faced. A key Southern Democrat, Sen. J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, reaffirmed his support for Thomas, saying the allega- tions by Hill had not changed his mind about the nomination. "I believe Judge Thomas is qualified. I said so two weeks ago. I know nothing that has transpired in the meantime to take away from that," Johnston said. "I was so disturbed over the events this weekend that I'm literally, entirely in the undecided category," said Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) who had previously been leaning toward Thomas. "I'm as pained and perplexed as the rest of America," Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said on NBC, who had origi- nally been a Thomas supporter. "It's quite possible... that we're not able to de- cide that anybody is lying." Another former aide to Thomas, Sukari Hardnett, said Black women in Thomas's office at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission felt they were objects of his sexual inter- est and physical inspection. Hardnett, who worked for Thomas from 1985 to 1986, did not allege sexual harassment but said, "If you were young, Black, female and reasonably attractive, you knew full well you were being in- spected and auditioned as a female." The panel did not hear in person from another former employee with stronger allegations against Thomas, Angela Wright. Her private interview with the committee was released as part of the of- ficial record. "I believe Clarence Thomas. The American people believe Clarence Thomas. I have no idea where the votes are," said Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), the nominee's mentor and champion on Capitol Hill. President Bush said support for Thomas was still "holding strong" de- spite the explosive allegations of Hill and referred to a flurry of last-minute public opinion polls which indicated Americans believed Thomas' firm, flat denial by roughly a 2-1 margin. The White House strategy was keyed at holding Southern senators with large Black constituencies who accounted for seven of the 13 Democrats who had an- nounced their support for Thomas before the allegations surfaced. Task force sponsors 'forum to discuss publications' future by Henry Goldblatt Daily Administration Reporter Approximately 25 students, fac- ulty and staff gathered in the Michigan Union last night to dis- cuss the future of the governing structure of The Michigan Daily, MichiganEnsian yearbook and the Gargoyle humor magazine. Daily editors said last night that they advocate a Board of Student Publications that would consist of the publication's alumni and University representatives. "The best the University could n is find neonle who are most said that the current board lacks understanding. "The way it is now we're told 'This is how it is done every year.' We're told what we are allowed to do." "I could put out a five page book guilded in gold and as long as we made $50,000 ... they wouldn't care," she said. . Rob Earle, Michigan Daily edi- tor in chief in 1987, said that in dis- cussions with alumni, three main concerns were raised - that the Daily should still have some rela- tinnshin to the Universitv and not Burmese rebel leader wins Nobel Peace Prize OSLO, Norway (AP) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for two years for her struggle to achieve democracy in her homeland, was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize yesterday. The Nobel Committee acknowl- edged that Suu Kyi may not know of her $1 million award. Burma's military junta bars her. from receiving visitors or communicating with outsiders. "It is clear that there will be difficulty" in getting the news Ml.