0 Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, January 21, 1992 Wbr £idtian 1ail HM apH!-rW 4u~H6 4E J FIK() 1WIM&G '0t9 fC TL1AL L VSIR,; 1IS ~ R NPVP IM 1A 1, j 445-r~t= OK A IrTHi-A-r"S - He1IAX Z RV ' Tf- M S © f '?j t ' F 4 U o o r J C OEI M -T( O A I R E o g y 'T'ES 'it~ctc-ct5TN otlL 5 NbCoM t (Cti ~~~~~~~~-A FrJ' UH OBST1--~ 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 ... , .. 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. 'U' COPS UNLEASHED Alittle more than a year ago, students turned out in large numbers to protest the University's plans to 1-1.deputize its own police force. And despite the .hree-day standoff between the protesters and the administration, .the. University went ahead wztk . The University's response was particularly disturbing because it disregarded a poll co i Daily, the Michigan Review and Consider magazine that showed a majority of student, o d'p. ke on campus. Sadly, since that time, debate among std w0 i atization has all but ceased. The Michigan StudentAssembly, students active in the anti 'k vement, and even the Daily have let the issue slide.}v :, " But the police are still here, active and ar #'sber of recent developments suggest to us that we re-focus our attention on the University pa .. ... Earlier this year, Washtenaw Cp.=: W 1 issue of deputization. Ronald Schebil announced in a letter r, the University has not publicly ment of Public Safety that he is n- Y Jm y effort to ensure that either of pro- willing to deputize the University of ''rs .. s are adhered to. There have been no gan police-force. This is understan:: releases concerning the develop- considering that he is currently liable t of deputization; there have been no everything the police do. Schebil ptstoinstitute mechanismsby which clear in his letter that he wanted the demons for faculty, students or staff can versity to assume full accountability %Ww { i. place. the police no later than March 31 eoversight committee is critical to year. a campus police presence that is That, however, may not be so ea ; ;grievances against the police depart- Michigan Public Act 120 - whi w* be enough for the regents to simply versities to deputize police under tl=!b rresentatives to sit on the board. erning bodies - mandates that t r>=-s .: :yimportant that the regents hear what create an oversight committee comp w t E *#'ty has to say about the police force. staff, two faculty, and two students, to oversee the If indeed the University is to meet the March 31 deputization. deadline, these requirements must be properly In addition, the act requires that public hearings fulfilled ... Cops with guns - gearing up for a war on snowballers o/ .l I--- . - ,- v 3 t0 DA-1 y '9 . M416AW 1~~ i Meanwhile, the University police officers who are already deputized are performing at a substan- dard level, while at the same time the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is purchasing a startling and unprecedented amount of firepower. Unfortu- nately, the University arsenal is not suitable for the routine duties performed by campus security. With the arrival of winter's first major snowfall, the University police have engaged in a variety of petty "plice actio -'Lat Frfdyi12PSJ.lv spnt acnsierab~ a&rtt'tm n *ey ticketing students -°: L. ? Last December, po cf tl'ee to break up the anniA ew ee;: West Quad and South bt these are ridiculous activities fe to e spend- ing its time on. Nevertheless, ;r... .:.: tine jobs typical ,ice fore. Why then, must a pol le for perform- ing activities "g mall security guards, have ti1n inner-city drug enforcement t A document detailing weapons ordered by the University police force contains a frightening list of the security team's hardware. The University recently purchased 9 mm, semi-automatic pistols; it ordered more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition. The police force also purchased hollow-tipped bullets, which are designed to deal immediately fatal blows. When the missile impacts, the lead matter behind the hollow tip drives forward and blows immense holes into human flesh. This am- munition is actually used to kill large wild game. The force also purchased hundreds of bulletproof vests. The list of University-ordered weapons goes on and on. It seems as if the University police is ~ ~U~*t ~ ~ stdents. Its xdftyb .: "M Ive& Ome ;a*werIied ques- Whw|u | T1ce order eW~agdo:.:ir~hti?:ad o litenWn of using them? Is there really a need for weapons such as semi-automatic handguns or hollow-tipped bullets when breaking up a student snowball fight? Will those weapons help prevent rapes or sexual as- saults on campus? Are bullet proof vests necessary to protect University officers from "student snip- ers?" The fact that the police are continuing to in- crease their offensive weapons must be considered in the public hearings that will precede the deputization of the campus police force by the regents. The pointlessness of purchasing these weapons in preventing crime, as well as the danger they pose to students, must be examined at that time ... Reasons for rules To the Daily: This letter is in reference to Steven Ricci's letter (1/16/92). Rules like no sledding and no drinking in the Arb are made for safety reasons. My sister broke her leg last year while sledding in the Arb. She couldn't (or didn't) read the warning signs. It's obvious you knew you were doing something you shouldn't be, otherwise you would not have run. Am I right? Don't blame your ignorance on the police. If you want to sled, go to the park which is equipped to handle sledders and the injuries which occur. As for your friend from China, what does being big, sweet and gentle have to do with obeying the rules? It's time to grow up and take responsibility for your action! Even if it means showing up in court. And if your attitude is anything like your letter, the judge will probably address you as "Mr. Smart Ass" also. LisaASchneider LSA sophomore Name that tune To the Daily: Why does the Daily bother to print record reviews? Apparently you do not consider them to be very important, or you would have demanded better work from Jeff Rosenberg, whose shallow and shoddy review of Marc Almond's Tenement Symphony showed how little he knew or cared about his subject. Copying a few lyrics (did Jeff even listen to the song? Marc sings the word "records," rather than "record," as printed on the lyric sheet), mentioning the inclusion of another song which is labeled sobbing, does not constitute a record review. It was completely superficial from the start, when Rosenberg linked the two -bands for seemingly no other reason than that he would better be able to write less about each. Also, he mentioned only two songs from the album, neither of which Marc wrote or produced, one of which he doesn't even sing. I hardly think that this is representative of the album. On the subject of representa- tive, it "hurts just knowing" that the only Soft Cell song with which Rosenberg is seemingly familiar is "Tainted Love," which again, Marc did not write, and they have three other albums besides. Speaking of Soft Cell, Rosenberg's failure to note that this is the first time since the break up of Soft Cell that Marc and Dave Ball (you know, that other "Soft Cell guy") have collaborated on new material, is particularly noticeable and negligent. Rosenberg's superficial summing up, in which he theo- rizes that a horde of other musicians were responsible for the content of the album, shows that he is obviously missing how very representative it is of Marc in terms of themes and trade- marks, as with the fact that "Jacky" is a Jacques Brel song. Perhaps if Rosenberg had dealt with more songs, including those that Marc wrote and produced, he might have been able to write a more cohesive and informed review. Lisa McEwen RC sophomore Susan McDougal LSA first-year student Think first To the Daily: The editorial about the drinking age you printed yester- day was perhaps the most pathetic piece of journalism I have ever seen in your paper. It is amazing that such a poorly reasoned argument could ever come from a group of students at this univer- sity. The first reason you gave for lowering the drinking age was that by making the legal age 21, the state of Michigan is making r,: :;.:7}4.fi';'{:X o".r,:. }';"tn " vv ,, a}a,' most underage university students "criminals." There are many laws which we violate every day. Does that mean these laws should be changed or abolished in order to reduce the number of people breaking the law? Should we get rid of the copyright laws because they make nearly all of us "tcriminals" at some time or another? Next you stated that the drinking age was somehow an "unjust" law because the federal government threatens to withhold highway funds unless all of the states comply with the federally mandated drinking age of 21. Does this mean that all laws that have been created as a result of this government "extortion" be eliminated? Perhaps you do not know your own Constitution of the United States which limits federal control over the states to little more than taxation and interstate trade. Anything that does not fall under these very specific guide- lines cannot be set by the federal government unless it uses methods such as withholding highway funds. I suppose i would be a much safer and richer country if the federal government was not allowed to lower the speed limit to 55 mph during the oil embargo. There are a large number of good arguments for lowering the drinking age. You could have pointed out that we are considered responsible enough to vote at age 18, so we should be responsible enough to drink at 18. You could have stated that 18 year old people can fight and die for their country, and are entrusted with tanks, ships, and aircraft worth millions, yet they cannot buy a beer. Instead you printed com- plete nonsense. I hope in the future you will try to print editorials which, regardless of their political slant, are well thought out and soundly reasoned. Until you do so no one will ever take you seriously Sean Sweda Engineering junior . 'SRC in exile' seeks to restor student power ... The fight against deputization and the prom=- Public Act 120, which establishes the Univer- tion of students' rights has been largely a beind- sity police force, calls for an oversight committee the-scenes battle. While the current Stude eights gompo e. of students, faculty and staff. In addi- Commission (SRC) piddled aroundg ihe "SRC in ti|n, it grafts the committee the authority to disci- exile," a grass-roots group of stunts, was acting pline office: who engage in misconduct. Before constructively to softenthe blowofthe University's th. University''...putizes its own police force, it unrelenting drive toward& 4eputization. mlitelect that comittee. Admittedly, one of.:the SRC's greatest weak- Th6 SRC in exia is working to ensure the nesses in 1990 was that it failed to effectively UniversitY:4oes not byass these elections, either channel the emotions it irred during proteo. But by hand-pickhg committee members sympathetic to its credit, it was actij constructiveW4(i make to the administron, orby securing appointments the University more acountable tq.> students. from "representat" bdies like MSA or the This year's SRC in exile, impose-6f membersf Senate Advisory Comitteon University Affairs the former commission, his Trnaged to workon (SACUA). behalf of students' rightsbyetting hold of impor By demanding true eleions, the SRC in exile tant documents such as Unive ity Police records, willtwpAke sure tt the oversight committee letters regarding the University utization of'1ts h"sas thisConsiderig the relatively unskilled na- officers, and order forms detailing'::e extensive)"ture of the Univiity police, their shoddy record of arsenal of University munitions. ''r .:e otr their tendency toward overreacting While the deputization of University.police to petty pres, and the fact that they seem to be maybe anirreversibletrend, one thing studeftcan armin for an all out war against students - do is try to hold this force accountable to''e hojlow-tipped bullets and all - it is blatantly community - and to students. This is whvus that this committee will have its work cut SRC in exile has been doing this year. 'ut :rit. :: }:...::":- . t:". j'rvr }.,s",' r ., ..*...... ...:. . . vv . :. . . .x" " . s. r+v"r a "".:.v v"".J.r " "." : "h'l.V t.. . h.tV. R .v. .V ~ .SV.vv.":A.s.,.Vtir:"?. . {d ."?'..w}.:" ."M r": 1" V .. .. h :?.Jh . r...tttr..A.J.A''rt1. . Compact disc long box is wasteful by Brian Seller The end of the compact disc long box has to come. The packaging of CDs in cardboard wastes an estimated 21 million pounds of paper per year. That is quite a bit when you consider they have been around for nearly a decade now. This unnecessary waste brought on the Ban-the-Box campaign, led by artists like Crosby, Stills and Nash, Sting, and Bonnie Raitt. The result has been the decision by some record manufac- turers to phase out the long box starting this year. There are half a dozen new packaging ideas, but two remain the most popular. Starting in April, all releases on Warner Bros. records will be packaged in the Eco-Pak, a package the size of a long box, made of recycled plastic and paperboard. It folds into about the size of a jewel box, which is the plastic container now used to store CDs. Other companies are awaiting marketing tests before adopting this idea. To see an example of the Eco-Pak, check out Paula Abdul's new release, Spellbound. The other big contender is the DigiTrak, a cardboard long box size package with recyclable is funded mainly by Dow Plastics, has launched a major campaign to keep the jewel boxes. JAM recently place a full-page "save the jewel box" ad in Billboard magazine, and has even lobbied . before the House subcommittee on hazardous materials, promot- the Environmental Commission, supports the end of the long box and encourages you, the students, to do the same. plastic rails on each side. It also folds into the approximate size of the jewel box. New releases using the Digi-Trak include Sting's Soul Cages, Bonnie Raitt's Luck of the Draw, and Grateful Dead's One From the Vault. Probably, the simplest idea so far is reusable, plastic long box frames that can be removed at the checkout register, but no one has been so bold as to try this. There is one group that is opposing the switch from jewel boxes to something more ecologi- cally sound. Jewel box Advocates and Manufacturers (JAM) which ing jewel boxes. We, at the Environmental Commission, support the end of the long box and encourage you, the students, to do the same. Write a letter to a record company or two expressing your views and asking for a safer alternative to present packaging. If there is a streak of the radical in you, we suggest taking the CD out of the long box at the store and giving the box to the clerk at the counter, expressing your displeasure with this wasteful practice. Some stores will even take the box and send it hack to the manufacturer Nuts and Bolts I Fi-l I F.-'--4" F-7I by Judd Winick YOU I, , jARAG, -eAN Seller is a member of the MSA Environmental Commission I