Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 4, 1992 Editor in Chief so, HOW.) tnl)bT/4- L-A R :& -T Co Nao"d Cr rN 6,. O CCr ~. 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764 - 0552 MATfEW D. REaNNIiE Opinion Editors YAEL CITRO GEOFFREY EARLE AMITAVA MAZUMDAR Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan ;--; .N ..'' /'' \ > (6) s i 4p+CLL, iRs FAR. 19S 4 CA IV-rELL, -rME Dt C E tS l/o °' EF C-r vE 6wrl4 RSOL14TE yNo CHANCE aF plmE&+IA*JC y op.S-vr "AN ,SeS ION e d Unsigned editorials represent a mnajority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All-other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Out of Fleming, into the dorms ore than 20 years have passed since the new Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford called a college residence hall home. As Hartford begins her week-long vacation in South Quad, she will be able to interact with a more diverse body of students than most administrators. see in their entire careers While hiding out in the secluded Fleming Build ing. Hartford should be commended for her vi- brant enthusiasm, her in . fectious desire to meet students, and her gump- tion for staying in false fire alarm-plagued South. Quad. Residence-hall life, with its crowded bathrooms and unidenti q fiable entrees, gets te- tious for even the most 'iesilient students. This spunky new administrator brings a wel-. come breath of fresh air to the stale communica- tions lines between students and administrators, * which have been all but severed by administrators like President Duderstadt, as well as the regents. who seem numb to student concerns about campus issues. Yet, Hartford has repeatedly voiced and dem- onstrated her desire to speak to students of all types. She seems committed to listening to all students, ratherthan simply catering to the agendas of student leaders. Hartford wants to improve the efficiency of CRISP. She plans to poll students before registra- tion to determine which classes will be in high demand and hopes to increase class spaces accord- ingly. She wants to help student-athletes to better balance academic pressures and life in the sporting world. Hartford is dedicated to improving the quality of student life on campus. However, it is also clear that even the most sincere promises often remain unfulfilled. It is for this reason that Hartford must listen carefully to what she hears from students while staying in the dorms. Hartford cannot fix what she does not know is broken. Student and administrative relations have decayed, leading to increased apathy as students perceive the administration as unwilling to listen to their concerns. Issues ranging from deputization, to the new Union policy, to the credit values of LSA classes have all been addressed with negli- gible student input. With Hartford's arrival, it is up to students to hold her accountable to her promises and to keep her informed of campus developments and concerns. Thus far, it seems that Hartford is doing her part to meet the demands of the University student body. Students should demonstrate the same re- sponsibility by telling Hartford their concerns and pushing her to act on them. IGCEN J7 A o ,(0c.t 4 -r F ?N~om.CN "- - rIo-r Harassment bordering on blatant racism !U. I Once, I played hooky. There were seven culprits all together. Cutting classes was out of character for us. We were all dili- gent students who were usually busy obsessing over our studies that close to finals. This time however, we wanted to blow off some steam on the last day of classes.- So, we piled into a van, and roared out of V} Ann Arbor. We were headed for a day of fun and debauchery in by Matt downtown De- Adler troit. We planned to take in a lavish meal in Greektown, and then check out the Detroit Institute of Arts under the influence of hallucinogenics. My companions and I were bright, tenacious students with high aspirations. Beyond that however, we were anything but homogenous. In terms of ethnic background, this was as mixed a pot as any. There was Rob, our steadfast Adler is an LSA senior and a . Daily Opinion strffer. His colunn appears bi-weekly. van driver, a Russian immigrant. Jew. Spiro sat next to him. Spiro is the son of Greek immigrants, (he recommended the restaurant). Fill- ing the hack seats were Yurij, a Ukrainian immigrant; Anu, who is of Indian descent; Naoto, a Japa- nese immigrant;Chris, an all Ameri- can boy; and me, of course. After laughing away one of the most enjoyable days of our college careers, we headed for Canada. We planned to mellow out in Windsor over pizza and beer. It was at the border crossing into Canada that our day turned sour. It turned into a day which I know I will never forget. Rob stopped the van in front of the small, official looking customs, booth. "What's your nationality?" the guard asked. "We're all Americans," said Rob. "Drivers licenses, please," the man droned, bored. We quickly passed our licenses forward. "I'llneed to see proof ofci tizen-. ship from Naoto and Anu,"said the guard, making little effort to pro- nounce the names correctly. But then, what could I expect from this man - someone with no back- ground understanding in what it means to be sensitive to the needs of minorities, suddenly thrust into sub- jective judgement of those simply wishing to cross a border. Naoto and Anu immediately pro- duced the relevant documents, as if anticipating the man's request. As we pulled away from cus- . tomns, we were all thinking thesame thing. The guard had scrutinized Naoto and Anu simply because of their skin color. Had foreign sounding names: been the issue, than Yurij and Spiro would have surely been suspect. We talked about this oriefly, but quickly dismissed the issue. We did not want to let it spoil our day. Looking back,. I wish we had talked about the incident a lot more. It was just a few minutes later when Naoto turned tome and looked intently into my eyes. I could im- mediately see that his eyes were straining to hold back tears. "As long as I live, my American citizenship will not be the same as i yours," he said quietly, choking. I did not know what to say. I was. straining to hold back my own tears. " Bush dumps on environment, again President George Bush's campaign speeches over the years have been riddled with prom- ises. His promises have ranged from his "no new taxes" pledge to his promise to become the "edu- cation president." Perhaps the most vacuous prom- ise of all was Bush's claim to be "the environmen- tal president'." Throughout Bush's presidency, the buying and selling of pollution rights, or shares, has become as common as the spotted owl is scaree. Similarly, the administration is attempting to ease restrictions on wetlands development, permitting the oblitera- tion of a beautiful and valuable natural resource for economic gain. Keeping consistent with his lip service toward protecting the environment, Bush is now attempt- ing to shrug aside new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations regarding air pollution. In his State of the Union address last week, the president declared a 90-day moratorium on regula- tions that hamper development. This vague decree left environmental groups confused. Is Bush will- ing to sacrifice protecting the planet for the sake of industry? The answer came this past week, when Presi- dent Bush tied the hands of the EPA, and prevented it from releasing new regulations that would re- quire businesses to provide a 45-day notice before increasing their emissions. This waiting period would allow for public hearings, whereby environ- mentalists could attempt to block the changes. The EPA considers these rules crucial to administering the Clean Air Act. The White House Council on Competitiveness, headed by Vice President Dan Quayle, claims that these new rules would be detrimental to business, and has proposed a more economically friendly counter-plan. The plan allows for only a two-week notice and denies environmentalists the opportu- nity to object. The council also suggested that small busi- .nesses be completely exempt from the regulations. In addition, it requires the EPA and state regulators. to watch only those facilities that, in the words of a senior administration official, "they think have gone wrong." This intentionally vague notion will create a huge loophole, enabling companies to increase their emissions without proper regula- tion. Will the president never learn? Short term mon- .etary gain in no way balances out environmental disaster. Campaign promises aside, everyone has a duty to protect the planet. Bush's disregard for this responsibility has become all too obvious. Give them a break Never forgetting the Final Solution T here is a compelling adage about the future - that says those who forget the events of the past are doomed to repeat them. This is true both of occurrences that have little consequence and those that have impacts of colossal importance. On Jan.19,1992, the German government made a necessary and long overdue statement to help protect many dark memories from the erosion of time. In the tranquility ofBerlin's Gruenewald Forest rests the Wannsee Villa. It was in these pleasant .urroundings that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Third , eich devised its evil plot to exterminate the Jews yin a complex, well organized and systematic as- , embly-line massacre that incorporated the par- Wicipation and coordination of almost every institu etion in Germany. This"Final Solution," resulted in 4ie deaths of millions of European Jews and was put into actionrat The Wannsee Conference on Jan. 20, 1942. Now, 50 years later, Germany has unveiled its first national memorial to the six million Jews who were murdered between 1939 and 1945. Although there are monuments that exist on the grounds of some death camp sites, Wannsee represents the first time official recognition has been given to the precision and sterility with which the "Final Solu- tion" was created. Although the Wannsee memorial is a crucial step in the large scale preservation of the Holo- caust, its message to the German people may have been sent too late. The results .of two recent polls indicate that 42 percent of all Germans believe that the Nazi regime possessed at least some "positive, attributes" and that 62 percent of Germans desire to end the discussionof the Holocaust because they, feel no moral responsibility for the acts of their parents and grandparents. This is a travesty. The fact that the German government has fi- nally acknowledged the truth cannot alone satisfy the need for a safer future. As long as apathy and hostility exist regarding the memories of the Holo- caust, its legacy of injustice will continue. The Wannsee Memorial will be vitlal in ensuring the. memory of the "Final Solution" is not forgotten. But until all people recognize and understand the randomness of prejudice and hatred that the Holo- caust represents, the future will not be safe from the recurrence of horrors past.- To the Daily: Give the working person a break, Kreg. It may stretch the mind. But for the sake of argu- nent, imagine yourself standing in the bank teller's shoes. Say that your name is Cindy. You're single with a little boy who seems to always have a runny nose. You've got to be out of the apartment and at work by 7:30 every morning! You're on your way to daycare when the car breaks down. The baby is screaming his/her head off. What do you do? You go on. You get* to work. ThP head teller is.Waiting to tell you that you had better start shaping up or else. What do you do? You go on. .You escape to the bathroom," to fix yourself up. Maybe you . smoke a cigarette, or take a fresh piece of gum. You've got to. compose yourself. You'll be fine. All you need to do is your job.. Then the students begin coming in. One of them starts to make a scene. He's complaining about you. You were wrong somehow. You're not sure how. You followed bank policy. Things are getting ugly. You really need this job. You were hired to assist the customer in business transactions. You thought you were. Sure, you didn't say good morning, and of course, you were not smiling, and then you got sarcastic, but hey,' this has been a ruff morning. What should you do? What should you do? You go on. You accept his abuse and apologize for the chewing gum, and go on, that is if you still have ajob. This is the real world, Kreg. Student's will make it a better one by showing their own humanity, civility and respect. Sure, I want good service just like you. But, I doubt I'll find it by following your advice and picking on the working person. according toMarx, dloes not requjre perfect human beings. More specifically, it requires people who have learned the lessons that a capitalist society teaches. They do not have to be selfless, nor do they have to. work only for the state and their fellow man. The communist citizen only needs to learn that. they can do better for themselves if they work in cooperation with others than if they work in competition with others, and that a society is more productive if its membefs strive for individual perfection rather than superiority over those around them.. Marx believed that this lesson would be taught when: the capitalist society veiled, even though there existed in that society the means of production capable of providing for everyone (and by no means at the poverty level), because the wealth was gathered into the hands of the few. This is the theory of commu- nism and to date it has been neither proven nor disproven. The Soviet Union is a poor example of A communist. nation because it never arose from a capitalist nation. It was a land of peasants under a Tsarist rule, and the revolution was instilled from outside the country, not by the people themselves. The failure of the Soviet Union was due to far more mundane reasons than its commu- nist nature, such as its lack of an industrial base and excessive investment in the military (because of us). What is important to realize is that ideas and ways of living that seem utterly foreign to us seem so merely because of our upbringing and the ideas that our society instills in, us.:.It' is not surprising that to Americans ingrained with the concept of capitalism, communism seems unfeasible. Keep in mind that our way of thinking is not the only, or necessarily the best way of thinking, and the way our children live may be as inconceivable to us as the way we live will be to them. Dave Morris Engineering first-year student God created whiptail lizards To the Daily: Bennett Seacrist obviously has t real bone to pick with gays and lesbians. Unfortunately, what he does not have is "nature" on his side. I'd like to direct his attention. to a recent iime article (1/20/92) on how various animals repro- duce. One example I found particu- larly interesting was that of the whiptail lizard, which has evolved into a female-only species. These lady lizards reproduce by a' process known as parthenogen- esis, or splitting of the egg. To stimulate egg production, the lizards engage in lesbian sex.. The truth is that many animals engage in same-sex and inter- course. Where does this leave Mr. Mr. Seacrist states that, "homosexuals cannot produce any offspring unless they adopt." Isn't our present president pushing adoption as a wonderful thing? To me, a family is a group of people who love and support each other, blood links are something separate. Finally, there is the old argument that God created Adam and Eve to provide us with a mold for future relationships. By the same token, God also created Ruth and Naomi, whiptail lizards, and a man who said love tran- scends'all boundaries of race, class, and gender. We have inherited a world of many choices. The Bennett Seacrists among Nuts and Bolts IOs'e AGAN 1DAY'Tm IS THE DO WMOCI 'IPft 4TIAL .M ~PmDAES.L GUS 0"M1E .)AIMR I#A5JONEP by Judd Winick So LEr6S OPEN 'TW6e KPRONE LiNES AND HM (WA You CrT i4INK OF mE _ CitrATq5. FIRE iI AWAY G(~ANG. - 'l L IN" REOEN. KI'M 4' CkNA< ':