Page 4-The Michigan Daily-- Friday, February 7, 1992
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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764 - 0552

MATTHEW D. RENNIE
Opinion Editors
YAEL CITRO
GEOFFREY EARLE
AMITAVA MAZUMDAR

Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan

Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the. Daily'sv Editorial Board.
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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The Michigan Union policy that restricts admit-
tance during weekends inconveniences many
Ann Arbor residents. Because of this policy, the
Union, which was built with taxpayers' dollars,
resembles a private and exclusive building during
weekends and excludes the general public. It seems
to be geared to keep out "undesirables" who don't
work here or pay tuition.
The policy is ridiculous enough on its own. But
the manner in which it is enforced at the door
makes even less sense. Currently, the policy states
that only those carrying a University of Michigan
ID may enter the Union. In reality, students with ID
from any college or university in the world can
enter. The end result is an enforced policy that is
inconsistent and shamefully elitist.
A student from the University of California, for
example, can enter the Union during weekends, so
long as they have student identification. In fact,
anyone who can afford the high price of tuition
nation-wide can attend. Such students would prob-
ably be treated courteously by housing security
dressed in non-threatening clothing. Yet, typical
Ann Arbor residents would be denied such access
despite the fact that their tax dollars help support
the University and its Union.
Crafters of the new Union policy cite safety
concerns as a primary reason for barring all but
Michigan students. But the fights that occurred last
weekend in the Union involved students from

Eastern Michigan University. Trouble in the Union
often involves students from other universities. It
is arguable that Ann Arbor community residents
are less of a threat than typical non-Michigan
students.
While the Union contains many resources for
University students, it houses many services that
are useful to the whole community. The building
contains a pool hall, restaurants, a travel agency
and a library. Are these resources that serve only
students of the world?
Furthermore, to have apolicy thatis onlyloosely
enforced grants too much discretion to the security
guards at the door.
A responsible Union policy should be crafted
by students, faculty, the administration and the
community. It should not be left to the discretion
of individual security guards. Moreover, this situ-
ation lends itself to arbitrary or discriminatory
admittance to the Union.
Strangely enough, the Union is the only Univer-
sity facility run in this manner. Anybody is allowed
to use the undergraduate and graduate libraries
when they need to. The Union should be the same
way.
The Union Board and the administration should
craft a Union policy that provides free access to all.
But if they choose to have a restrictive and dis-
criminatory policy, they might as well be consis-
tent about it.


12

What about deputization?

L ast week the Student Rights Commission (SRC),
chaired by Michael Warren, produced a de-
tailed report on the University's Interim policy on
Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment.
The report, which was more than a quarter-inch
thick, stressed the importance of free speech, and
argued that a University code for non-acadeniic
conduct is incompatible with the First Amend-
ment.
At the same meeting where the report was first
distributed, the Michigan StudentAssembly passed
a resolution condemning anything resembling a
code, and urged the rejection of the interim policy.
It is encouraging that the assembly took a stand
on this issue. Any code regulating student behav-
ior outside the classroom is dangerous and un-
wanted.
Unfortunately, the timing of this endeavor is
poor. With deputization hearings only a few weeks
away, the SRC should be concentrating all of its
efforts towards the deputization issue.
The announced deputization hearing times of-
fered by the University are grossly inadequate.
They are scheduled for Feb. 18 and 19. So far, only
three hours of student speaking time has been
secured. Furthermore, there is no significant break
between the hearings to allow the administration to
reflect upon the arguments and concerns of the
students.
The SRC has responded with only muted pro-

test. It should not give in so easily, and should
continue to press the administration on this issue.
The oversight board, which must be elected
before the establishment of a University deputized
police force, has been all but ignored by the Uni-
versity and the SRC.
It is vital that this board become an active and
independent body able to exert real influence and
voice student concerns.
A majority of students on campus remain
uneducated or unaware about the deputization
issue. The administration has proven unreliable
when it comes to publicizing the upcoming hear-
ings. The SRC was foolish to rely on the adminis-
tration in the first place, and should hurry to edu-
cate students about this issue.
With these types of major issues on the horizon,
the SRC must buckle down. Warren's report con-
demning the code seems to have monopolized his
energy for the last week. He has designated most
deputization responsibilities to LSA rep. and Vice
Chair Robert Van Houweling. While we suspect
Van Houweling may be more competent in dealing
with the deputization process, the issue is simply
too important for Warren to abandon ship this
early.
The decisions made during the next month will
influence this campus and its police force for years
to come. Better that Warren work on these issues
now, and leave the code for the spring.

It is in the Bible
To the Daily:
While I don't agree with
everything Bennett Seacrist
writes, I, too, think homosexuality
is morally wrong and should not
receive equal status with married
heterosexuality.
My Christian faith holds that
homosexuality is a sin against
God. I don't hate gay people, and
I don't think they're any worse
than the rest of the imperfect
human race.
According to the Bible, all
humans are born sinners and fall
short of God's glory.
However, I don't want the
state legislating my religious
beliefs by telling me I have to
condone its actions. This violates
my constitutional right to freedom
of religion.
If gay people want to engage
in sexual activities, they possess
the free will to do so. I can't force
them to do otherwise. Yet I, too,
have free will, and neither can
they force me.
D. Altan Hatay
Ann Arbor, M!
Combatting myths
To the Daily:
I find Bennett Seacrist's letter
("Adam and Ernie," 1/28/92) to
be irrational and ignorant. Since
rights result from one's nature as
a rational animal rather than one's
reproductive attributes, it is
illogical to conclude that homo-
sexuals have any less rights than
heterosexuals. It also does not
create moral injury to anyone for
homosexuals to have sex so long
as it is not a rape or a transmis-

sion of disease. The letter
incorrectly claims that homosexu-
ality has not been observed in
other animals.
According to Desmond
Morris' Patterns of Reproductive
Behavior, homosexuality has been
observed in a variety of animals
including cichlids, great crested
grebes, moorheens, pigeons and
three-spined sticklebacks.
The letter also refers to the
myth of Adam and Eve, when it
states, "If God wanted us to be .
homosexuals, He would have
created Adam and Ernie instead
of Adam and Eve."
If this were true, in addition to

University cops
To the Daily:
Hooray for Amy Spade! I
enjoyed reading "The Other
Side." I'm tired of people like
Todd Ocha and Jeff Hinte and the
"cop bashing" that they have
engaged in. They have yet to
prove or even bring forward one
incident of student rights violation
or any other misconduct on behalf
of the police officers.
O.K., so they tried their best to
make the police officers look like
monsters when they drew their
weapons on an unarmed man in
Angell Hall, but if we were all
mind readers like Hinte and Ocha,
the police officers would have
known that this man was not
armed.
Wake up. Let's put you out
there to chase this fleeing felon
who is wanted on an outstanding
warrant for narcotics and then see
how you react when (after being
caught in a corner) he makes a
defensive gesture to you. I guess
the police officers should have

do a great job
just waited until he pulled out his
weapon first. Sorry, but, I'm sure
this is not what your instructors
teach you when you are in the
police academy!
The editorials from the Daily
have been just as nauseating as
Hinte and Ocha themselves.
Give us the facts of how and
when the police have been
unresponsive to crime and what is
the theory behind the alleged
threat of being attacked by
"student snipers"? I would like to
know who dreamed up this one.
Where is all your research?
Well, I guess I will also take it
with a grain of salt until the Daily
comes up with some facts to put
behind its allegations of this big
fear we should all have of our
local police.
I know I will be at the regents
meeting on Feb. 20 to voice my
support!
Jennifer Green
Taylor, MI

needing someone to create God,
homosexuals would not be part of
God's "creation" and would not
exist. Seacrist's letter is not the
result of rational cognition, but of
an infestation of supersitions that
have been damning these people
since the fall of ancient Greece.
I would like to encourage
other heterosexuals to have the
self-esteem to challenge these
myths, because when the rights of
one individual are under attack,
the rights of all individuals are
under attack.
Peter J. Schweinsberg
School of Music sophmore


0


Magic must move on with his life off the court

Bush abandons Haitian refugees

The Bush Administration's decision to begin
repatriation of the 15,000 Haitian refugees
interned at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base comes on
the heels of a Supreme Court order overturning the
11thFederal Circuit Appeals Court decision to stay
the exportation of the refugees.
This inhumane decision has been widely con-
demned by the Organization of American States
(OAS), The United Nations Committee on Human
Rights, and Amnesty International.
Those who favor allowing the refugees to
emigrate to the United States are correct in saying
that the Haitians should not be forced to return as
long as the direct threat of political violence in
Haiti still exists. The Bush Administration argues
that there is no threat of violence and the Haitians
are simply fleeing for economic reasons.
This comes despite the administration's deci-
sion to recall the ambassador to Haiti, Alvin P.
Adams, for apolicy review following United States
condemnation of anincidentin which plain-clothes
police officers stormed a political meeting of an
opposition leader. In addition, Amnesty Interna-
tional has documented hundreds of human rights
violations since President Jean Betrand Aristide
was overthrown in a coup d'etat in September.

Despite these facts, the Bush Administration re-
fuses to acknowledge what the United Nations and
most of the world does: that the Haitian refugees
will be in serious danger if forced to return to their
homeland.
The Bush Administration has allowed the Hai-
tians to begin applying for refugee status at the
U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince for direct resettle-
ment in the United States. This procedure is being
used for the first time in a non-communist country
during peacetime. Yet it constitutes only tacit rec-
ognition of the extreme nature of the Haitian refu-
gees' political situation.
However, this unprecedented program doesn't
begin to address the problem; only 300 people will
be allowed to emigrate to the United States under
this plan, and it will have no effect on the other
15,000 refugees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval
Base.
The United States government, which prides
itself on its historical dedication to human rights,
has conveniently labeled these Haitians as eco-
nomic refugees in order to wash its hands of the
real issue.
The simple fact is that if ever a people needed
political asylum, it is the Haitians.

by Stuart Glass
"It's so hard to say good-bye
to yesterday." These are lyrics
from the new Boyz II Men song
words that Magic Johnson
knows all too well. Johnson is
having difficulty parting with the
past and with good reason. He has
played basketball in the National
Basketball Association (NBA)
since 1979. He led his team, the
Los Angeles
Lakers, to
five NBA
champion-
ships andK
won the
NBA most-
valuable-
player
award on
three
occasions.
He also has
played in
ten NBA
All-Star
games.
However,
Magic
should not
make this
year his
eleventh, nor should he play for
the United States in the upcoming
Olympic Games.
The majority of people are
aware that Johnson was diagnosed
as being HIV positive in early
November. As a result, he retired
from the Lakers and the NBA.
Recently, he was selected by the

one basket, grabbed one rebound,
earned one assist, or played one
minute of basketball all year. He
has sat out the entire season and
because of this, he does not
deserve to play in the all-star
game. This is not to say Magic is
not a great player. He is one of the
two greatest hoopsters of my
lifetime, Larry Bird being the
other.
But Magic's career is over. He
retired and, in doing so, forfeited
any right he has to play in the
game honoring the NBA's best.
There is no need to allow him to
play simply out of sympathy or

Barcelona. There is no way that
Magic could engage in such
physical activity on a daily basis
for an extended period of time. He
would obviously become tired
and run down and could catch a
cold or another illness that would
in turn shorten his life. This is a
risk not worth taking.
Magic's place in basketball
history is already etched in stone.
He will enter the Hall of Fame the
moment he becomes eligible. The
Lakers plan to retire his number
this season at halftime during a
game against the Celtics.
Magic has won both an NCAA

S

It's time for Magic to ... let the talents of some
other NBA great be showcased.

pity for his condition. There is
nothing wrong with honoring him
before the game or at halftime and
letting him sit on the bench, but
there is no basis for granting him
the opportunity to play in the
game.
If anything, he should play in
the Legends game on Saturday,
Feb. 8 for the retired superstars of
the NBA. Letting him play on
Sunday would be a public
relations ploy by NBC to garner
increased ratings. It's time for
Magic to move on and let the
talents of some other NBA great
be showcased.
In addition, Magic should not
compete in the Summer Olympics
in Barcelona. The U.S. team will

championship and an NBA title.
A gold medal would give him the
Triple Crown. Let him be a coach
and sit on the bench with his
teammates. Or name him to the
team as an honorary player Do
whatever it takes to get him his
gold medal, but please do not let
him practice and work-out every
day. I am scared at what could
result if he participates in too
much strenuous activity.
Through his achievements on
the court and his public handling
of his situation, Magic has
reached legendary status in the
world and is a role model for
many people.
However, he must face the
grim reality of his situation. He is

0
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