Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 8, 1992
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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
i_
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.
Warren again?
MSA wrongly grants inactive SRC chair a second term
There is little question whether Michael Warren
did a poor job as Students Rights Commission
(SRC) chair last fall. The commission failed to
respond in any form to the restrictive Michigan
Union weekend entrance policy, the random ha-
rassment of students - particularly students of
color - by local authorities, or the two incidents
in which police officers drew their guns on cam-
pus. More importantly, the SRC responded to the
South University tear-gassing incident only with a
tardy and flaccid "investigative" report.
So what could possibly have prompted the
Michigan Student Assembly to grant Warren a
second term as head of the commission? The
answer is a veritable enigma.
The SRC chair should be a mover and shaker -
an organizer with the skills and resources needed
to cultivate and guide student activism in our
community. Certainly, the chair should be tem-
pered enough to recognize the futility of too much
protest, but the nature of the SRC requires that its
leader at least be partial to active skepticism. He or
she should not be a bureaucrat resigned solely to
forming subcommittees and filing reports. Warren
was precisely that last term. He lazily avoided
mounting any formidable resistance to the increas-
ing encroachment upon students' rights by the
University administration and the City of Ann
Arbor, and consistently offered excuses where
action was needed. The SRC was all but inopera-
tive last term, and Michael Warren must bear much
of the responsibility for that.
Admittedly, the SRC was also hampered last
term by overwhelming student apathy. But even
that does not completely absolve Warren. The
chair has a responsibility to combat a lack of
student interest, and Warren should at least have
made a more concerted effort.
MSA has made a grave error by granting War-
ren a second term as head of the SRC; it has tacitly
granted approval to his first term of inaction, and
has set the stage for more of the same.
The SRC is simply too important a part of our
community to be relegated to another term of
virtual non-existence, and the assembly ought to
recognize that. Students should demand no less.
Provide condoms
To the Daily:
Although it is a danger that
condom distribution programs
might impart the message that sex
is encouraged or that using
condoms eliminates the risk of
sexually transmitted diseases, it is
not implicit in these programs any
more than encouragements not to
drink and drive imply that people
should drink. It seems to me that
giving students sufficient infor-
mation along with the condoms
they receive would go a long way
towards eliminating any misun-
derstandings.
However, there is something
implicit in any such program, and
that is the message that teenagers
have a right (or permission, if you
will) to choose to have sex if they
want to. In this respect it is
different from education pro-
grams, which could tell kids about
sex, its benefits and dangers;
while simultaneously telling them
they have no legal or moral right
to engage in these activities yet
and still be logically consistent.
Giving someone a condom and
then telling them they can't use it
is just plain illogical.
However, in many states the
legal age of consent is in the 16-
18 range, which includes many
high school students. It therefore
follows that at least some high
school students do have this right,
and neither their parents nor the
school has any right to deny them
the knowledge of their legal
rights. It follows that as long as
the program is consistent with
state law, there is no legal or
moral argument against it, unless
you consider lying to protect
people from themselves moral.
While it is true that such
actions imply the right to have
sex, how will this affect behavior?
It is doubtful that it will make a
significant impact, since most
high school students probably feel
this way already.
In cities that have allowed
needle exchange programs, there
has not been an increase in heroin
use, because most people have
fairly strong motivations not to
use heroin. Similarly, those who
were not having sex before (for
religious, moral, or other reasons)
are probably not going to rush out
and have sex.
James Nelsen
Engineering senior
Don't card us
To the Daily:
I had a terrible experience on
Monday night (Dec. 9) at the
Chicago State basketball game. I
lost my student ID Monday
afternoon and had no opportunity
to replace it before the game. I
saw the back of my student pass
where it said an ID would be
required, but I hoped they would
enforce that like they do student
football tickets.
Unfortunately, the person at
the door wouldn't let me in
without my ID. I promptly asked
to speak to a supervisor. A Mr.
Don Triveline came over to speak
to me. He informed me I wouldn't
be admitted without my ID I then
produced my driver's license and
last summer's class, schedule as
well as next term's schedule. He
actually said, "It's not summer
term yet, is it?"
I don't need to be treated like
a 15-year old. I asked him why
student IDs aren't required for
football games, but he couldn't
provide a concise answer.
He then proceeded to tell me
that I couldn't expect to check out
a book or use the CCRB facilities
without my ID. I wanted to (but I
kept my mouth quiet for fear of
not getting in) tell him that
equating the attendance at a
basketball game with checking
out a book from the library was
quite stupid and moronic.
He then "bent over back-
wards" and made an exception
and let me in. Boy, that must have
been a stretch for him, because all
of the seats in the arena were full.
Not!
We need to change this policy.
Maybe it's not as important as
some other issues, but locally it is
quite important for students.
Chris Poterala
LSA senior
Oliver Stone dedicated his
film, JFK, to us, the youth of
this country, who he said
would be left to get to the
bottom of the Kennedy
assassination, and who he
implored to keep questioning
government rhetoric. In that
spirit, the Daily would like to
hear your opinions about the
JFK assassination and
Stone's movie.
JFK
Government gets
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Media faE ls ericarl a le
p p
'Stoned' in controversial film
by Amitava Mazumdar
Never before has the mystery
of President John Kennedy's
assassination been discussed with
such drama. Oliver Stone offers a
wonderful discussion about why
President Kennedy was killed and
who may have done it. Because of
limited space, however, Stone is
unable to focus and a third aspect
of the tragedy: how the American
media failed the American people.
The American media should
have been questioning the
activities surrounding the events
in Dallas from day one. Instead
the press accepted the
government's every word like
lapdogs. The government played
the media like a piano.
The offensive that the press
has launched against the film JFK
isn't out of character. The
"responsible" media has always
isolated assassination investiga-
tors as whackos and loons, calling
them "assassination buffs."
Never, has the press involved
itself in the resolution of the
crime. Instead, the press has, from
the start, failed to ask the proper
questions.
Why did the media sit quietly
as President Lyndon Johnson
appointed Allen Dulles to the
Warren Commission. Dulles was
fired as CIA chief after the
botched Bay of Pigs. Hie was
known as hostile to Kennedy and
Mazuindar is an LSA sophomore
and is an Editorial Assistant for
the Daily's Opinion Page.
his administration.
Why did the media so readily
accept the Warren Commission
when its shortcomings were so
clear from the start? The testi-
mony of witnesses had been
ignored or twisted, but the press
bilities:
First, to open a public discus-
sion about Kennedy, Vietnam,
and role of intelligence agencies
in warfare to gain an understand-
ing of what forces were at work in
1963. Kennedy is described by
The testimony of witnesses had been ignored
or twisted, but the press never asked why.
never asked why.
The BBC produced an in
depth investigation of the
Kennedy assassination, called
"The Men Who Killed Kennedy."
The networks refused to air it.
Why?
Robert Groden, co-author of
High Treason, advisor to Oliver
Stone and a long-time assassina-
tion investigator, says, either the
press didn't care, or "they served
their masters well." Who knows.
which one is a more accurate
excuse for the behavior of the
press?
The point isn't to accuse the
press of being puppets of govern-
ment, but to criticize the press'
failure to search for the truth. But,
that doesn't mean that they
haven't the chance to correct past
wrongs. Stone's film puts the
Kennedy assassination back on
the political and social agenda.
The establishment media has been
given a third chance to find out
who killed President Kennedy. If
the media were to miss this
chance, the tragedy of Kennedy's
death would be compounded.
The press has three responsi-
many historians as hostile to the
CIA and resentful of their
influence over policy in Southeast
Asia.
Second, the press needs to
give the American people the
evidence gathered by assassina-
tion "buffs," all of which has to
this day been ignored by those
members of the "credible" media.
Third, the press must actively
involve itself in a new indpendent
investigation of the assassination.
The Warren Commission and the
House Subcommittee on Assassi-
nations have both proven the
government's inability to find the
truth.
The press has already called
the Warren report flawed. But,
that isn't enough. The American
people depend on the press for the
truth. This may be the most
important issue of the century.
Did our government kill our
president?
Certainly, the press shouldn't
bear the entire burden of
Kennedy's death, but it's high
time the press did their job by
trying to find the truth about what
happened on Nov. 22, 1963.
Fair elections
Duke shouldn't be denied Constitutional right to run
Derennial campaigner and former Ku Klux Klan
I Grand Wizard David Duke of Louisiana is once
again on the campaign trail. Fresh from a guberna-
torial defeatinhis home state, Duke has announced
his intention to seek the Republican nomination
for president in more than 30 states. But not all of
those states are willing to guarantee him his right-
ful place on the primary ballot.
Since the announcement was made last month,
a great deal of opposition has arisen in the hierar-
chy of the Republican Party to Duke's candidacy.
It would be better, they contend, if Duke's brand of
reactionary racial politics was not associated with
the party at all.
So intense is the opposition to Duke's candi-
dacy that many states have tried to prevent his
name from appearing on the ballot. The Michigan
Republican Party failed in its attempt, and the
Florida Republicans are now moving to exclude
him.
Duke is a seething racist who plays on many
people's underlying resentment toward minorities,
and the scattered but growing support for his
platform is indeed troubling.
But he meets the Constitution's requirements to
run for president, and should therefore have an
equal opportunity to do so. The party is attempting
to deny him this right.
The Republican Party justifies its actions by
claiming that Duke's policies are inconsistent with
the Republican platform. This is a deception.
Though neither has been photographed with a
swastika armband, both President George Bush
and candidate Pat Buchanan support similar poli-
cies and foster similar sentiments.
In reality, the Republicans are moving to keep
Duke's name off the ballot for no reason other than
their fear that his past association with the Klan
will tarnish the GOP image.
This travesty of fair campaign practices could
.have dangerous ramifications. If the Republican
Party can deny Duke - whose politics are repug-
nant to many Americans - a spot on the ballot,
will they then deny other candidates a spot for
subjective reasons? Who will decide which candi-
dates are acceptable?
Duke's name should appear on the ballot in
Florida and in every other state where he chooses
to run. The voters should then pull someone else's
lever.
One bullet? Just ask Mr. Reagan
by Matt Adler
Few students at the University
were alive to remember the
assasination of John F. Kennedy.
Many students, like myself, can
remember the attempted
assasination of Ronald Reagan. I
remember sitting alone in the
kitchen, gazing at the black and
white televised images of Presi-
dent Reagen clutching his
shoulder as he walked unassisted
into a Washington hospital.
The attempt on Reagan's life
was the result of one man, John
Hinckley Jr., and one gun, a .22
caliber pea shooter. Hinckley was
clearly a psychotic. The only
rationality he demonstrated, with
the possible exception of his
disdain for Reagan, was his
fondness for Jodi Foster. Never-
theless, he was nuts - he tried to
shoot down cowboy Ron with a
rabbit pistol.
If there were absolutely no
other evidence to suggest that Lee
Warren commision's conclusion
that Oswald acted alone. Stone
has been widely criticized by the
mainstream media for making
faulty assertions and revising
history.
The condemnations, which
columnists from every major
American newspaper have levied
against Stone, are grossly unfair.
First, as a film, JFK is extraordi-
nary - endlessly complex and
diverting.
Secondly, Stone's film never
purports to be a documentary. To
the contrary, it merely presents
one particular theory about the
assassination of Kennedy. While
Stone's film may be an overly
suspicious view of the
assassination, it provides a logical
balance when compared to the
Warren Commission report,
which naively embraced weak
explanations and even weaker
arguments.
There are certainly assertions
nity. Watergate, and the book All
The President's Men by Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein
provide testimony to the sort of
hungry reporting which good
journalists do.
Additionally, it seems absurd
to suggest that the Warren
Commission would have been
directly involved in a cover-up. A
man such as Earl Warren, who
challenged the basic tenets of
American society when his court
ruled on Gideon v. Wainwright *
and Miranda v. Arizona, would
never condone state sponsored
assasination of any sort. Warren
would have surely implicated CIA
and other government officials if
he had evidence of their involve-
ment.
Despite the intensely suspi-
cious nature of Oliver Stone's
JFK, the film should be praised
for its cinematic quality, and for
reviving an important issue which
never received proper attention. If
Nuts and Bolts
by Judd Winick
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