Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, April 1, 1992
Editor in Chief
i d
. *
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764-0550
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's Editorial Board.
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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Affirmative Action via Nite Owl
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Dally cartoon offensive to Black South Africans
rom residence hall cafeterias to lecture halls to
campus bars, there often seems to be an invis-
:ble line preventing the races from meeting and
-mingling. Three Black Action Movements, the
Michigan Mandate and a required diversity class
have failed to bridge the racial gap. This demon-
strates the need for what some would call an
extreme remedy - busing.
Busing students of one race to facilities domi-
nated by students of another has never been at-
tempted at the university level, but this remedy has
been used for more than 20 years to integrate
Blacks and whites in primary and secondary edu-
cation.
In this University, the Greek system is a prime
candidate for extending the busing concept. No-
where else on campus is self segregation so
staunchly institutionalized. No laws prohibit an
African-American or Asian-American student from
Sjoining a "mainstream" fraternity, but there are
relatively few minority students within the
Intafraternity Council (IFC) system. The Black
Greek Association (BGA), and other minority fra-
ernities and sororities, serve an important role in
their members' communities, but also contribute
to the separation of the races.
For this reason, we believe the regents should
create a bylaw to mandate the busing of students
between BGA and IFC parties. Because there are
so many more fraternities in the IFC system than in
the BGA, one IFC fraternity would be chosen
every Friday and Saturday night to act as host.
Several provisions would be included in the
bylaw: At 11:30 p.m., several Nite Owl buses
would be sent to the Union to pick up half the
students at the BGA party. The BGA partiers
Stone s JFK vict
o most of the country, Monday night's Acad-
emy Awards seemed little more than the usual
.1ollywood glitz. Silence of the Lambs cleaned up,
,yinning five of seven nominations, including best
ierector, best picture, best actor and best actress.
Noticeably absent from the list of the most presti-
gious awards was Oliver Stone's JFK. The
Academy's disregard of JFK demand that we delve
into the past of certain nominees and the Academy
itself.
Anthony Hopkins, winner of the best actor
-award, performed impressively in the hit movie
Silence of the Lambs. The establishment press,
however, has ignored and continues to ignore the
fskeletons in Hopkins' closet. In 1959, Hopkins
: Worked at a CIA-front movie studio, where the
CIA conducted training of Cuban revolutionaries.
Hopkins delivered the line "I'll kill that commie
.son-of-a-bitch" (from a Jane Fonda film) just as
c...FBI agents interrupted rehearsal and shut the stu-
dio down in 1961.
Jodie Foster, winner of best actress, is equally
suspect. After his attempt to assassinate President
Reagan in 1981, John Hinckley, Jr. confessed that
his love for the actress prompted his assassination
attempt. The ballistics tests conducted on the bul-
lets removed from Reagan's body revealed that
they were actually fired from the Manlicher Carcano
would be bussed to the IFC party; the Nite Owl
would then return to the Union with an equal
number of the IFC partiers. At 1:30 a.m., the buses
would return, taking everyone back to their respec-
tive parties.
Of course, not everyone may be excited to
comply with these new guidelines, creating the
need to bring in the University Police Force. The
'U' cops could be dispatched to assure compliance
with the busing schedule, and help in adjusting
attitudes of any students who may be exhibiting
racist tendencies.
For example, some students may try to escape
the system and hide in local bars. Tear gas could
come be used to clear out the bars and herd them to
the buses and their assigned parties.
This solution could be extended to several other
areas of campus as well. Events such as hockey
games, religious services at Hillel, and Black Stu-
dent Union meetings could all benefit from as-
sisted integration.
Busing provides the perfect opportunity for
people to put aside their stereotypes and get to
know each other on a one-to-one basis. Consider-
ing the crowds at the average fraternity _party,
busing to Greek parties would offer people no
choice but to get to up close and personal.
The regental bylaw should also include a sec-
tion mandating that music is provided that will
appeal to people of all races, sexes, colors, reli-
gions, national origins, ages, marital status, handi-
caps and Vietnam-era veteran status.
Martin Luther King Day symposia will not
erase this campus' racial divide. The only suffi-
cient remedy for this University's segregation is a
strike at the heart of campus life - the keg.
n of conspiracy
rifle allegedly used by Oswald in the assassination
of Kennedy. But mysteriously, these reports have
vanished. Moreover, President Reagan was for-
merly president of the Screen Actors Guild.
Jack Pal ance, best supporting actor, is perhaps
the most implicated. While hosting the prime-time
television show Ripley's Believe It or Not, Palance
was known to frequent the same cafe where mob-
ster Carlos Traficante dined every evening for two
weeks before Kennedy's assassination. The pro-
prietor insists that Palance ordered the same meal
that Traficante did decades earlier.
Shockingly, when researching the history ofthe
Academy, obscure connections between Academy
members and the Warren Commission, which in-
vestigated the Kennedy assassination, were un-
covered. Chief Justice Earl Warren often played
golf with the heads of the Academy, according to
key witnesses. One caddie insisted that the golfers
painted Kennedy's. face onto a golf ball. "Their
grins were ... menacing," the caddie testified.
Considering the evidence that exists, any critic
who claims that Silence of the Lambs actually
deserved the highest awards is easily suspect as a
member or puppet of the Hollywood-Mafia-Castro-
CIAconspiracy that killed President Kennedy. The
events at the Academy Awards last night was
nothing less than a coup d' etat.
0
To the Daily:
In his attempt to clarify (once
again) his special knack for
enraging the University commu-
nity, Greg Stump asserts that, "the
rest of the world is not fully
evolved when it comes to
racism." I would hazard a guess
that it is Stump that is not fully
evolved or aware when it comes
to racism. Far from causing
"confusion," you have managed
to offend the University commu-
nity repeatedly.
Confusion results when there
has been a misunderstanding or
miscommunication of intent.
Your "political satire" of the
situation in South Africa and
stereotyping of Asian Americans
was clearly understood. Perhaps
you should research the histories
of the images you choose to
portray. If you had done this you
may have learned of the implicit
meaning of labelling a chimpan-
zee "South Africa."
Regrets are not enough. If you
have to write a letter of clarifica-
tion for your work, you're
obviously not doing your job
correctly in the first place.
La lucha continua...
Kimberly S pringer
L SAsenior
Duderstadt not illegal, law is wrong
;-0
r
by Amanda Holm Secondly, you seem to think
Onceagai theDail hasthat the administration feels that
overreacted to and misanalyzed a since "the state constitution
situation that really hasn't harmed charges the regents with selecting
anyone. I refer to the editorial a president, the regents can select
"Duderstadt is illegal, why the president in any manner it
appeal?" (2/19/92). see is quite an overstatement
Put yourself in the place of the by itself; do you know what any
president of some university who ,eactual guidelin
wants to apply for a post else- for the selecting the president of
where. Would you want your the University ares? d
name published in a newspaper as Then you go on to apply this
part of a list of candidates or even analogy to "any governing body,"
finalists for the position? Think aaoy ngoen-b
about it: If you don't get the as if etnsatt modifying thec open-
appointment, your original meetings act to protect the rights
poitn jeoar d baue of candidates would give all
i knows you're laking branches of the government free
everyone reinoosconuct'it busiessni
for a new job. Whose rights are re to conduct its busiessi
compromised now? It is not so Nor is this awfully implau-
"ludicrous" that applicants would sible, but you fail to realize that
be hard to find if they thought the University is not comparable
their candidacy would be publicly to these other bodies. It is a
acknowledged. school; it does not make public
policy. Because of this, in this
Holm is an L SA first-year student very specific case, the University
Editorial board displaysi
should be exempt from the open-
meetings act.
You seem to think that the
regents' sole aim is to keep
students in the dark, and you
assert that "institutions that
comply with the law have no
trouble finding suitable candi-
dates." Do tell, which institutions
are these that release lists of the
names of their presidential search
applicants, with no concern for
how it affects the applicants?
The University is not asking
the state to let it "pick administra-
tion officials any way it wants."
Nor does it wish to "openly
deceive" us (how it is possible to
deceive someone openly, I do not
know). It only wants to be able to
select the best.possible candidates
for the job, without scaring them
away with publicity. In any case,
Duderstadt isn't "illegal." His
selection was illegal, but only
because the law it violated is
overly protective.
0
racism
Legalize MarijuaE
T he legalization of marijuana will be the subject
of heated debate this week, as it is every year
when the Hash Bash hits Ann Arbor. However,
among the majority of those who participate in
Hash Bash simply to get high, there are others who
take the issue of legalization quite seriously, and
justifiably so.
The drug problem is an ongoing issue. Its im-
portance is underlined by the daily death toll of
adolescents caused by the drug trade. Despite the
government ban on marijuana, the substance is
easily obtainable, even for teenagers. The concept
of personal freedom, the failure of the drug war,
and the drug-related violence rampant in cities
across the country, demand that marijuana be le-
galized.
Banning marijuana is an unnecessary restric-
,tfon of personal freedom in America. Smoking
nmarijuana is unhealthy. But so is smoking tobacco,
dTinking alcohol excessively, eating junk food, or
even breathing city air. Personal health risks are
not a justification for the government to ban an
activity. A college student smoking pot at home
poses no threat to anyone other than themselves.
Legalization would help scale down the unsuc-
cessful war on drugs. Currently, the drug war is a
waste of taxpayers' money. The Bush administra-
tion spends millions of dollars trying to interdict
illegal drugs at the nation's borders, fighting drug
kingpins in foreign lands (Manuel Noriega for
one) and prosecuting small-time drug dealers and
drug offenders. Despite its concerted effort, the
illegal-drug trade is thriving. Legalizing mari-
juana would save the government from fighting
this loosing battle.
Because marijuana poses health risks, it should
be heavily regulated and taxed if legalized. Money
raised through taxes should be directed toward
drug rehabilitation and educationprograms to serve
the long term goals of decreasing drug use. Warn-
ings of its ill effects should be printed on every
package sold, and a reasonable age limit should be
rigorously enforced. Driving while under the in-
fluence of marijuana as well as using the substance
in the workplace should still be vigorously pros-
ecuted by law enforcement agencies. If marijuana
were legalized like alcohol and tobacco, all of
these regulations could be enforced, and the illegal
drug -with all of its dangers - trade would be cut
out of the process.
by Tracye Matthews
and Marteal Singleton
The staff and volunteers of the
Ella Baker-Nelson Mandela
Center for Anti-Racist Education
are disgusted with the pattern of
racism and insensitivity displayed
by your editorial board.
The so-called cartoon that
appeared on Friday, March 20 on
the Opinion page was nothing less
than a racist attack on African
Americans in the United States,
and Black people in South Africa,
as well as a mockery of the
struggle to end the racist Apart-
heid regime. How could you even
begin to think that portraying
Black people as monkeys under
the tutelage of white "masters" is
amusing?
This is not the first time that
the Black people of South Africa
Matthews is the coordinator of
the Ella Baker-Nelson Mandela
Center.
Singleton is an LSA first-year
student.
have been the target of such
vicious racism. Just last fall a
similarly offensive flyer was
circulated around the Law
School.
In addition, within the last few
months, the Daily has also
printed anti-Asian and anti-
Semitic propaganda.
Although the Daily deserves
to be singled out for its actions, it
is not the only repository of
racism on this campus. Incidents
happen in the residence halls, in
the admissions office, and in the
classrooms regularly.
These are the manifestations
of institutional racism that
permeate a university where lip-
service is given to multi-
culturalism, while blatant acts of
racism, sexism and homophobia
by faculty, staff, students and
administrators are swept under,
the rug..
We are not surprised that
Duderstadt recognized the
political expediency of respond-
ing promptly by letter to this
offense. We only wish that he
would be so quick to make
institutional changes that would
provide real racial, sexual orienta-
tion and economic diversity on
this campus, and not the tokenism
that we see now.
We call on students, faculty
and staff who are equally outraged
by these kinds of incidents to
document them, send letters to the
Daily and the president about
them, and hold the University
accountable for its actions.
In addition; for those who are
interested in showing solidarity
with the majority.of people in
South Africa, educate yourselves
on the issues and write letters
demanding that the University
administration make all informa-
tion public about its current
liaisons with South African
universities.
Apartheid is not dead. We
must remain vigilant. Can we trust
University administrators to be
anti-racist abroad when they aren't
at home?
0
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Nuts and Bolts
by by Brad Meltzer
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