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. ., - m.TT11"PR.R:.H 7U.TVI ._T1A_.Ti _ 7 . :.":'44'.4"h'::.".:- U"::: '.4Y1'4':"::"." .:::: V:.':4.1":::::.":.::. . . . ..'":':':t"... . . . ...::!.',: ':.., ..,i".:.'..:..":""..l." "."'..'' :''." Affirmative Action via Nite Owl FOKAY A HO' - T~ Cv1 - AN - 'N- '0 o E t7E CL NT-0N . L /O - - I'stDaYCAMMir - l niui G " H 7 --- ~ ~ --~~ 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 0 Nuts and Bolts by by Brad Meltzer Y'KNow, 1" 4tLy Ae: '3"'UD1>i ri 3 ..... /l~tlL~M~w F !: / dil ir, t.'T !L. fl tN 6RU A NAPY t ka 5 '1 t!C C 1f r 1 J ~ O~sI .Jt YEAH 11j I ~L I