Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, April 7, 1992
Eoe ricnhietttl
Editor in Chief
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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NPrivatizing A-nn Arbor's parki~ng
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L ast week the Ann Arbor
City Council gave the Downtown Develop-
ment Authority (DDA) preliminary authority to
begin the privatization of the City's parking lots.
This decision represents a major step backward for
the city, which had resisted privatizing the parking
lots in the past. Although the decision may save the
city some money, it will lead to the loss of jobs and
worsening city services.
If a private firm is contracted to sublet the
parking lots, many union workers currently em-
ployed by the city will lose their jobs to non-union
employees. As in many past cases of privatization,
the non-union employees will likely suffer re-
duced benefits, while possibly sacrificing health
insurance and pensions. It is not just the wellbeing
of the newly unemployed workers and their fami-
lies that is at stake. Union employees should not be
expendable if non-union labor is willing to work
for less.
With a virtual monopoly on parking, a private
firm will tend to raise rates to increase its profits.
Just as the public utilities lobby for higher rates, so
will the private firm. If the city feels the firm is
charging too much, it will have little choice but to
go along since its equipment and employees will
be long since gone.
Another problem with privatization is that the
profit motive- not concern for quality services-
drives the entrepreneurs; safety and security be-
come secondary, as there is no incentive for the
private firm to provide an adequate number of
attendants to ensure safety. Similarly, when park-
ing structures become old and weathered, compa-
nies will have no incentive to make the necessary
repairs.
The privatization debate is not unique to Ann
Arbor. There is a sweeping trend across the country
to contract government services to private firms. In
addition, cities and states have experimented with
privatizing parking, prisons, fire stations, mental
hospitals, police,and other services to reduce
public expenditures. Unfortunately, profit-minded
companies tend to put profits ahead of the needs of
the public. The City Council should consider this
fact before it goes ahead with its plans.
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Police neglect domestic violence
T he Ann Arbor News recently reported large
discrepancies in the enforcement of domestic
violence legislation by both the Ann Arbor and
University police forces. Existing law requires that
the officers called to the scene of an attack make an
arrest or file a warrant.
The measure was designed to insure that further
violence does not occur after the police have left
the scene. If that is the law's intent, it certainly
cannot be realized if the arrest and warrant proce-
dures are not followed. This appears to be the case
with the Ann Arbor and University police. While
outlying communities have arrest rates of up to 79
percent, the Ann Arbor police reported an arrest
rate of51 percent and the University reported a rate
of mere 1 percent. These rates are deplorable, and
indicate that both police forces need to take a
stronger role in protecting the people they serve.
A frequent problem in cases of domestic vio-
lence is that police, when called to the scene of an
assault, could not arrest the suspect because the
victim denied that the incident had occurred. The
domestic violence legislation was created to ac-
count for that very situation. For some curious
reason, Ann Arbor and University police appear to
have chosen to not complete their responsibilities
as mandated by law.
Given that less than half of the incidents of
violence are actually reported and that in Ann
Arbor only a quarter of the offenders are ever
arrested, the actual percentage of offenders in-
dicted is dismally small. The police forces' neglect
of assault cases, in conjunction with the small
percentage of reports filed, is a sure sign that
domestic violence is continuing and offenders
have little fear of being caught.
That issue should trouble everyone in the com-
munity who is concerned about their safety and
looks to the police for protection. Police have taken
such a lax attitude toward the enforcement of this
important legislation that it leaves doubt that the
police are effective at all, even when the law gives
them power.
Domestic violence is one of the leading threats
to the safety of women in this community and
nation, and law enforcement could have a key role
in changing that horrid reality. Statistics show that
33 percent of all women will be the victims of some
type of violence in their lifetime. And while police
cannot prevent every situation, they can take an
active role in using the authority they do have for
the benefit of everyone in the community.
Hill treats School
of Nursing unfairly
To the Daily:
I am outraged by the state-
ments madc by LSA Rep. Corey
Hill regarding the School of
Nursing. Where did he come up
with such distorted facts?
The accusations he made,
such as, "most of their (School of
Nursing) students are white
women," are hardly accurate. His
image of nursing students on this
campus is completely off base.
The School of Nursing has a
very diverse student body
including people of color,
military personnel, mothers, and
yes, men too! Students are
accepted into the School of
Nursing with much of the same
criteria as an LSA student with a
special emphasis on good
interpersonal skills and an
aptitude toward science-based
subjects.
These are the qualifications,
whether you are male or female, a
person of color or not. One thing
we cannot ignore is that students
that apply to the school tend to be
female. This we cannot help as
nursing is seen through the public
eye as a predominantly female
profession. Few men are attracted
to nursing for this reason, and not
because the School of Nursing is
"anti-male," as Mr. Hill puts it.
Any male who has the desire to
be a nurse is more than encour-
aged!
Changing the name of the
school is unheard of! This would
compromise the integrity of
nursing students and profession-
als, who have worked very hard
to establish autonomy as valuable
health care professionals.
Mr. Hill, I invite you to sit in
on an actual nursing class or
perhaps make an appointment
with the Dean of the School of
Nursing, who happens to be a
woman of color.
I am sure she would be happy
to enlighten you to the realities of
the School of Nursing.
Sarah VanderSchaaf
Nursing School student
Tough ROTC requirements
To the Daily:
While Matthew Rennie's
column in the Daily (3/13/92)
clearly states his opinion -
"Defense Policy (regarding
homosexuals) belongs in Dark
Ages" - the analogy he uses is a
poor one.
His woeful tale of "poor
Norman" implies that almost
anyone can get an ROTC
scholarship simply by volunteer-
ing to serve in the military.
Norman's "moderately good"
performance in school and
unexceptional athletic skills
would rule him out even if he
weren't homosexual.
ROTC scholarships are
extremely competitive with many
discriminators besides sexual
preference. For example, the
typical recipient of last year's Air
Force ROTC scholarship was in
the 95th class percentile, had an
average ACT score of 29, SAT of
1220, and a GPA of 3.75. Of
13,450 applicants, only 3,560
were offered scholarships - 98
percent of them in engineering or
science/technical disciplines.
Additionally, strong leadership
skills, extra-curricular activities,
moral character and physical
fitness were all critical elements in
receiving a scholarship offer. It
takes a lot more than not being a
homosexual to qualify for a
scholarship in today's Air Force.
Col. Robert
Christensen
Chairman, Air Force Officer
Education Program
Greeks alone aren't to blame
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to a
letter written by Jay Boverhof
("Greeks harm women," 3/13/92)
in which he told of a young
sorority friend who had too much
to drink (after being encouraged
by her "sisters" and the fraternity
men present) and was taken
advantage of by a fraternity man
in his room.
Your somewhat one-sided
account of the story referring to
your friend as a "victim" and
"helpless girl" and the fraternity
man as a "monster" makes this
incident seem like some vicious
rape occurred, which obviously
didn't.
Now I'm not saying that what
happened to your friend was
okay, because it wasn't. I'm sure
it was a "humiliating and degrad-
ing" experience for her, but I'm
also certain she knew the possible
consequences that night when she
decided to drink in excess.
Perhaps if she was in control
of her drinking and had the self-
esteem to ignore the peer-pressure
of her friends, something like this
wouldn't have happened. (Maybe
she should also find some new
"sisters" if, knowing she was
drunk, they did nothing to prevent
her from making this mistake.)
I'm also not saying that your
friend was completely at fault. If,
as you claim, the guy was "totally
sober," he should have had the
common sense to respect (the fact)
that she was drunk.
But, I think you should stop
putting the entire blame on the
guy and place an equal amount of
blame on your friend. No one
forced her to drink too much and
no one forced her to "hook up"
with that guy. In this particular
incident, she is just as much at
fault as the guy.
As you said, this is not an
isolated incident, but it is not only
"a problem inherent in the Greek
system," but something that also
occurs outside the Greek system.
Calling for "the leaders of the
Greek system and each individual
fraternity and sorority to deal with
the problem" is not the complete
answer. Each individual should be
responsible for and in control of
his or her own actions.
Rich Blank
LSA first-year student
Perot shakes up the election game
This year's presidential campaign has predict-
ably fallen into two perennial political prob-
lems: money and mudslinging.
The under-financed campaigns of Bob Kerrey,
Tom Harkin and Paul Tsongas have fallen by the
wayside (although Tsongas may still be holding his
trump card). Patrick Buchanan is struggling to
keep his campaign afloat. Even the "grass-roots"
contender Jerry Brown is dependent on the dollar.
Despite the massive spending on behalf of the
candidates, the public has yet to hear clear debate
on the issues. Instead, pot-smoking, wife-bashing
and orgasmic patriotism have all been funneled
into one expensive soap-opera.
Enter Ross Perot, a self-made billionaire from
Texas who has recently announced that he is will-
ing to put up to $100 million on the line for his own
presidential campaign. Perot's economic power
and independent status gives him the potential to
alter the presidential race, forcing the candidates to
stabilize their opinions and address concrete is-
sues. In a'campaign where voter discontent has
become increasingly apparent, Perot could serve
as a catalyst to force the real issues to the front of
the race.
Perot's mixed platform threatens to take votes
away from both parties. He is pro-business and
wants to abolish the North American Free Trade
Agreement, both of which are considered tradi-
tionally conservative positions. But he also sup-
ports abortion rights and a major re-vamping of the
education system, which are major rallying points
for liberals. He served as an assistant navigator in
the Navy from 1953-57, but vehemently opposed
the Persian Gulf War.
He has never held a political office, which may
be a plus, considering the trend of animosity to-
ward entrenched politicians. However, his com-
bined economic recovery and anti-Washington
platform has the potential to cut away at both Bush
and Clinton's support. Even Brown is threatened to
be upstaged; Perot is asking for no more than $5 in
contributions from his supporters.
Perot, as an independent, is exempt from the
internal squabblings of both parties. More impor-
tantly, Perot is not obligated to tow a party line and
he will potentially be able to dodge the clichds and
cheap-shots of the two-polished politicians come
November.
He has said that "We're supposed to have gov-
ernment that comes from us. Now we have a
government that comes at us." Perot is calling for
the re-establishment of old town-hall meetings
through 800 numbers, where people could speak to
their leaders, facilitating discussion. Whether or
not Perot actually has the support to become the
next president remains to be seen. However, there
is one thing that is common knowledge: money
talks. Bush and Clinton had better start listening to
a potential spoiler.
"
The Daily encourages its readers to respond. All letters should be 150 words or less and sent to: The Mich
gan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109. Or via MTS to: The Michigan Daily, Letters to the Editor.
The editors reserve the right to edit all letters for style and space.
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Politicians fumble on dope question
Last week, presidential hopeful expect us to believe that although Satan. Maybe serving in Vietnam
BillClinton admitted thathe smoked they tried pot when they were com- wasn't such a bad idea.
dope whilehe was aRhodes Scholar ing of age, they hated every minute At least in Gore's case, mari-
at Oxford University. He went on to of it. juana was legal in the country where
say that he never inhaled the mari- Another tale we're expected to he smoked it, where as, Clinton was
juana, andhe didn't like it. As Anna believe is the one which alleges still breaking the laws of Great Brit-
Q u i n d 1 e n that while many politicians have ain. According to Gore's logic, I
pointedoutinthe smoked dope, few have broken the wouldn't be threatening my own
New York:
Times, this
makes Clinton
either a fibber or
a dork.
Personally "r' J ;:'?r}r::
I'm inclined to byMatt
wonder how
Clinton could Adler
have known that
he didn't like pot, if he never in-
haled it. What exactly did he dislike
about it? Did he spill bong water all
over abrand new pair of overalls?(I
have a feeling that Clinton's years
at Oxford were the inspiration for
According to Clinton's logic, I wouldn't be
threatening my political career if I jetted off to
London and went on a mad slayfest in Piccadilly
Circus...
i
Nuts and Bolts
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by Judd Winick
NUT5and BOTS
'we& MtCNI&AN AT . 0(1
laws of the United States. For ex-
ample, Clinton thinks his pot smok-
ing is no big deal since he did it in
England. Albert Gore told us that
he smoked dope only while serving
in Vietnam,where the drug is legal.
On an interesting aside, Gore is
a wealthy white person whose fa-
ther was a U.S. Senator. In other
words, Gore chose to squat in rice
political career if Ijetted off to Zurich
every weekend to shoot heroine.
According to Clinton's logic, I
wouldn't be threatening my politi-
cal career if I jetted off to London
and went on a mad slayfest in
Piccadilly Circus, killing random
Brits with an assault rifle, and then
ran down to Buckingham Palace to
rape Queen Elizabeth.