01
Page 4- The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, April 8,1992
e icUgan+&ttilQ
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.
The after-taste of tear-gas
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01
Monday night's "celebration" on South Uni
versity was not such a celebration. After the
Wolverines suffered a defeat at the hands of the
Duke University Blue Devils in the NCAA basket-
ball tournament, students and police converged on
South University with bad attitudes and dangerous
misconcep-
tions.°
Some of the
students who
gathered in the
area were look-
ing for trouble.
Throughout the
week, students
were express-r
ing the puzzlingr
desire to repeat
the 1989 riot.
Violence and }
the rite of pas-Y
sage associated
with "getting
tear-gassed",
reached curi-
ously high pro-
portions.
But the 150 DOUG KANTER/Daly
Ann Arbor Police responsible for maintaining or-
der Monday night operated with an even worse
mindset, primarily because they had the tear gas,
but not the discretion to know when to use it.
The police's first error was its reversal of the
methods it employed Saturday night. Rather than
letting the crowd simply wear itself out, the police
picked an arbitrary time to clear the streets and
break up the party. Columns of mounted police
moved up and down South U. in a vain attempt to
get students to leave. The tactic wasn't wrong; but
the goal was. Students had no intention of simply
leaving, and the police should have acknowledged
this. Instead, the police stood in formation, and
with no announcement or warning of any kind, let
the tear gas fly.
Failing to issue a warning is a reckless over-
sight, and one that had violent repercussions. The
police were in no imminent danger, and those
students who didn't want to be gassed should have
been given the opportunity to leave. This is simply
common courtesy, and the police, as trained pro-
fessionals, should know better than to violate such
basic "gassing etiquette."
It is unclear who "cast the first stone." Students
may have launched bottles before the gassing, or
they may have thrown them as an angry response.
But, without question, the more widespread vio-
lence and anger that ensued was triggered by a
policy blunder.
The police should have maintained the policy
of "regulated partying" that they successfully
adopted Saturday night. They have yet to offer a
reasonable justification for why they acted other-
wise.
As both the police and students know, last
night's melee was no isolated incident. Ann Arbor
is earning a national reputation for riots and con-
frontation. On campus, more students continue to
view police as gas-toting thugs, and police con-
tinue to view students as a monolithic mob of
criminals. Neither stereotype is entirely true, yet
both contribute to the systematic confrontation
that has become commonplace here. Without ma-
jor adjustments in student attitude and police policy,
neither is likely to dissipate soon.
Abstinence won't stop deaths
To the Daily:
I would like to respond to
Howard Scully's letter ("Absti-
nence," 3/27/92) on the role of
abstinence in safer-sex education.
What Mr. Scully and the Daily, in
its earlier editorial, fail to realize
is that the problems with teaching
abstinence as an AIDS prevention
measure are not only practical in
nature, but political as well.
Abstinence is a tool that has
been used frequently in recent
history to regulate and distribute
sexual behavior in a manner
beneficial to particular groups of
people (for example, straight
white men). While abstinence
may be less risky than "sex with a
condom" (which usually means
traditional heterosexual penile-
vaginal penetration in cultural
terms), so are a variety of sexual
experiences that don't involve
exchanges of certain body fluids
or penetration of certain orifices
by penises (not to mention sexual
experiences that don't involve
penises at all!)
My point is that to a certain
extent, sex has always been a
risky and sometimes deadly
experience for a lot of people
because of a history of sexual
"crises" like syphilis, illegal
abortions and rape. In many
ways, AIDS is a crisis that is
being used by some to regulate
and destroy the lives of others via
sex like many other sexual
epidemics before it.
With AIDS, we must act
quickly in a manner that both
prevents a horrible illness and
addresses one of the major factors
that created this crisis in the first
place: sexual and racial oppres-
sion. I have serious doubts that
abstinence as an AIDS prevention
measure can do anything to stem
the tide of violence and death
currently in use to control
people's lives.
Brian R. Holt
Rackham graduate student
How about some student tickets?
The crowds that gathered on South University
after each game of the NCAA Tournament
illustrated the devotion students have to Michigan's
basketball team. But despite this enthusiasm, and
despite the team's strong performance, not all
Michigan fans were satisfied with the organization
of the tournment.
At the tournament, a team of starting frosh, the
Fab Five, shocked the sports world with a 25-9
season. Unfortunately, of the 50,000 seats avail-
able in the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome in Min-
neapolis, only 3,100 seats were made available for
the University. Of that number, only 400 were sold
to students. Short-changing students, who are the
loudest, most energetic and most supportive mem-
bers of Wolverine fandom, is unfortunate, and the
situation should be remedied in the future.
The 2,700 tickets not available to students were
distributed among team members, coaching staff,
sports staff, alumni, administration and Victors
Club members. Certainly, as members of the Uni-
versity community, these people deserve to see the
game. But the student body generally has a higher
turnover rate than the University administration.
Since students spend a limited time at the Univer-
sity, to them, a championship basketball game is a
once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Reserving so many tickets for alumni, unfortu-
nately, denies this experience to hundreds of stu-
dents. If students want to see the Championship
game in person, they have to purchase tickets a full
year in advance, and before anyone knows which
teams will make it to the Final Four. Tickets for
next year's game, for example, must be purchased
before April 30 of this year. If only 3,100 tickets are
made available to the University, the alumni should
sacrifice reserved seating for student fans.
A preferable solution would be for the NCAA
to distribute more tickets to the Final Four univer-
sities. The alumni and Victors Club members can
still buy reserved seats, but more tickets would be
available to students. University administration
and staff need not suffer. The number of general
seating tickets can be reduced to provide a greater
opportunity for university fans to see the Champi-
onship games.
U.S. ignores Palestinian rights
To the Daily:
Mr. Walner stated (3/31/92)
that "Israelis are still killed daily
by Arab terrorists." Actually, less
than 100 Israelis have been killed
by Palestinians and other Arabs
over the past four years. While
this may be 100 too many deaths,
it pales in comparison to the over
1,000 Palestinians who have been
killed by Israelis or have died in
Israeli detention over the same
period.
The recent death of Palestinian
Mustafa Akawi demonstrates what
life is like for Palestinians in
Israel. Akawi was arrested on Jan.
22, 1992. On Feb. 3, he appeared
before an Israeli military judge
without having been charged with
a crime or given the opportunity to
speak with an attorney or mem-
bers of his family. Akawi showed
the judge deep bruises on his arms
and shoulders while complaining
about severe beatings and torture
he had been receiving from Israeli
interrogators.
The judge denied Akawi's
requests to speak to an attorney
and to see a non-prison doctor,
ordering his imprisonment to
continue. The next day, Akawi
was dead. An American doctor's
autopsy revealed that the oppres-
sive treatment Akawi had been
receiving caused a fatal heart
failure.
But this is by no means an
isolated incident. Amnesty
International has condemned
Israel for its regular use of
interrogation practices "which
clearly amount to torture or ill-
treatment."
There is no difference
between Israel's application of
Zionism and South Africa's
application of Apartheid, and the
United States needs to start
treating Israel accordingly. That
means no $10 billion in loan
guarantees, no $5 billion in
annual aid, and no more military
assistance. Many of the most
dedicated opponents to Israel's
treatment of the Palestinians are
Israeli Jews. Other non-Israeli
Jews, including film maker
Woody Allen and author Thomas
Friedman, have called for an end
to Israel's mistreatment of
Palestinians. However, the United
States continues to reward
Israel's current leaders.
Of course Mr. Walner did
make a great point about anti-
Americanism in the Middle East.
His argument went something
like this: the Palestinians have
protested America's foreign
policy. Therefore, they should be
denied all human rights.
Call me old-fashioned, but
much like my opinions on the
rights of suffrage, self-govern-
ment, and due process of law, I
also believe in the right to free
speech.
Jason Forge
First-year law student
Muslims, not Moslems
To the Daily:
I would like to bring to the
attention of the Daily staff, as
well as its readers, the reference
to the people of Islam, as referred
to in the Daily's articles concern-
ing the Islamic holy month of
Ramadan.
In these articles, the Daily
refers to Islam's followers as
"Moslems." I find this spelling to
be incorrect. The spelling
"Moslems" encourages mispro-
nunciation of thewordand
sometimes carries negative
connotations. For this reason, I
find that "Muslims" would be a
better spelling, one that is already
accepted by most members of the
media, as well as by members of
the Muslim community.
Shahid Murtuza
LSA junior
Final Four ticket fiasco
To the Daily:
As a loyal Michigan basket-
ball fan and a season-ticket holder
for three consecutive years, I am
outraged at the way students were
screwed over by the Athletic
Department once again. The
University had 3,100 tickets to
sell, but made only 400 available
to the students. Loyal ticket
holders were made to stand out in
the pouring rain for hours at
Midnight Madness to purchase
season passes. Then we got to
stand out in the rain, sleet and
snow for hours before each game
for a seating assignment. Now
these same die-hard fans should
have been in Minneapolis
cheering on their team. But the
majority of these fans did not get
tickets. University students have
been supportive, despite the
mediocre treatment by the
Athletic Department all season.
Meredith Meyer
LSA junior
Selectively liberal
To the Daily:
Why is it that the liberal paper
on campus says so little about the
way the University attempted to
halt NORML's rally when the
conservative paper ran two
articles in one issue. I guess the
Daily is only liberal when homos
or minorities are involved. I'd
also like to reiterate the question
of why Black is capitalized in
your paper and white is not.
Dave Corbett
LSA first-year student
Court ruling turns back the clock
Since the landmark Brown vs. Topeka Board of
Education case in 1954, the Supreme Court
has been promoting equality of education in the
United States. However, the Freeman vs. Pitts
decision handed down last week demonstrates a
somewhat predictable departure from that com-
mitment.
Eight justices voted unanimously to end a fed-
eral school desegregation decree in Dekalb County,
Ga. This meant that the county could cease its
busing policy and other desegregation measures
that had been in place since 1969. The decision
marks a step backward for desegregation, a situa-
tion that still calls for great strides forward.
The court's opinion stated that a sufficient level
of integration had been achieved in the school. It
found there was no de jure violation - no segre-
gation protected by law - so a federal role in
desegregation was no longer necessary. The court
cited private choices and demographic conditions
as reasons for relaxing the integration standards.
Justice Kennedy argued that racial balance should
not be achieved for its own sake. What Kennedy
fails to realize is that racial balance is needed not
for its own sake, but to insure all groups receive
equal access to a quality education.
This shallow argument fails to account for the
realities of current housing patterns. The wealth of
a community usually predicts the quality of its
schools. Historically, minorities have either been
denied access to good housing or have been unable
to afford living in communities with good schools.
Housing patterns have limited the education op-
portunities of minority groups.
Equal access to education is supposed to ensure
equal opportunity in the United States. It is the
major predictor of future socioeconomic status,
and should be a right, not a privilege. The Supreme
Court must ensure these rights.
Nonetheless, gross disparities in the quality of
education exist in this country. Inner-city schools
often operate at sub-standard levels, while wealthier
school districts in the suburbs thrive. For instance,
Detroit spends less than $4,000 per-pupil, while
Ann Arbor spends almost $8,000 per-pupil.
While busing has not been a panacea for the
problem, it was a step toward improving minority
education. Instead of legitimizing the current dis-
mal status of education, the Court should be work-
ing toward achieving equality in education.
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McRibnotrib: disguised,
by Eric Barmack long line of fast-food dishes.
MacDonald's has once again
George Orwell must beM. sedated its consumers with a wad
turning over in his grave. Frendly of processed meat. The McRib is
fire, freedom fighters, peace put through a press and molded
keepers, and the luminous 1000 so that it has the indented
points of light have all been impression of bony ribs. It is then
acepted as "double-peak terms basted in an artificially colored, _
within our society. The army is barbecue sauce to give the
always heroic, the standards of painted image of something that
living are constantly on the rise, came from an animal, prior to its
and the economy should be on the mashing.
upturn any day now. Twisted I asked an attendant at
political speeches, endless tax MacDonald's how they could
forms, and the ever-expanding advertise a rib sandwich whose
dependency on television have only resemblance to an actual rib
been completely integrated into was its mold. He responded, "It
our society as well. all started from the same place
pressed meat
campaign. Perhaps this is indeed
the last frontier of standards in fast
food, the last pioneers in cuisine.
If society has become so disinter-
ested in what they eat, who is to
say what the standards will soon
become?
Perhaps they could promote a
new chicken-patty soon, grinding
chicken wings, feathers, fat and
eggs into a giant grinder. Maybe
MacDonald's could even press
the remaining pulp and press into
a "bald-eagle burger." It could be
part of their "Endangered species,
get'em while they last" campaign.
Yes indeed, comrades,
"double-speak" has hada tremen-
Nuts and Bolts
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