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 6'e~'~. 'e~ 'g~/iE Y!6ETE ©N fT av ?otIR &C 7"v craG+'& StarAP o0.rroF I/- TIB l9q - 1FL-AE N ps' W "-~A- o1A/ i ,W M,4f -- - of L E T IE..h ........................... . . . ........^........,...............4..... h.. 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. x":: a>::, ":"x,.: ;.:;.;:. ". , <"a: "a":".;.,4-. x:..:..:....44,. 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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 G"6I sAw1is j,5! -'MArs mFJT-'ON fOF TI E CA~RCC~ liA'tF AW OSA IE _! AND IF Y~OU CANJ FKP -WE~ MM6 bCAKT1oN SEND? A COPY OR vain rMcRi'nc. by Judd Winick I5 t5 INOTA jolq~f, Jusr cw vE AIn ..,2-" - Ih.L.t-n-..Z