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Page 4-The Michigan Daily-- Monday, April 20, 1992

l e wott cl i n vttil

420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764-0550

Editor in Chief
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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Africenergy nixed;" no student input

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Daily ci-culation
Students to blame for South U. hurts environment

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S ast Thursday;University Vice President of
Student Affairs Maureen Hartford sent aletter
to Africenergy leader Ramona Porter informing
her that the Africenergy cultural celebration, origi-
nally scheduled for last Saturday, had been can-
celed. This cancellation is unnecessary and will
only further worsen the already poor relations
between the administration and minority students.
The University handled the situation poorly,
and by waiting until only two days before the
event, showed little respect for the work that had
gone into the project. Hartford claims that the
major reasons for the abrupt cancellation were
poor scheduling and a lack of preparation for the
event. This assumption is difficult to believe, con-
sidering that Africenergy had been planning it
since September.
Moreover, the University should not be in the
business of deciding which events get to run based
on criterion set by the administration. If the Uni-
versity were truly concerned about poor planning,
it could have informed Africenergy much sooner
wd-prevented the regrettable situation that devel-
oped.
The University also claims that it doesn't want
to hold an event so close to exams. This claim is

ridiculous and does notexcusethe administration's
insensitivity. Does the University anticipate that
an event like Africenergy would distract students
from studying? If anything, the cultural celebra-
tion could have offered a much-needed break from
studying for students.
Additionally, the administration made its deci-
sion to axe the event without even waiting for input
from the project organizers. The University in-
formed Africenergy leaders about the meeting
concerning the abandornment of its scheduled event
only one hour before the meeting was held. Conse-
quently, the organization did not send representa-
tives to the meeting. This is a curious behavior on
the part of the University, considering how ada-
mantly it spoke about the importance of encourag-
ing minority student input regarding the speech
code. Is studentinput any less important in the case
of Africenergy?
The University's relationship with minority stu-
dents has become tenuous of late. There is wide-
spread feeling among African-American students
that the University is not living up to its commit-
ment to diversity. Had the University handled this
situation better, perhaps it could have tempered
these hostilities.

I


To the Daily:
I am really tired of hearing our
spoiled student body cry about
how unjust the teargassing
incident at South U. was. Perhaps
the police did not properly
forewarn the students before they
threw the gas, but I have to
wonder why so many students
were out there in the first place.
Celebration really wasn't the
reason since we had lost and most
Michigan fans hate Duke. The
most prominent reason that I
believe the students gathered was
to stir up some sort of action.
What the police did was expected
and desired by many of the
students. A lot of the people were
angry and drunk, and for that
reason they wanted to gather and
perhaps release that anger. This


was done in many forms.
Breaking bottles and taunting the
police were the most obvious
ones. Had the police not acted
when they did, there would have
been more severe acts of vio-
lence.
I think that it is time for our
student body to grow up. Sports
are enjoyable and it is always
good to win and it also hurts to
lose, but there is only so much
priority that this can take in
University life. Gathering in the
streets after a loss does not make
much sense. It even makes less
sense for certain students to
foolishly incite violence in
reaction to the loss.
Jason Buquet
LSA first-year student

Regian, Bush circumvent Congress

N early four years after his departure from the
White House, President Reagan continues to
make front-page news. As documents of the Reagan
administration become increasingly available, ex-
actly who America's worst enemy was is unclear.
The president, in the process of fighting the com-
munists, the terrorists, and the drug war, black-
listed Congress as one of many enemy numero
unos. The Los Angeles Times reported last week
that President Reagan approved arms transfers
from Saudi Arabia to Iraq in 1986 without notify-
ing Congress. This revelation is not surprising, nor
is it unexpected. The Reagan administration's dis-
regard for the law and the U.S. Congress seems to
have become its trademark.
The Arms Export Control Act requires the presi-
dent to notify Congress before allowing countries
to transfer American-made weapons to a third
party. In 1986, official White House policy barred
the sale of weapons to Iraq.
Yet President Reagan allowed Saudi Arabia to
supply Iraq with 2,000-pound American bombs,
because he feared a fundamentalist Iranian victory
in the Iran-Iraq war. Expecting Congressional op-
position, Reagan officials intentionally kept Con-
gress in the dark in direct violation of the Control
Act.
The United States was simultaneously selling
weapons to Iran, compounding the violationof the
Control Act. This kind of duplicity was not the
exception, but the rule in American foreign policy.

How the president can be credited with winning
the Cold War this way is beyond reason.
Furthermore, the realization that Saddam
Hussein was dropping American bombs on Allied
soldiers should enrage even the most partisan and
patriotic Republicans.
The story doesn't end with Reagan. Classified
documents revealed that President Bush allowed
Syria and Bangladesh, both Persian Gulf allies, to
keep armored vehicles after the cease fire. Re-
sponding to the documents, White House officials
insist the United States is pressuring Bangladesh
and Syria to return the vehicles. But over a year
later, the United States has yet to retrieve its
property.
No doubt Congress is growing tired of having
its authority second-guessed by the president, and
will react strongly to continued circumvention of
its legal powers. In retrospect, Reagan's dealings
with Iraq, Iran and Nicaragua should have resulted
in his impeachment. This ought to be an incentive
for President Bush to operate within the law.
As history documents the activities of the
Reagan-Bush administration, the 1980s appears to
be a decade of lawlessness in the White House. In
the name of national security and American inter-
ests, Ronald Reagan subverted the law and the
Constitution and rests today in a $6 million ranch.
The least Congress and the American people can
do is make sure George Bush formulates legal
foreign policy.

Abortion wait is needed

To the Daily:
In response to the Daily
editorial ("Informed consent or
paternalism?") we would like to
know what the opponents of the
informed consent bill are trying to
hide from women seeking an
abortion. How can women not
benefit from taking time to think
through the likely physical and
emotional trauma that follows a
life and death decision like
abortion? Planned Parenthood
itself published a report in 1990
confirming the harsh effects of
abortion on women: 91 percent of
all women who have had an
abortion in this country have
reported experiencing at least one
symptom of post-abortion
syndrome, some of the worst
being anxiety, major depression

and suicidal ideation.
As crisis pregnancy counsel-
ors, we have seen various
responses, ranging from shock to
hysteria, following a positive
pregnancy test. The abortion
industry capitalizes on this
emotional paralysis by urging
women to make a decision.
"before it is too late." How then,
can it be insulting to offer
information and time for rational
assessment of the facts? What is
insulting is that women only need
to hear half the truth about
abortion and its effects. Informa-
tion can only empower women!
Carolyn Milanowski
Social Work graduate
student
Bridget Hamilton
LSA junior

To the Daily:
After readn Professor
Hornback' s r(32692)
exposing the Daily's environmen-
tal negligence, 'I am compelled to
hit you with more thunderous
attacks. The Daily has collabo-
rated with University students in
the most environmentally and
economically unsound practice
that I have ever witnessed.
Have you ever noticed how
many copies of your newspaper
adorn the floors and furniture of
the University? We're all aware of
this problem, and most believe
that it is due largely to the
laziness, apathy and ignorance of
most of the students on this
campus.
Many people are too lazy to
put their newspaper back into its
original container or into a
recycling container. Furthermore,
they don't care that they are
contributing to deforestation and
landfill overflow. Finally, they
seem to be ignorant of the fact that
the University wastes its money
paying for extra Dailys to be
printed and for the custodial staff
to pick up the discarded papers
and throw them into the trash.
My argument is that the Daily
is simply contributing to this
problem by printing so many
newspapers. If you were to cut
production by, say 50 percent, I
would think students would be
more willing to pick up a newspa-
per that someone has already read.
Furthermore, you would be setting
an example of conservation for
this university.
Although there will always be
students who think your paper is
trash, if you cut production, they
might be less likely to treat it that
way.
Paul Hirschfield
LSA sophomore

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Best of A2 attacks kinesiology


Campaign financ
The Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1992
T .1passed the U.S. House of Representatives last
week, and the Senate is expected to act on the bill
later this month despite the threat of a presidential
veto. Although not as comprehensive as reformers
hoped, the bill makes significant progress toward
taking some of money's influence out of politics
and making Congressional campaigns more demo-
cratic.
The bill places strict limits on the advantages of
incumbents. Among these perks, all designed to
ensure reelection, are: large staffs that serve as
campaign officials, free mailingst often used for
political purposes, and easy access to lobbyists
willing to dole out money to incumbent campaigns
hand over fist. Thanks to these perks, House in-
cumbent currently enjoy a 98-percent reelection
rate.
The bill limits the representatives' ability to
abuse the franking privilege by banning bulk mail-
ings for a 6-month period before elections; limit-
ing the size of Congressional staffs that can partici-
pate in election work; and placing voluntary re-
strictions on the amounts that Political Action
Committees (PACs) can donate to Congressional
campaigns.
The most innovative aspect of the bill is that it
takes the first step toward public financing of

e reform overdue
campaigns. For candidates who agree to spend
under $400,000 on a campaign, substantial public
funds will be made available.
Candidates thatraise $60,000 will be eligible to
receive $200,000 in public funding, provided they
stay within the proscribed limits of the law. When
campaigns are financed by the public, grassroots
candidates stand a greater chance of elections and
the influence of big-money contributors is re-
duced.
President Bush has threatened to veto this leg-
islation, claiming the bill benefits the Democratic
majority in Congress. More likely, President Bush
wants to maintain the flow of campaign donations
coming from wealthy PACs to Republican Con-
gressional candidates.
At a time when the President's own finances
during the 1988 campaign have come under fire, it
is hypocritical that the president would pass up an
opportunity to make progress in this area.
With the impetus provided by the House check-
writing and post office scandals, Congress has
finally - after four years of stalling in committee
- moved to make campaigns more fair. If it wants
to deemphasize its imperial image before the 92
campaign, this bill is a good place to start. If Bush
wants to deemphasize his, he should reconsider his
veto pledge.

To the Daily:
The article analyzing the "Best
of Ann Arbor" from the weekend
section of the Michigan Daily was
an outright attack on the Division
of Kinesiology. The best "blow
off course" took jabs at our
division because, due to lack of
classroom space, we conduct
some classes in the CCRB. It
forgot to mention that in addition
to providing recreational facilities
for students, the building also
houses the offices for the faculty
in our division. Therefore,
conducting classes in the building

allows students better access to
speak with their teachers before
and after classes.
This article also played to the
stereotype of "dumb jocks." The
fact is, we have many talented
students in Kinesiology. Like
classes in LSA and other schools,
levels of difficulty vary from
class to class. I invite the authors
of the article to sit in on some of
our classes and then make an
educated judgement.
Brian Biery
Kinesiology junior

With the upcoming departure of
Nuts and Bolts, the Daily is
seeking a new comic strip car-
toonist. If you are interested in.
drawing for the Daily next year,
please submit a portfolio as soon
as possible. In addition, we are
looking for an artist who will
drawfor the Opinion page. If you
are interested, please call the
Daily at 764-0552.

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Attica prison, then and now

by Philip Cohen
In September 1971, inmates at
Attica state prison in New York
staged an organized rebellion and
takeover of part of the prison. The
uprising followed intensive
political organizing by members
of such groups as the Black
Panther Party and the Weather-
men. It was sparked by the
murder of George Jackson in a
California prison and the prison
administration's refusal to
improve conditions for the
inmates.
To make a long story short,
instead of negotiating with the
prisoners - who had lttle
sunnort from the . ..side .- New

as the PBS series Eyes on the
Prize.
After the uprising, the inmates
released a statement which read
in part: "These brothers whose
lives were taken by Rockefeller
and his agents did not die in vain.
Why? Because the uprising in
Attica did not start here, nor will
it end here!" (MIM Notes, Sept.
'91)
The uprising, and the state
repression of Attica and other
prison inmates, indeed continues.
In the summer of 1990 Attica
guards murdered a prisoner
named James Charles, in an
incident described by a prisoner
in a letter to MIM Notes-

prison yard. Prison officials r
responded by putting the whole'
prison on 24-hour lockdown for
almost a month. (MIM Notes,
Aug. '90)
An Attica spokeswoman said
Charles died of a mysterious and
never-before-diagnosed condition,
which "combined with the
exertion of attacking the officers
caused his death." If you find that
hard to believe, ask the LAPD
officers who almost killed Rodney
King. I'm sure they could explain
everything. (MIM Notes, Sept.
'90)
In a country which imprisons
more of its population than any
other on earth -- nd a hioher

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Nuts and Bolts
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