Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Thursday, September 24, 1992 J3be amidltgau tai1 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 Editor in Chief MATTHIEW D. RENNIL OpinionEditors YAEL CITRO GEOFFREY E aARLEB 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. Does the ICC have your money? r ,. NOW, 1fF I TOL D Y>OU W77-AT YOUR --> PFKSoAt/IL C0/M f-U7wER E )L-vFC' VFgOA ~ q(A PoCR&-r CALct41-o1, You'D S A, '-/ "l~x MIKE rYo'ouFk&9 NOT fLA~lN& L / :3 lft F LLL7 ECr/f Y I6 K ARE ALL1 /1 " ifA y ~n l G, 1 ' A~ LL- ~T-7t-4E S /REfR CA/S. :09 M ichigan law states that landlords have 45 And the days to return security deposits to their delay. The tenants. Despite this, the almost 200 students who poorly trai left the Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) lastApril intern to ba have yet to retrieve their $200in "shares," because calculating this law does not apply to co-ops. Even worse, consuming thanks to an obscure law called the Michigan Former Consumer Cooperation Act, what the ICC is doing spring can is legal. That law needs to change. But until that October. time, the ICC needs to clean up its books and give But the its members their money back. charges is The ICC claims laws regarding the prompt have littler return of security deposits do not apply, primarily Michigant because the ICC issues shares in the corporation, little moti not security deposits. But the ICC effectively spirit of th levies these shares against its members when they The co don't pay their bills or if they damage the house - process. T a security deposit in practice, if not in name. ance its bo In houses and apartments, landlords are al- deadlineso lowed 30 days to inform tenants how much of their tion of char deposit will be returned, and 15 additional days to streamline return the money. The ICC If the landlord fails to do so, the tenant is students ch legally entitled to receive double the amount of the affordable1 security deposit. But the ICC is holding out for six turn of stud months before returning security deposits, and concerned students have virtually no recourse. limits of le The ICC's method of calculating charges for As it sta former members is incredibly lethargic. The orga- loophole v nization spends the summer months waiting for money lon house treasurers to submit budgets, for the final houses. Co utility bills to come in, and checking up on the found in o houses to make sure they accurately balanced their keep in mi books. $200 less t Religious rigt strikes O regon, the state that invented the "ballot ques- feel that if] tion" as a tool for progressive reform, is now into the clo the center of a national religious war. Lou Mabon, job securit the leader of the Oregon Citizens Alliance placed sexual orie Measure 9, a statute that equates homosexuality The nati with sodomy and pedophilia, on the November 3 over Meas' ballot. While open racism and anti-Semitism are candidate P unacceptable today, this bill capitalizes on wide- lican Conv 6pread acceptance of anti-gay discrimination. that leadin The referendum states that, "State, regional and Gov. Willia local governments ... including specifically the ers, stand in State Department of Higher Education and the McCarthyi public schools, shall assist in setting a standard for same exclu rOregon's youth that recognizes homosexuality ... Measur as abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse and drives the r that these behaviors are to be discouraged and cilman in S ravoided." "We'rein a Unfortunately, the 19th century logic and preju- a God-fear ,dice that lies at the heart of Measure 9 is also the pagan nati foundation of the religious right's cultural and Measur religious war against non-"traditional" Americans. down in d In effect, Measure 9 would legalize discrimina- Washingto lion by denying homosexuals government ser- So long vices and would encourage the censorship of such tively cam books, as "The Color Purple," because of its sexu- segment'so ally-explicit content. to keep itsr Many homosexuals in Oregon understandably power. e ICC leadership is full of excuses for the y claim individual house treasurers are ned; that the organization only has one llance the books for 17 houses; and that g the balances is a difficult and time- g process. co-op members who moved out last expect to have their shares returned by problem isn't that calculating house so difficult, the problem is the co-ops motivation to speed up this process. But tenant laws were created to provide a vation. Sadly, the ICC is neglecting the at law and students are suffering. -ops need to find a way to accelerate this lie ICC should hire more people to bal- oks, it should impose sanctions and strict on houses to insure the prompt calcula- rges, and it should clean its own house to for efficiency. C was founded with the intent of offering heap and affordable housing. But part of housing should involve the prompt re- dents' money. Co-ops are supposed to be with helping students, not pushing the :gal standards. ands now, co-operatives possess a legal which enables them to keep tenants' ger than residence halls, apartments, or -operatives do have several benefits not ther places to live, but students should nd that if they sign up, they will have o spend the next fall. again Measure 9 passes, they will be forced to oset. Legal rights, public housing, and y could all be denied on the basis of ntation. onal religious right's fingerprints are all ure 9. Former Republican presidential Patrick Buchanan's speech at the Repub- ention is a good example of the dilemma g conservatives face. Jack Kemp and am Weld of Massachusetts, among oth- n stark opposition to the religious right's te crusade, and yet, they stand on the asionary platform of "family values." e 9 shows the dangerous thinking that eligious right. Ralf Walters, a city coun- pring field, supports Measure 9. He said, war of values here ... At what point does ing nation cross the line and become a on?" e 9 will probably, and hopefully, go defeat. But that won't be the end of n's - and America's - problem. as an arm of the political process ac- paigns for the subjugation of whole of society, voters have the responsibility representatives out of office and out of , ;tt A/ I b d 1 c JI ' , :LY."i:.tlti." Daily's attack of 'U' police uncalled for To the Daily: I just loved the Bottom Line "AAPD: the new easy riders" (9/ 17/92). The article begins by (somewhat) praising the Ann Arbor Police Department (AAPD) for introducing the new bicycle patrol program. It then moves on to how this program leans toward the community policing concept and how effective it has been in places like New York City. Now, in comes the immaturity which has come to be the norm with your paper. Your attack on the University police was so uncalled for and irrelevant to this story that I almost threw the paper in the recycling bin before I finished. Who cares who was the "first" one to put the bike program on the streets? This program has been around for many years, starting with the Las Vegas Police Department. Does that make AAPD and other followers cop- wannabes? Your reference to snowball fights in the Arb is also a miscon- ception. What you are seeing is a positive response to complaints of snowball fights which are reported by faculty and staff at the University. What you don't see are the injuries that some have suffered as a result of this "innocent game" or the broken windows in the caretakers house at the Arb. Yes, this article once again proves that no matter what the issue is, the Daily will try to make a mockery out of the University Police. If this represents the future articles which will appear in the Bottom Line then I am confident that I have found the perfect paper to line the bottom of Fido's cage. J.L. Knight LSA junior Code: More harm than good To the Daily: who are most likely to favor strict As many critics have demon- enforcement of these code strated, the University's State- provisions and a broad definition ment of Students' Rights and of "harassment" and "discrimina- Responsibilities is dangerously, tion" under the code. and perhaps unconstitutionally, In the past five years, many vague. Moreover, the proposition students writing to the Daily's that a University judiciary is Opinion page have regularly needed to punish behavior already accused fellow students of punishable by federal, state or racism, sexism, homophobia, local authorities is a highly anti-Semitism, ethnocentrism, dubious one. etc. under inappropriate circum- But one aspect of the State- stances. For example, "PC ment has not received the scrutiny thought police" often brand a it deserves: the composition of the student as racist for opposing hearing panel that is to determine affirmative action or sexist for whether a student has violated the advocating restrictions on policy and what sanctions are women's reproductive freedoms. appropriate if a violation is fourd Imagine if such people all to have occurred. volunteered to serve as hearing The Statement provides that, panelists. There are enough of "[t]he hearing panel will consist these students so that the Univer- of six students. At the beginning sity would not need to select any of each academic year, students students randomly for its hearing will be randomly selected from panelist pool. Students accused of the student body to serve as discrimination or harassment potential panelists until a pool of wouldn't stand a chance. 50 eligible students." Perhaps thoughts of such a In an era of "political correct- scenario are a bit paranoid. ness," such a procedure poses a Nevertheless, it appears the significant hazard for those hearing panelist selection process accused of sexual harassment, will result in hearing panels harassment "that unrea'sonably predisposed toward sanctioning interferes with an individual's accused students. If the Univer- work, educational performance or sity insists on moving forward living environment," or of with the code, it should first "discriminating... on the basis of remove the opportunity for race, ethnicity, gender, religion, students to volunteer to sit on the sexual orientation," etc. hearing panels. 0 Those who would express avj willingness to serve as potential hearing panelists would be those Noah Finkel second-year law student Bring back Calvin & Hobbes To the Daily: Where are Calvin & Hobbes? I'd really appreciate it if you could reinstate Calvin and Hobbes to the pages of the Daily. I'm sure many of us miss the humor of the Nuts and Bolts cartoon that had to make the move along with its talented creator, but this is no excuse for bumping off the courageous Spaceman Spiff and his talented tiger. Please transmogrify them back to the Daily. Thanks! Marc Ramirez LSA sophomore U.S., Europe ignore Balkans v ho1s iVV af My house is avery, very, very fine house Y savage and bloody civil war has engulfed the former Yugoslavia in a vicious manifestation of historical ethnic and religious enmities in East- ern Europe. This conflict differs from Iraq's inva- sion of Kuwait in two ways: The fault is not quite 'as clear cut, and there is no oil in the region. Primarily for the second reason, the European i Community and the United States' response to the bloodshed has been shameful and inadequate. } ,Both Lord Carrington of Britain and Francois Mitterand of France have travelled to the precari- ous war zone to assess the situation and initiate cease-fires, but they only displayed the impotence .ofthe E.C., as hundreds of people still die each day. Since the world community seems reluctant ;and unable to help the defend the Bosnians from Croatian land-grabbing and Serbianethnic cleans- :ing, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovitch head for a negotiating table. Anyone can understand a lzetbegovitch's reluctance to negotiate away Bosnian land. But unless he does so, he may sacrifice the Bosnian population. The E.C., lacking the will to resolve a clearly European problem, abdicated its responsibilities e to the United Nations and General Secretary of the -U.N. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Since the deploy- ment of peacekeeping forces this past summer, the U.N. has so far led a respectable and fair interna- tional approach to the hostile military situation in - n.nnin. .Upnninn T TnfnrhinnotPu thP TT N hiec possible. This includes the territory outside Sarajevo. Part of the real tragedy, is that the break-away republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia have long-since been recognized by the world community and currently hold seats in the U.N. General Assembly. Moreover, the republics have all established democratically elected and legitimate governments. Because of this, the United States - in light of Europe's cautious involvement - has the moral responsibility to play a more assertive diplomatic role. The only remaining su- perpower, and the self-proclaimed defender of freedom, appears curiously detached from the most violent fight for freedom in Europe since World War II. The lack of U.S. involvement has signaled to the warring factions that the lone superpower just doesn't care enough to help. - f The best way to meet people at college is, without question, sum- mer subletting. When you sublet your room over the summer, your life can become forever intertwined with that of a complete stranger, even after he moves out of your room and into prison. Actually, this is a bit of an exag- geration. While the police have come to our house asking questions about one of our subletters, he has not actually been im- prisoned yet,as far as JONA - ANn we know. And while ITI it is true that the guy w h o subletted my room has suddenly come upon a large sum of money and tempo- rarily retired at the age of 21,1 have no evidence that he has ever en- gaged in illegal behavior. But my point is that his influ- ence over my life has remained strong. He helped to solidify this bond by leaving most of his posses- sions in the room after he left. So now, thanks to his generosity, I own several Victoria's Secret Cata- is that I have expanded my musical tastes, albeit involuntarily. Our next-door neighbors, correctly as- suming that I do not own any rap, have generously played their mu- sic at a volume sufficient for me to share in the experience day and night. They have this one particular song which has no tune or lyrics, but consists of the subwoofer pul- sating on and off. Our windows actually rattle. The song goes like this: "Whooooooom" (sound of pul- sating subwoofer which cannot be closely approximated in the En- glish language.) [pause] "Whooooooom" [pause] (repeat infinitely) While it is not the most artisti- cally complex song ever composed, it contains deep social commen- tary. I realize that there is very little I can do about the fact that my life now has a rap soundtrack. How- ever, I'm certain that I have the right to a glass shard-free environ- ment. For justice, I went to the Ann Arbor Tenants Union (AATU) for advice. My one previous encounter need to do to receive better living conditions in my room is to follow a simple, two-step process: 1) Overthrow the oppressive capitalistic system which allows parasitic landlords to exploit my la- bor and force me to live in unimag- inable squalor. 2) Enjoy free, spacious housing in a socialist worker's paradise. Easy enough! Where can I get some Molotov cocktails? Also, the AATU provided a bunch of facts and strategies on with- holding rent to my landlord to make repairs, none of which will ever be used by me on account of the fact that my landlord weighs more than 270 lbs. and could snap my neck with one hand. Actually, my landlord is very kind and understanding. His basic strategy when dealing with us is to agree to all of our demands, and then not follow through. This is our typi- cal conversation: Me: "I would like it if you re- paired the holes in my wall." Landlord: "Sure thing." Me: "And I still need a desk." Landlord: "You bet. I'll takecare of it." Me: "And a suitcase filled with $600,000 in nonsequentially num- I-