0 Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Monday, October 19, 199 T 41t icitgan Chef Sol WHAT COMrIC Boob' ARE& YouTY'ING To PITCH ,Qt'Ar4A'? GRZF 'V LANTER~N ? IMIOVIE PRODUC HUH ? OHI 1 M INOT PITCHIN6- Aa OH, SO YOU'RE SEL-LII A4N 01 1Tv SHOW, EH1 ? 1ET0 0oo-1'M1 TR>)qN&07"c GET' EU P4URFIk-4y F~oR "SAN FORD & Sort-" 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 MAITIIHEW I). RENNIE Opinion Editors YAEL CITIRO 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. i t J C 1 ' l 11.,: .. ^ct ..: . .. .. ..,...: ::L1 Ct :LV-:LI: . (; ....._e :..: . , :". f . f r fir.. n. i s z --- , -.- -~ .- :- ,. .,/ , 1 - _ t i > v t I' A C~thAL.LX, I V E &OT AN OR IG NAL-.. ScRie'P. NJG- . ri4 Ns elm I It n r... 'U' attempts to hire illegally, again X4'V OR,9/V-4 gck[PT ?G'(A)JI/7/k' -0}44 NE x-X7SEffA&AL E:L i.CK 2 sr 9 T he Open Meetings Act, bane of the University Board of Regents, faces another serious chal- lenge. The 15-year-old law, designed to force public institutions such as the University to con- duct business in public, has been repeatedly vio- lated by the regents. Last week, the regents met in private to plan how to circumvent the act legally when meeting to select the chancellor of the Uni- versity of Michigan, Dearborn. The regents should call off their war on the Open Meetings Act and follow both the spirit and letter of this crucial legislation. The Open Meetings Act recognizes the simple truth that proceedings which are funded by the public should be open to the public. As this law clearly prohibits the regents from holding private meetings to conduct University policy, they are dead set against it. The conflict first arose in 1988, when the re- gents secretly selected James Duderstadt for the position of University president. Two newspapers sued the University and won damages in the Court of Appeals. The University has since appealed to the State Supreme Court in a futile attempt to deny the obvious. The regents' policy of noncompliance is not cheap. Student tuition dollars pay for both the fines resulting from violations of the act and the legal costs of continued unsuccessful appeals. The irony of this policy is sickening: not only are the regents denying students their legal rights, but they are forcing them to foot the bill for this denial. This time around, the decision concerns the selection of Dearborn's chancellor, and the regents are trying a different tactic. Rather than simply violating the law, as if engaging in a strange form of civil disobedience, the regents are looking for a method to close their meeting to the public without violating the Open Meetings Act. The self-contradictory nature of this logic should be apparent to the regents. Their latest insistence on skirting the law has placed the general public and students in a no-win situation: either the regents will succeed in evading the spirit of the law, and the Open Meetings Act will be functionally dead, or they will fail, in which case the meeting will be closed anyway while the University is fined once more. The regents argue that meetings must be closed so that the privacy of applicants can be protected. But there is nothing embarrassing about applying for a higher position at a prestigious institution such as the University. In fact, such movement between universities is routine. As the Court of Appeals ruled, the public's right to know outweighs applicants' right to pri- vacy. If the regents disagree with the Open Meetings Acts, they can lobby for its repeal. But their pig- headed refusal to abide by the law is a slap in the face to all Michigan taxpayers and members of the University community. WELL... L'f, IT IS A & A6o u r T;4 1:G-&'Y LINO, (UN, FACES AN WA/ERI/,L CONFLI CT cPWEST7ioNv S I/ (AoRI 14S ANAT7TORNFFOR? FfAL t1L EN-r GOR PoRAT i-INS... -4 NAI-10 HA j LLL L f -0t KUlAI~E le I : 4/hNl- / MEA4NT w s, j ATTORNF- , 1UT B- NI-I -- _A KIC- &OXER!YEA 7NA1 v -/fs4. Vl,. c -. 0 --- _! m _ ..r aaa. tiu.: . :{:: : ifFii4M "::: Cancel classes for Letter from President Bush Pres. debates exclude student hosts t today's presidential debate at Michigan State University (MSU), college students will see. the presidential campaign roll into their own back- yards. But despite the fact that all three presiden- tial debates were held on college campuses, one constituency - students - has been cut out of the otherwise valuable process. At each of the debates, a vast majority of the seats were reserved for political hacks, VIPs and other non-students. In fact, the Commission on Presidential Debates originally had the gaul to exclude students from the MSU debate all to- gether. Only after Michigan State Interim Presi- dent Gorden Guyer threatened to cancel the debate did the Commission finally agree to reserve some 300 seats for State students. The previous presidential debates have made even fewer seats available to students. At Wash- ington University in St. Louis, for example, only 100 tickets were allotted to students. Because of .the special format of the University of Richmond debate, all the seats went to undecided voters, and Richmond students were not invited to the debate that they hosted. According to MSU's debate hotline, one reason why students were excluded from these debates is that the Secret Service, which handles debate security, assumes that large numbers of students will become rowdy and obnoxious during heated discussions. To assume that students would treat a debate as they would a football game is incredibly paternalistic. When 18-year-olds first got the vote during the 1960s, they earned a stake in the elec- toral system, and deserve better treatment than this. Moreover, even though few Michigan State students will be allowed to attend the debate, they may still be stuck with the bill. The total cost of the debate is $70,000 more than the university has raised, as yet. If donations do not cover this deficit, the University and its students may have to pick up the tab. Additionally, despite the horde of journalists who received press credentials for the debate, only three press passes went to student journalists. All three of these passes were given to The State News, MSU's student newspaper. That means that Uni- versity students, and other college students around Michigan, will not have the opportunity to either attend or read about the debate from a student perspective. Judging from Gov. Bill Clinton's efforts, it is clear that he views college-age voters as a key constituency. Since these voters already turn out in disparaging numbers, the commission should be doing more, not less, to bring students into the electoral process. Jewish holidays To the Daily: With a school having a Jewish population of approximately 30 percent, I am appalled that on the holiest day of the year in the Jewish religion classes are in session. In some cases classes are canceled, but not all. In other cases, Jewish students are excused; however, their class still meets. When a class meets and a Jewish student does not attend, that student knows that they are missing valuable information given during class time. The Jewish student then feels obliged to attend, even though it is not in accordance with the observance of Yom Kippur. Why should a Jewish student feel guilty about wanting to observe their holiday? Debra Fishman LSA sophomore 'U' discrimination To the Daily: The regents have supposedly affirmed that the University does not and will not discriminate based upon, among other things, marital status. But the very same University has a housing policy which does not allow an unmar- ried couple, regardless of sexual orientation, to live together in Family Housing. Is Dan Quayle their consultant on defining a family? Not only is it supposedly regents' policy, but also a state law that a landlord shall not discriminate base on marital status. But when you ask the University administration about this, you will probably get the same response I got. I was told that this law does not apply to the University because it specifically exempts state agencies. So, the University is legally allowed to take the moral low road. And they do. As for regents' policy, well, the administration can apparently simply ignore it. When the University adminis- tration asks you to take their word for anything, to trust them, to believe them, I ask you to think about the inherent trustwor- thiness of a bureaucracy which sees no problem with declaring from one side of their mouth that they are not discriminating while actually being so bold as to put in writing a policy which explicitly demands discrimination based on marital status. Dan Freidus Rackham graduate student Toughest job you will ever love To the Daily: I enjoyed and appreciated your coverage of opportunities for international English teaching ("U-M students encouraged to travel overseas and teach English abroad," 10/7/92). Concerning English teaching in the Peace Corps, however, teaching certification is not required. On the contrary, University graduates with an English major or formal tutoring experience are placed in assign- ments in Asia, Africa tLne Pacific and Eastern Eur , . every year. T Tnivoreity ctAnte enni h To all University students: As you prepare for your future, many of you are worried about whether there will be jobs for you when you graduate - jobs in which you can apply all you've learned, and through which you can realize the American dream. I know the feeling. Shortly after I was graduated from college, Barbara and I moved to Texas with our young family to begin a life of our own. I started a business, raised a family and eventually began my career in politics. I want all of you to have the opportunity to graduate from college, repay your student loans, begin your careers and start families of your own. MyAgenda for American Renewal will do just that by reinvigorating America's economy and creating jobs and opportunities for all Americans while protecting our environ- ment. Revitalizing America's economy starts with individuals, families and communities. It requires lower taxes on individuals and businesses, enhancing competition, and cutting regulation. It includes health care for all Americans, child care, job training,rhousing opportunities, a competitive school system based on commu- nity involvement, and choice for American families. My Agenda prepares America's youth for the 21st century by promoting national academic standards so schools like Michigan have a strong student population from which to draw. For you college students, my administration calls for the largest-ever one-year increase in student Pell Grants, and a 50 percent increase in the amounts of individual Pell Grant awards. In addition, I want to raise the loan limit on guaranteed student loans and make the interest on student loans deductible for federal income tax purposes. My Agenda calls for continued substantial funding for responsible environmental protection. The United States has the toughest environmental laws on earth, and it was the Bush Administration that proposed and negotiated the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which I signed as the most protective and market-oriented clean air laws in the world. My administration also established a moratorium of offshore oil and natural gas drilling; accelerated the phaseout of ozone-harming substances; added more than 1.5 million acres to America's national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands; tripled the rate of toxic waste site cleanups since 1989; and collected more fines and penalties and secured more prison sentences for environmental crimes in the last three years than in the previous 20 years com- bined. I call upon the youth of today to take up the entrepreneurial challenge and join me in making America the economic, export, education and environmental leader of the 21st century. Let's win the peace by looking forward, not inward. My Agenda for American Renewal empowers all Americans to make their own choices and better their lives. No one will be left behind for want of opportu- nity. Good luck to you, and may you achieve your goals in life. George Bush President of the United States 01 Don't speak for all women 0, Gov't buries Qaet-dome ,With all of Vice President Dan Quayle's talk about character, voters should take a look at what happened to Brett Kimberlin in 1988. Kimberlin is a federal prisoner who claims he sold marijuana to Quayle on several occasions during the 1970s. He first made the allegation, however unsubstantiated, four days before the 1988 presi- dential election and tried to call a press conference to tell reporters his story. Unfortunately for Kimberlin (and, incidentally, for free speech) prison officials put him in solitary confinement for rather vaporous reasons, and the story was subsequently Durried. -Kimberlinlater sued the government for breach of his constitutional rights, and a Washington D.C. judge found that there was enough evidence for the case to be heard. The government is appealing that ruling, claiming that only if the prison official inf question confesses to wrongdoing can the case go to trial. This ridiculously strict standard has re- sulted in only 30 favorable jury verdicts out of 12,000 suits initiated since 1971. Clearly, this standard is a legal oddity that makes recourse for victims of constitutional violations nearly impos- sible. In this case, there is certainly alarge body of evidence to suggest that Kimberlin was silenced because prison officials didn't like what he had to say. Ifhis case is dismissed, freedom of speech will suffer a serious loss. Furthermore, the Kimberlin incident raises other important questions which will not be at issue in ! SOL J . f VU r) cc- To the Daily: I no longer attend the Univer- sity, but I am a career woman with a B.B.A. in finance. My boyfriend is a senior at the University, and he recently read me your letter in the Daily ("A letter to a tall blond guy," 9/29/ 92). First of all, the final paragraph is offensive to me because you choose to speak for all females, stating that "we are getting pretty tired of [street harassment]". I am a female, and I do not recall being asked my opinion. Why do feminists think that every woman in the world has the same beliefs as them? In addition, the idea of "street harassment" is treated as a very general act according to your letter. There is a difference Co-ed living hc To the Daily: I would like to clarify a statement which was attributed to me in Monday's article about co- ed living on campus ("Couples, friends share experiences in co-ed households," 10/12/92). Living with members of the opposite sex brings into focus such questions of identity as gender and sexuality on a daily basis. This comes in the form of between "your shorts look nice" and "do you want to go to my place and get busy?" Perhaps you should treat these comments as compliments rather than harass- ment. Believe me, every woman in this world is not noticed, and some would kill for a look and a nice comment from a man. I believe it is very egotistical of you to consider this comment as a proposition rather than a simple statement that this tall blond guy likes your shorts. Finally, I cannot understand why you would get this upset and write this beautifully composed, grammatically correct letter to the guy. You go to school, right? I thought you would have better, more important things to do. Michelle J. Thompson 1992 University graduate 0 Before Kimberlin was to hold a news confer- ence (which is something prisoners are normally allowed to do) he spoke to National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg. According to the Justice Depart- ment, Totenberg told a public affairs director that Kimberlin's life was in danger, and her statement was the basis for the decision to transfer him. However, Totenberg has since signed an affidavit stating that she never said anything of the kind. It is also interesting to note that such high-level Bush-Quayle campaign officials as James Baker III and Lee Atwater were aware of Kimberlin's allegations. There may be more to this story than the Justice Department wants to disclose. as its challenges deciding the wisdom and morality of crossing such boundaries. The gender interactions encountered in co-ed living create a situation unlike those found in the classroom, workplace and other adult areas of life. One must learn to deal with issues ranging from power dynamics to safe sex to finding out who keeps leaving the toilet seat up. The problem is not in deciding 0