01 Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Monday, December 7, 1992 be Swctgan 1aijl 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 Editor in Chief MATrHEW D. RENNIE Opinion Editors YAEL CITRO GEOFFREY EARLE AMITAVA MAZUMDAR Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan Unsigned editorials represent a maujority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. MCC needs support of all schools ASSSi'T§SuICOE 0 ~"' iIIMOCRAL !gi A /6' /V7/ JS' Too °(1If4 N -eke~1v7- / O i1 / 1 : t" ' }' ":t 1 '+ ', iS': ... : : ! r p:. 'N" C .' - + x a t s Cam,, . . . . -> k_ ,l ..: ,. .. t 1 ra_ ' . ,. f, st',j , ! i tt .. ,. .., ,. I .j ' f _..=- ( Jr 0 L ately, the Michigan Student Assembly has been alone in its endeavorto rescue the Michi- gan Collegiate Coalition (MCC) from almost cer- tain extinction. MCC is a student lobbying organi- ztion for students attending any of the public universities in the state, yet most schools have ippped the majority of the bill onto the shoulders of the students at the University of Michigan. MCC, the only organization of its type, has re- cently suffered a series of blows, as a growing list of universities have withdrawn funding. If stu- dents from these universities are willing to reap the benefits from such lobbying organizations, they must also be willing to foot part of the bill. - MCC's problems first surfaced this summer when the regents, despite opposition from MSA, decided to eliminate the MCC line item bill of 35 cents from student tuition. The Assembly responded by giving approxi- mately $14,000 out of MSA's treasury to MCC to insure its survival. Last month, MSA asked stu- dents to approve a fee-increase to restore funding, yet students rejected the offer. Without that fee increase, MSA does not have the resources to continue the funding indefinitely, unless money is redirected from supporting student groups, Stu- dent Legal Services or the Ann Arbor Tenants Union, all vital local organizations. Although MCC is in dire straits, largely be- cause of the decrease in funding from the Univer- sity, no other Universities have stepped in to bail it out. According to MCC leaders, the University is "covering MCC's bare bones operating budget, and the organization relies on other universities to support its lobbying expenses. But that lobbying makes up MCC's most vital function. It allows different universities to band together to augment their influence in Lansing. Without such a special interest group, students have no concerted voice with which to influence government. The implications of this are far from encourag- ing. Without MCC, students will have no organized effort to fight the implementation of restrictive student codes or oppose skyrocketing tuition costs, for example. In fact, there will be nobody in Lan- sing to give voice to student concerns. The MCC debate raises another key issue: should MS A be solely responsible for keeping MCC afloat? If other universities would like to reap the benefits of MCC's efforts, they must in turn pay their fair portion of the bill. If other student bodies share the same vested interest in an active student lobbying organization, then they must participate equally. If not, MSA should drop funding MCC and form its own student lobbying organization, specifically designed to pro- tect and benefit the students of Ann Arbor. 01 __ _- ... - "i I LETTERS I SORR i 47 A AAN) RI" Sift.. - I .E 1,1 - 1 0 z U 2 0, c Legislature takes on Dr. Kevorkian The Michigan Legislature passed a bill last week that went well beyond its original intent of studying assisted suicide; an amendment was tacked on to the bill that outlawed the practice all together. That is an action that will have dire consequences for Michigan residents, who have now been further stripped of the right to control their own lives. The soon-to-be law is clearly designed to find a way to imprison Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The state prosecutor has been unsuccessful in prosecuting Dr. Kevorkian with every charge from first-degree murder to manslaughter in the deaths of the seven patients whom he aided in dying. Given the wide- spread national news coverage of Kevorkian, the state wanted to respond in some way to the reli- gious right's disapproval of his actions, which led to his morbid and sensational nickname "Dr. Death." This law would make any of his future assisted suicides illegal, punishable by up to four years and fines up to $2,000. Kevorkian's actions are not wrong. He merely provided terminally-ill patients withthe tools which they themselves, after careful medical and psychi- atric investigation, could use to end their own lives painlessly and quickly. These patients could have ended their lives whenever they had wanted to, using everything from pills to guns, But given the fact that suicide is illegal, if patients failed in their attempt to kill themselves, they could technically be fined or jailed. Kevorkian provided a safe and effective means to carry out their own wishes. In the Legislature's rush to pass an anti- Kevorkian statute, many officials neglected the fact that this law would outlaw any form of"volun- tary self termination of life." This term includes living wills, documents which specify the condi- tions under which a person would want to be removed from life support. Living wills are legal in more than 40 states. When a person has a living will, doctors have proof of what to do when a patient is comatose and cannot express whether to be removed from life-support. Thanks to the new bill, these crucial legal instru- ments are now illegal. Thus, the state of Michigan will take the dubious honor of becoming one of the few states in the country that prevents a competent terminally-ill patient - or even a person simply thinking ahead toward the future - from deciding if they are to be removed from life support, even if they have no foreseeable chance of recovery or are unable to pay the enormous bills for medical treatment. Not only is the new bill harmful, it may be unconstitutional. The amendment criminalizing as- sisted suicide was contrary to the spirit of the bill itself - a legislative act which is illegal under Michigan law. In fact, three of the bill's original sponsors abandoned the legislation once the amend- ment was added. For the sake of all Michigan residents, of all ages and medical conditions, this paternalistic law de- serves to be repealed. Additionally, the committee that was established should do what the original bill intended: study the issue intelligently and propose constructive ideas to resolve the Kevorkian ques- tion. Everyone must fight against anti-semitism To the Daily: The Board of Directors and staff at Guild House Campus Ministry are outraged and grieved at the hate-generated vandalism recently perpetrated on the Jewish community of Ann Arbor. We are thankful that the police have apprehended a suspect who has admitted to the crimes, but we recognize that the scourge of antisemitism is far from elimi- nated in our community and throughout our world. Therefore we stand in solidar- ity with the Jewish community and all who actively deplore and resist the violence and injustice of antisemitism, and we pledge our hearts, minds and efforts to the eradication of this plague in our society. We urge all our sisters and brothers in the one human family to do the same. Rev. Christopher Atwood Co-Minister, Guild House Campus Ministry Israel: release files To the Daily: I believe that the Daily should have urged Israel to fulfill its promise by returning to us the documents that spy Jonathan Pollard stole. Israel has not returned these documents because they contain information more serious than those alleged by the Daily - that the information pertains only to Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Tunis. Freeing Pollard is up to Israel. However, they should return these documents to us and make a commitment that they will stop selling American technologies to other countries - like Israel's twin sister in the African conti- nent, the Republic of South Africa, China and any other country. Only when they do this should our government think about freeing Pollard, the spy. All Bydon LSA senior Daily cartoons. news coverage offensive To the Daily: I must wonder exactly how fair Daily reporters are. From a student of color's point of view - not very fair at all. I have been a student at the University for two years. During this time, there has been more than one occasion where I have been offended by something in the Daily. This letter has been inspired by a letter that I read written by Emerson Moore, "Innocent until proven guilty" (11/23/92). He addressed the issue of the reported rapes on campus. He addressed many of my concerns in that letter. Along with what he said about the articles in the Daily I would also like to refer to the cartoons. I find the cartoons to be very offensive. The most recent one about the cereal 'CheX'. And one specifically last year about baseball being the A nerican naettimn al nalnl h0 nl a nrc, To the Daily: / This letter is in regard to Shehnaz Kahn's letter "Get the facts on Israel," (11/23/92), Jodi Jacobson's piece "Cling to hope for peace in Middle East," (11/11/ 92), and all of the letters illustrat- ing views that have ping-ponged back and forth in the Daily on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. In four and a half years on this campus I've heard the rhetoric and facts which pro-Palestinians and pro-Israelis have to offer. Each side has presented its facts and statistics pertaining to this conflict. As a pro-Israeli, I have my own opinions and facts and statistics, and so I am the first to admit that any fact, in fact all facts, however true, will always be used subjectively. The only incontrovertible fact is that we are yelling at each other, not so anyone will see a point, but just to see who can yell louder. When you take a step back and see this, you have to ask who are we really yelling at? Who's opinions are we really trying to change? Is this matter even a viable "argument" anymore, or just two sides screaming back and forth, right past each other? I think the only question that can be answered is the last. The most poignant example I've seen that substantiates this is Kahn's statement: "Attitudes need to change, and Jacobson [indicative of the Jewish standpoint] is going to have to be the first to start." Hypocrisy is a term that has been having to see our cultures mocked all over the school's newspaper. When things like these are printed, the publication that is putting it out knows what kind of reaction they are going to get. I wish the Daily would be more sensitive to minority students, because whether people like it or not we are part of this institution, and we should get the same respect as the majority students. Darilis Garcia LSA junior Men's opinions on abortion count too To the Daily: Day after day I read letters to the Daily and, although some- times mildly offended, let them fall by the wayside as others hold differing opinions from my own. Wendy Stein and Caryn Hebets' letter "Our rights, our bodies," (11/18/92) concerning abortion opinions seemed no different. After all, they appeared to me to believe in a woman's basic right to choose, with which I couldn't agree more. But after a discussion with a friend about women in war and combat, I have no choice but to respond. If Stein and Hebets were disagreeing with the idea of men making laws governing what women may or may not do with thier bodies, I agree with them, even though men alone are not responsible for abortion laws. But if Stein and Hebets were making an argument that men. cannot have an opinion, and more importantly, have no business in the issue just because we haven't "gnent 20 vears menstuatino' freely slung back and forth since the start of the uprisings, but never has it applied more than in examples like this. Kahn demands a change in attitudes, but then reverts to the same old attitudes - you have to change first, not us. I admit that pro- Israelis react the same way. How do diametrically opposed factions meet on common ground? It was tried in Beirut, the Paris of the Middle East, up until the mid-seventies, and look how it fell apart. Neither side is angelic. The 'who-started-it' question goes as far back as Turkish rule. Every few weeks a new incident occurs in which one side says, 'look what these monsters did. Here are my facts!' As for Kahn's concern about insight, I don't believe that any insight exists anymore. We all stopped listening to each other about four years ago. The Jews have killed so many Arabs and the Arabs have killed so many Jews. Where do we look from here? I'm not presenting a case for either side. I'm urging us to see this conflict in different terms. Maybe we should see it in terms of collective survival, or in terms of pure political theory, I can't say. I am sure, however, that the longer we all bicker past each other, the quicker Jews and Arabs both will get sucked down the geo-political toilet. Elan Cole LSA senior mean they have no say or opinion. Right at this very moment men and women throughout the country are working to change this law. In a similar respect; just because men aren't having the abortion (or going through the apparent agony described by Stein and Hebets in choosing to keep the child) doesn't mean we are removed from the experience and have no right to an opinion. Last I knew, it took two to conceive a life, and I hope it would take two to make such an important decision, regardless of the outcome. Finally, I feel a few bad apples have given Stein and Hebets an excuse to make a gross and misrepresentative-generalization about men. Unfortunately, there are men who want nothing to do with a child. But do you really think that no man has the desire to take part in raising a child? No one, man or woman, has the right to tell you what you can and can't do with your body, but you also have no right to tell a man his opinion does not matter. Karl Facher Engineering junior Stop bickering; we need change 0 Somalians need multilateral aid W ith 28,000 troops headed for Somalia, the United States and the United Nations have finally acknowledged that they cannot look on helplessly as hundreds of thousands of Soma- Hans starve. Armed thugs are preventing desper- ately needed international aid from reaching the Somalian people. Sadly, only the military might of the international community can restore order. It is encouraging that President Bush has led the U.N. to take action, and even more encouraging that he did so for purely humanitarian reasons. Starvation and famine have become a fact of life for much of the Horn of Africa. In Sudan and Ethiopia both government and rebel forces have encouraged famine for a myriad of strategic, ideo- logical and religious goals. The situation in Somalia is even more disturb- ing. Since the fall of President Said Barre's au- thoritarian regime two years ago, two leaders of the guerrilla movement that toppled his govern- originally meant to feed the hundreds of thousands of starving Somalian people, have been stolen. U.N. officials estimate that the two warlords to- gether have commandeered more than 80 percent of the food and medicine required to stave off mass death in Somalia. The sheer magnitude of the starvation in Soma- lia mandates that the U.N. act. The United States and Russia have a particular responsibility to play key roles in the multi-national operation. Somalia, under President Barre, was a client state of both the United States and the former Soviet Union. Soma- lia was saturated with weaponry during the Cold War, and the Somalians are now paying the price. Lastly, it is encouraging that President Bush is acting in cooperation with the U.N. This is in contrast to Bush's essentially unilateral action against Iraq, which then-Secretary of State James Baker veiled by hastily assembling a multi-na- tional military force. 0 S 6