Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Friday, January 29, 1993
, Editor in Chief
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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
764-0552
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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TJhe four people who lead a chanting crowd of
about three students on the Diag yesterday
probably didn't make enough of an impression to
convince the administration to modify its newly-
imposed, restrictive Diag policy. Then again, nei-
ther would 5,000 students armed with Molotov
cocktails. History shows us that student resent-
ment and protest only serves to solidify adminis-
frative opposition. Regardless, like Christ's
iracles of the loaves and fishes, one never knows
when Duderstadtian Providence will occur.
There is no question that the current policy has
to go. Nevertheless, there is room for compro-
Mise. Dean of Students Royster Harper's appear-
4nce at this week's MSA meeting signals that the
administration might be willing to bend.
s If this is true, students should be prepared to
make some concessions. The 12:00-only rule,
which limits Diag protests involving loudspeaker
equipment to a one-hour time slot, is among the
more reasonable provisions of the new policy. It
protects students and faculty who want to go about
their daily business. Students need access to free
speech, not license to mandate listening from
others.
Otherconstraints, like the one mandating seven-
day's notice and administrative approval for Diag
use must change. If the University insists on
having prior notice of events, it should shorten the
number of days for prior approval, and has to
promise not to censor any event on the basis of
content. That should keep University security in-
formed of possible risks, without denying students
their First Amendment rights.
Whether there are other possible compromises
that can be ironed out remains to be seen. Clearly,
the best way to orchestrate a compromise is to get
MSA leaders and administrators from the Office of
Student Affairs to the bargaining table.
But the case for change is clear. The University
has a proud history of activism, and one that it likes
to tout in its brochures and fund-raising drives. The
accomplishments of Students for a Democratic
Society in the early 1960s were central to the civil
rights movement.
Leaders like Tom Hayden and Sharron Jeffries
and Bob Ross simply could not have made such an
impact without a focal point of debate like the Diag
to serve as their soapbox.
Rather than trying to sanitize and regulate the
University's activist history (or future?) adminis-
trators should embrace it. Allowing for a Diag that
is the social, political and intellectual focul point of
campus is the way for administrators to show that
they are not afraid of student unity and discourse-
they foster it.
0
Daily errs on gun control
:Y
A whale of an injustice
Invest in Russian democracy
To the Daily:
In response to your editorial
on gun control ("Gun-of-the-
month bill is a start ... but U.S.
needs stricter laws," 1/20/93), I
feel it necessary to point out the
many oversights and falsehoods
that you presented. With your
recommendation of registration,
you-failed to point out that the 5th
Amendment protects criminals
from having to register their guns.
You went on to assert that a
seven-day waiting period would
prevent "crimes of passion," but
you again failed to point out that
the vast majority of these crimes
are committed by people predis-
posed to violence, who already
possess the weapons they use..
As for the totally outrageous
claims the Daily made concerning
the death statistics, I would really
like to know where you dredged
up such distorted figures.
On the basis of anti-gun polls
alone, there are 645,000 defensive
uses of a handgun (presentation or
shooting) annually. Recent studies
have also shown that in Detroit
twice as many criminals are shot
by citizens than by police.
You seem to imply that by
eliminating handguns the mortal-
ity rates due to shooting would
decrease, again you are sorely
mistaken.
In fact, a 1986 study by the
New York Academy of Medicine
showed that if handguns were
completely eliminated, long guns
are so much more deadly (five-to-
11.4 times more) that homicide
rates would triple.
This is based on only 50
percent of the 80 percent of
incarcerated felons who, in a
National Institute of Justice
survey, said that they would turn
to long guns in the absence of
handguns.
There were only two things
that were true in your report. One
is the need for education for new
gun owners. That is why the NRA
conducts thousands of these
classes annually. What has
Handgun Control Inc. (HCI) done
to this end?
Secondly, "limiting the
distribution of guns is nearly
impossible." That is why we
should be concentrating our
efforts on correcting the social
problems that lead to violence,
not coming up with a band-aid
solution that will only mask it.
John Neuman
LSA junior
To the Daily:
I read in yesterday's New
York Times that whales are
closely realted to cows. However,
I do not find this amusing. Sperm
whales are dying at unprec-
edented rates - almost three a
day on campus, and President
Duderstadt and MSA President
Ede Fox don't seem to care. How
long can we as University
students go on debating whether
cows and sperm whales are
related, while the slaughter
continues?
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Brad Bernatek
LSA senior
Go unto the sloths **
Three years ago, a majority of Russians felt
democracy was more important than a strong
leader. Today, according to an ABC News pole,
they feel differently. The economic situation in the
ex-Soviet Union has wreaked such havoc that
democracy and free-market reforms are no longer
priorities, surviving is. Violent and civil conflicts
andthe simultaneous rise ofright-wing nationalist
and communist organizations threatens the future
Of the sibling democracies. The United States,
long willing to offer rhetoric, continues to delay
sending relief to its former enemies.
Two months ago, Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and
Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) returned from a tour of the
ex-U.S.S.R. and had little good to report. Poverty-
stricken Kazakhstan is rumored to be willing to
sell its nuclear arsenal for much-needed capital. It
may have already sold submarines to Iran. Ukraine,
now steered by a strongly nationalist government
hoping to gain an upperhand against its Russian
rival, has retreated from its promise to dismantle
its nuclear arsenal. Now, the Ukrainians are strug-
gling to discover the codes to launch its missiles,
presumably against some future Russian threat.
Moreover, the continuing ethnic rivalries have
fueled bloody civil wars in Georgia, Nagorno-
Kharabakh, Chechen-Ingush, Kazakhstan and else-
where. The butchery is comporable to that in
Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The deteriorating situation is clearly a threat to
international security. Moscow and Kiev are no
longer aware of where the entire Soviet nuclear
arsenal is. For the United States to do nothing but
hope that magic will save democracy and luck will
establish capitalism will guarantee defeat and en-
sure continuing chaos.
Those who haven't enough to survive, or little
more, often turn to scapegoating or violence. It is
clear, then, why so many in Russia and its neighbor-
ing republics have resorted to unrest. The value of
the Russian ruble has plummeted, more than 500 to
every dollar. The rate of inflation is dangerously
close to hyper-inflation. The problem is no longer
the availability of goods - for free-market reforms
have stocked shelves --but rather, the cost of basic
necessities. John Kenneth Galbraith wisely pointed
out that those who oppose aid "would make democ-
racy synonimous with suffering."
Russian citizens now march against President
Boris Yeltsin, toting pictures of Vladimir Lenin and
Joseph Stalin, wishing for the return of the "good
old days." Many seem to be willing to relive the
purges to feed their families.
The sentiment, in many ways, is unerstandable.
But, the Western World can try to increase their
options. Ex-Soviet citizens may turn away from
communism if they can count on international
support.
To the Daily:
There is a lot of talk nowadays
about letting homosexuals in the
military. As the Bible says, "And
Jebediah said unto Bezebel,'Go
unto the sloths, fill a jerrican with
mangos, and say that the autmn is
o'er.' And the people rejoiced."
(Wilbur 3:45)
This demonstrates very clearly
that God disapproves of homo-
sexuality. Or maybe it shows that
God approves of homosexuality.
I'm not really sure.
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GEO demands higher salary
',
Land reform: a modest proposal
To the Daily:
The 1,600 teaching and
research assistants at the Univer-
sity are charged with much of the
responsibility for teaching
undergraduates. Most TAs,
however, cannot support them-
selves on their teaching salaries.
This is because the mean
monthly salary for TAs is $110
less than the monthly living
expenses for a graduate student,
as calculated by the University's
own Office of Financial Aid.
So, in addition to teaching and
full-time course work, the typical
TA has to squeeze in a part-time
job to pay the rent every month.
In 1990, Dean John D'Armns
spoke before Congress. He said
that graduate students forced to
seek nonacademnic employment
often end up unable to complete
their degree programs, and he
called this, "a regrettable and
preventable loss to students and
society."
It is a loss to society because
before this decade is out our
country is expected to face a
severe shortage of Ph.D.'s to
teach college.
It's a loss to society because
graduate students working second
jobs must take time away from
their primary jobs - teaching
undergraduates.
Nonacademic employment
also lengthens the average degree-
completion time, hurting the
University's reputation and
lowering the number of Ph.D.s it
turns out.
The contract under which the
TAs work expires Feb. 1, 1993. In
contract negotiations, the TA
union (GEO) has proposed a
living wage for TAs, a wage in
line with the University's own
estimates of what it costs to make
ends meet in Ann Arbor.
This increase would mean a 15
percent raise, which may sound
like a lot, but TAs don't make
much money -- this is only about
$25 a week for the typical TA.
Support TAs in their quest for
a living wage. Turn out at lunch
time this Friday, Jan. 29, to show
solidarity with them in the Diag
and in front of the LSA Building.
Frank DeSanto
Rackham graduate student
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To photo, with love...
A"January comes to a close, thousands of
students trudge endlessly through the frozen
streets of Ann Arbor in a desperate struggle to find
housing for next year. Greedy parasitic landlords
control the land, which they offer to students only
in order to reap
outrageous profits.
After years of op-.
pression, students
are faced with one
clear choice to end
this brutal system:
Rise up and siezeR
the land for themselves. RICH CHQVDaiy
Land reform is long overdue in Ann Arbor. For
years, the landlords have owned everything, the
students nothing. The marvelous profits generated
by Ann Arbor housing translates into nothing but
poverty and misery for the students.
Let us see how the student is owned by the
landlord right from the outset. After a student is
accepted into the University, the bourgeoise land-
lord gives them a "choice" of which residence hall
to live in. In reality there is no choice, because the
student must live in whichever miserable hovel
they are assigned.
In these dorms, the will of the landlord is
enforced by petite-bourgeoise "residential advi-
sors." In return for a few minor priveleges these
students turn traitor to their class and work for the
oppressor.
Where the landlord lives in luxury, the student
lives in squalor. While the landlord sleeps inexpen-
sive double beds, the student crawls into cage-like
and often deadly lofts. Whilethelandlord eats food,
the student is given "cauliflower casserole." And
those few students who escape the cafeterias find
only greasy entree plus fare - yielding even more
handsome profits for the landlord.
The students move off campus, hoping to find
freedom. Yet they soon grow nostalgic for their
dorm hole. Wheras before they had a guaranteed
space in the dorm, now they must crawl on their
hands and knees to the landlord, begging for a tiny,
vermin-infested room. The resident advisor has
been vanquished, only to be replaced by an even
more oppressive landlord. Meet the new boss, same
as the old boss.
The landlords often brutalize and humiliate stu-
dents. A knife is held to a woman's crotch! That's
subjective?
Yes, it's time that students organize to defend
their class interests. No longer can we allow the
landlords to grow wealthy off the sweat of our
labor. The time has come for revolution. Rise up,
fellow students, and smash the state! Break up the
giant land estates! Students of the University, unite!
You have nothing to lose but your mealcards!
.P
4
KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Daily
Offensive holding. Small forward
Ray Jackson sends a signal to Big
10 refs. Dedicated to photo. Sorry
a bout the finger.
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Asian Americans lack visibility
-
By Gene Lee
Watching the television screen
avidly as the new President Will-
iam Jefferson Clinton was inaugu-
rated, I felt proud to have voted for
this man.
He has promised to change
America, to make the country a
better place, and to call on us, the
American citizens, to be respon-
sible to and to "sacrifice" for the
United States of America. Clinton
called fornew taxes, and we obliged.
We, the American citizens, told
Clinton to take our money, to re-
and Native Americans. The mes-
sage was clear. Let us show the
world the diversity and equality that
exists in America.
After years of a virtual genocide
of the African-American race, fi-
nally, they are receiving the respect
the eyes of America.
The cameras scanned through
the thousands of people at the inau-
guration taking various shots of
Americans -ethe great "salad
bowl." However, not one Asian
American showed up to the inaugu-
ration.
Let us show the world the diversity and
equality that exists in America.
and recognition they deserve.
Indeed, Clinton has made dra-
Excuse me? Yes, the cameras
were filming through the audience
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