Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 7, 1993 be fEiditoran &Ciu Editor in Chief 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 MATHIEW I. RENNIE Opinion Editors YALE (ITRO GEOFFREY EARLE _7-iHE HOLIDAYS ? r ~To 6jvE -ri r~- Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan AMITAVA MAZUMDAR 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. 4 1 A 1 ROM THE DAILY Chalk one up Thanks to some deft negotiating by Ga co-chair of the Board for StudentI tions, and swift, responsible decision-ma University administrators, a difficult First ment conflict was resolved between the G magazine and University Printing Servic The conflict arose when Robert Hu manager ofPrinting Services, refused to print last month's edition of Gargoyle Maga- Car zine, the humor magazine published by University stu- ". dents. Evidently one of Hubbard's employees found part of the magazine offen- sive, and even considered the material to constitute sexual harassment. Though Hubbard refused to state exactly what it was that he found o Gargoyle's editors assumed it was th "Jesus fucking Christ," which appearedi the cartoons. An overzealous printer and a powerles publication could have been a combina lead to disaster. It also could have been a s some embarrassment - or perhaps ev( trouble - to the University, since prin vices is an arm of the University. Fortunately, the Board for Student1 3 , nJ for First Amendment yl Ness, tions and some University administrators stepped Publica- in. An employee of Student Publications contacted aking by the President's Office, which contacted Elsa Cole, Amend- the University's general counsel, and Executive iargoyle Director of University Relations Walter Harrison. es. Cole advised that there were clearly First Amend- bbard, ment issues at stake, and that it was questionable whether the printer had the authority to censor the students. ego Eventually, the board dispatched Ness, who ae informed Hubbard of the free speech issues at stake. Thankfully, Hubbard backed down, and the issue was resolved in a matter of days, and without a light. But it was not without its costs. The Gargoyle came out 12 days late because of the dispute, rendering at least one advertisement obsolete. And sadly, after they had won the dispute, the Gargoyle's editors decided to pull the material the printer ffensive, considered offensive anyway. e phrase But at least the decision was one made by in one of students. Such editorial freedom is essential to all campus publications. s student And there may even be a positive outcome to the tion that incident. The Board for Student Publications has source of charged one if its members to draft a statement en legal condemning editorial manipulation of student pub- ting ser- lications by the Board, or anyone else. That should serve the Gargoyle, and the entire campus well in Publica- the future. r-,- ! } ---. "7 II ti LE !f fRS RF EE f TheSTORY fou-r THE t46 1-HEIR KIDS A? NOM1E ALOtNE ovER 1VfGL-FC7rFuI- PARE /' AKE ME SICK... 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Keitel feature ignores 1988 Judas performance 103rd Congress promises change T he 103rd U.S. Congress began work on Tuesday, swearing in new and returning members of Congress, with congressional chil- dren sitting impatiently on incoming congres- sional laps and - protocol permitting - scam- :pering up and down the aisles. With the 120 new and eager representatives in Congress, President of the Senate Dan Quayle and a clerk in the House of Represen-/ tatives gaveled in a new session with promises of reform and the cur- tailment of "business as usual." In the upper house, Carol Mosely-Braun (D-Ill), the first Black woman senator, and her other new women col- leagues have aided sit- ting Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Nancy Kassebaum (R- Iowa) to prop open the doors of the tradition- ally exclusive rich, white, male U.S. Sen- ate. "Business as usual," characteristic of the Clarence Thomas- Anita Hill fiasco, seems to be fading into his- tory. Sen. Joe Biden, chair' of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has already offered seats on the im-' portant committee to California Democrats Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, making such lewd and offensive hearings less likely in the future. Unfortunately, business as usual has tradition- ally included shamefully disrespectful behavior toward women. The controversy and anger sur- rounding Sens. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Brock Adams (D-Wash.) are indicative of the growing, albeit delayed, intol- erance of sexual harassment. Ethics committees are finally being forced to consider financial indiscretions and outright rob- bery as serious infringements, rather thanjustsweep- ing them under the rug. Congressional powerhouse Dan Rostenkowski's (D-Ill.) alleged misuse of the House post office to collect cash for personal use may end his long and influential career. The facts of Sen. Phil Gramm's fishy financial dealings -- may finally see the light of A day. Since the American people finally put their bal- lots where their mouths were and swept a record number of members out of Congress, the new session will most certainly be one where more members will police their own activities and abide be ethical guide- lines - maybe not out of respect for the institution, but for the sake of political well-being. So be it. Equally important is the energy with which the president-elect and the Democrats in Congress are approaching the new year. Bill Clinton's apparent in- tention to make the first 100 days a whirlwind of policy-making reminiscent of Presidents Ronald y Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt's successes, in combination with Con- gress' hopes of finally AP PHOTO transforming past Demo- cratic priorities into law, could make the coming honeymoon period one for the history books. The United States may be on the verge of a new era of progress. But the American people would do themselves a disservice by naively trusting the current momentum to last. The president and Con- gress must be kept to their promises and commit- ments. The atmosphere in Washington may easily revert to business as usual, ensuring repeat of past mistakes. To the Daily: In "Keitel: troubled saint or tortured sinner?" (12/7/92), Megan Abbott praises actor Harvey Keitel for his "realistic portrayals." Ms. Abbott cites his numerous roles in movies with both mainstream and peripheral appeal, though certainly most are more peripheral than mainstream. She also mentions Mr. Keitel's collaboration with director Martin Scorsese in four films. Although she repeatedly mentions Mr. Keitel's ability to depict ambiguity of character - at once naive and sensitive, Biblical argument poorly thought out To the Daily: I found Kara Bucci and Amy Worden's attack on Mattie Mierzejewski's convictions and character to be deplorable. I doubt these two have ever met Ms. Mierzejewski; therefore their tirade lacks any basis. The authors' supposedly Biblical argument on homosexuality was even more poorly thought out. Their most blatant logical error was the ending of their introduc- tion with "The Bible does not condemn homosexuality." The next paragraph begins with "Only once in the Old Testa- ment are homosexual acts condemned ..." Do the authors not consider the Old Testament art of the Bible, or do they believe only one command is not sufficient for God to make himself clear? The pair go on to spout and exposit Biblical references like true scholars, twisting the interpretations to fit conve- niently into the box into which they've put their god. I would implore Ms. Bucci and Ms. Worden to get to know Ms. Mierzejewski before they accuse her of being a false prophet; to refrain from personal attacks on anyone whose theology does not match theirs; and to examine the character of God in order to understand His requirements, rather than deriving their concept from so many verses taken out of context. Those who attack Ms. Mierzejewski do so on the basis of "judge not lest you be judged." But what are they who call someone whom they have never met a self-righteous hypocrite and a false prophet doing? Howard Scully Business School senior Objection to Gates was not over ideas, but student funds villainous and charming, "troubled saint and tortured sinner" - Ms. Abbott ignores Mr. Keitel's poignant perfor- mance as Judas Iscariot in Mr. Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988). Mr. Keitel gives Judas a humane sensibility which underscores the film's central theme - piety in the face of mundane adversity. I trust that Ms. Abbott has not willfully omitted "The Last Temptation" from her litany of Keitel-Scorsese films, not a few of which fall short of its stature. Her article is justified in praising an unrewarded actor whose integrity seems to have out- stripped his need for commercial gain. In her bald omission, however, she risks joining the Academy in all but black-listing a controversial yet beautiful film, allowing the moral needs of a commercially- minded audience to outstrip her critical integrity. If her omission is unintentional, I submit that the article offers only a partial evaluation of Mr. Keitel's achievements. Joseph L. Rife Rackham graduate student To the Daily: You continue to miss the main point of the student anger over ex-police chief Daryl Gates' visit to our campus. We are not in any way attempting to limit Gates' first amendment rights, nor are we suggesting that he shouldn't have a right to speak here at Michigan if he wants to. There are plenty of people who speak for free on the Diag every semester. The issue is the thousands of dollars of student tuition money that he was paid to speak. There are many Nobel prize winners, respected profes- sors from other schools and nations, respected business leaders, and nationally elected political leaders whom the student body would give a warm welcome to. Such speakers offer rich educational opportunities and represent a much better use of our tuition money. There is no first amendment right to thousands of dollars of student tuition money " Gates that the people responsible for paying Gates can hide behind. His visit was a serious error in judgement and I can not under- stand how the Daily can possibly justify it. David Allison Graduate student Daily loses integrity, exploits women with Deja Vu article To the Daily: It was my understanding that it is your policy to reject advertise- ments that are harmful or degrading to women. Therefore, I was surprised to find the free half-page "advertisement" for Deja Vu, "Adult entertainment club's amateur night lets contestants reveal all," (1217/92). I find it difficult to believe that our world is so devoid of any meaningful activities that you had to resort to plugging the already over-hyped trade in women's bodies in order to fill space. What could possibly be newsworthy about examining this exploited topic from the standard view of those who profit from it, ignoring the harm it may do? If you wish to transform the campus newspaper into the campus tabloid by reporting on titillating non-news, please refrain from insisting on your pretense of journalistic integrity. Deborah Pugh RCjunior START II signals end of arms race Daily article tries to 'clone the American mind' resident Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin's START II agreement, if properly implemented, may be the greatest step toward reducing the threat of nuclear holocaust in history. "During his visit to Washington, D.C. last summer, Yeltsin surprisingly announced his intentions to drastically reduce nuclear stockpiles. The pro- posal became the foundation of what became immediately dubbed as START II. , Due to the significantly improved relationship, the two nations were able to successfully complete wantitienncin rcintinil chnrt nrinri of timn' implementation. The other three nuclear republics in the former Soviet Union-Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belorus - authorized President Yeltsin to negotiate on their behalf. But ratification in each of the republics is not a done deal, especially since Ukraine, Russia's rival republic, has decided to remain a nuclear power. Contrary to its earlier promises to dismantle all its nuclear weapons, Ukrainians are now scrambling to crack the codes. needed to launch their arsenal. Naturally, START II had other purposes, namely to i mnrnve the renntatinnq of the currentnre-.rlentc To the Daily: Your editorial "But what comes after Nutcracker Barbie?" is yet another example of how liberals want to control what people buy, decided what is "politically correct" for little girls to like, and determine how much manufacturers and stores should charge for things. The whole essence of femi- nism is "choice," is it not? Why shouldn't a a little girl or a little boy have a choice to buy his/her fantasy doll? And is it any of your distorted view of events because of the dangerous "politically correct" crowd. In case you haven't learned this yet, political correctness is the beginnings of socialism and communism. Fight now, we thankfully live in a society where no one can tell you that you cannot create a "Nutcracker Barbie" doll. If the politically correct crowd had it their way, they would ban everything they "determine" wasn't "fit" in the case of the Barbie doll, citing this wonderful, diverse country we live in. No one is forcing you to buy anything. And finally, if you hate American capitalism so much, why don't you find another country that's more suitable to your tastes? As the Hall and Oates song goes, "The strong give up and move on ... the weak give up and stay." The problem is not with society - it's with people like you, with your communistic "politically correct views. It's indicative of what is happening in*