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Page 4 --The Michigan Daily- Wednesday, March 3, 1993
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420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by spdents at the
University of Michigan
Josi Dulow
Editor in Chief
YAEL M. CITRO
ERIN LIZA EINIORN
Opinion Editors
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Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, signed articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
HOUSING RATES
Regents pass hike with no discussion
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AiT ITS FEBRUARY meeting, the University
Board of Regents authorized a 4.6 per-
cent housing rate hike for the 1993-94
academic year - without even one word of
discussion. Students will be forced to pay al-
most $200 more to live in residence halls next
year,andtheUniversity'ss
governing board did not
consider this fact impor-r
tant enough to warrant
debate. This move proves
once again that the re-
gents are woefully out of
touch with student con-
cerns.
Instead oflookingout
for the interests of stu-
dents who may have Deitch
trouble paying extra
costs, the regents waxed nostalgic about their
college days..
The discussion centered around proposed
changes to the housing move-in date and
Michigan's chances for beating Notre Dame
next year. Regent Laurence Deitch (D-
Bloomfield Hills) spoke extensively about both
"preserving the magic" ofmove-in day and his
desire for a victorious football team.
In order to avoid conflict with the Wolver-
ines' opening gridiron contest, housing offi-
cials are considering opening the dorms two
days early. But University executive officers
waited to formally discuss the move until after
the rate increase was finalized.
By linking the two decisions, the University
manages to pass the buck-students must pay
for its inability to coordinate academic and
athletic schedules. Since students will be pay-
ing more to live in residence halls anyway,
University officials said, the University ismuch
more willing to house students for a few extra
days.
Still, students may not receive any direct
benefits fronmtheirincreased fees.:Even though
the 4.6 percent increase is well above the rate of
inflation, the University has not detailed its
planned expenditures. The Housing Division's
1993-94 budget includes no new or expanded
programs and it remains questionable where
the increased funds will go.
Director of Housing Robert Hughes took
care to emphasize that
the rate increase was cal-
culated by a committee
with representation by
students and staff mem-
bers. But this careful in-
vestigation becomes un-
necessary when the rates
are presented to a disin-
terested party-namely,
the regents.
Simply put, board
members do not under-
stand the value of $200 to the average Univer-
sity student. Many people on campus struggle
to afford tuition and books, and this money
represents more than extra beer funds. In addi-
tion, the regents do not care where the money
- nearly $2 million - is going. Student
housing on campus is among the least of the
regents' concerns, and to them$2 million means
nothing.
This attitude is typical. Board members are
willing to invest time, energy and money in
University affairs. But they concentrate on
areas which have little importance to most
students.
For example, Regent Paul Brown (D-
Petoskey) single-handedly raised $3.9 million
for renovations to the clubhouse serving the
University's golf course.
However, he sat silent while Hughes pre-
sented the proposed rate increase. Clearly,
Brown cares about some aspects of the Univer-
sity, and he obviously realizes that funding is a
vital resource to the campus. But his enthusi-
asm seems misdirected. Approximately 10,000
students live in University housing. Far fewer
play golf.
=
Editors note: Unfortunately, sexual assault has become an issue of statistics. We often see so many
numbers, we forget human beings are involved. It is for this reason that the Daily dedicates this
space every Wednesday to sexual assault survivors. Some pieces will be signed. Others will not. All
of them present real situations from survivors who respond in their own way to assault.
Every day in many ways the abuse is with me
I was eleven the first time my uncle
sexually abused me. Now, ten years
later I'm in therapy and trying to deal
with the lasting effects of what he did to
me.
I started going to a counselor two
years ago because I am bulimic. What
ily and I avoid going home as much as
I can.
There are big gaps in my memory of
the abuse and one of the hard parts of
therapy is that after a session sometimes
memories will come flooding back to
me as flashbacks. It's scary and a very
I know I need to remember to heal but sometimes I
wish I could just forget it all and pretend it never
happened.
friends and a lot of people think I'm
aloof.
I still feel guilty and dirty and embar-
rassed. I often have thoughts about sui-
cide as a way to end the pain. I feel very
alone. My counselor says to focus on
one day a+ a time and that is what I'm
trying to do.
SEXUAL ASSAULTS
REPORTED TO SAPAC
IN 1993:23
Involving penetration: 14
No penetration: 3
Acquaintance: 17
Stranger: 0
On Campus: 0
Reported to police: 5
No additional information
available for some reports
e0
she has helped me understand is that my
eating disorder is a coping mechanism
for dealing with my sexual abuse.
It's been painful to start the healing
process. I haven't yet told my family
what my uncle did to me because I'm
not ready to face the possibility that they
may not believe me or support me. My
mother and my uncle are very close and
she will have to choose between us. I'm
not sure who she will choose. In the
meantimel feel estranged from my fam-
out of control feeling. I've done a very
goodjobofrepressingthepainfulmemo-
ries. I know I need to remember to heal
but sometimes I wish I could just forget
it all and pretend it never happened.
Every day in many ways the abuse is
with me. I don'ttrust people very easily,
especially men. It has had a definite
effect on my ability to be close and
intimate with a man. Even with women
I am very slow to open up and reveal
much about myself. I don't have many
Clinton will sell us out just like the rest
HOMOPHOBIC REGENT
Ignorant comment lends dignity to bigotry
N THE MIDST of discussion at the February
Board of Regents' meeting about the hous-
ing move-in date dilemma caused by an
early football game in September, Regent Deane
Baker (R-Ann Arbor) sacked fellow board
members with an inappropriate comment that
came out of nowhere. He mentioned a letter he
recently received from seven members of Uni-
versity Housing staff that had been sent to the
Regents and several administra-
tors.
The letter, signed by six fa-
cilities managers and a mainte-.
nance coordinator, expressed u
concernforthe University's sup-
portofgay andlesbianliterature
and programming. Specific
complaintsincludedthe fact that
East Quadrangle's library "is
promulgated with gay/lesbian
reading material which supports
unnatural human relationships"
and the construction and main-
tenance of the Lesbian-Gay
Male Program Offices, which Baker
"add credence and support to
gay/lesbian lifestyles." The letter concluded
withthe opinionthatUniversity resources should
be used to promote "comfortable living and
academiclearning forouryoung people and not
be used to influence their sexual orientation."
The letter itself is based on faulty logic and
expresses bigotry and intolerance toward ho-
mosexuals. But Baker's attempt to introduce
the letter at the Regents' meeting lends this
bigotry a dignity and credence it does not de-
serve.
The authors oftheletterclassify homosexual
inherent or ingrained, not something subject to
"influence" - by the University or anyone
else. Think about it: if sexual orientation were
a matter of personal choice, would anyone
really choose to be homosexual, given the level
of prejudice and discrimination in our society
against gays and lesbians?
The authors of the letter are correct on one
point: it is the responsibility of the University
"to promote a service environ-
ment conducive to comfortable
living and academic learning."
However, it is easier to do this
by expressing tolerance of and
support for all minorities, re-
gardless of race, religion, sexual
orientation or other characteris-
tics. By writing this letter, the
seven members of Housing staff
have clearly shown themselves
to be intolerant, heterosexistbig-
ots.
However, if the letter's au-
thors deserve criticism for their
views, Bakerdeserves evenmore
criticism for bringing them to
the spotlight.
The letter is a minor complaint from seven
individual University employees, not a major
policy proposal or student movement. If the
complaint had been from white supremacists
about programming for African Americans, it
would have been rightly dismissed as the shrill
whining ofaracistminority. Because itfocuses
on homosexuals, however, Baker- who has
commented on the University's "bias in favor
of the lesbian/gay lifestyle" - has seen fit to
bring it to the table. and encourages "full
To the Daily:
The National Women's
Rights Organizing Coalition
(NWROC), has a very
different view of Clinton
than any of the groups
quoted in the recent article
on Clinton and abortion
rights. President Clinton is
just another Democrat,
which means he has been
and will be selling us out as
the Republicans and
Democrats have done
historically.
The Democrats have a
strategy of exploiting the
hatred of oppressed people
for the Republicans. Black
people, women, gays and
lesbians, poor and working-
class people have been so
sold out by Republicans that
the Democrats have to do
almost nothing to ensure
these groups' support. With
a majority of Democrats in
the House, they could easily
have kept Clarence Thomas
off the Supreme Court. Their
unwillingness to make
unconditional support for
abortion rights a basic
requirement for the election
of Supreme Court Justice
shows that they don't at all
intend to use their majority in
the House or any of their
political power to wage a
struggle for women to control
their own bodies.
Clinton has done the least
he can do to be able to say he
is pro-choice. He hasn't done
anything about parental
consent or restoring Medicaid
funding, the restrictions that
keep most poor and young
women from having access to
abortions.
In addition, Clinton
supported the bombing of
Iraq, and in the little time
since being elected to office
he's backed off on his
promise to open the border to
more Haitian refugees, and
totally blown off any action
around the issue of gays in
the military. He's clearly no
friend of any group of
opressed people.
NWROC has the position
that we cannot keep begging
these two parties of the rich
for the rights that are so
fundamental to our lives.
There is so much wealth and
power invested in keeping us
oppressed, that the only
source of power that offers
any kind of ability to fight
back is the power of
organized labor. We call for
the formation of a workers'
party based on the trade
unions and organizations of
the oppressed created in
struggle like NWROC, AIDS
groups, anti-racist and Black
community organizations,
and other minority groups.
The struggle for abortion
rights is one we've all fought
too long and hard to leave in
the hands of a sellout
politician like President
Clinton. We must break with
the Democrats and build a
workers' party. NWROC
meets at 6:00 on Tuesdays in
MLB 119.
Pamela Harcourt
Vice-Chair
Ann Arbor NWROC
America: love it
or leave it,
despite flaws
To the Daily:
Speaking as a Black
American who has served in
the U.S. Armed Forces, I
know that many African
Americans are proud to carry
the American flag. Just
because Mr. Kwame Kunta
Kinte of the Detroit School
Board is not proud to be an
American, does not mean that
the flag should not be honored
or presented at government
functions where that flag is the
lawful and most appropriate
symbol.
People came here and
continue to come here because
of the rights and freedoms
they can experience here.
Certainly America is not all
that it should or could be, but
we are all here, and it's all
we've got so we should make
the best of it.
Love it or leave it.
Do not argue about
whether the flag should fly, be
burned or be honored. Instead,
make this country all the flag
is supposed to represent, as
stated in the last line of the
Pledge of Allegiance: "Liberty
and justice for all."
Candy Jackson
LSA senior
Teaching abstinence teaches higher moral values
To the Daily:
I regret that I have to read
from an editor of the Daily
that "conservative Christians
. crawled from beneath their
collective rock to criticize the
proposal (to revise the AIDS
curriculum in Ann Arbor"
teaching a higher moral value
of responsibility to protect our
society as much as possible
from the destruction of lives
through illness and broken
homes.
One of the teachings of
narents. teachers and our
indulgence of sex outside of
marriage with all of its ugly
consequences of illness and
severely dysfunctional people.
We need to return to the
values of purity and chastity
and help those that have a
nrohlem with abstinence with
schools on track again and
teach children how to prepare
for future jobs that will benefit
their family and our nation
and get off teaching "sex."
Ann Knox
Ann Arbor resident
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