be Lirigautnai+g . 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Jost Dunow Editor in Chief YAEL M. CITRO ERIN LIZA EINHORN Opinion Editors 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. iA . 4. 'i I'7 0 CIRCUS TRICKS Code is more absurd than even we imagined FIRST, UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS dis- cussed a code of non-academic conduct. Students were skeptical. Then, they re- leased draft 12.2 of the Statement of Student "Rights" and Responsibilities. Students were angry. Now three students wait to be tried under the Code, and we've seen how they plan to the apply it. Students are appalled. University administrators spentSaturdaycon- ducting a work -__________ shop intended to give potential stu- W hope we can speak i dentjurors the in- ;rather than the'spii ft formation neces-Judiial AdvOr Ma sary to try a stu- dent under the the.Code.tipu.atio Code. All they succeeded in do- ing, however, 'TIhearingpanelmem. wasspoutingpro- shighyprobableta paganda and eu- phemistic lan- guage. 9?earsay hsm,.fatadms~ T workshop riences2 drew attention to the problems al-soiaeGeea readyexistingun- der the conducthu ; code, including systemthat is opportuntA the frightening ornrespnd amountofleeway Code enables someo permitted: to j u- same crime - once.i ries n deciding the future of thei peers. 'at' very iportdraty Under the inftdendAeth orahs Code: n ec , xv~tr n Anyone - media oryanyone ese even a non-stu- abo utiti onyour aowabe dent - can -VCdirginiordbg.a charge a Univerd freedom ofpinfedma be sity student withrst__endrse_ out first-hand. knowledge of the incident. Although this 'sec- ond-hand knowledge, or hearsay, is not admis- sible in any U.S. court, itis considered allowable evidence in Code hearings. Accusers and witnesses simply need to be willing to speak to the student jurors to endorse their own testimony. For, example if Sue heard Bob's best friend say he saw Jacque's room- matebuying drugs from amanin apurple haton Main Street, her testimony could be used to throw Jacque's roommate out of school. This is absurd. Students' lawyers are not permitted to speak. This stipulation creates a situation where the accused and accuser must cross-examine each other directly. In especially sensitive cases i44 iii - like cases involving sexual assault - this could be painful and would not occur in a civil or criminal court. In addition, since non-students can bring cases against students under the Code, a professional lawyer, University employee or Department of Public Safety officer can file a case against a student on behalf of the alleged victim. A lawyer filing a case may cross-examine the accused, but the accused must do all questioning the spirito f te taemnt him or herself. g' During a LouAn~eu~deenin Code hearing, a sexualassault sur- rhbtm vivorcouldpoten- .speakixngathearings tially be forced to reveal his or her sexual history if ..fat5 are tre or ?exs' the jurydeemed ode trainigmanuald this information relevant to the 'bin ee sorts ofexpe- case. This infor- mation is never Counel an Sarporn relevant and al- though we hope Sguiltnnother court the jury would have the sense to realize this, the 7a to acsadont,'r tiCode makes no e to bet1ra tw ce for the official provi- te realcos a once sions. underthe ode The next step in the process ou dat le~t rslves be getsevenbetter- +dtersto he dtor n the or worse. Stu- dents accused un- ho watst tlith you der the code face ajurythatdoesnot 'oclaticeapresidet and have to find proof .n ofe r, tfitrejurors beyond a reason- able doubt in or der to convict an accused student. Jurors "must believe that it is highly probable that the facts are true or exist." No one needs a newspaper editorial to point out the injustice of this definition of guilt. Welcome to George Orwell's "1984." The Code court has developed from a system supposedly established to settle disputes between students. But it has become a means to apply additional penalties to students already being tried for crimes in a real court. Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford said the code exists to protect students and help them under- stand their rights. But the University's time and money could be better spent educating students about their rights in the real legal system and improving crime prevention programs. / , r; r r Perspectives I) - 0 Wendy S hanker LSA senior So you say you're oppressed. What are you going to do about it? Women make up over half of the world's population, yet we allow ourselves to be represented as victims of male oppression. Take off the victim hat and put on anew, more responsible suit. A primary issue for women on college campuses across the nation is date rape, and hopefully you've noticed the emphasis the Daily has placed on that issue on this page. A recent writer in this space bemoaned her fate: "Because I am a woman, I have to constantly monitor the way I dress, act and the time I choose to visit aman because I am held responsible for both his actions and mine." That's not fair, right? Men should be more sexually responsible. Women should be able to. wear whatever kind of clothes they want, dance in whatever provocative way they want, rage all night, and still get home safe and sans intercourse. Ishould be amillionaire. Noone should be homeless. Clinton should get rid of the deficit. There should be word peace. While that idealism makes me feel all tingly in- side, it lacks one essential element- com- mon sense. The same writer I quoted, who echoes the sentiment of the majority of women on this campus, alsoinvokedthecaseof Desiree Washington's successful prosecution of Mike Tyson for date rape. My response is, what the hell was Desiree thinking when she headed over to Mike's pad at 2:00 am.? That maybe he would want to bake cookies and reminisce about the innocence of childhood? This does not mean to say that Desiree deserved to be raped. No one deserves to be raped. Mike Tyson was found by a court to have committed an illegal act and deserves to be prosecuted for it. I'm not saying it is Desiree's fault. But as far as the distribution of blame goes, I ask again, what was she thinking? She does have an added responsibility as a woman to look out for her own safety. That means turning down Tyson's offer. That means that when you get all dressed up in sexy clothes (the operative root word being "sex") to go to a fraternity party, down a few beers, and get involved in a mash-fest with some guy you don't know very well, you need to be prepared to defend yourself when he decides that he wants to go further than you do. You know not to drink and drive a car because you would be endangering your life, and others'. What makes you think that mixing drinks and sex isn't equally as dan- gerous? Listen, I don't walk through parking structures at 4:00 a.m., alone on a Saturday night, because my common sense tells me your dress, behavior, and body language may be saying "yes" to someone who is not the sensitive male you want him to be. You must be responsible for this. This does not mean you can no longer go out and have fun. This means that fun can be dangerous. This means that if you want to live a life of sexual freedom and independence, you must understand the consequences. I don'tknow who is supposed to teachus these things. Our initial sexual educators who taught us about mestroation and inter- course - "And after recess, class, come back inside and we'll discuss the intricate dangers of sexual dynamics." Our mothers -"Grandma and Grandpa say hi, and did I ever tell you what to do when a guy wants to and you don't." Our government - "While filling out your W-4 forms, kindly ... if you want to live a life of sexual freedom and independence, you must understand the consequences. 0 that to do that would be to put myself in enormous danger If I do, however, it doesn't mean that I deserve to be mugged. And if someone does mug me, that person deserves to be prosecuted because he committed a crime. But Iam now giving you full permission to ask me, "What were you thinking when you decided to walk alone through a park- ing structure at 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday night?" Am I to blame for my mugging? Certainly I did not act in my own best interests. The same thinking follows for women who do not understand the consequences of putting themselves in dangerous sexual situ- ations with men. You must decide what is safe for you. Know your consensual sexual limit ahead of time and be prepared to physically en- force it. Otherwise, acknowledge that a point comes when consent is no longer an issue. Though your conscious voice may say "no," peruse the section on miniskirts as a source of sexual titillation for men." Maybe it's going to have to be me who spreads the common sense; too late for so many women, but hopefully in time to present some new thoughts on the subject. When I think of some of the foolish things I have done, I know that Iam incred- ibly lucky not to have been put in that situation. My sympathy goes out to women who have gone through this situation. If Iwantto play the game, however, I'm going to fully acknowledge and understand the price someone might pressure me to pay. I would confront myself-I did some- thing to cause it. I sincerely hope people become more sexually responsible. In the mean time, women must push over that idealism to make room for a healthy dose of common sense. It's time for us to take more responsibil- ity for our actions. If you don't want to, stay home and wash your hair. THE GREAT COVER-UP 'U' distorts its ownfacts OBLEMS WITH THE Statement of Student public scrutiny. Administrators can do whatever "Rights"and Responsibilities have ex- they want and protect themselves by citing the isted since the first draft was completed. need for student confidentiality. Now the Office of Student Affairs is putting all At Saturday's workshop, Virginia Nordby, these vague, unethical and anti-judicial quirks associate vice president and freedom ofinforma- into an assembly line for doling out sentences to tion officer, told students and faculty that trial students. information willbe released when it is "prudent." At the same time, Vice President for Student Prudence, however, is not the issue. The issue is Affairs Maureen Hartford and her cohorts have whether or not the public has a right to see gone to great lengths to cover up details about detailed accounts ofthetrials-minus the names the flawed process that has just begun. Behind ofthe students involved. The University commu- the guise of student confidentiality, the Univer- nity is further being deluded about the implica- sity plans to hide what is happening with indi- tions of the Code by "CodeSpeak, " a language vidual cases. And when it must speak, it invents created by the Office of Student Affairs to de- its own language to reduce the impact. ceive the campus community. Possibly in an attempt to defy Code watch- According to "CodeSpeak," there is no code dogs, the information released about the three of conduct, nor are there trials, juries, sentences pending cases has ranged from little to almost or guilty students. While that would be nice - nothing. Administrators continue to stand be- especially the "no code of conduct" part - hind the Family Education Rights and Privacy nothing has changed but the words. Code words Actto defend the confidentiality of accusers and - such as Statement of Student "Rights" and accused. Responsibilities, hearings, hearing panels, sanc- However, by refusing to release information tions and responsible students have replaced to the public, the University exempts itself from traditionally legal terms and teir implications. Who can students turn to now? Students need MSA's representation To the Daily: I find myself in disagree- ment with parts of your editorial "Student Leaders," (2/17/93). Although I agree that the Michigan Student Assembly sometimes gets slowed down by partisan squabbles and parliamentary problems, I do not think that it is the moribund institution you describe. Although the MSA is only elected by 10 percent of the student population, the key concept is still 'elected.' Many students may choose not to vote in MSA elections. That is their prerogative. However, no one has the right to vote for the selection of Student Leader Board (SLB) members. The unclear mechanism by which these leaders are selected excludes the opinion of the student body at large. I find it difficult to accept that the SLB could purport to represent a larger portion of campus than MSA does. It seems that the only thing they represent is the opinion of its members, who have no constituency to whom they are responsible. The MSA is the voice of students on campus precisely because it is elected by the same students. This is not to say that MSA and SLB cannot work together as a potent team fighting for student interests. However, one must under- stand that the SLB in itself offers nothing more than a second opinion from a few students. By itself, it represents only its members. Hopefully, with the MSA, it can work for positive change on campus. Dante Stella LSA sophomore Learn from history's valuable lessons To the Daily: It sounds so familiar, and yet where is the reaction? When I hear the news reports about the atrocities in Bosnia, when I hear about how two men were forced to bite off each others' testicles and then had limbs cut off until they were dead, when I hear about how women are being raped as a scare tactic, when I hear the news every day, it all sounds familiar. When in World War II, 6 million Jews were systemati- cally tortured and killed- the world sat back and watched. We vowed never to let it happen again. We are organized. We have Holocaust memorial day. We have Eli Wiesel. The Jews have learned their lesson. But the world has not. The world has not learned that the forces of evil have no limit, and that unless they are forcefully stopped, the senseless killing and ethnic cleansing will 0 MCAT deserves test space on campus LL THESE ABSURDmES aside, the code exists and will be implemented- soon. (The exact trial dates have - curiously enough - not been released.) While all evi- dence at the workshop suggests that student unjust system created by the code. Some have expressed their opposition through protests, oth- ers through speeches. Two members of the Uni- versity BoardofRegents voted against and spoke against the code. Now the student jurors are To the Daily: To some people, the following may appear to be a trivial protest; to others, however, it may well be a valid request. For most pre- med students, the MCAT is the ultimate test of their undergraduate years. It is a the GRE will be held in the Business School (the usual test site for the MCAT) on the same Saturday. Now, I am in no way implying that the MCAT is more important than the GRE, but I feel that it is rather unfair for rwdents taking the MCAT in unfamiliar territory. As one of the largest universities in the country, and as a university with one of the highest pre-med populations, I feel that it is necessary to find a location on campus. Therefore, I ask that whoever deals with schedul-