01 Page 4 -The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 13, 1993 Ii Ebttnau &ul I 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0552 Editor in Chief 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 njority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. " 54":~~~~~~~~~."." ....... . \ .. i. ...................................."!.:S"!"" :':!:!. !:"! "!'" ' "' '"! :! " V..::: !!5" '!!!} " :"::!!:!!! ! ! :!!W!"!"ti " !....5.... - ,7 dm1cH, -AtN DA1LY '9$3 y, 9SURRCTE ©~ r 7-4- / " _, _ Royalties burden students T he beginning of the new term brings the inevi- table rush to purchase textbooks and coursepacks. Unfortunately, University students will again be subject to outrageous prices for coursepacks. Because of the series of lawsuits filed nationwide against copy shops, the price of coursepacks has increased dramatically over the past two years. The real victims of these lawsuits are the students. The University should investi- gate ways to help students avoid paying these prices. One possibility worth investigation is to establish a University non-profit copy shop. Currently, University professors hire one of the several private copy shops in Ann Arbor to pro- duce their coursepacks. Since these private copy stations are selling coursepacks for profit, pub- lishing companies are permitted to charge royal- lies for their publication. Unfortunately, these royalties are outrageous amounts which can some- times more than double the price ofthe coursepacks. For example, it took $20.13 in copying and bind- ing to produce last term's Psychology 453 coursepack; but royalties bumped up the price by an additional $41.91. Sadly, the size of the royalties can even trump a professor's effort to save their students some money. For example, Political Science professor Ronald Inglehart tried to save his students from buying his own book by contracting a copy shop to produce a coursepack with exerpts. Because of the outrageous royality costs (to his own publisher), the coursepack only saved students one dollar. Students could avoid the royalty fees if the University operated its own copy shop. Unlike private copy shops, the University shop would sell these coursepacks at cost. The law is vague when considering whether royalties have to be paid for publications which are used solely for educational purposes. Some courts have ruled that royalties can only be avoided if only very short excerpts are reproduced, rather than whole chapters. The Uni- versity should investigate the legality of a non- profit copy shop, and attempt to lobby for the rectification of any unfair laws in order to end the out-and-out exploitation of students. Due to the recent court order mandating heavy royalties for selling coursepacks, copy shops are no longer an efficient way to distribute these materi- als. Even if a University coursepack distributor was less efficient than private shops, the absence of royalties would ensure a far cheaper product for students. The only people who would lose under such a system would be the publishers. 01 : . ,::....'.: i:...E :; '..S . ... .. . .. . ...."'.1.... Y.." 'U' should protect nonsmokers The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally cleared the way to protecting nonsmokers' rights. By endorsing a report that directly links secondhand smoke to lung cancer and child respiratory ailments, the EPA has sent a clear message to the powerful tobacco lobby: the nonsmoker should no longer be held captive in an atmosphere of tobacco smoke. The University should take note of this report and act accordingly to protect nonsmokers/ from sec- ondhand smoke. Although A c smoking is already pro- hibited in most Uni- versity - y buildings, the Univer- sity contin- ues to allow people to practice the habit in cer- tain areas. T h e m o k i n g sectioninthe MUG is the most lucid example. Smokers puff away in their exclusive section located no more than 5 yards from Subway. But this egregious violation of the rights of the non- smoker is not an isolated incident at the Univer- sity. The lingering smoke that hovers in the milieu of the Union Pool Room is reminiscent of a prohibition-era speakeasy. The designated non- smoking pool tables, which are outnumbered to begin with, are located not 10 feet from a barrage of cigarette-smoking billiard players. The dormitory lounges - where students can be found at all hours of the night watching televi- sion or slipping yet another quarter into "The Simpsons" pinball machine -pose a similar prob- lem. Not only are these lounges devoid of any no- smoking signs, the lounge in Alice Lloyd comes equipped with a spattering of ash trays. This seems to send a clear message that non- smokers aren't even entitled to a lounge filled with clean air. .-- .. - . .... ' 1 T h e powerful BUTTNOJIIINfi H4 U.S. to- ffN ,IVEN!b a c c o Elobby, which spends $4 billion dollars a year pro- '' \moting its deadly product, can con- tinueto ar- gue that smoking is an in- alienable right. But no smoker has a right RICH CHOI/Daly to endan- ger the health of innocent bystanders by forcing them to inhale air polluted with secondhand smoke. Moreover, if a smokers want to light up, they can do it outdoors or in their own home. In light of the new report released by the EPA, the University needs to take immediate action to widen its smoking policy. Gone is the day when advertisements featured the proclamation "9 out of 10 doctors smoke Marlboro." Smoking must be proscribed in all public areas of University build- ings. Coverage helpful, but Daily jumped the gun To the Daily: Thanks to the Daily for covering the work of the Task Force for Mandatory Retirement, created jointly by SACUA and the Provost's Office ("Task force to look at forced retirement law," 1/ 11/93). Unfortunately, the article reports as definite conclusions (for example, not recommending changes in benefits, post-tenure review of faculty, etc.) matters that we are still in the process of actively considering. Stephen Darwall Chair, Task Force on Manda- tory Retirement Ignorance about racism hurts all people To the Daily: I am writing in response to Snehal Amin's letter, "Listen to Gates, deal with facts." (11/19/92) I was shocked, but not surprised, that someone this ignorant about racism and how it works in this society would have the nerve to write a letter defend- ing Daryl Gates and the police officers involved in the Rodney King whipping. How dare you insult my community and other non-Black Americans by trying to convince them that the King incident was not racist. As far as Gates is concerned, you are right. Never mind that he powered the SWAT team when in relation to police chokeholds he stated Black men don't bleed like normal people. Never mind that he is the father of DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) despite the fact that he openly stated that casual drug users should be taken out and shot. Any person who make comments like these is obviously uncivilized and as far as I'm concerned these so called action groups mean nothing when you look at the barbaric mastermind behind them. Why don't you and other ignorant people face the real facts? Black men are harassed and beaten by police forces around the country every day. King's incident drew attention only because it was captured on video tape. What about the fact that Blacks were forced to come to this country against their will, our families were broken up, we were denied an education, awarded 40 acres and a mule and then had it taken back. We have been the victims of police dogs, water hoses, batons, castration, rape, hangings, lynching and attempted genocide throughout the history of this country. I am sick and tired of ignorant people on this campus and in this country pretending that racism against us is obsolete and that we constantly create exaggerated stories to gain attention. Blacks have made numerous contribu- tions to American society beginning with our ancestors the Egyptians to the more recent African-American inventions - while we get the least amount of respect. We are tired of these injustices anri a lnnn c thawI"w nr- To the Daily: As sort of a hobby, I've collected 10 common paradoxes in the University. ® We can't find enough qualified Blacks to recruit to our campus. But, somehow our coaches always manage to recruit qualified Blacks who are also outstanding athletes. We can't explain how. The majority of our students are happy with the way we run things. But, we can't have majority rule in the University because students,,by definition, don't know what's good for them. When students question our decisions, we tell them we are operating the University for their benefit. But, when students are unhappy we tell them a university doesn't exist to cater to them. We hire the finest research faculty in the world for our students. But for some reason, the more famous the members of our faculty become, the less, contact they want with students. . Students already have enough power as consumers to determine who shall teach and what is taught. But for some reason, the most popular teachers never get tenure and the most popular courses are discontinued. We can't allow students to select faculty because they would be fleeced by charlatans offering glamour and entertainment without educational substance. But since students are attracted to our University by its professors, you'll have to take our word for it that "we are not charlatans." We tell students they must grow up and accept responsibility for their own education while they are in the University. But, we also tell students they are not competent to sit on committees that select their courses, curricu- lum and professors. Academic freedom means that no one can dictate to faculty what research projects they must do. But, by sheer coincidence, our faculty want to research what federal sponsorswant. The University is training the future leaders of a democratic society. But for some reason, our graduates want to rule without being elected. The American university is the world's foremost institution of higher education. But for reasons we can't explain, we have no one on our staff we can identify as an educator (i.e. someone responsible to students alone). The above paradoxes illustrate an institution that does not know itself. All hierarchical institutions operate best in ignorance. The University has sort of a knee-jerk regard for the truth that runs approximately as follows: "We try so hard to stay ahead of our competitors and we invest so much in trying to win public approval that anything negative has to be denied, hushed up or ignored if we are to keep our place in the national rankings." The criteria of policy are not the truth or service, but success and survival. Of course, the modem university is a common garden-variety institution - it tries to get as much from its environment while giving back as little as possible. But what can never be admitted, is that students are part of the environment. The world's greatest experts on everything populate the Univer- sity. Could they help you if they wanted to? Probably. It's just that everyone is powerless. Lack of power to meet human needs is not an accident. The deepest and most tragic paradox in the modern university is that to succeed as an institution no one must think beyond their narrow concerns or feel anything for others. Students must be numb, faculty must be overspecialized, and leadership must be obsessed with naive boosterism. It is essential that everyone believes official lies. The survival and success of the institution come ahead of all other concerns. In other words, paradoxical as it may be, the modern university suc- ceeds by becoming stupid. Robert Honigman Birmingham, Mich Top 10 University paradoxes 0 0 Deportations endanger peace L ate in December the 14-month-old Middle East peace process came to a dead stop, due to Israel's deportation of 415 Palestinians. While those responsible for the recent killings of Israelis should be brought to justice, the Israeli action is clearly illegal under international law. The United States should ensure Israeli compliance with U.N. Resolution 799, which calls for the "safe and immediate return to the occupied territories of all those deported." The U.N. Security Council moved swiftly to ""strongly condemn" the deportations and demand that the deportees be returned home. The United States did the right thing by supporting the resolu- tion. It should be remembered that the last (and only) time the United States joined the Security Council in condemning Israeli deportation orders, those orders were eventually rescinded. None of the deportees were accused of a crime, nor did they receive any due process whatsoever. The deported men's only "crime" is alleged mem- had not been able to undermine the negotiations, which are supported by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). But by binding and blindfold- ing 415 supposed members, only to dump them in a cold makeshift camp in Southern Lebanon, Israel has made group members martyrs in their commu- nity. Thus the Israeli claim that the deportations would strengthen the hand of those Palestinians who support the negotiations has proven way off the mark. Besides, the New York Times reported that "nearly all of those deported are theoreticians, fund-raisers, and heads of Islamic institutions, not gunmen." Even if Israel had given the accused a fair trial, the fact remains that deportations "of protected persons from occupied territory ... are prohibited, regardless of their motive," according to the Fourth Geneva Convention. Both sides must find legitimate ways of dealing with threats and violence, or there will never be peace in the region. Stronger steps may be required to reverse the k -T- /"" d