Page 6-The Michigan Daily-- Monday, April 12, 1993 if Irim c br £icitrn ai THE-i PtWiTJ PREPAREI FoR /1 P/Cm/FRfAT/OP4AL, 1'Er-VANDctUATF oN U. 5-. INTEPVCNritfHIN 13 sN IA.. it g ~# ,,. ,, -. : .=- , 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSH Duiow Editor in Chief ERIN LIZA EImoRN Opinion Editor 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. _ i . ..; J ;:: .a .:::: :;:::::; : ..:: ;! ' J y p."-- ^ _ . 1 . : ::: ....< .. 7 . :: ; '' ,, -- ' EARTH WEEK Use week to focus on environmental activism AA- i.r- J , re I,- 0 0 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ARE not just the worries of birkenstocked activists and science wonk/Vice President Al Gore. With environmental hazards - such as the North Campus incinerator and the possible Envotech supermall of hazardous waste disposal -looming over our homes, the Earth must now be of concern for everyone. If the x current level of environmental ', degradation continues, we are headed for disaster. Today is the beginning ofEarth Week at the University. This is a time for students to focus on solving k environmental problems, to at- tend Earth Week activities and to get involved in the many groups fighting to save the en- vironment. Examples of environmental hazards have hit home. Parents and young couples living in ! Student Family Housing have formed Citizens forSafe Waste --- Disposal (along with the help of the student group ENACT-UM) to combat an incinerator near the housing unit on North Campus. The incinerator violates the stipulations of its permit by burning potentially hazardous waste. Anothergroup, the Michigan Citizens Against 7-7- Toxic Substances (MCATS), fights the hazard- ous waste disposal company Envotech's plans to build the second largest hazardous waste dump in the country, an incinerator, and two eep injection wells in Augusta Township, just north of Ann Arbor. Augustaresidents already uffer reduced property values and potential health risks as a result ofanEnvotech subsidiary company's illegal dumping of 20,000 barrels of toxic waste on the proposed dump site. Citi- zens for Safe Waste Disposal and MCATS need support in their fight to protect these com- munities'. Eclipse Jazz kicked off Earth Week Saturday with an open- airconcertandspeakersaddress- ing environmental issues. Up- coming events include a Huron River Cleanup sponsored by Green Corps to a panel discus- sion about environmental issues HARON MUSHER/DaIly with University professors spon- sored by the Michigan Student Assembly. The issues to be discussed range from local environ- mental action to issues with a global focus. Students are encouraged to educate themselves and become involved. These issues affect ev- eryone. Public activism ke to ecological proress by Maria Comninou Engineering professor Since Earth Day 1990, a lot of guides instructing us on how many things we can do for the environment have been widely circulated. The lists advocate all forms of recycling, encourage the use of durable instead of disposable products, instruct us how to save energy, advise us to eat lower in the food chain (a euphemism for veg- etarianism), etc. The focus of this strategy is to use "the power of our pocketbook" to create a sus- tainable lifestyle and maintain healthy eco- systems. In the midst of consumer glut, we can now find shining examples of the idea that the good life can be had for very little, if we can only de-program ourselves from the ceaseless indoctrination beamed out by advertisers, economists and politicians. There are already a lot of admirable people who have made it their business to "tread lightly on the planet." The trouble with this model for saving the world is that the better you become at it, the less effective you are, unless everybody follows yourexample. One measure of how lightly you tread is how much money you spend and how much money you make. Once you become frugal enough and self- sufficient enough to be able to live with very little money, your impact on a market- oriented economy becomes virtually nil. You cannot influence an agricultural con- glomerate to convert to integrated pest management or organic farming, if you decide to grow and eat your own vegetables only. And you cannot entice the household product manufacturers to use environmen- tally friendly processes and substances, if you decide to do all your cleaning with vinegar and water. Although self-suffi- ciency and simplicity are very worthy goals, achieving a personal nirvana does not help save the rest of us mortals nor the environ- ment. Until there is a drastic change in the way our institutions, our governments and oureconomies operate, theprivate endeavor toward self-perfection must be accompa- nied by public activism. however, is not to impose "environmental fascism" by trampling on individual rights and interests. The alternative is to work within an open, democratic process towards creating a climate and a culture where the environment is an obvious and fundamental factor in any decision making. The environ- mental factor must be included at the very beginning and not be tucked on later as an afterthought. We must practice and advo- cate prevention: in the environment, as in medicine, prevention is the best cure. One form of prevention is accomplished through regulation. Our society, which has 'Let us make the environment our public duty: we can then all live good, ordinary lives.' FAULTY CODE If it must exist, the 'U' s AFTER VIOLENCE BROKE out on South Uni- versity Avenue following the disappoint- ing end to the basketball season, most students retreated safely to the confines of their homes. But one student was arrested by the University's Department of Public Safety and charged undertheStatementofStudent"Rights" and Responsibilities for public inebriation and filure to heed a police order to leave the street. That student may have had the most unpleasant arid unjust experience of his life. Of course, some simple mechanisms were written into the Code to ensure that the public would have some form of check on Code activi- ties suchasthese. Unfortunately,one ofthe most itiportant ofthese mechanisms-records avail- able to the public - continues to be ignored by the University. Last week, in response to vocif- erous criticism on this issue, the University released statistical data pertaining to Code op- erations. But this doesn't even come close to solving the problem. Instead of following its own code and ensuring that the public had some way to moniter the University, it continues to hide under a facade of concern for student rights and bury detailed Code records. The released statistical data reveals next to nothing. It tells us information such as one case houldfollow it too was mediated or eight students have been sent letters notifying them of possible Code viola- tions. This completely disregards the reason for having records available to the public. Records are available so that the University cannot do whatever it wants without anyone being able to question why or how. Moreover, the University is using completely faulty logic in defense of withholding records. Code officials say they are trying to find a method to balance a student's right to privacy with the public's right to know. But does the University truly believe that keeping the records hidden is beneficial to students? And if the University believes it must balance the rights of students and the public, it is something it should have thought about before the Code was ever implemented. The Code and its kangaroo court punishes students retributively and completely circum- vents the legal system. Since we have shown time and time again that the Code cannot be counted on to protect the rights of students, the University must follow its own Code. As Rob Van Houweling, member of the Michigan Stu- dent Assembly Student Rights Commission, so aptly said: "It seems to me if they aren't going to follow the Code, which they clearly aren't, why the hell should any student follow the Code?" There are two types of activism avail- able to us. One is to convince others to follow our example and actively inform, encourage and help them along the path. This is aform ofproselytizinganditis often resented by the would-be neophytes. The second type of activism is directed toward government policy, regulation and legisla- tion. How many people would not vote in favor of pesticide-free food if that were an option? It is often easier to convince an entire community that recycling is desir- able than to make a single individual re- cycle tin cans. The idea that each of us is responsible only for our own acts and that environmen- tal consciousness is a private business is not going to get us very far. The alternative, been nurtured on the ideal of individualism, is too quick to embrace the opinion that laws do not stop crime and guns do not kill. Perhaps a society of archangels would suc- ceed in functioning without the need of laws. The rest of us need to be reminded, cajoled and prompted tobe our best with the, help of laws, contracts and agreements. Behavior which is thus encouraged and held to public scrutiny, soon becomes cus- tom. Although heroic actions have more appeal and visibility, and are cer y in- spiring, a society of heroes would be per- fectly unbearable. Let us make the environ- ment our public duty: we can then all live good, ordinary lives. Comninou will speak at an enviromental symposium Tuesday. 0 RUBUST THIS Republican tactics impede progress Social forces cause anorexia To the Daily: In response to Wendy Shanker's perspective, "To anorexic girl in aerobics class: You look terrible, honey" (4/ 2/93), I am the anorexic girl in your aerobics class. You have no concept of what I am about, nor about social conditioning. You say that you do not have that special "supermodel gene." I have news for you - no one does. It is not a natural look, just like the skin and bones of anorexia. You yourself say: "I strive to be the closest reality to those models. There is nothing wrong with that." Why isn't there something wrong with that? Why are women "susceptible to poor self-image?" The answer to these questions lies in the conditioning we receive from day one. Anorexia is more than just a response to the media. It is a disease - something like alcoholism. You have not even accounted for the many psychological factors that go into this extreme manifesta- tion of women's internalized oppression. Anorexia, in some ways, is an extreme form of what you do-- "diet and exercise and wear makeup and spend a load on clothes because I want to look good." Open your eyes. If nothing else, do a little research before making such a forceful statement about To the Daily: I am writing in response to the article "Hindu, Muslim students discuss current tensions" (4/5,93). In this article, the reporter quoted Gaurav Dave, who said that a double standard exists in India, because Muslim schools are not taxed and Hindu schools are. If that is true, I believe it is just a ploy by the Indian government to say that the Muslims get special treatment, and to give Hindus a reason to vent their anger against Muslims. I do believe there is a double standard in India, one which favors the Hindus. A prime example is the case when the Hindus totally destroyed a Muslim mosque in Ayodhya. After they destroyed the mosque, the Hindus immediately built a shrine to their lord Rama without waiting for a legal decision from the Indian government on what to do about the situation. The government did nothing to stop the building of the shrine and did not concern itself with the Hindus who prayed to it. But when a Muslim scholar and several other Muslims attempted to offer prayer at the site where the mosque was destroyed, they were turned back. Basically the government rewarded the Hindus for tearing down the mosque by allowing them to build their shrine on that spot and by punishing the Muslims by not even allowing them to pray where their mosque used to be. Now tell me where the double standard is. There was also a quote in the article by Deepa Prahalid saying that Hindus are treated as outsiders in India. I don't know what India Deepa is talking about, but it is not the one I know. I was in India right after the Hindus destroyed the mosque, and I witnessed how "well" the Muslims were treated. I saw how they hit my fifteen-year old cousin for no reason, when he was coming to pick me up at the Bombay airport. The next time you write an article, I hope you do a better job covering both sides of the story. Sure you reported how Shenaz Khan said the discussion was more tame than others, but I did not see the reactions of other Muslims on the comments made by the Hindus. So now I am giving you mine. , Il 0 Double standard in India favors Hindu population AfOINSERVATIVE SENATE REPUBLICANS, led by Minority Leader Bob Dole (R- Kan.), pulled off a dramatic filibuster of PresidentClintdn's short-term economic stimu- lus package last week. Declaring the $16.3 billion plan would only add to the staggering budget deficit, 43 members of Congress grounded the popular bill to a halt. Sadly, GOP leadership has transfixed fiscal obsessions on eliminating approximately half of Clinton's domestic priorities. Doing so comes at the ex- pense of rebuilding urban infrastructure, creat- ing jobs in a recession-tom economy, aiding low-income college students, and providing sum- mer school programs. In the end, the Republican filibuster is a pointless waste of time. The GOP las no working majority, and no alternative plan. The Republicans, distraught over the defeat of George Bush and the end of divided govem- ment, have treated the passage of this urgent package as a do-or-die test for their 1994 sena- not used during the past 12 years-this unfortu- nate maneuvering gives marginalized GOP Sena- tors a new power that the people refused to give them during elections. Dole and company cannot be commended forunduly blocking the will ofthe majority. The GOP's last great stand should not be seen as a famous congressional event in the battle to slash the deficit, but as a political fraud designed to thwart the emergence of Clintonian economics. The Senate GOP's philosophy has been that, new federal aid directed at heavy-populated, largely Democratic urban centers is automati- cally "pork barrel" waste- simply because the party in control of Congress is the dominate political force in most U.S. cities. The GOP leadership asserts that since mostbig-city Demo- cratic mayors organized to assist in Clinton's presidential campaign,theproposedurbanspend- ing plan must be a covert repayment-- a give- away to "special interest" groups. This is an unfounded, spurious correlation. To say that rfnv.*-e rn.n nr i cii , fem ~i i m t n tr id- Shaad Ahmed LSA Sophomore Subway responds to accusations of bias in hiring J4 To the Daily: This is in response to Flint Wainess' perspective, "Subway discriminatory practices uncovered" (4/193). First, it is not a discrimina- tory practice to ask a prospec- tive employee to complete a test that requires the ability to do fifth-grade math. Since all of our employees are over the age of 16, this is handling money and goods. Your perception that a smile and sandwich are the only thing important to the opera- tion shows your inexperience in the work place. Third, we are being judged by you for an application that was never turned in. If you would have given us the courtesy to call before you printed such a slanderous personal integrity, and not appreciated. Again, if you had found out the facts by talking to the University Health Services, you would have found out that there are problems with the use of rubber gloves for all employ- ees all the time. Rubber gloves are used if an employee has a cut or wound of any type on their 0