The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. Thursday, December 9, 1993 Page
Code
Reform
The University's code of conduct
needs more than an amendment - it
needs an overhaul. Nevertheless, the
University community should take its
opportunity to suggest amendments
to the code at hearings next month.
6 u
A tri to he Mal ofAmenc!givssne
Evaluating the current system will
be difficult, since all of the business
of the code's administrative appara-
tus has been conducted in secret -
something which begs for an amend-
ment of its own. But the involvement
of students, student government and
faculty groups will be needed, be-
cause amendments generated by the
administration are likely to fall short.
The administration will likely pro-
pose several changes. For one, it will
add murder to the long list of crimes
prohibited on campus. Apparently,
forbidding such things as possession
of alcohol and wrongful reporting of
a fire, but not murder - a crime
outlawed in The Ten Commandments
- was an embarrassing oversight.
Another possible change, said Ju-
dicial Advisor Mary Lou Antieau,
would be to lengthen the statute of
limitations to account for incidents
which occur just before summer va-
cation. But an internal draft of
Antieau's possible revisions indicates
she is considering extending the stat-
ute of limitations to anywhere from
eight months to a year - something
that would more than account for the
summer break. Additionally, Antieau
said the administration may pursue
banning the illegal use of firearms off
campus.
These revisions, while not incon-
sistent with the code, do not amend its
gravest flaws. Rather, they extend its
scope. In contrast, Michigan Student
Assembly (MSA) Vice President
Brian Kight has outlined three highly
imaginative revisions which would
help ameliorate some of the code's
greatest weaknesses.
The first measure concerns off-
campus activities currently punish-
able under the code. Before prosecut-
ing a student, Kight ,argues, the Uni-
versity should have to answer one
critical question: is this student in any
way a threat to the campus?
A student who gets in a bar fight in
Ypsilanti, Kight suggests, would
likely pose no threat to the campus.
The University should therefore be
forced to show cause before charging
him with physical assault and battery.
Second, Kight proposes tying all
off-campus offenses to the criminal
justice system. If adopted, the Uni-
versity hearing panel created by the
code would maintain its authority to
suspend students charged with seri-
ous crimes on a case-by-case basis.
Once the student is convicted, the
University could take further action.
If the student is proven innocent, how-
ever, the University would have to
drop the sanctions altogether.
This would be a major step toward
recognizing one key weakness of the
code, highlighted in the November 23
report on the code issued by the Civil
Liberties Board of the Senate Advi-
sory Committee on University Af-
fairs.
"Our fundamental concern," the
faculty group reported, "is that, ex-
cept in exceptional circumstances,
criminal matters ought to be left, in
the first instance, to the criminal jus-
tice system."
Third, MSA may push for broader
due process protections under the
code. Of particular concern is gag
A trip to the Mall of America gives new
meaning to the phrase 'shop 'til you drop'
By JESSIE HALLADAY
n this season of giving there is always
a mad rush of gift buying. People cram
into malls all across the country in
desperate attempt to find the perfect
gift to express exactly how they feel
about the person for whom they are shopping. It is
a time of year that can be haz- ardous for inexpe-
rienced shoppers
who don't know,
how to avoid
the danger of
hundreds of
shop-
pers
mak-
ing mad dashes to
buy, buy, buy. An inno-;
cent child could easily be taken
out by the flying shopping bags of
a crazed man or woman.
To add to the insanity of the
season, I thought it would
be a great idea to hop
on a plane and head
for Minneapolis.
There are those
of you who are
asking,
"Why Min-
neapolis?"'
And I can
safely say that
you who are
asking fall
into the
group of f
people '
who prob-
ably buy all your
gifts at the Perry
Drugs on Christ-
mas Eve. Of course
would give me a chance to map out my game plan.
So now that I was completely turned around I
just started dashing through the mall with not
much of a plan at all. Which actually
worke d l
In.
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my favorites were Barebones, a store filled with
products centered around the skeleton; Hologram
Land, pretty self-explanatory; and best of all, the
Warner Bros. store, filled with any Looney Toon
item you can imagine.
But despite the unusual magnitude of the Mall
of America, the shopping itself didn't
vary much from any other mall in
which I've shopped. Moms
were still trying to navigate
herds of screaming, snotty-nosed
kids who couldn't wait to meet Santa
(and then crying when the old guy
them to
sit on
h i s
Packs of teenagers still
roam around drinking slurpees
and eating pretzels as if their sole
purpose in life is to walk through the
mall with no apparent aim.
Men were still most often found
sitting on the benches,
leaning against
the clothes
racks
o r
ging the woman
who brought them to-hurry
up. Here's a tip for all you women
out there that I've picked up along my
mall travels: if you happen to lose track of
the man you-brought with you, there is a
good chance you will find him in
Victoria's Secret. As two men proclaimed
when they walked through the doors
of this lingerie heaven, "Ah, the
promised land." (I'm not kid-
ding.)
Walking through this
"mall of all malls" illumi-
nated the whole shopping
phenomenon for me. Shop-
ping must be an addiction
that just has to be fulfilled for many people.
Why else would men and women vie for
stuffed Barneys or lava lamps which they prob-
ably can't afford unless they were trying to fill
some primal need? It's as if the Christmas music
that is piped through the entire mall, to the point
of annoyance, drives people into a state of frenzy.
Why else would a mall which houses a mini-
golf mountain draw so many people if they weren't
out of control of their mental capacities? (And by
the way, why would you go to a mall to do
anything else but shop?)
I have to admit that while I was busy wearing
out the treds on my new pair of Nike's, I couldn't
remember which direction I had come from or
even what my name was at times. Something
seemed to come over me which propelled me from
store to store without thought of food or water to
sustain me. After eight hours, I started stumbling
around mumbling to myself about t-shirts, shoes
and all the other things left on my list to buy. I was
like a women possessed. The Mall of America had
somehow warped my system.
"- 1 . __* , _. . L . .- 11 :..1'% ...L .
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I went to Minneapolis to
shop at the Mall of
America, also known as
the Mega Mall.
Now I'm not the kind of
shopper who normally flies
around the country to check out malls, but with
Northwest Airlines offering a special one day
shopping trip for only $98, I jumped at the chance
to go. I mean what kind of shopper would I be if
I didn't take this opportunity to go to the Mall of
America? I could hardly look myself in the mirror
if I missed this chance.
But never in my wildest dreams did I expect
what I got. First of all, I never expected so many
people would want to go on this day trip. Most of
the flights, being offered through January 6, are
booked solid making it almost impossible to get
the special fare. So after many days of finagling,
I finely booked a flight, setting the ball in motion
for one crazy day.
After safely landing in Minneapolis, it was
time to head to the city bus stop to embark on the
next leg of my journey. A short 10-minute ride
away stood the shoppers' paradise with over 400
stores. But the mall itself is not the only attraction;
in the heart of it all stands Knott's Camp Snoopy,
pretty well
but was probably not
the most efficient way to
go about covering this
place. In fact, it would
have been helpful to have
some kind of mall strate-
gist along as a consultant.
The Mall of America has an extremely diverse
selection of stores which appeal to all types of
people in every financial bracket. Department
stores Nordstrom, Macy's, Bloomingdale's and
Sears were the cornerstones of the mall with more
bargain-oriented department stores like Marshall's
and Filene's Basement mingled in.
Specialty stores abound with the traditional,
Gap, Express, Victoria's Seeret, Eddie Bauer, etc.
complementing the many hundreds of unique and
not-so-unique stores. The most amazing part about
many of the stores was their unusual architectural
designs. Stores were transformed into mountains,