4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 5, 1994
K4ic u ig tn ailia
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
Josti DUBOW
Editor in Chief
ANDREW LEVY
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
i~ I L.
New Year's Resolutions
U 'U' should resolve to make these changes in 1994
Good morning and welcome back.
Here we are, at the beginning of 1994. Turn
back the clock a year, and 1993 was brimming with
potential and possibilities. But despite the-possi-
bilities, 1993 didn't go very well for a student at the
University. Perhaps this year will be a little better.
Toward that end, we would like to present some
New Year's Resolutions - not for us, but for the
University. With any luck, the University will take
our advice and let this new year fulfill its promise.
Drop the code.
This week marks the first year since the
University's Statement of Student Rights and Re-
sponsibilities (SSRR) went into effect, supposedly
on a trial basis. The idea, as the University admin-
istration would have us believe, was to test the code
out for a year and then see if it was worth keeping.
The verdict is in - it's not.
Though the administration, particularly Vice
President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford,
has consistently justified the code on the basis that
it is helpful to students, the past year has proven
what we thought all along - it is merely a tool for
the administration to maintain control over stu-
dents' lives.
Proof of the student involvement farce exists in
a key provision of the code. When first imple-
mented a year ago, a big fuss was made over the fact
that students' guilt or innocence would be deter-
mined by a randomly selected panel of other stu-
dents. And though this provision exists on paper,
the vast majority of cases have been heard by an
administrator, not students. This means that the
University administration is deciding the fate of
accused students.
Moreover, the Kangaroo Court commissioned
by the SSRR are still closed to the public, and
SSRR records released have been so incomplete
that students still have no idea what exactly goes on
behind the iron doors of the SSRR.
This farcical document is putting a chill on the
freedom that students are entitled to, and should be
free to exercise. Make 1994 better than 1993. Drop
the code.
* Focus on undergraduate education.
More and more - and this began long before
1993 - the University's role as an educational
institution is playing second fiddle to the much
more financially lucrative role as a research insti-
tution. Year after year, tuition skyrockets - but
the money doesn't show up in the classroom.
Research and education do go hand in hand, but
that doesn't mean that undergraduate students
should be neglected.
While it is true that the UGLi is being refur-
bished, students don't need more buildings. What
students need is improved instruction, more and
better professors, and smaller classes. Make 1994
better than 1993. Concentrate on undergraduate
education.
* Find a better general counsel.
On the advice of University General Counsel'
Elsa Cole, the administration has spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars fighting cases that the
University had no chance of winning. Among
these cases are the annual Hash Bash debacle, the
presidential search case, and the University's dead-
end attempt at instituting a speech code. Pressing
these cases is wasteful, and should be stopped.
The University has two options to make 1994
better than 1993. Either replace Cole, or get her a
copy of "Judge Wapner's E-Z Guide to Constitu-
tional Law for Beginners."
m..
This list is far from being inclusive, but it sets
out some goals we think the University should
adopt for the new year. These goals are realistic in
that they could be accomplished if the University's
administrators were willing to tackle them.
For the sake of every student at this University,
let's hope they are.
Glory
Congratulations to the 1993 Michigan football squad
Don't be deceived by
defense in Foeller
case
To the Daily:
I am horrified that the jury in the
Mark Foeller trial chose to accept as
truth the false allegations of
Foeller's attorney, his Stepford-like
witnesses, and the child-bashing
"experts." They chose to believe, as
is the current fad, that the
permanently scarred children, who
independently revealed evidence of
appalling sexual abuse, were
victims, instead, of parental and
police prodding and programming. I
am the grandmother of a just-
turned-six-year-old boy, who has
been in a mental hospital for several
weeks, as recently as this month, as
a result of his ordeal in the woods
with Foeller, but was considered too
unreliable and inconsistent, as were
several other children, to be a
credible witness.
Did you know that four of the
other boys, ages five to 15, also
spent weeks in area psychiatric
hospitals after their confrontations
with Foeller? The effects on their
lives in anger acting-out, self-
abuse, and hatred, because the
adults whom they trusted either
injured them or did not protect them
from the deranged deacon, may
well be irreparable. Two of the
teenage boys have been placed in
foster homes because their parents
remain loyal to North Sharon
Baptist Church and refuse to hear
their children's allegations.' !
My grandson, who came hme
scratched up, did not mean to tell us
what had happened, because he had
been threatened with death, but saw
the church's picture in the paper
and accidentally said, at age five,
"That's where the man who lies
lives." He had been invited to
accompany "Mark" deep into the
woods because there were "deer in
the woods." My grandson described
a "fake deer, not a real deer," where
his traumatizing abuse took place,
that he had no way of knowing
about. He described, among other
horrors, in his pre-trial hearing, that
when Foeller pulled his "wiener"
out of his mouth, because "Mark
had to pee in the bushes," "Mark's
pee was white, but mine is yellow."
We immediately contacted the
authorities. But my little grandchild
was ridiculed by defense attorney
Thiede. Thiede is the same man
who would later portray Officer
Maxwell as a merciless interrogator
of children.
A new business has arisen that is
bringing wicked psychiatrists and
pseudo-psychiatrists big bucks for
testifying that mothers and others
are brainwashing children to believe
that grotesque kinds of sexual abuse
have been perpetrated upon them.
Don't listen to these deceivers.
Trust a child to tell the truth. I
recently heard that only one-half
percent of all child sexual abuse
cases that go to trial result in
convictions - largely because of
these charlatans.
A grievous travesty of justice
has occurred here, and I will work
till my dying day to hold this "man"
accountable for his conduct.
MAXINE TEACHOUT
Stockbridge, Michigan
Spend countless hours in the summer heat run-
ning wind sprints. Add to that even more time
in the weight room. Throw in pounding hits in the
winter cold. And top it off with having to work on
weekends.
This is just a fraction of what the Michigan
Wolverines' football squad goes through every
year in an effort to preserve the glory of our
University's illustrious football tradition. A hun-
dred students sweat, bleed and hurt for that one
reason.
For this season - despite considerable adver-
sity - the glory is intact.
For the 8-4 Wolverines (once the 4-4 Wolver-
ines), a 42-7 Hall of Fame Bowl thrashing of North
Carolina State put the icing on a season where
many doubters called them a team high on talent,
but low on heart.
We all saw the games. There was the early-
season loss to an underrated Notre Dame squad,
followed by a hard-to-swallow loss to Michigan
State, a heartbreaker to Illinois, and then Wiscon-
sin. People came out of the woodworks to hammer
the Wolverines for being complacent, unable to
win the big game. Michigan was unranked in the
writers' and the coaches' polls for the first time in
recent memory.
Then, sometime after the postgame riot in Madi-
son, something happened. A call to arms, if you
will. A recognition that the Michigan football team
was not an also-ran, and could not, must not be
thought of as such.
Thus began a three-week run to reclaim the
glory. The road ran over Purdue, through Minne-
sota, and - most enjoyably for the players and
fans alike -- culminated in a 28-0 humiliation of
Big Ten archrival Ohio State.
On Nov. 20, 1993 the doubters were silenced.
For on that day, it became clear that this group had
the heart to go along with its talent - a winning
combination that can be summed up in two words:
Michigan Football.
The 1993 version of the Wolverines deserves
congratulations for overcoming injury and drudg-
ery to restore its luster. Deserving of special notice
are senior co-captains Buster Stanley and Ricky
Powers for helping the team remember what Michi-
gan Football is. Oh, and let's not forget that other
guy who may be departing -Tyrone Wheatley -
for his innumerable contributions.
We, the fans, appreciate you more than you
know.
in the United States. He then goes
on to complain that AIDS receives
more money than any other disease.
Fortunately, we don't live in a
nation that prioritizes its medical
research funding solely on the basis
of which disease is the most
prevalent or the leading killer. If
prevalence were the determinant,
the common cold would receive
virtually all available funding.
Funding decisions based only on
current fatalities would also be
irrational. Though afflictions such
as cancer and heart disease certainly
kill more people annually in this
country, they are not
communicable. Relative to AIDS,
theses diseases do not have much
potential for an exponential increase
in new cases.
Second, Brevitz asks what I
consider to be a significant portion
of the world's population. Frankly,
I hold to no set percentage of the
human populace below which
suffering and mass death is
acceptable. Regardless of our
personal comfort levels with
genocide, nearly everyone will
agree that an infection rate of over
thirty percent, such as is estimated
in Africa, is at least significant.
Third, Brevitz is unwilling to
treat those who he perceives as
having made moral mistakes.
Imagine what type of world we'd
have if doctor's refuses or were
order not to treat patients they
consider as immoral. The next time
a teenage driver drinks to much and
slams into a tree, he should be
denied trauma care because of his
moral indiscretion. Regardless of
what we consider to be immoral, it
has never been part of the Christian
ethic to deny compassion to those
who have "sinned." Compassion,
caring, and aid to those who have
made mistakes in no way condones
or excuses their error.
MARK CHASTEEN
LSA senior
A commendation for
the Daily (sic)
To the Daily:
I am writing this letter in
response to the letter, "Police
should leave donut shops, stop
blaming victims," (12/9/93). I
believe that your editor should be
commended for his/her fine work. I
did find won mistake though, the
author of the letter said that "Ann
Arbor's fines (should help)." I
believe that he meant to say Ann
Arbor's "finesse." Thanks and keep
up the good work.
ROBERT FRY
Engineering junior
I'm spending my
money elsewhere
To the Daily:
As an alumna of the University,
I was deeply disturbed to read about
your recent decision to publish an
article and provide a venue to a
group whose purpose is to deny the
existence of the Holocaust. I regret
that I did not write you sooner;
living in Maryland, I only just
recently learned of the Daily's
actions.
There is no conceivable
UI
yet no one would seriously argue
the benefits of publishing such
information for the sake of bringing
it into the open.
In line with the Daily's newly
found interest, perhaps the next
topic of discussion should be why
the Trail of Tears didn't happen, or
arguments denying the existence of
the slave trade.
I totally support the Committee
for Open Debate on the Holocaust's
right to say what they want.
However, I refuse to support an
institution that would believe that
publicizing their views is the right
thing to do. Therefore, I will no
longer support the University's
fund-raising efforts. Since I am still
interested in donating money to
support the pursuit of truth and
scholarship, the money that I
planned to donate to the University
of Michigan will now go to the
Holocaust Museum in Washington,
D.C.
CHERYL HARRIS,
LSA '75
Add bus stop!
for Island Drive
To the Daily:
I am writing to you concerning
the scheduled bus stops for the
University's Commuter bus. At
present, the bus from North Campus
turns down Maiden Lane and then
takes a right on to Fuller Road,
behind the hospital. I propose
adding a bus stop on Maiden Lane
because of the number of students
who could benefit from this, and for
safety reasons.
There are 348 units at Island
Drive Apartments with two-person
occupancy of each unit. The
manager of the apartments
estimates that 80 percent of the
renters are students, or 556 people.
In theaMedical Court Apartments, 4
there are 200 units with two-person.
occupancy. The estimated
percentage of student renters is 65
percent, or 260 people. The River
House Apartments include 124
units with two-person occupancy
and 50 percent of the renters are
estimated to be students (124
people). Thus, the total number of
students who could benefit from
this added bus stop is 940. Just
considering how many students
would benefit from this bus stop is
reason enough to add it to the
scheduled stops.
Since the bus already travels on
Maiden Lane, it would not have to
go out of its way to pick up the
students. All the bus has to do is
stop. The students who live in
apartments on Island Drive deserve, 1
like the rest of the University's
students, to be able to use the
Commuter bus.
Another very important factor to
consider is student safety. Since
September, the Daily has reported
on two rapes on campus. The most
recent rape occurred behind South
Quad, a fairly heavily trafficked and
well lit area. I worry about my
safety and the safety of other
students who live in Island Drive
apartments. Quite a few students
who live there walk home alone at
night. The walk home is not busy
with lots of other students like
Central Campus, which means that
p
College Roundupe
MS prsdn hud e u oe
In a step that can only be viewed as
positive, (MSU) President McPherson
invited students to a public forum in
Case Hall.
Although it is not revolutionary
for an MSU president to reach out to
students in this manner, it was a good
beginning for McPherson to acquaint
himself with the student body.
The president's openness toward
Unfortunately, McPherson's ap-
pearance in Case Hall was met with a
mediocre crowd of only 50 of the
40,000 MSU students. It is highly
unlikely that even one student at MSU
is satisfied completely with the ad-
ministration, the tuition or the presi-
dent. But when McPherson offered
students the opportunity to air con-
cerns, tens of thousands apathetically
because of the Board's deception, he
must work to dispel his controversial
entrance before he can move onward.
The president's mutual interaction
with students must continue on a regu-
lar basis and be backed with
McPherson's utmost sincerity. Meet-
ing with students is a first step - yet
without real commitment behind
Mc4Pherson's version of fireside chats,