4 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 24, 1994

(I1j Lidtigatn ituijg

11 am going to sue her for a lot of money.'
-MSA representative Jacob Stern, speaking about the head of the
Ann Arbor Tenants Union at Tuesday's MSA meeting

420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan

JEssWE H ALL ADAY
Editor in Chief
SAM GooDsTEIN
FuNT WAINESS
Editorial Page Editors

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board.
All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily,
Release the records
The University violates code by hiding records

MRg. SMrmH.. -T J1ECOMMEND Yo S7"oP VWATCI1JN6CTHE
WOLVRINES IN THE NCA A OuRNAMENT-.*. XTS
*4
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The University has violated the Statement
of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
The administrators of the code of non-aca-
demic conduct have recently taken case
summaries off of public display, effectively
shrouding the stories of the more than 50
students who have been charged under the
code in a cloud of mystery.
Section 8, the records section of the code,
explicitly states what is expected of the
code's administrators: "Records will be
maintained in such a way that data on viola-
tions of this policy are easily available to the
public." The administrators who drafted the
code are breaking the promises made to
code activists, and to the community in
general, that the process would be open to
scrutiny. Now, the code can neither be praised
nor criticized because the information sun-
ply is not there.
Removing the records from the public
eye seems to be in direct response to a series
of Daily articles that revealed the names of
students brought up under the code. The
administration sites as their primary con-
cern the confidentiality of the identity of
students as protected by the federal Buckley
Amendment. This amendment clearly states
that academic records are confidential, but
the amendment is open to interpretation in
regard to non-academic records - such as
records of code proceedings.
The administration reacted in fear of law-
suits from students and their parents who
feel that their confidentiality has been

breached by the University's release of
records. But the University has never re-
vealed a single name to the Daily or any
other campus publication. The University
has released case summaries devoid ofnames
or other personally identifiable informa-
tion. The University is not in violation of
any but the most conservative interpreta-
tions of the Buckley Amendment - inter-
pretations that the University itself knows
would never hold up in a court of law.
The University of Georgia was sued for
records in the case of a non-academic disci-
plinary proceeding of a student charged
with harassing gay students on campus.
This case clearly states that the federal stat-
ute can be applied only to academic records.
If the University has taken on the responsi-
bility of the courts in instituting a disciplin-
ary policy, it must also take on the respon-
sibility of opening the system to public.
scrutiny to ensure fairness.
The University promised something it
could not deliver, and as a result denied the
University community valuable informa-
tion.
To the students brought up under the
code, it promised confidentiality. To the
community at large, it promised records
that reveal, though vaguely, the human side
of the code. If the University truly believes
that its code is an effective tool of discipline,
it should ally itself with those who believe
that open records are the only way to ensure
a fair, just and accountable system.



Jobs without money

The G7 jobs conference concluded last
week in Detroit, and leaders from the
United States, France, Japan, Germany,
Canada, Great Britain and Italy have re-
turned home with ideas on how to deal with
rapidly rising unemployment rates and con-
ditions in the workplace in their respective
countries.
Among the highlights of the conference
were various plans to raise the growth rate of
jobs available as well as maximizing the
productivity of people on welfare by plug-
ging them into a system where their poten-
tial is realized. The Clinton administration
gave a thumbnail sketch of its plans to "end
welfare as we know it," and it is scheduled
to release its final workfare plans today.
These plans include training centers, likely
modeled after the highly successful
Focus:HOPE, expanded day care facilities
and possibly cutting off payments to parents
who don't find a job after their training
programs expire. This was a two-day net-
working extravaganza born of the best in-
tentions, but the question must now be asked:
how much did the G7 really accomplish?
Amidst the now almost constant discus-
sion of these programs we should not forget
that retraining cannot be the sole remedy for
social ills such as unemployment and pov-
erty. Looming in the larger picture is the fact
that people must be able to maintain some
generally accepted, minimal standard of liv-
ing. This is especially true now, when the
administration's welfare reform proposals
(specifically, its two-year time limits) could
leave families ostracized from the system,
without any means for survival. Any re-
sponsible program must keep in mind that
merely having a job, regardless of whether it
was achieved through retraining, means very
little if a person cannot provide basic essen-
tials as a result of their labor.
Unfortunately, we already see this hap-
pening on several fronts. Last August, La-
bor Secretary Robert Reich made a sugges-
tion to raise the minimum wage to $4.75 per
hour. Several weeks later, in October, he
recanted and put the proposal on hold until
after the health care debate was over. Al-

cally, as employers would not be receptive
to such an increase when they also would be
arguing over the insurance costs they would
pay under Clinton's health plan, it begins to
questionably rank priorities. Clinton was
willing to take a chance with his political
capital when it came to NAFTA, but he was
not willing to take a chance for the purchas-
ing power of the American worker.
Another area where many voice concern
lies in job security. Legislation such as the
Family Leave Act allows workers to build
and strengthen their families without un-
necessary worry over the fate of their job.
Additional measures, such as the expansion
of day care facilities - a program whose
future existence is now being jeopardized
by budget hawks in the administration -
should be put into place, where required, so
that individuals cannot lose their employ-
ment needlessly.
A final area of crucial importance con-
cerning employee benefits is health insur-
ance. With the current costs of the health
care system, this asset is literally invaluable
to most people. Those without sufficient
coverage, though, must either forgo the
desired treatment or else pay dearly for it.
Neither option is desired or welcomed for
families or persons who are so financially
disadvantaged that paying for such services
severely hampers their ability to simply
survive.
With the end of the G7, it is important to
understand the different pieces fitting into
the overall unemployment puzzle. The un-
derlying theme is not how technical the
work is, whether the pay is the best possible,
or even how admirable the benefits. Rather,
the desired, and indeed the only acceptable
result, comes from a combination of each of
these factors that will allow individuals to
eventually succeed on their own, without
government intervention and at a level at
least above the poverty line.
Destroying welfare as we know it is not
only about raising the employment rate, it is
about ending a person's dependence on the
dole, and ensuring that next time the G7
meets in a U.S. city, there won't be Third

Cathy makes
commencement a joke
To the Daily:
Cathy Guisewite!? What
better person to usher the
class of '94 into the real
world than a flighty
cartoonist! Does this mean
we all have to go on diets,
hate our jobs, have a mid-life
crisis, and date a guy named
Irving? I thought Cathy's job
was to make her comic-strip
a joke, not our
commencement.
TODD BEEBY
LSA senior
Aerosmith is the
greatest
To the Daily:
I really have a problem
with the caption under the
picture of Aerosmith on page
8 of the "Thursday March 3
Weekend Section.
How dare you say that
about the greatest rock 'n'
roll band? Shame on you!
Some people don't appreciate
good music!
UZ TOMPKINS
Ann Arbor resident
John Candy cartoon
highly offensive
To the Daily: .
When I first saw the
editorial cartoon on March 7,
I thought it must be a joke.
Why on earth would a
college newspaper show
such an offensive portrait
making light of someone's
death? A huge hook lifting
John Candy up to Heaven?
Did you have some grudge
against Mr. Candy that we
don't know about?
In any event, your choice
of making fun of someone
who died before his time is,
sadly, a perfect reflection on
your tasteless opinions when
it comes to your editorial
cartoons.
It'salways fun to see
what dumb issue you'll
choose to tackle instead of
Bosnia, Haiti, or Health
Care. Nope, there's dead
people to pick on.
Here's one student who
hopes you have a little more
class when choosing your
next cartoon.
RYAN GARCIA
LSA Sophomore
Movie reviews sck
To the Daily:
I am writing to
congratulate the Daily arts
reviewers for setting a new
record in the area of film

Don't suppress
masturbation talk
To the Daily:
Jeremy Katz's "Coming
of Age" (3/10/94) was both
amusing and enlightening. I
believe his piece (no pun
intended) reflects a stigma in
society in which people in
society are unable to discuss
their true feelings. It is the
repression of personal habits
that cause undue stress on
people's character. Knowing
that people behave as I do
reassures me that my private
behavior is normal.
Emmanuel King's response
is clearly immature and
supports suppression of
freedom of expression. In
Mr. King's opinion, someone
could be censored simply
because they have different
thoughts than he.
Although Mr. King has
better things to do on a
Friday night, on occasion,
some people have not had
better things to do on a
Friday night. I hope that
people can open up to the
subject of masturbation and
no longer have to repress
their thoughts and behaviors.
CHIP STAFFORD
LSA sophomore
Marriage laws in
Pennsylvania stricter
than abortion laws
To the Daily:
In your editorial
"Abortion legislation" of
March 23, you condemn the
Pennsylvania law which just
took effect which places
"paternalistic" and "unfairly
burdensome" requirements
on women seeking abortions.
I am currently preparing to
be married in Pennsylvania
and thought that a
comparison with
Pennsylvania's marriage

the readers (those who are
left) of the Weekend section.
I am not claiming that this is
a golden age of great cinema.
However, it is also not so
poor it warrants utter
mockery from the staff
(Siskel and Ebert would be
fired if they reviewed like
this). I'm sure if I used your
method of criticism for this
letter it would sound
something like this:
The Daily arts section -
great, another newspaper full
of critics who think they
know all before entering the
real world and won't laud a
film unless it's Citizen Kane.
Don't waste your time on
this loser, rent an old
Washington Post instead.
NIELS ROSENQUIST
LSA junior

minute "lecture" given to
women seeking an abortion
as at best redundant. In order
to obtain a marriage license, I
have to submit a blood test
verifying that I am free of
syphilis, even though few
cases of syphilis are detected
by this type of test. It is for
the most part a waste of time
and money, since I should
already know whether or not
I am at risk for venereal
disease, and further since
there are far more dangerous
diseases than syphilis (such
as HIV) which the state
should be concerned about.
You condemn the 24-hour
waiting period as
"paternalistic and offensive",
asserting that women do not
decide to have an abortion at
the spur-of-the-moment.
After I apply for our
marriage license, I have to
wait three days until we can
use the license. Surely this
time delay is three times as
offensive, for we have been
preparing for the past year to
be married and are not acting
on the spur-of-the-moment,
either.
You condemn the parental
consent provision as
insulting to "teenage girls"
(why not "teenage women?")
because of the oppressive
nature of some parent-child
relationships.
Yet I am sure that were
my fiancee and I not of legal
age, we would need parental
consent to become married.
Is that not oppressive as
well?
My conclusion:
Pennsylvania treats abortion
at least as seriously as it
treats marriage.
Shouldn't we?
JIM HUGGINS
Rackham graduate student
Reader proud to be a
Democrat, criticizes
GOP
To the Daily:
Attention College
Republicans:
To the members
responsible for designing the
flyers against Proposal "A"
- specifically those
beginning "It's the Economy,
Stupid" - I have this to say:
Nice job Republicans.
Your political tactics of
taunting the voters reveal not
only the sleazy political
attitudes you yourselves
possess, but the inherently
flawed nature of Proposal
"A.
Armed with your credo of
"God, Country, Family,"
your name-calling strategies
put you on the right track to
becoming true political
hypocrites.
On this campus, I will -
with pride and intelligence
- call myself a Democrat.

Notes from
Belarus
Steven Spielberg won his first
Oscar late Monday night for
"Schindler's List." This was an awe-
inspiring, morose, restrained film.
A film that both Jew and non-Jew
alike must see. It is less a movie in
the conventional sense. This is no
Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third
Kind, ET or Jurassic Park.
"Schindler's" is a realistic, painfully
accurate, poignant, saddening work
of non-fiction. It is a journey of self-
professed self-discovery and
spiritual renewal for Spielberg - a
highly assimilated, successful
American Jew who has hit it big in
Hollywood. For Jews, his journey
must be our journey as well.
For Spielberg, filming scenes in
the grayness of Krakow, Poland,
surrounded by his actors dressed in
the morbid garb of the SS, filming
"Schindler's" was not about
commercial success, profits, high-
tech computer enhanced graphics or
winning any awards of acclaim.
Probably he knew that this work of
fact, this undeniable work of truth
and horror, will help to awaken (of
reawaken in the case of the apathetic
and forgetful) the multitudes that
have filled the dark realities of the
Holocaust to the moral relativism of
human tragedy. More than anything,
making "Schindler's" was an
emotive, spiritual, enlightening path
of personal development for
Spielberg, and I posit (and I hope),
for most American Jews that saw
this film a cultural, historical,
religious and spiritual wake-up call
- an evocation of spirit. It was a
dramatic wake-up call for me, a
person who has for far too long
denied my roots, rejected my faith
and casually ignored the hardships
of my people, and my family, who
have suffered as Jews.
I have been thinking a great deal
on this subject of late. Among other
things, I have become very perplexed
and troubled by what I feel is the
unnecessary over-assimilation and
Americanization (don't forget that
brewing cauldron of the melting pot)
of Jews in the United States,
including myself. I am only two
generations from Belarus (formerly
known as White Russia). My
grandfather, Leonard Lewinson,
lived with his family there until the
outbreak of the Russian Revolution
in 1919 and the Civil War that
ensued. My family, the Lewinsons
and the Sorschers, fled their tiny
village near Minsk for the port city
of Gdansk, situated along the Polish
Corridor, the corridor that Hitler
later so hated. One by one they left
Eastern Europe for the United States
- the land of opportunity, of work,
of freedom, and of a somewhat
peaceful existence as a Jew.
Throughout the 1920s, the family
that could make the long journey to
Gdansk, boarded human cargo ships
and settled in Flint, Michigan, to
work the auto factories. The rest of
the Lewinsons and Sorschers who
could not make the trip, who were
either too old, too stubborn or too
much in love with their home and
village, later become the flesh that

Hitler's Nazi machine chewed up in
the invasion of Russia.
These are painful memories for
me - memories that I feel many,
many American Jews tend to will
into the preconscious, as a
mechanism to displace identity and
the past. Societal forces do little to
moderate this dynamic. We cannot
let this continue, for as precarious
people, we are being sideswiped by
Americana.
As part of this journey, my family
is travelling to Washington D.C. in
a couple of weeks to visit the
Holocaust Museum. We, as Jews in
1994 can be lulled to sleep by the
amenities, the comforts, the desires
for material success, for professional
reputation, for academic excellence
and forget who we really are. We
are allowing the culture of America;
the dissolution of foreign ethnic,
religious and cultural ties in favor of
the adoption of the melting pot myth
and the perniciousness of a capitalist
ethic that de-emphasizes what it
means to be human.
What I want people to understand
is that differences in humans, such
as ethnicity or religious belief;
should never be the primary way wd
think about. categorize or relate tq

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