4 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 14, 1994 Eie £irbi!1n Ntig 'Other nations' governments invest heavily in the post- secondary skills of the non-college bound. Britain, France and Spain spend more than twice as much as the United States ... Sweden, almost six times as much.' -Lester Thurow, professor of economics at MIT 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JESSIE HALLADAY Editor in Chief SAM GOODSTEIN FIuNT WAINESS Editorial Page Editors CA SHINC IN. C" n ,, 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. I 1::1#i & 'A1u:2 t ij~v I a Iii LlrrgLo E Muscling out MCC M SA voted on Tuesday to end its rela- tionship with the Michigan Collegiate Coalition (MCC), a student lobbying group that represents eight universities throughout the state. The bill, sponsored by unusual po- litical bedfellows who only three weeks ago refused to debate one another in the same room, is correct in condemning the inefficiency and mismanagement of MCC. But the final decision does not put in place a firm, viable alternative to MCC and ulti- mately will prove to be an irresponsible decision that could endanger the future of solid student lobbying. Over the years, MCC has successfully lobbied for many acts of legislation that provide direct benefits for University stu- dents. In the past year alone, MCC has successfully worked toward the passage of the Work Study Amendment, Campus Sexual Assault Bill of Rights and Governor Engler's higher education budget. The Work Study Amendment and the Sexual Assault Bill of Rights have passed the Michigan House of Representatives by substantial margins and the education budget, currently being debated in the House, gives the Uni- versity an increase in funding that hopefully will trickle down to students. No one denies that MCC has its problems and as of late has proven itself to be a poorly administered organization. Recently, MCC announced that it would remedy its $10,000 debt by disposing of its lobbyist, the most valuable benefit the organization provides. Just as significant, the University funds 1/3 cf the total MCC budget but in return re- ctives less than 1/4 of the total representa- tion on the MCC board. Simply put, per dollar spent, MSA is not getting its money's worth. Supposedly, the last straw occurred this weekend at the annual MCC General As- sembly in LAnsing. The lobbying group ac- cepted 16 MSU students into the meetings even though MSU had voted to withdraw firom MCC earlier this year. MCC thus gave a. non-paying university full representation. It seems that the University is simply being screwed by MCC, a group we are currently paying $25,000. Last night's vote to secede from MCC therefore made sense from a business stand- point. Unfortunately, MSA is not a busi- ness. The MSA plan would allow for the liring of a student lobbyist in the fall. Ac- cording to the resolution, this individual would work three to four days every week 14.06 recomo lobbying in Lansing and would be paid by a portion of the money not spent on MCC. Not only does MSA have no firm plans for this plan's implementation, but it remains merely a glint in the Assembly members' eyes. Furthermore, MSA has already paid MCC $22,000 of the $25,000 allotted for this fiscal year. By dropping out of the organiza- tion now, MSA would only be saving $3,000 and would be without any concrete lobby- ing efforts in the coming summer. The real catch in this whole plan resides in one of its sponsors. The $3,000 left over would pay for any lobbying efforts MSA conducts during the summer. The lobbyist would almost inevitably be Conan Smith, the current liaison between MSA and MCC and a co-sponsor of this bill. Thus, the bill's passage ensures Smith of a hefty paycheck this summer and a good title on his resume~ not surprisingly, Smith conspicuously argued Tuesday evening that this new liaison must have a lofty title such as "Legislative Direc- tor." Moreover, the passage of the resolution ensures that Smith will have a $2,500 debt that he was responsible for erased. It would be nice if students could rely on the good intentions of former and current MSA mem- bers. But as MSA Vice President Jacob Stern proved - by voting against an amendment that would forbid students from using the same lobbying office as the administration, thereby preventing administrative interfer- ence into student affairs - cost control is paramount while integrity, avoiding in loco parentis and protecting student interests are less important concerns. In AATUesque style, many MSA representatives once again have decided that an individual can do the same quality work as a well-established organization. Yes, Michigan State pulled out of MCC. But MSU is located in Lan- sing, next door to the Legislature; we're not, and we need a Lansing office that consists of more than one University student who can only spend several days a week there at most. If MCC collapses due to MSA's finan- cial consequences, the results could be dire. If bills such as the Sexual Assault Bill of Rights die as a result, the collective con- science of the new Assembly will have to take heed. It will not be easy to erase the stigma the new MSA has already placed on itself. lendations I AN " K - - ,k N MASON SPERNL DEPOTr r I - III - ' shouldn't waste efforts on smoking policy - To the Daily: I am writing simply due to a curiosity of mine that has arisen over the past few months while reading all of the articles regarding the proposed smoking policy. First, I am not writing this letter from the vantage point of a defender of "smokers' rights," but rather from the vantage of a skeptical and interested observer. Throughout these articles and various other letters-to- the-editor, I have observed a repeated pattern of individuals claiming that to put a fifty foot perimeter around each and every University building would be beneficial to asthma sufferers, non-smokers, etc. On what basis are these claims made? I have yet to see a study on secondhand smoke cited. Further, it seems to me that in order to justify such a policy - considering that many seem to feel it will have such significant implications - there is required a concrete basis of solvency. Consider this, move every smoker fifty feet away from the buildings and what you will see is a clump of smokers standing 50'1" exhaling the same toxins as they do five feet from the front door. Secondly, the enforcement for this policy is a fine - $50 I believe. With this in mind, consider the fact that the current fine in Ann Arbor for possession of marijuana is basically equivalent. Smoking a cigarette is now as deviant as smoking a joint. How appropriate. Finally, exactly who will be enforcing this mandate? Am I to believe that the University is going to post their (armed) guards on a round-the-clock schedule in front of buildings in order to deter a possible "smoker?!" That would seem just as logical as arming them in the first place. Exactly where did the idea for such a policy originate? Doesn't the University have better things to do with their legislative time than to propagate an unenforceable, ineffective policy or is my tuition being spent in the name of a frivolous buzzword? God forbid the next proposal is to ban coffee - that is bad too... TYLER RHEEM LSA junior Pollard shouldn't be freed supposedly promised its "full cooperation")? Free an unremorseful espionage agent who sold Israel documents detailing analytical studies with technical calculations, graphs, satellite photos, U.S. ship positions, naval tactics, code-making formulas, raw intelligence, and training operations - all for $50,000 in cash? Free a man who, according to prosecuting attorney Joseph diGenova and Defense Secretaries Casper Weinberger and Les Aspin, caused some of the most serious damage to U.S. national security in history, incurring costs of $3-4 billion to correct security systems and neutralize exposed information? Free an American traitor who still includes classified information in his letters from prison - all for the sake of "Israel's survival?" No, it is not Pollard who should be freed, for his life sentence punishment is fair and just, as even the New York Times has pointed out. Rather, it is the American people and the U.S. government that should be freed from these ridiculous pleas to pardon Mr. Pollard. SUZY SALIB LSA senior AATU doesn't deserve Stern's scorn To the Daily: Jacob Stern's letter to The Daily (04/11/94) is an insult to the scores of students involved with the AATU and the thousands of students helped by the AATU each year. It's a shame to see the newly-elected Vice President of the Michigan Student Assembly disrespect students in this way. A few months ago, during the coldest days in Michigan history, AATU student volunteers braved vicious wind chills walking across campus (and sometimes across town) to staff the AATU tenant counseling hotline. They sacrificed their own comfort in order to make sure that student tenants with cold-related emergencies (dangerously inadequate weatherization, frozen or burst pipes, no heat and no landlord in sight) got the answers they needed to keep themselves safe and warm. This is just one example of the altruism and professionalism shown by the students who comprise the AATU. They don't ask for accolades but they certainly do not deserve to be "rewarded" with Jacob Stem's scom. PATMRICE MAURER Rackham graduate student streets, in a space created just for women that separated this night from the other 364 nights of the year. For the first time in fifteen years, men were invited to participate in the evening's activities and in the final block of the women's march. While the women were marching through the streets of Ann Arbor, these men were discussing their role in dealing with issues of violence. However, after a spirited march of chanting and commemorative silence, something disturbing occurred as we approached City Hall. As the men began to join us, a small group of women protested their involvement in the march. They sat down in an attempt to block the men from marching alongside the women. We are writing to let the community know that this was not the opinion held by the majority. We feel that violence is everybody's problem, and that no one should be excluded from this march based on her/his gender. We feel that the all-women's march was empowering, but we also believe that the support of men is essential. Excluding them, as these women did, contributes to the belief that violence against women is solely a woman's concern. It is everybody's concern. KYM AHRENS TREY COTEY AND OTHER LSA first-year students Final Four coverage 'pathetic' To the Daily: At the risk of being labeled heretical, as Galileo was when he claimed the earth revolved around the sun, not vice versa, I would like to point out that the sporting world does not revolve around the University of Michigan. The Daily's coverage of the NCAA Final Four was pathetic. Actually, I guess a better description would be non-existent. I couldn't believe it when I opened Monday's sports section and found no articles about Saturday's men's semi-final game, Sunday's exciting women's final game, or the upcoming men's championship game featuring Duke and Arkansas - the two winningest men's programs over the last five seasons. Add to this the fact that Tuesday's edition had no mention of Monday's thrilling championship game, and it appears that the Daily assumes that if a UM team is ni any I- -- n swv - Making the grade Ever notice how you act at the beginning of a semester? At first you're excited. This is the semester where your 1.2 GPA will rise to a 3.7 because you are going to take all honors classes (25 or so credits worth) and make an "A" in each one. Eventually (i.e. three days later), those expectations begin to dwindle. This is the fault of professors. I've always felt that PhDs were sick, twisted, sadistic people. They know we hold high hopes at the beginning of each semester, and they immediately squelch our dreams of undoing what frat parties, 40 ounces and Sega Hockey had done to our GPAs the previous semester by presenting each of us with a syllabus from hell (I also have reason to suspect that Lucifer invented the coursepack and designed our current system of CRISPing, but I digress). Also, professors lecture. Surely there is no greater torture. What better way to make sure students don't learn anything than to lecture in such a way that students spend more time reminiscing about the most embarrassing date they'd ever been on or contemplating what to do about an ingrown toenail than trying to understand the reasons leading to the French revolution or learn why in the hell Da Vinci's drippy oil paintings are worth about 10 billion dollars each. So you skip lectures and read the books hoping that they will cover the material in a more interesting manner than Prof. Dullasfuck. Upon glancing at the covers, however, you learn that those required readings were authored by, horror of horrors, Prof. Dullasfuck. So you attend discussion section (of course you're almost late for the first meeting because you were too busy burning your required readings), hoping the TA will save you when all else has failed. Now ask yourself, what is your chance of getting a good, interesting TA? What is your chance of simply getting a TA who speaks English? After a day with Mr./Ms. Dullasfuck Jr., you realize that there is no hope to be gotten there either. So you turn to your fellow students hoping one of them has at least an inkling of a hint of a clue as to what's going on. To your dismay, you realize that only the true geeks - you know, the people you want to stay as far away from as possible and your parents want you to marry - know anything. The cool people are all just as clueless as you are. So you turn to religion. You pray to God, Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, Rush Limbaugh, the Spirit of the Cabbage - any and every entity you can. But then your professor (aka the god of the Grade) does things to your midterm that border on heresy. After being assigned the first negative grade in the history of the University on an assignment that counts for 80 percent of your final grade, you finally realize that you no longer care about getting straight A's; you just want to make sure your GPA doesn't slide down any further (as if it could); one trip to the academic actions office was more than enough. But, those sneaky professors pull out more arsenal assuring that no matter how hard you try, your GPA will go down. Finally, you reach the point where you don't care about your grade. You just want to make it through the term alive and with your sanity (or what's left of it) intact. This is the stage many of us are at now. However, you feel guilty about your newfound lack of concern. Deep down, you do want to do well in your classes. But those professors .. 0 W ith the realization finally hitting the University that equal status for the gay, lesbian and bisexual community on all fronts must start from equal treatment on the most fundamental issues, the long overdue University Task Force Report on Regents' Bylaw 14.06 released Monday set the bu- reaucratic wheels in motion. After the Board of Regents' decision in September to include sexual orientation in the bylaw, mandating that gay, lesbian and bisexual members of the University com- munity will not be discriminated against, the Task Force began its work to determine the resulting effects on four areas: employ- ment benefits, financial aid, family housing and student residency status. And in its recommendations, the committee says yes: give gay, lesbian and bisexual students and staff the benefits that their heterosexual peers presently are afforded without question. But now it's up to President Duderstadt. Recom- mendations in hand, Duderstadt must now decide exactly to what extent to institute the committee's findings - after he commis- sions another study. The time is at hand for President Duderstadt to quickly implement these changes. Under the standing system, any employee benefits cannot be extended to children of partners, even if the partners are registered under the City of Ann Arbor's partners due only to their sexual orientation, a situation definitely in opposition to the spirit of the new bylaw. The concerns aren't monetary: the task force found that the approximate cost for including partners would add up to $2,000 per person, and end up in the.overall range of $100,000-$250,000 -a small drop in the $260 million benefit pool. Also, due to the current situation, part- ners are forced to live separately in family housing. Residents of these complexes have voiced opposition to allowing co-habitation, failing to realize that many of the gay couples already are their neighbors. As with the policy that extends benefits to married students and staff, the committee has developed stringent guidelines to pre- vent fraudulent claims. Partners would regis- ter under the city's Domestic Partnership Act, much as a marriage certificate is re- quired, to attain housing and benefits. Also, a form to legally bind the employee to partner's expenses further ensures the legal aspects pertaining to the situation. With the institution of these basic needs and rights, equal treatment and acceptance in other areas would be likely to follow. President Duderstadt must act swiftly to implement the committee's recommenda- tions. If he does not, he will be making a mockery not only of self-governance, but of *1 I