4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 9, 1994
(Ittw cbigun&rg
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan
Jessie Halladay
Editor in Chief
Samuel Goodstein
Flint 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.
'Birth Control Matters presents a really balanced
overview of what's out there. I think a lot of
people's knowledge hasn't progressed beyond
birth control and condom usage.'
- Maureen Mc Cormick, Marsha Brady on the TV series "The Brady Bunch"
P
-- -
--
0
tC~~4rJV~'A(.
How to get
smarter in 12
easy months
Nowhere to turn
0
Neither the Code nor restraining orders work
After being found responsible under the
Statement of Student Rights and Respon-
sibilities (otherwise known as the Code) for
harassment and physical assault and battery
against ex-girlfriend Darcy Niven, Aaron
Fekete is being accused of not complying with
the "no contact provision" of the sanctions
imposed upon him as a result of last year's
hearing. Whether his recent actions can be
considered violations of the sanction is unclear
- but Fekete is not satisfied with the process,
claiming he is "getting screwed" as he ex-
pected the process to remain confidential. And
Niven feels unsafe on campus under the nebu-
lous definition of"no contact." This case pokes
yet another hole in the flimsy document called
the Code, demonstrating its failure in dealing
-with student affairs, specifically in cases of
-harassment.
The Code's definition of harassment is
quite generic, making little distinction between
physical and verbal harassment. The lack of
strict guidelines for determining if there is
"enough evidence" for a hearing leaves the
matter frighteningly open-ended for the ac-
cused party. Moreover, any sanctions imposed
upon the person found responsible are en-
.forced through the judicial advisor's office,
with the student "checking in" to ensure that
the sanctions are being followed. It seems
fairly impossible to ensure a "no contact"
sanction via regular procedure. Notcomplying
with sanctions is considered a further violation
of the Code - therefore a new hearing needs
to take place. It would seem that the burden of
reinitiating the process falls on the complain-
ant, as in Niven's case. Ultimately a student
can be expelled for violating the Code - but
.the number of repeat violations until expulsion
is not stated, a situation which is potentially
harmful for both the complainant and the ac-
cused. And the Code is only viable when the
accused is a student.
Unfortunately the Code is one of the better
recourses currently available in cases of ha-
rassment involving another student. Student
Legal Services can advise students only if the
accused is not also a student at the University.
Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness
Center (SAPAC) will advise students of their
two choices: go under the Code or go straight
to the Ann Arbor Police Department to obtain
a stalking injunction order - essentially a
restraining order - as stalking is illegal as of
Jan. 1, 1993.
However, this procedure has its own short-
comings. While it is relatively easy to fill out
the request form, it includes a $72 filing fee to
insure against frivolous actions. After filing
the complaint has to go to court and this
process takes up to two weeks. The stalking
injunction order requires that the complainant
prove two unconsented contacts - but the
term "unconsented" is not specific, leading to
a gray area. Proof includes witnesses, re-
corded answering machine messages or even
unwanted flowers delivered to the complain-
ant. Nevertheless, it is difficult to prove that it
was made clear to the accused that the con-
tacts were not wanted. SAPAC suggests a
paper trail - calling the police for every
single incident - as well as a personal docu-
mentation of each contact to further substan-
tiate the claim.
In Niven's case, it is very conceivable that
she would have been able to obtain a restrain-
ing order. Still, the process for obtaining re-
straining orders needs to be streamlined. Evi-
dently no student-friendly alternatives cur-
rently exist for protection against harassment;
no process is clear in the matter of protecting
the rights of both the accused and the com-
plainant simultaneously. Student resources
are limited in their capabilities to help people
in this situation. Whether the Code is im-
proved upon, or restraining orders become
more easily obtainable, clearly aprocess needs
to be designed which meets the needs of the
students so that they may live in a free and safe
academic environment.
Students deserve dignity in the bathrooms
To the Daily:
"Those engaged in illegal
activities will be prosecuted."
Oh thanks, you see I thought
that people got prosecuted for
legal activities but now the
meaning of the law is much
clearer. Since even straight
people would like to go the
bathroom with privacy, I must
admit that I find the new bath-
rooms all around campus to be
ludicrous. So let me see if I get
this straight - in order to pre-
vent "lude people" from en-
gaging in "lude bathroom sex",
the doors will be lowered so
much that the only person who
can't see in while one goes
potty is Tattoo from Fantasy
Island.Thank God forthe DPS.
Here's a suggestion for the next
Allow Aaron
in Angell Hall
To the Daily:
We have known Aaron for
4 years, since we lived on the
same floor in Mary Markley
Hall. We're not going to speak
about the events leading up to
the agreement reached between
Aaron and Darcy. Regardless
of what happened, both agreed
to settle the dispute by the pro-
cedures outlined in the student
code. Aaron accepted respon-
sibility and chose to let the
system decide. He didn't want
to bring further distress or
worsen the situation and he
was assured that the proceed-
ings would be kept incomplete
confidence by the parties in-
volved.
Since this time, Aaron has
fully abided by the decision
reached. By his own decision,
he participated in counseling.
In addition, he has avoided
Darcy. On only one such occa-
sion has their paths crossed
since the agreement was
reached, as stated in your ar-
ticle yesterday. Aaron was
working on a paper in the An-
gell Hall computing site, and
Darcy arrived. To suggest that
Aaron should be forced to leave
Angell Hall merely because
Darcy wanted to do some work
is ludicrous. The purpose of
the order was to keep Darcy
and Aaron at a distance so that
further hostilities would not oc-
cur, not to impose unreason-
able and unfair restrictions on
Aaron.
At this point, it's difficult
to tell who is harassing who.
Daniel Cohen
Mark Zadvinskis
Jim Edenfield
LSA and Engineering
seniors
improvement - put video
camera's in each and every stall
and have loud speakers from
which the Orwellian security
guards can remind you to flush.
Everyday we lose civil lib-
erties because a mechanism of
the state tells us it's in our best
interests. If I want to go to the
bathroommilitary style, I'll call
up the ROTC but until then I
think most people would ap-
preciate just a tad bit more dig-
nity. Maybe they should just
equip each stall with tazers
behind glass labelled "Break if
approached for bathroom sex".
Come on, have our
homophobic fears become so
inflated that we really think
that they are prowling around
campus bathrooms at night
looking forinnocent undergrads
to molest? And in our intense
fears of these crazed bathroom
sex maniacs, how far will we
go? Will DPS hire additional
men to stand in each stall?
Maybe they should only allow
one person in at a time?
Anyway, I'm an LSA se-
nior and next year I'll be using
the bathroom in the unemploy-
ment office so I shouldn't re-
ally care, right ? Yeah, but I
hate to think about all my friends
who aren't seniors or the people
who will come to this school in
years to come. Is this the type of
paranoia that we will allow them
to inherit?
Adam Rodriguez
LSA senior
All signs indicate that there will
be no more new months this year;
after December, we're going to
plunge straight into January. That
makes this a good time for reminisc-
ing about the past year. Herewith (I
think that's a word) is my list of...
WHAT I LEARNED THIS
YEAR:
(in numerical order)
1. Don't urinate in your discus-
sion section. Lecture, OK, but not
discussion.
2. If you see a 300-pound guy
walking down the street muttering
curse words to himself, don't yell,
"Watch your language, fatso!"
3. Spelcheck.
4. Contrary to popular opinion,
drinking a fifth of Jack Daniel's is
not likely to improve your score on
your Poli Sci final.
5. Don't leave a football stadium
when the score is 26-21 with six
seconds left.
6. When asked, "What do you
think of the President's perfor-
mance?" don't assume that the ques-
tion is necessarily about your sex
life.
7. If someone calls you "a com-
plete idiot, a complete jerk and a
complete fool," be proud that you
are such a well-rounded person.
8. If you think a sign says "RUSH
THE TAXI," it probably really says
"RUSH THETA XI."
9. Buy adog and name it "Peeve."
Then when people ask, "What's your
pet peeve?" you can respond, "a
dog."
10. Don't go up to people and
ask, "Do you like my humor col-
umn?" They may answer, "It's a
humor column?"
01
:7
.
:
Daily needs to Article
67
E-mail hackers
In yet another case of e-mail piracy, a Uni
versity of Texas password was 'cracked'
over the weekend. The hacker subsequently
used the account to distribute a KKK-like,
white supremacist propaganda message. This
message was received by thousands of Univer-
sity of Michigan Engineering students, all
listed on the CAEN user file, which is open to
the public through the Internet. Unfortunately,
the same open nature of the Internet that makes
it such a popular and widely used tool, also
allows for files like this to be viewed by
hackers.
Originally, the Unix/IFS system, under
which CAEN and ITD operate, was intended
to be a file sharing arrangement for small
organizations. However, as it was adapted for
use by larger institutions, the openness of the
system became a problem, as security mea-
sures based on the smaller entities became
vulnerable to expanded use. As it grows and
ages, it is being used more often in illegal
ways, such as the attempts to break into e-mail
accounts. More safeguards need to be imple-
mented to avoid a repeat of the Texas fiasco,
and a similar incident that occurred through a
cracked University account last April. The
lTD system, through which the racist message
was sent out from the University last year, has
since changed its password requirements, de-
manding a mixture of capital and lower-case
letters.
Currently, while the CAEN user file en-
codes passwords, the ITD version - also open
more vulnerable to cracker programs. These
programs help decipher passwords, but suc-
ceed when a specific sequence is guessed at.
The ITD system, in which the 'x' can stand for
anything, gives no clues as to password length
or letter and number breakdown. Although
CAEN has taken the initiative in asking stu-
dents to create complex passwords to foil
crackers, the coded passwords remain avail-
able to hackers. As of now, CAEN and ITD
operate wholly separately. These two major
University groups need to work together to
shut down unauthorized accesses.
The burden must also be shared with the
students of the University. They must choose
passwords carefully, avoiding derivatives of
their own names or words found in the dictio-
nary. These types of passwords are most eas-
ily deciphered. Furthermore, students must be
careful in accessing their accounts. Many
accounts are broken into by amateur hackers
glancing at hands typing in passwords. Espe-
cially around final exams, with computer use
and stress levels high, people need to exercise
caution while logging on to an e-mail system.
Ironically the University of Texas - the
source of the racist message --recently used
a password 'cracker' on its own e-mail lists to
find passwords vulnerable to such programs.
Upon finding those passwords, U-T suspended
the accounts, advising the users to change
their passwords. A similar program has been
used before by the University for similar
purposes. The University needs to keep check-
ina naciiuordc in rdr, to nrotect -oudents
substantiate
figures
To the Daily:
According to the send mail
header information that came
with the racist e-mail that was
sent out on Sunday night, ex-
actly 500 engineering students
were targeted by the mail. Even
considering that the mail made
its way into mailing lists
whereby the e-mail propagated
out to more students, I don't see
where the "10,000 engineering
students" figure comes from.
Can you substantiate this
please?
Calvin Chu
Engineering sophomore
LSA vs.
Engineering
round IV
To the Daily:
Once again, Mr. Erik Berg
has taken his pen into his hands
in an effort to belittle LSA
courses. "... if all classes were
evaluated, and then reassigned
credits based on the amount
and difficulty of work per-
formed, the vast majority of
LSA classes would be worth
zero credits ("LSA students
don't deserve any credit" 12/
5)."
As finals approach and term
papers are rearing their dead-
lines, I am forced to wonder
when Mr. Berg has the oppor-
tunity to write such witty and
intelligent editorials.
Dawn Verbrigghe
LSA sophomore
defames
character of
CRISP
employees
To the Daily:
I am writing to you regard-
ing the article in the weekend
section of your paper on De-
cember 1, 1994.
Was this article supposed to
be some sort of joke and if so, I
don't think it was a bit funny. It
is nothing more than slander
and defamation of character.
You could very well wind up
with a law suit.
Is it the intent of The Michi-
gan Daily to humiliate senior
citizens who are honestly try-
ing to do a good job of helping
students enroll? Does the Daily
endorse this type of harmful
insults from an apparent sick
lustful mind? If this is what
your subscribers desire, we are
in deep trouble and headed for
the wrath of God to fall upon
the offenders.
The least the Daily can do is
to print an apology to the CRISP
Dept. for this type of behavior
by your Art EditorM.Bernardo.
She should cleanse her mind.
She deserves to be fired.
Reuben 0. Peterson
The elderly gent at the
door (of CRISP)
Racist e-mail
from Buckley
To the Daily:
Readers who enjoyed the
racist e-mail message which
appeared recently on the front
page of the Daily should read
the Michigan Review on a
regular basis. The "Serpent's
Tooth" column which appears
in each issue is a thrilling
11. If you put a history textbook
under your pillow before you go to
sleep, it's just as good as actually
reading the book, and a lot more
relaxing.
12. Don't call professors "dude."
14. Don't be superstitious.
15. When one of your best friends
touches your food, throw it out; it
may have diseases. However, when
employees at Subway whom you
have never met before make your
sandwich with their bare hands, it's
OK to eat it.
16. If you're bored at 4 a.m.,
knock on University President James
Duderstadt's door and ask him to
"explain the code." He likes that.
17. When your professor says
"Hi," don't say, "Yes, I am."
18. All men may be pigs, but not
all pigs are men.
19. When picking a major, re-1
search all the possibilities, weigh
the pros and cons, decide what you
are interested in, figure out where
you will learn the most and then
pick the easiest.
20. Don't eat soup with a fork
unless you have a lot of time.
21. Not everyone stops at red
lights, so you don't have to either.
22. Women do not appreciate
you walking into their restroom.
23. Don't study at the UGLi.
With all the talking that goes on
there, it's very difficult to fallasleep.
24. Don't study atthe Grad. With
all the studying that goes on there,
you feel very guilty talking.
25. Batman is big, fast and smart,
but he doesn't respond to fan mail.
26. Wear pants.
27. Just because aplace is named
"The Fishbowl" doesn't mean you
01
01
pi
01
I
;II
II