4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 30, 1994 U7 rE titl g tti1 'Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.' -F. Scott Fitzgerald 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JessieHalladay Editor in Chief Samuel Goodstein Flint Wainess Editorial Page Editors I 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. Goodbye, ombudsman Dr. Perigo is wrongly fired after 13 years of work i fit \PJK $Ou UNETAKER F::OR TH 1:5 ENt)IR5EM I J @tudents praised his work, faculty and staff lauded his fairness and devotion, but Maureen Hartford fired him. At the end of last summer, Don Perigo, the University Ombudsman for 13 years, was denied a new contract by Maureen Hartford, the Vice President for Student Affairs. The dismissal of Perigo is not only a huge loss to students, but a shameful display of the way Student Affairs handles personnel matters. Over the past 13 years, Perigo has carried ,out the duties of the University Ombudsman fairly and diligently. His job of helping people peacefully reconcile disputes demands that he be a neutral party; he could not side with the administration or student body on particular issues because it would jeopardize his objec- tivity. Perigo maintained his objectivity as well as could be expected of anyone - maybe the administration felt he was too neutral. Many students have worked with Perigo to solve such crises as their financial aid prob- lems, residency status fights and withered relations with faculty members; Perigo has arbitered such disputes to the satisfaction of students. The Ombudsman is a vital position for a University of this size and scope, and Don ;Perigo was a great Ombudsman. But Perigo was let go because he was told he no longer fit well into the mission of the Division of Stu- dent Affairs. Hartford and the Division of Student Affairs must justify this dismissal better than they have-- a full disclosure of the ,rationale for ending Perigo's tenure with the University must be made available to the student body. Knowing Perigo's record over the past two decades with the University, his dismissal, without even a transfer to a different position, cannot simply be justified by saying his position does not fit with the mission of the University. In fact, as the University is getting more bureaucratic and more complex, stu- dents face many more complications in their college years which they may very well need an Ombudsman to help them solve. Therefore, the position of Ombudsman is more necessary than ever at the University. In light of these recent developments and the ever increasing need for an Ombudsman, the Ombudsman should be repositioned within the University structure as a position, sanc- tioned by the regents, reporting directly to the president or Board of Regents. It is too impor- tant of a position to be at the mercy of Maureen Hartford and her ever-present desire to re- structure the Division of Student Affairs in the name of Total Quality Management. Even though the Division of Student Af- fairs maintains that an Ombudsman-type posi- tion will remain in their division, the final status of such a new creation is yet to be determined. But, for the past 13 years, it has certainly functioned well in its current posi- tion; apparently, the only reason the Ombuds- man no longer exists is because Hartford de- cided this was a good personnel move. But if this really is to be believed, the burden is on Hartford to explain quickly and publicly who will take over the important duties previously undertaken by the Ombudsman. The University must further justify this dismissal of a great student advocate out of fairness to Perigo and the University commu- nity. SACUA should look into this matter in their review of the Division of Student Affairs; maybe the faculty can discover some of the information that has been artfully kept from the student body. . fi CONVE~NT 1C)Ot Daily Editor addresses apparent suicide photo BY DAVID SHEPARDSON Many angry students called and wrote the Daily yesterday, saying they were appalled and offended by this paper's deci- sion to publish a photograph of a student who apparently jumped to his death Tuesday. Still others criticized the Daily for placing the story in- side the paper and not on the front page. First, our deepest sympa- thies go out to the family and Shepardson is Managing News Editor at The Daily friends in this time of loss. As a newspaper run by stu- dents for students, we strive to use care in printing stories about suicide. We seek to avoid glamorizing or over-em- phasizing suicides. One rea- son for this is to avoid "copy- cat" suicides. The Daily also prints suicide hotline numbers for readers who may be con- sidering suicide. Printing the photo was a difficult decision; for the stu- dent fell to his death in broad daylight near a busy street, in view of passersby. While we regret any of- fense that some may have taken from seeing the photo- graph, it illustrated the hor- rific nature of the tragedy and could help to prevent some- one else from committing sui- cide. Indeed, the student's ap- parent suicide is the second to occur from a high-rise apart- ment building in less than four months. And only by informing readers of the tragic nature of events, can we hope to avert similar incidents. SThe musings of a TV-loving couch potato Twenty years ago this week, I was born at 12:35 on a Saturday afternoon. I have thought long and hard about why, at that exact mo- ment, I came to be, and I have come to a startling conclusion: there was a college football game on TV. 4 Thus began one of the extraordi- nary careers in TV-watching his- tory. I can watch TV any time, any place. any channel, except PBS, which might actually teach me some- thing. I can use a clicker with both hands tied behind my back. I can watch several TVs at once. I can watch TV while talking on the phone or listening to the radio. I can watch TV while studying - at least, I probably could if Itook up studying. I can watch TV with my eyes closed ..well, maybe not. Don't be offended when I say I watch TV better than you do. As Ralph Waldo Emerson, or someone almost as famous and equally de- ceased, once said, "Everyone is my superior in some way." No man, woman, child or hippo has ever made a truer statement, with the possible exception of an- other great philosopher, Norm Peterson of Cheers. I personally can tell you that ev- eryone is my superior in some way. For example, there are numerous things you can probably do better than I, like peeling an M & M or writing a humor column. I, on the other hand, can do some things bet- ter than you, like peeling a Reese's piece (a totally different art form altogether). Now, saying I watch TV is actu- ally a rather pure choice of words, inasmuch as it implies that the TV and I are two separate objects. So I don't really watch TV, as much as I become the TV. When I am at one with the tube, you could point the clicker at me and the channel would change, provided that you first sur- gically removed the clicker from my hand. 4 This is not to say that I watch TV more than anyone else. On the con- trary, I usually stop watching at least once a week, when I run out of pretzels. Clearly this reveals a deep problem within me: Why don't I buy larger quantities of pretzels? Really, there isn't any reason. Maybe, sub- consciously, I want to stop watching TV. 4 I 01 I 01 01 Daily photo is Coach Gary E.Engineering: a hazard Construction disrupts class and endangers lives Construction and reconstruction on the Uni versity campus are generally good ideas. Construction allows for campus expansion .and beautification, things to which few stu- dents would object. Through reconstruction, the UGLi will soon be the pretty UGLi, and through additions to buildings, many Univer- °sity departments - such as mathematics and psychology - will get much-needed new space. However, no matter how beneficial the role of construction, if preceded by bad plan- ning and organization it can easily become a nightmare. This is exactly what is happening at the University, and nowhere is this fact more apparent than at the East Engineering building. Since January, students attending class at East Engineering have had to stand in line outside the only open main entrance for up to 10 minutes to get to class, and even longer to get out. While in class, students must struggle to hear - never mind understand - every word the instructor says, over the sounds of pounding and jackhammering that fills the classroom from outside. Yet the headaches and impatience that stem from the East Engi- neering construction are but minor inconve- niences in the face of other problems, most notably a grave fire hazard. East Engineering, a four-story building, is old and was built before modern fire codes existed. As such, it was built using extremely flammable materials. Due to the current con- struction, the East Engineering building has only two stairwells leading into three exits. hundreds of students in this building daily. Moreover, scores of professors' and TAs' offices are located there. For months, thousands have been circulat- ing daily throughout East Engineering, a vir- tual fire trap, while the University turns a blind eye. Moreover, people will continue to trek through this matchbox of a class site as part of their daily routine. Should a fire start in East Engineering, hundreds of students would be trapped inside to burn, or would be trampled trying to reach the three avenues of escape. Does the University care about this potential disaster? Even more odd is the fact that neither the Ann Arbor nor state fire departments seem to be lifting a finger to prevent what could some- day be a great tragedy. Anyone can see that current conditions at East Engineering are fire hazards, so why don't our fire marshals take action? Perhaps - though unlikely -the Univer- sity could not at first fathom that such prob- lems would occur when construction began at East Engineering. However, since that time the administration has had an entire summer to figure out ways to alleviate the inconveniences and potential danger wrought by the building's construction. When will the University start to care about its students the way it claims? Will administra- tors soon realize that they, in their apathy, are endangering student lives? Or, will they wait - as they many times do -until the Univer- sity is so deeply drowned in lawsuits that they have no choice but to recognize and fix the insensitive To the Daily: I was a friend of Seth Charlson. Seth decided on Wednesday to take his own life. I expected an article about his death to appear in your paper, but I did not expect one that was so completely devoid of class. At the top of a very long list of complaints that I have is your inclusion of a photograph of Seth's body. While I respect your right to information, Ithink you should also respect Seth's right to dignity. This is a diffi- cult time for all of us who knew Seth and your insensitive dis- play did not make things any easier. Brigham Smith LSA Junior Can we all thank our friends in the Daily? To the Daily: Now that the tears have dried and the Carpenters music has stopped, we have regained enough composure to write this letter, thanking Jessie Halladay for her insightful commentary on the meaning and value of friendship. Her column has taught us two valuable lessons. First, we know far too much about her parade of friends than we really wanted to and sec- ondly, that the Editor in Chief of the Daily extends herself an astounding breadth of editorial freedom. Since it appears that the Daily has become a forum for paying tributes to friends and co-workers, we would like to take this opportunity to have needs a lesson in coaching To the Daily: I'm writing this in an abso- lutely stunned state. With eight minutes left and a 26 to 14 point lead, with Michigan's offense and defense playing as well as I've ever seen them, Coach Moeller made a deci- sion to play one of the best teams in the nation with only his defense. Michigan had been completely dominating Colorado with passing and "trick" plays. That's when Moeller consciously made the decision that if Colorado could score 14 points they could have the game. This decision was made with a full eight minutes left. I cannot recall a passing or innovative play called after the eight minute mark, only plays designed to run the clock, not to win. The point here is the Michi- gan players deserved a lot bet- ter. They proved they were the better team. Had they been allowed to play offense (to win) they probably would have. demolished Colorado. The way they had been playing it is reasonable to believe they would have scored another 10 points or more. But Moeller made an extremely poor deci- sion, some may say even stu- pid. To just try to run the clock, instead of win. Then he made what eventually was the crucial damning move. That was to deliberately allow the opposing quarterback com- plete freedom to throw wher- ever he pleased on the last play of the game, by only rush- ing three lineman. That's no rush at all. I just hope Moeller learns two things from this. To al- ways apply some pressure to the opposing quarterback, es- pecially in a crucial situation, Moeller Why can the U' have a lawyer and not students? To the Daily In the 9/23 issue of the Daily, you ran a full page story entitled, "Life Under The Code". This article dealt with issues of the SSRR (Statement of Students Rights and Re- sponsibilities). There are a couple of items I want to bring to the attention of the Daily staff and the stu- dents. First, you quote the Vice President of Student Affairs, Maureen A. Hartford as say- ing, "It's not attorneys lead- ing (or) designing our pro- cess." Well, that is a bunch of horse manure.' Mary Louise Antieau, the University's ju- dicial advisor, advocate, part designer and the person re- sponsible for the initial inves- tigation and advising any panel about the SSRR is an attor- ney. So what gives the Uni- versity the right to have an attorney so involved in the process and representing the university in the process, but not allow the student to have an attorney represent them? Second, there is no reason why the University, the great school that it is, has to com- pare its programs to, and live up to (or down to) the stan- dards of other universities. Imagine where we would be today if the University lived by that same rule when the MTS and CRISP systems were introduced. They were different than other university's, therefore, they could not have been used ... Both Antieau and Hartford in- sist on saying, 'other schools are like this so why not us?' Michigan does not have be like 'other schools!' Do you remember all those times when you would tell your mother or father that you must have, or do, something be- Iq 0 P- Yeah, right. One might assume-if one were in the assuming business, which, admittedly, is not very profitable - that because I watch TV I enjoy watching movies just as much, but that would be like assuming that because Dan Quayle was vice-presi- dent he had a clue. Watching something on TV is infinitely more enjoyable than go- ing to the movies. For one thing, you can't go to the movies in your under- wear. Well, OIL, you can go to the movies in your underwear, but you run the risk of being arrested and having your TV show, "Pee-wee's Playhouse," pulled off the air. This probably explains why if you were to ask me if I would go see Jean-Claude Van Damme's new sci- ft "thriller," "Timecop," I would probably look at you like you asked me to swallow my left foot, and exclaim "I hate Jean-Claude Van Damme! I will never see any of his movies!" S S ..6h Then I would go home and watch "Kickboxer" for the 19th time on HBO. .! Bad movies on TV are not just better than bad movies at the theater; bad movies on TV are better than ii