4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 5, 1994
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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.
'There was this feeling that the judgments were
too harsh or too lenient.'
- LSA assistant dean David Schoem, commenting on the
recent changes in the academic judiciary
WHAIT Do YOU
EXPFCT To 1E IN
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Line-Item budgets
Proposal would handicap 'U's ability to collect
Michigan state Sen. Jack Welborn (R-
Kalamazoo) has proposed a resolution
that would require the University and other
state-funded schools to submit more detailed
accounts of their budgets to the Legislature in
the future. In addition, several legislators are
clamoring for the right to a line-item veto over
University appropriations.
Right now, state-funded schools only need
to report to the state their income and their
expenditures - although each year the Uni-
versity publicly releases a relatively detailed
account of their spending. Changing the crite-
ria for funding state-supported schools would
require an amendment to the Michigan Con-
stitution. This amendment would bring in-
creased bureaucracy to the government as
well as to the University. Giving the state more
control over what and where the University
can spend its money would prove disastrous.
Ostensibly, this measure would increase
accountability when the legislature evaluates
appropriations to the University. Yet this
amendment came about because of President
Duderstadt's salary. Duderstadt makes
$206,070 per year, which is well over the
$139,276 average salary of the top executives
at Michigan's 15 public schools. But if one
takes a look nationally, Duderstadt is not over-
paid. U.S. News and World Report ranks the
University 21st nationwide, however Presi-
dent Duderstadt's salary is not in the top 25
salaries for university executives in the coun-
try.
If this amendment is enacted, the Univer-
sity will have to produce accounts of their
budget down to the most minuscule detail.
That is, a more than two billion dollar budget
could become mired in questions of ten cent
copies. To do this the University would prob-
ably have to hire a staff to make sure that every
expenditure is put down on paper. Besides the
fact that this is next to impossible to do, hiring
this staff would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Giving the Legislature a line-item veto
over the University's budget would hand each
state locality a stick to whack away at the
larger goals of higher education. The Legisla-
ture could withdraw funding from each cat-
egory that it feels is unnecessary or overpaid,
without knowing or understanding the impli-
cation of its actions on the operations of the
University.
The cost to go to college today is rising
every year. University tuition continues to rise
well above the rate of inflation. If the state
government has the ability to hack away at
each dollar and cent the University spends, the
result will clearly be a decrease in state appro-
priations to the University. The result: tuition
costs will continue to skyrocket.
Public schools need discretion in deciding
how they will divide up their money. A line-
item veto would politicize the appropriations
process, and leave an already financially
strapped University starving for more.
Ant 1 mm igrant fervor
California's Prop. 187 would be a disaster
This November Californians will be voting
on a controversial anti-immigration mea-
sure. Listed on the ballot as Proposal 187, it
will ban illegal immigrants from California's
social service system. This means a large
segment of the population will be denied gov-
ernment aided housing, food programs, health
care and most questionably, education.
rGenerally, this page would not feel it nec-
essary to comment on a ballot initiative in
California. But this misguided solution to a
very real problem represents a new wave in' a
historical trend that has haunted Americans
since the inception of the Republic. In short, it
says that many Americans have not yet learned
that economic insecurity need not translate
into ant-immigrant hatred.
There is no doubt that immigrants do ben-
efit from social services provided by the gov-
ernment. But what is often forgotten is that this
is not the main reason immigrants flock to the
United States. More often then not they come
in search of higher paying jobs. To cut services
to illegal aliens would do little to quell their
migration; the jobs would still be here and they
would still come. Even though California may
have a better welfare system then many other
states it is far from the only state with an illegal
alien problem. There are higher paying jobs in
Texas, Florida and New York City, to name
just a few, and the illegal immigration prob-
lems in these states continue to soar.
Cutting social services to undocumented
residents is not going to stop, or even signifi-
cantly slow, illegal immigration. It is jobs
these people are after, not government aid.
Besides the futility of this proposal in halt-
ing the illegal immigration problem it will
have a serious negative impact on American
society. Imagine the long term effects of no
education for illegal immigrant children. How
are they to become contributing members of
our society if they are denied necessary tools?
Imagine no pre- and post-natal care for
illegal immigrant's children, no vaccinations,
no Head Start. Even if this proposal did allow
for education these children would have a road
block to success before they even reached
school age because of services denied to their
mothers.
Imagine the more immediate repercussions
of Proposal 187. Children, denied both the
structure and daily activity that school pro-
vides, will be far more likely to engage in
criminal activities and gangs. The homeless
problem is bound to increase. Both shelters
and soup kitchens will be further taxed by
those who are unable to get back on their feet
without the aid of government services. A
problem many Californians find too visible
already will become all the more so.
Furthermore, this proposal is blatantly un-
constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled twelve
years ago that all children, even illegal aliens,
are entitled to an education.
Not surprisingly, 187 has become a key
issue in California's gubernatorial race and its
support is clearly divided along party lines.
The incumbent Republican Governor, Pete
Wilson, harboring presidential aspirations,
strongly supports this measure as a way to
slow the swarm of immigrants to his state. His
Democratic opponent, Kathleen Brown, who
correctly supports border and work permit
policing as more effective measures, vehe-
mently opposes 187.
Proposal 187 represents a new and highly
disturbing trend in anti-immigration legisla-
tion. Although intended to discourage adults
from illegally entering the United States, it not
only fails to address the main lure, better jobs,
but it will not even punish the adults that cross
the border.
Instead it will punish innocent children and
in the long run the whole of American society
will feel the renercussions.
'Sex is just
sex'
To the Daily:
I am appalled by Sarah
Stewart's review of Erotique in
last Wednesday's Daily. Imag-
ine my surprise when I discov-
ered that I am one of those
viewers "offended by the stigma
of pornography but ... none-
theless curious about sex on the
big screen." Sorry, Sarah. I liked
the movie, and I am neither
generally offended by pornog-
raphy nor in need of satisfying
curiosity about sex on the big
screen (or anywhere else).
In fact, I suspect you may
be "projecting," if I may bor-
row a term from the psycholo-
gists. You seem convinced that
humor and sex are somehow
mutually exclusive, and it seems
to bother you that the movie is
guilty of "unintentionally" (?)
inducing laughter. That is, un-
fortunately, the viewpoint that
most Hollywood movies, porno
flicks and romance novels take.
The movie in part was an inter-
national spoof on those genres,
but I guess you just missed that.
To think that Lizzie Borden
(and the unmistakable Susie
Bright) are aiming just to titil-
late you with masturbation is
absurd. It is equally absurd to
consider "Voodoo Parlor" as
anything but a black comedy,
Propaganda at
the Fermi H
power plant
To the Daily:
As I read the October 3
article on the protest of reopen-
ing the Fermi II power plant, I
was shocked to find that Uni-
versity students, who are noted
for their intelligence and abil-
ity to think for themselves, had
bought into the propaganda and
scare tactics of these groups in
their attempt to shut down not
only a perfectly sound power
plant but one that has negli-
gible impact to the environ-
ment compared to other more
mainstream forms of energy.
With sulfur and carbon mon-
oxide emissions from other
power sources contributing to
acid rain and global warming,
as well as the countless other
industries which have a real,
tangible impact on the envi-
ronment, itis a shame thatthese
people would waste their time
and effort trying to shut down
a perfectly sound, environmen-
with the attendant exaggeration
and foreshadowing. It is sup-
posed to be funny, unless you
wish to believe that somewhere
in Germany lesbian couples
really are blowing up would-be
male lovers.
Ironically, you manage to
recognize humor as intentional
exactly where it becomes com-
plex and painful. "Wonton
Soup's" acrobatic sex scene
actually stresses the point that
the male character finds sex to
be the cure for the alienation in
his relationship. In order to
bridge a serious culture gap, his
best answer is "Chinese sex
- the scene moves quickly
from humor to discomfort and
then to tragedy as it becomes
apparent that passion and com-
munication really are absent.
It is ultimately tragic to me
that you found humor to be
such a detriment to the movie.
It says a lot about this society
that so many become unglued
when sex is treated with irrev-
erence and amusement. Check
out the Kama Sutra sometime
and try to convince yourself
that they weren't laughing as
they came up with all of those
positions.
Lighten up and enjoy your-
self: Erotique is just a movie,
and sex is just sex.
Cynthia Mason
Rackham/Michigan
Business School
tally safe power plant which
does absolutely nothing to dis-
rupt the natural order of things
in southeastMichigan. Itis time
to stop beating up the one source
of emission free power that we
have in southeast Michigan
while turning our back on the
real dangers being pumped into
the atmosphere by the ton by
other industries.
I support alternative forms
of energy, and as soon as ger-
bils on a tread mill ora solarcell
the size of Minnesota is fea-
sible, I will back it 100 percent.
However, short of giving up
the electricity that this society
has come to rely upon, right
now, nuclear energy is the most
environmentally safe form of
energy that we have that can be
used on the scale that we need.
Don't give in to these pro-
paganda scare tactics that these
groups preach. As with any-
thing else, explore all options
before making a decision. One
of these days, these groups are
going to regret the fact that they
didn't.
Steven Shannon
Engineering Senior
Sigma Phi
flyer not
meant to be
sexist
To the Daily:
As the Head of House of
the Sigma Phi Society I have
chosen to write this letter on
behalf of our organization
solely to extend our apology
regarding a rush flyer posted
on campus for this fall's rush.
Our apology is warranted for a
few reasons.
1) The flyer was in no way
an accurate representation of
our house's attempts to make a
public appeal to rushees, or of
the views of our membership.
2) The flyer was not ap-
proved by the house as a whole
for posting, nor was it created
by the house as a whole, but by
one member who did not in-
tend to create a sexist depiction
of either gender.
3) The flyer was an attempt
t6 express creativity, and any
offense incurred by it was not
only unintended, but is ex-
tremely regretted.
I, the rest of Sigma Phi, and
the flyer creator want to extend
a sincere apology to all those
who saw or heard about the
advertisement. The depiction
on it was in fact a man and a
slogan, both taken from acloth-
ing ad, and the creator of the
flyer was not intending to do
anything other than make an
eye-catching ad for rush.
This memb'er has been in-
formed of his errors in judge-
mentand steps havebeentaken
to educate ourmembership and
prevent anything like this from
reoccurring. I would also like
to add that our flyer was an 8.5
by 11 piece, and the 17 by 11
ads on campus were a reaction
created by individuals not as-
sociated with Sigma Phi.
Once again, we offer our
apologies, and would appreci-
ate any concerns to be directly
addressed to the Sigma Phi or
me.
Brian Gelb, Head of
House
Sigma Phi Society
Class picture
would have
been more
appropriate
To the Daily:
We are extremely upset that
the tragic death of a member of
the University community was
reported in such a callous man-
ner.
From me, the
Overgrad, to
you, the
Undergrad
OH, DEAR GOD! another
Introductory Column, as if we
haven't had our fill already. More
la-di-dah prattle that allows the
latest scribbler to greet His/Hers/
Its Reading Public. And let's be
sure we hit ALL the bases, lest
the Daily be picketed by the Neu-
tered Columnists Action Front.
I won't fool myself for one
little minute with the notion how-
ever appealing that you dearread-
ers will rush out to buy this paper
just to see what the Old Hippo
has to say about whatever mess
he's got himself into this week.
Nice thought, though.
Mind you, if there are such as
that out there, why not just pop
off to Village Corner and see
Dick Scheer. He knows my taste
in wines (Canadian) and cigars
(long and cheap). I'm always
open to a spot of fan-mail, espe-
cially with a consumable at-
tached. Avis and I might even
share it with you, provided you're
legal.
Not to be called a Cynical
SOB ('tho I may well be one), I
may as well lay my cards on the
table. This is a good spot of expo-
sure for the working satirical nov-
elist like Hippo. One book fin-
ished and in the marketplace,
another about 70 percent, and
numerous short stories under my
belt, well, the thought of trying
my hand at making people laugh,
or giving them the opportunity at
the least, is too good to pass by.
"Putting all the goods in the shop
window," it's called.
Well, what the hell can you
expect? To be fair and frank,
don't hold your breath for the
sensitive and politically correct
stance on much of anything. I
call 'em as I sees 'em. As an old-
fashioned liberal ofthe early '70's
model, I enjoy a good laugh, at
my expense, and at pretty much
anybody else's. As a species,
we're pretty ridiculous, I think.
After all, there are some who
take Rush Limbaugh seriously.
I'm not sure he believes half of
what he says.
And as far as Literati are con-
cerned, maybe aging and gray-
ing Baby-Boomers are in style.
Witness "The Bridges of Madi-
son County." And you know,
Sunshine, that Johnny Depp and
Winona Ryder WON'T be mak-
ing THAT movie, unless it's the
remake in 25 years or so.
At the ripe old age of ... I
shudder at the thought ... a few
weeks shy of... 42,1 don't think
I'm such an Old Fudd, yet. And I
know a few Young Fudds, I'm
glad to say.
What I hope to get across to
you, is that I want to pass on to
you Undergrads afew points from
us Overgrads, and have a good
time as we do it.
Passing,kicking and scream-
ing into Middle Age, I'm coming
to realize that some of you could
have been my own kids, had I not
been so hopeless with the girls
circa. 1971-1972. More than just
work with you at the University
as a staffer, assisting you to use
Library facilities better, I should
serve as a model. An adult to
emulate. To learn from. To look
up to.
Or perhaps as a horrid ex-
ample, to be avoided at all costs.
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