4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 17, 1994
abe £idi~rn aai t~g
'I can't see what I'm doing. I'm just trying to sepa-
rate 'em.'
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, 48109
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan
Jessie Halladay
Editor in Chief
Samuel Goodstein
Flint Wainess
- The referee, commenting during the Michigan-Penn St.
about the difficulty of separating two really big guys
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.
Reconfiguring Ski
oN
IMMINLGe
a t:
e dilemma over how to restructure Stu-
dent Legal Services must be solved and a
plan enacted quickly. While agreeing that
changes should be made, the Division of Stu-
dent Affairs and the Law School have procras-
tinated enough already on this issue. It is time
that a solution acceptable to the student body,
University and Law School be implemented.
Last year, discussions began between MSA,
Student Affairs and the Law School over
revitalizing Student Legal Services (SLS). All
parties agree that SLS, which represents stu-
dents in on-going litigation free of charge, is a
vital student service that needs strengthening.
SLS's major problem is one of oversight:
currently, SLS's Board of Directors is unable
and unqualified to properly run such alegal aid
service. The members of the current Board are
students, staff of SLS and token representa-
tives from the Law School and Student Af-
fairs. The composition of the board creates
problems of accountability and oversight. It is
unaccountable because SLS's staff is basi-
cally reporting to themselves and it lacks
appropriate oversight because most Board
members do not know what they should be
asking or doing to effectively run SLS.
After splitting SLS's fee from MSA's a
year and a half ago, MSA initiated a dialogue
about revitalizing SLS - discussing options
such as turning daily control over to the Law
School. This would have been the ideal place
within the University for SLS, for it would be
run by the best law scholars in the country.
However, the Law School has continued to
make it clear that they do not want SLS be-
cause its cases are not challenging enough for
its faculty or students to benefit from. This
position is understandable, but unfortunate.
Therefore, since this ideal situation will not be
realized, asecondbest plan must beenacted-
a complete overhaul of the SLS Board of
Directors.
First, the staff of SLS should be eliminated
from the Board; this will eliminate the percep-
tion of SLS having no real accountability for
its actions because its staff reports to itself.
Next, prominent members of the local Ameri-
can Bar Association should serve on the SLS
Board. There should be an increased presence
of local attorneys, as well as an increased
representation of Law School faculty and ad-
ministration. Such professionals will provide
the expertise necessary to improve the stature
of SLS and enhance its services to students.
However, the student presence in the govern-
ing of SLS cannot be eliminated. Some stu-
dents must continue to be appointed by MSA;
the MSA Vice President should continue to be
a member of the Board. In addition, the other
student members should be appointed for two
year terms and a greater emphasis should be
placed on appointing law students, so turnover
and lack of interest or understanding will no
longer be characteristics describing the stu-
dent board members. Under such a restructur-
ing, the day-to-day operation of SLS would
remain the same in the short term, but its long
term guidance would be improved. Such a
new board structure would allow SLS to im-
prove its service, increase its use among stu-
dents and gain a more prominent position
within the University community.
Under no circumstances should SLS be-
come part of the Division of Student Affairs,
like University Health Services, as suggested
by some; there are too many issues of confi-
dentiality and potential conflicts of interest
that would arise from such a structure. Fortu-
nately, both MSA and Student Affairs oppose
this realignment.
SLS is a very valuable resource to students.
However, it is currently not operating as effec-
tively as a legal service for University of
Michigan students ought to. The University
must take advantage of the great legal re-
sources of the University and the Ann Arbor
community to improve this vital service. MSA
has been working to enact such a solution;
Student Affairs, the Law School and the cur-
rent SLS Board should join MSA in working
to quickly restructure and improve SLS.
Tips for recycling those Daily inserts
By MICHAEL NEYLON
I've noticed recently the
large number of inserts that
you have been including in
your paper. In the last week
alone, there was at least one
per dayincluding applications
for Discover credit cards and
coupons for Domino's pizza.
It is understandable that these
companies pay you to place
their inserts in the paper, and
so you are committed to get-
ting the material out to stu-
dents.
Unfortunately, due to the
current way the paper is dis-
tributed, the inserts can become
a major problem. I see many
students grab a paper from the
bin orpile, hold it upside-down
to get rid of the inserts and
walk away, leaving the adver-
tisements near the bin. With
one student, this isn't so bad,
but I suggest looking at your
distribution sites late in the day,
especially those without the
bins, such as the Dow building
on North Campus. There is
literally a pile of inserts hastily
discarded by readers of the
paper. Although I am ignorant
of the janitorial handling of
these piles, I wouldn't be sur-
prised if much of this paper
goes unrecycled.
Neylon is a second-year
engineering graduate
student.
Even if the piles are re-
cycled, one must then consider
the readers who discard the in-
serts in a classroom, on a bus,
or even in transit across cam-
pus. The inserts left here have a
less likely chance of being re-
cycled, and give a 'dirty' look
to the classrooms, especially
for classes late in the day.
Thus, I ask that you rethink
the way you handle these in-
serts. I can think of several
ideas off the top of my head:
Encourage potential in-
sert advertisers to advertise in
the paper itself. From my ob-
servations, the Daily itself
gets discarded in recycle bins
better than the inserts. Thus,
the additional one or two pages
would still be recycled, and will
probably catch more eyes than
the inserts.
Discourage the use of
non-recyclable material. Last
week, there was an Eddie Bauer
advertisement made from
glossy paper, whichris gener-
ally not recyclable or does not
recycle well. These inserts, be-
cause of their thickness and of
the lack of interest in the adver-
tiser, created even a larger pile
near the distribution points than
other inserts.
® Separate the inserts from
the paper. That is, have two
piles of materials available at
each distribution point: the pa-
per itself, and the inserts. If
someone is really interested in
the inserts, he or she will take
one, and it will not go to waste.
With this method, one can also
distribute a smaller number of
the inserts than the paper.
N Place recycling bins
near distribution points. Al-
though this is already done in a
few places (the EECS lobby,
for example), it is not consis-
tent through the University, and
doing so would help solve the
problem.
Make inserts less
frequent. Do we really need the
same set of Domino's coupons
twice a week? Do I need to
apply for a credit card twice a
month? Common sense should
easily answer that.
Finally, a suggestion to all
readers of the Daily: don't leave
the inserts behind, and then
recycle the unwanted inserts at
your earliest opportunity. This
takes almost no extra work,
and can help solve the problem
as well.
To my knowledge, none of
these solutions would require
large investments, but only use
current resources to a better
advantage.
Unfortunately, the Univer-
sity does churn through paper
quickly, so every little bit of
recycling that one can do (in-
cluding the Daily) can help.
Would I emulate'
Miep Gies.?
I'd like to think I would be one of
them. One of the few.
I wish I knew for sure.
Miep Gies asked a standing room
only crowd at Rackham last week
not to call her a hero. She was the
woman who sheltered Anne Frank's
family in the years they hid from the
Nazis in Amsterdam. At great per-
sonal risk, she brought them food,
supplies and news from the outside
world. She was the one who gathered
the pages of Anne's diary and later
turned them over to the murdered
girl's father.
"Some people call me a hero,"
she said, after receiving the
University'sWallenberg medal. "But
my story is a story of very ordinary
people in extraordinarytimes ....those
in hiding were the brave ones." See
me as your equal, she said, for you
would have done the same as me.
I'd like to say I agree with her-
that I would have done the same -
but I do not know for sure.
I've asked myself that since 1990,
the year I went to Poland.
Just smelling the air in Auschwitz,
Birkenau, Treblinka and Majdonek
can make you shiver. Piles of human
hair, collected shoes and charred
bones rotting in Nazi ovens can make
you ill.
Butmore shocking than the camps
are the peaceful neighborhoods that
surround them. There are rows and
rows of houses filled with people
who clearly knew the extent of the
tyranny, yet did nothing. Either they
approved (it was only Jews andcrimi-
nals, after all), they didn't care or
they were scared into silence. No
matter how evil the Nazis may have
been, the reality is this: they could
not have killed so manz without con-
sent of the majority.
I hope that fear was the general
response of the masses because how
could I live believing that thousands
of people could be so collectively
hateful?
So people like Gies give me hope.
Not everyone sat back and allowed
innocent people to die. She took two
families into her home and hid them.
The King of Denmark refused to
make only Jews wears badges. He
put one on himself.'
Raoul Wallenberg, a University
alum and the Swedish diplomat for
whom the Wallenberg medal is
named, saved thousands of Jews by
issuing false passports, writing vi-
sas, pulling people off death trains
and calling them Swedes.
And there were hundreds of oth-
ers: people like the woman who took
my mother (an infant) into her home
and cared for her while my grandfa-
ther slaved in Auschwitz and my
grandmother disappeared.
The stories give me hope for hu-
manity but make me fear myself.
I've never lived near adeath camp, or
been in a position to save a family
that was about to be killed. But I
cannot say I haven't turned my back
on suffering.
When that man approached me
that night in Washington, with that
little girl in his arms - she was
asleep - why didn't I just give him
cab fare to go the shelter? That was
all he wanted. Why didn't I at least
think to hand him my pass for the
metro?
Why did I spend weeks writing
articles about millions dying in
Rwanda, but never once write a
check?
Why do I waste so much energy,
food, water, money, when so many
others could use what I just throw
away?
When it comes to the Holocaust,
the Jewish mantra is Never Again.
Never Again will we allow such hate
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Killing Amendment 2
C olorado's Amendment 2 is dead - at
last. Passed by aslimmargin by Colorado
voters in November 1992, this notorious ar-
ticle of voter initiative was finally struckdown
by the Colorado State Supreme Court last
week. The initiative sought to nullify the gay
civil rights ordinances of Denver, Boulder and
Aspen - a hotbed of liberalism amidst the
pervasive populism of the West - which
were instituted by these localities to ensure
that gays and lesbians would be guaranteed
the same basic rights the state's heterosexual
population possesses. The state is appealing
the State Supreme Court's ruling, meaning
that the newly emerging moderates of the U.S.
Supreme Court will have an opportunity to
give the states some direction on this very
contentious issue - that of democratically-
passed voter initiatives designed to take away
certain rights or legal protections accorded to
certain segments of the populace, in this case
homosexuals, who demand the protective
umbrella of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
Last year, the same Colorado State Su-
preme Court issued an injunction against
Amendment 2, ruling that it needed to hear
further argumentation of the issue, but that at
the time the voter initiative placed the state's
gay and lesbians in harm's way - "in clear
andpresent danger." Some critics of the amend-
ment, pushed on the ballot by a state "family
values" group, correctly suggested that the
initiative was a deplorable act of mob rule -
that of an intolerant majority denying equal
rights to a minority long denied basic civil
rights in housing, education and employment.
(Just last school year, the University Board of
Regents votedtoamendRegents' Bylaw 14.06,
adding homosexuals to the list of groups that
the University cannot discriminate against.)
The proponents of the amendment, on the other
hand, defended Amendment 2 as a necessary
step to roll back liberals' tendency to grant
"special rights" to minority groups. Moreover,
Colorado's religious right argued that the state
should not recognize a so-called group of "ho-
mosexuals" - individuals who, they argued,
chose to embrace a homosexual lifestyle -
and should not be rewarded for their choice of
a repulsive, irreligious, sexually promiscuous
lifestyle. And anyway, they asserted, gays and
lesbians in Colorado were not the victims of
hate crimes and did not suffer discrimination at
the hands of homophobes - ignoring the
actual statistical evidence refuting that claim.
In 1992, anti-gay violence was on the rise
nationally, as gays found themselves trans-
fixed in the crosshairs of the powerful radical
right, led by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat
Robertson.
Now, in 1994, anti-gay voter initiatives
across the county further threaten the safety
and security of gay and lesbian Americans.
Statewide voter initiatives like Amendment 2
are dangerous, especially when the advocates
of such amendments to state constitutions sug-
gests that cities and other municipalities like
Aspen have overstepped social and legal mo-
res. Rather, Aspen, New York City and Ann
Arbor are on the correct side of this culture war
- by embracing the norms of a tolerant civil
society that proscribes discrimination and pre-
vents violence.
Enter into
pass/fail with
care
To the Daily:
Your editorial (10/3/94) ad-
vocating the pass/fail (p/f) op-
tion and an extension of the
deadline deserves a few fol-
low-up comments. While this
option can be a "viable alterna-
tive," as you suggest, students
should exercise caution in their
use of the p/f designation.
Foreign language
courseworkis probably the aca-
demic area where most of the
p/f elections occur. Unfortu-
nately, many students who
elect their early language
course work on a pass/fail ba-
sis, discover that they are put-
ting in the minimal amount of
effort in order to "pass" ("C-"
level). By the time students
elect the fourth-semester lan-
guage course, their back-
grounds are simply not strong
enough to "pass," even under
the pass/fail designation. Three
"pass"s followed by a "fail"
does not a good transcript
make. As a result, many coun-
selors rightly urge students to
ing a "C"). Consequently, it is
not unheard of for admissions
officers to re-compute student
grade point averages, convert-
ing p/f grades to "C"s. Even if
this actual computation does
not occur, the admissions of-
ficer may be left with a nega-
tive impression: why did the
student expect to do so (possi-
bly) "poorly" in this class?
I strongly urge students to
discuss the use of the p/f option
with an academic counselor,
particularly when considering
any introductory course, a for-
eign language course, or a pre-
requisite to a concentration
(courses for a concentration are
not allowed as p/f courses). One
setting in which a p/f designa-
tion is quite understandable is
when a student takes an inter-
mediate or upper-level course
in an area outside his or her
specialty - a course that
sounds interesting, but may re-
quire previous coursework in
the field for the top grade.
David Burkam
U of M Faculty and
Academic Advisor
Issues, not
political name
ch!. orApnvzp
member of the endorsing orga-
nization. For instance, since
Ms. Rivers is endorsed by
Michigan N.O.W., she must be
a card-carrying member. Put
another way, since John Schall
also has an endorsement from
the Police Officers Associa-
tion of Michigan and the
Washtenaw County Deputy
Sheriff's Association, he must
be a police officer in his spare
time.
To Mr. Kramer's credit, he
tried to address a couple issues.
However, in selectively choos-
ing locally glorified issues (i.e.
abortion), he glosses over is-
sues like health care reform,
social spending, taxes, the list
goes on and on. People are
tired of political name calling
and partisan fear tactics, so let's
cut to the chase. For anybody
that follows politics, the 13th
Congressional District race
boils down to one thing span-
ning every issue, conservative
ideals versus liberal ideals, with
little or no room in the middle.
Calling Mr. Schall ultra any-
thing is only trying to take the
focus off the real issues (the
same could be said concerning
Lynn Rivers). Chances are that
if you have a liberal political
philosophy, you will eagerly
vote forMs. Rivers. If you have
I