4 - TheMichigan Daily - Thursday, October 20, 1994
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'School funding is a little more to the point than
who can bunk the most prisoners in one cell.'
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan
Jessie Hallada
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.
AI WH oK.
- Political Science Prof. Greg Markus,
ues in the Michigan gubernatorial campaign
.I
Communication's chaos
Despite LSA defense, Goldenberg acted wrongly
J ustice was ill served in the Senate Assem-
bly meeting Monday. The Assembly re-
jected a report prepared by the Senate Advi-
sory Committee for University Affairs
(SACUA) regarding the Communications
department. In doing so, the Assembly ac-
cepted the LSA Executive Committee's de-
fense concerning the charges brought against
it in the January takeover of the department by
LSA. In other words, the Assembly diverted
attention from a severe impropriety on the part
of the administration. This decision aside, the
fact remains that in her handling of the Com-
munications department over the past year,
LSA Dean Edie N. Goldenberg -who heads
the Executive Committee -disobeyed anum-
ber of important University laws, as well as
codes set forth by the American Association
of University Professors. Perhaps more im-
portant, Goldenberg's behavior raises ques-
tions of possible larger motives concerning
the future of the University.
In its judgement, the Senate Assembly
seemed to be heavily influenced by a letter of
defense prepared by Goldenberg and other
high ranking officials of LSA. Lacking in any
substantive points, the letter appears to serve
the sole purpose of saving the Committee, and
particularly Goldenberg, fromembarrassment.
It is hard to understand how the Assembly
could find any credibility in the Executive
Committee's defense -until we realize that a
significant number of the faculty serving on
the Assembly are untenured. These members
would risk a great deal by going against the
Committee, since attitudes these highly placed
individuals have toward them could seriously
affect their future employment. The Execu-
tive Committee definitely appears to have taken
advantage of this fact. This leads to the ques-
tion of just how independent the Senate As-
sembly is.
However, despite the Committee's maneu-
vering, the fact remains that its actions con-
cerning the Department of Communication
were completely unjustified and didn't follow
University guidelines. Led by Goldenberg, it
stepped in and took control of the department
without thoroughly consulting faculty and stu-
dents, completely ignoring their fundamental
stake in any change. Furthermore, these ac-
tions were unnecessary. The department at the
time of the takeover was of very high quality,
consistently ranking in the Gorman Report's
top 10 nationally. The faculty and students had
confidence in the training provided. It was a
good program.
The incidents of the Communications affair
lead to one formidable question: Why? Why is
the administration working so hard to under-
mine this department? Why is it going so far as
to employ illicit means to do so? The members
of the Executive Committee may not realize it,
but they exposed an important irony in their
defense letter. "We believe it is important to
work cooperatively with the Senate Assembly,
but we believe that this can occur only in an
atmosphere of good faith, thorough honest
efforts to pursue academic excellence and to
rise above individual agendas," the letter de-
clared. For the Committee to communicate this
sentiment is surprising. Their behavior during
this affair demonstrates a lack of "good faith"
on their part, as well as a very real possibility
that they have an agenda of their own - one
that is not being made clear to the public.
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Spoofing maize and blue fans
Christie
Gays in the military
Meinhold's case illustrates stupidity of ban
O nce again, in an all too familiar scenario,
the U.S. government is engaging in
double-talk on the issue of homosexuals serv-
ing in the armed forces. The twist in this case
stems from the fact that the confusing signals
emanate from what is not being said, rather
than from another change in policy. The main
character in the latest chapter of the gays in the
military saga is Naval Petty Officer Keith
Meinhold, who, since being discharged from
the Navy several years ago, has launched a
series of court challenges against the pre-
Clinton policy completely banning homosexu-
als from the armed forces.
Last week, the Clinton administration let
stand a ruling allowing Meinhold to serve by
not responding to a San Francisco Appeals
Court decision saying the Navy could not
discharge him merely on the grounds that he
was homosexual. Despite its surface appear-
ance, this lack of a response does not signal
acceptance of homosexuals in the military -
the position repeatedly embraced by presiden-
tial candidate Bill Clinton. Instead, it shows
the Clinton administration is willing to letonly
the old policy of banning all homosexuals die,
while vigorously defending challenges against
its new version ofthe ban: the so-called "don't
ask, don't tell" policy.
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the atrocious
1993 compromise the Clinton administration
drafted in response to the vociferous opposi-
tion of Sam Nunn and other southern Demo-
crats to lifting the ban entirely. While touted as
a plan favorable to all sides, the newer policy
has in many ways echoed the spirit, if not the
specific words of the older statute. Under both
official and enlisted ranks.
The reasoning behind both policies comes
from the thoroughly discredited notion that
having openly gay service members would
undermine the morale, and therefore the com-
bat preparedness, of the armed forces. This
theory has been exposed as fallacy by the
number of soldiers that came out following
Clinton's pledge to end the ban. More specifi-
cally, in one of the larger ironies stemming
from the Meinholdcase, Meinhold made state-
ments to the effect that, after he openly de-
clared his homosexuality, he was not harassed
by (low-level) Naval personnel; instead, his
problems came from representatives of the
federal government, trying to implement their
shortsighted rules.
If the people who come into everyday
contact with an openly gay Keith Meinhold
have no qualms about his sexual orientation,
why then should military brass consider his
conduct a problem?
The Clinton administration should dump
the "don't ask, don't tell" policy into the same
trash bin that houses the old blanket morato-
rium on gays in the military. In the same way
that the Truman administration took the bold
step of integrating the armed forces in 1948,
the Clinton administration must re-engage the
debate and end one of the last remaining
bastions of blatant discrimination in our gov-
ernment.
Homosexuality does not diminish one's
love for his or her country, or the ability to act
in its service. Each service member must be
judged on his or her own merit and achieve-
ments, not on the basis of sexual orientation.
.nr~a: l ,., Mo VmthAX~nMA A arv h
dishonest
with voters
To the Daily:
I'm writing this letter in
response to Mike Christie's
campaign for the Washtenaw
County Commission. I would
first like to commend Mike for
getting involved in politics
while still a student here at the
University. It is encouraging
to see young people becoming
active in our political process.
However, I am concerned with
the way he is running his cam-
pagn.
Mr. Christie claims to be
running a bipartisan campaign
targeted at students.. I must
question his bipartisanship.
Mike is aRepublican, no doubt
about it. He is running on the
Republican ticket, he was a
member of the radical right-
wing College Republicans and
he is working on the campaign
of an ultra-conservative candi-
date for U.S. Congress. Mike
Christie is far from being a
bipartisan candidate.
On November 8th, I en-
courage all students to elect
Democrat Dave Mon forton to
the Washtenaw County Com-
mission. Mr. Monforton has
not hid his ideology from the
students in his district. Unlike
Mr. Christie, Dave Monforton
is not afraid to make his true
political beliefs public.
Mr. Christie, there are only
a few weeks left before elec-
tion day. Isn't it time that you
were honest with the very stu-
dents whom you wish to repre-
sent?
Mike Pokrywka
Co-Chair, U of M College
Democrats
Bikers must
obey traffic
rules
To the Daily:
In light of the recent inci-
dent between a pedestrian and
a bicyclist, I would like to illu-
minate this dark void of bi-
cycle traffic behavior which is
prominent on campus.
Myth: Bikers are a special
case when riding on the road.
Fact: Bicycles, when driven
on the road, are legally consid-
ered vehicles. Hence, bikers
on the road are drivers.
Myth: Bikers can drive
whereverthey want, whenever,
at their discretion, they want.
To the Daily:
Two years ago, I came to
Ann Arbor from California to
study geology, and before I
came, I heard many stories
about life in the Midwest and at
a Big Ten school. Mostly,
people just commented on the
cold weather, and there's no
refuting that. It is damn cold.
But, coming from the parched
landscape of the California
desert, I found Michigan's lush
vegetation and beautiful lakes
simply amazing. Much of the
state remains undeveloped,
unlike California's raped coun-
tryside. Aside from the cold
weather, lack of topography
(mountains), and the lack of
diversity of a city like San Fran-
cisco or Chicago or New York,
I enjoyed my stay here. Yet,
Michigan and Ann Arbor are
two completely different
worlds. While I found myself
impressed by the quality of the
graduate and graduate students
at the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor is, without a doubt,
the most trendy place I have
ever seen. I have met plenty of
undergrads that I love and re-
spect, but as I prepare to head
back to California in the next
couple of days, my impression
of Ann Arbor is clouded by the
following joke, partially in re-
sponse to the intense reaction
over the loss to Colorado in
football the other week.
A man with an IQ of 200
looks around and witnessed all
Daily photo
goes too far
To the Daily.
I think the Daily went too
far this time. I am referring to
the picture of the Arab terrorist
that was shown shot to death
on the front page on October
11. This is just bad journalism.
How could the editors display
such bad taste by printing that
picture? I thought it was cold
and heartless to show the
bloody corpse of that man. The
Daily was ignorant of the feel-
ings of that man's friends and
family. So what if he was a
terrorist, he was just doing his
job. Everyone knows what it is
like to be under stress at work.
The article was done in an ap-
propriate manner, but the pic-
ture above it was just unneces-
sary. Please, no more pictures
of dead folks.
Jeff Hodak
LSA Junior
Sportswriter
the fun that dumb people have.
They can laugh at the inane and
nevercease tobeeasily amused.
Yet he finds no humor, only
triviality. His only wish is to be
more dumb so that he can en-
joy himself. One day, to his
surprise, he sees an advertise-
ment in the paper for a doctor
that can manipulate one's IQ.
So the next day, he goes in and
asks the doctor to lower his IQ,
but not too low. He wants above
average intelligence. The doc-
tor hooks him up to the ma-
chine, presses go, and watches
as the readout signals down...
200... 199... 198.... The Doctor
hasn't seen an IQ in ages, and
realizing the process will take
quite some time, leaves to get a
cup of coffee. On his way back
to the lab, the doctor runs into
acolleague. After about 10min-
utes he looks at his watch and
realizes how long it has been.
Frantically, he rushes back to
the lab. As the doctor opens the
door, he looks to the readout...
5... 4... 3... .He lunges for the
plug and pulls it just in time to
stop the IQ manipulator. The
final readout is 2. He cannot
believe what he has just done,
and looks to the young man in
horror and asks if he is okay.
The man is staring off at noth-
ing and blankly responds, "Go
Blue."
Goodbye, Ann Arbor.
Andy Mughannam
University alumnus
Hayden fry ad his football
team's lackluster performance
... about this he may be cor-
rect.
However, Mr. Rosenberg,
who apparently fancies him-
self an expert on Iowa City's
social scene, erroneously stated
that Iowa City is a town "with
no night life." This is an ironic
comment coming from a stu-
dent at a campus whose social
scene obviously pales in com-
parison. Iowa students over the
age of nineteen are provided a
choice of over twenty bars
within a four block radius, in-
cluding sports bars, blues clubs,
pool halls and dance clubs. Live
bands perform nightly in at least
five different campus locations.
In Ann Arbor you can always
rent a movie.
Our point is, Daily sports
writers should stick to sports
and not venture into areas in
which the impeach their cred-
ibility.
David Diamond
Natalie Spears
University of Iowa alumni
Waldheim and
the Pope
His papal eminence, Pope John
Paul II, late in the summer granted
Dr. Kurt Waldheim, the former presi-
dent of Austria and the Secretary-
General of the United Nations from
1972-1982, the distinguished honor
of papal knighthood for his service
to the world community. Is the Pope
and the earthly leadership of the
Roman Catholic Church morally
inept as well as historically con-4
fused? Isn't this the same Vatican
that up until a few years ago still
maintained that the earth did not
revolve around the sun?ThatGalileo
was wrong?
Sadly enough, the Supreme Pon-
tiff, born in Krakow, Poland-close
to the heart of Jewish Eastern Eu-
rope - either blindly ignored or
simply glanced over the fact that
Kurt Waldheim, inducted into the
Germany Army at the start of Hitler's
war, was indeed a willing member
of the brown-shirted SAs and the
Nazi Student Movement. He signed
up for the NS-Studentenbund only
three days after the German-Aus-
trian aunschluss. He served the Ger-
man military machine faithfully and
ably from 1938 to 1941, and after a
brief hospitalization, from 1942 to
1944. In 1943, Mr. Waldheim was
promoted and transferred to the East-
ern Front, where he served as a se-
nior intelligence officer in Greece
fortwo years, as well as in the former
Yugoslavia. According to docu-
ments obtained by the World Jewish
Congress, Waldheim served directly
under the command of General
Alexander Loehr, a vicious and in-
humane man, who was convicted as
a war criminal and hanged after the
cessation of the war. Waldheim also
served for a time on the staff of
General Von Shtahl, a man executed
for war crimes by the Soviets.
In conjunction with the SS,Loehr
Sdirected and coordinated the depor-
tation of 96 percent of the Jewish
community of Salonika, Greece to
gray, lifeless Auschwitz, Poland -
the man-made hellhole that ate up
more than a million lives. In two
months, from mid-March to mid-
May 1943,theGermans piled40,000
Jews onto trains bound for the con-
centration camp. One fifth of the
entire population of Salonika van-
ished into thin air in a few short
months, but Kurt Waldheim still
maintains to this day that he knew
nothing of the organized roundup of
Greek Jews. According to U.S. Rep.
Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.), files from
the Yugoslavian War Crimes Com-
mission contain serious enough al-
legations to warrant placing Mr.
Waldheim on the "A" list of sus-
pected war criminals. Historian
Gerald Reitlinger says General Loer
is "perhaps more implicated in Jew-
ish deportations thanrany other
Wehrmacht commander."
In 1944, Mr. Waldheim finished
his legal doctoral thesis on
Konstantin Frantz. The Simon
Wisenthal Center, a Jewish organi-
zation renown for its Nazi-hunting
activities, called Mr. Frantz "a noto-
rious 19th century anti-Semite who
believed one way or the other that
the Jewish question would have to
be solved, by chopping the head off
of every Jew and replacing it with a
head that does not refer back to the
Talmud ..." Waldheim's ideologi-
cally-tinged dissertation for the Uni-
versity of Vienna School of Law
extols and celebrates Frantz's call
for a "Greater Germany." Mr.
Waldheim concludes his disserta-
tion with a quote from another Ger-
man anti-semite, Friedrich Gentz:
"Europe through Germany fell,
through Germany it must rise again."
Supporters of the Pope's move
undoubtedly point to the fact that the
U.N. General Assembly votedfreely
and fairly to make Mr. Waldheim
their Secretary-General -- a digni-
fied post he held for over a decade.
But it has been consistently docu-
mented that Waldheim has misled
the international community since
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