4 - The Michigan Daily -- Thursday, February 9, 1995 E liu igttn tt 1 JASON LICwTSTEIN JASON's LYRc 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan MICHAEL ROSENBERG Editor in Chief JULIE BECKER JAMES NASH 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. Sunset Bill pulls shutters on residential searches. T he University is continuing the fight to exempt itself from the state Open Meet- ings Act and Freedom of Information Act, this time with the help of state Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle Creek). Schwarz has in- troduced a bill that would allow all 15 state universities in Michigan to subvert existing open meetings and Freedom of Information Act laws by restricting public access to the names of candidates for the position of uni- versity president. The bill comes in response to the Michigan Supreme Court ruling of 1993 that the University's last presidential search - which resulted in hiring University President James J. Duderstadt in 1988 - was illegal. Essentially, the University and its friends in the state Legislature have deter- mined that since the last search violated ex- isting laws, the laws themselves should be altered to fit the University's agenda, rather than changing how presidential searches are conducted. Schwarz's bill rests on flawed logic. He claims that if the search process is opened to the public, "people simply won't apply." Moreover, he claims that qualified individu- als do not want to go through the scrutiny inherent in vying for a high-ranking univer- sity position. This line of thinking is short- sighted and irrational. Michigan is one of the premier public institutions in the country, and the job of its president is consequently one of the most sought-after. There should be very few cases where a candidate for Univer- sity president is not already highly regarded in the academic arena. His or her job would presumably not be at risk merely because of consideration as a candidate to lead the Uni- versity of Michigan - such consideration is an honor and should come as no surprise. The bill as introduced also is a slap in the face to students and taxpayers. There are parts of the extensive process that students and the public deserve to know about. Like- wise, they deserve to know who the finalists for the positions are and what credentials they would bring to the job. Closing the search process disrespects faculty members of the state's universities by not allowing for their input in the process. It also insults students, who have a legitimate right to know the qualifications of the candidates for the highest authority position on campus - a position their tuition dollars support. Schwarz has said there is a possibility that an amendment may be introduced to the bill that would open up the search during the final selection process, at which time the field would be narrowed to three candidates. This is a step in the right direction, but it should not end with the three finalists. Initial lists of potential prospects could be restricted until they officially apply for the job. Once inter- ested parties throw their hat in the ring, ho.wever, their candidacy should be public knowledge. As long as Michigan universi- ties are supported with public funds, the public deserves the right to review the pro- cess of determining who is best qualified to lead them. Ti e i th Now that I am in my last semester of this inglorious undergraduate expe- rience, I have the pleasure of attending a course - actually, a seminar - on the 6th floor of the Institute for Social Research. That's right folks, the ISR building - the virtual birthplace of modern American social science and survey-based research. So, as the story goes, I was milling around the 6th floor a couple of weeks ago and I came across a book, from a bygone era, slated for clearance by the literate ISR library staff, called The American Teen- ager, by a tandem of Purdue researchers, H.H. Remmers and D.H. Radler. And be- cause I find popular culture and the ilk so fascinating, I actually bought this heap of parchment set in a hefty 14-point type, the type and size of font used regularly when those of the first-year orientation find them- selves in a desperate bid to lengthen a tedious Great Books paper, concerned with the strategies of the Peloponnesian War (The Honors College taught me all about that beautiful dung beetle, and its flight to the heavens!). Plus, a former Dailyite and bespeckled housemate of mine had the pleasure to ven- ture over to the first-come, first-serve Ticketmaster outlet at Wherehouse Records in Jackson, Mich., on Friday evening - the renowned, sprawling metropolitan cen- ter ranked dead last in overall quality of life in the annual survey of American cities. The occasion: REM tix, and the biggest concert of the year, of the decade actually, except for the fact that Mikey Mills, unibrow, Buck, Stipe, the legally minded Bertis Downs and Ambassador Holt are set to play a historic centennial bash on Dec. 31, 1999 in Athens, Ga. Gotta find that treehouse if I ever make it to Athens. So off we drove, westward, and by some stroke of divine justice, we man- aged to claim the third slot in line. So for 16 hours we froze - I meanwhile took the opportunity to head over to a nearby Video Watch and read the back of some hundred videos. I also bought a prehistoric Violent Femmes album (remember that 8,8,8 ... I forgot what 8 is for). The point is, we hung out with a cohort of 15- and 16-year-olds who made the drive down from Brooklyn, Mich. - dyed-hair, Cure CDs, pimples and teenage angst aplenty. So what makes this age group tick? Is it more than Friday night dates gone awry, tawdry notes scrawled on notebook paper, Corey Feldman films and social dejection for the Music for the Masses crowd? Well, here's where The American Teenager comes in. Let's turn to Chapter Three: "TheProblems He Has - Physical, Sexual, Social." This is what those learned ones at Purdue discovered: Most teen-agers believe that "poli- tics is over their heads, and besides, it's a dirty game run by unscrupulous insiders." A majority of teenage respondents believe that history is full of lies, all lies actually; and some even have a odd habit of biting their nails. Many boys try valiantly to prevent nocturnal emissions, only to find that they cannot be controlled. Quite a revelation. he land of the free and e home of the pimpled 0 S E A third of boys and irls worry espe- cially about pimples. Says an ith-grade girl: "My complexion is my greatest per- sonal problem. I ha e had acne since I was in the 6th grade, and it's just now beginning to clear up even though I have used doctors "prescriptions and suggested medications faithfully." Retin-A to the rescue. Although only I percent of Protest1ant youth agree with the statement that "people dislike my race or nationality," some 43 percent of the Jewish teens say that this feeling is one of their major problems. Also, the authors concluded that .Jewish youth seem to have the most personal problems among the three major religious groups, especially in worrying about "little things." Luckily causation has been established, and the culprit is the Jewish mother. This passage is my favorite: "Grow- ing up isn't a steady,smooth proccss. On the way to adult poise, (teens) pass through awkward misery. Their ierstwhile smooth- working bodies turn into gang:ix",ill-coordi- nated machines ... Their rosy skins, glow- ing just a moment ago with the bloom of childhood, now look to them like some nightmare field of black pits and erupting volcanoes. This newly strange body of theirs is the battleground for spiritual upheaval." Oh, the American teen-ager, "confused. afraid, dependent or seeking independent ... Soon we will place future history in his hands." All hail the new king in town. - .1SL is actuallv 20 cears old. A note: last week's "psychiatric all v-inclines " re- allvimeant tosay "pst hiatricallinclinec." " MAR.ILYN iAo!NRC (F c StARn AS T~OAST V 5ET A ,E STAMP C S a7 b r, NOTABLE QUOTABLE "You have to pay $3 to go have a cup of tea with your aunt?" --- Georges Rioux, a Canadian embassy spokesman in Washing- ton,n- n a proposed $3 entry fee for travelers from the United States to Canada Taming the Dragon U.S. moves boldly with sanctions on China L ast week the Clinton administration acted both swiftly and firmly by imposing a wide range of well-targeted trade sanctions on the Chinese government. Washington's new stance solidifies a developing trend of bold foreign policy initiatives by the Clinton administration. This recent measure came in reaction to Beijing's failure to address the mounting problem of intellectual piracy of copyrighted American goods. The problem has grown to stunning proportions - costing American businesses an estimated $1 billion or more per year. The Chinese government has re- peatedly assured the United States that it is cracking down on the piracy, but its words have been followed by little action. China's inadequate response has continued for more than two years in which the two nations have met more than 20 times regarding these is- sues. In addition, because a large majority of the piracy is being committed by state-owned enterprises, China's response to U.S. con- cerns can be characterized as nothing short of offensive. As the insatiable hunger for Ameri- can intellectual property continues to grow rapidly throughout the burgeoning Asian economies, the problem becomes particu- larly alarming. Given the growing desire and illegal availability of such technology and copyrighted property, tacit approval of pi- racy would be a grave error. In light of this, the Clinton administration's recent actions were both wise and timely. The administration's new, punitive mea- sure placed a 100-percent tariff on a wide range of Chinese goods. Goods targeted for sanctions were carefully selected; most of these imports are easily available from other nations, a measure taken to avoid angering American consumers. Sanctioned goods were HOW TO CONTACT THEM University Regent Nellie Varner (D-Detroit) 771 E. 8-mile Rd. Detroit, MI 48220 also selected so as not to disrupt U.S. busi- ness. Not only has the American business community expressed support for the recent maneuver, but congressional leaders from both political parties have followed suit. As tensions mount in China over the im- minent death of ailing leader Deng Xiaopeng, the issue of succession looms large. While Jiang Zemin was officially appointed the new president of the People's Republic, his political power base is extremely weak among the younger Chinese officials. In addition, contention over political and economic re- forms makes China's domestic political en- vironment increasingly hostile. The combi- nation of these issues makes diplomatic deal- ings with China unsure and tedious. It is precisely because President Clinton has acted so boldly, in spite of the current power vacuum in China, that his recent foreign policy mea- sures deserve praise. In addition, Clinton's stance serves as an important message to the Chinese govern- ment. The U.S. government has not been effective in eliciting Chinese cooperation on preventing illegal arms sales or nuclear pro- liferation from China. The Clinton adminis- tration would be wise to link Chinese coop- eration on these issues to entry into the Gen- eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a long- desired goal of the Chinese. President Clinton's recent foreign policy endeavors, which include his executive ini- tiative to rescue the faltering peso and the commissioning of troops to Haiti, mark a new, bolder trend in the administration's foreign agenda. Moreover, China's encour- agingly quick response - inviting the United States back to the bargaining table next week - is a good indicator of the wisdom of the administration's recent measure. University Regent Philip H. Power (D-Ann Arbor) 412 E. Huron St. P.O. Box 7989 Ann Arbor, MI 48107-7989 LETTERS Posting more than fantasy To the Daily: Once again, we have a turbu- lent situation raging concerning freedom of speech and the Internet. Unfortunately, one of the most important issues con- cerning this case is being lost in the hectic, "Free Speech" shuffle: the ever-present terrorism against women in U.S. society. Certainly, the University stu- dent who wrote the "sexual" (thinking people agree that sex has little to do with torture and mutilation) fantasy piece and dis- tributed it on the 'Net had every right to do so. That's what free speech is all about, and I wouldn't change it for the world. What he did not have the right to do is use the name of a living, breathing female University student and insert this name in his disturbed fantasy, thereby reducing this woman into a mere object to be raped, tortured and maimed for the "sexual" release of others. It doesn't matter if he ever spoke to this woman or not. It doesn't matter if he has motives to ha- rass her - what does matter is that he used her name, her "selfness," because he wasn't even creative enough to think up a name for his brutal sce- nario. He had no right to do that, and he has robbed that woman symbolically by his immature act. I think the fact that he chose American society is guilty of terrorizing women. It's time to speak up and call people like the University student who wrote the torture story what they are - mentally sick individuals who steal self-esteem and the sense of security from women, and perhaps even helping to sow the seeds of violent acts. I, for one, will not keep quiet about my outrage at the story this student wrote for fear of seeming against free speech. I honestly believe that free speech is abso- lutely essential in our society, and that student had the right to compose and post that story. However, I believe just as strongly that it is crucial to speak up about the other issues in this case, issues about stealing a woman's name and objectifying her into a role where she is imag- ined to be raped and tortured for the "sexual" gratification of one very disturbed, obviously uncre- ative, would-be student writer. Marlfrances Conrad LSA senior Deviant deserves what he got To the Daily: Cheers to President Duderstadt for dealing with por- nography the way it should be dealt with! Finally, an adminis- trator acts autonomously, with no qualms or second thoughts responsibility for student devi- ants into their own hands, but hey! Blah blah blah! We're talk- ingaboutnakedpictureshere!!!!! And another thing we should consider is what an incident like Baker's may do to the University's reputation! I mean, none of us want to have to deal with telling someone where we go to school and having them reply, "Oh ... aren't you guys a bunch of sicko freaks?" Thanks for looking out for us again, President Duderstadt. People like Baker don't even deserve rights - I mean, he's lucky we even let him live!!! Thank you for your time, now I am going to be sick. Oh, and for anyone who took any of that literally, please do not harass me. Jesse Ackles Student Civil Liberties Watch Viewpoint lacks facts To the Daily: I take exception to several points made in Damon Jamaal Walker's article published on race-based scholarships ("Race- based scholarships necessary,' 2/3/95). However, I'll only point out one of the article's flaws. Damon states: "First of all. the University has been proven by studies and by the Black Ac- not-so-well-thought-out opin- ions. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education: The Michi- gan Business School "is the only (B-School) with a double-digit percentage of Black students. It graduates more Black MBAs than any school in America." 'The journal also praises our University along with Harvard, as having the most African American faculty members. I salute your dedication to helping the poor and disadvan- taged gain as much education as possible. However, do not let this dedication lead you to opin- ions grounded in what you want to believe, rather than in what the facts logically dictate. I would never have returned to this University as a graduate student if not for the diverse backgrounds of my professors and classmates. I hope the Uni- versity continues to attract per- sons from all walks of life. Mark D. Kalinowski First-year graduate student Better Review To the Daily: I feel as though I should add the following comments regard- ing the Michigan Review: In re- cent months the staff appears to be making attempts at broaden- ing their spectrum of interests and reporting. It's nice to see intelligent reviews of jazz reis- sues. In the past I've only seen white rock bands and occasional