4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 14, 1995 lle £ititigun laig I JEAN TWENGE Tm ERASABLE PEN 10 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan I I MICHAEL ROSENBERG Editor in Chief JULIE BECKER JAMES NASH Editorial Page Editors Memories ofpolyester in a plai4, plaid world 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. Regterntal shuff Student interests at stake in board overhaul After 70 years of the same procedures, the University Board of Regents is propos- ing to alter its mode of operation. On the whole, the suggested changes will make the board more efficient -- and more important, increase accessibility. For example, pressing issues will be discussed at the Thursday por- tion of the meeting, while routine business and voting will take place at the Friday meeting. This will allow concerned students tobe present during discussion of issues that most affect them, without sitting through dull, less rel- evant business transactions. The eight regents will divide into two com- mittees, one dealing with financial issues and the other with policy issues. This is a natural division, as some regents have expertise in certain areas. Committees will enable the re- gents to closely examine issues without bog- ging down each regent with an information overload. Currently, regents have to prepare for meetings by reading inches-thick reports - preventing them from concentrating prop- erly on most issues because of the sheer vol- ume of information. The new system will enable each issue to receive proper attention from the board. However, valid concerns exist about possible violation of the Michi- gan Open Meetings Act. A quorum of five regents at a meeting is required to invoke the law for that gathering. Since each committee will consist of only four members, the re- gents could circumvent the act - and keep the meetings closed. While the University has assured the public that the committees are not decision-making bodies, they will make recommendations to the rest of the regents based on what is determined in com- mittee meetings. The regents outside of the recommending committee may not have as much information as the committee mem- bers on a particular issue - meaning that both committees will have a strong influence over what is decided at the official meetings. The committee meetings must adhere to the spirit of the Open Meetings Act and be open to the public, as their advice is of great consequence to students. Another potential change that will affect students is the structure of public comments. The present procedure gives up to 12 students a maximum of five minutes each to speak to the silent circle of regents who are roped off from the audience. While no specific modifi- cations have been suggested, it is clear that this format is sorely in need of improvement. Re- gent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) com- mented, "I think it's dreadful the way it's done. ... I hate the fact that it appears to be at the moment the only way the student leadership can communicate with the regents." Public comments must take place in a receptive atmo- sphere, not an intimidating one. Moreover, creating a student spot on the board is impera- tive. Student concerns must have a legitimate voice at meetings. Although these changes appear to be drab procedural overhauls, student interests are at stake. Any changes that are implemented must be made with the goals of increasing student access to the board and improving the deci- sion-making process that affects them. G4 by can't things always work T Tout perfectly in a half-hour like they did on the Brady Bunch?" asked one character in the grunge movie Reality Bites. "Because Mr. Brady died of AIDS," his friend answers. Robert Reed did indeed die of AIDS, a fate and a disease that we would have found unfathomable as children, coming home from school to watch the show whose plots could be neatly summarized in one sen- tence: Jan gets glasses, Marsha has two dates, Peter's voice changes, Marsha and Greg fight over the attic room. It's this simplicity and optimism that made the show so popular with kids -- especially us cynical Generation X kids, old before our time. Everything around us was chaos, but on Three's Company, the Brady Bunch, the Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, the Dukes of Hazzard and Scooby-Doo, things were simple, just the way we liked them. Even Schoolhouse Rock managed to reduce American history and government to chorus, verse and cartoon. Going back and watching your favorite childhood shows is a strange experience. How could you not have noticed that Mr. Farley's lapels were the size of New Jersey? What merit did could you possibly found in such a predictable, inane show? When I was seven, my favorite show was "G-Force" (or "Battle of the Planets") - the saga of a group of bellbottomed kids who put on capes, jumped into their fiery phoenix plane, and went off to save the world. I hadn't seen the show in nearly 15 years until I came across it on the Cartoon Network a few weeks ago - the kids were attempting to rescue Earth from the scourge of a race of giant flowers that attacked women (but not men), wrecked cities and could not be destroyed by bomb- ing. The show's scientist finally discov- ered that a drop of his blood could kill the flowers - they wouldn't attack men be- cause (dramatic pause) the male Y chro- mosome was poison to them! So, he said, what they needed to do was ... drop a "Y chromosome bomb" on the flowers! (I am not making this up.) At 7, I could not have caught the deli- cious symbolism in such a plot device. I was probably just glad they won - and I had the reassurance that every show, every problem, they would win. At the same time the reality of masculinity and war settled somewhere in my TV-crazed brain. Watching the Brady Bunch Movie is a similarly strange experience. Here are these kids whose problems are always trivial, who see the world through entirely innocent eyes. The movie is a parody of itself, center- ing its predictable plot around the Bradys even as it demonstrates how ridiculous they are. Yet the people at school keep falling in love with the Brady kids. They know they're square, they know they're a little weird, yet they're so attractive and happy that the grungers can't resist them. There are messages here too - of the impor- tance of appearance, the seductiveness of shallow words, the attraction of "normal," bland American values and living. Deep in our cynical hearts, our child- hood shows are life as we sometimes wish it would be. Scooby-Doo, for instance, is an amazingly boring show - a slow-paced cartoon where the characters always wear the same clothes and solve the same mys- tery over and over again. "Scooby and Shaggy must have been on drugs," one friend of mine says, "Cuz they always had the munchies, and they kept seeing things." But in our childhood world, Scooby and Shaggy were just wimps who were scared of a ghost we knew wasn't there -a ghost who was just some mean old person who wanted money or power. Our fears are no longer quite so simple. We may go back and laugh at our childhood shows, wondering how they could have possibly been entertaining. Then we turn on 90210 and immerse ourselves in the prob- lems of beautiful people, or Star Trek to immerse ourselves in the technological prob- lems of smart people in the near-perfect future of humankind. Somewhere, deep in the television screen, we still wish for that world where the sun is always shining and the Astroturf lawn neverneeds to be mowed. 0 .. ........ ... - I'll - JIM LAssER ' SHARP AS TOAST NOTABLE QUOTABLE Buck stops here Clinton should prevent IRA fund-raising Last week, President Clinton authorized a three-month entry visa to Gerry Adams, leader of Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein politi- cal party. Clinton also invited Adams to a St. Patrick's Day reception at the White House and - distressingly - allowed the Sinn Fein leader to solicit funds in the United States. While there is no disagreement in allowing Adams to enter the United States and meet with President Clinton, it is a dangerous mis- take to allow him to fund-raise in this country. Sinn Fein is the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), an internationally infamous terrorist group. During the past year, Sinn Fein has been involved in peace negotia- tions with Britain in an attempt to bring some stability to Northern Ireland. The party was influential in making the IRA declare the cease- fire that helped bring about the negotiations. In this capacity, Gerry Adams, as leader of Sinn Fein, has been an important figure in the peace process in Northern Ireland and his meeting with President Clinton acknowledges that. Adams is slowly being accepted as an official representative of Catholic interests in North- ern Ireland. However, one fact remains: Gerry Adams has close ties to the IRA and money collected for Sinn Fein has found its way to the terrorist group in the past. The IRA has yet to disarm itself and yet to renounce violence. It is danger- ous and nearsighted to allow Adams to raise money in the United States - money that could find its way to a group that is involved in assassinations, drug dealing, arms trafficking and the bombing of innocent civilians. There is little question about the IRA's terrorist creden- tials or Sinn Fein's connection to them. As a rule of principle, President Clinton must do all he can to prevent terrorism, in this nation or in countries around the globe. Re- cent events have made former terrorists like Gerry Adams and Yasser Arafat into legiti- mate peace representatives. However, this new reach for peace does not absolve them of their pasts. Clinton should help the peace process in Northern Ireland and other places by lending an ear. However, there is no reason to allow Adams to raise money in the United States. This country has always maintained a strong position against terrorism and it is a grave mistake for President Clinton to tiptoe around that stance. Unruly mobs stifle debate on Prop. 187 To the Daily: I was thoroughly appalled at the behavior of my fellow stu- dents at the discussion on Propo- sition 187 at Rackham on March 8. I went to the discussion in the hopes that I would be able to make my own informed decision about Prop 187. However, I was preempted by thugs in the audi- ence who took it upon themselves to let "mob rule" dictate by con- stantly yelling over speech that they disagreed with, to the point where the audience was not able to hear the speaker at all. The other common practice was for audience members to step up to the microphone, ostensibly to ask the panel a question, but instead took the opportunity to spout off about their own political views at the expense of allowing the panel intelligent discourse about the issues at hand. More often than not, a panel speaker would also be interrupted by an audience member at the microphone and when the panel speaker would attempt to con- tinue speaking, someone would yell "Free Speech!" apparently to imply that the audience had free speech rights, but not the panel member. There was also an inherent event. But hypocrisy abounds, and I would remind the student body that fascism was for the forceful suppression of speech, ideas and individual thought; the audience perpetrated this im- morality at-the discussion -- at a supposed liberal university. Steve Schaller Rackham graduate student Writer unfairly, criticizes MSA candidate To the Daily: I had to write after reading Ian Lester rip into Fiona Rose's statement that Flint and Sam are two white males ("Candidates Enlightened," 3/9/95). After reading the opening love-fest with which Ian started his letter, he probably would never be- lieve that journalists at the Daily could ever take statements out of context. Ian attempts to accuse Fiona of being "prejudiced" and "nar- row-minded" because she hap- pened to point out that she was a woman and the Daily decided not to print any of herother views (although Ian seems to know them anyway, since he bets "dol- lar to a dozen" that "she has no problems" with Flint's platform). He also tries to state that Flint and Sam can understand something regardless of what they look like. Mcard not an advantage to students To the Daily: When I first heard about Mcard, I thought it was a good idea. I figured there really couldn't be much, if anything, wrong with expanded purchas- ing power. The idea is to let stu- dents have an Entr6e Plus-type debit account at "off-campus" stores such as McDonald's and Ulrich's. It seems good for two reasons: the expanded usage of the debit system and the end of what is basically an unfair mo- nopoly by Union merchants, Michigan Union Bookstore, etc. Then, the card was unveiled recently; the details were re- leased, and my feeling toward Mcard reversed 180 degrees. The original idea that I held is still a good one, but Mcard doesn't carry it out. The only people at an advan- tage with Mcard vs. Entr6e Plus are those with First of America checking accounts, and even they have a big problem. Unless you have a checking account, you use CashStripe. This means you go to a machine, insert the card, insert money (up to $50), and you're on your way with the money on the card instead of in your pocket. It's much like the copy card system at the University librar- count. Finally, Mcard is at least an advantage to these people. WRONG. BankStripe can't be used at any fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell or Wendy's. I hope that all University stu- dents carefully consider Mcard before leaping on this band- wagon. Yes, the idea.is good, but, as students, we should not participate in Mcard. Make sure the University knows that what they have done isn't enough of an improvement on the existing system. Don't let the flashy new Mcard pass off as something it is not, an advantage to us. Thomas C. Huber LSA sophomore Greenberg neglected duty Making amends with Major If any consolation can be found in the diplomatic mess arising from President Clinton's red-carpet treatment of Gerry Adams, it is this: Britain has renewed pressure on Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army to "decom- mission" their weapons. And Clinton, stung by the diplomatic fallout from his invitation, appears willing to join forces with British Prime Minister John Major to pressure the IRA. Britain demands a total decommission- ing of weapons as a prerequisite to negotia- tions with Sinn Fein. permitting the Adams to raise funds here. Major has urged the Irish republicans to scrap the arms they used to fight British rule in Northern Ireland during the long civil war. The prime minister wrote a letter to Clinton in which he urged the president to apply pressure to Adams to disarm. Major's pro- posal is a needed step to mend the wounds between Britain and the United States. It is unfortunate that the first overtures in the wake of Clinton's invitation have origi- nated in London. Clinton blundered badly by slighting Britain and coddling a leader affili- To the Daily: I would like to respond to Craig Greenberg's letter (3/13/ 95). The recalling of his chair- manship was not in any way politically motivated. Mr. Greenberg in his history as chair NEVER, called a meeting, people showed interest but were never included. One of the most important campus issues is on hiatus because everyone knows the regents will not address the issue anytime soon. We also have two seniors (Greenberg and Julie Neenan) who although have put an admirable amount of energy have involved no one 0 I