4 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 12, 1995
:1e Bdig n ?utr
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.
'! I M SDU
Callingde cits
Council squanders funds on YMCA lawsuits
'The University of Michigan has a policy of
systematic racism against Black people at all
levels.' - NWROC activist Shante Driver, as quoted in yesterday 's Daily
237 St. Louis Chicago 10:37am 11:30am 3-1
546 Detroit Chicago 9:0am 11:00am 1--1
I564 lMemphis Chicago 19:2pu, 16pm 1
113 Kansas City Chicago 9:21pm 1®:526pm 11-1
781 Nashville Chicago 1:080pm 2:22pm 4-1
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n what is quickly snowballing into a legal
war waged on several fronts, Great Lakes
Bancorp and the YMCA have sued the city of
Ann Arbor over a loan the city guaranteed to
the YMCA more than five years ago. City
Council members, arguing that the loan guar-
antee was illegal, have cut off payment on the
loan, inviting a lawsuit from the bank first and
now the YMCA itself. It should surprise no
one that the council's continued bungling of
the issue has cost the city two lawsuits, but it
should offend everyone that the city is pouring
taxpayer dollars into aproblem it easily should
have solved over a year ago.
Ironically, some council members have
hailed the Great Lakes lawsuit. They say it will
force a resolution to a problem that has been
festering for more than a year-- the council's
inability to reach an agreement with the YMCA
and Great Lakes that would satisfy all parties.
They may be right. But to applaud a lawsuit
they have all but asked for underscores the
"pass the buck" attitude that has corroded the
council's credibility.
In 1988, the City Council unanimously
voted to underwrite a loan from Great Lakes to
the YMCA to build about 63 new housing
units for the extremely poor. The $1.6 million
loan also allowed the YMCA to refurbish
about 37 additional housing units at its facility
on Fifth Avenue. The council's loan agree-
ment was a noble attempt to alleviate Ann
Arbor's chronic shortage of low-income hous-
ing, but it was poorly thought out. The guaran-
tee was made with cursory legal examination
-an oversight that has come backto haunt the
council. The city attorney declared the loan
agreement illegal last year after the YMCA
turned to the city to keep it from defaulting.
The crisis that resulted cost the city attorney
her job- and the city nearly $100,000 in legal
costs. And that's before the latest lawsuits
were even filed.
But how have the city's elected leaders
responded to the crisis? Instead of construc-
tively working to reach agreement with the
YMCA, a majority of council members want
to impose new restrictions on the YMCA
through amanagement agreement. While such
an agreement is badly needed to prevent the
YMCA from bleeding money as it has in the
past, some council members want to use it as
a straightjacket to micro-manage the YMCA.
A management agreement should include rea-
sonable safeguards to protect residents' rights
and ensure the integrity of the loan. A plan
favored by most council Democrats goes too
far, however. In outlining a bill of tenants'
rights, the proposed agreement tramples on
the YMCA's autonomy. Tenants' rights are
essential, but they cannot be imposed from
outside.
The council has walked blindly into a legal
gray area-and withouta reliable guide. Even
before the last city attorney left under pres-
sure, the council was receiving conflicting
opinions on the legality of the loan agreement.
Now two law firms are advising the city, along
with John VanLoon, the acting city attorney.
VanLoon says he won't represent the city, and
some council members have asked to remove
one of the law firms from the case. Even if all
factions on City Council could agree on a legal
representative, they may have no way of pay-
ing for it. A block of council members is
dismayed over the spiraling legal fees and has
vowed to veto any attempts to take money
from the budget for legal representation.
In leaving the question of the YMCA's
housing to the courts, the City Council is
irresponsibly jeopardizing the more than 100
residents of the facility. Although the YMCA
development is to remain open despite the
legal wrangling, its ultimate fate may depend
on a judge's ruling - based on case law and
legal precedent - not the interests of the
residents or even the city. The council has an
obligation to follow through on its 1988 loan
commitment. It should not leave the question
to the courts.
Vegan diet proposal short on protein, calories
To the Daily:
This is a response to your
front-page article regarding
vegan vegetarianism. It is a
warning on the behalf of your
readers.
The vegan vegetarian diet
recommendations given in Dec.
7, 1994 Daily would not be
sufficient in calories or protein
to meet the daily needs for the
average university student. The
diet recommended only in-
cluded a range of 500-1000
calories and 17-34 grams of
protein. An 18-24 year-old male
needs an average of 2900 calo-
ries and 58 grams of protein.
The average 18-24 year-old fe-
male needs 2200 calories and
46 grams of protein.
As nutritionists for the stu-
dent population we are con-
cerned over the consequences
(within weeks of consuming a
diet deficient in protein and
calories, reduced hormone pro-
duction, impaired immune
Grading plan
belittles Black
intelligence
To the Daily:
I am afraid that, while Mr.
Dennison'ssuggestedrevisions
to the University's grading
policy are well-intended, his
measures would only serve to
diminish the accomplishments
of many minority students. As
any graduate student, I have
worked very hard in the name
of academic achievement. To
have someone look upon my
accomplishments and to think
for one second that my grades
were handicapped or doctored
up to represent what I would
have made were I white would
bean insult. For what it's worth,
I know that I can go head-to-
head with any intellect, regard-
less of whether the owner of
said intellect be white, Black,
function and muscle loss would
be measurable) of the dietary
recommendations printed in the
Daily.
Can a vegan vegetarian diet
be healthy? Sure! But it has to
contain all the calories and pro-
tein, as well as vitamins, min-
erals, carbohydrates and essen-
tial fatty acids ofthe more com-
mon lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet,
orthe traditional omnivore diet.
The serving sizes and numbers
for all of these diets would be
more in line withe the food
pyramid: 6-11 grain products,
3-5 vegetables, 2-4 fruits, 2-3
dairy substitutes (tofu, forti-
fied soy milk), 2-3 meat substi-
tutes (legumes, soy meat ana-
logs, nuts), and sufficient fats,
oils and sweets to maintain
body weight and muscle mass.
With a vegan diet a couple
more dietary considerations
would be important, such as
having high vitamin C foods or
juices with meals to increase
rich or poor.
My recommendation? Let
us work to repair the psyche of
our (Black) people. What begs
repair is the low self-esteem
that plagues the Black commu-
nity, the whisper in the minds
of Blacks that tells them that
they need handicaps. that they
are somehow ill-equipped or
sub-equal to their white or
Asian counterparts, the whis-
per in your letter.
Why not extol the virtues
of "rising to the challenge" in-
stead of looking for more ways
to "get over"? Why not en-
couragement for the Black in-
tellectual instead of ridicule and
derision (e.g., Urkel)? To the
point: The Black community is
in dire need, but the fix must
come from within. Keep your
crutches, man. We do not need
them.
Eric J. Simpson
Engineering graduate
student
the absorption of the iron and
studying the proper combining
of incomplete protein sources
in plants to attain complete pro-
teins (the only kind the body
use).
How do dietitians feel about
vegan vegetarianism? It's great
to see people taking a closer
look at how they nourish them-
selves! It takes extra effort and
education to be successful at
this diet, though. We often teach
people in groups and private
sessions here at the University
how to have success with this
type of eating style. Dietitians
at University Health Services
and in Residence Halls Dining
Services are available. Please,
donot take acasual, uninformed
approach to vegan vegetarian-
ism and do not follow the rec-
ommendations previously
printed in the Daily.
Paula Herzog, RD
Robin Nwanwo, RD
Gay couples
face state bias
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to
Gregory M. Dolce's letter of 1/
10/95. Mr. Dolce, you charac-
terize the University's decision
to make health-care benefits
available to same-sex couples
as "ludicrous and a bit disturb-
ing." I find a similar problem
with your letter.
You seem to think you're
being targeted for discrimina-
tion because you and your fian-
cee would be treated differently
under this plan than would a
same-sex couple, whose situa-
tion you perceive to be the same
as yours: living together but not
married. It is apparent that you
do not understand how funda-
mentally different your situa-
tion is from that of a same-sex
couple. Have you considered
that all you have to do to re-
ceive these benefits is to get a
license and a ring and tie the
knot? Your relationship is just
that much short of getting the
state's official stamp of ap-
proval and thus all the tax ben-
efits, survivorship rights, etc.,
that go along with marriage. By
contrast, a same-sex couple, no
matterhow much they love each
other, how much they are com-
mitted to each other, no matter
how long they live together, are
prohibited by state law from
marrying.
Although the power of cre-
ating and dissolving the legal
bond of marriage lies with the
state, the city of Ann Arbor and
the University have created a
series of requirements that,
when fulfilled, are tantamount
to traditional marriage for cer-
tain purposes - a municipal
recognition of a union that oth-
erwise has no legal existence.
In other words, same-sex
Stop me if
you've heard
this one before
Back from El Dia de los Tres
Reyes, the warmth of Sevilla, the art
of Florence, the skillful pickpocketers
of Rome and a semblance of happi-
ness, "Jason's Lyric" is somehow
able this week, in its 1995 debut, to
churn out another juicy bit of column
material on the very un-illustrious,
saddening facts of temporal life in
the tundra-like climate of Ann Ar-
bor, Mich. This week I modestly put
forth some New Years Resolutions
and helpful pointers forthe average,
melancholic University student, con-
fronted face-to-face with his deci-
sion to attend this school, now that
football season is over, the basket-
ball team is out of. the top 25 and
Marty Turco hit puberty:
1. Never, ever throw away those
old Smiths albums. You'll never
Iknow when they'll come in handy -
like the first week back from winter
break (a secularized version ofChrist-
mas), when all you have in front of
you is another three months of soli-
tude, slip-and-fall accidents and debt
problems with AT&T. Like I always
say, a dose of "Louder than Bombs"
can do a body good.
2. Don't wait until it's too late to
modify that Spanish class. However
long or miserable a term may be, it is
nothing compared to a foreign lan-
guageclass that actually means some-
thing to your GPA.
3. A note for Southerners new to
the "U" (yes, south Floridians are
included in this category, although a
plurality of those south of Lake
Okeechobee are New Yorkers):
Those warm, comfy down jackets
are made from the feathers of slaugh-
tered geese. And don't be fooled into
letting a supposedly helpful uncle
from Chicago talk you into purchas-
ing one of 'em from Eddie Bauer.
4. However depressed you may
feel in your single dorm room right
now, Bill and Hillary Clinton feel
worse, much much worse.
5. Don't underestimate the politi-
cal will and institutional power of the
faceless "City Parking Violations
Bureau," a bureaucratic arm of the
city and the University accountable
to no one, with complete access to
the names, addresses, tax records
and dental histories of every Univer-
sity student. The "bureau," an orga-
nization targeted by the writers of the
IContract with America, also takes
pride in breaching the solemn pact
that has existed between college stu-
dents and their parents since the ad-
vent of automated teller machines -
how many parking tickets we've re-
ceived in Ann Arbor, and how badly
we manage our parents' money.
6. As a correlate to #5, remember
that the parking lot behind the Stu-
dent Publications Building is no safe
haven from the united forces of the
parking police; well, neither is Bihac.
7. For all those looking for the
virtues of "God, Family and Coun-
try," itcan be found at Mark Fletcher's
doorstep. Sign me up.
8, 8, 8. I forgot what 8 is for...
9. Write a letter to NATO HQ in
Brussels and ask them in the plainest
language:
Dear Sirs, "Why in the hell do
you exist?" (P.S. Political science
majors can feel free to write to
"Jason's Lyric" and respond to this
question.)
10. Join the T.V. rerun culture-
led by such cultural icons of pax
Americana as Doogie Howser, the
castof Saved by the Bell, Mike Seaver
of Growing Pains, Route 66 vigi-
lante turned pop singer and Knight
Rider's own David Hasselhoff, clas-
sic Cheers episodes at 7:30 p.m. and
even Magnum P.I. at 1 p.m.Iperson-
ally like Magnum because he talks to
himself and objectively assesses all
of his private investigatory decisions.
And of course there's always C-
SPAN for the politically inclined and
socially repressed.
01
Misplaced alleiances
Response to conflict shows Cold War mentality
t seems like deja vu all over again: As forces
from Moscow move with brutal swiftness
to quash a minority people's bid for indepen-
dence, the U.S. government solemnly asserts
its support of the larger nation's sovereignty.
It happened four years ago as the Baltic na-
tions attempted to secede from the Soviet
Union and President George Bush discour-
aged leaders ofindependence movements from
"provoking"Moscow. And the scenario seems
to be replaying itself as President Clinton
reiterated his support for Boris Yeltsin, even
as the Russian president's forces attempt to
bring down the independence movement in
Chechnya.
As the Soviet empire slowly disintegrated,
the U.S. government affirmed and reaffirmed
its support for President Mikhail Gorbachev.
U.S. support of Gorbachev may have pro-
longed the Soviet leader's reign - and per-
haps even forestalled the splintering of the
USSR -- but it ultimately accomplished little
but to alienate pro-democratic independence
movements.
Successive U.S. governments have pro-
claimed their support for national self-deter-
mination, but their records have been mixed at
best. The U.S. government was among the last
to recognize the free states that once com-
nosed the Soviet Union, and only after their
ers across the Soviet Union. Such simple-
minded foreign policy may have been effec-
tive in the age of omnipotent leaders, but it
fails to appreciate the complexities of post-
Cold War international politics.
The Clinton administration is now vesting
its Russia policy on one man -Boris Yeltsin.
While Yeltsin's role in the Chechyn conflict is
unclear -he has publicly called for an end to
the conflict even as it rages unchecked - the
Russian leader is but one of many actors in the
tragic melodrama unfolding in Chechnya. In-
stead of betting all its chips on Yeltsin - a
man whose political future is far from certain
- the U.S. government should support the
Chechen people's right to self-determination.
As the undisputed leader of the free world,
the United States wields diplomatic and eco-
nomic power to nudge the conflict to a peace-
ful resolution. Regrettably, the government is
forfeiting its chance to pressure Russia's lead-
ers into ceasing their Chechen campaign. The
idea of "Russian sovereignty" still has its
adherents in Washington, even as this loose
amalgam of peoples splits apart at the seams.
Maintaining friendly relations with the
Yeltsin government is desirable in that is helps
avert the possibility of an ultranationalist take-
over in Moscow. But supporting Yeltsin should
not come at the cost of abandoning the national
0
Football team disappoints;
coach Moeller is to blame
To the Daily:
Anger. Disgust. Frustration.
These feelings are being felt by
every true Michigan football
fan. For the second year in a
row, the Michigan football pro-
gram has become the shining
example of mediocrity. A sea-
son of high hopes comes sput-
tering to a pitiful end.
Why? It has become obvi-
ous that Gary Moeller does not
have the ability to consistently
lead this program to success.
His refusal to accept the fact,
THE FACT, that his offensive
scheme is an artifact of a by-
gone era has cost Michigan its
status as a powerhouse on the
gridiron. His refusal to scrap
the defensive plan of Lloyd Carr
has made it nossible for everv
been working?", there is some-
thing wrong.
Moeller has had the most
talented teams in the country
during his time here. This al-
lowed him early on to capture
big ten championships and a
pair of Rose Bowl visits. But
other teams in the Big Ten have
adapted and improved, while
Moeller is unable to adapt to
these changes. This has caught
up to him the past two seasons
and he has repeatedly been out-
coached.
Michigan will not be a seri-
ous Big Ten contender until
Gary Moeller has been re-
moved and replaced with a
modern, energetic head coach.
I urge Athletic Director Joe
Roherson to gerinsiv consider
I