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 A______ ta JnEaug~~e Sj/WE'L.L 'AK E e NASHV L LE C ~L~IT 4 ~ - I S/ N -r1.____ ___ 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