4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 2, 1996
420 May
Ann Arbo
Edited an
studer
University
ynard Street RONNIE GLASSBERG
r, MI 48109 Editor in Chief
m anaged by ADRIENNE JANNEY
nts at the ZACHARY M. RAIMI
of Michigan Editorial Page Editors
"NOTABLE QUOTABLE,,
'in the 1960s, there were no real heroes, and there
aren't now either. ... If there are no real heroes, you turn
to manga.'
- Dr. Masahiko Ito, a Japanese pediatrician, explain-
ing why manga comic books are popular in Japan
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion ofa majority of the Daily's editorial board. All
other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
FROM THE DAilY
A Friendly agreement
'U' should disclose details of settlement
JIM LASSER
STATE OF THE UNION.
SHARP As TOAST
T he University likes its secrets. The ad-
' ministration closed the doors on the
1988 presidential search and is coming close
to veiling the current one. The tendency to
hide extends to its out-of-court settlement
with Communication lecturer Jonathan
Friendly. The University refused to release
the details of Friendly's contract buyout.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, The
Michigan Daily requested that the Univer-
sity release the specifics. The University
then disclosed to the Daily that it paid $37,500
-o Friendly in December to buy out his con-
'ract. Whether the check was the entire settle-
ment or only a fraction is unclear. But since
the University is paying Friendly frompublic
funds, it should make the entire agreement
available.
In defense of its silence, the University
cited a clause in the Friendly agreement
preventing disclosure of the buyout terms to
athird party. Lew Morrissey, the University's
chief freedom of information officer, said
releasing details ofthe settlement wouldcon-
stitute an invasion of Friendly's privacy.
Since Friendly originally brought the suit
against the University - opening himself up
to the public eye - it's unlikely that his
"privacy" is at stake. Rather, the nondisclo-
sure clause protects the University from in-
curring any more negative publicity over the
embarrassing charges of financial misappro-
priation that Friendly brought against the
department. Friendly'slawsuit contendedthat
the University refused to renew his three-
year contract as punishment for accusing the
school of mishandling the Helen F. Weber
and Howard R. Marsh endowment funds.
Originally meant for communication con-
centrators to defray internship costs, the funds
were allegedly used to pay Friendly's salary.
Inlight ofthis, Friendly's contract buyout,
adds up to more than a personal dispute. The
University is protecting its own "privacy"_-
or secrecy. The nondisclosure clause could
be interpreted as a gag on an incident poten-
tially sticky for the University. Communica-
tion concentrators who may have been cheated
by the alleged misuse of the endowment will
want compensation.
But they have a right to know if the
University, like a petty thief, shortchanged
them. Andthe taxpayers who will have to pay
for Friendly's buyout have a right to know
how much the University paid in the settle-
ment.
So much for a cover-up. Friendly already
has been subject to public scrutiny. Any
attempt to shield him now is useless. No one
but the University is in a position to use the
settlement information against him. This is
Friendly's final semester at the University.
His lawsuit claimed the University already
attempted to punish him as whistle-blower.
Friendly has nothing left to lose.
The University stands only to lose its
reputation for sneaking around. Administra-
tors shouldcooperate withthe requestedFOIA
and release all the terms of Friendly's settle-
ment. Anything less gives the appearance of
a sloppy cover of an already questionable
financial matter.
<04.4
LETFERS TO THE EDITOR
'Dental School 3' justified in racism claim
TO THE DAILY:
The Daily's "Crying
Wolf' editorial (1/27/96) is a
truly disgraceful piece of
'journalism." After three
black workers had the
courage to put their jobs on
the line for over a year in a
fight against racism - and
after hundreds marched and
worked on their behalf -
the Daily pronounces their
struggle as "trivial,"
"frivolous" and a "waste of
time and money."
Before rendering this
judgment, the Daily did not
even ask the three employees
why they saw the firings as
racist. Nor did it attempt to
obtain the sworn testimony
which has been compiled on
these discharges.
Had the Daily bothered to
check that testimony, it
would have learned that the
University suspended these
long-service workers with
excellent records without
even bothering to ask them
what happened. It would
have learned that the
University then discharged
these workers on the "basis"
of three statements - one
from a white dental student
who later admitted that he
might be wrong; one from a
white co-employee who had
previously been counseled
for her racist statements; and
one from an openly racist
white employee who
volunteered his view that he
despised working with the
three black workers because
they were "dirty," "filthy"
and "constantly throwing
garbage" on the floor.
Without daring to use the
word racism, the arbitrator
rightly rejected this filth,
rightly rejected the
University's fundamental
charge against the employ-
ees and rightly set aside both
attempts by the University
to fire them.
Having dispensed this
The University
discharged dental
employees on the
basis of biased
statements.
much justice, the arbitrator
stopped short - upholding
the suspensions and
transfers on the flimsiest of
evidence. Had the Daily
bothered to find out
anything about arbitration
- where the judge is
usually a lawyer with the
same prejudices as manage-
ment and always dependent
upon the University for
future cases - it would not
haveclaimed thatthis split
result is the vindication
which the University now
claims it to be. And it would
not have predicted so
confidently that a
Washtenaw County jury -
which is not subject to the
same pressures and which
will be more integrated and
working class - would stop
short as the arbitrator did.
The Daily's sloppiness is
not an accident. From the
beginning of this case, the
Daily has refused to cover
the struggle of the Dental
School Three objectively.
Rather, the editors of the
Daily have used the pages of
the paper to pursue their own
political agenda, an agenda
that requires the Daily to
support the racist policies of
the administration, in
particular when those
policies are challenged by
University employees. This
agenda has been in essential
agreement with the general
right-wing attack in the
United States on affirmative
action and all serious
struggles against racism. The
editors have closed their
eyes to the facts - so that
they need not condemn the
racism of those in power but
can instead viciously
condemn those workers and
students who have coura-
geously fought against that
racism.
GEORGE B. WASHINGTON
ATTORNEY FOR THE
DENTAL SCHOOL THREE
Order from the court
Personal protection training adds accountability
MCINTaOSHiCLASI
The making
of memories:
T-shirts and
empty journals
T rying to find a gem hidden in t
stark reality of the Alzheimer'
Diseasethatafflicts his father,ex-Presi-
dent Ronald Reagan, radio-show host
Michael Reagan once said,"He tries t6
forget that Clinton
is president."
Alzheimer's, of
course, is notj
funny; memories
however, are. Our
brains, like the Ti
tanic, have a lim-
ited retention ca-
pacity - some
more limited than
others (refer to
North, Oliver). BRENT
This limited reten MCINTOS
tion necessitates
other means of re-
membering - hence photographs,
journals, collections of hate mail (I
write, of course, only what I know).
Everyone has a method of keeping
memoriesintact; ingeneral,thesemeth-
ods are well-developed, deeply per-
sonal and really, horribly lame. Mine
isn't personal or well-developed, but it
is lame: Out ofnecessity, I find myse
buying T-shirts wherever I go.
The problem with T-shirt purchas-
ing as a memory-maker is this: When
you buy T-shirts on trips, the seller
realizesthathe will never,everseeyo
again. The chance that he could e
counter you at some future date corre-
lates directly with the quality of the
shirt he tells you.
Case in point: I bought a shirt from.
the Irish Cat Pub in Budapest (the
multicultural lounges inthe dormshave
nothing on the Hungarian Irish Cat).
Upon its first laundering, the shirt im-
mediately shriveled up and disap-
peared, much like many people wi
would happen to Bob Dole. (Fort
nately, with the exchange rate and the
state of Hungary's economy, the shirt
cost me 29 cents, plus airfare.)
I have a lot of shirts - enough
shirts that the time I can go withot
visiting the laundry is dependent ony
on the quantity of socks and boxers I
own.
A search through my collection
evokes comments like "Oh, here's th
shirt from that great fettucine place
Milan!" and (due to the duration be-
tween my laundry runs), "Oh, here's
the sauce fromthatgreat fettucineplace
in Milan!"
Due to the sad reality that most of
the shirtswill fade into dusttthe third or
fourth time I wash them, I alsoresortto
an alternative method of preserving
memories. I keep a journal.
It is not a diary. Diaries, in t
immortal words of my fourth-gra
classmates, "are for girls." Girls, of
course, being yucky, I keep a joumal,
which is exactly the same as a diary
except that real red-meat-eating, not,
in-ouch-with-their-feminine-side,
football-watching men can keep jour
nals without shame or fear of expo
sure.
The problem with keeping a jour-
nal is this: The busier I am, the more I
have to write about and the less tim
have to write it.
During the least busy times of my
life, an average day's entry can re-
semble shbook by John Grisham: long
and involved, but with exactly the same
plot as the one before it. It will contain
passages like "4:13 p.m. - I used the
bathroom for the third time today.
Gosh, it felt really good this time I
mean, just really great. Whew! I think
I'll try to hold it as long as is human
possible next time I have to gojust to
maximize the relief involved."
During the busiesttimes of my life,
on the other hand, entire years read
like this:
"Oct.21-Sister born. More later.
"June 12 - Nearly brought abrupt
and total destruction down on all of
mankind. Total accident. Details to-
morrow."
So myjournal and a closetful of
shirtsare the ways I hold on to the pa
My friends have other methods.
Some collect cars. Collecting au-
tos, while expensive, has the advan-
tage thatthe front-lawnareaoverwhich
the automobiles sit on their respective
cinder blocksreally neverneeds mow-
ing. I do not advise this as a good
memory-preservation technique for
those with neighbors.
Others collect books. I fear t1
method is one not well-suited to co-
lege living. Those who spend any time
at all in the library will develop a
horrible inferiority complex.
Still others among my friends have
adopted the age-old collegiate trick of
keeping beer bpttles from their travels
and travails. Queries about the various
bottles leads to answers like: "That
one?TheNewkie Brown bottle?That's
fromthenight I hookedup with Ginger
... come to think ofit, that'sthe reas@
for the night Ihooked upwithGinger."
My friends who collect bottles
claim that the best offshoot of their
tradition is this: The bottles often in-
clude acertain amount of beer-com-
pletely free of charge when you bny
the bottle! I admit, this is not true of T-
shirts.
- Brent McIntosh is an LSA
senior and Daily sports editor.
can be reached over e-mail&
mctosh@umich.edu
Personal safety is like breathing - it's a
necessity. Ifa person threatens another's
safety, the appropriate course of action is to
get a personal protection order. This requires
money for the fees, a court appearance and a
potentially unsafe waiting period. If the or-
der is denied, it's back to square one: a
threatening situation. Restraining orders are
unnecessarily difficult to obtain.
Washtenaw County guidelines for ob-
taining a personal protection order are vague
at best. Both parties must appear in court
before the judge and tell their side of the
story. Based on this information, the judge
decides whether to issue the order. If the case
involves physical violence, then the judge
usually grants the order with little debate.
However, if the issue revolves around ha-
rassment - like threatening phone calls or
stalking - the burden to prove "unwanted
contact" rests on the party requesting.
To examine the guidelines for a restrain-
ing order, a task force of several Michigan
law enforcement officials was assembled by
the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of
Michigan and the Michigan Domestic Vio-
lence Prevention and Treatment Board. The
task force plans to train judges and make
themmore familiar withthe guidelines. Train-
How TO CONTACT THE
WASHTENAW COUNTY PR
WASHTENAW COU
101 E.
ANN ARBOR,
994-2
ing judges to recognize threatening situa-
tions may help those in need to secure orders.
Judges have to walk a fine line to protect
both parties. However, they must err on the
side of the request. The training must focus
on articulating why the order was granted or
denied. Since most judges are elected - and
newjudges join the bench every few years-
training them periodically would ensure that
they are informed of the guidelines. Explain-
ing their actions will make judges account-
able for the decisions - especially in the
more complicated or ambiguous cases when
the judges rely on their own discretion.
With a set of reasons laid out, both parties
would benefit. The defendant would know
which behaviors to avoid in the future. And
the plaintiff could regroup evidence for a
second try.
However, the training must not be used to
discredit legitimate requests. The city claims
that many "unreasonable" requests are going
through the system. As it is difficult to obtain
restraining orders, it is likely that most re-
quests are a last resort.
Training judges properly is an excellent
step toward a safer community - because
personal safety should not be left at the
mercy of a stranger.
ISECUTOR BRIAN MACKIE
NTY COURTHOUSE
HURON
M 148104
2380
Columnist
errs in
'Star Trek'
critique
TO THE DAILY:
I question some of the
comments made in the
column "Latest 'Star Trek'
writers display fear of sexual
bonds" (1/30/96). Intimate
mingling among bridge crew
members would have
brought certain disaster to
the show.
However, the claim that
the writers display fear of
sexual bonds is ludicrous.
Several relationships come
to mind. Riker and Counse-
lor Troi had a very intimate
relationship before coming
on board the Enterprise and
both are the best of friends.
Dr. Crusher was once
married and had a son. She
still has feelings for Picard,
some of which were shared
on the episode "Attached."
Picard and Crusher were
once married in an alternate
timeline. Worf and K'heyler
once mated; for a Klingon,
that's about as intimate as
you can get. What about
Picard and Neela Daren?
Friendships can be the best
relationships of them all.
Secondly, in regard to the
comments of "lack of
emotion" and "nobody on
the Enterprise ever gets
laid," just watch the show. I
found the "gets laid"
comment offensive.
Picard doesn't need
anyone? Doesn't need Riker,
his trusted first officer who
has never lied to him!
Doesn't need Beverly, the
one person he can talk to and
have a shoulder to lean
against! He cares about the
safety of his crew.
In response to the point
concerning strong links with
others, why did Gene
Roddenberry create the
Federation? He wanted to
create a world were other
cultures were closely knit
with humans. The Borg
were designed as the
ultimate threat to breaking
that closeness. They were
"the ultimate bad guy." Ben
'Daii syndrome was
designed as a medical
disease to counter the fact
that Vulcans have longevity
and the ability to suppress
all emotions.
As we live in a time
where we criticize television
for too much sex or vio-
lence, leave Star Trek alone.
Star Trek has attempted to
dive into romantic interludes
before. Those episodes have
been some of the worst.
Instead, Star Trek asks us to
stretch our imagination and
mind.
The writers have a
different selling point than
sex, a combo of sci-fi and
drama that makes it one of
the most watched shows in
history. The writers must
be doing something right.
The show has been going
for 30 years. Shame on the
Daily for not doing its
homework.
GABRIEL SMITH
LSA SOPHOMORE
What about
public health
education?
TO THE DAILY:
Although I agree with the
overall message of the
editorial, "The Science of
Eve: 'U' Slowly Improving
Study of Women's Health"
(1/30/96), there was a
glaring omission. In stating
"graduate degrees in
women's studies and nursing
are the closest link to an
extension of women's health
studies," you have over-
looked one of the country's
top schools of public health.
The University's School of
Public Health not only
equips students with the
skills and knowledge
necessary for the investiga-
tion, promotion and protec-
tion of all people's health,
the school has numerous
classes and research projects
that specifically address
women's health issues.
The School of Public
Health is an excellent option
for those pursuing a graduate
education in women's health
and should not be ignored.
SHELLEY COE
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC
HEALTH
ANN ARBOR POLICE DEPARTMENT
COMMAND OFFICE
100 N. FIFTH AvE.
ANN ARBOR, M I 48107
994-2878
vr~r*. . Q.
rN~t '0 a,
I'01-
'fLo o I
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