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 LETTERS POLIcY The Michigan Daily welcomes lettersfrom its readers. All lettersfrom University studentsfaculty and staff will be printed, space providing. Other materials will be printed at the editors 'discretion. All letters must include the writer's name, school year or University affiliation and phone number. We will not print any letter that cannot be verified. Ad hominem attacks will not be published. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "Viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Letters should be sent via e-mail to daily.letters@ umich.edu or mailed to the Daily at 420 Maynard St. Editors can be reached at 764-0552 or by sending e-mailto the above address.