4- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 20, 1996 UJel Stditgniktilg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan RONNIE GLASSBERG Editor in Chief ADRIENNE JANNEY ZACHARY M. RAIMI 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. ROM THE DAILY The greasy spoons North Campus needs more food options "NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'Damn, how did we get out?' - Michigan basketball player Maurice Taylor on the teams members' immediate reaction to their accident Saturday MAr T WIMSATT MooKIE's DILMmA AGE. 'ROPER GQ AO 1 DT W FE~QVRT1E LEpES TOEHE/ O 00/6 * P5 /100C, / l LETTERS To THE EDfTOR THE ERASA UE PEN Thebestsitcoms havea boof condoms and a bottle of honey E very weeknight at 6 p.m., CBS E airsre-runsof "Seinfeld," a show populated by young adults who date, mate and relate for our amusement. One channel over, Homer eats do- nuts, Lisa pontifi- cates. and Bart whacks people with slingshots on the Simpsons. Out- side of Homer and Marge, nobody a does much dating and mating on this show. Neverthe- less, you'll learn plenty about sex , JEAN from watching the IEN Simpsons these WENGE days: in the last three months, watching the show has guaranteed you'll see commercials preaching abstinence.4 Each begins with atestimonial from a young woman, telling us why she's going to wait to have sex, or why she should have waited. "You're worth waiting for,"the ads conclude in stark white type against a black back-1 I I Central Campus students have it easy when it comes to lunch. Starting with the Michigan Union and branching out to the variety of food stores nearby, those who spend time on the campus have options about what they eat and what it costs. Working or studying on North Campus looks a little different. Options reduce from plentiful to pitiful if a student is en- rolled in the School of Music, Art and Archi- tecture, College ofEngi- neering or involved in other North Campus- on North Campus the benefits that Central Campus students reap at the Michigan Union. While the Union contains only fast food restaurants, students may choose from five, as well as a cafe. At the Commons lunch couldbe unappetizing Chinese takeout, soggy pizza or a muffin from the cafe. While stu- dents won't starve, the quality of life de- N Nl \.O based programs. Residence halls are scattered across Central Campus, which is a con- venient food source for d students living in one of them. First-year students or others with meal plans ' can hike to Bursley - NI V // creases. Like the Union, the Commons should of- fer more restaurants. Hidden upstairs in the Commons is a cafeteria with limited hours. Ifstu- dents knew about it, they might be able to catch it open. A cafeteria-style restaurant would be a great option for students on North Campus - the cafeteria should expand its hours to meet the needs of more students. Also, a bigger cafeteria would enable more students to enjoy it. Students get tired of :the only residence hall y on North Campus with a cafeteria - and use a meal. But to pay $6 in cash or shell out almost as much on Entr6e Plus for a dorm cafeteria lunch isn't worth the trip to Bursley. A quick lunch break .would be cut shorter by the hilly walk and the cafeteria line. Furthermore, $6 per day adds up fast on a student budget. The University constructed the newly named Pierpont Commons to give students - 7 MATT WIMSATT/ Daily eating at the same five restaurants in the Union. But on Central Campus, they are not limited to one building with only two restau- rants. North Campus already suffers isola- tion from the rest of the University. To make it a more enjoyable campus, administrators must explore how to improve Commons food choices. Don't tread on me HIV rider creates an infected underclass Diversity important for Greeks To THE Day: I am writing in response to the article "Being a minority in the mainstream Greek system" (2/9/96). In the piece. Eileen Reynolds is quoted as saying, "You have to take into consideration that they are just as un-diverse as we are," in references to the minority Greek organizations with respect to the Interfratemity Council organizations. I am afraid I must disagree with her statement. I personally cannot speak for members of the Black Greek Association or the Latino/a Greeks but, as a brother of Lambda Phi Epsilon. I can firmly attest to our diversity, both as a Greek organization and as an Asian-Pacific American organization. What uninformed people need to realize is that although we are Asian-Pacific Americans, in itself a very broad term meant to describe the virtual plethora of nationalities from which we come from, we are still close to our very distinct ties. To try to pigeonhole a group whose ancestors make up half the world's population is sheer folly. Our active roster includes surnames such as Nguyen, Galvez, Kim, Liang and Chu. Whether it be Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Taiwanese or Chinese, our brotherhood is built upon our diversity as well as our similarities. To say that a Filipinon is just like a Korean or a Chinese just like a Vietnamese is equivalent to saying that a German is just like an Englishperson or a Frenchperson just like an Italian. In terms of our similarities we are all Asian- Pacific American. In terms of our diversity we have all refused to "lose our roots," to para- phrase Sigma Lambda Beta's .president Isaias Nono Cantu Jr. This retention of our "roots" is not exclusive, of course, as all our brothers share in each individual's culture. How else would our brothers have been able to learn about Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese or Taiwanese culture had it not been for our colorful ethnic mix. It is diversity from which the United States supposedly derives its greatest strength. It is this same diversity that we, as brothers of the Xi chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon at the University, believe is truly our greatest asset. STEPHEN CHIU LSA SENIOR LAMBDA PHI EPSILON Savic a good MSA choice To THE DaiLy: When I first read the letter sent by Hemandez ("Students' Party should elect a better candidate for VP," 2/6/96) ,1 was completely shocked. I believe that he was completely wrong in his assessment of Olga Savic, the Students' Party vice- presidential candidate. Just because Savic felt it necessary to tell the student body that the Code panelists were not trained enough to deal with real problems. I am sure Hernandez will agree to that point. It seems that the administration is trying to cloud everything surrounding this issue. That is unfortunate. Savic is definitely one of the hardest working Michigan Student Assembly representa- tives. She serves on many of the committees and commissions, she is the first one to volunteer to paint banners or work on MSA publicity and she herself chairs the most active commit- tee currently on the assembly: communications. Anybody who doubts her commitment to hard work is-misguided. In response to the issue of decision-making, I have to say that Savic is incredibly capable of assessing situations and making adequate decisions. Ask anyone on her committee, and they will tell you that she has revived it from a rather do- nothing thing to taking on ambitious projects like web pages, bagel drives in Mason Hall and the MSA newsletter. Olga works in more of an all- inclusive framework, as exemplified by her work. She will not be a Flint Wainess or a Fiona Rose, who will give lip- service to involving everyone while pursuing their own agendas. DAVIDDE STMA RC FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS Political expediency has soared to dan- gerous new heights in Washington, D.C. Rep. Robert Dornan (R-California), an ob- scure presidential candidate, added a provi- sion to a defense authorization bill banning citizens with HIV from serving in the armed forces. Congress must repeal this blatantly discriminatory clause immediately. President Clinton signed a $265-billion defense bill last week. The legislation con- tains several provisions necessary to the na- tional defense, along with a 2.4-percent mili- tary pay raise. In its present form, the bill will force the Pentagon to discharge HIV-infected service members within six months - re- gardless of their state of health. The defense department estimates there are more than 1,000 service members who are infected with the HIV virus. The previous policy allowed infected soldiers to serve as long as they remained healthy, though overseas service was not allowed. Given that the defense department does not view these soldiers as unfit, Doman's clause is not only unneces- sary, but sets a disturbing precedent for other employers. Dornan's clause will affect the lives of thousands of individuals merely to get a jump start on his otherwise unnoticeable presidential campaign. Doman and other presidential hopefuls must stop using legis- lative influence to bring themselves into the limelight - ignoring what is best for their constituents. Clinton promised not to enforce the provi- sion. He urged federal courts to declare it unconstitutional and ordered the Justice De- partment not to defend the provision in court. But action must go beyond Clinton's steps - Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and William Cohen (R-Maine) have spon- sored bi-partisan legislation to repeal the provision. Overturning Dornan's clause is the only foolproof means of ensuring that it cannot be enforced. The defense bill will have dire conse- quences not only upon HIV-infected mem- bers of the armed forces, but upon HIV carriers nationwide. By passing the bill, the government condoned discrimination against HIV-infected citizens. Domestic military service in non-combat positions is no more conducive to transmitting the virus than work- ing in any other sector. Employers should have no qualms about hiring HIV-infected employees. Government sanctioned discrimi- nation threatens to once again permeate so- cial policy. Doman's addition to a vital national de- fense bill is an obvious political ploy. Em- ployer discrimination against HIV-infected employers is a violation of civil liberties the government should not advocate. If legisla- tion to repeal Dornan's provision fails, the government will create an HIV-infected underclass. In spite of their skills, HIV-in- fected citizens are not considered equal in the eyes of America's government or employers. The government does not need to lower their status further. LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily, welcomes letters from its readers. All letters from 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 homninem attacks will not be tolerated. 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@a, umr ich. edu or mailed to the Daily at 420dMaynard St. Editors can be reached at 764-0552 or by sending e-mail to the above address. ground. Perhaps so, and suggesting that teen-agers wait until they're 16 or 18 to have sex isn't too unreasonable. But these ads go beyond that, wish- ing for the bygone days when teen- agers didn't have sex and good girls always said no. "I have enough to worry about," says a baby-faced cheerleader in one ad as she lists her problems: Is this a zit? Is my mom mad at me? Am I going to get into college? "I'm not going to get pregnant, or get sick or worse," she says. "That's why I'm going to wait until I'm married to have sex." Fine, but there's a big problem here: marriage does not pro- tect you from AIDS or any other STD, and it sure as hell doesn't pro- tect you from pregnancy. Having a steady partner does lessenithe risk of contracting AIDS, but quite a few women with the AIDS virus got it from their hus- bands. And yes, it's a lot better to have a child when you're married. Not surprisingly, however, a lot of teen-agers involved in abstinence programs end up marrying young - and consequently divorcing young. (The divorce rate for people who marry when they're under 22 is around 75 percent.) So that leaves our abstinence-preaching young ming to raise a child without a father. That's the other problem here - the great majority of these abstinence ads are aimed at girls. There's the cheerleader saying she's going to wait until she gets married. There's a bal- let dancer saying she doesn't want to ruin her future. And there's "Sopho- more Mom," who says she's 15, has a baby, and the guy "who said he'd' love me forever" is of course no- where to be found. "I should have told him no," she concludes. And no wonder - boys are no- where to be found in the world of the abstinence ads, either. It's the classic double standard that we supposedly left behind years ago - boys want it, and girls should say no unless they want to ruin their lives. Sex, once again, has become the pleasurable privilege of men. The ironic thing here is that we do have the solution to these problems in our society. It's called birth con-,4 trol. Unlike marriage, condoms will protect you from AIDS and preg- nancy. They're not perfect, but they're a much more realistic and less sexist solution than telling girls they're re-' quired to remain virginal until their wedding day. I much prefer the world the next channel overon the sitcoms. On "Seinfeld," Elaine hordes Today sponges when they go off the mar- ket; she ends up filling a closet with boxes of her favorite birth-control method. On "Ned and Stacey," two men sit at a bar bragging that they haven't gotten laid lately - both had been run ragged by sexually insatiable women. On "Partners," the engaged couple walks out in their bathrobes talking about the great sex they just had involving a bottle of honey. It's unrealistic in a different way, perhaps, but it's a lot closer to reality than the teen-agers in the abstinence ads. On the shows, people have sex, the women enjoy themselves just as much as the men, and people use birth control. The "sponge-worthy"t 01 01 01 01 l VIEWPoINrT Months after the Million Man March BY LOREN MCGHEE Reflecting on the Million Man March several weeks af- terwards, what I had once seen as a phenomenal and histori- cal gathering of proud black men was beginning to show slight tarnish around the edges. Influenced by television and the media and distressed by my unusual indecisiveness, I did what most adults would do, I called my mom. She had just returned from church and dropping my brother off at hockey practice when she an- swered the phone. Under- standing my dilemma as moth- ers always do, she told me that just the day before, a friend of the family and recent returnee from the march had called to see when he could send the That single experience be- gan my new shaping of an opinion. March coverage was everywhere from The New York Times to The Michigan Daily, but I decided that I would look in less obvious places to form a final opinion. Finding people on campus that went to the march wasn't a problem. Many of my advi- sors, friends, and National As- sociation for the Advancement of Colored People colleagues told me of their March experi- ences. One person told me how amazed he had been the Sun- day after the march when he walked in church early and it was so full of black men that he had to sit near the back for the first time in years. "Black men were in action every- when we need each other the most." The largest group of people against the march were spoken for by one classmate who denounced Farakkhan as a bigot. The classmate agreed with the idea of the march, but not with it's organizers. His and all of these viewpoints became stored in my brain file now titled, "3M." The "3M" brain file con- tinued collecting information until recently. With Martin Luther's King Jr.'s birthday, I decided that it was time for my brain to issue a year-end re- port/summary. Now time for a reality check. There are still more black men in prison than in college, more than half of all black children live in fa- therless homes, and 45 percent How TO CONTACT THEM MICHAEL SWANIGAN DIRECTOR, NORTH CAMPUS COMMONS 2101 BOINSTEEL BLVD. #2090 ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 7 A 7RAA .