4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 12, 1996 UIb AkdWign IlgQ 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 chosen 12 Committee must not alienate 'U' community NOTABLE QUOTABLE, '(Fiona Rose) has a lot of great ideas, but she's alienated a lot of people on the assembly. ... It's happened with (MSA President Flint Wainess) and that would happen with Fiona.' --Andy Schor, Wolverine Party candidate for MSA president, commenting on the Michigan Party's candidate for president, Fiona Rose MAT WIMSATT MooKiE' s DiEMMA cN "ACNSINO r C 6U0EWAtORIA/L - NATIVE AMERICAN RELAT/oNS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THE ERASABLE PEN Fight with your sigfiCant other about anything but the movies 0 rue to their word, the University Board of Regents named an advisory commit- tee to assist with the selection of a new University president. The board announced the panelists just before spring break - seven faculty, two staff, one alum, one un- dergraduate and one graduate student com- pose the 12-member committee. The con- ception of the panel indicates that the regents intend to make good on their promise to involve the community in the search and selection process. The regents must now ex- ercise caution, however, to ensure that the advisory panel does not assume an authori- tarian mentality. The regents succeeded in selecting a di- verse panel. They named LSA junior Jenni- ferNorris and graduate student Doneka Scott as the student representation on the panel. Their choice of student advisers is com- mendable - both females are concerned, involved and seem willing to accept sugges- tions from the diverse student populations they represent. Attitudes like theirs are key to an effective committee; however, members should not presume to represent the vast University community all on their own. The panel should still be open to suggestions from students, staff and faculty. Neither of the student representatives are involved in the Michigan Student Assembly, which - while notable - is not a point of concern. The committee will probably ben- efit more from non-political student mem- bers than from candidates eager for publicity and re-election. At the same time, the advi- sory committee should hear MSA's concerns and suggestions and include them in the presidential selection process. A similarpoint rises with the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs - no SACUA members sit on the regents' advisory panel, but their contributions should still be valued. The faculty and staffpanelist are involved with leaders from the University's academic community. This will allow for a sufficiently academic search --previously determined a necessary quality - but may neglect other concerns. For example, Law School Dean Jeffrey Lehman, who is chairing the panel, is a solid academic leader; however, he may not effectively represent the concerns of the stu- dents he works with or of faculty members lower on the totem pole. Regard for student concerns must not be placed solely on the two student representatives. The idea is to encompass the entire community's views in the search. Each ofthe faculty and staff advisers, regardless of posi- tion within the academic or professional com- munity, must expend as much effort as the student advisers in gathering diverse opin- ions. The regents promised to hear and con- sider suggestions from the search commit- tee. Creation of the advisory committee is certainly a step in the right direction, but regents and committee members alike must remember that the University community numbers more than 12. Last rights Acquittal showed public favors assisted suicide M ichigan citizens are one step closer to determining when to end their own lives. On Friday, an Oakland County jury acquitted Dr. Jack Kevorkian on two counts relating the assisted suicides of two termi- nally ill individuals, Merian Frederickson and Dr. Ali Khalili. The jurors' decision deserves commendation. Moreover, the Michigan Legislature needs to regulate as- sisted suicide immediately. Since June 1990, Kevorkian has attended 27 deaths. Oakland County Prosecutor Rich- ard Thompson has zealously pursued Kevorkian to try and convict him. In spite of two acquittals by juries, Thompson vows to try Kevorkian next month in a similar case. The ban on assisted suicide has not withstood the test ofthe law-any furthercases brought to trial would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. Thompson and the rest of the opposition should take their exit cue. Michigan's ban on assisted suicide dates back to December 1992, when the Legisla- ture outlawed it. Kevorkian continued his crusade, putting what he believes to be a person's right above the written law. State citizens, through the decisions of juries and various public opinion polls, have made it clear that they support assisted suicide. Lan- sing legislators need to abandon their anti- suicide stance and listen to their constituents. Unfortunately, legislators may be allowing the political support and donations of the interest group Right to Life to take prece- dence over the will of the public. Kevorkian claims to counsel his patients extensively before he will agree to be a part of their deaths. Those who have enlisted Kevorkian's help were either terminally ill or were marred by continual pain and suffering. Frederikson, for example, was unable to speak or swallow for more than a year before her death. Frederickson had ample time to con- template a willful death. Kevorkian, how- ever, was right to deliberate - doctors must uphold the Hippocratic oath. The doctor's pledge to save lives natu- rally creates tension with the concept of assisted suicide. To ease this tension, the Legislature must rewrite and clarify its as- sisted suicide laws. For example, the some members of the recent jury reported confu- sion over the words "intent" and "motive." Jury members said they acquitted Kevorkian, in part, because they could not prove his intent to kill his patients - only his intent to relieve their suffering. The Legislature must repeal the ban on assisted suicide and write a new law clearly outlining the difference be- tween murder and euthanasia. Kevorkian said that assisted suicide is not even a right but "an inherent essence of human existence." The state should recog- nize this and take the inability ofprosecutors to convict Kevorkian in a court of law as a signal that assisted suicide is constitutional. The Legislature not only needs to legalize assisted suicide - it must develop prudent guidelines that ensure that the right to die is not abused, by either side. 'U' official helpful TO THE DAILY: When preparing our testimony on the Michigan Tuition Income Tax Credit (Senate Bill No. 678) we in the Students' Party (of the Michigan Student Assem- bly) were immensely helped by Greg Tewksbury, a manager in the Office of Financial Analysis. I would like to publicly extend our thanks to him for the hours of research time that he saved us. Tewksbury did nothing more than provide us with a compiled version of the information we were seeking. That simple help, however, saved us easily 10 hours of research when the deadline for our testimonial was pressing close. It was nice to work with someone so ready to aid us. Tewksbury stepped forward, asked us the specifics of our research and promptly, nay immediately, was able to provide our numbers. Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in the myth of red tape at the University. Tewksbury dispelled that myth quite efficiently! Again I offer my gratitude to him. CONAN SMITH RC SENIOR Columnist reflects anti- intellectual culture To THE DAILY: Nearly every day the Daily's editorial page contains something that I disagree with, but Katie Hutchins' column on Feb. 29 ("The meaning of life carelessly exposed by a biopsych GS,") expresses many ideas that are abso- lutely reprehensible. Hutchins claims, more or less, that we are nothing more than puppets of society, and that our heads are full of arbitrary "social constructs" that we all foolishly believe to be facts. Apparently, all of art and science is a farce, and we have all been paying thousands of dollars per year in order to listen to some- body else's opinion, "a category that somebody else constructed." This kind of dogmatic uncertainty is by no means original. It has become part of contemporary American culture, and it is one of the many reasons why our society is spiraling into a s~tfocy is spofirrgina religion as the answer: "I'll stay up all night to get an A in English, but I won't do the same because I'm pondering the existence of higher beings. That's ... extremely misguided priorities." I am very disappointed to find such nonsense in the Daily, but I shouldn't be too surprised, given today's anti-intellectual culture. Perhaps someday the Daily will find a writer who believes in the radical idea that facts exist and that people can think. ANDREW DALTON ENGINEERING SOPHOMORE Internet censoring restricts freedom TO THE DAILY: Recently, a law was passed by the Congress of the United States, titled "The Communications Decency Act," which, along with a handful of other bills regarding Internet freedoms and cyber rights, is reshap- ing the landscape of the Internet now and forever. These new bills promise to prevent the transfer of what is deemed "indecent material" over the Internet. Such material is usually simply billed under the term "pornography," which is an appropriate label. But what we are seeing here is not the beginning of a new era of protection on the Internet to the average user, but rather the begin- ning of the end of the last frontier left open in the United States. For the first time, tangible lines are being drawn over what can be sent over the United States' networks, which compose the backbone of the entire Internet system worldwide. Such a loss should be wisely considered, for quite simply we are trading freedom for protection. One of the Internet's strengths is that it allows people freedom to circulate ideas and express opinions online that are different, unique or controversial, and to be able to achieve this without fear of reprisal from their communities or the government. Weigh this freedom against the reality that nothing like it exists elsewhere in the world, and its value grows more apparent. Unfortunately, such freedom means that tolerance must be practiced by the citizen - pornogra- phy is just one example. The Internet is also home to racists, sexists, revolutionar- ies and even psychotics, who all spread their particular views to the masses. Curbing them might be pleasant, but by doing so we also curb our own possible use of the same freedom. The Internet is the only public access medium that links the globe, and allows us to quest for whatever we wish to find. It is a lawless place, uncivilized and unbound, where the unwary can fall victim on occasion. But it is also an unsettled land, offering a wealth of possibilities for those who wish to explore. We have so few frontiers left open to humanity, I simply ask that we consider very carefully before closing one more. EDWARD CHUSID LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT China must not provoke Taiwan To THE DAILY: As we brace ourselves for a possible Buchanan nomination to the Republi- can ticket and the Clinton- conservatives showdown in November here in the United States, there is a more imminent political upheval looming over the horizon of a tiny Pacific island nation called Taiwan. In March, Taiwan will hold its very first direct presidential election. More than merely a symbol of its fledging democracy, the outcome could have serious repercus- sions on Taiwan's major national policies, both foreign and domestic, for years to come. Wary of the island's intensifying movement to garner international recognition as a sovereign state, China has recently stepped up its effort in intimidating the Taiwan- ese people into submission. Relying on massive military "exercises" near the Taiwan Strait, China hopes to subdue Taiwan's gaining voice of independence by scaring votes away from the anti-China candidates. We are all too familiar with China's habitual blatant disregard for human rights and violations of military treaties. However, this brazen attempt in influencing an election outside its borders tops them all. DEREK LEE RACKHAM STUDENT It's Friday night, and you've got a I great idea. "Hey," you say to your friend or significant other, "Why don't we go get a movie?" Entering the video store and looking around a the plethora of choices, it still seems ike a good idea. And then the fun begins - an hour later, each of you has rejected the other's first seven choices. Be- fore long, you've JEAN gotten into a TWENGE screaming fight in the middle of the video store: He never likes what you like, she always vetoes the only good movies, you never get to choose the movie, how can he like this crap? This just shows you always get your way! Pretty soon you're whacking each other over the head with the videos you wanted to see. So much for the good idea. It's an especially dangerous fight, because it comes down to basic val- ues and one's outlook on life. Fright- ening questions begin to surface: How can I spend the rest of my life with someone who thinks culture means watching "Ace Ventura: Pet Detec- tive?" Why am I going out with some- one who thinks watching World War II documentaries makes for a rip- roaring good time? How could I be best friends with someone whose fa- vorite movie is "Dracula: Dead and Loving It"? I've always thought that choosing a video is the ultimate test of arelation- ship or friendship. If you can do it with a minimum of screaming, tantrums, carrying on, and deep doubts about the other person's humanity, you're doing pretty well. If you can do it com- pletely painlessly and without any disagreement, you really aren't human and should seek help for dating your identical twin. As narrowly focused as Hollywood sometimes is, there are enough video choices out there to cause some ma- jorconflicts. They centeraround some basic human dualities-or, as Beavis would put it, you think it's cool and he thinks it sucks. The Man/Woman Thing, other- wise known as Chick Flicks vs. Blood, Guts, Gore and Guns. Cartoonist Catherine Goggia captured this per- fectly in her cartoon of a "Video World" with two sections: "Men's movies (Killing)" and "Women's movies (Talking)." Most of the so- called women's movies she lists are real: "Howard's End,""A Roomwith a View," "Steel Magnolias," "Out of Africa" (apparently the Oscars favor "women's" movies). The men's side, though, has fictional yet accurate titles: "Big Knife, Small Dick," "With my Truck," "Hit, Kick, Box, Kill," "Pay Back," "60 down, 50 to go" and "With my Chainsaw.' I've never liked the designation "chick flicks," because I think guys tend to apply it to any movie that doesn't feature machine guns. And women lack a similar deroga- tory word for the violent movies that we're often forced to watch - the ultra-violent flicks that try to dis- cover every possible way to murder someone. The first time I saw "Terminator," my dorm crowd counted the number of words Schwarzenegger spoke ver- sus the number of people he killed. (Just guess which won?) Action flicks can be cool, especially if they're not particularly violent ("Speed," for in- stance), but I've never understood guys who were really into seeing things get blown up (cool, cool, fire is cool! Heheheheh). On the otherhand, a lot of the three-hankie tripe coming from Hollywood (i.e., "Now and Then") is just plain cheesy - worse than a "chick flick." ® Highbrow vs. Lowbrow. For ev- eryone who wants to see a French drama with subtitles, there's some- one who wants to see "Dumb and Dumber." This is a difficult one to settle, unless you want to see a slap- stick French' comedy with subtitles. (At least there wouldn't be many words in the subtitles.) The best com-, promise is probably Woody Allen, a serious director who made movies with silly comedy long before Jim Carrey came on the scene. M Adamant vs. I don't care. Some- one who always knows what they r 01 01 01 How TO CONrACT THEM JENNIFER NORRIS LSA JUNIOR MEMBER, PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE E-MAIL: NSARA@UMICH.EDU SEND WRITTEN COMMENTS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH TO: SECRETARY OF THE UNIVERSITY 2012 FLEMING ADMINISTRATION BUILDING AAIR} Ar nom), ?A 1AS2 Q- A I) I ,v :a..