4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 19, 1996 G$be £tidigu uiI 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 "NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'We are wondering why you are not concerned with GEO.' - Graduate Employees Organization member Alejandra Marchevsky at the Friday Board of Regents meeting 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. FROM THE DAKiY Art vs. technology Students deserve mput in curriculum MATT WIMSAIT MooluE's Dj i~,uA ollowing the example of the communi- cation department, the School of Art has mutated into a new form - the School of Art and Design. The change comes from one side of an internal debate - technology versus -tradition. Many artists use their work to ex- press themselves and ultimately as a way to be heard. So, when the administration chose -to ignore student input, it not only went against the principles of art, but educa- tion as well. V After several Art profes- sors declared their retire- 3 ;ments, the school an- nounced four openings in design and one position I each in ceramics, painting and new genre (the combi- nation ofcomputertechnol- ogy and traditional art). Recently, Allen Samuels, dean of the School of Art and Design, announced that the school was adding an- other new genre professor, instead of a ceramics instructor. Students emerged in large opposition; many value the fine arts department and worry about its future with the dean's heavy emphasis on design. Adding another professor to new genre in addition to one in ceramics would be acceptable. But Samuels took away from one to add to another, contradicting the needs and wishes of his students. The dean, whose background is in design, is focusing a large amount of his agenda on building up the design curriculum; in the process, he is taking away from the fine arts by not rehiring another ceramics teacher. Students are afraid Samuels' intense focus on technology and upholding the University's reputation as a competitive art school will result in a school that specializes in design and neglects its fine arts department. Stu- dents have voiced opposition to the latest events. It is important for a learning institu- tion to listen to its students, especially on a F i , I al V RE ' h fh ~AC~iA~/0 THE ERASABLE PEN The insecure l-1 year-old'wuss' in all of us It's a Saturday night, and I'm at home. This shouldn't be a big deal, except part of me feels that spending a weekend night alone is a failing. Like a lot of anxieties, I'm con- vinced this one started in junior high school. For the most part, I was a pretty geeky I11- year-old. I wore N whatever my {4 mother boughtme. I climbed trees. I had a short, prac-. tical haircut that made me look like a boy. I always brought a novel to school with me. I JEAN ate lunch alone be- TWENGE cause the few. friends I had were in a different lunch period. When pressed on why I didn't want to "go with" a boy, I told my questioners -the most popular girls in the school - that if you started dating too early, you'd getbored with the preliminaries too quickly and end up pregnant. They misinterpreted my future prediction as ignorance, and told everyone in school that I thought going together could make you preg- nant. Needless to say, I was never part of the popular crowd. Some herding instinct injunior high school girls makes not being popular the worst possible failing. Being popular is the essence of success for ateenage girl, an obsession that many carry into their adult lives. Similar hierarchies exist for boys, with ath- letes at the top of the heap and the uncoordinated at the bottom - what the Dr. Demento-style band King Missile calls being a "wuss." "I was into science fiction, math and chess," confesses the singer. "I didn't work up to my full potential in school, because to the other kids, the smarter you were, the wussier you were." Even well into high school, all weekends meant was that I could read all day instead ofgoing to school. When I finally started getting dates during my senior year and went to Social life should not be 0 1 MATT WIMSATT/ Daily nize themselves curriculum issue that can drastically affect their aca- demic futures. While Samuels held an open fo- rum when the changes took place, many students left feeling that the adminis- tration was making deci- sions and keeping students in the dark about them. Moreover, students felt their views were ignored at the forum -just as ad- ministrators ignored stu- dent concerns over the breakup of the communi- cation department. Art students have orga- quickly, proving the seri- " COME 40-tYOUR. SftAcS.SH1P _NOU) .T BE MI EG901 N U~TI L 4OVeEfAR"- TO 01 'I LETfERS TO THE EDITOR ousness of their objections. They are wear- ing black arm bands to emphasize the loss of vital programs. With 400 arm bands in circu- lation and at least 250 students attending the forum with Samuels, the administration can- not proceed under the illusion that the stu- dents do not care about the proposed changes. Out with the old and in with the new is not what the students want - and what they want matters. Students do not want their education to be caught up in a theoretical debate about which medium is better. If they want to learn paint, give them paint. I ndependents for MSA TO THE DAILY: Though we are outsiders running for the Michigan Student Assembly president and vice president, we seem to be all too aware of the problems of the student government. Day after day in the Daily, there are articles that attack the current members of MSA. Whether calling for officers to resign, or condemning the parties creating the current stalemate, these are the charades that the Geoff Tudisco /Adam Mesh candidacy seeks to rid the student government of. The preamble of MSA's constitution states, "Be- cause student participation in University decision making is important to the quality of student life at the University, the students of The University of Michigan hereby enact this all-Campus Constitution ..." Now it is clear to us that there is a key word being ignored in the above statement; that word is student. It seems that the current MSA government has forgotten that it is there for us, the students, and not for their own agendas. The source of the power of MSA, according to MSA's constitution, comes from the students. It is quite apparent that the voice of the students has been ignored for far too long. Complaints about the stagnation are mounting, and the bickering among the large parties dominated a nasty campaign season last semester. That is what we want to do away with. The Geoff Tudisco and Adam Mesh independent ticket for MSA president and vice president offers the students the only real choice for change. As the only independent ticket, we are in no way affiliated with any of the current MSA parties. We are getting involved because it seems like nothing is getting done, and we want to see results. Very few students are involved in the student government, and we hope to attract many students who have never voted before as well as draw on those disenchanted by the major parties. Our campaign's goal is to break the gridlock in MSA. We are not counting on party support because we want to break the stranglehold that the parties have on the student government. We are independents bringing individuals together. We want the student government to represent those that it was intended to - the students. GEOFF TUDISCO LSA JUNIOR M Elections for sale Campaign spending requires active reforms LETmRS PoucY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from its readers. Alllettersfrom University students,facultyand staffwill 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-mail to the above address. ST ast week, Steve Forbes quit the Repub- lican presidential race after spending an estimated $30 million of his own money on his campaign. Coupled with the prospect of Ross Perot spending tens of millions of dol- lars from his personal fortune on another independent White House bid, this has led many Americans to question current cam- paign-finance laws. In order to keep wealthy candidates from "buying the White House" with their personal fortunes, the system re- quires bold action. In the 1970s, Americans had similar con- cerns about the funding of presidential cam- paigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal. This led to the important reforms that are the law today. All presidential primary candi- dates meeting certain qualifications - such as vote percentages in primaries and fund- raising levels - are qualified to receive federal "matching funds" to help with their campaigns. In return, candidates are required to limit their campaign contributions and their total spending on the campaign for their parties' nomination. Once a candidate wins a party's nomination, the federal government covers the expense - a fixed sum for each party- for the general election. While presi- dential campaigns are still too money-driven, these laws have forestalled egregious spend- ing by most candidates. The problem with the current law is that it does not apply to candidates - such as Forbes - who use their own money. The current regulations are not strict legal man- dates. Rather, they are conditions for the receipt of federal money. The courts have a consistently ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government to place actual regula- tions on camnaian snendiini. Thus. if a can- considered a contest for rich or cute friends without the help ofthe government, he or she can spend as much money as desired. In short, anyone who is wealthy enough can try to buy the presidency. Concerns over free speech should never be taken lightly. However, the framers of the constitution could not foresee the advent of television advertising and multimillion dol- lar campaigns. Money has become one of the most important determinants in a given campaign's success or failure. Therefore, unlimited campaign spending by the wealthy is an attack on free and fair elections - the cornerstone of American democracy. The line between free speech and com- merce is blurred by political campaigns. Congress should pass legislation limiting the total amount of personal money that million- aires can spend on their own campaigns. Every effort should be made to comply with court rulings. However, if the courts remain obstructionist, Congress and the states should clarify the situation with a carefully worded constitutional amendment allowing the gov- ernment to place legal restrictions on cam- paign spending. The effect of such an amend- ment would be to close the gaping loophole in the current law - the loophole that gives millionaires free range to outspend their op- ponents who rely on traditional campaign finance methods. The advent ofmodern, media-driven cam- paigns has made American politics vulner- able to the corrupting influence of money. While the concern over campaign spending is a recent trend, the problem will continue to create a gross distortion of the democratic process if allowed to continue. By taking bold action-which could lead to amending the Constitution -America can maintain its VIdEWPosNt Students can impact politics BY TAU KRAVITZ OK, so have you decided who you are voting for, yet? Come on, the candidates, their views and their personal lives have been the top news stories since President Clinton was inaugurated in 1993. If we decide now, we have the ability to control the pro- cess. Think about it: If you take the time to make a knowl- edgeable decision on the best candidate, you will then have the power to influence the enormous system called "the government." The media will no longer dictate who we vote for or whether we vote at all. We can then use the media as a tool to help become more educated on the issues and on what each candidate stands for. But the moment you decide who you think the best person is to be president of the United States, is the minute you hold democracy in your hands. I know you are wondering now, "Why am I speaking in such grandiose terms?" This may be a product of the long hours spent reading in Politi- cal Science 406. But it also may be to help explain why I drove 16 hours with 13 people sleeping on top of me to New Hampshire for the primaries a few weeks ago. Now, many people have been asking me, "Why wonid von ao al the seeing the embarrassed look on Lamar Alexander's face when we diverted his "Walk Across New Hampshire" and seeing Clinton's face through a barrage of pompons and smiling children were more of a turn-on than I ever ex- pected. But the sense of reality hit when as I was driving home through a fog-filled Canada while listening to the exitpolls from the small towns of New Hampshire. When I realized that the racist/isolationist who I have been fearing for years might carry the Republican ticket in New Hampshire, my vigilance for standing up for what I believe in became that much stronger. Granted, Pat Buchanan is rapidly losing his grip on the Republican Party; however, because of him and dema- gogues like him, the world seems to be much more of an unpredictable and scary place to live in. It has been a challenge to live in the academic world. I find myself straddling the fence, not on political issues, but on whether or not to join many of my peers in the ab- stract world ofC. Wright Mills and "Friends"' Ross and Rachel, or the frightening and in-your-face world of Pat Buchanan and C-Span. As a tion. The reading assignment, for my Political Science class, was ironic and a bit chilling. But hey, aren't we in some ways following in the foot- steps of the previous genera- tions? Now, after all this identity searching of mine, which I don't intend to end any time soon, I am still writing this piece when my take-home midterm is calling me back to reality. But is that exam truly reality? I'm not quite sure. The Michigan primary is today and we will continue to see a barrage of red, white and blue converging on our beau- tiful state. The question is, how do we respond. If you support Bob Dole, that's great, let it be known. Ifyou support Clinton, say so, even if he won't actu- ally be on the Michigan ballot until November. If you don't support anyone, figure out why and do something about it. Believe me, the halfhour view- ing of Ross and Rachel can wait. They've waited since ninth grade, haven't they? Many people say at almost every election that we end up choosing the best alternative, even though we might not like everything about him or her. I am not at all saying that I em- brace Bill Clinton wholeheart- edly as the best leader of this country, but I will say that it is three different proms, I stacked this next to my academic accomplish- ments in my mind, feeling some mea- sure of victory over the girls who had teased me (several of whom were, as predicted, pregnant). Yet the feeling of unpopularity has never left me. "Even now, I still feel like a wuss from time to time," says King Missile. "Kind of residual wussiness - the kind of thing you can never really leave behind." Deep inside, I am still that 11-year old girl with a short haircut and no friends. She's still there inside my mind, full of all the insecurity of junior high school worries of never making cheerleader and always be- ing alone. She exists there, kept alive by the knowledge that I'll never be prom queen, a model or a princess married to a prince (though we all know how that one turned out.) She reappears at the strangest times. Sometimes I'll be talking to friends who I've known only in grad school but, I get the feeling early on, were popular in high school - easily so- cial, probably a cheerleader, never in want of friends. We're on perfectly even ground here, but somewhere in the conversation I'll become that geeky 11-year-old all over again and feel like I said something stupid or nerdy. I also see a lot of this on weekends - the times I'd be per- fectly happy staying home and read- ing, but feel that I should go out and do something social and not be such a geek. The problem is that social life should be enjoyed for what it is and when it can be - not as an award for who can get the most friends or marry the cutest or richest guy. Going this route, we're left like the heroine in the movie "Muriel's Wedding," who finally achieves status in the eyes of her popular, snobby high school friends when she marries an Olympic athlete. Never mind that he needed citizenship and she applied for the "job" out of the newspaper: she was a social success at last. I wonder how many friendships and marriages are founded on this principle, the voice ofthe junior high school girl who says, "Look who I've got! I'm a success because someone 1.0 it PER Pr! I