4A- The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 25, 1996 E1 £Cirbi~grn Pailg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan f 5 0O R C RONNIE GLASSBERG Editor in Chief ADRIENNE JANNEY ZACHARY M. RAIMI Editorial Page Editors Lnless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily:s editorial hoard. All other articles. letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily fROM THE DAILY Keep the door onnt M Houe houd otaprove OMA changes NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'Professional people will pay $2 for a cup of coffee - a blue-collar worker won't.' --Jim JohansiOn, gcneral manager at Cava Java JiM LASSER SHARP AS TOAST honky-tonk (hor ke torqk') n. 1. [Old Slang] a cheap, disreputable, noisy cabaret or nightclub 2. [Slang] a bar, esp. one where country music is played- Honolulu (han'.lo'l-o) i. capital of Hawaii: seaport on the SE coast of Oahu: pop. 365,000. honor (an'er) n. 1. high regard or great respect given. 2. adherence to action or principles considered right; integrit y [to conduct oneself with honor! (see Chuck Winters) T honorable mention a citation of honor to a person or work of merit, but of less distinction than top honors in a competition honoree (an'ar e) i. a person receiving f an honor Chuck Winters- honor guard a ceremonial guard assigned to escort a distinguished person or to accompany a casket at a funeral Also Guard of Honor Honshu (han'sh~b) n. largest of the islands forming Japan: 88,946 sq. mi. (230,369 sq. km.; chief city, Tokyo- ;,e'8'v/rW LETTERSTO THE EDITOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR n the wake of the recent University pres- idential selection and lawsuit against the University for a violation of Michigan's Open Meetings Act, the controversy again springs into the headlines with the state House's recently proposed modifications to OMA. If Gov. John Engler and the Michigan House decide to change OMA, the University would be obligated to change ilts presidential selection processes in sever- al ways - including having to release only dhe names of the finalists to the public. As a state university, the administration has the obligation to inform the community of exactly what is happening behind closed ozs. In defense of the University's OMA vio- ldions, regents claim they were unable to Veak freely with candidates. And, accord- ilig to Engler, many candidates withdrew fcom the search due to fear of their current bosses finding out that candidates held an interest in the position. However, the regents should be able to ask the same ques- tions in an open meeting that they would have under closed circumstances. State Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle Creek) said OMA helped University President-select Lee Bollinger secure the spot - due to his 21-year employment at the University. The issue of an open or closed interviewing process should have had no impact on the selection of the best candidate; the regents should know better. The act needs no further modification. Under the proposed legislation, Michigan's public universities would be required to release the names of the final three candi- dates, making information about the other candidates unavailable to the press and the public during a 30-day "cooling off" peri- od. Many members of the community COMU TYCHEST Shakespeare loved the U' would feel suspicious if the legislation pass- es. With public tax dollars in the state uni- versities' pockets, Michigan citizens feel justified in asking for information about how public institutions run. Students deserve more than the filtered information that the proposed modifica- tions to OMA would provide. While stu- dents cannot vote for the University presi- dent, they are one of the most affected con- stituencies. The faculty, too, deserves a larger part in the process - as taxpayers and as a part of the University. A public uni- versity president represents the institution to the outside world - and the public should have both an input in the process and a chance to view the regents' deliberations. The whole University population should have access to the same information about the candidates as the regents who select them. The University community should feel that it knows its president at least as well as the regents - who get the most exposure to candidates. With less than six weeks left as the majority party in the House, Republican members are rushing to vote on the pro- posed changes before the Democrats take control. If the proposals are worth approval, legislators will pass them despite partisan politics. Republicans should not ram through important pieces of legislation in this manner - it is irresponsible and overt- ly political. And these proposals are not worth approval. Engler and his lackeys have a fur- ther agenda - they want to have more involvement in public university governing boards. But the state, students and faculty agree on this point: The Open Meetings Act is a necessary and solid piece of legislation - as it stands. The unkindest cut Engler's special ed cuts are ill-advised n the wake of a lawsuit that pits local early intervention programs and minimiz- school districts against the state, Gov. ing the number of students entering special John Engler may ask Michigan legislators education in schools, Michigan would to slash mandates that require special-edu- greatly lessen the cost of special education Doctors do use caffeine TO THE DAILY: I have not often had the opportunity to read your newspaper since my appoint- ment at the Medical School in 1994. 1 did pick it up on my lunch hour on Friday (11/22/96) and enjoyed the read very much Thebhack page article, ("The Beaning of Ann Arbor," with "A drug in every cup") I read with interest Dr. James Shavman s comments about caffeine. most of which were accurate. However he is quoted as saying "we would never use it in a medical setting" Never is a long time and also a rarity in medicine. In fact, caffeine and medications containing caffeine are prescribed very often. Most commonly, the use of caffeine is indicated for controlling headache pain (migraine etc.). There are other uses, too. including treatment of apnea (interrupted breathing) in premature infants. Sorry to the weekend warriors though - there is no evidence that caffeine works very well to cure a hangover. Medline, a computerized literature search tool, lists 500 references on the thera- peutic uses of caffeine. The Physicians Desk Reference lists about 40 medications that contain caffeine. Read the labels on over-the-counter painkillers - you'll be amazed how many have caf- feine in them. The nighttime remedies won't! And don't be surprised if you go to an emergency room with a headache and the doctor puts caffeine in your IV Best regards and good health! DR. SEAN K. KESTERSON CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR II, UMMC Technology doesn't cut it TO THE DAILY: As I sit here once again in the multi-million-dollar Media Union, the pinnacle of information technology on campus, I can't even get a printer to spit out my work. Either I spend half an hour logging on to six different machines until I find onenthat works, or when I do get logged on, I find out that the printer chooser is messed up so I can't even select a printer. Supposing I even get a work- ing computer with a working printer chooser, then I have to find a working printer. Which is never the one that is two feet away, instead it's the one spend a little less money buy- ing 200 Mhz Pentiums and a little more money on 24-hour manpower to police their sites. ITD seems to have its priorities completely mis- placed currently. ITD charges us for printing and then they never work. et they seem to. think that spending millions on the latest Silicon Graphics workstations is more impor- tant than a student being able to print out their project report. Students need work- ing computers and working printers. It's just that simple. I hope lTD (reads) this and starts to notice their obvious shortcomings. RICHARD HOFER ENGINEERING SENIOR H arassment policy strict TO THE DAILY: As an officer of the Army. I was surprised to read of how our harassment policy actually is. I've been in the Army for more than six years now and I've never known our policy to be built on the "good old boy" network but since I read it in the Daily it must be true (Military attacks." I /14196). I'm a female pilot (enlisted rather than commissioned) and have usually been the lone female in my training. I have never experienced what I perceived as sexual harassment at any point of my career, but [can see where someone coming out of high school going to basic training might be intim- idated by their trainers and be too scared to report miscon- duct, but most people know better. The Daily used this scenario: A female is too scared to report misconduct because the "good old boy" network would punish her for reporting the men involved. Therefore she will not get promoted or advance since she rebuffed a superior. Reality is, a female could accuse a totally innocent man of misconduct/harassment and because of this accusa- tion, now in his permanent file, his career is over. Every promotion board that looks at his file is going to see he had an EEO complaint, and he is going nowhere despite his nnocence. The Daily suggests closer supervision. I don't know what else the Army could do besides bug all the rooms and phones, and sit with every female 24 hours, seven days a week so they control all behavior. By the Daily's rea- soning that the institution (the Army) is at fault for the misconduct for these men, I'm sure the University is at fault every time one of its students or staff commits a shut. I guess it's more of a challenge for the Daily staff to find a topicswhere they actually have some knowl- edge from which to base their opinions. As the EEO officer in my company, I know their pictures of how it is, is indeed not how it is. CHRISTINA C. DOSTER ENGINEERING JUNIOR Roberson is wrong for AD TO THE DAILY: As an alumni who can now read the Daily online, a heartfelt "thank you" and kudos for the great web site my old daily paper has! There is one issue, however, that I'd like to see addressed; the sooner, the better. Our school has failed at finding the best football coach(es) in the region, let alone the country. Who is to blame? Not Coach Carr directly. After all, this man has done his best, but he is not of head coach caliber. 'The blame falls squarely on the athletic director himself, Joe Roberson. I have no ill feelings toward Roberson. He, like Carr, is the wrong man for the job. Roberson won his appointment through his connections to former University President James Duderstadt. There was no national search for the most qualified candidate. Likewise, when a head coach was needed, there was no national search for a candi- date. Why not? This practice is both unfair and misguided. If seniority made people deserv- ing of jobs, many underquali- fied people might be in simi- larly difficult situations. Both Carr and Roberson are good people, capable in the correct job environments -not the ones that are bestowed upon them now. The University prides itself as a great public univer- sity to send out its graduates to compete in the "real world." What is happening in our athletic department does not reflect real-world busi- ness practices. The wrong people are being hired for the wrong job. How can the University conduct a careful and successful presidential search and not do the same for other important positions? The in-coming president could do much for his credi- bility and standing with the University community (which is already very good, I understand) to change this hiring and promoting practice. Both Carr and Roberson should be reassigned or asked to leave in order to let the nat- ural selection process begin. The last time the University C hange of pace: Instead of e-mail- ing me this week, drop a line t George Cantor. Who? He's a columnist for The Detroit News editorial page. (See: The Detroit News, "U-M students deal with owt King Lear," 11/23/96.) I hear he wrote about your'mother. OK, that's a lie. But he did write about you. And me. He thinks we're a bunch of apathetic anti- intellectuals. (Am I paraphras ing you right George? Can I call ADRIENNE you George? You ANNEY know, it's a Gen-X JA E thing. I have no manners.) On what information does he base his theories? He places students to the far right of the faculty with a survey of 29 stud dents. A non-scientific poll, I assure you. He wrote that the day after elec-' tion day a professor asked a political science class who they voted for - he reported that 15 voted for Clinton and 14 did not. Hel-LO. Who did the other 14 vote for? Old big ears? Bob "Just don't do it" Dole? Ralph Nader write-in'? Your mother write-in? ( told you she wasin there. Somewhere.) What's more, George Cantor thinks that 29 people is a representative sample of the student body. "I don't think that is a terribly inaccurate profile of the uni- versity's student body," he wrote of us. Obviously, he did not take statistics- here -29 does not a sample of 40,000: make. And what poli-sci class was that anyway .. Cantor is confused on other topics. He thinks we "elected" Lee Bollinge) as the new University president. George: select. Since when do eight: regents making decisions on a board get to be called an election? Semantics aside, Cantor could not have attended the interviews. He believes the focus was on affirmative action and diversity. The regents were more concerned about the budget and the hospital than one candidate's han- dling of a sexual harassment case." Then he jumps into "King Lear." 'Zwounds. Sorry dude. I'm the English major. You stepped all over my intellec- tual specialty. Get out your swords. And just who is supposed to be Lear in this scenario? Who's crazy - the students or the administration? Cantor wrote of the presidential search, "It all reminded me ofthe scene in King Lear in which the aging monarch's daughters compete to express their adoration for daddy. Lear, being gaga at the time, goes into a fury when Cordelia answers honestly ... She is cut off from the throne and disinherited. "That's pretty much how it's done in Ann Arbor, too." Expletive. Oh! :) Sorry. That was'the Gen-X in me again. Then he brings Proposition 209 into the picture - on which, may I remind you, most University students did not vote. Then he signals the downfall of uni- versities due to a changing definition. Well, now we get down to some meat. Yes, universities are changing the federal government is anti-finan- cial aid, and the Michigan Legislature. isn't particularly fond of the University. But the students here are just trying to scrape by, so pardon us if we'd like to get the "ticket punched" ASAP. We're broke. I do see my degree as a ticket to the rest of my life, to my career -- you've got to have one these days, so they tell me. But my experience here is something' altogether different and invaluable. I'm a different person than I was in the' fall of 1993, academically and other- wise. And what I've got to sell are my mind, my skills, my experience - not. my soon-to-be BA in English, but. what I learned getting there.'. "Lear, of course, died blind and crazy.4 Maybe U-M will do better." Thank you for sharing, George. Guess we're all going down with the ship. But as y6u noted before, Lear was crazy to at the beginning. We may be contentious - and we may have a diverse array of. beliefshere - but blind and crazy we are not. Lear is a tragedy. And our edu- cation is not. Let's keep that in mind. University life is a "social experi- ment," Mr. Cantor. Ask anyone living in the dorms. And no matter how much I kvetch, the University is comfortably liberal. A little insulated, maybe, but still liberal. As for affirmative action, Cantor was too busy with the poli-sci classes to notice the turnout of 150 very un n-n+- :- _:rnri:n: n h AAnbia . -01 I I I ;. i. I" 0 cation programs. Last Thursday, the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in a case about whether state government or local school districts must bear the cost of spe- cial-education programs. If the court deems the state responsible, the state government must pay up to $3.5 billion to compensate 84 school districts that have footed the bills for such programs since 1980. The Engler camp has announced its intention to seek to eliminate Michigan's special-education mandates as a cost-cutting measure - if the court rules against the state. Regardless of the ruling, the state's special-education programs should remain intact, as they pro- vide a necessary means of priming students with special needs for success. State special-ed programs are at risk because Michigan is the only state that Jequires the Department of Education to $rovide free special-education services to 4hildren from birth to 'age 26. Federal jequirements only dictate that states fund ograms for ages 3 through 21. If Engler's fits take effect, the state program would no enger target children in early developmen- a1 stages, when special-care programs can 7nable physically - and academically - hIallenged children to enter school on par With their peers. A 1990 Congressional Record substanti- kes this fact, showing that for every $1 programs- Much of the Engler administration's sen- timent against special-education programs stems from their large price tag. The cost of special education for 1994-95 school year was slightly more than $1.6 billion. However, empowering special-needs chil- dren to compete on par with other students will inevitably command a greater percent- age of resources than their percentage of the population. Instead of denying special- needs students certain advantages through budget cuts, the state should meet their needs through a more financially efficient system. This might entail taking further advantage of funds from Medicare's stu- dent-coverage plans for impaired children. By slashing many of the benefits and sup- plementary programs the current mandate affords them, Engler would, in effect, deny special-education students - nearly one- tenth of the student population - the chance to achieve the same level of success that most students may attain. Special-education programs are crucial in providing special-needs students with extra attention to prime them for success. Engler's intent to cut many such programs from the state budget, pending the Supreme Court ruling, would diminish the programs' viability. The governor should revise the programs, if necessary, rather than termi- nate them. Despite potential financial trou- 1 I I