4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 5, 1996
ighe £uigia &g
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
Unlversity of Michigan
RONNIE GLASSBERG
Editor in Chief
ADRIENNE JANNEY
ZACHARY M. RAIMI
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the 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 moving gestures
'U' tries to alleviate move-in woes
E very year, for about three days at the
end of August, an onslaught of parents,
students, their vehicles and the massive
bulk of all their possessions hit Ann Arbor.
Traffic halts as cars with alien license plates
take wrong turns, swerve to avoid pedestri-
ans and park in the middle of the streets.
First-year students try to cope with piles of
boxes, new roommates, parents and com-
pletely new surroundings amid all the con-
fusion. Stress levels skyrocket. The period
in question, of course, is new student move-
in - and this year, the University made a
valiant effort to relieve some of the stress
fir its 5,000-plus new students.
The outstanding problem at move-in
every year is one of space. There simply is
qot room for all the residents of one dorm
- let alone several - to be in the street
with their cars, trailers, parents and belong-
ings.
As a result, residence hall areas become
congested and law enforcement officials
engage in merciless parking ticketing cru-
sades. Last year, city and University offi-
cers issued more than 2,700 parking-tickets
during the three-day move-in period - the
bulk of which decorated vehicles along res-
idence hall streets.
In an attempt to combat the problem this
year, the University sent temporary parking
permits to new students entering residence
halls. The permits allowed vehicles 30 min-
utes of "unloading time" in. front of the
dorms. Thirty minutes is insufficient when
considering the bulk of the load; however,
the time limit was virtually unenforceable
and probably saved several already harried
parents a ticket or two.
The best feature of the new permits was
the extended parking offered in the large
commuter lots adjacent to Crisler Arena and
on North Campus. Free parking allowed
parents to help their students with all of the
traditional post-move-in activities - such
as buying books, sweatshirt-buying and
grocery shopping - without the added has-
sle of running back to feed meters.
The Office of New Student Programs
organized "Welcome to Michigan '96," a
week long program designed to alleviate
some of the stress of move-in days and help
new students get involved during the days
directly following move-in.
This year, volunteer staff members
offered refreshments outside residence
halls, directed lost parents and students and
helped unload cars and trailers.
Though not involved with the ONSP,
members of the Interfraternity Council also
volunteered, hauling boxes and loft lumber.
Many helpful hands made life a little easier
for moving students.
Inevitable obstacles of space and volume
- compounded by unfamiliarity with cam-
pus, overprotective parents and sheer
exhaustion - hinder dorm residents during
an already stressful time. The University's
efforts to alleviate congestion and confu-
sion provided relief to new students and
their families - people that needed a little
extra encouragement this week.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE9
'(The U.S. air strike on Iraq) will in no way hurt Saddam
Hussein. He's not the one who
Is going to have to suffer.'
- LSA senior Sami Abbasi
YUKI KUNIYUKI GROUND ZERO
Ten yers Nago:it NRew cho yar.ewstr
- 4 ..p
r i
d ... O'IF Y VEE"eaP 14eS
VIEWPOINT
Ten years go: New school year, new start
W elcome September game, drinking at Old Town view. Deciphering what
1986. Leaves are still or listening to a speaker at makes sense and choosing
green and on the trees, and Rackham. It means realizing sources of reference for per-
crisp new books are lined up that every class is important, sonal projects are real means
on shelves, unpacked from even if it's not your major of challenging self and pro-
boxes, scattered over bed- field of study. It means expos- fessors.
room floors around campus, ing oneself to some harsh uestioningauthorit is
Dusty Ann Arbor heat trickles realities - such as the short- Q s g y
like sweat through fresh age of natural resources - key to that constant challenge,
clothes; tough feet cram into and choosing to be part of the though sifting through "facts"
uncomfortable shoes. problem or to work toward in textbooks, newspaper arti-
Remains of summer are snap- solving it; to consume or to cles and political rhetoric can
shots on the wall, salt air conserve. be tedious, it is crucial. In the
scented letters, fading tans, While classes aren't process, you learn to criticize
unchewed pencils. Bells ring everything, picking them everything; from Preacher
in Burton Tower signaling Jim, to your best friend, to
change of class. School again. With your eyes yourself. It is a long and diffi-
School for many studentsyin
can be too much like new open, it is impos- cult journey, especially i
shoes:aneomormtahblienw-uncomfortable shoes. But
shoes: uncomfortable, expen- sible not to see a after a while walking around
sive, formal. But education
isn't limited to note-taking, great deal of in Ann Arbor, the pain begins
completing problem sets and ugliness to subside and you find there
writing papers. At the are places you-want to explore
University, it's a whole way of and others you would rather
life that tuition doesn't carefully is important. They pass by.
include. It's getting comfort- are a channel to the bigger With your eyes open, it's
able in Ann Arbor again, or picture, to an enormous impossible not to see a great
for the first time. Hanging out amount of information from deal of ugliness, but if you
with friends, teaing at Drakes, which to expand a basic k
playing in the Diag. It means understanding of the material. eep looking around, you
making decisions about how Though not every class won't miss the beauty either.
to spend time: at a jazz con- has immediate practical appli- You accept responsibility
cert or at a movie, going to cation, each one offers a dif- for yourself and you realize
the library or the football ferent way of thinking, how personal decisions affect
Sometimes it's frustrating to the rest of the world. And you
Editors'note: This editorial focus on something complete- recognize that in everything
ran in the Daily on Sept. 5, ly new. Often it's hard to there exists the possibility to
1986. acknowledge other points of learn.
LETERS POLICY
The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from its readers. All letters from University stu-
dents, faculty 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 dailv.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.
WE WAINT YOU,.
To join The Michigan Daily
come to a mass meeting at 420 Maynard
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Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m.
* Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
SThu rsday Sept, 19 at 7 piM
o apply for an editorial page column,
SA UG ThE TREE
Socialfunctions
overtake lofier
aims ofDems'
convention
have a portrait of Bill Clinton ott
Imy wall. Not a little photo or a pic-
ture of me shaking his hand - ust a
fat, life-size headshot. It was the first
decoration I put up when I moved in
last week. I was excited; my roommate
forced me to keep him in the closet
last year.
I like the presi-
dent - not for <; ." :<:.
who he is, but
what he stands for.
Some might say
I'm a little
obsessed - a
Clinton groupie.
As part of my
big obsession with
the current admin-
istration, I jour- KATIE
neyed to Chicago HUTCHINS
last week to volun-
teer at the convention with the Ohi
Democratic Party. Our fancy job was
to hand out golden tickets (floor pass-
es) to delegates while eating free
bagels. And then the partying began.
I had no grand illusions about what
the convention would be. I knew it
would be networking, fakery, flattery
and debauchery. Apparently, my dele-
gate buddy did not. She left Tuesday
night, disgusted because she heard
some congressman refer admiringly to
his colleague's daughter's "hooters:
Yeah, well, whoever thought congress-
men were pillars of decency?
What I didn't expect was that drunk-.
enness and scamming the opposite sex
would get in the way of everything
serious.
My roommate and I won the Ohio
convention volunteer lottery Tuesday,
which meant we gottto go to the nose-
bleed section to see the first lady, Mr
Gore and whoever else spoke th
night. But we got caught up flirting
with these Mafia types from Ohio and
didn't quite make it on time.
But the Mafia guys were good for
something. They got us into this party
(with, of course, free food, drinks and
music - which I came to expect by
the end of the week). Michael-
Dukakis, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
and somebody else really famous were
hanging out. Good chance for ne
working? Not even, The strawberry
margaritas wereewayetoo good.
Instead of making valuable connec-
tions for the future or learning from
some of the great minds of our coun-
try, I had a different mission. My table-
was out of cigarettes, and there wasn't
a pack in sight. After a desperate'
search, I finally accosted a cigar-
smoking Kerry as he was leaving and
asked him if he had an extra pack"
cigarettes. He told me he didn't smoke
cigarettes, and this was his last cigar.
I didn't know at the time that he's a
big supporter of the president's tobac-
co tirade -- and the imposition 'of
harsh restrictionsdon tobacco advertis-
ing and sales to minors.
Thank God I never met George
Stephanopoulos at a party. The presi-
dential senior adviser did speak at one
of our delegation breakfasts. I couldri~j
tell you what he said; I was st
searching for free coffee and trying to
ignore my roommate's hiccups. The
night before, we'd been kicked out of a
bar at 4:30 a.m., with the owner plead-
ing over the intercom: "Democrats, go
home. Last call was two hours ago."
Daily news reporter Jennifer Harvey
wrote of scurrying for passes to the
convention floor. Maybe in her circle
(the Michigan people) they did, but t.
Ohio delegation scurried for passes
the parties. After all, who wouldn't
want an invite to John F Kennedy Jr.'s
George party at the art museum?
So I found myself on the elevator
with this prestigious-looking older guy
who said, "I hear the George party is,
the place to be tonight. My wife and I
have an invitation, but we have anoth-
er function to attend."
I jumped up and down and begged
for the invite. When nobody kno4
who you are, you can humiliate your-
self all you want.
He patted me on the head, smiled,
and said, "It's non-transferable."
Whatever. At least I got skybox pass-
es to hear the president's acceptance
speech Thursday night. These tickets
are cool because they get you where
the big shots are - like Ted Danson
and the president's speech writer.
They're fabulous little suites with fr
food and pop (and if you're lucky, beer
and wine).
But I missed the first 10 minutes of
the president's speech. Problem was,
my date was determined to find a suite
with beer, so we went from room to
Lounge lizards
Lack of dorm space inconveniences students
J)orm lounges usually house televisions,
ping pong and study tables - a place
to recreate or get away from roommates.
But none of the almost 5,300 incoming stu-
dents ever imagined that they might have to
live in the nearest lounge. Yet due to
University Housing's trouble with numbers,
10 new members of the University commu-
nity must refer to the lounges of Bursley
Hall as "home."
Different factors contributed to the
housing shortage. Nearly 4,100 returning
students signed leases to live in dorms this
year. The large number of returnees is part-
ly the result of a University advertising
campaign. Highlighting the advantages of
dorm life, officials tried to stop the flight to
off-campus housing. Housing enticed more
students to remain in dorms than in past
years.
In addition, the University has been
admitting more students over the last few
years, compared to previous years. Because
of the University's tradition of providing
first-year students with housing, the dorms
filled beyond capacity. The University tried
to rectify the problem by creating "convert-
ed doubles," which adds a third person to a
dorm room normally leased as a double.
Converted doubles equate to living in a very
Expensive shoebox.
"Overflow triples" promise to move the
third person out of the double once space
allows - if it does. Then the three room-
mates must decide which one has to move
at their own expense during the full swing
of fall term. This plan does nothing to fos-
ter positive student-to-student relations or
comfortable living.
As of yesterday, the housing division
was legally free to reassign unclaimed leas-
es. After a two-week freeze on housing
vacancies, the students in the lounges will
move into the first available rooms.
Eventually, all the students will settle into
more permanent dorm rooms.
However, the inconvenience of the first
few weeks living in temporary quarters
already will have had negative effects on
the students. Adjusting to the University is
hard enough for first-year students; worry-
ing about their living situations only adds
unnecessary stress.
University Housing should have learned
from last year's experience that it might
face a housing crunch. Several students
were forced to live in lounges for the first
few weeks of school. At that time, the
University reclaimed parts of West Quad -
formerly used as office space - for living
quarters, temporarily alleviating the prob-
lem.
The University must continue to look for
new solutions to the housing situation.
Officials can begin simply by not over-
booking the number of rooms available.
Alan Levy, director of Housing public
affairs, said the University routinely
expects a small number of students not to
claim their leases.
In a risky move,, the University has sold
rooms it does not have - no wonder stu-
dents are living in lounges.
Common sense would go a long way.
HOW TO CONTACT THEM
ALAN LEVY
DIRECTOR OF HOUSING PUBLIC AFFAIRS/INFORMATION,
RFESInFNCF OPFRATIONS AND STUDENT RESIDENCES