4- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 19, 1996 Uh i S dhttn &zailg 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 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 S I with Schor NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'Having to memorize some vocab words and then spitting them out on a test - that's no way to learn a language.' - Students'Party Coordinator Chad Bailey YKiKUNIYUKI GROUND ZERO T NE LOCALW ATH.. --- sTHI RE4wJ lWE .4 R~cwprJ4 gE4," AD s Bur, *THE woNT is UJ PR E DI G *d4~A-r *!0 WI i w P" 'o EA c CI.. WEEK -. -r. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Although weak, vote Michigan Party next Extremists win, GRAND ILLUSION 0 f students vote for anyone in the Michigan Student Assembly elections, they should check the box for LSA repre- sentative Andy Schor first. Schor has all the qualities of an excellent representative - as well as a solid understanding of the assembly's role in student life. He left the Wolverine Party to work as an independent, and placed himself in prime position to help students. Schor previously served as the chair of the External Relations Committee, concentrating lobby efforts against cuts in federal financial aid, such as Pell grants and direct student loans. Schor's legislative priorities are to keep tuition low and student aid high - and he wants to lobby in Washington, D.C. and Lansing. He also places great emphasis on student representation to the board of regents. MSA members must fight for stu- dent interests there. "At no point is MSA not responsible to students," Schor told The Michigan Daily. To ensure that representa- tives understand student interests, he sup- ports a student vote for MSA proposals, and endorses representative office hours. In stark contrast to Schor, other candi- dates and parties aim to cram wider politi- cal aims into MSA. Nicholas Kirk, who is running with the Victors Party for LSA rep- resentative, is also the president of the College Republicans. While he can moti- vate students, he has proved to be an inef- fective spokesperson for the CRs - for example, his handling of the chalking con- flict with the Queer Unity Project was less than graceful, and he probably did not rep- resent the views of all Republicans. Nor does he consider any alternatives to the straight Republican party line. Moreover, Kirk cares more about his idea of Republicanism than he does students. Politics of this kind do not belong on the assembly. In the same vein, the Liberty Party must not gain seats on MSA. The Liberty Party's political goal is to bring the ideology of the national Libertarian Party to the student level. Candidates should not regard MSA as a place to practice national politics at the student level - that should be left behind with the old fact-finding missions. The party's primary platform concern is volun- tary student fees - it wants to make all stu- dent government fees voluntary. Also, the Liberty Party wants to put all MSA-funded student groups on a ballot so students can select the student groups that receive funds. Operating under the guise of democracy, the Liberty Party plan would actually elim- inate many smaller student groups. MSA's Budget Priorities Committee is responsible for appropriating funds to student groups - aside from mathematical debacles last year, it performs its role efficiently. One seemingly political slate, the Nihilist Party, turns out not to live up to its name - they do not believe in the death of everything. The party first wanted to dis- solve the assembly, but then decided that MSA might actually have some use, such as funding student groups. While the attitude is noble, the participants still have very lit- tle knowledge about the current govern- ment. They think that lobbying has little use; however, they seem a bit confused on which issues MSA lobbies. The Nihilists still crusade to prevent fact-finding mis- sions - something that Michigan Party representatives eliminated when they gained MSA seats. In addition, they want to trim fat in the assembly budget that the Michigan Party leadership has already cut. Starting over again with tired causes is redundant. However, they raise issues to which the entire assembly should pay attention. Ozell Hayes, a first-year student running for LSA representative, told the Daily, "People are aware of all concerns of students - except for those (of students) of color." Hayes and the UPC are not far from the truth. They seem to have modified their stance from last year, when they aimed only to take on concerns of a small number of students. Hayes said he hopes that concerns of stu- dents of color, such as tuition, financial aid and other issues, "dovetail and become con- cerns of the rest of the student body." UPC's Kenneth Jones is chair of the Minority Affairs Commission. For an MSA commission, MAC is rather active, and Jones deserves much of the credit. He makes sure that the University community stays in touch with minority issues through a rigorous letter-writing campaign to the Daily. Students should instate him as a rep. The Students' Party, however, has not grown. Traditionally based on opposition to the Michigan Party, the platform is no better this year. Its members plan to focus on non- issues, such as eliminating weeder courses and increasing "accountability" of academic counselors. One of their more substantive issues, living-learning programs, is nullified by the actions they took to eliminate it - they contacted lower-level University Housing Division employees; however, the power rests in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. The Students' Party, despite retaining some old members such as Jonathan Freeman and Olga Savic, hasn't even learned how the University works - let alone what students need. How did they come up with their goals? Savic told the Daily that the candidates, to prepare the platform, had a meeting. "They sat around in a room and they were pissed off." Savic should know better - MSA is student government, not group therapy. There's no question that the Michigan Party members are the movers and shakers of the assembly. They have an agenda and they get things done. However, the Michigan Party is a little top-heavy, with President Fiona Rose and Vice President Probir Mehta. The Michigan Party's MSA domination has led to overconfidence and a revolutionary view of the assembly. While its quality plat- form is generally in tune with the best inter- ests of the student population, far too much power lies within the party, which hinders the assembly's democratic functioning. The last couple Michigan Party victories, deserved though they may be, dismantled the other parties' competing mechanisms. Moreover, Rose made a troubling state- ment recently when she said she would not support all of the student fee increases, if passed. Later, she backtracked, and now she and Mehta claim they are firmly committed to fighting for them before the regents. Rose's initial statements indicated that she wanted to have more power than she should. Rose must remember that MSA's purpose is to represent students' wishes, not her own. Michigan Party members Srinu Vourganti and Michael Nagrant deserve to be elected as LSA representatives. These two have been able to keep the ball rolling along from the lower end of the hierarchy. Vourganti has been actively promoting stu- dent interests in city council, and Nagrant is a motivated representative. Another candidate, Dan Serota, is run- ning for an LSA seat, but he is little more than cute posters and the party line. He prob- ably outspent other candidates this year with his Diag boards and his posters of himself as a child with a dog. Serota is an enthusiastic Using mud on sidewalks is foolish To THE DAILY: I am writing to agree with Manuel Magana's letter "'U' should salt walks instead of using sand" (11/14/96). 1 think the University's use of' sand is an aberration. My friends and I have discussed this problem for the two and a half years that we have been here and we all disagree with this policy. I understand that sand is used as a supplement to the salt and is used for traction when it is slippery, but it simply turns to mud and gets everything dirty. For exam- ple, if you have a new pair of shoes, forget it - they're ruined by the mud, your pants get back-splash from the mud, and the mud gets tracked into all of the build- ings on the floors as well as getting tracked back to your dorm room or house. On top of paying the out- rageous tuition to go to this school, I do not feel that I should have to purchase a new pair of shoes as a result of the University's snow poli- cies. Mud may be cheaper and more environmental to use than all salt, however, I feel that I pay more than enough money for this school to use salt and not ruin my clothes. DAVID SIRNA LSA JUNIOR Not all gay men will get HIV, AIDS To THE DAILY: It is sad to see that people like Damon Kitterman must resort to transparently illogi- cal arguments and pretenses of compassion to masquerade their own ignorance and homophobia ("Red Cross does not discriminate," 11/15/96). Any astute reader who considered the wantonly deficient reasoning behind banning gay men from donat- ing blood would unquestion- ably come to the inescapable conclusion that the Red Cross does indeed unneces- sarily discriminate. While it is true that HIV has infected the gay male community more than it has others, it is also true that even an active gay man who engaged only in what is con- sidered safe sex has such a small chance of contracting the disease that it is negligi- ble. Simply being an active gay man is not reason enough men who practiced safe sex to donate. While the charge that "there is still no absolute 100-percent effective method of testing blood for HIV" is true, I would ask how many tests for any type of condi- tion are absolute 100-percent effective. The undeniable fact is that, thanks to modern tech- niques, current methods of testing for HIV are so effec- tive that the chance of an erroneous result is so small that it is almost negligible. It is because it is not zero that the Red Cross can legitimate- ly ask high-risk donors not to give. But, as clearly shown, simply being an active gay man is not reason enough for being placed in that category. As a gay man who has engaged only in safe sex, has been tested for HIV (albeit perhaps unnecessarily), and is absolutely 100-percent sure of being HIV-negative, I too am saddened that I cannot help others who truly need it. It is because of blind bigotry that such an unfortunate situ- ation occurs. Finally, I would like to clear up the blatantly untrue allegations that Kitterman has laid claim to regarding Ryan LaLonde. LaLonde is on no crusade to improve his leadership image. He doesn't need to be - he already is an esteemed and well-respected leader in the University com- munity who is a selfless, hard-working and vocal activist. Second, he is not "in charge" of Queer Unity Project. He serves on a non- hierarchical Planning Team at the same level as about six others, including myself. It is the member base of QUP that is truly "in charge" of what happens - the planning team is simply the coordina- tion. I hope that Kitterman will be reputable enough, in the future, to be at least vaguely truthful when he loathsomely lambastes good people like LaLonde. CORY FRYUNG LSA SOPHOMORE To kill trash TV, turn dial and boycott To THE DAILY: This is in reply to the recent Miller on Tap column ("'20/20 is decadent and depraved TV," 11/13/96) regarding "20/20" and other talk-TV shows. In the end of the column, Miller maintains that "... the country will remain stupid as long as you treat it as such" - the "you" in this sentence referring to Hugh Downs and Barbara didn't watch them, the ratings of these shows would crash, the advertisers would pull out, and they would go off the air. However, we (and by "we" I mean regular, as well as occasional, viewers - I watch them sometimes, too - I'm not claiming inno- cence here, either.) like it! We love the scandal!The sleazier the subject, the more riveted we are to the TV Seems that there are lots of people who claim that they hate trash TV, but the ratings are the highest for the trashiest shows! Someone must like it,or they wouldn't be on. So, here is what I propose: Shut it off! We can change the quality of our television programming not by bitching about it, but by boycotting it. Try it. Give up "The Ro Show" for a week. Silence Montel and Ricki Lake for a while. Give Oprah and Gordon Elliot and Jerry Springer and Maury Povich an open-ended hiatus. And quit watching Jenny Jones altogether. This chick doesn't even know what the hell.goes on with her show, and is current- ly trying to disavow any responsibility for the murder of one of her guests! And, then, she deserves air time because ... why? Get this sleaze queen off the air! You have the power - the choice is up to you. JEAN ADAMS LSA JUNIOR AATA should contact fraternity TO THE DAILY: I would like to thank Deano Smith for his letter to the editor titled "Give Property" (11/13/96). It brought to my attention a problem that 1 thought the Ann Arbor Transit Authority was solving. Two months ago a truck crashed into the bus shelter on the corner of Washtenaw and South University. Since that time, I assumed the AATA was in the process of replacing it with a new one. Smith's letter informed me that the AATA needed some more property in order to build a shelter up to cur- rent code. I can't understand why, if this is the case, the AATA didn't call and ask us for our help. My fraternity would be glad to help out the commu- nity by letting the AATA "borrow" some property so the residents of our commu- nity don't freeze waiting for peace falters Historians will look back upon the Arab-Israeli peace process of the- early 1990s and note two monumental events - one for its great offer of hope, the other as a dark harbinger of turmoil. These events: The Araffat- Rabin handshake in 1993 and the attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli civilians in the winter of 1996. The handshake, and the Oslo Accords that pre- ceded it, not only established a framework for . peace they creat- ed a generation of young Israelis SAMUEL ready, even GOODSTEIN expecting, peace- ful relations with their neighbors - Israelis who viewed Yitzhak Rabin not as the b'rilliant and calculating military strategist most Israelis knew, but as a visionary of peace. Conversely, Hamas' suicide bomb- ings turned the Israeli electorate already reeling by the assasination of Rabin by one of their own, on its head. More important, the attacks gave right- wing extremist Jews and the Likud Party new and powerful political allies: Israelis who yearned for peace but were scared into voting for Likud, out of a justifiable fear over their own security. The matchmaker in this Jewish political wedding was, of course, Hamas. So extremist Palestinians drove the Israel political center into the waiting arms o the Israeli right: Enter Benjamin Netanyahu, elected by this rearranged electorate. In the end, extremists and right- wingers on both sides of the conflict got their respective wishes: Hamas. which unequivocally opposes the peace process, got stalled negotia- tions; right-wing Israelis got a govern- ment willing to expand settlements i the West Bank and unwilling to con- sider the possibility of Palestinian statehood. What has been the benefit to most Israelis from this process? Unfortunately, this is a difficult ques- tion to answer. The most important ben- efit Netanyahu promised. "peace with security," has not been realized: the threat of Hamas attacks has not receded significantly, Syria is semi-seriously preparing for war, and violence hasl resumed between the Israeli Army and Palestinians (leaving more than 60 Palestineans and 15 Israelis dead in the past few months) - this time, however, the Palestinians have guns, not rocks. Israel, despite the Likudniks' claims, is not more secure today than before Netanyahu's election. Furthermore, thd renewed threat of violence and instabil- ity threatens to slow Israel's economic revival; Rabin and Peres understoo that the peace process is necessary not only for security, but for Israel to con- tinue its impressive economic growth. This growth is jeopardized by the cut- rent stalemate. How quickly hope has melted into fear. Many on the left criticize Netanyahu for not having a vision; to the contrary he has a vision - his vision is exactly the problem. Netanyahu's long-tern4 vision is to reach a detente, whereby the Palestinians get autonomywbut not statehood. His short-term vision is to move through negotiations at such a torturously slow pace, breaking promises made at Oslo along the way, that any significant breakthrough is impossible - ad hocracy in its ugliest form. A key breakthrough, after all, would not satisfy the most vocal ele; meats of his constituency. The negoti-41 ations over Hebron is a prime example of this dynamic in action. The Palestinians, however, are unlike- ly to accept these visions. An economy in utter shambles gives the Palestinian anti-peace movement a tangible battle cry: unemployment is more than 50 percent, Palestinian employment in Israel has fallen from 150,000 to 30,000 since the suicide bombings, and Palestinian incomes have fallen by one third, to $4,000, in the past three years. It is no secret that people are more sym- pathetic to nationalist or extremist views when they are poor and face few prospects for a brighter future. So while Netanyahu has both a long- and short-term vision, it is unlikely that- this vision can lead to anything but renewed stalemate, violence and, possi- bly, war. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and to a degre4 between Israel and all Arab states, can- not be fully resolved until there is a free Palestinian state - which, of course, will not have a regular army. This may not please people, but it is a fact. If the conflict is to end, the political suppres- I I