4 --The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 24, 1997
420 Maynard Street RONNIE GLASSBERG
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief
Edited and managed by f, ADRIENNE JANNEY
Students at the ZACHARY M. RAIMI
University of Michigan 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
vtuen4prtet hingsilence
student prote st brings diversity issues to 'U'
NOTABLE QUOTABLE,,
'She's the kind of person you can't talk about without
smiling. I think it was a celebration of her life.'
- Aditi Sharangpani, at a memorial service for her sister Arati,
who died earlier this month in a Comair plane crash
Jim LASSER SHARP AS TOAST
otAE BUfLDINfr5 WED
. -- c1
I iKE TZ
1
a SEAE
a~4 l 1 I f I 1! 1
S tudents - gagged and dressed in black.
They wandered in silence, though with
obvious purpose, through Angell Hall and
the Diag on Tuesday. Many students
"heard" their powerful message; many more
casually ignored it.
And that's the problem they were
attempting to bring to others' attention.
A coalition of students of color declared
Jan. 21, "A Day Without Diversity." The
protest was not sponsored by any one mul-
ticultural group, but by individual members
of many groups who came together and
sponsored the event out of their own pock-
ets. The protesters wore gags to symbolize
the silencing of honest discussion of race
issues by students or administrators. The
protest was not a plea for radical change,
but a stand against the complacency and
inaction that often embody methods to deal
with racial issues on campus and across the
nation.
Protesters also highlighted problems
with the general spirit of the University's
Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
One protest pamphlet called the symposium
"a masquerade for the persistent discrimi-
nation against students." While the events
surrounding King's birthday are commend-
able for their academic value, they are only
part of the spirit of activism that surrounds
the inception of the holiday. The day's
events should also encourage people to take
part in honoring and reflecting on the histo-
ry of the University's celebration - relent-
less action that made the day possible.
The symposium was born out of the
Black Action Movement III, which pres-
sured the University into observing MLK
Day in 1989. BAM III, like its two prede-
cessors in 1970 and 1975, pursued solutions
to issues that concern black students. BAM
was based in a strong, nonviolent activism
State senate should i
W ithin the hallowed halls of the
Michigan's Legislature, a debate
over the state's minimum wage is raging.
Currently, the Senate is entertaining a pro-
posal that would raise the minimum wage in
two parts to $5.15 by September 1998, the
first wage hike in 19 years. Many
Democrats and Republicans agree that the
minimum wage should be higher, but they
.lave had trouble deciding on a specific
neasure. Moreover, business interests and
9abor unions continue to clash over the pro-
posed raise. Despite all the contending
forces, the Legislature should raise the state
minimum wage as soon as possible - it is
long overdue, and it would help working
families and students.
Last year, the federal government raised
the minimum wage from $4.25 per hour to
eventually reach $5.15. The state proposal
closely resembles the federal raise. Also,
the state minimum-wage hike would only
affect companies that do not engage in
interstate commerce and that have gross
teceipts of less than $500,000 per year.
- The bill before the Senate's Human
Resources and Labor Committee would
Sallow employees who earn tips to receive
,$2.52 per hour, so long as the tips add up to
the minimum wage. Moreover, the bill
would provide for a $4.25 per-hour training
_ wage that would benefit employees less
than 20 years old for the first 90 days of
work. Taken together, this proposal would
undoubtedly help a significant amount of
Michigan residents and employees - the
Senate should pass it.
- like that of King - and forced the com-
munity to address issues of race that the
University often glossed over. In 1994, the
Black Student Union protested the MLK
events on campus - members felt the
activist spirit of BAM was not present in the
symposium. Though the University's obser-
vance of MLK Day improved significantly
since, this week's protesters argued that the
symposium ignored the activism King him-
self lived and preached.
Too often, the community reduces
King's work to almost anecdotal reference.
It seems easy to forget that his dream can
only be born out of constant effort and pur-
suit of progress. As King wrote from a jail
in Birmingham, Ala., "Nonviolent direct
action seeks to create such a crisis and
establish such creative tension that a com-
munity that has constantly refused to nego-
tiate is forced to confront the issue." That
spirit was present throughout all of King's
work; in this spirit, BAM drove campus to
come to terms with issues previously unno-
ticed.
This week's protesters focused on a vital
point: Diversity does not visit once per year.
Diversity does not come with a series of
speakers, whose messages fill the space of
a single day. Diversity is, however, a goal
that requires vigilant attention and hard
work. Denying of the existence of racial
tensions, or sweeping them aside, fulfills no
purpose. Most important, the protesters
stressed that diversity is not an issue that
only concerns minorities. The University
must continue to increase its efforts to build
an environment that is more comfortable for
minorities. The University reaps innumer-
able benefits from all its variances.
Preservation and extension of diversity,
therefore, is the responsibility of the entire
community.
aters
raise minimum wage
THE MADONNA SCHOOL OF MVSIC f THE CHRIS WEBER 5000L OF TIME MA06EMErJT
d
ANN* O NG
!tIEK-TY O I
SFOo ,L. F!EL
STEVE AND EMY'S SCHOOL
THE TED kACZVNSKI SCHOOL Or: PYRTEHICSANOYIN'C. ADVERT 153 NC,
OF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
to $4.75 in July and then to $5.15 next
September would greatly benefit working
families. Many low-income families rely on
minimum-wage jobs as their primary and/or
secondary source of financial compensa-
tion.
As the cost-of-living rises, so must the
minimum wage to help such families stay
financially solvent. As AFL-CIO Director
Tim Hughes said recently, raising the mini-
mum wage is "a basic issue of fairness."
Moreover, many college students work
in part-time, minimum-wage jobs. Often,
they work in small stores in small college
towns - the same enterprises that the
Senate bill directly affects. Hence, a raise in
the minimum wage would possibly benefit
college students and help them afford spi-
raling tuition costs.
The bill's other provisions, besides the
main wage hike, contain responsible public
policy. For example, even though a person
who collects tips may earn only $2.52 per
hour under the proposal, the legislation
guarantees that the individual would never
make less than the minimum wage. This
important provision not only is consistent
with the spirit of the wage hike, it would
ensure that this segment of the population
receives raises as well.
Both Republicans and Democrats have
acknowledged that some form of a mini-
mum-wage hike will pass soon. The bill
before the Senate is a sound proposal -
one that would benefit workers and would
not adversely affect businesses. The
Legislature should pass this bill, or a simi-
Daily misses
statistic
about faculty
TO THE DAILY:
I would like to call to
your attention a mistake that
occurred in the Jan. 8 edition
of the Daily. In this edition,
there was a front page article
titled "Minority faculty num-
bers climb."
In the second paragraph
of that article, it was stated
that there has been "a 31.3-
percent increase during the
past five years" in minority
faculty at the University.
However, upon looking at the
graph placed to the right of
the article, the caption reads,
"the percent of minority fac-
ulty at the 'U' has risen 3.1
percent since 1991 ."
There is obviously a dis-
crepancy in this article.
When you study the num-
bers, it is in fact that minority
faculty has only risen 3.1
percent in the last five years
at the University. I feel that
an error as great as this one
cannot be allowed to go
unnoticed or uncorrected. A
newspaper that is so widely
read and visible on this cam-
pus, such as the Daily, must
always do its best to avoid
such errors.
When a mistake is made,
it is my strong belief that
action on behalf of the news-
paper must be taken to cor-
rect it. In keeping with the
purpose and principle of
informing the public correct-
ly, I ask that as a newspaper
you address this error in an
upcoming edition of the
newspaper.
PONNI PERUMALSWAMI
LSA SENIOR
ADVOCACY CHAIR,
UNITED ASIAN AMERICAN
ORGANIZATIONS
Daily sports
coverage is
too negative
TO THE DAILY:
I would like to comment
on the coverage of athletics,
especially concerning gym-
nastics and track and field.
First, I commend the Daily
highly for its promptness in
printing.
The Daily has done an
excellent job of running arti-
cles shortly after the events
they cover. I would also like
to praise the Daily on the
quantity of coverage for the
sports above. It is good to see
such an interest in the non-
revenue sports.
Nevertheless, it appears as
though recently the Daily has
been preoccupied with
rpnrt, nv norccinn r
misquote of a team member
that we would "kick ass and
take names" ("Windy City
gusts too bitter for men tum-
blers," 1/21/97). The meet
was a positive stepping stone
for building up a stronger
team.
Michigan athletics remain
an excellent institution. The
sportsmanship and class
learned through the school's
sports last a lifetime. Sports
such as track and gymnastics
work hard to create an image
of the utmost standard.
Some articles (such as
"Despite negative publicity,
Blue women gymnasts praise
sport," 1/22/97) are good
influences because they accu-
rately portray the positive
experience of sport. Please
keep up this latter kind of
work.
ED LEDGARD
LSA SENIOR,
MEMBER, MEN'S
GYMNASTICS TEAM
ITD's 'funny'
business
TO THE DAILY:
As a student on North
Campus, I enjoy some of the
benefits of having a CAEN
account, including free print-
ing and disk space. (Of
course, this is all built into
our tuition, so technically, it's
not free). However, I still
have to rely on the
Information Technology
Division for modem use, as
well as some basic services
that I cannot get away with-
out having.
Often, I need to be online
to check on simulations, e-
mail or other documents
from home, and I usually
need to do this at night, dur-
ing prime-time hours. ITD is
charging my funny money
account $.44 per hour for
modem use.
Given that I can use all
$10 dollars of my allocation
to modem use, this is only 22
hours of online time, and
sometimes I need to be
online for one or more hours
at a time. Sure, ITD suggests
that you try to use the off-
hours to reduce the rate, but
this is not always possible.
And this is considering that I
have CAEN access as well -
just think what the ITD users
have to do along with disk
space and printing!
This $.44 per hour is just
too high; either it must be
reduced, or more funny
money must be given to each
student.
ITD tends to forget that
North Campus people exist.
In their letter, they mention
their campaigns in the Daily
and the University Record, as
well at various ITD comput-
ing sites ("ITD looking for
snuiionn i cmnutino nroh-
But I have received noth-
ing about this change, and
have had to go to the Daily to
find out.
The idea behind the new
policy - where you can go
negative on your balance
while you are online, but you
can't do anything else once
you have done so - is unrea-
sonable! The instructions for
how to check your time left
online are hidden in ITD
somewhere, and so I don't
expect the average computer
user to know how to do this.
I know it is possible to set
up some e-mail warning that
would be sent out if your
account slipped past a certain
amount, which should be
implemented. Users should
be allowed to go to a certain
negative amount so that they
can still use services when
theirs runs out; the amount
that the user is in debt would
be taken from their allocation
the next month. Twenty-five
dollarsras a minimum alloca-
tion for these accounts is too
high! I understand the need
to keep the number of trans-
actions (down), but I doubt
that reducing this minimum
allocation to $5 would cause
any problems.
I am dissatisfied with
ITD's handling of the alloca-
tions. I have located an
Internet service provider in
the area for only $20/month
for unlimited usage, with no
restrictions on times. Unless
ITD wants to see its user
base turn to this option, I'd
suggest they reconsider their
policies to make them more
usable to the student body.
MICHAEL K. NEYLON
ENGINEERING GRADUATE
STUDENT
'Sexy' server
entertains
Bursley
residents
TO THE DAILY:
Almost everything printed
in this section is someone's
angry diatribe against this or
that. In lightsof this, I would
like to offer something a bit
more positive (since you
won't seem to print my angry
diatribes). I would like to call
attention to and praise Sexy
Grandpa.
Bursley residents past and
present know who I am talk-
ing about. He is the cheery
food server with the red hat
that bears his nickname.
Unfortunately, I don't know
his real name, but I would
like to thank him anyway.
Here's a guy that comes
to work everyday with a
smile on his face, and a
pleasant demeanor that is
contagious. All of the
SHAKING THE 'TREE
And out of thReE
tree came a few
overripe frits
ather than write some sappy, tear
filled reflection on my years a
the Daily for this - my last col
umn, I thought I'd share with yous
of the exciting e-mail I've gottenun
nuts on campus
this past year.
Sure, I've gotten
a lot of compli-
ments, but the far
more interesting
messages come
from those who
think I should be
spayed..>.
It's hard to <.
choose a favorite,
because the KATIE
loonies who can't HUTCHINS
take a joke write "
such articulate, logical and well-inten.
tioned thoughts:
"Your article on women being able
to talk themselves out -of a (traffic
ticket, bull ... Thank you very mud
from one woman to another, youus
fixed our wagons, even if we l
'tear' our way out of a ticket, after thai
article it certainly won't happen again
Couldn't you simply write about poli-
tics?"
Well, I tried writing about politics
Either nobody read my boring politica
columns, or College Republicans sen1
messages calling me an "extremist'
and a perpetuator of "hate-filled big.
otry."
But moving back to attemp t.
humor columns got me in trouble tt
both meat-eaters and animal rights
activists.
Check out this lovely message fron
an animal lover: "Take a look in the
mirror and I bet you will see in'your
self the negative traits you attribute tc
this cat: selfish, nasty, rude and stuck.
up.
And then this one from a meat eater:
"If you think by not eating anm i
brings you closer to nature, it doei 't
In fact, it moves you farther away
because humans are by nature crniv-
orous." Huh?
This yo-yo sent me a particularly
long and fun-filled message, so I'll
give him a little more space: "Also, ii
you want spiritual, take the Native
Americans for instance. They were
about as close to nature as any people
could get, and they were carnivo us
And don't give me the old it's~
for the environment' argumeni
because I'm in SNRE, and I no
exactly what's up. Third, as for 'in a
politically correct world,' fuck roliti.
cally correct because if that's not the
dumbest shit to have come around in
the last 20 years, I don't know whal
is." Okaaaaay. Sure.
And in response to my advocacy o
family farms, not factory farm e
offered: "Besides not being cost-ec
tive or efficient, it's just leading the
animals on. They're being raised to be
killed. It's like pampering and sooth-
ing a death row inmate before he is
about to be executed."
And in case you missed it, I'm goin
to be spayed, put to sleep or convicted
of a felony, according to this recent let.
ter to the editor: "An old adagestates
that spaying and neutering makes an
animal less aggressive and re
friendly. It's unfortunate that 'h
Humane Society can't expand its scop
of operations. Katie Hutchins would be
a perfect candidate for its first human
spay patient" This reader is about to b
laughed out of the Humane Society foi
submitting my cat column to the cruel-
ty investigations unit.
And some people just can't handle
my potty mouth: "Nice language in
your editorial. Did you send a co&tc
your grandmother? A good journalisi
should be able to make a point withou,
using four (seven) letter words.'
Journalist? Me? Who is this guy kid-
ding?4
Of course, not all the weirdos send
me hate mail. Some of them actually
like me. In response to my pro-smok.
ing column last spring, I received this
advice: "You didn't consider actually
EATING your smoke while waiti to
eat. ... For a fun Sunday brea sl
(especially if you're drunk at the time)
it is fun to ash into your pancakes as ii
the pancakes were your ashtray. They
are called 'ashtray pancakes'... sort ol
like 'blueberry pancakes'... only"with-
out the blueberries. Try it some time."
And we can't forget the amount ol
play I've been getting in The Michigan
Review lately. For those of you who've
never heard of it, it's a forum for e
bonehead Republicans who coo n't
make it at the Daily.
In their most recent issue,- they
called me the "Pretend
Environmentalist Chick *Who
Nonetheless Wants to Kill Cute .Little
VK. r..", Ac f.n m . h a i.*t.