4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 20, 1997
Ue £(Cidi~u &ulg
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan
° '' ;
___
' '
JOSH WITE
Editor in Chief
ERIN MARSH
Editorial Page Editor
NOTABLE QUOTABLE,
'We believe in ourselves. We do not have to be
told by Playboy that we are only a body
because we are much more than that.'
- LSA sophomore Colette Stevenson, during Tuesday's protest against
Playboy, as the magazine searched for "Women of the Big Ten" on campus
YUKI KUNIYUKI Gh ND vER.
aa. .
Unmess otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily editorial board. All
other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
FROM THE DAILY
Legl lessons
Schcool patrol may threaten students' rights
igh school students have legal rights dents' ri
during police interrogations - a fact request t
that the Ann Arbor City Council should interroga
encourage in the city's public schools. On escalate u
Monday, the city council approved a contract choice b
renewal between the city and the Ann Arbor Question:
Public Schools. The renewal will extend idate hig]
police presence at Huron and Pioneer high validity a
Ichools for three more years. While police In cr
presnce may improve security at the charge o
ichools, it is imperative that they do not their pote
impede on students' right to privacy. The interview
school board must approve the contract tion as
tenewal before it takes effect. Providing
After a six-month delay, the renewal mandator
tame to fruition with a few minor changes. would g
plain-clothes police liaisons must now iden- opportun
tify themselves when speaking with indi- sible pros
Lidual students or to classroom audiences. The o
tudefnts 14 years old or younger must have problems
parent or attorney present during interro- not use th
kation. While the changes are a step in the vacy. Un
fight direction, they do not completely pro- cials nee
tect students' rights. sent to se
Most high school students do not know random 1
he extent of their rights concerning police privacy; c
questioning - a situation that may place when the
them in legal jeopardy. In the past, police the stude
Officers could question students without The p
disclosing their position; the revised con- high schc
tract solves this questionable practice but ing stude
more changes are necessary. Police officers safer env
should educate all students of their full legal use their
rights before students need to use them; it -- no
before students are in a police interview sit- inform s
uation, they should know exactly what ensure th
olice officers can and cannot do. counsel
Officers' ability to question students school bo
older than 14 without parental or legal tract until
assistance causes unequal protection of stu- represent
a Moving i
Neighborhood should welco
W hen Ozone House, a counseling be more
agency for homeless or runaway potential
youth and their families, moves into their Altho
newly-acquired home at 1705 Washtenaw opposed
Ave., it appears that they will not be wel- decided t
comed by their new neighbors with open in additi
arms and fresh baked goods. approved
Yesterday, representatives of Ozone the differ
finalized the purchase of the 92-year-old mended f
historic home on Washtenaw, the former zation.
Chi Psi fraternity house. It will serve as the The re
new location for their offices and tempo- is clear:
rary shelter for five children ages 10 to 18. Ozone I
However, the deal's completion came Apparent
amidst much apprehension and protest from keep the
the Oxbridge Neighborhood Association. associati
At Monday's Ann Arbor City Council ing were
meeting, the association raised
two arguments against Ozone's Homelessness
move. First, they expressed con- in Ann Arbor:
cern;that the move will violate a*"w"part srie
Ann~Arbor zoning codes and, sec-
ond~they requested that the council post- a reputa
pone a vote that would give Ozone the addi- record. 0
tional money needed to purchase the are Unive
$405,000 house. The organization will fund with crisi
its purchase with proceeds from the sale of 24-hour
Ozone's present home on Main St., private Ozone he
donations, a $71,500 Michigan State area resid
Housing Development Authority grant and will incr
$75,000 in city money. neighborl
The association claims that the prelimi- Ozone
nary zoning compliance given to Ozone nity for 2
House isn't satisfactory because it is incon- with a flo
sistent with zoning for the area and will cre- dren - h
}ate "parking problems." While the claim gency she
may be valid, it is irrelevant. The shelter's A movet
permit is temporary - the city has yet to organizat
make a final ruling on whether Ozone The Oxb
ghts, While older students could
he presence of their parent, an
tion's tense atmosphere could
until the students feel they have no
but to speak without counsel.
ing by a police officer could intim-
h-school students, threatening the
nd willingness of what they say.
iminal courts, prosecutors can
lder students as adults, making
ntial punishment greater. In police
s, they must have the same protec-
their younger counterparts.
all students with the benefit of
y advisement during questioning
uarantee that they have an equal
ity to defend themselves from pos-
secution.
fficers' presence may help prevent
at the schools but officials should
em as a tool to violate student pri-
der present state laws, police offi-
d only secure administrative con-
arch student lockers. Nonetheless,
ocker searches threaten students'
officers should resort to them only
y have reasonable suspicion and
nt is present.
resence of police officers in public
ols presents a quandary: sacrific-
nts' privacy for the possibility of a
ironment. Police officers should
power only if the situation warrants
t to intimidate. Officers should
tudents of their legal rights and
iat they have someone present to
them during questioning. The
yard should reject the present con-
I students' privacy and right to legal
ation are protected.
L P
me Ozone House
concerned with themselves then
zoning problems.
igh the neighborhood association
it, the city council unanimously
o give Ozone House $10,000 -
ion to a $65,000 contribution
several months ago - to make up
ence. The council should be com-
For its support of a worthy organi-
al motive fueling these arguments
the association does not want
House in their neighborhood.
ly, it is willing to try anything to
shelter out. The issues that the
n raised at the city council meet-
a shameless, last-minute attempt
to find legal support against
Ozone's legitimate move.
Members of the neighborhood
association present a case of "not
in my backyard." Ozone House is
ble organization with a stellar
zone volunteers - most of whom
rsity students - provide children
s-line counseling, mentorship and
supervision. Simply because
ylps homeless and runaway youth,
tents should not believe the move
ease crime or violence in their
hood.
House has benefitted the commu-
7 years. The organization - faced
god of homeless and runaway chil-
as tried to obtain additional emer-
elter space for more than 20 years.
to a larger facility will allow the
ion to best serve the community.
ridge Neighborhood Association
VlOTE
orYoLu Golr c -To
No ...
7.ETERTOH ETO Aa7,
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Majority of
candidates
ignore pledge
TO THE DAILY:
Here's what's cool: 25
candidates for positions of
the Michigan Student
Assembly had the good com-
mon sense to pledge that they
would not spend more than
$500 on their current cam-
paigns ("A pledge to curb
spending," 31897). They
further agreed that they
would make all receipts pub-
lic by submitting them to The
Michigan Daily.
Here's what's just a little
bit scary: The majority of
candidates did not.
Representatives of the
Liberty Party and United
Rebel Front have actually
refused on ideological rea-
sons, citing spending caps
inability to improve democra-
cy or the "bureaucracy" of
such an agreement.
Whatever.
The important thing is,
very few candidates, even
disregarding "ideological"
conflicts ignored the letter
which every one of themn
received. A few, they say.
have thought the better of
this since the letter ran.
Some of them just didn't get
to it, but some of them clear-
ly saw the threat their
absence placed to their elec-
tion. On Tuesday, Matt Curin,
Douglas Friedman, Markus
Gidlund, Aaron Marx, Mike
Nagrant and Olga Savic. Tej
Shah and Justin Wojdacki
signed on. Who knows what
the motives of these after-
the-facters are. I'm sure
they're as diverse as their
parties and allegiances.
Some of them, I'm sure,
must be genuine - given
laws of statistics. All of their
responses, as we told them
they would be, are publicly
available at http:/iwww per-
sonal.umich.ed/~ellisona.
Some of them are quite
amusing.
Probir Mehta wrote: "We
have not spent more than
$500 per candidate on our
slate ... Put us on the list." It
is unclear whether Mehta
means that he plans on
spending less than $500 on
his presidential campaign, or
that averaged across the
party they spent less than
$8,500.
Rich Kovacik responded
with an inquiry as to whether
or not the $500 included a
"gift from a business owned
by a friend of the family."
Sheesh.
The rest of the candidates
simply didn't respond per-
haps hoping that this - as an
election issue - would just
go away. It won't, because it
is in the interest of students
to see to it that preposterous
nmnn 4n m nu2 nr n
Chokshi, Duncan Robinson,
Boyd Stitt, Martin James Lee
IV, Genna Solomon, Matt
Lafferty, Ifran Mutuza, Ryan
Kelly, Mark Trafani, Scott
Sifton, Russ Abrutyn, Karen
Fauman and Kane Morgan.
These 34 people plan on
spending more than $500 or
are already unresponsive to
constituent inquiry. And
they're not even in office yet!
Keep this in mind when you
vote. Because when these
folks get elected, the first
thing they'll have access to is
your money. Let's hope they
don't spend it the way they
spend their own.
ANNE MARIE ELLISON
LSA JUNIOR,
CHAIR, STUDENT RIGHTS
COMMISSION
Spending
limits hurt
democracy
TO THE DAILY:
Many have proclaimed
that elections have become a
rich man's game where the
righteous cannot afford to
play. Although I am, too,
tempted to agree with this
idealistic proposition, a
spending limit would actually
be detrimental to democracy
on campus.
When a spending limit is
in place, elections would rely
heavily on the networks that
were established making it
impossible for new parties to
compete. No spending limit
leaves an option of competi-
tion to those who are psycho-
logically and financially
determined to run, and in
doing so making our democ-
racy healthier. You don't level
the playing ground by lob-
bing front-runners from the
top.
If you don't buy my argu-
ment, you are free to vote for
others. But if you find sense
in my argument, please vote
for me.
PAK MAN SHUEN
LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT
Graduate
schools must
self-govern
TO THE DAILY:
The Michigan Student
Assembly represents both
undergraduates and graduate
students. Each school or col-
lege, however, such as
Rackham, Law, Medicine,'
LSA, etc., has a student gov-
ernment representing stu-
dents enrolled within that
specific school or college.
Rackham Student
graduate student government,
the Council of Graduate and
Professional Students
(GaPS), would bolster gradu-
ate student representation and
our collective voice before
the University administration
and within the academic
community. Why the need for
this change? There are many
reasons.
MSA has traditionally
allocated a disproportionate
number of funds to under-
graduate student groups. Of
the $90,000 available to stu-
dent groups this year through
MSA's Budget Priorities
Committee, less than $10,000
will go towards student
groups which have a direct
impact upon graduate stu-
dents. Grad students, howev-
er, pay approximately
$70,000 in student fees to
MSA. GaPS seeks to recover
that $70,000 so as to provide
funds towards graduate stu-
dent events and student
groups, both graduate and
undergraduate. RSG and
other grad student govern-
ments have funded student
groups and activities which
involved grads and under-
grads in the past; there is no
reason why GaPS would not
do the same. Graduate stu-
dents would simply like con-
trol over the funds we pay
into the pot.
MSA also spends approx-
imately $75,000 on internal
operations, from salaries to
its employees to purchasing
capital goods and supplies
for the office. On the other
hand, GaPS would spend a
minimal amount of money on
office operations (early esti-
mates hover around $5,000).
This would give back as
much as 90 percent of stu-
dent fees to groups which
apply for funding, far more
than under the current system
in MSA.
Moreover, graduate stu-
dent issues have become con-
venient 'campaign issues' for
those seeking the MSA presi-
dency, grossly misrepresent-
ing graduate students.
Unfortunately, other issues
are largely ignored by MSA
throughout the course of the
year, such as continuing sup-
port for international graduate
student instructors, depart-
mental governance and grad
student representation on
departmental committees,
clarifying how funding and
fellowships in departments
are allocated etc. GaPS
would unify graduate students
under a government which
would work upon these and
other grad student issues.
It is also crucial that grad-
uate students have adequate
representation in student gov-
ernment. Unfortunately, there
are only 12 graduate reps, in
MSA; undergraduates domi-
nate by a 3 to ratio.
Furthermore. graduate stu-
America lowerS
its standards
for Clinton
Iton once frfeit the confidence W>
your Itelow citizens, you can never
-regain their respect and esteem.
Abrahan Lincoln
W hen Bill Clinton took a tumble
down the shadowy steps outsi J
of golf pro Greg Norman's home last
Friday night, his
knee popped and
his tendon tore.
Oddly, the scene
serves as a
metaphor for the
Clinton adminis-
tration: Just when
things seem to be
going smoothly,
an internal explo-
sion occurs that ZACHARY
threatens to para- RAM
lyze the mobility RA
of the entire orga
nization. _ RRRS
The president suffered his physical
injury just days after he suffered polit-
ical injury as another round of fund-
raising scandals came to the national
consciousness. Many of the presiden
opponents charged that the Clinton
administration was selling influence
over its China policy for huge cam-
paign donations. This allegation broke
just after the vice president admitted
he solicited campaign funds from the
White House, an action that violates,
the spirit, if not the letter, of federal
law. And Al Gore's statements came
just weeks after the White House,
admitted that hundreds of "fat ca "
(large donors) slept in the Linco
Bedroom and had coffee in the Map
Room.
But this is only one mess in a whole
litany of scandals that have plagued
Clinton since he entered the national
stage. And despite all the allegations,
charges and possibilities that he or his
wife broke the law, the president con-
tinues to maintain high approval rat-,
ings.
To do this, the president has had
sacrifice the people's already shaky
trust in government for his own politi
cal gain. Clinton seems to have always
placed a higher value on survival and
winning, as opposed to principle and
integrity. As a result, Clinton ha
effectively lowered the standards that
the American people hold up to their
politicians and public servants. In fact,
this lowering of the standards may b
his greatest legacy.
Clinton first entered the spotlight
during the 1992 New Hampshire pri-
mary. Instead of promoting a polity
agenda, the president immediately had
to answer questions about his past. He
had to explain his draft-dodging, his
use of marijuana and the "pain" he
caused in his marriage. Although his
resiliency is admirable, these character
flaws lowered the moral standard th
Americans hield in the presidency.
After le became president, Clinton
flip-flopped on key campaign promis-
es and he sold out many of his most
loyal supporters. For example, he
caved in on his unconditional commit-
ment to allow gays in the military and
he dropped the inclusion of improved .
human rights in his dealings withtf
China. In addition, lie failed to bring
health insurance to every American, &
key campaign promise. And, in a mo
that angered the liberal base of the
Democratic Party, Clinton signed a
unconscionable welfare bill that
essentially, repeals the social safety
net and harms innocent children.
At the same time, he surrounded
himself with shady and immoral char-
acters. Webster Hubbell, who held' a
top post at the Department of Justice,
was imprisoned for overcharging hisj
clients while in private legal practic
Dick Morris, his closest political
adviser, was forced to resign last suns
mer due to a sex scandal.
And scandals pop up all of the tin
The Whitewater investigation contzi
ues. The Paula Jones sexual harass-
ment case lingers in the backgrount.
And stories of Clinton's (alleged) use
of Arkansas state troopers to solicit
women for the former governor ha'
never left the public consciousne
When put together, Clinton's fla
grow larger.
His campaign tactics are also disc-.
concerting. For examplerone of the
centerpieces of his 1996 campaigs
was based on false assertions abort
Medicare. In' 1995, the Republicahst
proposed a plan to increase the growth"
of Medicare by about 7 percent; this
was lower than projected spending.
Clinton immediately played a game4
demagoguery. He'said the Republica.
plan would "cut" and "slash" the"
health insurance program.
I ask: Since when is a 7-percaro
increase a "cut?" (Incidentally, Clinton:
did not mention that he also favoredae