4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 9, 1997 U £irItn & 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 JOSH WHIT " Editor in Chief Edited and managed by E students at the E RIN MARSH studets a theEditorial Page Editor University of Michigan. 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 Help wanted University must fill administrative openings L ast week, University Provost J. Bernard University community is important. Ties Machen announced that he will leave with the University's central administration his post when his contract expires in have been lax in recent years. August. The University community should Enter Bollinger's new administrative consider Machen's departure the most sig- team. The recently created position of nificant administrative shift since Executive Vice President for Medical University President Lee Bollinger took Affairs should do a great deal to improve office in February. However, the Office of relations and strengthen ties between the the Provost is not the only senior adminis- University's Medical Center and central trative position that will be opening up in administration. A search is currently under- the next year - other top administrators way to fill the new post; expediency is cer- have contracts that expire soon, ranging tainly desirable. The creation of the position from within five months to a year and a - and filling it wisely - promises to half. In response to the impending selec- soothe relations between the University and tion, University Prof. Nicholas Steneck its largest financially independent institu- said, "The two absolutely must get along - tion. there is no question about that ... the Other positions soon to open up include provost frees the president from much of the University's Vice President of the daily administrative affairs and handles Development. The office is currently held the day-to-day runnings of the University." by Thomas Kinnear, who does not plan to Bollinger has the opportunity to turn over renew his contract when it expires next central administration and create his own September. Bollinger's familiarity with the core team. Doing so quickly - but careful- University should help him find candidates ly - is essential in establishing Bollinger's who fit the University well; he is in prime presidency. position to make excellent selections. Most facets of the University face a vul- Three search committees are working to nerable period due to the recent administra- fill vacant spots in the senior administra- tive transitions. Such instability is wide- tion, providing Bollinger with the opportu- spread, leading to inconsistencies that can nity to design a team of administrators in be seen in the University Medical Center's which he has confidence. Mutual trust, operating losses and gains, for example. respect and compatibility are crucial to the The Medical Center grossed a $2.8-million success of Bollinger's presidency, in addi- operating gain through the month of tion to the well-being of the University February. Last year, the hospital reported an community. $11-million loss during the same time peri- The University is a massive organization od. The gains have been attributed to oper- that needs a stable, qualified team of lead- ating budget cuts, which included the elim- ers to run it efficiently. Bollinger's presi- ination of 1,055 job positions last July and dency is off to a good start; to return stabil- a reduction in the number of beds in ser- ity to central administration, Bollinger vice. The Medical Center serves as both a needs only exercise his characteristic care place of clinical care and an academic and experience in hand-picking his team research facility; its place within the and getting it into action. Playing percnaentes Increasing blood alcohol levels is ineffective NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'Unless someone ingested it, there's no problem.' --Ohio Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Melissa Patsiavos, quelling fears ofpotential health risks from a three- mile-long slick of sewage leaked from a truck near Columbus JiM LASSER SHARP As TOAST' SE LLJNNC, ONE NIGHT STAYS IN T7111- .-I NCOIfj 8EROom/'TEA IiTH TH-HFCI4v t"ONS INFL IN NAT IONAL L.- c y .,. -THC 5E t~ 'Ri 6OOD 0)-DvPAY$ !f UENCE I I / / ( M I T-' WHITE '°OU5E ,_.... 10000 o_ - oo I L LErTERS TO THE EDITOR It is said that education is the best method of prevention. However, instead of applying this sentiment, lawmakers recent- ly considered a bill from state Sen. Doug Carl (R-Sterling Heights) to decrease the state of Michigan's legal blood alcohol level for driving from .1 to .08 percent. The state Senate should vote against the bill and instead concentrate on creating programs that could benefit the public, such as edu- cation and preventative programs to keep the roads free of drunk drivers. Legislation like Carl's draws from the state's true intent: to promote the "don't drink and drive" message. Although indi- viduals may admit to knowledge of the dan- gers of drinking and driving, some continue to do it anyway. The state should punish drunk drivers for their crime, but the bill attacks the problem in the wrong areas. The bill infringes on social situations in which individuals choose to drink in mod- eration. At some point, many adults over the age of 21 choose to consume a few social drinks. The real problem is that after indi- viduals have become intoxicated they choose to sit behind the wheel. The pro- posed bill will not make the difference in how intoxicated these drivers are as they venture onto the road. When observing traffic, police officers will most likely not be able to determine the difference between a .1 and .08 blood alco- hol level; the bill's greatest effects will most likely result from routine stops for speed- ing. That is because the difference between . and .08 percent does not necessarily indi- cate that the individual will be incapable of this description should be able to drink four beers one hour before driving to achieve a blood alcohol level of .1. However, individ- uals of various weights - and even other 180-pound males - have varying tolerance levels. The bill's arbitrary numbers could punish individuals who are perfectly capa- ble of operating a motor vehicle, but hap- pen to have two-tenths too much alcohol in their blood. Instead of concentrating on petty frac- tions of percentages, legislators should take initiative in creating programs to increase education programs that teach the public the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol. In addition to educating the pub- lic about the dangers of driving drunk, leg- islators could aid instant solutions by sup- porting programs that transport intoxicated individuals home. Private businesses' exist- ing designated-driver incentive programs are more practical; they promise to solve drinking and driving problems more effec- tively than the current legislation. In a perfect world, an individual who has ingested any amount of alcohol would choose not to get behind the wheel. However, there are those who - for rea- sons of tolerance or physical characteristics - feel sober enough to drive. To make the roads safer for everyone who drives on them, programs to eliminate and educate drunk drivers are more likely to make a dif- ference. Two-tenths of a percentage point is near- ly impossible for an individual to estimate when deciding whether or not to have another drink before driving home. The MSA is like any club on campus TO THE DAILY: Campus seems very polarized over the issue of campaign spending limits in MSA elections. And while a lot of people are trying to sound convincing by blankly quoting the same Supreme Court decision (Buckley v. Valeo) over and over again like a bunch of mindless ditto heads, they all seem to miss- ing the point: MSA can impose whatever restrictions it wants on its own elections because it's not a public gov- erning body. MSA is just a club like any other club on campus - it just gets all the money and decides who gets a share after it's spent most of it. Don't believe me? Think I'm full of shit? Consider this: Whenever MSA wants to raise the fee, it first asks for student approval (although it need not do this), and then asks the University Board of Regents to carry this act out. Sure would be nice if Congress had to work on this principle. Also, MSA created a new executive officer posi- tion for graduate students. But, until they define the duties of the job and get stu- dent approval in the fall elec- tion, the position is effective- ly null and void. MSA spends most of its time passing vapid resolutions and squab- bling. MSA is different from other student groups on cam- pus in only one way: It gets all the money its behemoth bureaucracy needs. The very fact that MSA is not a public body says that it may govern its own elections in any way that it wants to. MSA is a registered non-profit organi- zation. The U.S. government is not. MSA only exists to serve the students at the University. It has no power outside of campus and, in fact, has very little power on campus. Dan Serota, John Winick and all their friends can sue MSA all they want, claiming First Amendment infringements, but unless they can undeni- ably prove that private groups cannot regulate their own elections, they really don't have much of a case. JUSTIN WOJACKI ENGINEERING JUNIOR Waiting period gives time for real choice TO THE DAILY: really bad day could be enough to make it seems like the only solution. If we have a three-day waiting period for gun sales because the gun might be used to end some- one's life, why not a week's wait for a decision that is 100 percent certain to end a child's life? And I must add, lest any- one think that I am condon- ing abortion, that abortion is murder and abortionists and those who go to them are baby-murderers. IAN CUMMINGS RACKHAM Feminist problem was misidentified TO THE DAILY: Chris Godwin ("Feminists don't 'get it,"' 4/7/97) seems to have gotten his wires crossed on the subject of feminism. Many people, self- proclaimed feminists like myself included, have noticed that the feminist movement has lost the influence it once had due to extremism and its failure to address the practi- cal issues affecting women on a day-to-day basis. However, Godwin misidentifies feminism's problems as its desire for "special privilege and superi- ority," which he connects to feminist support for pro- choice. He seems to imply that, in fighting to protect a woman's right to choose when and if to have a child, ,. feminists are trampling on men's rights to make those very same decisions. "A man's choice," he says, "ends with sexual intercourse." Well, it also begins with sex- ual intercourse: A man who does not feel ready to become a father has the choice either not to have sex, or to use effective birth con- trol. If he does neither of those things and his partner becomes pregnant, then it is not feminism's problem if he finds himself a father at the age of 21. If he uses birth control and it fails, that is unfortunate, but again, the situation he then finds him- self in cannot be blamed on feminism. Prior to the achievements of the feminist movement, safe and legal abortion was not even an option; men were even more likely to become a- father unexpectedly back then. It is offensive to com- pare the financial obligation a man incurs when his night of pleasure results in a child to "involuntary servitude," as Godwin does. Sending a monthly check for, say, $200 to make sure the child you created is provided with the man, she is denied the right to choose when to become a parent and given financial obligations she may not wish to incur; but she is also forced to endure the physical and emotional changes preg- nancy causes - her very body is forever changed - even though she does not want to. Godwin makes a valid point in saying that it is wrong to treat men as walk- ing wallets, objects whose value depends on the size of their paychecks. To me, that is just as offensive as the sex- ual objectification of women so many readers were debat- ing during Playboy's visit to our campus. He is also right to note, like so many others, that there are serious prob- lems in the ideology femi- nism currently promotes. But the issues he singled out to criticize are not prob- lems at all; and when he sug- gests that, because of its cur- rent problems, feminism itself is useless to the men and women of the '90s, he's wrong. What's the best thing to do with something that's run down or broken? Fix it. LZA HALL RACKHAM Bollinger is available for student input To THE DAILY: Last Thursday, several student leaders met with University President Lee Bollinger regarding his com- ments in The New York Times. On behalf of the lead- ers of the student groups that met with him, we want to express our support for his actions and decisions and we are confident that they will be made with the students' best interests in mind. Our meeting with him was very productive and pos- itive. We were very happy with his expressed interest in learning more about student organizations and in his com- mitment to furthering the relationship among students, faculty and the administra- tion. By openly encouraging student involvement and activism, more students will hopefully take the initiative to get involved in co-curricu- lar activities. After meeting with Bollinger, we are confident that he will take the neces- sary steps to make himself more open and available to discuss students opinions and concerns at the University. We look forward to his leadership and to his commit- ment to social activism and student concerns. onea e nunnfie'w Compromise: The newest poliicalscheme T here's nothing worse than a good mood spoiled. For the last few weeks, House major- ity leader and trouser snake par excel- lence Newt Gingrich has been up to his corpulent, pudgy cheeks in hot o First it was campaign financin improprieties, fol- lowed by ques- tions surrounding his history class, from the ethics committee and now his own troops are sprint- ing away from him like he's got lip sores and a pen- chant for free hugs.M MLLER All things being MILLER equal,- I was a ON TAP happy guy. It seemed like a great rever- sal of fortune. Ever since assuming leadership of the House, Gingrich has made it his goal, nay, his passion,to bash people with no capacity to ba. back. He has used everybody from t poor, the homeless, homosexuals - and everyone else who probably isn't welcome on the sidelines at a Sunday soccer game - as whipping boys and scapegoats to engender himself to his bloated, greedy constituency. And now the hunter was the hunted. The great visionary of the New Right was exposed for what he truly was: a whiny, petulant tax cheat. True justice in this world is so rare and beautiful should be savored and I was ready to enjoy every drop. And then, dammit, I just couldn't. My conscience was gnawing at me a little. The reason Gingrich had become such a pariah in his own party is due, in large part, to his recent statements about congressional fiscal planning. Specifically, he committed the huge sin of saying that maybe we should tr balancing the budget before we c taxes, so as not to keep hemorrhaging out 25 cents on the dollar. In the conservative community, the idea of putting anything above cutting taxes goes over about as well as a turd in a debutante's punch bowl. Ever since the fatal comments, his colleagues have been making snide remarks behind his back about how the speaker is no longer credible or relevant. And for what? He was preachir compromise, a sin in congressiona circles. See, in the popular Republican imagination, tax dollars collected on April. 15 are taken on April 16 and thrown in great big handfuls to home- less; black, lesbian performance artists on AFDC with high-level civil service jobs given to them by an affirmative action quota while they're on paid maternity leave with their sixth child, none of whom have the same fath In order to prevent welfare queens from spending their moneyon vodka, oranges and Cadillacs, taxes must be slashed because, after all, it's my money and no one else can have any of it; it's mine, mine, mine! Sorry. I forgot that poor people shouldn't be sucking large amounts of cash from the public coffers. That should be left to experts like Chrysler and General Dynamics. All Gingrich said was that maybe should think about fixing the problem that makes high taxes a necessity: namely, an unbalanced budget. That perhaps a little compromise and. adjustment was needed to come up with a plan that is the best possible arrangement for the country. Heretic! Our legislators don't compromise because we don't make it worth the' while. As voters, we love wedge issue and savor tiny factionalist causes. We don't want to hear about belt-tighten- ing for the good of the budget, or about those of us who can afford it sacrificing a little bit so that a few kids can have a free school lunch or some- thing to do at night besides kill each other. As a nation, that doesn't interest us. No sir, the rights of rich, honky nim- rods in jungle camo to run around the woods of northern Michigan play- ing soldier - that interests us. Our own silly ideological vendettas and personal gripes have become more important that any notion of helping one another or achieving some kind of collective social good. No, we're too busy attending meetings of our local chapter of "That's Mine, This Is Yours.' As long as we voters insist on go ernment pandering to us like men's room attendants, we're going to get a gridlocked, ineffective system. Congress can barely function with its present number of constituents; if it has to cope with everybody's social