4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 21, 1997 ct I e firtdituan ])a7tltl 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan FR JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor 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 New set of values Cantor's budgetary changes will benefit 'U' is NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'If Michigan wins, we should go hog-wild nuts.' - LSA first-year student Jason Kohler; on rushing the field after the Michigan-Ohio State game tomorrow 'If somebody rushes the field, they will be arrested.' - Department of Public Safety spokesperson Beth Hall YUKI KuNIYUKI GROUND ZERO SLATO '. C AVE RFVIsi T : ITs NoW A RooM ff1'-f: miYAf~vD~Tj =EPtJTS W%.IEtNAC FaM: t-Toac'.d / io 4 l CON1E~tflE I A T*LL, 4KCE E!C. H4IbbSer't .... L.ESToTHNT IM IBS Y , LETTERS TO TH E EDITOR little brown stujJ] oan your nose A while back. I was reading about this television journalist who had a syndicated interview show out of California in the mid- to late '60s. This guy was known for being incredibly bel- ligerent to his guests, who were generally publici- ty-hungry minor . celebrities or extremist political figures. He raked every- body over the coals, played no favorites, and took PAUL no prisoners. SERILLA Some people said SERILLA his surly attitude WARFARE grew out of the pain of losing a leg to amputation dur- ing the war. Others said he was just a jerk. In the late '60s, this journalist hap- pened to have the musician Frank Zappa as a guest. It was still a tim4 when men with long hair were pretty unorthodox, and of course, Zappa was never particularly a mainstream fig- ure. think there is a 0 Excuse me, I s President Lee Bollinger and Provost Nancy Cantor formulate the adminis- trative philosophies with which they will guide the University, campus will see sever- al changes. Many of the policies that the two already implemented included efforts to increase communication across campus -characterizing their administration as personable. On Monday, Cantor met with meembers of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, the facul- ty governing body, to discuss possible changes to the University's budgetary sys- tem, Value Centered Management. VCM is fraught with problems and is a point of con- tention for many faculty members - changing the policy would serve the University community well. Before VCM, the Provost's Office allocat- ed all general funds to departments - all parts of the University got approximately the sime amount of money with a few adjust- ments. Former Provost Gilbert Whittaker implemented VCM to allocate dollars in accordance with academic unit size. Under VCM, larger enrollments and more programs lead to bigger allocations from the University's coffers and as a result, more free- dom to create diverse academic initiatives. As a result of the change, University departments found themselves in a race for funds. Deans and department heads must compete to maintain student enrollment and programs in order to support the bottom line. Because of VCM's lack of financial support for interdepartmental projects, cooperation and communication between academic units suffers greatly - as a result, faculty mem- bers creating programs with other depart- ments do not have any financial backing from the University's central administration. By forcing departments into competition for money, VCM takes business world bud- geting ideas and places them in the University's academic setting. But academia is not a business, nor should it be run like one. The University must enhance the academic environment - VCM forces departments to shift their focus to financial concerns. Cantor's plan for budgetary change includes encouraging collaboration between departments with financial sup- port. Furthermore, the new budgetary sys- tem will pay for many basic things that all departments need - such as janitorial ser- vices - freeing up additional funds for aca- demic purposes. In addition, Cantor will have a pool of funds to support programs that benefit the University but have no out- side financial help. Cantor's planned changes will prevent budgetary processes from harming smaller departments and increase interdepartmental cooperation. Cantor deserves credit for her insight and willingness to change this important policy. Many members of the faculty have expressed concerns about VCM since its implementation. Furthermore, the new bud- get will reduce the competition between academic units and foster a greater sharing of academic resources. The new budgetary plan is also more in line with Bollinger and Cantor's administrative philosophy: foster- ing better communication and sharing acad- emic resources on campus. Administrative change takes getting used to, but the provost's budgetary plan will benefit the entire University communi- ty. It cuts competition while benefiting stu- dents. Bollinger and Cantor should follow through on her discussion with SACUA and change the University's budgeting policies. 0 Showdown Action must be supported by United Nations nce again, there is a showdown in the shoot these planes down, which would like- " Persian Gulf. Saddam Hussein has ly elicit an American response. But Saddam tempted fate and laughed in the face of is confronting the United Nations' sanc- established international law. However, the tions. Therefore, the entire international situation is not George Bush vs. Saddam. It community needs to agree before any sort is a complex web of Iraq, the United States of U.S. retaliation. and the United Nations. What is essential to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has the understanding of this conflict is the been touring the Middle East to solicit sup- players, problems and possible solutions. port for the U.S. stance, but as of yet, little The public should not take this week's support has been forthcoming. In fact, only events as a precursor to war - the empha- Britain has expressed support of the possible sis must focus on diplomatic efforts and not U.N. action. Russia has outlined a plan of the military buildup. compromise between the United States and This debacle began as an effort by Iraq that includes relaxed sanctions toward Saddam to dictate U.N. policy. By forcing the Iraq in exchange for the readmittance of the American inspectors off the U.N. inspection American inspectors. A week ago yesterday, team, Saddam tried to hand pick who could the American delegation to the Geneva :ihspect his country's weaponry. This consti- Conference stated that Iraq must permit tutes a clear violation of the sanctions that inspections without any strings attached. placed Iraq under strict surveillance after the Yesterday, Saddam announced he would allow Gulf War. Saddam claims that five years after Americans to perform weapon inspections, the war, these sanctions are obsolete. But if but whether he will follow through on his- there is nothing to hide, there should be noth- promise has yet to be seen. The United ing to fear. Secretary of U.S. Defense Nations should exercise great care when con- William Cohen has mentioned intelligence sidering decreasing sanctions against Iraq. reports of biological weaponry within Iraq. This situation, while ambiguous and com- 'herefore, every day inspectors are prevented plex, must be simplified. Saddam broke from completing their job, Saddam has the international sanctions placed upon his coun- tption to develop or move more illegal try by the United Nations. It is therefore the weaponry. Consequently, the threat is imme- responsibility of this same international com- diate and American officials have intervened. munity to retaliate against Iraq. The United By expelling the American members States, even though explicitly threatened, from the U.N. team, Saddam threatened the needs to solve this diplomatically and pursue United States' credibility as an internation- the best option for the entire world. A strike al actor. Time and again, Saddam has on Iraq without allied support could portray implied that America uses the cover of the Saddam as a martyr while an American with- United Nations to-promote its own agenda. drawal would portray Saddam as the winner He specifically mentioned U2 flights -- in this showdown. While U.S. credibility is at Amperican planes piloted by members of the stake, the safety of the international commu- U.S. Armed Forces but used solely for the nity must be placed first. This situation calls 'M' fans should not chop, but make a fist To THE DAILY: As a University alumnus currently living in Massachusetts, I have thor- oughly enjoyed the success of Michigan's football team this year. Thanks to Big Ten tele- vision contracts, I have been able to watch every game. A significant factor in our suc- cess has been the dominating performance of the defense. This impenetrable body has been responsible not only for holding other teams in check, but giving our offense great field position, which they have taken advantagetof quite nicely. Something I particu- larly enjoy are the many times that our defense stuffs a team on third down, and the band begins playing a portion of "Temptation." A disturbing trend, how- ever, seems to be spreading through the crowd. Many fans are extending their right arms and doing some form of chop to the beat of the music. Rather than emulating the fans at Florida State University, I would encour- age the students to close their hands into a fist with the same arm motion as the chop. By this, we show that the Michigan defense has just brought the sledgehammer down on yet another feeble attempt by the opposing team to move the ball down the field. I am sure that there will be plenty of opportuni- ties to put this into action against the nuts at Ohio State University. Remember, it's not a chop, it's a hammer. Hail to the Victors and Go Blue! MIKE SCHULTZ UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS Diversity makes learning and living better To THE DAILY: I've quietly sat back and read various articles for and against affirmative action and never intended to get involved, but Kevin Cavalieri's letter ("Affirmative action is 'absurd,"' 11/12/97) touched my last nerve. Maybe he wouldn't be able to suit up and play with the football team, but I say to him and every other oppo- nent -he should at least be given the chance! Once he power we are and have to communicate with cultures in business and finance in other parts of the world, how can we succeed if we can't com- municate on their level? Who is to say that their level is lower than ours and has to be raised? Are people afraid that someone knows more than they do or can come up with the better mousetrap, that someone else's knowledge exceeds their own? When business executives invest, they don't put all their eggs in one basket and believe it's better than all the rest - they diversify and get a little here and a littlethere to make the end product bet- ter. That's exactly what diver- sity is; we get a little here and a little there and it makes the end product - life, living and knowledge - better. DAVE STOCKSON UNIVERSITY STAFF Daily should have run review earlier TO THE DAILY: I would like to commend Stephanie Love for her review of Saturday's perfor- mance ("Operas Reign at the Power Center," 11/18/97). She aptly captured the delightful and compelling qualities of Ravel's work and pointed out the weakness in the staging of the otherwise visually beautiful and musi- cally interesting Stravinsky piece. What I'm disappointed about is the timing of the review. It's safe to say that no one on campus outside the confines of the School of Music had ever heard of these operas. So who would plan to go? I went because I'm a real fan of opera and I had a friend in the cast. Then I sent my husband thenext evening because the perfor- mance was so rewardingly entertaining. The Daily could have provided a true service to its readership by squeezing the review into Friday's paper and giving people a chance to be informed about an oppor- tunity they would otherwise miss. Who else but the Daily can make that kind of differ- ence on campus? MARY CRAIG UNIVERSITY STAFF Students should be able to rush the field um (where several students were trampled when they stormed the field several years ago) because their poorly designed stadium has another fence to be scaled to get on to the field once fans leave the stands. Michigan stadium does not have this and chances of injury are minimal to nonexistent. Instead of employing more officers to keep us off of the field, the University should have people in the aisles to make sure that we rush the field in an orderly manner. I was at the Virginia game in 1995, when Michigan won on a last-sec- ond touchdown; students stormed the field then and there were no injuries. Iwas at the Northwestern game last year and their students stormed the field. Once again, no injuries. When Missouri fans rushed the field after they thought they had beaten Nebraska last week, there were no injuries. Rushing the field is danger- ous in stadiums that are designed poorly. Ours is not. Rushing the field is a time-honored college tradi- tion that we should be able to participate in, especially if we win a game as huge as tomorrow's. Why shouldn't we be able to enjoy this in a safe manner? University offi- cials and police officers are here to serve the student body, not vice versa. They should not be threatening to arrest us. If the student body wishes to rush the field, they should be able to. Those students who choose not to can remain in the stands. I am not advocating that students rush the field but simply stating that we should be allowed to if we so desire. Go Blue, beat the Buckeyes! MIKE KHOMUTIN ENGINEERING SENIOR MSA Website reduces candidates' clutter TO THE DAILY The concerns well expressed by Edward Chusid ("Campaign 'hoopla' detracts 'from real issues," 11/18/97) were the exact reasons the Michigan Student Assembly developed its new election information Website. However, its power to elimi- nate paper waste and return the focus of elections to plans and ideas is contingent on its use. Candidates made Angell Hall an obscene mess this week because they believe it will get them elect- Anyway, the first thing this journal- ist said when Frank came on was, " guess that long hair makes you a girl' Zappa simply responded, "I guess that wooden leg makes you a table' The moral of the story isn't to rip on the disabled (what kind of outfit did yoi think we were running here?) or even the old standby of "Do unto others, yadda, yadda ... ." The real moral is don't let your mouth write checks that your butt can't cash - know when to shut up. 11k The reason I got started thinking about that story is I realized how few people know when it is inappropriate for them to keep yabbering on like .the Olson twins heaped up on cocaine an pixie sticks (I once read that all big Hollywood stars do drugs, and they don't get any bigger than that adorable duo). Even as you read this, in avoidance of actually paying attention in class, someone in the room is flapping their gums incessantly without saying a sin- gle intelligible phrase. Every classhas a yapper - the kind of person that thinks any lecture with less than 800 people qualifies as a personal discus sion section between themselves and the professor. The only thing they seem to remem- ber from grade school is that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but they seem to forget that there is such a thing as a stupid answer that goes on for 20 minutes, makes no sense, and serves only to stroke their own over inflated ego. The real reason these people get or my nerves, besides the fact that they waste the rest of the class's time, is they really think all this brown-nosing-is worth it. The little sycophants just keep shoveling and even when the professor couldn't give a peso in Denmark about what they are saying, they don't give up. Listen, nobody cares about how the professor's last point relates to Nietzche's concept of man vs. super- man, this is "Bio for Blondes" and w want to hear the professor we are pay- ing good money to teach us. Could you for once have an unexpressed thought, please? Don't get me wrong, an active thirst for knowledge and a desire to get the most out of every educational moment can be OK. But seriously, slugger, let somebody else step up to the verbal bat. Take a breath between your mono- logues and wait in the on-deck circl for a couple of minutes. What's almost as bad is the opposite end of the scale - the person in the back who is too cool for anyone and anything. I know what you're saying, that sounds like the modus operandi of a college newspaper columnist: groan and moan and complain the whole day through, never making any real contri- bution to the good of the whole. Well, it is an easy distinction to miss but let me take myself as an example. , for example, am too cool for virtual- ly nothing. Ask anyone who's met me - however, I do hate just about every- thing. It's OK because I'm not saying I am too good for anything, I just find fault at every turn. Butaat least I listen before I pass my meaningless judgments. These people hear nothing but their own arrogance, and I don't know how they do it, bu they have the ability to sneer really loud. To be honest, I don't know what people who know everything are doing in school, but I guess it fills the time between drinking alone and participat- ing in fads so vapid and boring that no one else will ever want to participate in them.a , I 0I I i