4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 10, 1997

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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at thek
University of Michigan

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
PNitcLhuing plastic
Credit-card companies prey on students
E ach fall, as new students descend upon Given that the companies make money only
the University, credit-card companies when cardholders accrue debt by failing to
charge onto campus, offering to help stu- pay their balance, their reason for targeting
dents master the possibilities of college life. college students becomes evident: College
While applying for a card takes only min- students have little money.
rtes, reconciling ensuing debt may take Credit cards also increase the potential
years. As many students have only recently for indiscriminate spending. Because card-
assumed control of their personal finances holders can elude billing for items bought
and have yet to develop economic savvy, on credit for up to one month, their finan-
they should exercise extreme caution when cial limits seem less imposing. One study
signing the papers for their plastic. found that of the $60 billion college stu-
Securing a credit card from company dents charge annually, more than one-fifth
representatives on campus will afford stu- of that amount stems from discretionary
dents increased purchasing power and will spending. A 1995 study by two Southern
enable them to establish a credit record. Illinois University professors polled 243
Company representatives, sitting at tables students about credit-card usage and found
swamped with free compact disks and that students generally used credit cards for
clothing, enthusiastically hand out these items such as clothing, but not for education
token items to attract and welcome new or textbooks.
customers. However, applicants should note Despite the potential for problems with
that the intentions of credit-card issuers are credit cards, they can prove useful and
far from altruistic. appropriate for well-disciplined spenders.
Early this decade, credit-card issuers The cards will help build a sound credit his-
adopted a tactic called "bottom feeding" to tory for students who use them appropriate-
increase market share. This approach to ly and will ultimately make them favorable
card solicitation targets those with limited candidates for loans, mortgages and credit
financial resources. This group, which gen- in the future.
erally encompasses college students, con- Many college students have proven their
sists of those people most susceptible to ability to handle the responsibility of credit:
credit-card debt. Sixty percent of college students responsi-
Between 1993 and 1996, the proportion ble for paying a monthly credit-card bill pay
of households with incomes less than the full balance each month, while only 45
$20,000 that received card offers grew from percent of adult cardholders do so.
36 to 58 percent, according to one study. By While company representatives solicit
no coincidence, credit-card delinquencies credit cards to University students at every
grew by 40 percent during that period. In chance, each person must employ personal
fact, almost one in every three families discretion to determine whether he or she
whose household income falls below has the discipline for credit. A free T-shirt
$10,000 currently has credit-card obliga- will hardly compensate for the financial
tions that exceed 40 percent of its income. trouble that may ensue from misused credit.
el k

NOTABLE QUOTABLE,
'Everyone should know what the rules are and once you
know those rules, they should be black and white.'
- University Athletic Director Tom Goss, defining his expectations for
Athletic Department coaches, athletes and administrators
JORDAN YOUNG bN:w P
Ay~ ~i.~/U t~(,-r -r's Ar. G'D5)C' ~
LT
1 M
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

'U' should
clean 'Rock'
To THE DAILY:
I write this letter regard-
ing something of a problem
that I have noticed here on
the campus. I will be the first
to admit that it is a small
problem, but nonetheless one
that I must pass each day, and
it grows no better each day. I
refer to "The Rock," or more
specifically, the large boulder
located in George
Washington Park. The prob-
lem is simple: The rock is
ugly. Not the message on it
(whatever that may be when
you read this), what is on the
rock is not the issue.
The issue is the fact that
the paint on that rock has
never been removed or
cleaned up around the base
of the rock, which leaves a
nasty reminder of how long
this tradition has gone on.
If you look at the rock
closely, thse first thing you
will see is the six-inch-high
paint mound around the base
of the rock, from years of
drippings on the ground. You
will see ugly little paint-
sicles hanging off the pro-
truding edges, again from all
the years of paint. This, of
course, ignores the lovely
graffiti you see all over the
sidewalk around the rock,
which adds a nice touch.
Every time I pass that
thing on the way to class, I
want to get a high-power
sprayer and power clean that
sucker down to the bare
stone.
I am not against painting
the rock - it's a fine tradi-
tion here on the campus. I
just think the University
should work with the city to
clean it off once in a while,

fact, we would like to thank
Miller for his piece.
In Walsh's letter, he called
the New York students a "size-
able campus minority." I have
yet to see an application or
survey that gives New Yorkers
minority status. If that is the
case, then the University
makes them a largely over-
represented minority. If you
were a real minority, you
would know prejudice.
Yes, Miller's piece did
work on stereotypes. And
yes, we have known New
Yorkerswho do not fit this
mold, but we have known
enough who do. Those are
the ones who stand out, and
whom everyone has seen.
The day Miller's piece
came out, one friend of ours
from New York was wearing
a Hilfiger shirt, and a friend
had a New Yorker come to
her to complain about bagels
and pizzas. We think that
Walsh and Rothman are tak-
ing this way too seriously.
They are acting (and saying)
that being from New York
alone is enough to give them
minority status and they are
experiencing prejudice.
Rothman said that she
"thought this campus was
past discrimination and prej-
udice:' We guess she just has
not noticed the prejudice
directed at those who really
are minorities.
DAVID CRANDALL
LSA SENIOR
LAWSON SUTHERLAND
ENGINEERING JUNIOR
'U' correct to
give students
split-season

Homeless children
Tife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
are rights that most citizens take for
granted - but many homeless citizens are
denied these fundamental civil liberties. A
recent study indicates that public schools
across the country denied as many as
180,000 students the right to enroll in
preschool because they did not have a legal
mailing address. Homeless citizens should
receive the same free public, education as
citizens with a residence. To prevent this
from happening again, Congress should
take a stand on behalf of the homeless citi-
zens of the country.
Public schools use issues such as lack of
transportation, program overcrowding and
homeless families' frequent moves from
one district to another to help justify the
admission difficulties homeless children
face. Moreover, homeless parents are often
unaware of the rights the 1987 McKinney
Homeless Assistance Act guarantees their
children. The act provides states with fund-
ing to help reduce the barriers between
homeless children and the public school
systems. Lack of government involvement
has allowed these barriers to form.
Homeless citizens have virtually no
political power - without a residence, they
are not able to vote or effect public policy.
Consequently, legislators tend to make the
homeless a low priority - choosing instead
to tackle issues more important to their vot-
ing constituents. Government officials need
take special notice of homeless citizens'
rights - it is the government's duty to look
out for the best interest of all citizens, espe-
cially those in a disadvantaged situation.
The government should think of the
future as well as the present. In denying
education to homeless preschoolers, they
could worsen problems further down the

deserve education
road.
These preschoolers may discover later
in their educational careers that they fall
behind their more fortunate classmates
who received public primary school edu-
cation. Discouraged students may drop out
of school in favor of the work force -
where minimum-wage jobs available to
those without a high school diploma will
beckon.
If they are unable to support themselves
on such meager salaries, they may require
welfare from the state. Thus, individuals
who were once denied enrollment in public
schools will continue in the cycle of pover-
ty, relying on public-assistance programs
and fighting to provide for themselves and
for their families. Interrupting the cycle at
any point along the way will prevent con-
tinuation and provide a way out.
According to the study of homeless chil-
dren, in 1987 the federal government grant-
ed $50 million for distribution throughout
the states to offset the costs of special
arrangements for enrolling homeless chil-
dren in public schools. The states spent only
$7 million toward this goal, because
schools claimed they did not know how to
use it.
Homeless parents may be hesitant to
speak up for themselves and their children;
possible lack of education concerning their
rights combined with embarrassment is a
powerful silencer. Homeless children need
an advocate, whether it is the state or the
schools.
Legislators and school administrators
should not allow this issue to slip through
the cracks any longer. The study's results
have called this problem to the nation's
attention - homeless children's rights must
not be ignored.

go. Instead of whining, do
your part to create a new
spirit around campus worthy
of University tradition. Help
create a true home-field
advantage for our teams.
They deserve that much!
- TIM DRYER
UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
Financial aid
is not fair
To THE DAILY:
Well, it is the first week
of classes and the waitlists
are being narrowed down
again. For the next week,
frustrated students all over
campus will be lined up out-
side the doors of their profes-
sors ready to ask "Why me?"
or "Can't you make one more
exception?"
Eventually, reality will set
in and these students will
resign themselves to yet
another semester of waiting to
get that one important class
- the prerequisite to every-
thing they and 5,000 other
students want to take for the
rest of their college career. For
most students, this lasts fresh-
man and maybe part of sopho-
more year. For a few, like me,
this is the story of their whole
education at the University.
I come from a middle-
class family that would have
been described as reasonably
well-off while I was growing
up. We did not have a sum-
mer house or a yacht, but we
could afford two cars and the
occasional camping trip. We
definitely could afford to
send three children to col-
lege, or so the government
told us. However, the govern-
ment does not tell you what
to do when your parents are
divorced after 20 years of
marriage and you are on your
own at 18. Looking back, I
am amazed that I managed to
attend college at all, especial-
ly with the astronomic rise of
tuition over the pat few years.
To make a long story
short. I have been able to reg-
ister for class on time exactly
once - my first semester
freshman year. I have
watched my classmates slip
into courses with increasing
ease as their credit hours
accumulated, while I was still
in Mason Hall two days
before classes started trying
to find something, anything
open I could CRISP into.
Now, with more than 100
miscellaneous credits to my
name, I am again being
turned away from the only
class I really need in favor of
first- or second-year students
who have, as always, still
been able tosregister before I
managed to beg, borrow or
steal enough money to pay
back tuition.
1 do not blame my parents
for this: I do not blame the
University; I just do not
understand why, when I sign
my tax return at the begin-
ning of each year, I am still
not eligible for financial aid
until I reach the age of 24.

I am one of the faceless
many who fall through the
monetary loophole: not rich
enough to pay, not poor
enough to go for free. I know
I am not the only one. Is it not
time the University addressed
this issue, or at least acknowl-
edged that we exist?
IAN WILLAMSON
LSA SENIOR

Gross display of
affection make
fallen princess~
less human
never wanted to write this piece.
The morning I found out about the
accident that killed Diana Spencer, he
Princess of Wales, I tried to keep 4'
mouth shut, knowing many a supeisor
editorialist would
cover the territory
1 had in mind. I
prayed that some-
one would steal
my idea and spare
me from having to
do this
But no one did.
First things first:
Diana was a nice
lady. She left JAMES
behind a family MILLER
that misses her
and a country that AP
loved her, and
kneaded a kindly face on a monarchy
that somehow manages to be dull and
morally corrupt at the same time. She
died a terrible death, surrounded by
vultures and corpse eaters who sg
pictures of the freshly dead Diana an
associates. None of this should have
happetned.
By way of parentheses, I do feel
more pity for the kids of some line
worker at Ford who keels over at 46,
with no retirement, who won't shoot
through Eaton and Oxford like Grape
Nuts through a goose. There will be a
great deal of pain for the royal family,
but probably less than that of a family
who has to temper their tears wi@
thoughts of how they are going to pay
for the funeral.
The princess' death has received
more publicity than the death of any
other celebrity in recent memory,
eclipsing the breast-beating that
occurred over Nixon atd Jacquelite
Onassis. My first question was: why?
Why is she so important to us here on
the other side of the pond? T
English have a right to mourn, I s
pose, as she was their princess.
But why us? Because she appels to
a musty, ugly part of our nation psy-
chology: The idolatry of the pretty, a
kind of inverted vanity. Ask most peo-
ple why they feel a sense of loss tr
someone they never met, never heard
speak and knew only through secod-
and third-hand information and ,pic-
tures on thewcover of the New Yrk
Post: they will tell you that
remember watching her wedding
Charles on TV.
Because she was pretty and glam-
orous. Because she had a nice sin
attractive clothes and a storybook i
Married to a prince, living in a castle
and raising the heirs to the throne itj a
life of luxury and public adulation.
Call it the homecoming queen
reflex. We watch her from across e
room, but she never speaks to 4
except to borrow ourhomework .We
don't know anything about her, but
gobble up all the rumors and intueno
about her, because i makes us focl ile
we're a part of her life, even thouh
she wouldn't piss on us if we were pn
fire.
A glance from her, accidental
maybe, gives us one of those sudden,
classroom erections that makes y6u
feel like a sex offender for the rest of
the lecture. . 0
We don't know a thing about her ad
when she dies, we rush to eulogize ier
and praise her like Caesar on the pye.

She was a wonderful person, right?
I mean, we never met, but since she
was so rich and popular, she had o
deserve it, right? There is a very good
reason for this reflex. We need go
believe that she earned all this fame
and fortune. We need to believe thl
she is such a good, decent and deser
ing a person that she had all of thits
coming to her. Because if she doesrct,
there is a problem.
The problem is luck and the random-
ness of life. If Diana Spencer wassan
angel who walked among us, then she
deserved to be rich and famous, peo-
ple get exactly what they deserve, God
is in His heaven and the kids are asle p
in bed. If she is not feminine perfec-
tion, then she was just lucky. A sch
teacher who married well, a phras I
think I stole from someone else.
If she was as blemished and petty
and ugly in the morning as therestf
us, then she became rich and famos
because she was born into social cir-
cles that rub together with royalty and
happened to catch the eye of a passing
noble. Which raises the ugly question:
why not us? Why wasn't I born iq
privilege like Diana and Charles? I
just as good and charitable as they are!
I could be glamorous and alluringif
I had a fortune inherited on the back'1f
centuries of elitism and boneheadpd
agrarian policies! I always wanted 'to
be suave, debonair and regal, but I was
too tired after I got home from woik,
cleaned the house, paid the bills asd
put the kids to bed. If Diana was s
perfect as we make her out to be, then
we can worship her and mourn
without feeling like .we are 15 a
writing our names together on the
back of a notebook.
If she isn't, then we have spent all
this time idolizing someone as flaw'ed
and fractured as the rest of us, whcse
only accomplishment was marryi g
up.
Diana, I hope you were-a saint. Our
national ego is riding on it. -
-.James Miller can be reach
over e-mail at jamespm@umich.e

so that ther
around it at
kept up.
Miller
preju4
To THE DA
We are
to the Roth
letters to th
First, along
friends, we
Miller's pie
the 'U': An
New Yorks
to be down
Both the Ri
letters felt t
was a comp
unfair attac
We wouldl1
know that t
column by
("Goodbye.
Brian," 4/1
Gnatt, a
wrote a pie
Midwestert
those of M
cannot fit i
style of the
opinion, iti
damned tin
Michigan s
themselves
tude. Rothn
apology shi
all out-of-s
an out-of-s
like to com
with this;w
we were tar
cle, and so
even want

rock and the park TO THE DAILY:
least looks a little As an alumnus of the
University. I believe the
DCHUSID Athletic Department made
EDWARD U the right choice by giving
LSA JUNIOR new students split-season
tickets for football.
I do not see how anybody
is not can reason that people who
is not ~ have supported the program
d iced for years should have their
tickets taken away. There is
not a school anywhere that
%ILY: would have done that. As
writing to respond when I started out at the
man and Walsh University in 1989, the stu-
e editor on 9/5/97. dents are still the most fickle
with all of our fans anywhere. It was good
found James to split the package so every-
ce ("Welcome to body could go to some
open letter to games this season. Then next
gtudents 9/3/97) year, they will be able to go
right hilarious, to all of them.
othman and Walsh I do not know how many
hat Miller's piece games I have been embar-
letely random and rassed by the obvious large
k on New Yorkers. number of missing students.
ike to let them Maybe now students who have
his began with a tickets will appreciate them
Brian Gnatt and not take them for granted.
Michigan. Love, Maybe they will not only
7/97). atnend the games, but support
n East Coaster, the team by cheering as well.
ce blasting all University fans are the
ners, especially worst fans anywhere. New
ichigan, since they students will learn that this
nto the cultured campus lacks spirit. A
East Coast. In our University coach should not
is about god- have to beg for fans to cheer.
ne that those from But it happens at the
tart defending University. The only students
against this atti- on this campus worthy of
man said that "an being called fans are those
ould be issued to who pack Yost Ice Arena for
tate students." As a hockey game. That is the
tater, we would way it should be at all
pletely disagree University games.
ve do not feel that At a school that strives to
rgeted in the arti- be the best in everything, the
do not need or fans, student and non-stu-
an apology. In dent, sure have a long way to


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