4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 11, 1997
ahIz itigtt [
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
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
Prices, procedures mean trouble for students
NOTABLE QUOTABLE,
'National Geographic Magazine gives you
pictures, but the Peace Corps allows you
to live a National Geographic life.'
- Joseph Dorsey, Peace Corps campus coordinator
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
S tudent coursepacks and pocketbooks
are both a little leaner this fall thanks to
a recent legal decision. Last year, in a case
pitting Michigan Document Services
against several large publishing corpora-
tions, the United States Supreme Court
ruled that businesses selling coursepacks
must charge publisher royalties to buyers.
Efforts to fight this erroneous legal ruling
should continue - but, for now, professors
must actively seek more creative, inexpen-
sive and convenient means to provide
course materials.
The high court's decision lacks firm legal
grounding. Past precedent stipulates that
material designed for educational use should
be available for copying free of charge. The
court ruled that the precedent does not apply
when copied material is sold for a profit -
even though students will ultimately use
coursepacks for educational purposes.
Professors traditionally issue coursepa-
cks compiling material from a large number
of sources. Consequently, students were not
forced to purchase an expensive textbook
when only short excerpts of the book were
used in the course. The legal ruling changed
these longstanding standards. Now, profes-
sors must request publishers' permission to
use copyrighted materials in a coursepack,
but publishers are in no way obligated to
respond. Even when access to materials is
granted, there is no reasonable cap on royal-
ties, which may range as high as 20 cents
per page. Hence, coursepacks cost more
and contain less than ever before.
Students patronizing Michigan
Document Services these days are getting a
crash course in how the business is bypass-
ing the Supreme Court ruling. After waiting
in lines for up to several hours, students
entering the store can obtain the master
copy of a coursepack and make their own
copies on in-house machines. This is still
legal - Michigan Document is not techni-
cally selling the coursepack. However, stu-
dents are finding that padded copying fees
- about 10 cents per copy - insufficient
service, and huge delays make the experi-
ence a significant hassle. In addition, stu-
dents may only copy the first 200 pages of
any coursepack that exceeds that length -
promising students another long wait in two
or three weeks, when they will be allowed
to obtain the rest of their readings.
Michigan Document's plan is not a
viable long-term alternative. To help
resolve inefficiencies associated with its
approach, professors should immediately
take steps to put additional copies of
coursepacks on reserve at the
Undergraduate Library. Students could then
make copies there for 7 cents per page -
saving nearly 30 percent over Michigan
Document's prices. Professors could also
make individual copies of materials avail-
able for students to check out, photocopy on
their own, and return. In addition, profes-
sors or departments could consider selling
non-profit coursepacks out of their offices.
A student-run coursepack store, a major
plank on the Students' Party Michigan
Student Assembly platform last spring,
offers the most encouraging and convenient
solution. The non-profit store would be able,
to sell coursepacks to students without
charging royalty fees. MSA President
Michael Nagrant promised to get a store up
and running as soon as possible, but has not
mentioned anything this fall about its
progress. MSA should put all its efforts into
opening the store by the time Winter semes-
ter commences - millions of student dol-
lars are at stake.
The Supreme Court chose to favor big
business over academia - and education
may ultimately suffer. In spite of the hassle,
students, by making copies on their own, can
continue to obtain coursepacks at a reason-
able price. However, such inconveniences
will undoubtedly discourage professors from
continuing extensive use of coursepacks. In
the future, at the University and elsewhere,
non-profit coursepack stores may prove to be
necessary for coursepacks to retain their
important place on the educational landscape.
King of the mountain
Goss should
rid 'U' of Nike
TO THE DAILY:
For a couple of years
now, the University Athletic
Department has taken the
liberty to represent us, the
students, in its negotiations
and discussions with corpo-
rate America. U of M is a
big school and has a lot of
clout out there in the fast
track world of modern busi-
ness. I'm hoping that the
AD's new head will lead
with a conscience. There are
a number of ills that the AD
has helped to perpetuate in
recent years, and I call on
Mr. Goss to rectify the situa-
tion.
For one, the University
has had a very intimate
relationship with Nike. All
of our sports teams wear
Nike-manufactured uni-
forms with Nike's logo
swooshing across them. We
provide them with advertis-
ing, andrthey provide a sub-
stantial resource base for
the athletic department. In
addition, they 'fund a sub-
stantial portion of students
in the journalism fellows
program with the expecta-
tion of bringing them into
the Nike public relations
department.
Is this all good? Sure, the
AD is making money. But
should we be wearing the
Nike swoosh because of it?
Nike has an atrocious human
rights record. It manufactures
the majority of its shoes in
Indonesia. There, the oppres-
sive regime of "President"
Suharto has outlawed non-
government-sanctioned
unions.
When workers at one
Nike sweatshop protested
their foul working conditions,
Suharto's police state arrested
them for "illegal strikes.
Nike promptly fired the pro-
testers. A Nike spokesperson
told American reporters that
the company stood in full
support of the crackdown on
"illegal" unions.
That's not it! For years,
Nike has profited from
sweatshops in Vietnam,
where the ruling Communist
Party has also outlawed inde-
pendent unions.
Hence Nike pays its
workers there 20 cents per
hour and they are not allowed
to leave the Nike manufactur-
ing facility (or Nike's sub-
contractors') until they have
met their daily quota of
shoes. The 25,000 or so Nike
workers are predominantly
women. News agencies like
CBS have documented
repeated cases of physical
and sexual abuse within the
factories.
Okay, here's the deal.
We've got a new Athletic
Director. We need to ask our-
selves whether we want the
University of Michigan to be
nity of all people.
CHAD BAILEY
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Drivers: Slow
down for bus
passengers
TO THE DAILY:
I have been a student bus
driver for more than two
years and Tuesday one of my
worst fears came true. A per-
son getting off a Bursley-
Baits bus was hit by a car
passing the bus illegally.
Luckily, the person only suf-
fered a severely broken leg.
The car crossed a double
yellow line in order to get
around the bus, an event that
is not rare around campus.
Often cars will not even slow
down as they move past a bus
that is letting people off.
Does someone have to be
killed before drivers will stop
behind a bus and wait the 30
seconds for it to begin to
move again? To all of the
people who do stop behind
the bus and give us other
courtesies, thank you - the
drivers appreciate it.uTo all of
the people that pass the bus
while it is letting people off,
is the time you save worth
the life that you might take
by passing the bus? The
busses are not stopped for
very long; please give pedes-
trians a chance to cross the
street.
CINDY FELCHER
LSA SENIOR
'U' should
include ASL
in curriculum
TO THE DAILY:
Thank you for publishing
your article on American
Sign Language ("'U' refuses
ASL proposal," 9/9/97).
I am a hearing student, but
during my undergraduate
career at Michigan, I tried
very hard to convince the
University to offer a formal
class in American Sign
Language. When I arrived at
Michigan as a freshman, I was
amazed that the third most-
used language in the United
States was not offered as a
class. I met up with Joan
Smith of the Services for
Students with Disabilities, she
encouraged me to petition the
University by speaking with
Michael Martin who (I
believe) was the Dean of
Academic Affairs. After a
great deal of e-mail contact as
well as a personal meeting, I
was eventually told that it
would be too difficult to get a
department that would be
willing to handle such a class
Under Prof. Van Hoek's guid-
ance, I pursued an indepen-
dent study directed toward
ASL and completed my sec-
ondary language require-
ment.
As an undergraduate, I
would have thought the
University would learn a bit
about the difficulties that hear-
ing impaired students face
daily. It saddens me now that I
am beginning graduate school
here that a fine academic insti-
tution such as the University
of Michigan is unable or
unwilling to learn. Maybe if
enough people raise enough
ruckus about the fact that the
University teaches less-used
languages (though not less
important) such as Sanskrit
but not the third most-used
language in the United States,
things will change. That would
be great. But I am certainly
not holding my breath.
CLAIR BRANCH
R ACKHAM
'Nectarine'
incidents are
frequent
To THE DAILY:
In response to your story
published regarding an
alleged racial incident at the
Nectarine ("Nectarine ball-
room accused of racism,"
9/9/97), I find it very surpris-
ing that more students have
not come out to voice their
own complaints with that
particular establishment.
In my four years I have
heard all kinds of complaints
from my friends. For exam-
ple, why is it that hats are not
allowed at the Nectarine on
Thursday, but are allowed on
any other day? I have been
asked to take off my hat
when attending on Thursday.
However, I have also gone
several times on Saturday,
and I remember that as I
went to take off my hat, the
bouncers did not particularly
care if I left it on. Upon
going in I noticed that several
people had hats. Not on
Thursdays though. On this
day they are particularly
strict and observing. What is
it thatasets Thursdays apart?
Maybe it has to do with
the fact that the vast majority
of the crowd is Asian. (Are
Asians more likely to be in
gangs or start fights?) An
African American friend of
mine said that when he asked
an employee of the Nectarine
once why they don't play hip
hop music, the man replied
somethiing to the effect of
"because that would attract
the wrong type of crowd ..
your kind:'
Also, most people know
about the HUES incident a
while back and the real rea-
sons that party was cancelled.
I'm sure other people have
Uncommon
riots need
only common
ingredients
C heers turned to angry screams
and 'the wave' to burning
destruction in East Lansing last week-
end as a party turned into a riot a
peace into tumult.
Maybe - you
saw pictures of
flames and of
smashed cars
following an
out-of-control
block party near
Michigan State
University on
Saturday night.
If you didn't,
picture "total MEGAN
anarchy," which SCHIMPF
is how one stu- PRESCRPTONS
dent described it.- - -
Picture beer bottles smashing, "raining
glass" all over the streets. Picture a
mid-street bonfire fed with couches,
other furniture, branches and garbage,
and fueled by gasoline and lighter
fluid. Picture more than 500 students.
And then imagine this on your frol
lawn, or at the house party you went to'
last weekend with a group of friends .
It's easy to ridicule Michigan State
for being a party school, chide the
police for letting it escalate and think
it would never happen here.
Except that it also happened at the
University of New Hampshire on the
same night. Police there used riot gear
and Mace to corral about 450 students
throwing rocks and bottles.
College students in general are about
the same across the country. Michigan
plays its first football game in two
days, and a game-day ambiance is
(finally) in the air. Alcohol, house par-
ties, beginning of school - check,
check, check.
And yet, very few people think they
will end up burning couches and,
throwing beer cans at police when the
go out.
Drinking, by itself, does not cause
rioting. Drunkenness, by itself, does
not cause rioting. Millions of college
students at thousands of schools across
the country drink every weekend,
some in excess, and yet riots do no
happen every weekend.
So the question is, what happened
Can people like us do that? Are those
students, portrayed as animals, really
that insane and destructive?
Right now, no. Saturday night, yes.
Something indescribable takes a
mind from smiling and joking to
climbing a street lamp and breaking
the bulb bare-fisted. Rarely premedi-
tated, but rather an extremely poor,
spontaneous error in decision-making.,
Riots need rage.
Not casual annoyance, or even,
anger, but sheer rage. Ragethat, in this
case, was rebellion against a percep,
tion that East Lansing police are
unfairly cracking down on parties and
drinking. Rage manifested as flames
that were sometimes two stories high.
Rage is not easily forgiven. And it
shouldn't be.
New laws and enforcement in East.
Lansing include keg tagging, random
questioning of people on streets and
ID checking for patrons sitting in bar.
East Lansing will learn that police take
iot gear very seriously and preven
wearing it too often. Tickets have beep
issued, renters will have their lease;
examined for keeping-the-peace clas:
es and possibly face eviction, and
future parties face careful scrutiny.
In short, more of what was at the
root of the rage. Ask, then, what
Saturday night really accomplished.
Especially since police in New
Hampshire say they have good rely S
tions with students.
So where does rage come from? Arid
why?
Students rioted in the 1960s for
causes more complex than alcohol
laws and football victories. Injustice
was something to rebel against then.
Now, we have riots - or the fear of
them - following major sporting
events and championships. The scene
in Detroit following the Tigers' 1984
World Series win haunts police in4
every major sports city today.
Ann Arbor is not immune. Block par-
ties on Arbor Street are regularly bro-
ken up early. Police used tear gas on
revelers on South University Avenue
when the Michigan basketball team
won the national title in 1989. While
some violence and destruction
occurred, those who were there say it
was a celebration marked by bad judg-
ment.
Not a riot.
But when a collection of around 500
people, at least some of whom have.
been drinking too much, gather in one,
area with something in common, little
sparks can lead to large fires. The line
between party and mob blurs into a
0
I,
Helms' holdup
he Capital is beginning to look a lot
like a giant sandbox, and Sen. Jesse
Helms (R-NC) is beginning to look like the
proverbial bully. President Clinton has
nominated former Massachusetts Governor
William Weld as the United States' ambas-
sador to Mexico. Helms, the arch conserva-
tive chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, has refused to bring
the nomination hearing to a vote. The divi-
sion is a matter of partisan politics - the
Republican party is split over one of its
own, and the argument has resulted in the
hearing's unacceptable delay.
Weld's liberal tendencies have caused
static with fellow Republican Helms.
Helms has said that Weld disqualified
himself for the job because he supports,
among other traditionally liberal causes,
the use of marijuana for medicinal purpos-
es. Helms fallaciously maintains that
Weld's "soft" position on illicit drugs
should preclude him from effectively serv-
ing as ambassador to Mexico.
is inappropriate
Helms ignores his most obvious option
- if he does not approve of the nomination,
he can vote against it. Senators, even if they
do not belong to the president's party, must
honor a nomination. Partisan politics only
go so far. If the Republican Senate doesn't
want to confirm Weld's nomination, they are
under no obligation to do so. But by refus-
ing to allow the nomination to come to vote,
Helms is overstepping his bounds in petty
personal battles against issues like affirma-
tive action and needle-exchange programs,
two of Weld's more liberal causes.
Helms' refusal to bring the matter to a
vote sets a dangerous precedent. He sends a
clear message: It is okay to ignore the pres-
ident. Helms must let the wheels of
American democracy revolve. Regardless
of his ideological differences with Weld, the
president's appointment deserves his day
before the Senate. Helms' brand of partisan
politics is counterproductive and dangerous
- stopping the Senate from doing its job is
not the right course of action.
0
0
How TO CONTACT THEM
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT LEE C. BOLLINGER
FLEMING ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1340
764-6270
E-MAI L:LEECBOL@UMICH.EDU
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