4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 26, 1997
c7ite B ~i'uu gfa
420 Maynard Street_
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the g
University of Michigan
JOSH WHITE
Editor in Chief
ERIN MARSH
Editorial Page Editor
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
'(It was) odious work. But you do It for
students, so I don't have trouble doing It.
- School of Music Dean Paul Boylan, on
fundraising for the Campaign for Michigan
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All PURPLE HERRING
other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. _PURP _E__ERN_ __ _ __ __ _
FROM THE DAILY
Empty chair
Student regent would enhance communication
O ne week ago, during his inauguration faculty and administration. He agreed that
ceremony, University President Lee adding students and faculty members to the
Bollinger outlined his vision for the board may be unnecessary, especially since
University and received deserved praise. strong lines of communication - including
Just three days later, he delivered a low meetings with the University president and
blow to students. At his monthly meeting provost - already exist. However,
with the faculty's governing body, Bollinger Bollinger's efforts to expand campus com-
opposed its proposal to add a student and a munication, while noble, do not supplant
faculty member to the University Board of students' needs for representation.
Regents. While Bollinger has placed much While Bollinger clearly expresses his
emphasis upon building bridges between desire to improve the lines of communica-
Students, faculty, administrators and the tion and remain free to all suggestions from
regents, he has missed a prime opportunity the University community, he has yet to
to take action. Students and faculty deserve make any significant changes for students.
a direct voice on the board - the proposal However, Bollinger's stamp of approval
deserves Bollinger's support. need not be the only avenue toward a stu-
The proposal's introduction took place dent regent. A petition, requiring thou-
during last week's Senate Advisory sands of state resident signatures, would
Committee for University Affairs meeting. place a referendum question on the state
Until Bollinger's lack of support became ballot to create such a post. This option is
clear, the proposal received much attention not only time-consuming but also expen-
and positive response. Adding a student and sive - to collect the requisite signatures,
faculty regent could increase communica- the Michigan Student Assembly would
tion between the University's vital factions need additional funds stemming from an
and the regents. The regents' job requires increased student fee. It is unlikely that
knowledge of student and faculty opinion students, many of whom already distrust
-=who better to lendinsight than students MSA, will readily pay more.
and faculty themselves? While Bollinger Finding a sponsor for the proposal in
stated his confidence that the University's the state legislature, however, eliminates
president and provost stay alert to thoughts the need for signatures - but without the
and feelings on campus, the mere existence support of any legislators or Bollinger, this
of this proposal indicates a need for more is unlikely. Ironically, while Bollinger
direct representation. looks to build bridges, he also took a little
Louis D'Alecy, chair of SACUA, quickly ground out from underneath students this
rescinded support of the proposal to agree week. Without Bollinger's support, con-
with Bollinger. D'Alecy said that Bollinger struction on his bridge between adminis-
maintains a high level of contact between tration and students is delayed.
MS udget undt tu s
MSA budget funds student rou ps services
MusT BE
WORK -
O n the Michigan Student Assembly
campaign trail, student politicians
throw out many promises. Last spring, the
Students' Party, promised to cut corners at
the Michigan Student Assembly and deliv-
er the extra money to student groups. The
present leaders of MSA deserve recogni-
tion for delivering on the promise they
made to the student body.
The 1997-98 budget carries an increase
of roughly $150,000 over last year. The
operations budget dropped by $2,250 and
$3,000 was cut from MSA election fund-
ing. Funding for the Budget Priorities
Committee - which is charged with fund-
ing student groups - was increased from
$90,000 to $140,000 this year.
Additionally, the $1 increase in student
fees this year - passed by a popular vote
last year - has contributed to the increase
in funding for student organizations.
Student groups will now have more
resources to draw upon in organizing
events. This will provide the opportunity
for new developments and programs orga-
nized by students.
One thousand dollars allocated to the
MSA Student Regent Task Force will allow
efforts for a student regent to expand. A stu-
dent voice and vote on the administrative
board would allow student input to be seri-
ously considered concerning matters such
as tuition increases. Student opinion is cur-
rently presented to the regents, but the
board is under no obligation to utilize it. A
voting student regent would give students
the opportunity to be involved in the deci-
sions that concern their education.
MSA has set aside $20,000 for tenant
services, funds previously set aside for the
Ann Arbor Tenants Union. The money may
still go to the AATU, but the assembly is
currently investigating the union's useful-
ness to University students. MSA members
should not dismiss the AATU lightly. In the
past, many students used the AATU to help
resolve disputes with landlords and remedy
injustices. Rather than cutting funding to
the AATU, MSA should attempt to fix
problems it may have. Students must have
the resource of student tenant services
available to them.
Within the budget, funding has been set
aside for another of the Student Party's
campaign promises - the student
coursepack store. MSA is currently in the
process of organizing the logistics of the
store, which will draw on $10,000 special
project fund. This project will allow stu-
dents a cheaper alternative to buying
required coursepacks for their classes
from stores currently located on campus.
The store would be a nonprofit business
solely created to meet the students' needs
for affordable course packs. MSA should
make full use of the funding to create the
store.
Supporting student groups are the rea-
son that each student at the University pays
a student government fee. This majority of
this funding should go straight to student
groups. MSA executive officers should be
commended for creating a budget that sup-
ports student organizations while maintain-
ing services students need.
LETTERS TO TI
'U' officials
must combat
intolerance
TO THE DAILY:
This letter is in response
to 'Vandalism creates 'ten-
sion"' (9/23197).
Evidence of intolerance
seems to appear weekly on
the pages of the Daily. Last
term, anti-semitic flyers were
inserted into books in the
Shapiro Library. Now, a simi-
lar anti-semitic episode has
occurred outside the library.
These are unacceptable and
ugly events at one of the
nation's most prestigious uni-
versities.
Issues of pluralism and
racial diversity are challeng-
ing our school and I see few
attempts to address this chal-
lenge. Intolerance is acquired
behavior. It is taught. It is
learned. Diversity workshops
at Orientation and volunry
dialogue groups, although
important, are not going to
undo a lifetime of racism.
President Bollinger and
the University must aggres-
sively confront this issue. A
diverse student body popu-
lates Ann Arbor. For all stu-
dents, we must invite and
promote a more tolerant
University to continue to
grow as an academic comnmu-
nity, and this must happen
now!
ADAM SNOW
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
'U' computing
is unreliable
TO THE DAILY:
I had a simple task at
hand: It was to print, at one of
the computing sites, a letter
that I had written to
University President Lee
Bollinger on my home com-
puter. My trials began in the
Union's basement. I turned on
a Mac. After about five min-
utes, it booted up and I trans-
ferred my file to the hard
drive to open it. Trying to
open it through Word failed
with an "error type 2" So, I
tried double clicking on it. I
watched the hourglass for
about five minutes and decid-
ed to leave.
As I left, a woman asked
the ITD consultant, who was
sitting next to me, if the com-
puter I had used was avail-
able. Hearing this, I walked
back and said, "If you can
unlock it, you can use it:' She
promptly left the area and the
consultant turned to me and
rudely said, "Don't tell people
about things you don't know!
Out!" Ijust left.
Off to Angell Hall. The
sign said something like
"Network is slow, printing is
erratic" I just turned and
walked away. Off to the
Chemistry building. I logged
on and tried to open Word. It
said, "All the access keys for
Word are in use, you are in
line to receive one." Off to
NUBS. Ahhh, solace at last!
An IBM that's letting me
print this letter.
Well, it turns out the file
on my disk is "cross-linked on
allocation unit 2083." found
out by running "chkdsk"
through MS-DOS. I knew to
do this because I was hired at
$10.50 per hour to fix com-
puters and set up networks.
HE EDITOR
I'm a computer science con-
centrator and have been called
a "walking computer manual"
This is why that mean, aging
consultant didn't faze me.
Where I worked, the large
computer network was always
in top shape because a few,
real computer technicians, not
students, kept them working.
ITD and CAEN need to get
their act together. It's an exer-
cise in patience to use their
computers. Computers: You
can live without them, but you
can't live with them. I still
have to print that letter.
SHAILESH HUMBAD
LSA JUNIOR
'U' ignores
Jewish
holidays
TO THE DAILY:
The University is a com-
munity of diversity. For many
students who grew up in
white suburbia, this is the
first time they have to live
and learn with people who
are extremely different from
themselves.
There are many different
races, religions and sexual ori-
entations that are accepted.
The University incorporates
this into Orientation program-
ming as well as in the LSA
graduation requirement.
Although the University
seems to be so understanding
and accepting of differences
among its students, it has truly
disappointed many members
of the Jewish community in its
failure to recognize their holi-
days as being significant. Last
winter term, finals were sched-
uled during the Jewish holiday
Passover. Since this holiday
puts emphasis on family time,
it was extremely stressful
(more than usual) and morally
conflicting for many students.
This year, they scheduled a
football game (Northwestern)
on the holiday Yom Kippur.
For Jews, this is the most holy
day of the year, for which they
are required to fast.
I understand this is a large
school with many events to
schedule. On the other hand,
I would happen to think that
the Jewish population is large
enough on this campus to be
considered when making
such important events as
finals and football games.
ALLISON SCHNAAR
LSA SOPHOMORE
United States
must support
the NEA
TO THE DAILY:
I am writing in response
to the letter by Evan Knott
("Government should not
fund arts," 9/19/97). 1 wish to
comment on two aspects of
his letter that I find particu-
larly grating.
First, I do not believe that
it is correct to argue from the
standpoint of what the
"founders" did or did not
envision. All that should be
considered in current policy
decisions is the Constitution. I
am sure the idea of govern-
ment regulating radioactive
material (mere "rocks") would
have seemed absurd to those
who wrote the Constitution.
Does that make it wrong?
Trying to argue the validity of
governmental efforts based on
interpretations of the
"founders" and not the
Constitution is like trying to
determine if Christ would
have used a PC or a Mac (He
probably would have used
Unix, anyhow).
Besides, the last time I
checked, the Constitution
allowed Congress "to make
all laws which shall be neces-
sary" to carry out everything
required of the government
by the Constitution. First and
foremost of those require-
ments is to "provide for a
more perfect union." In addi-
tion, the Constitution is sup-
posed to "promote the gener-
al welfare." I certainly
believe that the National
Endowment for the Arts does
this.
Which brings me to the
second aspect of the letter
with which I disagree. I firm-
ly believe that the chief
strength of the United States
lies in its ideas. After all, our
chief export is the decidedly
American airplane, followed
by good old Hollywood
movies. We must do what we
can to encourage new ideas.
Leaving this to corporate
America is not the answer.
"Big Business" is justifiably
not interested in new ideas so
much as it is interested in
money. How can we rely on
such companies to promote
new growth in art? For
instance, every one of
Disney's extremely profitable
cartoons is based upon a pre-
vious story - someone else's
idea. It works, and I am not
saying that is wrong. But that
completely misses the spirit
of art. Art is not about
money. I do not think we
should rely on those who
wish to make money through
art to keep America innova-
tive.
The NEA is both justified
and justifiable.
JOHN WAMBAUGH
LSA JUNIOR
Review was
'interesting,
objective'
TO THE DAILY:
I greatly enjoyed the
review of the Luna concert in
Chicago in the Daily ("Luna
brings 'Pup,' rousing show to
Chicago," 9/23/97) and
would like to commend the
journalistic style of the arti-
cle. Never before in my three
years here at the University
have I reada review in the
Daily that was as interesting,
succinct and objective. I
attended the Detroit show the
night prior to the Chicago
performance, and made many
of the same observations as
were mentioned in the article.
As a longtime
Luna/Galaxie 500 fan, I
found the author's descrip-
tions of the band's sound and
style to be accurate. The band
members' quotes were a wel-
comed bonus. Please contin-
ue to print articles in.this
vein, rather than the opinion-
ated and verbose ramblings
of other concert reviews that
have bewitched me in the
past.
NICHOLAs BRATTON
RC SENIOR
You say its your
birthday? It's
my birthday too
«0' h, I am sorry, thai must be
~~really disappointing for yo."
"Hey, better luck next year right?
"That really sucks, you gonna write
your column about how that really
sucks? Man, that really sucks."
(And my personal favorite:) "Y&
poor slob, I heap
mounds of piyon
your tortured and
ravaged soul"
Wat's my prob-
lem? (That's
rhetorical.) No, I ,
don't have any-
thing terminal and
I don't need any-
thing surgically
removed. I am
pret much over A
my failed bid tovbe SERUA
Miss America SERILLA
1997 (but thanks WARFARE
for your support anyway). And finally,
no, I am not related to Ron Powis,
although anyone with even a little
compassion has to be worried a ut
the horrible pain that poor boy is going
to be in tomorrow.
The reason everyone is sending th
regrets is today is my 20th birthdiy
and apparently, this is supposed to be
one of the most frustrating days of isy
college career. I was not aware of this
fact until I casually mentioned to a
friend of mine that my birthday was at
the end of this week.
"Oh, it's your 20th birthday, bumnuser
man. You know what the immorhal
Bard said, right?"
"On this subject I have no id
Enlighten me, you literary genius, yo.
"He said, 'those who have seen 20
winters pass rejoice when the bright
rays of spring's first dawn rekindle the
fire of their soul, but similarly lament
a belly that tastes no flame. Yon pub is
so close, yet also, like really far."'
"Shakespeare wrote that? B en
Hallmark wouldn't print that crap.
"Shakespeare? What are you talk
about man? The Bard said that,
know Bard, big guy, works the doo at
Touchies. That's what he tells peile
when he snags their fake."
My dear friend's eloquent remineer
aside, I still don't feel disappointed. I
suppose most people's overall disd4in
for 20th birthdays stems from its 14k
of one of the little bonuses that the lt-
ter teen years are so riddled with. 4
I was never really big on all those lit-
tle landmarks of impending adultho
Sure, at 16 1 was a little hyped ab W
sliding behind the wheel of Moip's
Pontiac (they build excitement, you
realize), but that whole honeymoon
ended several weeks later when I got
my first glance at the license phot I
have been stuck with ever since. You
have no idea how embarrassing it is
when a cop pulls you over and sys,
"Listen, bucko, neither you nor the 1-
year-old in this photo should be
ving 50Oin a 30."
Then at 18, 1 got the right to vote;
wait, stop the tumultuous agitation
(don't be so excited either). I realize it
is my duty as a citizen in this depoc-
racy to vote, but it can be pretty fus-
trating. Last year, for instance, I :got
stuck voting for a Republican I~
doubt Clinton even appreciate it.
Also at 18, I got the right to be cata-
loged by the Pentagon, yeellaw
Despite what anybody tells you,
service is not all that selective; a far
as I can tell, they'll harass just about
anything in a skirt (Scottish men :and
Eddie Murphy beware). At least I:can
be glad that there isn't a draft anynmsore
- really, I am completely satisfied
with just being most of what I canbe.
Then 19, which every American liv-
ing near the longest unarmed border
in the world knows is a big fric4 '
deal, probably only No. 2 to the bl '
jack itself With NAFTA, the situaion
has only escalated: Last year l the
Canadians' biggest export was dr nk-
en American college students return-
ing over the Ambassador Bridg' -
score one for free trade. Two things to
remember for all you East Cpast
freshmen who will be soon making
your first pilgrimage to the great
white north: Over there Old Mil is an
import and if the border guard 4*
you if you have anything to declare,
don't say, "Just a trunk full of ditty-
free vodka and a backseat full ofille-
gal aliens."
Now 20, so what? There is no dew
card to put in my wallet, no hew
responsibility that comes stapled to
my age. 1t does seem kind of boring.
Maybe people dislike the big$ 2-0
because it seems so stable. Most2
year-olds are in the middle of colne
- factor in grad school possibil ties
and we are just beginning.
After two years of college life' it's
pretty evident that things are staying
this way for a while. The whirlwindl of
change that seemed so endless *ihen
we flew the nest has died down to a
routine breeze. So what's the epiplhany
forced out of two decades of reflec-
tion? I am a little bit bored, but a little
scared of what lies beyond this sif
net, nothing really is new.
It doesn't matter, I am resolved to
enjoy 20 - after all, next year is the
last thing I get from the government
until I am 65 (don't believe the hype,
Social Security is as solid as an 54L).
Oh, by the way, to all my friends, cquld
you at least write "happy birthday' on
the condolence card?
- Paul Serilla can be reached Over
e-mail at pserilla@umich.ivr
How TO CONTACT THEM
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT LEE BOLLINGER
FLEMING ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109-1340
764-6270
4~