4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 14, 1997 e 3kCutigrtn tig 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan A JosH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor I Unls otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily', editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. FROM THE DAILY Paking dough NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'I understand what the motivation Is, but I think (MSA is) very unrealistic. There is not going to be a cheaper way after the court ruling.' Michigan Document Service owner Jim Smith, referring to the court case his store lost to publishing companies YUKi KuNIYUKI N RF-FLECTtN'j o Ct VET69AuJ~s TDAy ITr S THE SoLiDE2,,Mgor THiE Pil WMIO 6111CS us F~fC-P0or sPECH SiT THE SOLDIER, 71 T14 IH DO1E Who 6Eir us FREEWpoM OF THE PRCsS. TT Is 'rH E SOLPIEC N/ ov n C M Pil $O14.AM4kE WHO (gVC 4S. FRES 7MTO Po 1'sr IT 5 TH 5LpjEk V1 ] FEN~s THE FLA4, 3)W5ThE pf ~ i FLA4 AND WHesf COFFN is 7RAPED sy THE FkA4 -- Wko 4DvE5 TliE ?R OTEt THE R0"70 o aEN r THE Fi AA4- - LEr c"STOTH rEI7 L ETTERS TO TH E EDITOR Clinton s lost in the forest, but the mediafound some nice trees have never been one to criticize the Imedia for its coverage of Americap politics. I really don't care about home race coverage or attack dog tactics.'I C American politics have become devoi of issues and sub- stance, politicians have to shoulder at least as much blame as journal- ists. Also, it is foolish to think that the details of horse race cover- age, image and appearance, regional versus PAUL national strategy SERILLA don't impact poli- tics, they do andWAUR they are newswor- thy. But every once in a while, I have to concede that the details that make a good news story may not be as impor- tant as the points the media glosses 0 City council should After spending 30 minutes circling Ann Arbor in search of a parking spot, dri- Nvers take part in the tiresome ritual of dig- ging through their pockets, backpacks and car seats for enough change to feed the parking meter. This troublesome quest may soon worsen as the Ann Arbor City Council considers a proposal to raise parking rates. The proposal would raise rates from 60 cents to $1 per hour starting in January. The debate over the 40 percent hike will be decided upon by the council on Dec. 1. Students, residents, shoppers and merchants will all bear the consequences if the increase receives the council's approval. As the proposal stands, it appears that Ann Arbor is going to take advantage of those who have no choice but to come downtown - off-campus students and busi- ness people. It will also scare off those who would like to enjoy downtown shopping - shoppers and restaurant-goers - but do not want to pay the excessive meter rates. The hike would create a bad image of Ann Arbor as an unwelcoming and greedy place. The city became less open-armed to vis- itors by closing the Washington St. parking structure and condemning portions of the Forest St. structure. With these closings, parking in Ann Arbor is even harder to not raise meter rates visitors to steer clear of downtown Ann Arbor. As one Saline resident noted in The Ann Arbor News, "I probably (won't) come to Ann Arbor to park when parking at Briarwood (Mall) is free." If downtown is to remain friendly to business, the city must reconsider the exorbitant 40 percent hike. If the council presents a concrete plan to use the extra revenue toward more parking structures in the downtown area, the hike could be understandable. Yet the public has yet to see a succinct plan for the increased parking revenue's use; without a smooth transition between the parking meter raise and more parking, the proposal leaves city drivers with much to be desired. With the Downtown Development Authority's lots and structures estimated to bring in nearly $5 million during 1997 and 1998 and city street meters already creat- ing a yearly revenue of nearly $1.5 million, it is hard to grasp why the 40 percent increase is necessary. It becomes even harder to comprehend when considering that the hike may hurt local merchants - the commercial backbone of the downtown area. Parking in Ann Arbor is already the butt of many jokes and a source of annoyance for students. The proposed hike would make it even less of a laughing matter. Those who have to park in Ann Arbor will be unfairly penalized for lack of other choices. Local merchants may suffer the effects of shoppers and restaurant-goers taking their business elsewhere. Students and city residents should attend the public hearing on Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Larcom Municipal Building at Fifth and Huron Streets in downtown Ann Arbor. That is, if they can find a parking spot. I course s students save money 0 I come by. Because parking spaces are already at a premium, the hike would take advantage of people who have no other choice - or force them out of the down- town area altogether. Initially, with the structures' closings, shoppers and visitors left with few places to park were more apt to take their busi- ness elsewhere - hurting the downtown area's economy. If the prices of the few- and-far-between parking spots increase, it will be another reason for shoppers and s..Backon Coursepack store help S ome of the hassles and expenses involved with shopping for coursepa- eks could soon be things of the past. If the Michigan Student Assembly has its way, a student-run coursepack store will be the primary supplier of supplementary class naterial. The idea - part of the Students' Party's election campaign platform - has 'ntered the first stage toward completion. iow is the time when full participation by bath the students and faculty is crucial to tl, store's success. _-The coursepack store is an ingenious idea to revitalize the assembly's image rile relieving the student body of a major l irden. Although the store is in its prelimi- tiary stages, MSA obtained the support of the Michigan Union Bookstore - repre- jenting a vital step toward its completion. Students will be able to buy coursepacks at the same time they purchase their books, resulting in enormous time savings. The coursepack store will also benefit the work- udy program as it provides several job 4enings for participating students. In contrast to the excessive prices Aiarged by other coursepack vendors, the student-run store will charge only 2 to 3 cents per page of copied material. A 100- jge coursepack would likely cost no more than $3.00.. To reduce overhead, the Michigan Union Bookstore granted MSA ftee use of shelf space and space in the building's basement in which to conduct copying. Under this plan, students will save a tremendous amount of money, quelling many early semester frustrations. : But the coursepack store is restricted - idea to fully coalesce, it must surmount royalty restrictions and other obstacles. There are many non-royalty coursepack options available to faculty - they must commit to utilizing the assembly's coursep- ack store for their classes' needs. Without full cooperation on the part of the faculty, the store will fail. As an incentive to pro- mote usage, MSA provides the instructor with a free coursepack. Once the service grows, MSA may be able to accept coursepacks with royalties, which would greatly expand this innovative project's ser- vice to students. The coursepack store not only aids stu- dents - it marks a period of transition for the beleaguered MSA. The assembly has suffered from students' perceptions of inad- equacy and scandal. Now is the opportuni- ty for representatives to put the dormant years behind them and strive toward a more positive image. The store also represents a significant step for the Students Party toward fulfilling campaign goals made last semester. In addition, MSA president Michael Nagrant deserves commendation for his hard work at founding the service. It is crucial that every member of the student body and the administration active- ly support the coursepack store. Plans call for the store to be up and running in January - one professor has already pledged to utilize it. MSA hopes to increase the number of interested faculty members to 30-40 by the beginning of Winter term. Students, as well as faculty, must support the new store. It is a resourceful alternative to the traditional overpriced monopolies Article about lawsuit was 'one-sided' TO THE DAILY: The Daily article titled "'U' prof. faces trial on charges of improperly inter- viewing a child" (11/4/97) contained inaccuracies and was one-sided, reflecting pri- marily information from Demonstenes Lorandos, the lawyer suing the University and the Family Assessment Clinic. Edward Bileaska is not a judge and his civil suit against the clinic was summarily dis- missed by the Wayne County Circuit Court. In the 1990 case, Elissa Benedek was an expert for the parents, the defendants, and Prof. Kathleen Faller was an expert for Child Protective Services. Benedek never testified in front of former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kavanaugh. The par- ents apparently did not have the same confidence in Benedek's opinion that Lorandos does. They pleaded nolo contendere to the child abuse charges and allowed the Juvenile Court to take custody over their four children. After they complied with the court's orders, the court closed its case. They then filed a civil suit against the University, Faller and the pediatrician who examined the child, but it was summarily dismissed. The dismissal was upheld on appeal. The primary immunity the University has asserted in seeking a summary judgment of dismissal on the Champney case is not governmental immunity but rather immunity under the Michigan Child Protection Act. The act requires that professionals who work with children report to Child Protective Services when they have reasonable cause to suspect child abuse and neglect. If they fail to do so, they are liable for harm to the child and may face crimi- nal charges. In turn, the statute provides immunity to persons who report in good faith and who cooperate with investiga- tions of abuse and neglect by Child Protective Services. It is fundamental to the safety of children for professionals who try to protect them to befree from retaliation. According to his adver- tisement, Lorandos special- izes in defending persons accused of sex offenses in civil and criminal cases and in filing civil suits on their behalf against the profession- als and agencies who have formed opinions that his clients have behaved inappro- priately toward children. He seems to have targeted Faller and the clinic in particular. LIsA BAKER AceCrVIATFrVr IiPDEC ifinlr:T enal and your offensive line is great. Those are the two most important qualities a champi- onship team must possess. Unfortunately for us, yours does but ours does not. Here's hoping you can remain No. I and not get screwed by the pollsters like we did in 1994. BOB KELLAR PENN STATE UNIVERSITY 'U' policies victimize good students To THE DAILY: The University's policy on affirmative action lowers the academic standards of the University and is racist. According to The New York Times article "Group suing University of Michigan over diversity" (10/14/97), the University's policy is charac- terized by a sizable grade dis- parity between African Americans and the rest of the University's students. The two tables accompanying the article essentially reveal a dual admissions policy. This policy creates lowered admis- sions standards and lowers the school's academic reputa- tion. Moreover, the dramatic increase in class size in the past 10 years may be a result of the University's efforts to offset this degrading trend. Affirmative action patron- izes African Americans. Patronization is a form of racism because it infers that African Americans are not intelligent enough to get into the University without GPA and standardized test score inflation. This inference (which is rather common) reinforces stereotypes placing African Americans in the same predicament. Thus, affir- mative action policies are not the answer if America wants to absolve itself of racism. The University's pursuit of diversity is a ruthless numbers game that leaves many fine students with excellent acade- mic credentials indignantly rgjected. According to the Daily ("'U' to fight lawsuit at any cost," 11/5/97), the University has demonstrated its resolve. Unfortunately, if the University wins it will continue to enact a policy that victimizes many excellent stu- dents. MARTIN PrASINSKI LSA SENIOR Vote in the MSA elections To THE DAILY: Twice a year students at the University have the oppor- tunity to vote on campus ref- Prof. Faller violated child's rights To THE DAILY: As an organization trying to represent children's rights, we frequently come across stories of tampering with the minds of children for the pur- pose of favoring one parent in custody disputes, as is the case that involves Prof. Kathleen Faller. Unfortunately, these instances of bias against fathers is something that has been repeated over and over again by many professionals conducting assessments. In our opinion, in addition to having her removed from the University, the remedies should also extent to disman- tling the adversarial system of justice and fining the University for condoning such practices. All of our support goes to the victims of this woman. BILL FLORES THE CHILDREN'S VOICE Aff irmative action eases racial tensions To THE DAILY: Some feel that the high- lighting of race in admissions policies has led to increased racial tension. Continuing with this argument, one might conclude that eliminating racial preferences in favor of a purely merit-based system would decrease racial ten- sions.dTake away racial prefer- ences and we take away some animosity, right? Wrong. The only result is that we take away a substantial and impor- tant portion of our well-quali- fied minority student body. Yet, in a demented way, proponents of this argument are correct. After all, was there much racial tension on cam- puses in the '40s and '50s? No, of course not. There was no racial integration either! But, the injustice of that situa- tion has long been proven. As racial integration desta- bilizes the status quo, tensions do increase. But admissions preferences are not the root of campus racism, bigotry, jeal- ousy and cultural misunder- standing. These social ills long predate racial prefer- ences in college admissions. Defeating affirmative action will not alleviate present racial tensions, it will merely sweep our virulent and per- sisting social problems under the political and legal rug. Measures moving toward a resegregated University and society only increase exclu- over. Such was the case last weekend when President Bill Clinton spoke to a group of gay rights activists. Clinton was there to generally endorse a plat- form of gay rights and profess his per- sonal support for the gay community: no big shocker. This is the presidet who, as a candidate in 1992, promised to break down the barriers of sexual orientation that currently bind our armed forces. Despite backing down on that very serious issue, according to most statis- tics, about seven percent of Americans who voted in the 1996 presidential election identified themselves as gay or lesbian and the vast majority voted for Clinton. Seven percent of the ele- torate is nothing to be sneezed at a~d the president, who has often been crit- icized for leading an administration according to Gallop polls, knows thi. I heard analysts on several television news programs arguing over whether Clinton endorsing gay rights made good political sense and whether or not it would hurt Al Gore's chances r the presidency in 2000. I guess this is how 'political analysts pay the bi4s during the non-election years. While that pretty much sums up the horse race reasons why Clinton gave a speech before this group, it isn't te primary thrust of this story. But ne- ther is the other detail of the evening's events that made it into the headlines: "President Clinton and sitcom star Ellen DeGeneres share stage at gay function." First of all, I don't know what coin- stitutes a function versus a party, fund- raiser, rally or hootenanny, but I do know that the fact that the president and the star of an ABC situation com- edy shared a podium requires no great alignment of the planets. I guess it gives the story human interest 0it whensit became the primary focusIt demeans the rest of the story. " The rest of the story is that in his speech, President Clinton made a clear pledge to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians, including lending his support to federal legislation tat would aid the cause. Maybe it's just me, but the protection of the civil rights of Americans who face bigotry and hatred because of an immutable characteristic carries a little more weight. Taken in conjunction with the White House Conference on Hate Crimes that convened on Monday, President Clinton may be on the verge of taking his most serious stand on civil rights. Maybe his most serious stand on any- thing. There were 8,759 hate crimes reported to the Justice Departmentin 1996, buttdue to inconsistencies in the way various jurisdictions report those statistics (when they are reported at all), these numbers are likely to under- estimate the extent of the problem. The forthcoming legislation that has the bipartisan sponsorship of Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) would add gays, les- bians, women and the disabled to te list of federal hate crimes that already include crimes committed against peo- ple because of race, color or national origin. Clinton also announced a mod- est package of federal initiatives to combat hate crimes, but battling igno- rance and blind hatred toward those who are different is daunting at least and perhaps it has been the most cor sistent challenge during our nationi history. Often, the hatred appears me than institutionalized - it looks lik national pastime. , Furthermore, the president aI Congress need to unearth legislatiM to protect gays and lesbians fra workplace and hiring discriminatio . The legislation was killed in its ear1y stages last year, but is vital to social health of this nation. I I 0' i 0 0 II ii