4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 14, 1998 A1g d£11§an ? 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSHi WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Dailys editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. FROM THE DAILY Legal nleaps General counsel named to vice president post NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'One thing that I know as an educator is that education is important for all.' -.Margarita Arellano, assistant dean of students for retention services, University of Texas at Austin, discussing Hopwoods significance MATT WIMSATTu c8 ONf 4 - This cartoon originally ran in the April 2, 1996 edition ofthe Daily. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I Eulogies bring out the Byron and Shakespeare in mourners A t a time when the University's legal affairs have taken center stage - even on a national level - the importance of the University's litigation department is pivotal to maintaining present policies. Last month, President Lee Bollinger and the University Board of Regents made the general counsel post - the University's head attorney - into a vice president position. While last month's decision on the change of title does not alter the job requirements of the position, it calls for the general counsel to report directly to the president and regents rather than the chief financial officer, as in the past. Due to the increasing complexity of the University's legal problems and their sig- nificance to the student body, this change could not have been more timely or neces- sary. By elevating the position of the gen- eral counsel, Bollinger and the regents have done the University a great service. While Bollinger claims that the title modification is not related to the two law- suits threatening the University's admis- sions policies, the future court battles clearly place an added importance upon the general counsel's position. With the general counsel reporting directly to the regents' table, administrators can be kept abreast of all issues surrounding lawsuits against the University. On the flip side, decisions made by the general counsel, especially regarding the admissions poli- cies lawsuits, can quickly gain the neces- sary approval and support from the presi- dent and regents. The direct contact between the general counsel and the president should also keep the student body more aware of updates on the University's legal affairs. Even though the interim co-general counsels have A reported to the president since last February, the change is now official and a better flow of information should soon result. Since the beginning of his presidency, Bollinger sought to bring greater attention to the general counsel's position. Earlier this year, he invited Interim General Counsel Elizabeth Barry to join the regents and executive officers at the regents' table during the board's monthly meetings. This step, along with the change of title, has gained strong support from the regents and executive officers. While a major change such as this usu- ally takes time and spurs much debate, the changes were welcomed, as they clearly focus on the way the office is perceived, not on the way the counsel performs. The symbolic gesture of gaining a seat at the regents' table and the change of title sig- nify how involved the office is at all lev- els of the University's internal function- ing and grants it the recognition it deserves. Most major universities typically hold the general counsel post as a vice presi- dent and now the University will follow suit. Much of University business relies upon complex legal issues, especially since affirmative action, minority prefer- ence and admissions to higher education represent the hot topics of politics today. Bollinger's steps were important and appropriate given the present litigation climate at the University. Due to the stu- dent body's keen interest in the legal affairs of the University, particularly in regard to the two lawsuits against LSA and Law School admissions policies, the vice presidential general counsel is a wel- come change. Drug stores need confidentiality policies The right to privacy is one of the most fundamental that Americans have. But in order to keep many facets of their lives private, citizens must depend on others to not reveal important information. This is particularly true of medical conditions and illnesses, as patients must rely on doctors, nurses and pharmacists to keep their per- sonal information private. Often, certain diseases such as AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases carry a certain stigma with them. It is imperative that such pri- vate information be kept from the public's pervue. A Mount Clemens man is suing the Arbor Drugs chain for disclosing his status as an AIDS patient to his children. A clerk at one of the chain's pharmacies recog- nized the man's prescriptions as those used to combat the AIDS virus. She told her teen-age son of his status, who relayed the information to his children at their Mount Clemens school. Due to Arbor Drugs' fail- ure to have an established policy regarding customer confidentiality, the man's very personal information became the topic of schoolyard gossip. The damage done by this breach of pri- vacy is no doubt tremendous. The man kept his diagnosis from his children because he did not wish to burden them emotionally with his illness. But now they must deal with the shock associated with this revela- tion, from an inappropriate source. The AIDS patient filed suit in the Macomb County Circuit Court in 1996 for at least $10,000 for emotional distress and breach ing client confidentiality at the time of the incident - it was clearly negligent in fail- ing to protect its customer's privacy. Pharmacy customers deserve to have their medical condition kept private. People must be able to know that they can purchase medication and seek medical treatment without the risk of their status being publi- cally known. If such protection cannot be afforded, people with stigmatized illnesses may fear public scrutiny and choose not to obtain proper medical care. As a result, they could risk advanced illness and possibly even death. While pharmacists are bound by the doctor-patient privilege, other drug store employees are not. But clerks and other staffers can often identify illnesses by the medications prescribed for it. While Arbor Drugs now has a confidentiality policy, it is too little, too late for the Mount Clemens man. The retail pharmaceutical industry to establish a policy to prevent future confi- dentiality breaches. The privacy of its clients is vital and deserves universal pro- tection. It is clear that steps must be taken to prevent another breach of confidentiality of this type. The Montcalm County law- suit should send a powerful message to the pharmaceutical industry that they must have provisions to protect their customers. Patients' privacy deserve protection both in and out of the doctor's office. A indus- try-wide rule would eliminate the need for patients to fear that their personal infor- mation would be released to the public - Indoor and outdoor track seasons need equal billing TO THE DAILY: Thank you for outstand- ing coverage of the women's and men's cross country teams throughout the fall. However, please do not let your coverage of track and field slip during indoor and outdoor seasons. The open- ing indoor meet for both teams only got five column inches combined in the sports section on Monday, with no mention of the two Olympians who made spe- cial appearances in the men's 5,000-meter and 800- meter races. The Daily should send someone to cover the upcoming meets and include a listing of results in the paper, not just a mention of the few winners. Running fans like to hear about how everyone does, regardless of place. LADALE WINLING LSA SOPHOMORE Winter term courses focus on environment TO THE DAILY: This semester will be one of the most exciting semes- ters that the University has seen in years. The University has had themes for their semesters in the past. My first semester freshman year it was "Death and Dying," I believe. But this semester marks a joint effort between several of the colleges including the Residential College, LSA, the School of Art and the School of Natural Resources and the Environment to bring the University the Environmental Theme Semester: "Rethinking the Relationship" It is the first time when students have come together to plan programs for a theme semester. Some of the exciting events scheduled for the semester include a film series, career fairs, speakers, forums, teach-ins and concerts. So I hope that you could all join us for the Environmental Theme Semester. KRISTEN GENOVESE SNRE JUNIOR Bickering has national championship out- right, I ask that you give it a rest and stop complaining. The unexpected revival and emergence of our football team this season should be something that we should be rejoicing about and not something we should be grieving over. I have waited four long years for a moment like this, and it is a shame that people at this University are constantly trying to ruin such moments with stupid, childish bicker- ing. Where were all these complainers when our hock- ey team won a national championship a couple years ago after years of no titles? Their pep rally was held in Cliff Keen Arena, and they were lucky if 1,000 people showed up. When the hock- ey team went to visit the president in Washington, D.C., he wasn't even there. Now, the football team is getting the royal treatment: a pep rally in Crisler in front of 13,000, which was tele- vised locally, and a parade around the city. Yet, this is still not good enough for everybody. So please, everybody give it a rest and stop complaining. Whether you were in the Big House the day we beat Ohio State and you stormed the field, or whether you were in Pasadena to watch the team win the roses, or whether you just saw it all on a television, enjoy the celebrations we are able to have now and take pride in our school and its athletics so we can prove to the rest of the nation that whether they want to believe it or not, we are the true national champions of college football in 1997-1998. JEFF BLIVAISS LSA SENIOR Editorials spread 'liberal propaganda' at the 'U' TO THE DAILY: I'm sorry to say this, but the Daily is not reflective of the student body. It seems that the Daily's outright sup- port of affirmative action and liberal agendas are without the support of most students on campus. Students like myself, who are not as articu- late as your writers who con- tribute to the liberal propa- ganda served up by the University on a day-to-day basis, probably would like their viewpoints to be heard, but can't. This is because of the conspiracy of the Daily to make the I Iniversit anner issue to appear daily in its newspaper, not only the more utopian viewpoint. NIKHIL KUMAR LSA SOPHOMORE Daily covered 'awesome' season well TO THE DAILY: My congratulations to the Wolverines on the finest Michigan football team in 50 long years. My congratu- lations as well go to the thousands of Michigan alumni, students and friends who provided a roaring backdrop of support in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. And a very special thank you to the current editors of the Daily, who did such a fine job producing the special Rose Bowl commemorative edition I viewed on the World Wide Web. Leaving the Rose Bowl on the night of Jan. 1, the word I heard Michigan stu- dents use most often to describe Michigan's stirring victory over Washington State was "awesome." I can't think of a better one. SHUFFLIN DOUGLIS LSA ALUMNUS Rose Bowl helped bring generations together TO THE DAILY: I am an international stu- dent from Columbia in the College of Engineering. Like all Michigan fans, I am extremely proud of our Wolverines. However, there is an extra reason for being especially proud: I was able to share the excitement of the championship with my grandfather (whose name is Antonio Paz, like myself). He happened to be an interna- tional student, here at U of M, also attending the College of Engineering, at the time the Wolverines won the last championship in 1948. He graduated with the class 1950, and although he went back to Colombia and never again lived in the United States, he remained a Wolverine fan. Now, nearly 50 years later, he was able to experience again the excite- ment he felt back then, through my season updates and cable television! Apart from sharing that emotion with him 50 years later, if everything goes well, we'll be. charina anther rnmmmn blame the season. Every year, Iaround this time, news magazines and tabloid-type TV shows do their "year in review" programs. Inevitably there is a segment or special section about the people who passed away this year. Some soft music, a rolling video mon- tage showing the recently deceased~ smiling, laughing and playing with war orphans, and little sound bits from their friends JAMES and family saying MILLER what a worthy per- MILLER son they were and ON TAP what a shame it is they had to take the dirt nap so young. As a culture, we get a little uptight about death. It does something strange to us. But at the same time, we love a good funeral - more than weddings even (actually, depending on your per-4 spective, they're kind of similar). We kick into high gear when dealing with death. We put on our best suit. We find ourselves inappropriately quoting from Byron and Shakespeare. I promise you that few people get plant ed in this country without some boob minister mumbling about Aunt Myrna's candle burning brightly at both ends. But I'm getting ahead of myself We love to over-eulogize. The dead. have a way of being canonized immedi- ately upon their passing, with the possi- ble exception of executed criminals, if you're William Kuntsler. Eulogies and similar bits of rhetoric are strange, in that they are categorizedwithsbar pick- up lines and pillow talk. That is to say that they are more fiction than truth and they have more utility to the user than to the target. I'll give you an example. Everyone had at least one kid in their high school who managed to get him- self killed before graduation. Alcohol poisoning, car wreck, knife fight, whatever. From a resume standpoint, dying was the best thing they ever did, Think of the way people talked about him before and after he kicked the oxygen habit., Alive: Dave? He was such a punk. The way he'd get out of that Datsun wagon in the school parking lot, blar-4 ing Sir Mix-A-Lot, smoking a Newportand adjusting his Puma sweater. The jackass. He used to sell pages out of porn magazines to kids on the elementary school playground. I think he shot his mom once. Dead: I can't believe it. I saw Dave in history just the other day. He was so happy and full of life. He was talking about going to Princeton and becom- ing a pediatric neurosurgeon. Oa famine aid worker. It's so sad when such a charming and promising young man dies. So tragic. Honor student, too. Sonny Bono, God rest his soul, got the same treatment. Alive: A punchline. A mediocre songwriter, singer and restaurant owner whose only significant achieve- ment in life, other than giving geeks everywhere the vague hope they might score with the likes of Cher, was that he managed to get elected to Congress in a year when Gregg Alman could have gotten a seat if he cut his hair and turned Republican. Not to men- tion that "The Sonny and Cher Show" made "Laugh-In" look like "Upstairs, Downstairs." Dead: What a great man. From the son of poor immigrants to world- famous entertainer to brilliant song4 writer to genius restaurateur to well-] loved Congressman. Sonny Bono will always be remembered by his huge legions of fans, and all his congres- sional colleagues who admired him. Witness Michael Kennedy. Alive: Trouser snake. The only moral accomplishment in his entire, big-toothed, vacant, blow-dried Kennedy existencetwas waiting for the family babysitter to be legal before "taking her to Hyannisport." Coddled, clothed and employed by money made decades before his birth. Didn't even have the ambition to have his family buy him a congressional seat. Dead: Oh, when will the curse o'er the Kennedy house be lifted? Why must these great statesmen and their loved ones continue to be punished? Star-crossed, they are. Star-crossed! As far as Sonny is concerned, the truth is somewhere in the middle. He wasn't a musical genius or a brilliant law giver, and neither was he a fum- bling, walking taste disaster. He was just a nice guy, who did alright for himself. Kennedy, on the other hand, t n tntn. +1 1nnA .J 0 .J II