4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 6, 1998
iA Lrgga al
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbr M 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
UnM hverse ty f Minigan
LAURIE MAYK
Editor in Chief
JACK SCHILLACI
Editorial Page Editor
This game, we shouldn't have been
here, we shouldn't have won - yet we
did. And it's an even greater feeling.'
- Michigan hocksy coach Rc d Ber nson, on the Woerines'
defeat of Boston Collcge dur ng mor im on Saurday night
u n noinI.imst ned e i -ora ( rfT(et the opinion of the majority of the Dail-: editoriia b rd
11 ther articles -'tte( and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion ojfThe Michigan Daifv
FROM THE DAILY
Ib wnthe rules
a'U' abse control over student accounts
KAAMRAN HAFEEZ
. ; :y .
tNk.
$~ OI~,AND 440046, lit
Sandalism struck the sixth floor of
C Z n. Residence Hall during the
n ght of March 19 when someone tore a
$,500 bulletin board from the wall.
Though University officials do not know
ho did i they have found a group to hold
frnanci ally responsible unless the culprit
voluntarily comes forward: the residents of
the andalized floor.
In deciding to pro-rate the cost of
rplacing the bulletin board among the
foor s resident. the University has
used i power -as both a landlord and
an the administrator of student accounts
- to respond to andalism in a manner
unavailable to any other leasing organiza-
ton. The University should adhere to the
same landlord-tenant laws that bind all
lessors and should absorb the cost of the
destruction rather than violate residents'
rights.
Citing disciplinary and educational ser-
vices as facets of residence-hall living that
differentiate it from traditional housing
arrangements, co-interim General
Counsel Dan Shaphorn maintains that res-
idence has fall exempt from the terms of
state landlord-tenant laws. He claims that
the commnunal living situation of resi-
dence halls deviate too far from tradition-
al, self-enclosed rental units for both to
f 11 under the same legal guidelines. But
Shaphorn neglects to consider that stu-
nts' payment for residence-hall space
presumably include fees for maintenance.
A c cordngly the University should use the
room and board fees to maintain the resi-
dence hall even if it requires replacing
or repairing vandalized items.
The University, however, has opted to
wrongfuly exercise its control over stu-
dent acounts to force the Couzens resi-
demi t oabsorb the cost of repairs that
lgaly a re the instit ution's responsibility.
The University finds itself in a situation
unique to lessors in Michigan: It has juris-
diction over its tenants' living quarters and
influence over their finances. It not only
wields the power to levy the repair charges
upon students, but also to exact late fees
from students who dispute the charges.
According to Director of Housing Public
Affairs Alan Levy, the University has
employed this ability on four separate
occasions over the last four years.
Under the property damage section of
the Michigan Landlord-Tenant
Relationships Act, landlords cannot hold
any tenant liable for damages without
proving that the renter actually caused the
damages. If a tenant denies responsibility,
the issue must come before a court. As it
is unlikely that the University will be able
to prove that all the residents of Couzens'
sixth floor contributed to the destruction
of the bulletin board - in or out of court
- it has no legal basis for levying charges
upon them.
In holding students financially respon-
sible for the damages, the University fails
to consider that no barrier actually pre-
vents students from other halls - or even
people from outside the building - from
reaching Couzens' sixth floor.
Consequently, there is a good chance that
the perpetrator of this vandalism - or of
the other four instances for which the
University charged students in the past -
did not even live on the affected floor. In
charging floor residents, the University
will effectively punish the victims of the
crime.
The University should discard its group-
billing practices and fall in line with all
other leasing organizations in Michigan. It
misuses its power over student finances
when it unfairly bills students living in res-
idence halls for damages.
TMit
r* +wM4A
.. 06AW
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Meetings strengthen campus communication
Te bniversity, under President Lee
A olliger . has established a new meth-
ods of commuication between the admin-
istratior and student body, as is witnessed.
by th udent 'gathering at the President's
hous after he footbal team's win over
Penn State and after the hockey team's
na ion I champi )nship
Sic n ry ove r Bost on
Co~l Hut in addition to
p art ymg with stadents
ft wf tbal g fmes,
Bon g enag mde it aa
miss11=!h prs id0n cy
to J : r op n y d ialogue
betvw i nhe 'rudent b dy
nd ad ministrors, some- Binger
tln ng t hat ha been lacking under former
pesidn The lates addtion to this com-
nnm i aserie s of Town H all meetings.
In th e me eting: Bolling r and University
Pro o N ! n "y C ntor will engage in an
informa discussion with faculty, staff and
studet to gather informat ion and perspec-
tSes on the state of the University.
T h : o n w me etings ft Bollinger's
ae r e in at tempt ing to e limin ate the gap
btwe en t ud enmts a nd a dminist rators.
U nd er prior min ist rat ions, such a s that
of former University President James
Du de r a d the distan ce bet ween students
anod the Fleminge A dmin istration Building
was readily xisile. .Razher than seeking
.IL ) 1 oh Uni ersity 'ampus. these
adminstatioens o ften fostered a sense of
u: a 'them" Duderstadt made little
oar iwork with students in order to
remedy this negative precedent although
some, such as the relocation of the his
office from the Fleming Administration
Building to a location closer to Central
Campus, have yet to materialize.
The Town Hall meetings are an echo of
the already-implemented Fireside Chats,
during which Bollinger sits by the fire in
the Study Lounge of the Michigan Union
and talks with students. The event is open
to the entire student body, as are the Town
Hall meetings. Such informal discussions
are ideal opportunities for students to
speak with the University's top adminis-
trators and provide both negative and pos-
itive criticism of the administration and its
decisions.
The Town Hall meetings are created with
the intent to receive feedback from the stu-
dent body on issues facing them at the
University. In comparison, students are wel-
come to discuss anything from the hockey
and football national championships to the
State of the Union address in the Fireside
Chats. In this way, Bollinger is reaching out
to every member of the University's student
population - students should take advan-
tage of this opportunity to discuss their inter-
ests and make their voices heard.
While the implementation of the
Fireside Chats and the new addition of
Town Hall meetings are steps in the right
direction toward creating a channel of com-
munication between students and adminis-
tration, Bollinger's mission is not frlly
accomplished. There remains a gap between
the administration and the vast majority of
Pi letter
reinforced
stereotypes
To THE DAILY:
We would like to respond
to Tom Strait's letter ("Pi's dec-
imal approximation was
wrong" 4//98) by personally
thanking him for gathering all
he stereotypes of engineers
into one letter and sending it to
the Daiy for evryone (includ-
ing us) to pin it up.
Ws Tom a lonely child?
Did he beong to a Pi Decimal
Club in middle school? Did
his parents poty train him too
eary" We'rejust trying to fig-
ure out what would drive
someone to read something so
closely. Not only it is unfortu-
nate that he cares what Pi's
1 th decimal place is, but also
that he would actually check
its accuracy.
Our only regret is that Tom
is a first-year engineering stu-
dent and we will graduate
before we will have any class-
es with him. We won't be able
to laugh at him in class when
he raises his hand to point out
a rounding error the professor
made 20 minutes earlier.
Have fun Tom, only about
350 days until next year's big
P'i Da yextravaanza!
DARIN GLASSER
SEAN CORRIGAN
ENGINEERING SENIORS
Editorial had
a significant
error
To THE DAILY:
At first glance, I thought
there was a small misspelling
in the March 26 editorial
"Well read." The Daily edi-
tors allowed what appeared to
be a small spelling error to
slip by, saying that Ernest
"Hemmingway" was the
author of "The Grapes of
Wrath," instead of Ernest
Hemingway (with onem').
"iemmingway was not a
slight misspeling of
emingway," but a nearly
apocalyptic misspelling of
"Steinbeck,' who was the
author of'"The Grapes of
Wrath." The Daily's
spellcheckers must be on
guard for future typos of this
garish sort.
PS. -Yes! Yes! Yes!"
passed by more than 60 per-
cent. Hug!
BRAM EULAS
LSA SOPHOMORE
TVs have no
place in M
stadium
.,ur_ .A,1 w.
before the current graduating
class was born. Most remem-
ber that God-awful artificial
turf, all-male cheerleaders
and a guy named Bob Ufer.
Ya think Ole Ufe, traditional-
ist that he was, would see a
couple of giant TVs in the
stadium as a good idea?
The scoreboards that are
in there now tell me every-
thing I need to know during a
game. White's description of
people staring at the TVs
instead of watching the action
on the field would be the per-
fect circular argument: "Since
I missed that last play because
I was staring at the score-
board, good thing they'll
replay it again." And let's not
forget the inevitable throng of
humanity that will dress up in
ridiculous costumes just to
have their mug beamed on the
Jumbotron for a second or
two. Superfan is bad enough
anyone remember the "Willie
the Wolverine" fiasco?
Athletic Director Tom (Goss
must still be trying to make
people forget his screw up
when he couldn't accurately
count both incoming first-year
students and available seats.
Sure, adding 5,000 paying
customers was a great idea,
but spending $7.9 million on
big TVs certainly is not, And
you know what? Ticket prices
will go up, and within eight
years, you'll see Pepsi,
Dominoes or (God forbid)
Nike ads blasting out from
those TVs.
Sorry Ufer ,,. they don't
listen to us football fans
much anymore. Only regents,
administrators and those
other guys who sit in the
press box with food, drinks
and TVs
MICHAEL PEKALA
UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
The 'U' uses
many types
of preferences
To THE DAILY:
I am often disappointed
with the reasoning of students
who suggest that affirmative
action is wrong and allows
less-qualified students admis-
sion to universities over more-
qualified students. I believe
that the University administra-
tion has stated clearly that
GPAs and test scores are not
the only criteria used to evalu-
ate an applicant for admis-
sion. Why, then is that argu-
ment constantly used?
Students entering the
University are granted admis-
sion based on a variety ofcri-
teria. I would not want to
attend a University at which
all of the students gained
admission with 4.0 GPAs in
fact, I am sure that the majori-
ty of students who whine and
complain about affirmative
action would not find their
exneriencePat this U nivrit
But that's not affirmative
action, you say?
Why, sure it is. You must
understand, affirmative action
does not always wear a black
face. The University recog-
nizes that fact. How many
students would be willing to
give back a national champi-
onship title because 20 foot-
ball players with less than
perfect GPAs were granted
admission to this University?
I think my po.int is obvious.
If affirmative action must end,
then let all affirmative action
end. No more special consider-.
ation to children of alumni. No
extra points for those who dis-
play extraordinary musical tal-
ent. Normore Heisman trophy
athletes I think that all of
those things combined make
this University great. I don't
believe for one second that
each student who is accepted
to this wonderful institution
does not deserve to be here.
MICHAEL ADAMS
UNIVERSITY STAFF
MTV's
portrayal of
Detroit was
stereotypic'
To THE DAILY:
As I was watching an
episode of "Road Rules" that
was filmed in Detroit for the
current season, I was out-
raged by the stereotypic
images of Detroit that the
producers used. I did not see
uplifting images of the city
as it was in the middle of its
summer festival season,
which included the Stanley
('up Championship.
What I saw was a row of
half-demolished buildings in a
rundown part of the city, a
scene that was as negative as
possible before the cast went to
perform a mission at Detroit
Receiving Hospital. What was
most disturbing is that one of
the cast referred to the city as a
"nuclear war zone"
As a student from Detroit, I
constantly overhear people dis-
cussing Detroit, and all I ever
hear is that Detroit is a danger-
ous, crime-ridden wasteland of
a town. What irritates me is
that I hear this from people
who aren't two days out of the
cornfield, let alone from a
large city.
What's worse, most of
these people think that they're
right. And when I turn on the
television, I find out exactly
where these people are getting
their information from, the
same people who swear they
are a part of a new generation.
It is an outrage that MTV
would feed into such an anti-
quated, ignorant and biased
view of the city of Detroit,
These are the people who
claim to have an ear to the
Qrrind w.hn all Ithe relty
Just a spoonful
ofsugar lets the e
championships
get won
t's now official. Saturday night's ice
I hockey victory in Boston sealed the
title. Michigan Athletic Director Tom
Goss is now the proud and rightful
wearer of the crown - he's without
doubt the Luckiest
Man on Earth.
With two nation-
al championships, a
title in the inaugural
Big Ten basketball
tournament, a
women's basketball
tournament berth
and a Heisman
Trophy, Tom Goss
has a more impres- JOSHU
sive resume in less RICH
than a year than any
Michigan AD in a '= ..ati
half century.
Tom: "Hey, Prof. Schembechler, how
do you like my football and hockey
national championship rings? I just
picked them up at a national champi-
onship banquet. Ever been to something
like that?"
Bo: "Uh. Uh. No, Tom, I haven't
not for football or hockey. Oh, gee,
thoserings are real nice, Tom. All gold
and shiny and stuff:'
Tom: "Yeah, they're really expensive
and cool. Where are yours?"
Bo: "Uh. Uh. Sorry, Tom, I don't
know what you're talking ab ... Oh,
gotta go! I see the football team is in a
third-and-long situation - I have to
remind Coach Carr to run the ball, like
we always used to do.'
Tom Goss is the stuff that legends are
made of.
So picture this: You're Tom Goss
(feels good, doesn't it?). You have inher-
ited an athletic department riddled with
problems. The football team is an
underachieving bunch, most of the
hockey players were recruited from
kindergarten, and something fishy is
going on in the basketball program. Fa
morale is so low that you practicaly
have to give away Crisler Arena season
tickets because no one wants to support
a team that can only win postseason
games in the NIT. Administration
morale is so low that constant issue-
dodging has nearly compromised your
prestigious sports program.
You enter the situation, you take
charge, and immediately everything
clicks. Miraculously, the football team
starts winning consistently, the youn
hockey team stars playing like the
Detroit Red Wings, and the basketball
near-catastrophe quietly, conveniently
vanishes. Fans clamor to purchase tick-
ets to sporting events, and administra-
tion sentiment soars to the point where
the University's presidentlets hundreds
of students celebrate a major football
victory in his living room.
Dear Tom,
Where on Earth did you come from
Who the hell are you, Mary Poppins?
Could you sing that "Supercalifragilis-
ticexpialidocious " song again?
Sincerely in awe,
A devotedfan
There's got to be some secret to his
success. I mean, the athletic depart-
ment's good fortune sure doesn't come
with Tom's summary dismissal of Steve
Fisher, or with a student athlete drop-
ping dead while undergoing a risk
training regimen in the middle of the
night. Good thing the Duke win and the
Heisman and the Rose Bowl came
around when they did, eh, Tom?
Still, if nothing else, Tom Goss has
mastered the uncanny ability to be in the
right place at the right time. He's like a
modern-day Forrest Gump.
All his teams start winning - foot-
ball, hockey, men's basketball, women's
basketball - right when he takeg
charge. But Tom didn't recruit any or
the outstanding players. The NCAA
hockey tournament comes to Ann
Arbor, giving the Wolverines an impres-
sive advantage over North Dakota, the
defending national champions. But Tom
didn't have a hand in creating the bid for
Yost Ice Arena to host the event. The
installation of video scoreboards in and
renovations to Michigan Stadium are
underway. But everyone's been talkin x
about doing such things for years.
I envy Tom Closs because he doesn't
have to cope with all of the nightmares
and ghosts that haunt the rest of us
every time we drive past South Campus.
Hey Tom: Remember how the foot-
ball team basically sucked for the past
four seasons? Remember how they lost
to Northwestern two years in a row?
Remember how their old coach totally
spazzed out in a suburban Detroit water
ing hole one spring evening?
No answer.
Most impressive is that, during Tom's
brief tenure, everyone's been on their
tip-top, best behavior. Take Red
Berenson: He has yet to relieve himself
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