4 -- TheMichiganDaily-_Tuesday,September_15,_1998
abr£idign ailg
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 E Mrn h
kf Editor in Cief
Edited and managed by
students at the JACK SCHILLACI
University of Michigan Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority ofthe Daiy'sc diorial hoard.
All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michiga n Daily.
FROM THE DAILY
Goss makes good on promise of student tickets
"We live in America, and it's important for this stuff to
be public, but I wouldn't want my kids to know the
graphic details of anybody's sex life."
- LSA first-year student Andy Wginton. responding to
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr :s report to Congress.
A LOOK BACCK K M Ws
j 9
- This cartoon original/y ran in the April 9, 1996 Daily
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Translation:
'Sweet, I'm
never going
10
E veryone wants to be part of the victo-
ry march. Everyone wants to be a part
of the winning team. The success of the
Michigan football team last year led, rather
predictably, to increased season ticket
requests this year. Faced with a tempting
situation, Athletic Director Tom Goss rec-
ognized the need to put students first for
season tickets. Goss and the Athletic
Department are to be commended for
resisting the lure of higher profit margins
and keeping the promise Goss made last
year to fill the season ticket requests of
every student who applies.
It is only fair to grant the ticket requests
of current students before new University
alumni requests. Alumni had the opportu-
nity to obtain full-season tickets when they
attended the University - present students
should receive the same courtesy. Alumni
already had their opportunity to experi-
ence football Saturdays, to shout and cheer
and enjoy the team that represents them to
the nation. Alumni should recognize the
obvious mistake of having to split season
tickets for students by granting full tickets
to alumni. It makes no sense to impose a
system in which the University football
faithful cannot actively support their team
until after they graduate. Students should
not come second simply because they do
not pay as much for tickets - they are
paying quite a bit in tuition.
It is current students who remain stand-
ing to support their team the entire game,
who paint their bodies maize and blue to
show their spirit, who remain even during
crushing defeats. It is true that not all stu-
dents demonstrate such rabid school spirit
and that alumni also proclaim to bleed
maize and blue, but it is the student section
that is most noted for its raucous support
for the team.
Of course, the University does have a
responsibility to maintain good relations
with its alumni, but not at the cost of stu-
dent relations. Such an extreme
occurence as that which happened this
year is not likely to be a recurring event,
as national championships are generally
few and far between. But in the event that
this season's lackluster beginning is a
fluke, and if ticket demands continue to
skyrocket, the Athletic Department may
be forced to take permanent steps to sat-
isfy both students and alumni. But until
that day arrives, Goss and his successors
should continue their newly discovered
dedication to student interests. They
should ensure that last year's first-year
students are the only class in University
history to be snubbed by the Athletic
Department for full-season football tick-
ets. It is unfortunate that a significant part
of the student body was denied the oppor-
tunity to watch their team romp undefeat-
ed in every game to a national champi-
onship. Hopefully the Athletic
Department learned from and will not
repeat this mistake. The student body
should be there to watch, cheer and groan
as their team plays to victory or defeat.
Goss referred to the financial cost of
meeting student ticket demands this year
as "a significant hit." The Department is
forced to turn away season ticket requests
every year and is in no dire financial
straits. The Department is already milking
money for tickets from its own student
body - a practice shunned by many
schools nationwide. With the new expan-
sion of Michigan Stadium, the Athletic
Department was able to sell more tickets
than ever.
Parental unda cet
Oakland County program helps unwed parents
O akland County's Forget Me Not
Program is leading the nation with
its innovative approach to unwed parent-
hood. This creative program, to be imple-
mented by the Oakland County Circuit
Court, will provide workshops for parents
who never married each other to stress
that every child deserves two parents.
Focal points of the three-hour workshop
will be the importance of having two par-
ents in a child's life, how parents can
resolve conflicts between themselves
without traumatizing children, and how to
boost a child's self-esteem. This alterna-
tive program will be a great help to a
problem that persists throughout the
country without much attention and
redress.
The Oakland County Circuit Court
presides over 800 to 1,200 people who
file court petitions each year against their
child's other parent. These petitions are
usually filed by mothers seeking support
and fathers seeking visitation or custody
rights. With the creation of Forget Me
Not, Oakland County judges will have a
new weapon in their arsenal against quar-
reling unwed parents who put their chil-
dren in the middle of their disagreements.
The judicial branch will be free to urge
and sometimes order these parents to
attend the workshop offered by The
Forget Me Not Program, if the court is to
help on other related legal matters.
As children born to unwed parents
have become a common part of modern
life, more and more research has been
done on the psychological effects of such
an upbringing. While children certainly
can receive a proper upbringing from a
single parent, statistics imply that these
children are more likely to participate in
illegal activities. Children often benefit
from a relationship with both of their par-
ents. Forget Me Not helps children of
unwed and divorced parents - which
constitute a large cross section of
American society - cope with the com-
plexities of their parents' inability to get
along. Too often children do become the
victims of their parents' differences or
mistakes. Forget Me Not, which may not
address all of these problems, currently
offers the best hope that unwed parents
will learn how to resolve conflicts with-
out traumatizing their children in the
process.
Forget Me Not is a spin-off of Oakland
County's nationally recognized Start
Making It Livable For Everyone (SMILE)
program for divorcing parents. Divorcing
parents are ordered by the court to attend
the SMILE workshops devoted to mini-
mizing the shock most children feel when
their parents divorce. Unlike the manda-
tory SMILE program, Forget Me Not will
generally be voluntary at first - there-
fore, it may be more difficult to get par-
ents to cooperate and work together for
the sake of their children. Nuances of
Forget Me Not will have to be ironed out
as quickly as possible to make the pro-
gram as effective as it can be. Oakland
County, with its Forget Me Not and
SMILE programs, should be recognized
as a leader in the fight to improve the
lives of America's youth. In this particular
field, the rest of the country should exam-
ine Oakland County's creative social pro-
grams and find ways to address problems
that are not confined to the borders of the
county.
Article was
historically
inaccurate
TO THE DAILY:
Peter Romer-Friedman
is, of course, free to oppose
the actions of anti-racist
militants who came out to
stop the Ku Klux Klan on
May 9 as demonstrated in
his article, "Affirmative
action vital to U' welfare"
(9/8/98). But Romer-
Friedman is wrong to say
that such a position is in
keeping with the traditions
of the Civil Rights
Movement. Such a conclu-
sion could only be reached
by a thoroughly dishonest
revision of history.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
was, of course, a committed
pacifist. But this did not
mean that he opposed con-
fronting racism in a direct
and very militant manner.
Quite the contrary, King
believed that it was wrong
to turn away from and
ignore racism.
Additionally, to imply, as
Romer-Friedman does, that
King and his ideology of
pacifism was representative
of the entire Civil Rights
Movement is incorrect. As
the Civil Rights Movement
came under increased
attacks from both law
enforcement and fascist
groups, many in the move-
ment began to both advo-
cate and organize for armed
self-defense. The Black
Panther Party, of course, fits
into this category, but so do
a wide array of other groups
including Deacons for
Defense, which was a group
of black clergy who orga-
nized their congregations
into armed guards to com-
bat racist terror.
Romer-Friedman's state-
ment that even Malcolm X
came around to pacifism is
completely false. It is true
that in the later stages of his
life, Malcolm X recognized
forms of political action
that were non-violent in
nature, but that could be
said about him at any point
in the politically active por-
tion of his life. At no point
during his political life did
Malcolm X ever renounce
his belief that blacks must
defend themselves and their
communities against racist
assaults.
All of this eventually
comes back to the question
of anti-racists who tried to
stop the Klan in Ann Arbor
this past May. Many do not
realize that the Klan and
other fascist groups are
growing in the United
IStates and yes, they are
committing real acts of ter-
ror. The most obvious
example of such actions is
the bombing of the federal
building in Oklahoma City
by white supremacist
Timothy McVeigh. When
demonstrators who are now
facing state repression, but
to say that they are not in
the tradition of the Civil
Rights Movement is incor-
rect. History has shown that
the way to stop fascist
groups and their terror is
not to ignore them or out-
law them, but rather to
organize directly against
them. Those who try to stop
fascist recruitment are right
to do so, and militant
actions - mostly non-v io-
lent but not always - are
also needed in the defense
of affirmative action and
other social gains.
Affirmative action did not
come about as the result of
a benevolent government,
but rather as a response to
social struggles. Presently,
the rebirth of such struggles
is needed to protect affir-
mative action and other
gains as well as to stop fas-
cist groups and their geno-
cidal intentions.
MICAH HoumQuisT
LSA JUNIOR
Amazin'
Blue's
success was
overlooked
TO THE DAILY:
With all of the excite-
ment in the past year over
our National Champion
football and hockey teams,
it is unfortunate that another
outstanding Michigan team
was overlooked in its quest
to achieve glory for our
school. Amazin' Blue, the
University's oldest and most
highly acclaimed coed a
cappella ensemble, traveled
to New York City this past
May to'play to a full house
at Carnegie Hall for the
National Championship of
College A Cappella. This
competition consists of over
two dozen regional contests
and semi-finals across the
nation. Out of this number,
only the six most talented
groups find their way to the
finals.
For us die-hard a cappel-
la fans, New York was our
Pasadena. Family, friends
and alumni were there in
full force, on our feet and
waving our Michigan flags
high as our Wolverine team
took the stage. This was
classy Carnegie Hall, but
the atmosphere was no less
electric, nor was Amazin'
Blue's performance. From
the dynamic cover of "867-
5309 - Jenny" that got the
crowd on its feet to the
favorite "Time After Time"
that brought the house to
absolute silence and appre-
ciation for the group's emo-
tion and beautiful sound,
Amazin' Blue never failed
to impress.
Although the group did
again at Carnegie next year.
MICHAEL NEWBERRY
ENGINEERING SENIOR
Stadium
renovations
undermine
tradition
TO THE DAILY:
I am interested in know-
ing how the student body
has reacted to the changes
to Michigan Stadium.
Without a doubt, the addi-
tion of seating to accommo-
date the undergraduates'
requests is an improvement.'
And, to a degree, thenew
scoreboards and TV moni-
tors have taken the
audio/visuals of the stadium
into the future. But do we
really need a block-M' the
size of Criser on the back
of each of them?
It is the exterior that has
me and many of my fellow
alums very perplexed. Until
now, the University has
maintained a high standard
of tradition and class when
it comes to the image we
portray to the world. We are
a world-renowned university
with an unbelievably suc-
cessful athletic department
- the combination of
which I challenge anyone to
find anywhere else.
The renovation that
Athletic Director Tom Goss
has promoted has somewhat
diminished that class. The
ostentatious yellow "halo"
with blue letters that frankly
look like the wrong size
because they are slightly
bigger than the "halo" do
not portray what our pro-
gram is all about. Is this
what winning a national
championship does to a
classy university? The beau-
ty of understated grandeur
and class have been
replaced by the loud and
ridiculous.
As an alumna of the
marching band and season
ticket holder, I feel that
Goss has somewhat sold our
tradition and class to the
world of hype and market-
ing. Michigan has done very
well throughout the history
of college football until now
without the glitz and glam-
our of a "halo," thank you
very much.
As a vice president of an
interior architecture firm, I
would like to suggest an
idea to Goss: Less is more.
Let's remove the gigantic
blue letters so that they do
not overshadow the beauty
and class of Michigan
Stadium.
Let me know what you
and your classmates think
about this. At this moment,
the joy of last year's national
championship has been
destroyed by the buy in to the
media spotlight and an apa-
class again.'
its has been exactly one week sine
Iclasses began, so we've all had the
opportunity to size up which classes to
drop and which ones will remain on our
schedules, thus becoming nothing bt@
series of torturous
exercises in pro-
crastination tech-
niques. Part of the
decision-making
process when
deciding a perma-
nent schedule for
the fall is, of
course, who is in
each class.
Now, if you're a SARA
freshman, chances LOCKYER
are you don't know L Q A
too many people .k4 ,1
anyway so your
decisions will be based on the ratio of
good-looking guys or girls.
But those ofus who are no longer
freshmen have the luxury of choosing
classes based on whom we recognize
when attendance is called. If while sit-
ting through the first lecture yde
remember the faces of a good majority
of the class, chances are this class will
have to suffice. But if the majority of
everyone else seems to know each other,
and you're sitting there asking yourself
why you've registered for "Women's
Studies 5000 - Why Females are
Goddesses," chances are you have one
less class for the fall.
There is something to remember,
though, when sizing up your classes an
the other students in attendan
Everyone lies during the first week of
school.
Example No. 1: You (a male) are
walking out of class and a decent-look-
ing female approaches you and say's,
"Hey! So, you're taking Comm 100?
Great, we can study together." You
respond, "Totally, the class shouldn't be
that hard anyway, see ya next week."
Translation (male): "Sweet, I'm nev
going to class again. I'll call that chic
up and copy her notes."
'Translation (female): "Oh my Gad,
I'm so excited that he's in my class.
Now I can study with him, like, every
week, and his friends are really hot."
Quite obviously, both parties involved
have found a perfectly accommodating
class for the fall, albeit through very dif-
ferent reasoning.
Example No. 2: You (a female) are at
the bar and through your alcoh@
induced vision, you find yourself sta-
ing at a decent-looking male, who
seems to be talking to you about a class
you supposedly have together. You have
no idea what he's saying, only that when
he smiles you notice his really 'nice
teeth. You still have to respond so you
mumble, "Great. Sure. Yeah. Alright, I'll
see you in class."
Translation (female): "Oh my God,
have a hotty in my class. I just hop
recognize him next week, maybe I
should find him before I leave tonight."
Translation (male): "That girl was
totally into me, she wants me. I'll have
to find her before I leave tonight."'
Not only have these two found an excit-
ing class for the fall, they also scheduled
in some extracurricular activities.
Example No. 3: You (a female) are
walking into class and a girl from last
year's Spanish class runs up to youand
screams, "Hi! Remember me. frc
Spanish? This class is gonna Rock,
aren't you excited?" You respond, "Oh
yeah, hi. I'm not sure if I'm really into
economics. Um, I have to go the bath-
room, I'll see you in class."
Translation (female who went to the
bathroom): "No way, this is so my luck,
that girl is so annoying. She, like,
harassed me last year. Well, there goes
my chance to get into the B-School. Th*
like, so sucks. Whatever, I didn't want
crunch numbers for the rest of my life
anyway, law school could be fun."
Translation (girl from Spanish class):
"Great. That girl was really nice, she
always has to go to the bathroom, though.
I wonder if she is OK; maybe I should go
check on her ... Hey! Are you all right?"
In this scenario, it is time to evaluate
your mental health versus a prerequi-
site. Suffering through class is enough
in itself, but an overbearing acquai
tance that thinks you're her best frie
is just insufferable. Looks as though one
found a class, while it's back to the
drawing room for another.
Example No. 4: You (a male) are sit-
ting in class when a guy sits next to you
and says, "Hey man, what's up." You
respond with the ever-present malehead
nod. No words are spoken when per-
forming this salutation.
Translation (speaking male): "I thi*
I know that kid, I might have been hook-
ing up with his girlfriend when he was
abroad. I wonder if she's still seeing that
loser; well, I guess I have all semester to
find out."
Translation (nodding male): "I can't
believe that asshole is gonna sit next to